Just to wrap things up.......click below on the link that says "Final." I've added the pictures from my phone, David's phone, and a few last pictures from Rick and Darlene's Camera. It was an amazing adventure......

Final

We are all happy to be home now, after 25 days, 7,474 miles, and 21 states! We are amazed that the Lord has blessed us so richly, not only on this trip, but in our lives as well. Thanks to all for the prayers and well wishes!!! We have a few final pictures (I'll add them between laundry laods etc.)!

Back in the WV!!!!

Crossing the Ohio....

Entering the Bluegrass.....

7000 miles!!!!

Sunrise over Southern Illinois

We had a good day of riding today. We completed the ride across Kansas, continued across Missouri and are spending the night in Fairview Heights, Illinois. Tomorrow we hope to end the day in Barboursville, WV!

Picnic lunch in the "show me state"

Sunrise over Kansas

Salina Kansas

We had a good ride out of Colorado and part of the way across Kansas today. We are sleeping in Salina tonight and leaving early in the morning. Our destination for tomorrow night is east of St. Louis.

Beginning Week 4

This morning, we are beginning week 4. We have travelled 5,948 miles and to elevations of 11,000 feet. We have witnessed marvelous things and met interesting people...

Click on this link for pictures from the last couple of days:

Pictures

The internet is very slow here tonight in Colorado Springs. We had a wonderful trip here today. We were on mainly 2 lane roads. We are all amazed at how beautiful Colorado is. The views at Wolf Creek Pass were breathtaking. We plan to reach Salina, Kansas tomorrow evening!

Rocky Mountain high this morning

In Colorado......

Elk siting.....

Beginning of route 66

Mule Deer?

Lunch

Lunch at Sonic today. We have interest ing lunch spots with our puppies!

Farmington New Mexico

Greetings from Farmington New Mexico! We are in for the night and plan to travel to Colorado Springs tomorrow. We had a couple of busy days! We made it into Las Vegas in time to check into the Flamingo, have the pet sitter come to Rick and Darlene's room and then walk to Treasure Island. We picked up our show tickets and ate a wonderful meal at their buffet. We saw Cirque Du Soliel Mystere. Here's a link to their official trailer:

Cirque Du Soliel Mystere

The show was amazing. None of us were disappointed and all of us were amazed. We walked back to our hotel, taking in the sights of the Las Vegas strip at night. We were able to stand and watch the fountain at the Bellagio before we called it a night. We were back at the motorcycles at 6am (as is our custom), left Las Vegas and had a wonderful ride to the Grand Canyon.

Seeing the Grand Canyon is beyond my ability to describe. With all of the tourists there, you still have a sense of peace. The immensity is beyond comprehension. We met several nice tourists while viewing the canyon. The puppies make sure no one is a stranger!

We left our hotel this morning and did not realize that our route took us right along the canyon for several miles. We saw an Elk and some Mule Deer right beside the road.

We traveled through the Navajo Nation this afternoon before arriving in Farmington New Mexico for the night. I need to  read about reservation life. From the road it doesn't look very pleasant. We checked into this hotel in time to get into the pool before dinner. We were once again happy to meet friendly people, so friendly in fact that they called David over and offered us a little herbal smoke to relieve the stress of the day. He declined, but it's always nice to meet people who like to share!

We think we will be home by Monday.....

Pictures

Click on the link below to see Vegas and Grand Canyon pictures:

Vegas and Grand Canyon

Rick --Dar and Tia at the Grand Canyon  

Sorry --the picture is sideways   internet very slow--vegas

Grand Canyon!!!!

Aug 20

We drove across the Hoover Dam on our way to the Grand Canyon this morning.

August 19

Somewhere around Sturgis, I saw a billboard that read "4 wheels move the body, 2 wheels move the soul."  This morning, while around Mojave, I began singing "How Great Thou Art" with Alan Jackson. Our pipes are very loud so voice quality is not an issue. As I sang and listened to the words and marveled at His creation I could hear that David was singing too. Tears ran from my face as my Spirit soared. I hope I can always remember to take the time to relish these soul striirng moments!!!

