Road Trips

Sometimes the simplest pleasure in the world is doin' nothin'. There can be so much to see when you're just standing around being. Life becomes uncomplicated and yet expands far beyond the reaches of your mind. Not far from Ocotillo, I stood watching some wind turbines and snapping a few ...

Riding across the Mojave from Twentynine Palms on my way to Amboy, California was something of a spiritual experience. Seeing an ocean of sand spill out before me with dappled light spread across the expanse... it is a moment I will never forget. I had many such moments in different ...

When something from popular culture becomes a fixture in my mind, often when I visit such a place I don't know how to react. Almost like standing around at a party and not knowing what to do with your hands. The sight isn't a surprise. You've seen it a million ...

While near Joshua Tree, California - I made a pitstop at the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Museum. When I pulled up in the early morning, the light coming east across the desert was glorious. It bathed everything in a golden glow. To the west, menacing clouds gathered. And me? I ...

When I'm roadtripping on the bike, I do my best to pack lightly with regard to clothing. I try to pack things that are easily re-wearable, wrinkle resistant and fast drying. Fast drying is a huge help. That means I can wash them when I stop for the night and they're ...

It was cold when I left the town of Brawley. The sun was just starting to make its way up the eastern sky. The dusky morning blanketed the horizon in a gray-blue haze. The world was not awake yet. With the sun rising at my back, I hummed west with ...

There aren't many people that I know who love spiders. But I have a peculiar fascination with big spiders like tarantulas and the giant huntsman. Not that I want one on me - I just like to look at them. Perhaps thats why this giant Beetle Spider in North Palm Springs ...

With the sunset closing in on Salvation Mountain, I continued south along the Salton Sea to the closest town with a chain hotel in it. Google Maps said that was the Best Western in Brawley, California. By this time of the day, I was hungry, dirty and windburned. I felt ...

What someone chooses to say publicly in paint fascinates me. I feel similarly about bumper stickers. You might only have one shot at getting the attention of someone's eyeballs and this is what you want them to know. My biggest takeaway from this little shack is LOVE WINS. I want that to ...

For a few days now, I've struggled with how to describe my experience visiting Salvation Mountain. I keep coming up short. I am unable to pinpoint the feelings that overwhelmed me there with my cliché words. Perhaps it was the hopeful romanticism of being on a trip and feeling free ...

There is no doubt about it. My introduction to the Cabazon Dinosaurs was through watching Pee Wee's Big Adventure a million times in Junior High. I loved that movie. So in December of 2016 while roadtripping in California, I was ecstatic to be able to visit the dinosaurs of my ...

Friends, did you know that there was an International Banana Museum? "A what?" you might ask. But I assure you that yes, you heard me right. International. Banana. Museum. A museum stuffed to the gills with luminous bananesence. It's world famous. It just so happened that on a sunny Wednesday ...

While I was heading south along the shore of southern California's Salton Sea, I saw a familiar shape casting a shadow across a parking lot. I'm sure my eyes must've swirled with stars as he came in to view. Abruptly, I clamped on the brakes. Before my trip, I hadn't ...

Two days after Christmas, I left cold New York for chilly California. If you aren't familiar with California, you might assume a few things: It never rains there It's always warm Both of those things are incorrect. But while sitting in my office, I impulsively decided that I should burn ...

When I first set off on a roadtrip, I'm overcome with excitement. It isn't unusual that I will make "mistakes" right out of the gate as a result. I'll forget to plug in, turn on, write down, navigate to, or forego things I'd been excited about all because I'm on ...

In preparation for a trip, I might not create a strict timetable or map out a route, but I do find myself engaged in rapturous, absurd fantasies. These fantasies involve who I'll see, where I'll go and of course the gorgeous super-heroine exchanges that I'll have with everyone because I ...

Welcome to 2017, friends. I hope that your holiday season was fun, that you had some time off of work, ate, drank and enjoyed your loved ones. Add to that the hope that you've come in to this new year filled with excitement about all of the possibilities before you ...

You never know where you'll find inspiration to get out and see good stuff! 🙂 The Blue Whale Route 66 Catoosa, Oklahoma The Gemini Giant Route 66 Wilmington, Illinois Tall Paul Route 66 Atlanta, Illinois ...

After getting to know the Blue Whale of Catoosa for a bit, it was time to turn around and head back towards the east. Following Route 66 I passed through the town of Foyil, Oklahoma, the home of Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park. My GPS favorites screen showed an entry ...

The facade of the Pal's Sudden Service chain has to be one of the best around. Normally I wouldn't say such things in polite company but, look at that huge wiener! Back in 2012, when Kenny and I were heading towards the Shady Valley Country Store on TN 421 (The ...

Route 66 holds sway over my imagination. I know, it's just a road. And yet, for me something about it transcends that. I can't be alone in this thinking because it has evolved in to a cultural icon. Maybe it has something to do with being built on ideas, hope ...

The Airplane Filling Station née Barber Shop has been on my bucket list for a few years. I got the opportunity to visit when I left Fredericksburg, Virginia following the Void Rally 11 and headed towards Catoosa, Oklahoma to see the blue whale. It was on the way. 🙂 During ...

In my last post where I rambled on about daydreams, I did have a specific daydream that was the catalyst. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Oklahoma. Whale? Meet these fine people. I've been trying to remember how I first became aware of the Blue Whale. If my ...

Then turn those daydreams into reality! These days, our lives are filled with information. Maybe too much of it. Every second of the day we open up wide and words and images are shoveled in. This information tsunami fills up a lot of space set aside for daydreams. What we ...

A few years ago during a pit stop at the DeLorme store in Yarmouth, Maine - I picked up a couple maps and travels books. One of the items I brought home was a map featuring Mid-Atlantic lighthouses. Having travel inspiration on the bookshelf at home is always a good thing. Scanning ...

