stalling

So I keep meaning to do a final post and I'm having a hard time with this as I keep getting emotional looking back at this trip. This may take a few rough drafts to get it right.  Stay tuned.  It will be great, but I have to think all my thoughts through completely to come up with the best way to sum up this trip other than just saying "wicked pissah" or "awesome" LOL

Home sweet home - tarmac I lurve you

So the title was from Danno.   Short post for now.  I'm home.  8 hours of driving through crazy storms.  I mean CRAZY storms. I'd swear but I'm too tired.   Chuck drowned me in a puddle/lake/reservoir on the road in Uxbridge with his bike.  I truly mean that my bike was under water.  Fully.  Anyway. No one crashed, fell off, swam away or sank. I/nor the bike even fell down.

I will update the blog tomorrow. I have to see to this bite on my leg that I got a few days ago. The one where we stayed in some hotel where I think a spider bit me.

Horses were happy to see me as I were them. Same with the cats!  I'm officially tired.  When I get to open a bottle of wine, So many stories to share.  What a great trip, what a great crew of folks. Great people we met along the way too. Ok.

Off for now

We are home!

Fun ride today towards home. At least our tires won't overheat

wrapping up

So we're all on our last night here. Let me re cap what I've learned....  The top 25

One: Once you cross lake Michigan someone has turned off the speed limit signs.   By the time I had hit South Dakota my bike was going "seriously? 75 minimum speed?". The nurple wanted to file a complaint.  I can't complain my bike did a phenomenal job and has kept me safe throughout this whole journey. 

Two.Cutlery:  you can never not have enough.   And you never know where it's been so better carry your own set.  

Three don't declare your cutlery at the border crossings.

Four. Always ride an ATV with a loaded  40 cal hand gun.

Five: If you pack all the necessary parts to fix your bike in the even of an emergency; you will not need to fix anything.

Six: If someone in your group wears rain gear; it will not rain.

Seven: Always carry a straw.

Eight: Don't wink at the female customs officials.  However,  do wink at the male ones. Do not show the male customs official the nougett bar that you bought in canda called a "Pleasure" bar.  They have no sense of humor.

Nine: Chuck has a button somewhere on him where he will just start the talking tour of his four corner's ride. Randome bikers, strangers,  customs officials, girls waiting for the bathroom at a gas station,  prarie dogs, pine trees, etc.

Ten: Don't get into a cab where the driver has a hearing aid. You have no idea where he'll take you.

Eleven:  The QEW is exactly the same as 128 Aye.

Twelve:  Always bring plastic bags for your clothes. No matter how much people make fun of you and call you "the bag lady".

Thirteen:  Go drink at a bar with your mother, uncle,  and grandmother (if they're still alive. Not as fun otherwise). Oh and Mark.

Fourteen: Operate shiny side up and rubber side down (the bike). 

Fifteen: Don't be afraid to accomplish life/bucket list goals.

Sixteen:  Know you limits.  That means I am not on a Goldwing and cannot pass tractor trailer/wide loads in a one lane highway in the pouring rain.   I know my limits; I just had to remind the other Goldwing riders that I'm the little person on the little bike.

Seventeen:  My riding boots should not have a fish in them.

Eighteen:  Don't name hairballs in the shower. Nothing good will come from that.

Nineteen:  This was one of the best experiences of my life.  It has unlocked a whole past that I never knew about and am so incredibly priveledged to have been able to experience this.  So many search but do not get the find/experience this.

Twenty:  I want to thank the three people that came with me. They all made this trip amazingly special for me.  I have no words to express my gratitude for putting up with me and riding  450 - 500, taking ferries,  sitting on bridges in traffic,  slipping on pine cones, crying at my birthday party (yes.. hard ass got emotional), smuggling VO (yes a canadian whisky that you can't seem to buy in canada) across the border,  sleeping in motel rooms that had spiders and no AC,  going down the kids water slides (while the kids were), telling stories, etc.   Brian, Bob and Chuck are truly special people and I thank then all for coming along and also their familes for letting them.

Twenty One: Mount Rushmore is a joke to pay the money to go see.  Just park 1/2 mile before the gate; save 20 bucks and get you pictures.

Twenty Two: If you're nice to the OPP (ontario Provincial Police) They will cut the patches off their uniform and trade patches with you.

Twenty Three: Vodka can taste good in anything except tap water.