Leaving Bakersfield......Vegas, get ready!!!!!

We walked the Streets of Bakersfield--but not to far it was  105 degrees

Rick and Darlene taking on a San Francisco trolley --after crossing the golden Gate Bridge

August 18th.......Sharon and Bill cooked us a hearty breakfast and helped us get on the road early to avoid the afternoon heat. They let us put the motorcycles and trailers in the garage and parked their BMW convertible outside. That's how much they spoiled us! We spent the morning riding south and arrived in Bakersfield this afternoon. We are resting this evening. Tomorrow we ride to Las Vegas. We are all excited about staying on the strip and seeing a show!

If you click on the link below, you'll see pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the Bay Bridge, at Sharon and Bill's etc.......

Pictures

August 17th

We left Ukiah this morning and headed south on "the" 101 this morning. We stopped for fuel and talked with some Patriot Riders. What a great group.

We rode across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was great. We made it through  San Francisco and are in Sacramento for the night. Bill and Sharon Chamblis have opened their home to us for the night. Tomorrow morning we head to Bakersfield!

Cali and Luna

Our hosts tonight!

Jeromy

Bill and Sharon have opened their home to us tonight. We are thrilled to visit with Jeromy, Rikki, Sharon, and Bill.

Tia and Doozer

They don't mind the hotel rooms at all!!

Click on the link below to see more pictures from Rick and Darlene's camera!

Rick and Darlene's Pictures

Tia getting Fuel

I had no idea trees got this big. Another great day

August 16th.....(Joe Burr's Birthday)

We travelled 101 from Crescent City to Ukiah today. We left the coast after awhile and began to see Redwood Trees. That part of 101 is called Redwood Highway. We stopped awhile and walked among those giant trees. It seemed peaceful.

When we arrived at our hotel, there were some bikers in the lobby. It seems we've been following them since the first night. It was great sharing road stories with them. We had time for oil changes this afternoon. The Harley Shop here in Ukiah was great about fitting us in at the end of their day!

We are heading to cross the Golden Gate Bridge in the morning. We'll spend the night tomorrow in Sacramento, with the Chamblis family!

We all feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I know I sound like a broken record, but, it was a gorgeous day!!!

One log house.....

This compact living space is inside of one log. It's a different style of log home!

End of Week 2, August 15th

It's the end of our second week. We've traveled 3875 miles since we left. We've seen many amazing things! We are in Crescent City California for the night. We will continue to travel south on US 101 tomorrow and I've forgotten where we will stop for the night! I know we plan to see some redwoods tomorrow.

We have been meeting at the motorcycles at 6am each day. That seems to work for us and keeps us riding aggressively in the morning before the heat is intense. This morning in Florence, Oregon, it was misting and drizzling and foggy. We knew we had a lot of scenery to see today and so while we waited for the fog to clear off, we went to the Laundromat. That was a pretty different experience for us. It was a 24 hour facility and we found a guy sleeping there. He was pretty nice. A young couple who had been working on a fishing boat came in and did their laundry and showered. You could probably write a book about the people you can meet in a 24 hour laundry facility!

We saw wonderful Oregon beaches today and quaint little towns with lots of art galleries and shops. Oregon has made State Parks all along it's coastline. These parks are easily accessible from Highway 101. We crossed over into California this afternoon and are staying in an ocean view Motel. We had a picnic on the beach and spent some time walking on the beach. It was just too cold for any of us to get in!

David and Doozie

Beach picnic

Rick at our beach picnic in Crescent City!

Select the Link below to see all the pictures from Rick and Darlene's camera. Aug. 2 through August 14!

