Retired and Trippin

This morning we said our goodbyes to Carl, Marge, Gary and Denah. The prior two days we were with them participating in Gary's Fall Ride. As they rode home to conclude Gary's ride, Chris and I were off for North Carolina to visit Chris' brother and his wife. We left Bentonville, AR at 8:00 under sunny skies with a temperature of 41. Our route today was simple. Interstate 49 south to Alma and then Interstate 40 east into Tennessee. We drove 534 miles and stopped just west of Nashville in Kingston Springs. The high temperature today was 62. As we drove south on I-49 we ran into some fog and low lying clouds. We drove into and out of the fog on down I-49 and eastbound on I-40. Eventually the off-and-on fog turned into clouds, which lasted the last of the trip. We stopped for gas and did some walking in Conway, AR and then enjoyed a soup and salad bar lunch in Forrest City, AR. After stopping for the day at 4:30 we were happy to learn that Gary, Denah, Carl and Marg...

Gary led us away from our hotel in Mountain Home, AR at 10:15 - in the rain. It was 50 degrees. Mel and Trish decided this morning to head back home so now there are only three couples. Our route today was Hwy 412 west to Springdale and then north on I-49 to Bentonville, where we stopped for the day. Gary would normally lead us on a circuitous route through Arkansas before arriving at our destination. Today we stopped at 1:30, having ridden/driven 144 miles through rain. Our high temp was in the low 50's. Along the way Chris was taking photos with her iPhone attempting to capture the fall foliage. This is difficult with clouds, rain, motion, and light reflected in the auto glass. But she did an admirable job. Despite the rain, portions of 412 made for a pretty drive. To see her pics click on this link:  FallColors As we were driving today, Chris was keeping track of the score of the K-State vs Oklahoma football game. I'm sure that Oklahoma was favored to win. At half time t...

We're off on Gary's fall ride to see the fall colors (hopefully) down in Arkansas. Also to enjoy the ride/drive and the company. This year there are four couples: Gary & Denah on their Honda Goldwing; Carl & Marge on their Honda Goldwing; Mel & Trish in their Cadillac; and Chris & I in our Mustang. All of us met at 151st & 69 Hwy in Overland Park at 9:00. Our route for the day was 69 south, back roads and 2 east to I-49 south, 7 east and 5 south to Mountain Home, AR. Along the way we stopped for lunch at Stewart's Restaurant located at the junction of Highways 7 and 5. Weather forecasts before we left had us convinced it would rain most of the day and, though it was cloudy all day, we only experienced very brief and very sparse sprinkles. Some fall color was observed along the way but not much. It was a cool/cold day, 41 when Chris and I left home and 42 when we left 151st and 69 Hwy. The high temp for the day was 53 in Mountain Home, AR, our d...

My uncle died recently and a funeral or "celebration of life" was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, October 19th. Chris and I decided to drive there and we were accompanied by brother, Carl, and his wife, Marge on their motorcycle. We would leave on Friday morning, take two days to get there and come back all the way on Sunday. Carl and Marge opted to take two days for the return trip. Friday, October 18, 2019 We left home at 8:10 under sunny skies. Our intention was to stay off the Interstate highways but we soon got it figured out that to be there in time on Saturday we'd need to utilize Interstates. So we were on back roads until we took Hwy 36 eastbound from just north of Braymer, MO into Hannibal, MO. In Hannibal we ate lunch at the Ole Planters Restaurant in the downtown area. Leaving Hannibal we drove east on I-72 all the way to Danville, IL. Below is a photo of Marge resting where we stopped for gas in Shelbyville, IN. She likes to stretch out when she can...

The last day of our trip and we are headed home. The aspens and mountains are in our rear view mirrors (a long way back). When we woke up it was wet outside and it still was when we left Goodland under cloudy and foggy skies with a temperature of 48. Skies provided off-and-on rain from mile post 113 all the way home. The hardest rain came around Topeka. As we were driving along I could tell that Chris was tired of reading and playing cards on her iPhone because she started taking photos of the Kansas scenery. We had been craving pizza for a few days so we decided to make a concerted effort to quench the crave today. A billboard advertised Martinelli's in Salina and it showed a picture of a guy with a pizza. So that was our lunch destination. It was in old downtown Salina and we enjoyed a LARRAPIN good pizza. pizza at Martinelli's Little Italy in Salina, KS As we approached Junction City, eastbound I-70 traffic came to a standstill. Eventually we were all funn...

It was cloudy and 44 degrees when we left our hotel in Colorado Springs at 9:15. After gassing up we drove to Deb & Jim's house for a visit. Deb is my cousin and Jim is her hubby. We always enjoy our visits. There was also a scrumptious lunch involved. After solving most of the world's problems we left Deb & Jim's at 1:05. It was now 54 degrees. Our route today was 24 east to Limon and I-70 east to Goodland, where we arrived at 4:00. The temp had risen to a blistering 66 degrees. After a swim, a soak in the hot tub, and some boob-tube watching we called it a night. We drove 184 miles today and took no photos.

It was 8:30, sunny and 52 degrees as we drove away northbound from Salida. We could still see smoke coming from the forest fire south of town. We got a later start today because I took Poonie to a car wash for a good cleaning. Our route today was 291 north, 285 north, 24 east, Teller County Road 1 south (from Florrisant to Cripple Creek), 67 north and 24 east. At Wilkerson Pass (9,507 feet altitude) we intended to stop to photograph a few orange aspen trees but the parking lot was closed. We parked just outside and walked in for the pics. I intended for our first stop to be Cripple Creek but just north of Florrisant we came upon the Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument. We never visited it before so we stopped. They say about 35 million years ago there was a redwood forest at this location. What is left today are some petrified redwood tree stumps. They have also found numerous fish, animal, and insect fossils in the area. We walked a one mile loop to see several of the ...