Scooters Across America 2015 Blog

Below is the story of our attempt to ride small scooter from New York to San Francisco in 16 days

Daily Logs

In Backwards order start at the bottom of the page for day 1

7/5 Day 16 The Finally Reaching San Francisco

This was going to be our final day of riding and we were a short 184 miles from the end at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. We left a bit later today to make sure that we didn’t make it to our lunch stop too early like we have been doing the previous days. Everyone headed out together and left Sacramento at 7am.

The group of 12 of us including the motorhome and the support van were all in line as we pulled out of town. There was 20 or so miles of working our way out of the city and heading through the back streets and neighborhoods before getting to the delta. During this we got separated a few times and ran into a couple instances of construction. We tried to locate a detour but their signs led to the freeway and there was no other way to get across the river. Since it was Sunday morning and nobody was around we decided to ride through as if we were bicycles.

While I was passing through I tried to look as if I were walking the bike so I kept on moving my feet as the bike was moving however soon we were traveling too fast and I had to pick up my feet. Made it through the piece of construction and were still on track luckily. Next we made our first river crossing of the day and were making way towards the end.

Here is Danny crossing over the river on our first drawbridge. The route then paralleled the river for a while before it cut off and headed west. There were some amazing back roads along the delta that you would not know of unless you had been on them. They are often covered by trees and on one side you see the river and right to the other are homes and farms which often seem to be at a lower elevation than the river. I bet they hope the locks don't fail for them.

Here is Steve (Trail Boss) heading down through the spectacular tree canopy along the river. There are farms off to his left and on the right is the river. We were on these roads for 30 to 40 miles following the flow of the river and passing through the delta. Looking off into the distance you can see the whole group ahead of us having a grand old time along the river.

Kato is here along the bank just overlooking the river which doesn’t seem to be that wide right here but we are just up on one of the forks. It is really nice having this tree cover during the hot summer days as it will easily get above 100oF out here. This morning though, the trees are making it a bit cold for me wearing my Flash costume. Next we traveled off route a ½ mile up to see the town of Locke.

This town was created by the Chinese settlers that were used to help build up the entire lock system in the valley. They created all of these home and a town for them while they were building the locks. Again this town sits below the level of the river and would not be here without the lock system right next door.  This same area talks about TV and radio antennas and the history of them in the valley. There is one that sits close by that stretches 2007 ft into the air. It is incredible how tall they are when you compare them to a skyscraper. Next we all grouped back up and headed down the road.

Terry looks like he is having a great time learning about the history but wants to get back on the road and travel down some miles on Gromzee. We got back up on the lock roads and traveled along for another 20 miles until we crossed the Sacramento River. Here the river was a masterpiece stretching about ¼ mile wide and by now it had gotten extremely windy in the valley.

After crossing over the river we stopped at a gas station which happened to have a McDonalds. Being around 9am now it was the perfect time to get a morning snack and fuel up for the next leg. It was also really nice to be able to go inside and escape the nasty wind that was passing by. By 9:30 we had all finished up and got back on the road. Unfortunately the wind hadn’t stopped. The route went through some back streets and passed by some failed housing projects.

Kirley decided to break the rules and go up on the sidewalk for the next couple of miles. We continued to fight the headwind for the next 2-3 hours during which it would often push me below 35 mph. By the time we made a turn it felt like such a relief to have only wind coming from the side. But 2-3 miles later and your neck started to cramp up.  We also had several miles of dirt roads that we had to battle that had a considerable amount of washboard on them. The BMS doesn’t like the washboard roads at all and goes all over the place. By now we were up out of the valley and had run into a closed gate but had found a spectacular tree close by.

Steve went over and got his picture being a tree hugger while the rest of us looked for a re route around the gate.  Soon we found a way around and continued off. By now we were about 20 miles from our lunch stop in Petaluma. The next few miles passed through some vineyards and wine country.  There were several miles of back pavement in through the grapes, some of which were nice and smooth roads and some weren’t, but they were all enjoyable even on the old suspension that the BMS has.

Getting out of the the vineyards led us to some bigger and faster back highways. The Lorenze boys also decided to stop really quick and go wine tasting and hit up a winery. The highway crossed over these great rolling hills with some awesome brush and cattle off to the side.

10 minutes later we made it into Petaluma for lunch. The stop was at 4th and Sea which is a spectacular fish and chips joint. We met up with the rest of the group that had separated earlier and even ran into our old friend Harm who came to follow us for the last half of the day. Jessica sure looks hungry for those fish and chips and later devoured them.

As we were getting lunch one of our riding friends, Steve, showed up and said hello. We all talked for a while and he was fascinated with our trip. He met everyone and connected with the blogs that he was following. He also got to see everyone’s first glance of DannyAmerica.

By now it was warm enough that everyone had their costumes on as we got ready to head out for the last 80 miles of the ride. We passed through the local neighborhoods before going out into the countryside again with the farms and cattle along the roadway. The route traveled over some new passes in which we started to see some greenery again.

Next we passed by some little lakes and into some towns before ending up on Highway 1. Along the way we ran into several little animals and passed tons of people with confused looks on their faces. The road was now near the west coast and was completely engulfed by immaculate scenery. It is hard to believe that there are roads this great so close to home and in the dry west.

Several of the trees had moss growing on them and the ground was filled with little bugs and insects. It is like our own little rainforest up here and surprised everyone. The route continued in the hills and had these great corners, however, one had to be careful that they weren’t wet and would put you down. Then instantly we popped out onto the coast and had our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.

I know this is just a bay along the sea but we are so close right now sitting 20 miles above the Golden Gate and right along the water. Everyone is astounded by how the day is unfolding and it seems that every minute we think it can’t get better it turns and gets way better. We passed through a small little town before heading off the coast and back over the coastal mountains.

Here is Jessica coming back up the mountains and having fun through the corners. During this point we were all freezing as it was overcast and there was lots of moisture in the air. Some spots of the road looked as if it had just rained and the road was still drenched so we slowed down and it allowed us to take in the scenery and how much we had already accomplished.

Here are two of the dads sitting at the top completely in awe with how the day is unfolding. We have been all over today from the dry valley to the southern atmosphere of the delta up to the mountains, over to the ocean and through the rainforest. I think that this is the best day of the ride if not definitely one of the top 2-3. Next was back into town for our last gas stop.

Here we all are sitting, waiting for the light in our costumes and causing complete chaos. We made a plan for how the last segment was going to unfold and headed off back into the hills and through the high end areas surrounding the city. These roads are super tight in which it is very hard if not impossible for 2 cars to pass one another in here.

This is one of the main roads which has to be the steepest hill I have ever been on. It doesn’t look that steep but you could easily coast from 0-30 on this hill. The best way to see is look at the driveways and the difference in angles or by how much taller the neighbor’s house is then yours.  Looking the other way is just as cool with the bay straight in front of you.

Off into the distance is our first sight of the city. We are so close to finishing yet so far if we had to push.  A few more miles of very slow and steep hills and we ended up getting a bit of a better view of the city.

Now was the final preparation for crossing the bridge and we all grouped up and took off our windbreakers to show off our costumes for the final time. Everyone was there and we determined the order of the ride in order to video the crossing and people’s reactions.

We set off and made it through the tunnel and could see the bridge off into the distance. There it was: 16 days and 3800+ miles. This was the end; we had made it to the Golden gate.

After having an ever so grand experience crossing the bridge, we made it to the other side with horns beeping and pictures being snapped. It is hard to believe that 2 weeks ago all of these scooters were in NYC and all the places they have been to stir up chaos along the way. We have an amazing country. Remember to get out there and see it while you still can. Next we dropped into Golden Gate Park to get some follow up pictures.

One more group picture in front of the Pacific Ocean.

One more so that you can see the bridge off in the Background.

After this was 5 miles though the city and out to the beach where we all met up to say our goodbyes and have great views of the Pacific. We helped load up some bikes and everyone talked and shared stories for 30 minutes. Wrapped up with some awesome beers from Steve, the friend who we had met earlier in the day. Slowly the group diminished and we got to be a smaller and smaller group. The rest left for the hotel and had 20 more miles to travel to get there.

Also, for the last 15 miles, Christine, Terry’s wife, ended up joining us and riding across the bridge and joined us for the celebration dinner back at the hotel. I hope that everyone had a great trip and all the followers had a fun time watching.  Be sure to be there for the next great adventure and the update on the CT70 once we get it home.

7/4 Day 15 Happy B-Day America

Fallon was great yesterday but it was time to move on so we got up this morning around 5:30. We futzed around and got ready to leave by 6:00am. Today the group consisted of Kato, Kevin, Danny, G-dog, Steve and Jessica. We left Fallon and headed out on the 50 towards Carson City. We soon turned back onto the 50 as opposed to going towards Reno. When we turned the route went down a dirt road parallel to the highway.

G-dog wasn’t having it on the dirt road and decided to stick to the pavement. The dirt road went on for 10 miles and slowly more and more people jumped off the dirt. Next we made it to the next big town which was our donut stop except since we were there at 6:45 the gas station wasn’t even open so there was no way to get snacks. It was off to Carson City next.

If you haven’t been to Nevada before, there are wild horses around the state. We happened to run into a group of them resting alongside the roadway. They were all eating grass but Might Mouse riled them up a bit. We continued the next 20 miles into Carson City which happens to be the capital of Nevada.