Rick and Darlene's Pictures

Lady in orange in Devil's Punchbowl

Park at Devils Punchbowl

Sea Lions

August 14th......
Wow, this Oregon coastline is beautiful. We talked with some natives today that assured us that we won't see anything as beautiful in California! We left Seaside this morning and traveled US Highway 101 South. We stopped to take some pictures along the way, but in particular we were looking for Devil's Punchbowl State Park. We were not disappointed. It is very beautiful. We went a little farther south and turned off to see a lighthouse. At this stop, we saw Harbor Sea Lions!

Florence is our destination for the night. There is an "Old Florence" and we walked through some shops there. When we parked a few people commented on the WV license plates. Upon further discussion, one of the ladies was born in Logan, WV and Crash knew her sister well. We've journeyed over 3600 miles and he still finds someone he knows! When Hannah was very little, she called Sea Gulls "Puppy Birds." We were eating our evening meal on an outdoor deck at a seafood restaurant, I sent a quick text to Hannah to tell her I was looking at lots of "Puppy Birds." She fired back a quick "jealous." When we returned to the Trike a "Puppy Bird" had very thoroughly "bombed" everything, trike, seat, helmets, and cooler.

We plan to spend the night in Crescent City, CA tomorrow!

Tia and Doo waiting for us to check into our motel in Florence Oregon

Rick and Darlene on Highway 101 the Pacific Coast Scenic byway. everything we read about it being a beautiful motorcycle ride was true

Seagulls

There are seagulls all over this rock.

Large vessels on the Columbia River

Feet in the Pacific

Seaside Oregon

I am so thrilled to be at the Pacific Ocean. I did not expect to find such a beautiful beach. It does look different than the Atlantic with those hills in the background!

Mt. St. Helens

We were able to see Mt St Helens today. It is a beautiful sight. There is some snow left in the shady spots! We are spending the night in Centralia tonight. We'll hit Highway 101 tomorrow and stay in Seaside tomorrow night! We are all thankful for another amazing day.

I forgot Russ and Sherri , fixed us famous Seattle Salmon,      Delicious  

Rick and Darlene  on the space needle

  We have meet a lot of nice people on our ride across country, but what we found out this weekend  nothing beats family. we stayed with my second cousin Sherri and her husband Russ. They treated us like royalty, showed us around Seattle opened there home to us--and we all had a great time. There  dog Barnie even let Tia and Doo invade his space. They made our one in a lifetime trip so much better, I wanted to cry--- when they put us on the ferry out of Seattle. We hope to return the favor someday. To them we are forever Grateful.         Thanks   Russ  and Sherri                                    Rick

Pike Place Market

Click on this link to hear musician Jonny Hahn

• http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/sherricraddock/media/20130811_133705_zps2c537d94.mp4.html

August 11th.....Seattle!!

We had a great tour of Seattle today thanks to Russ and Sherri. They shared their home with us and made sure we saw Seattle and the surrounding area. We are spending the night in Shelton Washington tonight. We have completed our westward journey, and now we are headed south. It was a beautiful day!

Barney

Our host Barney!

View of Deception Pass. What a beautiful day we spent with Sherri and Russ, and......we got to see a mountain, with snow on it, in August, in the United States! We are spending the night in Mukilteo, Washington. Tomorrow night we hope to be in Shelton, Washington.

Our view this morning...

As we left Ellensburg and headed to Seattle this morning this is what we saw.

Pooch coach one, after keeping Tia and Doo nice and cool while we had lunch

This one is for Patrick---8 days riding 2800 --no rain--a lot of bugs, but the wheels are almost black from brake dust and road dirt.  Can't wait to show it to you when we get home..           Rick

Link to David's Old Faithful video:
Old Faithful

Day 8

We are riding across Washington right now. We have stopped in Ellensburg for the night. We gained another hour this morning when we entered Idaho. The mountains in Idaho were beautiful. I could smell the evergreens for miles. I thought Washington would be green...so far it's not. Tomorrow Seattle!!!!

Beginning week 2

We slept in Missoula MT last night. We have week 1 and 2500 miles behind us. "Traveling across the US on Harleys is not for Sissies." Rick and Dar and Tia are getting ready to saddle up in Idaho in this picture!