Twenty Four: I ran out of gas unofficially 8 times. My knights in shining armour (notice the french spelling I've learned) always had a gallon or a leeeeeeeetur  to get me going.

Twenty Five:  Thanks to my family for letting me go and supporting this quest. I can't say it more succinctly than that.  Thank you!

I'll be home tomorrow. Look out civilized world. There will be a final blog post to come

Or.. Had a whole big blog post I was going to write but my netbook crashed. I will do it tomorrow when I'm home

In batavia, ny

We had no internet reception at mom n pop motel last night

Heading to batavia, ny

In Terrace Bay, Ontario. We are at the hotel for the night.  The roads were much more scenic today. Had a great ride except for some rain and a highway made out of wet red clay! our bikes were DISGUSTING!!.

We are in Kenora, Ontario for the night.  520 miles with head winds and cross winds. We're tired and eating in and staying here

We're in Regina, Saskatchewan.   had a very bumpy ride today leaving Alberta through to here due to cross winds. I swear I felt like I was riding a bucking horse for the last 8 hours.. The winds were so horrible that my gas mileage dropped from 50 to 35-40.

Ok... We're all exhausted and going to take a power nap before dinner. Perhaps my sense of humor will return after I nap

I'm going to bed. Tonight was my night to buy dinner and I took the boys to a pl4ace called The Keg here in Letheridge.  It was really good, and add on a martini and a glass of malbec to my blue cheese/garlic topped steak wrapped in bacon and I am done! stick a fork in me- done.

Today was very emotional while riding away from Boulder. Something I never thought would happen, but it was.  Lots of great new connections and understandings of why I am and also where I came from.

Good night all. We need our sleep. Tomorrow is a 500 mile day

we're in Lethbridge, Alberta Canada.  What a beautiful ride today.  Sad to leave Boulder.  Leaving for dinner, will blog more later

The big 40!

I want to first thank everyone who has either emailed, facebooked me, or tried to call me to wish a happy birthday.  I have very little to no cell reception here so I will review messages tomorrow!

I had the most wonderful experience  here ever in Boulder, MT.   My birth family has surpassed all thoughts of who/what I thought they would be. I have never, honestly, in my whole entire life met such wonderful folks who exude the true meaning of hospitality.  Not only did they accept me into their family, but Brian, Munds, Chuck and Cheryl in as well.  Such wonderful folks; the type you really never see anywhere.  The type that would give you their shirt off their backs if you needed it.

So today we went over to my grandmother's house mid morning and pulled an oil change on my bike.  Good choice since my oil looked like tar after all the mountains the nurple has climbed.

We then went out on atvs and got to see some of the history of their land. I have some great pictures to post from my cell phone but since I lack reception they'll have to be downloaded another time.  There's a true ghost town on the property that is absolutely amazing that we saw yesterday. Today we played on atvs, and my family and I went through family photos to show me more about my heritage.  Really fascinating stuff.

This afternoon, up until 10 tonight everyone held a bbq and birthday party for me.  It was amazing fun.  Denise had a cake made for me  that I will share in the pictures here.  I'm still awestruck at the thoughtfulness of everyone, and I mean everyone. When Chuck and I returned back to our motel room he says "so what did you think?" (remember Chuck's adopted too so he knew the emotions I was going through) and all I was able to keep saying was "wow"  over and over.  I'm overwhelmed by how wonderful everyone is.

So here's some pictures from today and also some pictures from before we arrived (finally got them off the camera).  The pictures not related to the b day bash are from Bear Tooth Highway and Yellowstone.

Munds and Brian at one of the peaks on Bear Tooth highway

Yes.. I'm freezing my ass off. That's snow behind me. I had to put my rain suit on under my riding suit because I was so cold. That's on Bear Tooth Highway as well

Brian with a back drop of snow

One of the many Chuck approved signs

Munds on his ride today around the Sutherlin land

Munds and my cousin Buck

Barbara Sutherlin's (grandmother) home. She too  lives in a renovated barn

chuck on his ride. What some won't know is that he has a loaded 40 cal behind him for just in case he meets a moose or something out on the property ride

Cheryl coming back from a spin. She and Chuck left Buck in their dust!

Cheryl Rudloph and I.  Had to go clear across the US to finally have a beer together.  She brought Sam Adams to Montana!