While riding through a fairly residential section of Route 6 in Ohio, as I approached the intersection of a side street, a big silvery fish fell out of the sky. Thick and long, it's 18 inches met the pavement with an unceremonious, vaguely moist sounding splat. It was a sound ...

With my belly grumbling, I decided to stop for a spell at Lakeview Park along Lake Erie to eat my electric banana. I didn't know anything about the park, I just happened to see that it had a waterview. Though my morning ride was just little over a hundred miles since leaving Napoleon, Ohio ...

While riding Historic Route 66 in Illinois, I tried to take a turn through the towns that seemed to pop up like an oasis after a stretch of nothin' much. Often my ride would be like road, road, road, TOWN, road, road road... These places that punctuate the route seemed to hold ...

During my ride through Illinois in the fall of 2015, I followed Route 66 north from Springfield and passed through the town of Lincoln, Illinois. Prior to leaving home, I did almost no research about the areas I might ride through. I was just sort of floating on the wind ...

Last fall after finishing a stint at the Void Rally 10 in Virginia, I set off on a road trip around Illinois. My plan was to just bum around and look at stuff. As an Americana-lover, Illinois and it's section of Route 66 have a lot to offer. One thing ...

This year I hope to spend more time riding my dirty bike. The KTM has awakened something inside of me that needs to be explored. I don't know how or why but I'm just going to hop on this wave and ride it out; see where it goes. One of ...

This morning when I saw the Daily Page prompt: What's the quirkiest thing about you? I had to smirk. Personally, I don't think I'm exceptionally quirky but then, who does? It's other people who find your you-ness quirky and comment on it. I don't think I dare ask my husband ...

When the calendar rolled over to 2015 and the Northeast was frozen in the icy grip of a polar vortex, I didn't really expect to see any part of Route 66. I mean, sure I've always fancifully thought about it but never in a real "I should do this now!" sort ...

The World's Largest Bottle of Ketchup is a roadside icon! When I pulled into the parking lot below the world's largest ketchup bottle there was a man talking on his cellphone. I snapped a few photos and scribbled some notes on the hotel pad I keep in my tankbag. During ...

Does anyone ever wake up in the morning, rub the sleep from their eyes, stretch and think... "I bet I'll see Bigfoot today"? I've got 5-bucks on probably not. But that's the funny thing about life. It is seemingly random. Bigfoot in Cave City, Kentucky I say seemingly because even ...

It's funny how you can become fixated on the potential for things to go wrong. You look at a situation and place some type of possible danger-score on it and then tread lightly. Maybe that keeps mishap at bay. Or... maybe whatever is going to happen is beyond your control ...

Do you live in the type of place that could have a smiley face water tower? I don't. But I wish I did. This tower was along my route from Metropolis to Springfield, Ill. in the town of Makanda. That bulbous knob with a smirk surveying the land has to ...

Meeting a beautiful ghost while road tripping While riding from Metropolis towards Springfield, Illinois, I passed through the town of Vienna. It was a place I'd never heard of before. As I slowed my motorcycle and approached the stop sign at IL-146, to my right was the most beautiful ghost. The ...

When I left Fredericksburg, Virginia my plan was very loose. I didn't have a route but I did have a few points on the map that I wanted to see. One of them was Metropolis, Illinois - the Official Home of Superman. Now I was never a huge Superman buff ...

...

"Holy shit!" When I crested the camels hump of a hill, the suspension on the Tiger completely unloaded leaving in its wake an unnerving floating sensation. During that millisecond of weightless hang-time strangely enough there's plenty of time to contemplate your own idiocy. Maybe I should've slowed down. I hope ...

When I pulled up at the edge of Noble Park in Paducah the word "Wow," escaped from me. Even though it was the 10th Whispering Giant I visited, I didn't expect how striking his appearance would be in person. Having seen Wacinton in photos from other grand-tourers I knew that ...

You wouldn't think that writing your own story could be difficult. After all, you live it, it's right there in front of you. And yet finding the loose thread to pull at the end of the day is hard. I'm reading a book about how put my life on paper ...

At breakfast in Morehead, Kentucky I spent most of my time eavesdropping on a man talking about his work. His job was to pull around a Jack Daniel's Airstream party trailer. It is basically a rolling bar. Not a bad gig, I'd say. When you pull up, throw open the ...

While riding through rural Kentucky, past lonely tobacco farms I couldn't help but wonder about the lives of the people who toil away on them. The farmhouses sit far apart with big fields and tracts of land between them. How do people find each other and fall in love there? Are small ...

As I wound my way across West Virginia towards Kentucky, I spotted a few great pink roadside attractions. A super-duper pink elephant in Barboursville on Route 60. Just down the road from the pink elephant in Huntington, WV is a pink giraffe with green spots. Naturally. And smack in between ...

On Sunday morning as I rubbed the I think I drank one too many pints from my eyes I wondered how in the world my weekend had gone by so fast. What started on Thursday evening, riding out to State College, Pa. for a pre-rally dinner, moved in to doing ...

Traveling by motorcycle opens you up to meaningful exchanges. I’ve been wondering about why people move in and out of your life. While I was on my road trip last week, I had several experiences meeting people which have stayed with me. The exchanges that we shared carved out a ...

Last Thursday after tidying up the last of my pressing tasks at work, I set off on my motorcycle. With a week worth of vacation time blocked off on the calendar, I had a few things scribbled on the notebook of my mind to visit. Sightseeing, that’s what I would ...

Do kids who live in rural areas (the kind of towns where houses are like a half a mile apart) go trick or treating? While riding in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois I've been encountering long stretches of road with sparse housing, especially in farming areas. It makes me wonder what ...