Once in the town we traveled on back roads in order to make sure that we weren’t on the big main fast roads. A gas station was the next stop since we had traveled over 70 miles and everyone had a snack. During our break we noticed that Steve’s exhaust was breaking the same way that Danny’s did a week before. It is definitely a bad design from NCY so we spent 20 minutes trying to fix it.

After working on it for a bit we were able to reattach the header pipe to the muffler and put a clamp around the bracket. This is when we broke up into 2 groups and continued on the route. The next part was up to Lake Tahoe however we didn’t want to go up the big 4 lane highway so we ended up traveling along the base of the mountain for a while before going up.

It was nice and calm along the base since there wasn’t much traffic and most of this section was a 45 mph road. There were many farms that we passed by and even a few cool business and tourist spots. The next thing we went through was great and named Geno which was the first settlement for Nevada.

This was a cool old settlement and was the first one in Nevada being formed in 1851. There was a lot of historic buildings and many cool old machinery and historic placards throughout the town. After this we entered the long and slow road up to Tahoe. I ended up dropping down to 25 mph due to the steep slope and the bad gearing in the BMS.

The scooter kept on pulling even though the the hill got steeper and steeper. We ended up pulling on to the shoulder several times trying to let people pass by us as we were going up. We finally crested the hill after 20 minutes of working our way up and were able to get back up to speed flying back up to the cars that recently passed us. This was also the first time were were able to see the lake. Next we traveled through town and finally made it to our last state which was California.

When we arrived in Tahoe the weather was perfect but by the time we traveled through the town and ended up at the south side, the weather started to change. In a little bit it started to rain so we found a little Mexican restaurant and went in for tacos. As we were eating it went in and out of raining and by the time we finished it was sunny in the direction we were traveling. Steve and G-dog didn’t have the same luck and it rained really hard on them, even hailing for a while. There was also really loud thunder, louder than those annoying Harley’s. After this we left town and headed up over the mountain running across spectacular views.

The route traveled up the 50 for several miles before breaking off and heading up small local roads. Along the 50 there are some incredible rock formations as well as tons of trees. It is a good thing we ended up turning because there were probably 50 cars behind us that all piled up in that 3-5 mile section up the hill. Anyways, we also prefer taking the remote and isolated roads instead.

This is more of our mojo. These roads were perfect being smooth and tight passages through the trees and for once the amazing roads weren’t dirt but ended up being pavement. So for once Kevin wasn’t lying about the route being pavement. A few miles of this then it was back onto the fast highway 50 before jumping off again and crossing a cool little stream.

We stopped and climbed in the stream for a bit before ending up back on the road. This again was also where we started those back pavement roads through the forest, The spectacular 1 lane fast and smooth pavement sections. These roads twisted and turned through the trees and rose and fell following the natural terrain as opposed to just moving it out of the way to make it a faster road.

I led through this section with Kevin following me and Kato bringing up the rear. I managed to get ahead for a section and picked up a bunch of pine cones to place all over my scooter. The plan was to carry them till we ran into the next group and then give everyone one but I got tired of carrying them so I pushed them all off in front of my dad and he had to try to weave in and out of them.  That is what he gets for following so close.

Here is another one of the amazing rivers we crossed over and it has an appropriate name for the day being The American River. Next was into Pollock Pines for a gas stop before we dropped off and down into the heat of the valley. As we left the gas station everyone though it was going to be fast main roads into the city but then it was back to the country roads.

We all enjoyed and were surprised by these roads traveling right by the local farms and homes definetly better than being stuck on highway 50 with a group of angry motorists on your tail. Next was into Folsom where we worked through the back streets before getting into old town. We passed by the middle school and City Hall before going across the American River again. By now we were about 4,000 feet lower and during that time the river got way bigger.

There were tons of people floating and hanging out in the river and I wanted to join them but we still had several miles to go for the day. In the valley here it had to be over 100 and being stuck on the asphalt didn’t help one bit. The route also traveled through these back roads with many stop signs and lights. We finally made it to the final donut stop of the day which was perfect since it was a Dairy Queen. Here we all enjoyed a Blizzard and met up with Kirley, Bob and Kathy. We had our treat and then got on the road for the last 20 miles of the day.

Korley had some interesting positions to ride through town. We were enjoying being back in California and had fun going in between the cars again. We all did this and would race out the other side which was pathetic since our racing speed is the same as just a normal person in a car leaving a light. We all had a blast going back and forth and playing games with each other. Next was the arrival at the hotel and we washed up before going out for dinner at a BBQ restaurant and heading out to watch some fire works. Tomorrow is the last day for us and we should be at San Francisco Golden Gate park by 3-4pm. Looking forward to the last miles and being able to go home and back to “normal” life for a while. The day had all types of weather from a perfect start to rain in Tahoe and the blistering heat in the valley at the end.

7/3 Day 14 Trying to Avoid being Superheated

Now we are in the upper deserts of Nevada and today’s ride was to travel from Ely to Fallon. Since this was expected to be a really hot day everyone decided to get an early start. My group ended up leaving at 5:30am and heading out toward Eureka. Others left a couple minutes before and the last team left before 6:00 am. The morning started out great with weather and was actually a bit chilly for me just wearing a windbreaker. We were on highway 50 which immediately climbed up some hills before continuing on to the flat desert.

Here is Kato showing how much he is enjoying the road and also how surprised he is that we haven’t been passed by a car in over an hour. There is absolutely no one out here for miles and miles. Soon after Mighty Mouse ended up making the first hill climb which was almost 8,000 ft. This is pretty high for still being in the desert and not seeing pine trees around us.

While we were eating up the miles the sun was coming up behind us on the horizon. By now it was about 7am and the sun was just peeking over the clouds and really looked fantastic shimmering through them. The overcast sky continued for miles which was a good thing because it kept the heat down for the first part of the day.

After another 30 miles we made our first gas stop of the day which was in Eureka, NV. This is a cool old rustic town that seems it is right out of the cowboy days except for the modern roads and electronics but it was a cool little look back at history and when the west was being settled. It is amazing the size of the fire station here for the size of the town but I guess you are in the desert so fires have to be quite common.

At the gas station we picked up a couple of little snacks from the convenience store to have for breakfast in order to be able to eat at our lunch stop for the day in Austin. The last group caught up with us there right as we were taking off and heading on the next 70 miles to lunch. It was back on the road and there was lots to see as we made the next miles. There were a couple of antelope and tons of little squirrels and rodents. We ended up running into some cows as well.

We saw some cows testing their strength and seeing who was the alpha cow. They were pushing and headbutting one another which I had never seen before. They were shoving and throwing up dirt on each other. They did this for a while before they noticed us and walked away concerned. It was back onto the road and to a donut stop. We regrouped and the last group caught up with us here. There were still 30 miles to Austin and we took off. Coming up the hills the BMS is really struggling so it gives me some alone time.

This is what it is like going up a hill wide open at 35 mph. The other scooters can easily go 42 up the same hill and then there are cars that will come up every so often and go by at around 70 mph. I feel like I know what it is to be a road bicycler and this aspect I really don’t like. After being passed by everyone I tried to catch up to G-dog on the downhill. I was able to get the BMS up to 55 mph and flew through the corners and caught him right before Austin.

Now that we were in town it was 10am and we made it to our lunch stop at the International Cafe. We walked in and talked to a few locals about the ride which they were all super excited about and interested. If you haven’t been here before this is an interesting place that has a really wild bar next door that you have to check out. Since we were there before 11am we couldn’t order lunch so we all got breakfast.

We ate breakfast since that was all we could get and headed out on the last 110 miles to Fallon. This was the time that it was going to be hot,  First there was 50 miles to a donut stop at an old settlement along the road and then we traveled another 20 miles into Middlegate. Along the way it was quite hot but it still looked spectacular out there in the desert.

By now it was about 12:30 and we were all wanting a break so thanks Gil for suggesting that we stop at Middlegate for some ice cream. Gil and Cary’s family went to the hotsprings today to escape the long boring road since they are able to go 60 mph. I wish I could do that again but only another 2 days on the scoots. Middlegate was a fantastic place which has the old 1 dollar bill thing going on over the bar.

After this we all headed towards the end of the day which was only 50 miles left. We were all worn out and destroyed by the heat of the day. Everyone met up at the next donut stop which happened to be at a dry lake bed. We tooled around and did drag races and all sorts of things.  Danny sure had a blast trying to do some donuts at the donut stop but they didn’t work out well on the Zuma.

He ended up sliding out while trying to do it and set the bike down carefully. It looked like fun. I wish the BMS was a bit more powerful and shorter so it could spin the rear tire. Next we had a 5 way drag race in which Kato won the first heat since I hit the kill switch on Jessica’s PCX. The next race Jessica ran away from everyone. In the end 1st was Jessica on the PCX, then Kato on the Kymco 150, then Danny on the Zuma, then Kevin on the Grom and finally me way behind on the BMS.  We were having fun but it was hot out there so we headed out down the road. On the final miles everyone left me in the dust including the motorhome that took this picture of Kato.