Denise, Scooby, and me

Denise went for a motorcycle ride with us today

Out in the back yard of the Sutherlins.  On my back is my camera and on my left is a self cocking 40 cal pistol in case I met some undesirables out in the back woods.  Yes, it's held onto the atv withe a bungie cord through the trigger guard. MA eat you heart out on that one!!!  Everyone out here keeps guns in their cars, tables, etc.  Its just a way of life.  And road beer is just a way to stay hydrated!

Denise, me and Buck's shirt

Denise had this cake made for me for the party!!! I love it! She couldn't find a figuring that wasn't a harley. So she had them take all the harley emblems off LOL

Tomorrow we are heading out of here after breakfast.  We'll be heading up to Whitefish to pick up Brian.  Brian took off earlier this morning to go see his niece who just had a baby six days ago. Congrats to Brian and his family.  Then we're headed up to Glacier and then into Canada to start our return trip home.

This trip has been amazing, and it's still going

taaa daaaa

We arrived in Boulder yeasterday around 4.  The ride out here was amazing.  We went up Bear Tooth Highway,  through yellowstone, etc.  We had to ride right by a buffalo walking the streets in yellowstone. No joke, less than 2 feet from our handlebars. We had a beautiful day of riding until two spots. One coming off of Bear tooth at the bottom heading to yellowstone and then heading into Boulder.  Boulder weather was wild. The last 15 miles was all downspouts all around us, and lightning storms.  To the point I had to comment "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!"  We made it to the motel literally seconds before the skies really became unglued.

So everyone is wondering about my birth family. They are amazingly fun. denise and I look so similar.  There's no mistaking this genetic gene pool.  I met my uncle, cousins, and grandmother last night .  What a beautiful spot up here.   And of course with this genetic component I was in the local bar with my mom, uncle, and grandmother within the first hour!

Here's a few pictures from yesterday. Many more to come!

these pictures are all from Munds. Thanks munds

Met my birth mom and family. Fun stuff. Will blog when I have internet tomorrow. Night all

In billings montana

In boulder!

In sundance wy

T minus tomorrow

So tomorrow is the big day (cue the music). I have traveled with my friends almost clear across the country because of two reasons.  
One, to thank the person who gave me life and options.
Two, because I am curious about my family heritage, where I'm from, stories, etc.

Oh hell, three,   this is a fanfriggentastic experience to go on!  To see things I never have had the ability to go see.   We all agreed that when we went and saw Mt. Rushmore it was like a scene from National Lampoon's vacation where they pulled up to the grand canyon.. Got out of the car, Chevy Chase says "yep. ok kids. let's go.. Been there, seen it".

I just can't wait until tomorrow. I feel like I did when I was a child getting ready for a horse show. I used to be so afraid that I would over sleep that I would go to sleep in my show clothes.   No I haven't changed out my pajamas for britches tonight.

I have no idea what I'm in for tomorrow. I know I'll be meeting my birth mother and I'll be meeting my birth grandmother.  This is all very very cool to me.

We are in Billings, MT.  All the staff, taxi drivers, and even our waitress asked us what we were doing so far from home.  They all said "you must be going to Sturgis right ya'll?"  When one of us answered back "we're going to Boulder, MT"  the looks and comment of "booooowldeeeeeeehhhhr?"    brought us much amusement.  One person said "you must be going to go see someone there huh" which I would nod my head.

 We have gone roughly three galaxies and two time zones to get here.  What a great trip it's been.  I believe we're close to  2500 miles so far.  I'll have to double check with Munds in the morning.  I have to say if anyone ever ends up in Billings, MT (no idea why- nor will I ask questions)  The Best Western on the south side known as "the bear one" is awesome.  The hotel is spotless inside, the rooms beautiful, and they have an indoor water park which Munds, Brian and I played in today.

Who knew I could shoot a basketball  while in 3 1/2 feet of swimming pool?

tomorrow we're getting up early, eating, then out of here.  We'll be visiting Yellowstone in the morning and then going up to Booooowldeeeehhhr afterwards. The friends I have with me on this trip are awesome. Couldn't ask for a better group of guys.  They've been my "shepherds" getting me here.  Keeping this one sheep safe the whole time.

