Day 29, Wednesday, August 8th, Final Day

Left Marion, IL, at 7 am today in order to beat the heat. Worked for a couple hours and then the heat caught up with us. Cruised on in to home shortly before noon.



Last state we visited before getting back home to TN.


We made it!



That says it all.

29 days on the road filled with good times and great memories.

That's all folks (until next time!).

Day 28, Tuesday, August 7th

Today was one of extremes in the weather. Last night in Janesville, WI, a huge storm went through. Five or six times I was awakened by tremendous thunder claps and when they subsided and I thought the storm had passed and drifted back to sleep I was awakened by yet another round. So needless to say we thought for sure we would catch it when we left this morning. But as providence would have it the rain had all but ceased and the further south we went the better the weather was - save for the heat, which became brutal.

Did a little over 400 miles today (lots of stops to rest from the heat and also visited a couple Harley dealers) and stopped in Marion, IL, for the night. About 250 miles to go tomorrow to get back home.



Dealer in Bloomington, Illinois.



Rest stop along I-57 in southern Illinois.



It's not really hot is it?



Well from the looks of the girls I guess it must be!

Day 27, Monday, August 6th

Rode from Minnesota into Wisconsin today for total of 451 miles stopping for the night in Janesville, Wi. Got in just before it began to rain - really light rain right now, nothing heavy. Hopefully it will be gone before we leave in the morning. Only about 630 miles from home now.






View HQ took from the back seat as we rode into Duluth and got near the Mississippi River bridge which took us to Superior, Wisconsin.



Didn't know we had our own Harley dealership did you? Really nice and they have a daily special. Whatever the first customer of the day purchases in parts & accessories or motorclothes receives a 20% discount for that item that day for all purchasers. Pretty cool as I got 20% off the tee shirts we bought since a tee shirt had been the first item purchased today.

Tim, Keith, are you listening?

Day 26, Sunday, August 5th

Back in the good ole USA! Hooray! Enjoyed our visit to our northern neighbor, Canada, but sure is great to be back in our home country.

Began the day traveling from Winnipeg to Kenora, Ontario. Then we headed south to Fort Francis where we crossed back into the US at International Falls, MN. Stopped for the night in Virginia, MN, about 6o miles north of Duluth.


A really pretty drive through western Ontario. Our route took us through wetlands which are a sportsman's paradise. Numerous resort camps along the route. If you like to fish and hunt this place is for you. It was cool and cloudy but scenery was much, much better since we left the plains.


At the border crossing.

We made it! Thank you sweet baby Jesus, amen.

First building we saw when we got back to the US.

Pat relaxing in her whirlpool after a long day in the saddle.

The restaurant next door to our motel.

Here we are going in to chow down.

Guitar signed by Bob Dylan. Bob's home town of Hibbing, MN, is 25 miles west of where we stopped for the night.

Day, 25, Saturday, August 4th

386 more miles of non-stop fun today on the Canadian prairie. Man, does the scenery ever change? As we got closer to Winnipeg there were trees and green grass versus just the treeless terrain with only prairie. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day for some scenery as we make our way to Kenora and then back to the U.S. thru International Falls, MN.

Dodged a bullet this morning when we stopped for gas about 90 miles out of Regina. The headwinds we have been bucking has shot our gas mileage and stations are few and far between. Almost ran out yesterday as I cruised into a station running just on fresh air and scenery. Anyway, noticed the roadway was wet along the shoulders and some folks coming west said there was a terrible rain storm back east - the way we were heading - and it was moving east. So we chilled out over a late breakfast for about and hour and did manage to cruise on in to Winnipeg sans the rain.

Neat little paririe town of Indian Head in above shots.

Fourth of the five provinces we'll be in. Ontario is the only remaining one.

Not much to the town but the sign was way cool.

Are we having fun yet?

HQ at work. How come she won't do this at home?

Day 24, Friday, August 3rd

Our travels today took us across the prairie from Strathmore, AB, to Regina, SK, with stops at some very interestingly named cities and towns. 444 miles of nothing but flat, hot, windy countryside. The landscape reminds me of North Dakota. In fact all of the great plains states are very similar.


Here is where we stayed last night. Very nice hotel but they would not give any discount since it is August holiday weekend. Monday is a holiday and evidently it begins as early as Thursday. But no one could actually tell us what the holiday is. It is not countrywide but only in Alberta Province. We concluded it was a postal holiday - for postal workers to get a day off!

The restaurant next door to the hotel. Very nice place.

A quick bite of breakfast before we face the open road.

Scenery we saw most all day long.

Our stop for the evening - Regina, SK. Tomorrow we'll travel over to Winnipeg.

Day 23, Thursday, August 2nd

We began the day in Lake Louise by having breakfast at the Lake Louise Lodge and then taking the ski lift / gondola up the mountain for a spectacular view of the mountains and glaciers.



At the entrance to the Lodge.



Beautiful area up here.

Top of the world.

Coming back down.

At Lake Louise.

Chow time in Banff.

Left the park and rode through Calgary stopping for the night in Strathmore, AB, about 25 miles east of Calgary.

Tomorrow, Moose Jaw or maybe Regina just depending on how far we get.

Probably not too many photos from now on since we're headed back home and probably won't have a lot of time to explore and take photos. But we'll post anything of interest we find along the way.

Plan is to ride over to Thunder Bay and then meander down throught Duluth and back home arriving there next Thursday, August 9th.