He looks so silly sticking his leg out there but it is sure comfortable to have these different positions sitting on the scooter. Different ways to change the pressure points on your butt. I stopped and poured a water bottle on me before finishing the last 20 miles. I was dry by the time we got to the hotel. In the end we jumped off the loneliest highway and took back roads along the irrigation canals to the hotel, also working by the local pool and by some homes.

These ended up being a cool way through the back of town. By the time i made it to the hotel everyone was there and hanging out. We checked in and received a great gift from the owner. He left us a 12 pack of beer and since he left to go to San Francisco for the fireworks, the manager gave them to us. We had a great time hanging out in the lobby and really like the hotel staff here.

We hung out in the lobby for around an hour before going off to take showers and do our daily routines. We ended up making a plan for dinner at which we were going to this local mexican restaurant. This would have been a great place for a celebration dinner and had fun staff as well as great food.

After this everyone headed back and did some maintenance on their scooters including a couple of oil changes and checking air pressure. The night wrapped up and we all enjoyed ourselves even though there wasn’t a lot to see today going across Nevada. We ended up having a blast by playing games and messing around with each other. Overall we made 260 miles in about 8 hours with quite a bit of breaks throughout the day. Tomorrow is off to Sacramento for the 4th.

7/2 Day 13 Entering the Silver State

Starting off this morning was a bit different since we were heading for the desert heat later in the day. We left the hotel at 6:15 and headed out on the bikes. We went straight out of town and then jumped on these back farm roads along the freeway. These were fairly remote and had very little traffic on them only seeing a car every 10 or so minutes.

For a while these were nice dirt roads, but then they went back to being remote pavement.

Down the roads we went and soon pulled up by a couple runways. As we got close to them we noticed they had a bunch of little biplanes. Soon thereafter we saw some crop dusters flying over. I hadn’t seen one in action before so the whole group pulled over and took pictures as he was doing his route over the corn.  

After watching this for a while we continued on and the route soon went by the first donut. There was a goof in the route and it actually didn’t go by the donut so I guess I missed the first one. Next was through town and then back to the country and farmlands. Along the back road we crossed over the Snake River which we were swimming in the previous day. We could have saved an hour of riding if we just floated down stream yesterday.

After passing over the river we entered our next town and then worked through the suburbs before Jumping on the 93. We continued on this up to Jackpot where we got gas and had a snack break. Next was a 70 mile section down to our lunch stop in Wells,Nv. But before this we had to enter into Nevada which happened just before Jackpot.

Now that we were in Nevada we could gamble about our strategy to beat the heat of the day. An hour and a half later everyone wound up in Wells where many of us had breakfast/lunch since it was only about 10:20am. We had a great lunch and then had one final stretch to get to Ely,Nv. By now it was quite hot and we still had 140 miles to our destination so at the gas station we convinced the guy cleaning the sidewalk to spray us down. About 50 miles down the road we passed by some construction equipment and I have a love for machinery so we stopped and checked it out.

My dad wasn’t quite as interested but was hot so he stopped underneath it trying to get in the shade. Kato and I climbed around and checked them out. The doors were unlocked so we climbed in and sat inside. The keys were also in it but we didn’t have the guts to try to start one.

This was the biggest thing that Kato has ever been in with the wheels being over 8 feet in diameter.The scraper was made of incredibly thick steel with most of it being at least ¼ in thick. Now it was back on the road to continue towards the hotel. By now the weather wasn’t looking too nice.

It wasn’t looking too promising but it turned out to be nice for us; the closer we got to it, the cooler it was outside. A while later we noticed the road became wet from where it had rained previously. We got a couple sprinkles which felt really nice and the rest of the way it was overcast and fairly cool. We stopped by the final donut of the day and looked around this old abandoned hotel.

Then we made the final 50 mile stretch to the hotel during which we encountered a bit more sprinkles and great weather. The other groups supposedly got severe rain and even some hail mixed in during the last 70 miles and ended up soaked. Today was way nicer than everyone was expecting it to be by having the rain and overcast sky keeping the deserts cool. It wasn’t the most scenic, but that is part of going across the country, seeing the good and the bad along the way. We went into town to an ice cream parlor that Kirley had found when he was wandering around and it was a great and unhealthy way to end the afternoon.

That is it for today and we are all wanting the overcast sky to be there again tomorrow as we travel from Ely to Fallon, Nv. Only 3 more days and we should be in San Francisco.  Let’s hope everything works out. Today was 320 miles and took us about 8 hours but we turned it into a more relaxed pace later and later in the day. Also fighting though the rain wasn’t that great sometimes as we had to battle a terrible headwind that dropped the scooter from 45 to 35 mph.

7/1 Day 12 Entering the Summer Heat

This morning started really early for us with Kato and I taking off and trying to catch up to Kirley who left about 30 min before. We got gas and then headed out of Jackson and over through Wilson before entering the climb of the day, maybe even the trip. It was cold and foggy out without much going through my head other than where is the sun. Kevin soon caught up to us leaving Wilson and heading up the pass.

By now the climb was becoming really steep and we were slowing down by the minute. Half way up we were down to 23 mph. After another 5 min or so we crested the hill and started to head back down and into the flat lands below. We ran into a deer crossing the road which caught us by surprise but that was no issue. Next we came to the next state in our journey which happened to be Idaho.

Next was about 20 miles to our first donut stop.  We happened to stop at a gas station and got some breakfast snacks and coffee. When we arrived Terry was heading off to do the next section. As we were enjoying breakfast Bob and Kathy showed up and took our lead and got some snacks. Later the last 4 showed up and all decided to go over to the local restaurant and get some grub. We finally headed off again and shot toward the next gas stop. Along the way we passed by the world famous Potato Museum.

We soon made it to the gas stop and filled up. By now Bob and Kathy had joined us as well as Cary following closely behind. There was another section before lunch which was filled with rolling hills and back country roads through farm lands. For a while these paths were dirt roads that paralleled the highway. From here we jumped out and passed by a huge mine that was filled with tons of equipment and a 100+ car train.

After looking around we headed in to the following town for lunch. By now it was about 11:00 am and the perfect time for lunch since we had been on the road since 6:45 am. The stop was at a Subway and we all got sandwiches before leaving. The following groups all showed up and told about different incidents of the day. Bob traded his scooter out for Harm’s since his was having trouble shutting off and losing power. It is thought to be the fuel pump but only time will tell. As we were leaving we saw a big area of farmed elk.

By now we were in the heat of the day and it was in the 90’s outside. 15 miles into the section after lunch we were burning up. I was leading and looked over and saw Terry playing in a farmer’s field so we stopped and he showed us how to cool off. We rode the scooters into the field and rode through the sprinklers getting soaked in order to cool off.

We noticed a car on the road so we shot out of the fields in case it was the farmer and continued down these back paved roads. Crossed over the freeway again then started to leave the farms behind. We were now traveling through the desert and ran into some Moo’s. I tried to chase some through the field but the old worn suspension (or should I say springs) on Blue Thunder weren’t having it. The Grom gave a shot at the next one and could easily stay up with the cow. We didn’t want to wear them out so only made them run a couple hundred yards.

After several more miles of these roads and tons of lounging positions on the scooter we crossed over the Snake River. Kirley was leading at this point and noticed this old boat dock so we headed over. By now we were all dried off from the “rain” before and were hot so thought it was the perfect time for a swim. Kirley headed up and went in with all of his gear on.

As the rest of the group passed by they noticed us in the water and stopped to play as well. In the end we had everyone in except G dog. Maybe today he was grumpy dog. We all were surprised as he flew on by and didn’t want to play in the water.

This was a great day for some bonding and was a great swim spot but you have to be careful of the strong current in the river. We continued the last 15 miles into town which happened to have the state fair happening so our route changed a bit. Kirley is the only one that stopped and went around talking to the people. wish I would have but I had a lot of work to do. I had to finish yesterday’s blog and change a tire before even starting this one. Today was a fairly quick day even though we traveled nearly 230 miles and took a few stops for cooling off. We were at the hotel by 4pm which gave me time to catch up. 4 days left! Let’s hope we all will finish strong. And Kirley took Gromsee for a dip as well.

6/30 Day 11 Herding Buffalo in Yellowstone

Today began with a great little early morning breakfast made by these two little old women that own a small convenience store/restaurant/parts store next door to our hotel. I got an omelet that was delicious and ended up being the perfect start to the day. Overnight it rained a bit so some of the things we left on the bike were damp. The morning was a cold start partly because we were at 8,000 ft and mostly because it is the mountains and it rained all night. We headed off on the road and began by freezing our butts off.

Even though we were all freezing and probably should have put more layers on, it was an amazing start with perfect weather. I soon had to stop to put on my windstopper gloves in order to get some blood flow back. By now we were inside Yellowstone and soon ran into a huge herd of buffalo, actually many herds of them.

For a long while we waited for them to get off the road but that wasn’t working.  A guy coming from the other side managed to work his way through the pack and ended up making it across. However we were traveling the other direction and they quickly closed off the road again. I also don't think they are intimidated like those Harley riders in Sturgis were. They could care less that we were there and were not going to move for us at all.

After waiting for a bit longer, Gil got tired and started to push his way through the herd. We all followed behind him very closely to hope they wouldn’t close in as we were passing by them. We managed to get through the first group and join Mighty Mouse who had been stuck in between the 2 groups doing donuts to try to keep his space and keep them from closing in on him. After Gil’s help, we ended up passing by yet another herd. After this was several miles on the side of some hills overlooking the valley and the wildlife that coexists down there. Next we headed up the hillside and into the trees. There were spectacular views of the valleys and creeks below us.  