Ok, so the basketball net was only 4 feet above the water line in the pool. I'm no Michael Jordan but man for a short red headed girl I have game. (really you didn't think I would stay serious after the heartfelt shepherd comment)

Night all! and PS. Brian didn't check his tire pressure today :)  Last night I had a dream that when I put the key in my bike, and hit the ignition it laughed at me (for those who don't know I'm on a honda shadow-aero).  Today I rode that bike like it was pack mule!  The nurple took a beating and kept going for more.  So far the ride has been flawless mechanically  (leaving electronics out of this equation).   I have only heard the nurple spit once, and that was more than acceptable since we were just coming down from 5500 ft to 4k feet and I was downshifting. Other than that;  rock on my purple nurple pack mule.

Ok I'm obviously tired. bedtime T minus 2 minutes

A little funny picture for you you while awaiting the blog update.. Brian at the badlands... It was a little warm.  No, he's not dead. Just playing for the camera

In billings, mt

safe and sound in Billings, MT.  will write more after my laundry is done at the hotel

holy cowshittaki I've been everywhere today

I'm in the land of Red Solo Cup and Jesus Loves you and Think signs.

Today we rode for over 12 hours straight. Most people do the national park and national monument tour in a week. We did it the speed pass way... In one day.

here's a few pics from the Badlands, Walldrug, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park and then went to Devil's tower in WY.. I had to have Chuck remind me of where we've been .. originally our itinerary said we were going 169 miles. We did close t 500.

I love my airhawk seat and my throttle rocker.. Oh and my cocktail of crystal light/Svedka. And the best freakin hot dog ever. Mike's special which consists of a hot dog wrapped in bacon and beer battered and deep fried... Yeah Don.. My bike's not the only thing coming home with saddle bags LMFAO!!!

in sundance wy

We're in Sundance WY.   all is well. will blog later

The windows program in my head shut down

So I forgot where I was yesterday, the days are drawing into a fuzz. A good blur though.  The Days Inn we stayed at last night I  was excited to see a whirlpool bath tub in our room, however it looks like no one had cleaned it for months around the jets. YUK... and on top of that, the drain  was being held in place by someone's hair .  I named the hairball Valerie.  No offense to any of my friends named Valerie.  Just came to me as I was showering.

Brian is no longer allowed to check his tires beyond kicking them. LOL. He has what they call balls or beads in his tires. they're supposed to increase the balance of the tire.  They are also designed to cause great disaster if you decide to try to check your tire pressure with a gauge.  They get sucked into the valve stem and then can cause the tire to deflate at a good rate of speed.   That happened this morning. Chuck, the fix it man came to the rescue.  Knowing what I know now about tire beads I will never use them.. I don't have the ability not to use a tire gauge.  I would be the one who checks to see how many beads i could catch in there.

Today was a hot one again.  We did  398 miles, all interstate 90.   We got here at 3:30 and I did get a little cat nap in while Chuck was planning tomorrow's scenic ride.

Sooooo. I was supposed to update my blog last night.   it is now Wednesday morning.   We rolled into Murdo, SD.  The boys did their laundry and I started looking at IMC headsets. Mine is crapping out.   We then all met up to go to the classic car/motorcycle museum next door. The place was HUGE!!! A collector's fascination of all sorts. They had  cars, motorcycles,  small engines,cameras, rocks and semi stones, lunch pails etc.

When I say the place was huge it was getting exhausted and woozy while walking through.  We had eaten an ok breakfast yesterday morning, stopped at all the gas stops and drank water and had snacks, and when I got in I cracked open a big thing of planters nuts for protein.  It wasn't enough. With the  97 degree weather, I was exhausted and drained.

I made it to dinner at the diner and I do remember eating. i mean folks this is like 7:30 central time, what is wrong with me!!  So  I ate everything on my plate I was so hungry. I think I even at the garnish.  not sure if it was food or plastic.  I must have gained ten lbs from food consumption here just to stay functioning. My liver is actually re growing from lack of  consumption. Maybe it's my liver that is gaining weight.

 The boys were carrying on, when I noticed over Chuck's shoulder a nasty, sweaty, 4 chin,  plastic baseball cap  jammed on his mullet with sweat coming down his eyebrows truck driver.  I know the idea with the uniform shirt is to make them look professional... FAIL!!!

So he started giving me the eyes and I guess what he felt were the "want to come over" gesture.  I would have rather cuddled up to a scorpion.. He was relentless so I decided to just excuse myself from the dinner table.  The group was done but they were still yackity yackity and I knew if I was going to stay at the table any further I would have ended up face down sleeping in the remains of the bun from my seadog  or saying something to the trucker, which he probably wouldn't have understood thanks to our "accents".

