Heading east for the fall colors

I’m back on the road, heading east to see the fall colors in New England.  First stop was Lance and Ellen Gines of  Into the horizon ADV motorcycle rentals in Boise Idaho. They were kind enough to let me park the Yamahauler overnight as Lance was getting ready to do a Idaho Backroads Discovery Route tour the next day with half a dozen riders.

From Boise, I headed to see a few old Air Force buddies in Salt Lake City, stopping at the Bonneyville Salt Flats on the way. They were racing out there so I didn’t gat as far onto the salt as I wanted but it’s still a very cool place!

 

Making my way east through Wyoming, the van needed an oil change, during the service it was noted that the rear brake pads only had 3mm left and needed to be changed. The parts were at least 3 days out so I asked if I was good for a thousand more miles , they said yes so I made an appointment at my buddy Dons favorite Ford dealer in The Upper Peninsula of Michigan as I’d be there in a couple more days.

I had lots of scenic views across Wyoming and into Black Hills of South Dakota, here are just a few.

 

I pulled into a National Forest campground between the Crazy Horse Monument and Mt Rushmore for the night, just after a storm had blown through, I didn’t get great shots of Crazy Horse in the clouds and rain but the next morning I was up before the sunrise to watch it come up on the presidents. Spectacular is all I can say!

 

That rain storm from the previous day had dumped a lot of rain and even a couple tornados in other parts of South Dakota because it took me 3 extra hours to reach Sioux Falls 🙄

Harvest Host is a website on the Internet that gets you access to over 800 breweries, wineries, museums and family farms around the country . They will let you park (boondock) on their property for free on their property, they just ask to buy something and report on their experience. My first night using them was an “Art Park” just outside Sioux Falls. Interesting is a good word to use.. enjoy the pics.

 

After Sioux Falls I drove across the most northern state highway in Iowa (highway 9) and saw lot s of Corn 🌽 that’s  all I have to say about Iowa 😜  However crossing the Mississippi River Into Wisconsin, I was greeted to beautiful rolling hills dotted with small family farms, Amish men on horse and buggies and cheese curds ☺️

 

That night was with Chad Berger and his girlfriend Melanie. Chad is the designer of the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail.  It’s a mostly off-road route across the state , north to south. I MUST make time to get back there and do it! It looks amazing!

 

A big thank you goes out to Dan Scott and his girlfriend Becky Howlett in Black Earth Wisconsin for holding onto my sunglasses I had left there in 2016 as I passed through on my 48 state ride. I worked with Dan back in Washington many years ago. So awesome to keep in touch with old coworkers!

I then headed to “yooper” country in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Don and Kristy Jaeger we kind enough to let me park “down by the river” a mile upstream from Lake Michigan. Deer, turkeys, woodpeckers and even a couple bald eagles stoped by to say hi.

 

It had been long enough off the bike that I needed to go for a ride. So I headed out for a loop around the UP. It was a 300ish mile day. The highlights were The Edmond Fitzgerald memorial at the Whitefish point light house and H58 along the Lake through Picture Rocks state park. I even found about 10 miles of dirt road 🙌

 

These are the maps/routes for my next month on the road. I should be right on time to see the fall colors in New England in the coming weeks. I’ll be posting more pics of my travels to my #Tenereacrosstheusa Facebook page. Please follow along with me there.