We traveled up along the mountain side around 7,000 feet wrapping around the mountains and climbing up over a couple of passes. Wound up seeing an antelope walking down the road. He knew that he grew up in a National Park as he just walked away as we got close to him and didn’t really run away like those wandering around in the forest.

Next we went across another valley in which i stopped and thought I saw a moose. Kato pulled up next to me and helped me figure out that in the end it was just a man walking out there with a big tripod. Darn, really wish I would have seen one out there in the wild. After we started gaining elevation again before stopping at a rest area to meet up and take a break. Here are Bob and Kathy looking over and off into the amazing scenery in the park.

Got back onto the road and headed down the pavement to our donut stop which happened to be at a hot springs. These are quite common in the area due to the fact that much of Yellowstone sits on top of cracks in the tectonic plates. These release magma and heat up water that flows away and into these awesome pools.

Traveled another 30 miles down the road before we ended up reaching our first geyser. This area had many hot springs and had some cool trails leading between the different active sites. The amazing thing to me was how clear some of these pools actually are out there. They can have crystal clear water, then the next one might just be bubbling mud.

It is hard to tell from the picture since there is a bunch of steam coming off of the pool but it is the clearest water I have ever seen. Next was 20 more miles to Old Faithful Lodge which is the most famous place in all of Yellowstone. When we got there we managed to watch Old Faithful geyser go off and shoot water well over 50 feet into the air.

After walking around there for a while, we ended up in the lodge and got some lunch. Next we looked around at the souvenirs and then headed back to the bikes to continue on the route. We were on the way out of the park now. We ended up passing by the Continental Divide which means we now are on the right side of the Rockies and almost home. Here is Bob, Terry, Kato and I in front of the Continental Divide.

After this we headed on to the donut stop which happened to be at the Yellowstone sign. Along the way we ran into a couple more buffalo and some beautiful birds. I really like the black ones that have the white wing tips. We also passed by a couple of little waterfalls and even a few lakes. We ended up being the first group there so we decided Kevin had to do a wheelie in front of the sign.

We hung out and talked to a bunch of the tourists as they came and went while we waited for the Zuma boys and the VanArsdale Duo. When everyone arrived we positioned all of the scooters in the photo while being able to see the sign and some views of nature.  We had to use the van as a stand to get the right vantage point for the photos.

Still have to do more but too tired

Here is a different angle of the same group picture in front of the Yellowstone sign. We as a group were having a great day and I really liked having sunny and nice weather this year as opposed to the rain and snow from last year.

After wrapping up everyone was wanting to go since it looked like the rain was going to roll in but it didn't end up raining. I think this is the best group picture we have so far and am glad we were all patient enough to wait there for 45min for everyone to show up. Next we left Yellowstone and then entered a new National Park right after, The Grand Tetons. Kato and Kevin took a picture before we entered the park.

After entering the park we pulled over at a gas station and got some ice cream.  As we were eating it, Gil and everyone else passed by which we would later figure out was a bad thing. Got back on the bike and continued through the park. We got back on the route and were able to see some incredible views of the mountains alongside the creek.

We continued through the park and had some great views of the mountains and the amazing lakes that wrapped around. Then as we were leaving the park we had to slow down to go through the gate.  As we were slowing down, the CT70 lost power. Then when I tried to go again, it had almost no power. We called Gil and he came and rescued me and saved me by trading the CT70 for Blue Thunder. As we were getting ready to leave I noticed the Lorenzes turning off on this other dirt road which wasn’t on track and decided to follow them. This was a nice back road through trees which turned to dirt in a bit.

This road continued on for miles. Kato and I were wondering where they were going. Once I caught up to Jessica and she said we were heading over to Jackson Hole. I felt a bit better then and soon we ran into a great sight of 3 moose. I haven’t ever seen this many moose in the wild and we happened to get up there really close.

After this, we soon arrived in Jackson Hole and walked around the town for like 20 minutes before getting on the bikes and heading towards Jackson for our motel. We left early since the rain was starting to come down on us. Today definitely had its ups and downs with spectacular scenery and wildlife but bad results for White Lighting being taken away in the van. Everyone had a great time enjoying the scenery and are happy with the weather of the day. Check back tomorrow for the next ride report.

6/29 Day 10 Reaching towards the sky in Montana

Today began with everyone getting up around 6:00 and heading over to breakfast  We had a typical continental feast filled with waffles, eggs, oatmeal and whatever else you wanted.  Soon we ended up getting suited up and headed out of Sheridan. We enjoyed our stay here but it was time to move on and aim for new challenges. The route headed through town and showed us some of the industry and more of the country style of living that we aren’t knowledgeable of from growing up in the city. The route started to get further and further away and soon ended up heading out of town on these sweet dirt roads. The first one was so smooth and packed down it was basically a pavement road just not made with asphalt.

These roads continued for about 30 miles before entering another little town which sat at the base of our first big climb. We grouped up again before heading up the tremendous hill. We had several cars pass us at the beginning where the climb gradually started and was nice and flat but still was filled with incredible views.

The climb started at about 4000 feet and was going to go on for miles before we would get even close to the top. I had to run the bike in 2nd and 3rd geasr in order to stay in the power band enough to make it up the hill. There were an incredible amount of trees that we quickly rose up into and were snaking up the hillside. The route consisted of numerous switchbacks and lots of sharp curves along the hillside.

Here is a picture of the gps showing details of all of the corners coming up. By now we were in 2nd gear most of the time and were able to keep up with the cars since the road was so tight and twisty. The higher we got, the more and more incredible the views became. We could see on for 20 miles if not more and the weather was perfect so far. A lot better than fighting through the snow and rain as I had done last year.

Here is Terry and my dad flying up the mountain at some breakneck speed of about 18-19 mph. Most would have been annoyed at the slow speed however there is not many people that travel on these back roads and it also gave us a good chance to look at the scenery, trying to find a bear out in the distance.  Finally we reached the top of the hill which was an astounding feat for all of these little bikes.

This was the top of the first peak and now the road began to drop down for a while and travel across the flat plains filled with water and antelope. As I was going down I ran into Kato stopped on the side of the road with the tools out. His bike had been acting up again and had been missing and coughing a lot so he pulled out the air filter and determined that he wouldn’t do dirt the rest of the day.

After the quick fix we headed out trying to catch up with the rest of the group. The road finished up through the plains and started to climb up again wrapping along the top and even was on the ridge much of the time. I managed to snag a photo of Cary near the top of the mountain and at the end of our first climb.

The group hit the top and stopped to admire the view and the incredible little 125s as they pulled everything up the hill with no problem other than traveling very slow. The peak was at 9,500 feet so it was no slouch in terms of passes.  Once we finished our break, it was down the hill and into a small little town for lunch. That makes it sound easy and it was but there was way more to it. The downgrade was 10% and continued for 18 miles.  My dad and I ended up having fun trying to chase down one another through the corners, trying to keep as much speed as possible.

Once in town we went over to Taco John’s that had been replaced but I was still able to get a taco salad. After that was a quick stop at the gas station and then 70 miles across the flat plains and over to the base of the real climb of the day-Beartooth Pass. This area was incredibly hot being so low and having the sky’s clear for the past couple of days. In the middle of this section we crossed another border at which we had to stop for a picture.

Again it was back to the road however this time there was a problem. The little 70 was making a weird noise that sounds a whole lot like rods knocking which is definitely not a good thing. We decided it wasn’t too bad and we continued to try to catch up with Gil. We were hoping he would be at the gas stop in the next town but to our disappointment, he had already left and headed up the mountain. By this time Jessica and Gary ended up joining our group and we took off for Beartooth Pass. This point in the day was only about 1pm and we had only 60 miles left so we took it slow and took lots of pictures.

We started up a gorgeous canyon for 10 to 15 miles. There was a great mix of trees and rock that shows just how beautiful the landscape is in our own backyard. There is no reason to travel to the Alps when you have just as good passes, peaks and roads just a couple days from your own backyard. The canyon run soon came to an end and the road turned and started doing switchbacks up the hillside.

We soon arrived to the next donut which happened to be at this parking lot that was ¾ of the way up the mountain and was at over 9,000 ft. We took a break and walked out toward the end to get pictures of the view. Looking to the left was the mountain ridge filled with patches of snow and you could also see waterfalls going down the hillside. To the right was the canyon that led out to the flat grasslands at the base of the mountains. You could see on for miles and miles. There were some really vicious chipmunks that would do anything for food and were more than happy to take a picture.

Then it was back on the bikes looking for the next spot to stop for a picture and to watch the scenery go by at 15 mph as we trucked on up. The higher we got, the more breathtaking the views were and the worse the little bikes ran. Most of them are fuel injected which really helps but the Kymcos and my CT70 were hurting for air at the top.  Our next stop overlooked these great lakes below us which fed into one of the waterfalls we saw from below.

Hyperdog sure looks to be in his element up here at the top of the pass. The weather up here was a bit windy which is to be expected, however it was fairly warm and didn’t have much if any snow. Last year coming up here I was freezing my butt off and there was more snow than I ever needed to see in a day. It is nice to have a totally unique experience in between years. We finally made it to the summit and the bikes were looking forwards to the downhill that lay ahead.

