Bob Palmer's blog

Thur, Sept 4 Richmond-Roanoke, VA

For those of you who have been following along as well as on the news, the east coast is about to get hammered by three tropical storms so our trip down the NC, SC and Georgia coast has turned into a "dodge the storms" tour.  We have headed north and are about to swing back west as the storm surge from Hannah is suppose to be here in Virginia by Friday night.  Memphis is getting over the effects of Gustav and should be clear by the weekend.

It was another beautiful day for us here in Richmond, VA as we prepared to leave town.  Not a cloud in the sky and the high was projected to be 96 degrees with who knows what humidity.  We started the day loaded and headed to Fredericksburg to view some of the Civil War battlefields.  There were four major battles fought in Fredericksburg during the Civil War.  It was a  blood bath on  more than one occasion during that war and it played a major role on both sides.  We had a beautiful ride up there and decided to stop at a place to have some breakfast that would make my folks proud.  We stopped at Mimi's Cafe in Fredericksburg and had the best breakfast so far on this trip.

We did not see the battle fields we were hoping to find so we headed to Montichello, home of Thomas Jefferson.  We ended up on Hwy 3 and then 20 which turned out to be spectacular roads to run.  We got to President Jefferson's home and this was a fantastic tour and a beautiful home.  We left there at 5pm and still needed to put as many miles behind us as we could in order to make it to Nashville on Friday in as good a time as we could.

We pulled off the road at about 7;30p in Roanoke, VA where we decided to call it quits for the night.  I also need to mention that we have been in Virginia for 2.5 days and the people drive as fast here as I have ever seen, especially the truck drivers.  You can be doing 80 mph and look in your mirror and a semi's grill is filling your mirrors.  It is truley an amazing thing. 

Well, off to Nashville tomorrow morning.  We are all looking forward to Nashville on Friday night.

Richmond & Williamsburg, VA Wed, Sept 3

Another great day.  Vance and Lisa started the morning off at the HD shop in Richmond where they said they would get him in cuz he was on the road and had an issue.  Mark & Lori and Di & I went over in the moring  to pick them up and decide on what we would do for the day.  Vance got a loaner bike from the shop and headed off to Williamsburg, about 50 miles away.  Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg are know as the The Historic Triangle.  We spent the day roaming the streets of Williamsburg and then onto Jamestown.  From there we headed back to pickup Vance & Lisa's scoot.  They went on ahead and we ran down Route 5 which was a fantastic road to run.  We are looking to hit Fredericksburg and Monticello tomorrow as we get ready to head west to get out of town before the weather sets in from hurricane Hannah.

I have added a few new pics to the overall collection if you care to take a look.  Take care and talk to you all tomorrow.

 

The Road Trip Begins

Sunday, Aug 31

Sunday finally came which meant it was time to leave Milwaukee, home of the worst roads ever, and hit the road.  We had a late night at the concert but got up and hit the road a little after 8a and headed southeast.  It was going to be a beautiful day as we headed to Chicago, Indianapolis and onto Louisville, Kentucky (spoke as Ken-tuk-ee for proper use of the word).  The day was going to be warm but we were having fun......right up to the time we hit the toll booths.  For those of you who have never been able to experience the joy of a toll both in 95 degree temps straddling a motorcycle where the engine temp is crossing over 300 degrees and the traffic is backed up way more than anyone wants to think about, well, let me just say how really special that is.  We figured we must have burned up at least an hour waiting and crawling along the hot black asphalt.  Well, we made Louisville by about 6p and tried to go to Churchill Downs but there was a huge Kentucky football game just getting out at the same place, so there was no way we would be getting in to get any pictures.  We decided to roll on for another hour, after we got out of another traffic jam.  So we made it about 450 miles and 4 states and stopped as it was getting dark.  We stopped in Elizabeth, KY, which just happens to be the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.  Unfortunately, we were there late and were needing to be on the road early, 6am, the next morning so we missed getting in to see the memorial.

Monday, September 1

We were wanting to make it to Ashville, NC to be able to get enough time at The Biltmore and we still had about 350 miles we had to run.  It turns out, of course, in this part of the country, the sun does not come up till about 7:30a so we are riding the back roads of Ken-tuk-ee at 0-dark hundred on the lookout for deer and who knows what other critters.  This road turned out to be a fantastic and beautiful road.  We did see deer when the sun came up scattered in the fields....a lot of deer.  After the back roads run, we hit the freeway and ran that the rest of the day.  The closser we got to Ashville, the cooler it got.  we got about 20 miles out and we ran into rain real quick.  We hit the first exit and sat as we decided what to do.  We sat it out for 20-30 min and it seemed to blow over, so we headed out again and got to ashville where it was sunny and warm again.  But a plus note is the that the freeways are smooth and lined with trees and are just beautiful.made Ashville and headed to the Biltmore.  We stayed in Ashville Monday night and headed back to the Biltmore Tuesday morning.