I left the boys, came back to my hotel room,  looked at the netbook and said.. Nope... Just because the computer's windows are working doesn't mean my internal windows  were...

My windows in my head had shut down.

So today is the fun day.. I'm going to see a lot of great things with lots of great pictures

In murdo, sd. View from our hotel room lol

In murdo, sd. View from hotel room lol

if you receive a message from our spot that makes no sense we're fine we're in south dakota traveling along just fine

in minnesota

So we're in Minnesota.  Today was a very long ride after the ferry.  It was compounded by hitting 103 degree weather without any shade in sight.  I used to feel bad that my gas tank will only hold 2.75 gallons.  Not today!  I needed to stop even  115 miles to get a gatorade and some sort of nutrition.

So today was all about poop.  I must have smelled so much cow poop all over farm land, and also a farmer that was spraying his poop that it was coming across the highway in a mist.. Then right when we were crossing the mississippi river we heard someone on our cb channel four, the channel we talk on.   This male/female cattle hauling team remarked that they heard us talking and were following us. We ended up carrying on back and forth for the next twenty miles.  At one point we were climbing a hill on the highway and the woman in the second truck said to us to "tuck right in behind the first truck so we could get some good speed".   Her next comment was "we don't have any female heifer's on right now so there's nothing to worry about.  Those females  spray their business out the back of the trailer". Again, poop/pee theme.

Brian got his tire fixed at Badger Cycles in Manitowa, Wisconsin. Very nice folks.

We finally got in to the hometown of Spam, Austin, MN about two hours ago.  I brought the guys to dinner tonight at the hotel.. Everyone is a bit tired. Chuck looks like a toddler way up past his bedtime.  

here's some pictures that I finally got to download. The first one is a picture of us under  an under pass getting our rain suits on and Chuck trying to turn off his blue tooth to make a hotel reservation. The second is the same underpass with all our bikes.  It POURED!

picture three is of the SS Badger that we took across lake Michigan.. Poor chuck was dismayed that the little buoys he kept seeing in the water were in fact NOT lobster traps... Chuck, it's a lake.  And the fourth was the OuterSpace diner that we had breakfast in in Niagara Falls before we left there.

My bike is going great. I'm glad I packed heavy for this trip the mid west winds are fierce!  The extra baggage is helping me stick to the road ;P I'm headed to sleep. One more long day of riding tomorrow 400+ miles. Then we get to play around seeing the sights the next day.   Will post more tomorrow.

In Austin, MN.  Will blog later. All is good here

On the SS Badger

Hello everyone!  We are on the SS. Badger going across lake Michigan.  Yesterday we hit a lot of rain showers coming from Niagara Falls through to Michigan.  However, every time we stopped to don our raingear,  it would stop.  By the last rain storm (of course we had taken our rain gear off) it was close to 96 degrees and  I welcomed the cool down through my mesh riding suit.   Ok side note, I'm sitting in the cafeteria of the Badger and I'm listening to some crazy bad rendition of a polka song promoting the Badger LOL. Next bingo with old people!!!  Yes I told the rest of the Tiger Balm Brigade they better come down here off the top deck to feel like youngin's again.

So on a serious note, yesterday Brian got a flat tire but he handled it like a pro.  We had stopped for gas and  when he rolled away from the pump he only had 4 lbs of pressure in his front tire.  So the tire is ok, but the valve stem is crap. So we've pumped him back up a few times to get his monster machine on the boat.  He's already set up to have the tire repaired on the other side of the ferry.  Great organization they belong to American Goldwing Riders Association. Their book listings have a list of all members nationwide so he's already hooked up with  someone at a shop to go get this fixed once we roll him off the boat.

One thing I have noticed,  Norfolk folks need to stop complaining about a little roadkill on the road. Holy shitcakes the ride from Niagara Falls to Ludington, I have never seen so much roadkill in my LIFE!  You'd think it was like a Jim Jones animal cult out here.

So enough blogging for now.  I'm sitting in the midst of a huge bingo game where the callers have a funny mid west accent. I plan to play and beat the pants off of everyone here.

Heck if I don't win I'll just take their pants and run. they can't catch me anyway.


I have a lot more pictures, but I have no cell reception so I can't transfer them to here in this blog post. However, I can text them in in a minute. This picture of us leaving port on the SS Badger

@ ssbadger

I saw this plate on a bike in the lot this morning. Very funny. Will update blogger on boat