A group photo was taken and we accomplished one of the hardest things of the trip: to get these monkey bikes up and over an 11,000 ft pass. They weren’t happy being up there but we were all glad they pulled us up as opposed to us dragging them up. That would have made for a really long day. Now we had 30 miles left and headed down the mountain following the ridge for a while and dropping into Cooke City.

After traveling back down some 4,000 feet we ended up at our hotel for the day. We ended up traveling over 265 miles, had 3 gas stops, lunch, ice cream, took 75 pictures and had a complete blast spending time with our motorcycles and one another.  Tomorrow we are heading through Yellowstone which will mean dozens and dozens of pictures will be taken.  Once at the hotel we ripped apart the CT70, checking the plug, valves and cam and found no signs of any issues so only time will tell if the problem progresses.

6/28 Day 9 Wooming through Wyoming

Everyone got in last night and wanted to have a look around Sturgis so we were all on our own schedules and didn’t take a group picture in front of the Sturgis sign. That was the first mission of the day to get a photo of our scooter gang tearing up trouble for the locals. After a little breakfast at the hotel we all headed over for the picture.

This was an awesome place to experience because we are all bikers and all have a love for 2 wheels and a motor and this is one of the great places in the U.S that brings all types of bikers together. I wish the picture was a bit better however the sun was in the wrong position but It is about the memories like meeting Emma the donkey from the Full Throttle bar from the night before. While this town is centered on the Harley and cruiser crowd, everyone that we met and told our story to was amazed and in shock about the trip that we were undertaking. Since we all grew up on mini bikes and learning how to ride, my dad and I picked up some wheelie skills and wanted to get some pics in front of the Sturgis sign doing them.

There is my dad showing how to lift up the grom’s front tire and then there is me who is following in my dad’s footsteps some would say.

After everyone got their fair share of pics in front of the sign we ended up hitting the pavement and checking off miles. We left the city and soon ended up in the back and remote roads following the highway and heading west: a sort of manifest destiny. After 20 miles or so we ended up leaving South Dakota to travel to our next state, Wyoming and the zuma boys stopped to get a picture in front of the sign.

After that it was back down the highway and we headed off for our first gas stop of the day. We got a quick snack and shared a couple stories with the locals who were interested in our journey. There were 10 or so more miles before we headed off on a RED section which means that it is a harder option which means dirt roads in this instance. On this section we ended up seeing a plane that crashed which was crazy since it happened on a pole.

Then we hit the dirt roads which were pretty mild and fairly fast at least for a while until we ran into trouble. We passed by a couple ranchers and some country cottages and ended up climbing up a couple hills. Soon the dirt road began to wrap along the ridge having great views of the open spaces and the wildlife that was roaming around the plains. These are the nice rolling hills as the rockies are still further west and will give us a real challenge in order to make it over some 10,000 foot passes.

This was the view along the ridge which was spectacular. The route soon dropped down and then continued along some old roads, one of which ended in this rancher's property. We were stopped by him as he was leaving and we told him about our journey and our plans for the trip. He was very interesting and we talked for 10 minutes with him and his wife. We ended up learning that the route we were looking for was abandoned and went through his property but he told us how to get to the gate and about the river crossing on the side of the hill.

The start of the trail didn’t look too promising but we had looked at it in Google Earth and realized that there was only a 4 mile section that was questionable so at most we would have to fight it for 4 miles, not the entire 32 mile section. The route started to work down the side of the hill and we needed to ride in the water ruts and travel across many rocks.

After getting through this we needed to make it across the river we ended up at. Kato was doing great with the Kymco taking it slow and just rolling down the rough sections of the trail. This trail was filled with cows along the edge as well that watched and were sometimes panicked as we were going down the trail.

Even though this doesn’t look this tough this had the really sticky mud and we were traveling through here with little scooters with street tires, not the most ideal for the situation, but we worked through it slowly and were able to get all the bikes across without any issues. After that the trail cleared up and there were some signs of tracks again, however I think they were just cow tracks through the meadows.

This is spectacular country and was a great adventure that everyone else missed out on since they were deterred at the start. This is most definitely the road less traveled and it resulted in a more technical route and showed us what this territory is really like with several herds of cattle in the meadows to some sheep and even a few antelope. The 4 mile section came to an end and we were back onto the major dirt roads and blasted down them, at 30 mph, until we Teed in with the blue route at the first donut.

Here is some of the sheep that we saw throughout the day and they weren’t phased by us nearly as much as the cows were and quickly put their heads back down and continued to eat.  Next was a few miles of pavement into Gillette for lunch. We ended up at a local joint, Lula Belle, which had some great country food and quick service. We were behind the other groups so we didn’t talk much and ended up heading out to do the 109 mile section to Sheridan. It began with 70 miles of pavement before having the option to jump off on some dirt.  

It was either this or pavement into town so what do you think we chose? After starting down the dirt road again we ended up running into more wildlife which now included a snake and a couple little marmots that were about the size of a squirrel. One of the cattle groups I ran into was right up by a little waterhole and I had also caught up to the dust so it was picture time.

These cattle were not as skittish as most of the ones we had seen so I walked down to see if I could pet one. Before I knew it I had a few cornered and was closing in for the kill. The other cows were all watching in shock as I began to get closer and closer. By now I was only 5-10 feet away from them and got another picture.

They started to get frustrated and were making these loud horrific moo’s between one another and started huffing and one even was kicking up some dirt. Oh no, now what did i get myself into? So I cautiously began to back up and walked away. I could have proven that I could pet a cow but I wasn’t ready for the possible consequences. We then finished up the route and made it into town. Hung out for a while and did some maintenance.  By now everyone has changed their oil at least once in the bikes. Then a big group headed down to Sheridan Inn to have a couple beers at the bar.

The bartender ended up being fascinated with our story and kept on wanting to hear more and more about the ride and the people we have met along the way. Soon we were joined by a suprise in which Cary and his family (including Stephanie, Grant and Reed) showed up to hang out and socialize as opposed to working on the bike, kids or motorhome. It was great being able to spend some time with them finally now that the ride was half over.

After this we headed over to the Sanford’s Grub, Pub and Brewery to have dinner. As we arrived we found some parking spots in which we would surround and intimidate a local Harley rider, Brady Mclean, who happens to run the town’s Facebook page. We talked to him about the town and he told us about the culture within the community. We got a picture as we were pulling in and stirring up trouble in the town.

While talking one of his friends was over there taking photos of us and recording the whole situation to place on the Facebook page. We gave them both a business card and as he was about to leave, Brady was talking about how he used to be the mayor there. Terry then made the connection that he actually was Dave Kinskey, state senator in Wyoming, and quickly ran over before he left and got a picture with him. I can now say that I shook hands with a senator and under a friendly situation. He also jokingly said that we should be given a key to the city for the night.

A few more minutes were spent by talking to these two gentlemen before they left and we headed in for dinner. By now most of the group was in there and got their food but missed making some awesome new connections in this little town.  Everyone seems to be happy with their food and the restaurant has quite the unique atmosphere and great staff.  

The food looks great and now I had to figure out what to order. If you think you have seen a big menu you are wrong until you come here.  They seem to be 14x22 which is huge compared to others but were easy to use and had some great food. Here is a picture of my Arkansas Asskick’n Salad.

This was huge but ended up being really good and the jalapenos kept disappearing as my dad kept on stealing them off my plate. After that we headed back to the hotel and I began making the daily blog. In all today we traveled 240 miles with over 80 of those being on back dirt roads through the countryside. It was a fabulous day and a great experience especially in Sheridan where the people were very welcoming and helpful Stay tuned to tomorrow's segment as we travel over a 10,000 foot pass. How will the little CT70 like that? Who knows.

6/27 Day 8 Becoming a Real Biker at Sturgis

This morning everyone woke up early since we again gain an hour from traveling the day before. I woke up at about 5:15 and was anxious to get riding however we all agreed to have breakfast in the morning and had to wait till 7am to get some great sourdough pancakes. We soon were all packed and waiting for breakfast and when we finished we just dropped our helmets on and took off. The route began by entering the Badlands National Park where we had to wait to get into the park so I snapped a pic of everyone paying to enter the park.

After everyone figured out how to put away their wallets and get back on the scooters, we took off to get a view of the Park. There were amazing canyons, ridges and peaks throughout the Park. The roads were also perfectly suited for the little scooters with the speed limit being between 35 and 45 mph which is where they are right in their prime. Here is Kato posing for a photo in front of the Badlands which also is home to a large amount of grass lands.

The road often had some cool twists and turns as it climbed over ridges and dropped back down into the valley. The only thing that was annoying was there was lots of slow moving and stopped traffic throughout the loop. Soon we were working up along a ridge and Jessica wanted a picture so we stopped and took a picture of Hyperdog, Jessica and Kirley who were all enjoying the views and scenery within the Park.

Then our route started to head out of the park and the route turned to dirt on which we had to slow down a bit from the washboard roads. The nice part is that it rained a few days before so there wasn’t much dust on the road however, it still ended up being too much for Kato’s scooter. The filter was banged out the other day and had been running smoother however, started to show the same signs again so we pulled it out and decided to stick to the pavement for the rest of the day. Also along the dirt road we passed several prairie dogs but they all seemed to run away as you got closer. I however got a picture of the biggest one out there.  