Tuesday

Well, as luck would have it, Vance developed a small leak in a head gasket on his rear cylinder.  This is a well known issue that has a fix out there but we were hoping to not have to worry about this till we got home.  So, Vance spent the morning on the phone trying to line up a dealer with the parts close to us where we could swing in and they would get him taken care of.  Turns out he finds one in Richmond, VA so off we head at 1pm to the state that is made for lovers.  We would need to run hard again to get there Tuesday night so off we went.  We hit Virginia and made it our seventh state so far and got to a hotel at 9p.

It is now Wednesday morning and Vance and Lisa are at the shop with close behind to see what the new plan will be.  The coast is out due to hanna coming in so stay tuned to see where we end up.

 

 

Saturday, Aug 30

Well, we have had a few long days and short nights so I am a bit behind on the news of the trip.  We'll start off with Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful morning and we were ready for our last day in Milwaukee.  We decided to get in some photo-ops before we ran out of time and before the crowds arrived.  I wanted the group to go to the Juneu plant where I knew there were two places I wanted a few pics and I thought the group would like them as well.  On the way there, I realized I heard on the news that the big HD parade was headed for the route we were on to get to the photo-op.  We passed a lot of folks getting their position on the cirb to be able to enjoy the show of 7,500 bikes rolling by.  Well, lucky for us that so many were distracted because we got to the plant to find no one else there doing the same thing we wanted to do, so it made picture taking quick and very easy.

From there, we went on a small ride out to a B & B where we had been told was a beautiful ride as well as a great place to see and eat.  About 45 min later we arrived in the town and found ourselves asking for directions to the B & B as the ones we had did not seem to be quite right.  We found the place a little bit later only to find that they stop serving breakfast at 9:30a and it was 11a at that point.  Needless to say, we felt bad but did enjoy driving thru the downtown on our way thru the first time, so we headed back there to find a place to have breakfast.  We found a cool looking place that a meter maid told us about.  It looked like my kind of place, cool sign and all.  Well, the sign was cool, but they were not as good at making food.  Oh well.

We finished up the day at the Bruce Springsteen concert.  This was an unbelievable finish to a great 3 days in Milwaukee.  The Boss played for 3.5 hrs straight.  He saved a lot of his older stuff till late in the concert but he rock-n-rolled the entire time.  We heard the the attendance at the entire event was about the twice the size as they had expected.

I do not have a good enough connection to put up any pictures again, so I hope to update those soon.  We are watching the weather and it is looking like our plans for the NC, SC and Georgia coast may have gone away as of Tue. morning.  I will update the days, pics and info on our path when I get more time again later.

Friday, Aug 29

Wow!!!  Did we have a great day or what?  To start the day, find a gal in the parking lot full of Harley folks with some killer slippers on.  What ever you do, don't let the rough and tumble crowd change your ways  at the start of any day.  After we got over the "slipper incident" at the hotel, we headed to the HD Museum which is absolutely fantastic.  HD has a hit on their hands with this baby.  It is a beautiful facility as well as an absolute treat to visit.  This is a must see when you are in Milwaukee.  So, here we are at the museum and Di sees some folks with a Wolverine Chapter vest on and she calls her cousin to see if that is her and her husband Brad's chapter.  Her cousin answers the phone and says, yes it is the same chapter.  So, Di goes over to them and asks if they know each other and sure enough, they do.  So we end up swapping Brad & JoAnn and Ray & Pat stories for a few minutes.  The thoughts were that it is in fact a small world, but I, for one, wouldn't want to paint it. 

Ray, the crowd said something about pictures of you riding with panties on your head......I am sure there is a story there I need to hear.  Brad & JoAnn and Ray & Pat, wish you kids were here with us!

After that we went outside to enjoy the great weather and listen to some music that was out in the courtyard.  From there, we decided why not do some of the Milwaukee things....so we headed to the Miller Brewing plant to take a tour.  It was your usual brewery tour but we did learn a few things that were pretty cool.  It turns out that this plant is their second largest plant that cranks out 500,000 cases a day every day.  Now that is a lot of beer.

