We had a total of 3218 miles round trip. That included an all time high of 792 miles on Sunday from the rally at Richmond Kentucky to Albert Lea, Minnesota. The weather was nearly perfect for high miles, and I could have easily done an Iron Butt, but Melanies wrists weren't up to the task. On Monday we had 564 miles to home, but we had rain and strong winds so it seemed worse than Sundays miles.
This was well worth the trip, and it really was a pleasure to shake hands with people that I hadn't been able to before. There were many people that I hadn't been able to get to meet, and I am sorry, I will try again.

At the Rally

Instead of trying to post a bunch of pictures here, I uploaded them to Photobucket. I didn't name them or anything, feel free to browse and snag any of the rally pictures you like.
Click below for the link to my photobucket site.
Kentucky Rally Pictures

Wednesday, June 10. We leave the Millers, and head to the rally site, with a stop to get a picture of Fort Knox. Not what we call the place I work, the real one.



Here is a typical eastern Kentucky back road.


It includes some horse ranches, just like they show on tv.


We are on the Valley View Ferry. It is aout 10 miles from Richmond, and we put our rain gear on just before boarding. It had been misting, and turned to rain when we stopped. This ferry is free, and is the longest running business in Kentucky. It is owned by the county now.


The two guys running the ferry were extremely friendly and offered to take our picture when they was me taking Melanies picture.


A little farther in the rain, and we pulled into here. There was no mistaking that we were in the right place.

Today was a sightseeing day, and we only went 174 miles.

Tuesday June 9. The Miller house. Yes it is this beautiful inside as well. Nice Nomad in the garage, they let us park the bikes in the garage, end left the vehicles outside.

Mike and Tom are doing an oil change, and I am learning so when I get my 'wing I will know how.



Here is Tom playing with Romeo, his new baby.


Mike, "gone 'mad" from Calgary got here shortly before we did. He is a very nice guy if you haven't met him.


Tom is cooking up chicken breasts, on the "Big Green Egg". That is the name of the grill, and he uses it very well.


Here is our home cooked meal, and it was every bit as good as it looks. Even the blue cheese coleslaw, and I don't usually like coleslaw.


For the record, no one can say the Millers don't rock!

It was an easy day, with great hosts, and we did a grueling 8 miles, to the store and back.

Monday, June 8. The day started out early, as we had another destination, and some miles to cover today. We had an interesting day to say the least! We got pulled over, we got lost in a town we couldn't get out of, and we went over some bridges.


The bridge we slept by in a hotel on the Lake of the Ozarks. Nice view, no internet.

This is the "new bridge" at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Crossing the Missippi. Melanie likes crossing bridges!



Here are some barges on the Ohio River.


Melanie gets busted! This was in Fredricktown Missouri. We got lost in this town and this officer motioned for us to pull over, so we did. When he got out of the car, he almost yelled, "Where did you get a trunk for a Nomad!" No kidding. I just started laughing, because we hadn't done anything wrong, so I figured he wanted to visit, but wasn't expecting that. He had seen us in town, and we couldn't find a way out of this small town. When we asked about the signs being down, he told us about the bad storm they recently had, and it was quite a story. I included a couple pictures of some of the damage.


We were in Paducah Kentucky now, and stopped for a break, and rejuvenation in some air conditioning. It was a new parking lot, so this is a reminder. It has been so cool at home we haven't had to think about this this year.

Just a fun picture of Melanie waving for the camera again.


I think Melanie picked up the pace when we saw this sign, because she did the last 40 miles into town on reserve!


It was an eventful fun day that saw us end up at Tom and Denise Millers.
Today was 504 miles, and it finally got hot.

This was the start of our day on Sunday, June 7. It was already looking better than anytime during the day on Saturday. The trip is starting to get better!


Just because there was some disbelief on the extravagance of our lodging Saturday night, I took a picture of the luxuries we were entitled to at the motel in Fremont Nebraska. I think I will skip this town in any future travels!


This is just proof that the weather was getting better as we headed to Lawrence Kansas to visit my youngest, Alec. He is growing fast as kids do, and he isn't a kid anymore.
We had a wonderful time with him and it ended much to soon. We headed out of Kansas and ended up at the Lake of the Ozarks to visit my aunt and uncle who live right on the lake. I was too busy visiting to take any pictures at both stops, and I am really regretting it now.

Today we did 432 miles, and the weather was much nicer!

Today wasn't a good day. It was still cold, but not as cold as it would have been leaving from home. We spent most of the day in the low 50s. Maybe someone forgot to tell mother nature it is June. We finally hit 60 degrees by 6 pm local time in Nebraska. A text from Melanies sister in South Dakota let us know we made the right choice by heading south.
The sandhills in Nebraska are pleasant to ride through. I have done it before, and if you are in Nebraska, take US 20 if you can. I have done it before, and the scenery is nice. I didn't take pictures of some things, and am wishing I would have. Here are a few I took from today. They all get bigger if you click on them. Notice the sky in all of them. It would be overcast, and that is all we had today until we got about 20 miles from where we decided to stop, which is Fremont, NE. just outside of Omaha. Tomorrow is looking to be hot and humid, which is normal weather for those from the southeast, but not great weather for the mountainous types who are used to humidities under 20%

This is why they call them the "Sandhills"

Another view of the twisties in the Sandhills!
Just kidding, this was a rather long straight stretch of road.

The Sandhills with Melanie in the mirror.

A wave from a Drifter!

This is a shot of where we ate after we called it quits for the day. It was at the Wilderness Lodge in Fremont Nebraska. The food was awesome, and this is a worn out Purple500!

After many stops to warm up, some were close to an hour long, we made 402 miles today.