We finally exited the park and were still on the dirt road and had about 12 miles to the pavement so we hauled down there to meet up for the first donut stop of the day. Having to mess with Kato’s scooter set us back and we ended up getting there a bit later and just hopped on the pavement and followed it for 30 miles into a small store and gas station. After gas we headed around Rapid City and then went back up into the hills and headed through some twisties.

Now the scooters were having to battle a bit of elevation at some times up to 5000 feet and they were not liking the hill on the 85 that the last station had to offer. Going up one hill a Harley flew by us and ran away but once I crested the hill I flew down the other side and could have easily passed him on the inside of a corner by at least 10 mph faster. Those Harley riders really don’t seem to want to lean the bike over and more just want to cruise down the highway and take in the sights. After being on a stupid little 70 for 8 days I felt like I saw enough and wanted to get back into that performance even if it was only going through corners quickly. Next we ended up at Keystone and had lunch at Teddy’s Deli. This was also a first for us in which we arrived at the lunch stop before noon.

Keystone happened to be a cool little ghost town that was transformed to be a tourist paradise.I had a great little wrap for lunch before heading up to Mt. Rushmore. Being a shorter day we ended up getting off the bikes and walking in to get a better picture of the faces. However this didn’t end up being that much better.  But it gave us a nice break from the day and let us stop at those typical tourists destinations.

Around 60 more miles of nice 2 lane back highways. The only issue I had was that there was too much high speed traffic and just too many cars in general compared to the towns we have been in the past 6 days. We finally ended up in Sturgis which is the biker hang out capital of the world if I am not mistaken. Once here Bob went to the Yamaha dealer to get his rear tire changed. I walked over to the motorcycle dealer with Kato and the Zuma boys trying to get a new filter for the Kymco. They of course didn’t have one so they cleaned up ours for free after hearing about our adventure. After hanging out and having a couple of great beers and telling stories in the parking lot we decided it was dinner time. Everyone ended up heading over to the Full Throttle to get a vibe of the biker atmosphere.

This place has some cool and interesting party flavor throughout the establishment. I am sure that it is really rocking during Bike Week. When we pulled up everyone looked at us funny but then once we told our story and about our trip everyone was impressed and surprised at the adventure we were undertaking especially with White Lighting my little 70. They had some cool sculptures throughout and some spectacular industrial designs.

This is a picture of the backyard of the park with some very interesting things going on from trucks on their end to a motorcycle ball to a couple train bridges. They also carried this feeling into the bar as well.

After having a beer and talking to people at the bar and impressing them with our scooters we decided we needed to start thinking about dinner. At the Full Throttle we also met Jessica’s best friend Emma who was a donkey who just roamed around inside and out trying to get food from any and everyone. We headed over to The Loud American for dinner and pulled up in front to get a great group picture of our scoots. For not being real bikers everyone seemed to be enjoying us so I think we are all worthy bikers.

The day as a whole was great by giving us the ability to see Rushmore, Sturgis, Rapid City and the Badlands all as one while still mixing in fast road, curvy sections and even a bit of dirt. We had a shorter day with only 170 miles and ended up slowing down and looking around the Black Hills more than we would on other days. Check back tomorrow for more information on our journey.

6/25 Day 7 Getting Inside South Dakota

Today started quite early as we were all worn out from the day before and we still had to fix the scooter. After some help from Hyperdog we managed to find out that it was a clogged air filter. This was due to the fact that the air pickup is really low and that we did a bunch of dirt roads the previous days. After cleaning it everyone took a look at theirs and they were all filthy and pretty clogged. After the fix we continued on with the day. The first 70 or so miles we ended up at the first donut.

We passed by some cows in the morning and fought the rain for a bit in the morning. I learned that in my tucked position, the only thing that gets wet is your thighs. Later in the day we wound up stumbling on some old steam equipment.

This guy had some cool equipment and i took a look for a bit before hooking back up with the group. I also managed to catch up with those Zuma boys and found that they were having an issue today. Danny’s exhaust broke again. Looks like there is great aftermarket reliability.  

The exhaust was fatiguing at the bracket and had to be welded on again.  An hour or so later and the weather started to clear up and we got back to the sunny SD weather. There were some incredible clouds that started to move around as it was clearing up.  

At this point the day was starting to look up as we were getting to clear weather and the highway was open with few or no cars traveling on it. There were some interesting things along the road such as little cottages and many fields of corn. Some of them ended up being run down but there were fairly interesting stories behind them.

After that there was 70 or so miles before ending up at our lunch stop of the day which was Frosty Boy. We all got superdogs and a little ice cream treat before continuing on for the final 3 legs of the day. Kato and I found a snake a while earlier and decided to bring it to Gary but he happened to tear it apart.

Everyone fell in love with the snake and we were going to use it to prank the girls in the RV but Hyperdog left it for the employee’s at Frosty Boy. We continued on flat boring roads but they still managed to have some incredible views of the surrounding plains and fields.

Later I found some wildlife alongside the road and every time i saw something other than corn or just fields of wheat or just the rolling plains, it was reason enough to stop for a second to get a picture and document the wildlife and hidden gems in the area. I saw a turtle cross the road and watched as he moved from one side to the other.

There was also a large amount of cattle throughout the day which I would always stop for a minute to moo at them. In order to understand the land and the culture you have to talk to the creatures that live there right? Anyways there was a large group having a fun play day in the pond which allowed me to take their picture.

Since today was a fairly boring day in terms of sig,hts we all had the hammer down for most of the day and managed to end up at the hotel by 4:30pm. The day brought along many hours of boredom which led to the creation and demonstration of new riding positions. First we have the laid back lounge chair position. This allow one to lay back and enjoy the day's ride while giving them some wind protection.

Next he will demonstrate the sidewinder which allows one to twist their back in relationship to the throttle. Allowing for some sideways rotation to help relieve some uneven pressures caused from the seat. The final position for the day was the hurricane.

This position has the ears tucked back so they can get minimal wind noise while also being in a crouched position to get out of the extreme wind speeds which are capable and probable on such a machine. We finally ended up making it to the hotel and finished our agonizing 300 mile day. For those that haven't been paying attention, we have managed to do over 900 miles on these pigs in the last 3 days! Pretty impressive for the little 125’s. Tomorrow we are leaving the Interior of SD and heading over to Sturgis.

One more final picture of the 70 cruising down the highway today.

6/25 Day 6 Back to Sunny SD

The day began by putting on all of our damp gear from the day before which is never a fun way to start and always makes you feel like you would rather not ride today. Once we started we met up with everyone and headed over to McDonald's for a breakfast coffee and I got a couple yogurts. Today my group managed to pick up a few new recruits: Hyperdog and Jessica. They are both raring to go and always there without a problem. Here is Hyperdog waiting for the ride to start.

There was an issue though:  this little puppy was carrying some XXX I don't think he is old enough to have that but shhh don’t tell anyone. The previous day when we got to the hotel we had a friend on a old 2 stroke Vespa, Joe Miller, join us. He had to have know Gary before since he brought a buck of his favorite type of beer. He rode down from Minnesota and stayed at the hotel and was going to spend a couple of hours riding with us before heading back towards home.  The route threw in some remote back roads on which we traveled for 10 to 15 miles and didn’t see anyone else.

Which group looks more intimidating to you? I think that the scooters are scarier than those little Deere. I walked over to a few and i was only about an inch taller than the tires. They are certainly massive but I will challenge any of them to a drag race. The next bit was some fast open roads. Today was the first day i was able to get sight of the SoCal Zuma Boys.

Here is Steve before he went wide open and left my group behind and flew up to the next stop. He didn’t really want to take in all the beautiful sights of corn. We reached our first donut and were able to see the Zuma Boys again but they were getting ready to leave as we pulled up. Most of my group got gas at the donut so they wouldn't have to worry about running out in the next section. We ended up on some dirt roads shortly after and continued to run on them for hours.

Next was back onto pavement and into town for the first gas stop of the day. Many of the group didn’t have breakfast and by now it was 10:00am so we decided to have a break and get some snacks from the market. Had a nice little break and then went back onto the road. I was still leading and decided to pull off to get a look at this old abandoned school house. Here is Kevin riding the Grom through the bushes to come take a look at the schoolhouse.

After this, it was back onto fast pavement roads which soon led to drag racing. My dad tried to beat the little 70 on the Grom and when I was tucked completely, I managed to be able to start pulling away as the motor got into its higher RPM’s. Later Kato and Hyperdog raced on their 150’s and Kato managed to get the holeshot but Gary pulled it back for a while before he walked away with the win. The final race was between Gary on his Kymco 150 vs me on the 70. I managed to have the aerodynamic advantage and took him for a spin in the end. White Lightning was doing me proud and destroyed all of the competition for the day. Now I just have to try it with those Zuma boys.  

Finally there was about 30 miles of dirt into our lunch stop but it was quite late by now. About 15 miles before town, Kato ran out of gas. We carried some but it didn't manage on being enough so Gary ran into town to get some. Before making it to town, Kato’s scooter began running horribly. We thought that it was something to do with the gas we added and tried to run it out of the bike and clear up the jet. This didn’t end up working and we took apart the carb and looked at the jets and said they looked fine so continued on but the issue was still there. We called Gil and Kato took the afternoon off.