We finished up the day at the Summer Fest grounds and seeing ZZ Top perform.  For those who had never been locked in a space where you could not hardly raise your arms up and down, this was an experience.  The music was good, but the trip down to the water front was slow and HOT!!!.  Have not heard on the news what the guess is on how many bikes are in town, but it seems at least as many as I saw at the 100th. 

We finished up the day back at Mo's once again and even more great food.  Looking forward to our last day in Milwaukee tomorrow with a cap off of "The Boss" on the waterfront.

Be sure and look at the other pics in the collection.

Thursday, Aug 28

We started the day with a little dew on the bikes so the boys got out there to wipe down the bikes, and shortly after that we had a short spurt of rain.......so much for wiping down the bikes.  We headed out to the Capital assembly plant and then up to the Pilgrim Plant where the engines are put together for the big twin motors.  Before we had lunch we stopped at Milwaukee Harley where there was a ton of folks and lots of things to look at. 

The weather started to warm up to the mid-80's so we stopped at a local Irish Pub and had a great lunch and then headed off to Miller Park.  It was about 90 degrees and off to Miller Park we went.  Di had never seen so many bikes in one place at one time before and she was pretty excited.

We ended the day at Mo's, another Irish Pub just down the street from our hotel and it may get another visit

before we go cuz was fantastic.  It was another good day and we had fun.

Let the Vacation Begin

Well, we all made it to the airport in time and caught up with the Cossacks.  The plane ride was fine and I enjoyed it like I do most flights.....asleep.  We got here and found Bruce at the stadium where we unloaded the bikes and headed off to find our hotel.  We are at the Crowne Plaza in Wauwatosa which opened just a few months ago and is a nice place.  We had some dinner and a lot of laughs the first night.  Will head out to see some of the sights on Thursday morning.

Scoots Get Loaded

 

Mark and I ended up meeting for coffee at The Nines Bar & Grill (mostly to see my lovely bride who works there) on our way into the shop this morning to drop the bikes off at Eastside Harley where the truck runs out of.  The scoots are riding with some of the Seattle Cossacks bikes, a motorcycle stunt drill team out of Seattle.  The Cossacks bikes are getting loaded in first and then ours as they will perform several times while in Milwaukee.  Three of the Cossacks are also bringing their own bikes and riding home but none of them will be with us as they need to be back in Seattle sooner than we do.  The bikes on this ride with us are Vance & Lisa's, "JDWSKY", Mark & Lori's "JUICED" and Di and mine, "R-BABY".

The driver of the truck, and good friend of ours, is known as "Santa", but we call him Bruce.  Bruce actually plays Santa at Eastside Harley as well as at other places during the holidays. His favorite places to perform is at charity events.  Bruce does a lot of volunteering at variuos places and gives rides in the sidecar he has on one of his Harley Davidson's to cancer patients both young and old.  He has a non-profit that he is working on to get 501C3 statis for Smiles In the Wind: "Changing lives one smile at a time". 

Bruce will take off tomorow morning (Saturday) and we will see him Wednesday evening in Milwaukee.  Bruce is taking his personal bike as well and we hope to be able to catch up with him a few times in Milwaukee if he is not too busy working.

 

That's it for now.  Enjoy the pics.

Welcome & Trip Overview

Long Way Home Map

Hello Family and Friend's

Di and I want to start off by welcoming you to our Milwaukee trip blog.  We are about to leave on an 18 day adventure and thought that some of you might want to follow along as we rolled across some of this fantastic country and did what we could to share our experiences with you.  Our traveling companions this year are Vance and Lisa Bosler and Mark & Lori Harding.

Here are a few pics from our trip last year when we shipped the scoots to Nashville and rode the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Smokey Mountains and saw Gettysburg and Washington DC just to name a few places.

This year, as many of you already know, we are shipping the scoots to Milwaukee for Harley-Davidson's 105th birthday party over Labor Day Weekend.  We will take some factory tours and see the sights of Milwaukee, finishing up our time there at a concert with "The Boss", Mr. Bruce Springsteen on Saturday night. Then, on Sunday moring, we will hit the road and head to the North Carolina coast with a swing thru Ashville, NC where we will stop and spend some time at The Biltmore.  After that we head south down the North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia coasts till we get to Savannah where we turn right and head home.  This where the name came from as most people would have just come home, but all decided to take The Long Way Home and visit the east coast first. 

We plan on being home on Sunday, September 14th and will have traveled some 5,000 miles.  So feel free to follow along and we will try and get enough pictures and stories posted to keep you feeling like you are on the road trip with us.  Hope you enjoy the trip as much as we will.

Bob & Di