We then made it to the lunch stop and it was nearly 4pm so we decided to get snacks at the gas station. Finally it was 80 miles of fast pavement with quite a bit of traffic into Yankton. We ended up getting here about 6pm and now have to diagnose the problem with Kato’s bike before tomorrow. Ordered a pizza and hopefully it won't be too long of a night. Also I learned today that the dirt roads destroy Zuma’s since Steve got a flat on one yesterday and today Danny’s exhaust broke so he ended up taking it to a body shop and getting it welded back together. Any help diagnosing Kato’s problem would be appreciated. Also this is known as Sunny SD because San Diego is always sunny and we are in South Dakota which has the same abbreviation. Today we traveled 297 miles and it took about 11 hours. Tomorrow will go smoother I hope.

6/24 Day 5 Let there be RAIN

Starting out today was really easy since we crossed a time zone and were all used to eastern time zone so we gained an hour of sleep. Everyone left about the same time and headed out down the busy highway. We stopped and all filled up at a shell a few miles down the road before starting the day. Next there was several miles of traveling out of the city and through a couple small towns before entering the open farming lands.

There were a few antique little town filled with culture but some how absent with people. Passed through a couple before reaching our first donut meetup spot. If you aren’t aware Gpskevin places donuts on his ride maps in order to give the group a place to meet up and to check in with everyone. Sometimes these are at food stops and gas stations and other times they are out in the middle of nowhere. Today all morning we were looking for a unique little mom and pop place to have a small breakfast snack but weren't having any luck then we ended up at our first donut spot and today we were in luck he placed it in a dunkin donut parking lot. Everyone stopped to have a snack and little breakfast treat. Soon we were all back on the road and were passing through small towns again and stumbled upon a very fitting painting for our ride.

This picture is fitting for a number of reasons. 1 it describes much of the route we will be traveling 2, some of us are using vintage outdated machinery 3, it was hard to make it across the country then and it is hard now on a scooter at least 4, you get to see all the country side at about 35mph. A while later our route took us through Dixon.

Terry rode over to the statue and got a picture next to Regan’s bust. Supposedly this is where Regan grew up which i didn't know before and there is lots of memorabilia through the town and many know about him and his influence. We also stopped by the local fire station and talked with the fireman for a while and told them about our ride and a few stories about the trip. They had a massive station with tons of equipment inside that would be any 10 yrs dream.

Next we did a couple of back gravel roads for 20-30 miles in which we also had to wait for a 100+ car train to pass by at running speed. I know i tryed to run along side for a little while and could have easily jumped on if i were tom sawyer. Next was some more pavement before crossing the Mississippi river and leaving Illinois to enter the corn fields oh i mean Iowa.

After entering Iowa we quickly found a way out of town and back to the country roads. For a while they were nice back pavement and we would occasionally run into another car. Later were ran into dirt roads and they continued for miles there aren't that great my the little 10in wheels at probably 45psi.  During this we ran into a first for me we found a Poop truck.

This was a manure truck we knew we were following for miles the smell was intense and there were tons of remnants left along the road. I think he was taking it between farms and it is used to fertilize his crops. After the next donut the weather started to turn and we put on our rain clothes in preparation.

Here we all are suited up and ready for the rain at least we think. We all have Boot covers, jacket, pants and waterproof gloves. What came next was not what we anticipated and wanted though. We ran into rain and fought it for about 15 miles to our next gas stop and it was relentless. It wasn’t very hard but it was constant enough that your wiper couldn't be on the intermediate setting. We all were fatigued by then so we took a 30 min break and ate a couple snacks before continuing. We still had 75 miles left in the ride and by now it was 4:00. We determined we had to get back on the bikes and try to get in some miles.

This was not fun and to add to it the route was on these back dirt farm roads. We tried to wish along but it was slow going as we had to battle through the gravel and the mud. In the end this would continue for 2 more hours until we were about 20 miles from Marshalltown IA.  Here is a picture of Kato before the weather really picked up. We also put on all our layer in order to make sure that we would stay warm and dry.

In the final town we stopped and had an ice cream at the local mom and pop place we had been looking for all day. Then it was 20 more miles into town of pavement and a couple miles of dirt. Overall today was miserable however everyone had a good time and got to the end safe and sound even if it meant not getting to the hotel until 7pm which makes it a full 12hr day ride for my group. 288 miles and 3 hours of fighting the rain and dirt roads pretty much sums up the day but we also saw Burro’s.

Check back for tomorrow’s blog and hopefully there will be nicer weather and a few more things to look at but who knows Iowa is typically known for corn.

6/23 Day 4 An Unfortunate Stop in the Ride

Escaping tornados and nasty storms was very nice yesterday and it led to spectacular weather for today in which it was it was an outstanding 75 degrees. This ended up being a little hot when we were traveling through Downtown Chicago. Leaving Coldwater this morning didn’t work out very well for Kato. As we left, we all put on our costumes to show them off for the day and because of this, Kato and I didn’t have any pockets. He put his wallet in the outer pocket of his tail bag and had a gut feeling that it was going to fall out during the ride. The wallet fell out on the first couple of streets and he looked back and saw it as it was hitting the ground. While looking back the road had a slight turn and since he wasn’t paying attention he ended up riding into a curb. The bike went up onto the curb and he fell down in the grass and tore up his costume. He got up and was all muddy but didn’t get hurt luckily. The bike got a few more scratches and broke the front plastic piece a little bit but other than that it was fine. Next was a gas stop and we finally left town and headed back out into the country.

Oh course their is no day going across the Midwest without running into some corn fields. Today was quite similar as for 70-80 miles we were traveling in between cornfields and passing through a variety of farms. I couldn’t help but wonder what type of dense forest life and spaces used to rule the area before the farmers came in. Continuing down these roads we ran into a variety of animals crossing the road from a family of raccoons, a flock of wild turkeys, a turtle and even a mouse but I only managed to get a picture of the mouse and the turtle.

We traveled across many more plains and passed by many, many more corn farms before ending up at the next gas stop. We took a small snack break and another group caught up to us and ended up riding with us throughout the rest of the day. When they departed, we still hung around for a bit before trying to chase them down. The route traveled through some cool country neighborhoods before heading out of Michigan and entering another state, Indiana.

After entering Indiana, the route headed over to the beach through some of the richer suburbs and vacation homes. In one of the driveways we even saw a Aston Martin. At the beach we caught up to the other group which consisted of Harm, Kathy, Bob and Terry. They stopped to take a look at the beach and went out to the water. I was surprised how warm the water in the lake was at the beach. It was a great spot to hang out in the summer but I sure wouldn't want to live there in the winter.

After a great little break on the beach and finding out that there are other great beaches in the world other than those in a tropical environment, everyone was together again and we flew over towards lunch at Nicky’s Gyros. Had a great little sandwich and then continued on towards Chicago. Next we traveled through some rundown neighborhoods in Gary. The groups separated again however Terry stayed with us as we left. There were a few miles before we got into the bad area. We pulled up onto a group of 3 cop cars and an ambulance and to something unexpected. The other 3 members of the group that just left us at lunch were stopped since Harm went down coming up to a stop sign.

We all pulled up to a stop and because the paramedics were insistent that he should be checked out and Terry knew this industry, we ended up sending him to the hospital. The crash only caused a bruise and a couple scrapes and bumps luckily and we hope that he can return riding with us soon. The whole scenario happened because he was caught off guard and panicked, grabbing too much front brake which put him down. Gil came and picked up the bike and we continued on the route. We then continued on and headed north towards Chicago. We traveled through some oil refineries and headed up along the water.

Leaving the area and getting back into residential and small businesses was next. Here is a picture of Terry in town right below Chicago having a great time with the ride. A few more miles and we started to enter the heart of the city. The surrounding areas of Chicago seemed nicer to me this year than when I traveled through last year, however, this could be due to the fact the the route changed in some places.

We then entered the city and were back into hectic traffic. I got lots of compliments wearing my fFlash costume downtown. One guy even came running up to me at a light and his girlfriend took our picture. Everyone was looking at us and we happened to get separated a couple of times due to traffic lights. I also ended up splitting lanes a couple of times to get back with the group. I would only go by a car or two though.

After way too many stop signs and lights, we ended up at the hotel. White Lightning, my little 70, isn’t so happy with the stop and go lifestyle since her gears aren’t in prime condition. When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by a fan who ended up riding out on his KE100 to see us.

Thanks a lot Aaron for riding out 40 miles just to stop by and get a look at our bikes and share a couple of stories. Sorry we didn’t have more time with you, hopefully we will get the chance to ride together sometime but we all were a little preoccupied from the events that happened earlier. Wish you the best of luck. Overall today we ran into some new wildlife, found a new tropical beach (only at the right time of year), had an unfortunate crash, and met a new friend. All while sharing these memories with friends and family alike. Hope tomorrow brings some good luck for Harm and we continue to have fantastic weather.

6/22 Day 3 Escaping Erie

What is the best way to spend a summer day in Ohio? The group thinks that it is by riding the little bikes and trying to outrun severe storms. The route left Beachwood and headed north to the bottom of Lake Erie and towards Cleveland. Cleveland turned out to be like much of the big old cities we have traveled through the past couple of days, being filled with a huge variety of architecture as well as great history. Started out with the small suburban homes and then went into apartments and townhouses before getting to the real downtown city atmosphere.

Our little group had a fun time talking to strangers at lights and asking them to race us at lights and such. To which we almost always lost even when they were on a bicycle. There were many cool buildings including some that are a bit slow like the U.S. Post Office. Soon we reached the furthest northerly point that we could which was the bottom of Lake Eire. Riding out onto the pier was spectacular and loomed so huge.

Right after that we drove by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame however we were there a couple hours before they opened so we could only snap a picture of the outside. This is a really unique building that is set up as a pyramid which helps to drag your eyes over to it and attract visitors. Steve’s group and Underdog left a bit later and looked around the museum later in the day.

After that we left the city and went down more city streets before heading over toward Toledo for lunch. Once out of the city, our route took us through neighborhoods and suburbs around the edge of the lake. After bypassing a donut we caught up the the Kentucky team and rode with them for most of the afternoon. Now the group had to face miles and miles of straight, long, and fast roads at the base of the lake. For a while I was able to get in front and take some pics of the whole group. First is Kevin and Terry standing up on their little Groms.

These two guys look like they are a little too big for their daughter’s bikes. But everyone in the group kinda wishes that they had one. We are all really dirt bikers at heart. The next picture is as Bob passed me heading down the road, looking way to comfortable for going nearly 45.5 mph while I was only able to go 45 mph.

His Vroma (nickname because of the pipe) was able to easily scoot on by and looks to be comfortable hiding from all that rough and vicious wind out there at 45 mph. The final picture is one of the entire group that is heading down off a bridge in which I attempted to get a bit of an aerial view of everyone.

Arrived at a gas stop next and noticed a nice little ice cream stand and decided to check it out and give it a bit of a business boost on a Monday morning. This was in retrospect to Kirley’s comment yesterday of "want more little coffee house or little home cafe’s to stop at for a snack break." They had great service and so far, the weather had been okay but it was looking awful "Erie" in the distance.

After that is was another smooth 30 miles to our lunch stop which unfortunately was closed. Continued on the route and ended up at Blondie's in Toledo which I had stopped at last year on our pre-ride. We had a great lunch stop and hit it off with the owner and got our picture taken to supposedly end up on her wall. Maybe I can check next year. After lunch we headed up though some "Erie" weather which appeared to have the possibility of creating a tornado according to the weather reports. The last couple of sections was through farmland and we flew through so that we could escape the rain. There wasn’t that much to see since there was nothing but corn and a couple of cool old barns to look at.

We finally were getting close to the hotel when we ran into the unexpected. There was a cold breeze in the air as we wrapped around a lake and ended up on a dirt road for a few miles. It wasn’t too bad since there wasn’t much gravel. After that we ended up at the hotel in which little White Lightning ended up here first showing off her superiority!! In all we took about 8 hours and traveled 230 miles. At the end I needed to go and get a new tail light bulb for my scoot and tighten the chain. All prepped for tomorrow.

6/21 Day 2: Making it to Ohio 4 states down

Today began early since it was going to be a 300 mile day. So everyone got up early and prepared to head off and get a jump on the day's riding.since today was 100 miles more than the previous days. We needed to figure out a way to be faster. After leaving New York our speed increased and we started to eat up the miles. However everyone had to have their own scheme. Some took the approach of not taking stops and keeping the hammer down and some just said screw it if it takes all day I still want to do it right and smell the roses. I chose the second approach with a little bit of modification and I tried to help keep my speed up by using aerodynamics.

We had a fun morning running in a big group and going back and forth passing one another for the first 50-60 miles. I had to feed Underdog as we were riding since he got thirsty and everyone couldn’t help but laugh as they watched me squirt my water bottle in his face as we were traveling at about 40 mph. We rode on, came over a few rolling hills and saw many farms throughout the day. and guess what? They were filled with CORN, more and more CORN! I have no idea who eats all this corn but we sure do produce it.

There was enough baby corn there to feed the US all of its canned baby corn. We ended up off the main 2 lane roads and went on a bunch of back farm roads that passed through the area and paralleled the highway and cut in between farms. These roads often led across ridges and through some valleys. These routes were often filled with a nice tree canopy aligning the roads or would wrap along streams and give borders to different properties.

All of these roads were absolutely fantastic and are the roads that these little bikes are built for in which you are winding down along a river or through the forest. These roads are filled with tons of twists and turns and varying elevation and perfectly suit the 40 mph limits of these beasts. Some of them also had small pot holes and made riding into a game trying to weave in and out and miss the holes and when you didn’t pick the right line, it instantly told you by bottoming out the little bikes suspension. We soon ended up back on main roads and I had to go into the aero squat.

Had some time to think and take a variety of pictures while traveling up a hill and really liked how this one turned out showing the lower front end of the 70 as it was climbing up. More and more miles of open highway and being passed by several others before getting back to the country roads. On one of them I was hauling and managed to catch up and pass a big old 1200 cc adventure bike. No wonder why it is called White Lightning.

I also ended up catching up to the wee little Grom and had some fun father/son time “racing” down the curvy mountain roads. After dropping off the hill we started to enter Amish Country. We ran up upon 30-40 carriages through the day and they all seemed to be interested in our mission and our unique form of transportation. Since it was Sunday, they were spending time with the family and the church and in several instances, we noticed them congregating together on one of their farms. The children are always fascinated and wave up until the age of 10 or so and then they don't necessarily wave back. I think this is because they were taught that we are different and they aren't supposed to associate with us and feel like they would be punished for doing so.

Everyone in the group was fascinated with the Amish today. From seeing the children playing golf and riding their bikes, to the adult creating a tremendous feast for all 20 of the neighboring families. They all seem to be very peaceful with their way of life and seem to enjoy looking and imagining about what or how we live. One very interesting thing to me was that many of the carriages had LED turn signals and tail lights. We also traveled back in time passing through some of these old towns.

There was this old motorcycle dealer that seemed to be in good upkeep just like my little 70 so I stopped to smell the roses and take a pic of the scenery. Today ended up being a prefect mix of hidden back roads, NASTY rain and incredible scenery. There was a great lunch stop that few took advantage of but had some great Chinese food. Instead they just hit up Subway and continued on. For me though this trip is to experience America and try to gain a perspective of the world though the variety of cultures, religions and ethnicities of which they all have great unique way of life. Today helped to show how different the Amish could be from you and me, however keep some of our same beliefs and values and bring happiness to us. Most of the group got to the hotel around 5:30 pm however my group was a bit slower and took a few more stops and ended up here at 6:15 pm and then there was Kirley who wanted to stop at all the local shops and take a look around and didn’t show up till 8:15 pm. Everyone had a blast but I think Kirley is the one sticking most true to the point of this trip and enjoying the environment around. 11 hrs and 300 miles later and we accomplished one of the hardest days of the ride. Check back with us tomorrow as we enter Michigan.

6/20 Leaving New York and Heading towards Pennsylvania

This morning began bright and early getting up at about 5:30 and getting all packed and ready for a 7am departure. Today was the first day and we were going to start the ride so we needed to all have our costumes to show our scooter spirit. We all got our getups on and started off to head to the true starting point at the Statue of Liberty in order to begin our epic 3,800 mile journey in between the 2 coasts of America. We are searching for a true scooter Manifest Destiny. In the typical fashion, we ended up with too many people and too much chaos, however had a great starting picture.

Once we all got our stuff together, we took off and headed over towards Liberty Park. We started off in our big gang and totally intimidated everyone. We got tons of pics and everyone knew that they didn't want to mess with us and that we were too big and tough so instead they just smiled and passed on many great comments. Today I also learned how Mighty Mouse and Underdog hit on women and make tons of people laugh. When Underdog saw an attractive woman, he would pick both of his ears up and start barking and everyone ended up with a great laughing and fun spirit. For Mighty Mouse he instead goes for the questioning look in which one ear would stay up and the other would fold down so that it looked as if he was a confused mouse.

Heading over as a group ended up being a nightmare with all of the traffic lights and we ended up breaking into a few smaller groups. We continued on making everyone's heads turn as we were flying down the streets. I noticed throughout the day that the lower economic area we were in, the more they were excited to see us traveling through. When riding though rich areas, little to no one was outside and they didn't really care that we were there. In Newark though everyone, and I mean everyone, was smiling and trying to get a picture of us traveling through. Some of the best things were their faces when we said that the group was headed to San Francisco on these little scooters. We finally reached our true starting point and got some pictures of the group.

After sneaking our way in and going around Do Not Enter signs, we ended up with a cool starting picture with everyone being full of enthusiasm about the adventures that lay ahead. After leaving we crossed some very spectacular bridges however they had too much traffic for us to get pictures but they were incredible pieces of engineering. The cobblestone roads were also quite rough but I managed to snag a picture of Jessica and Gary on them.

The roads got smoother for a while however still had pieces that were really nasty. Leaving there were numerous potholes that could easily swallow my little 10in wheels. The 70 was able to maneuver around like a champ and could easily be thrown around so that it would miss all of the holes. Everyone has their new, big powerful and smooth new bikes and I am stuck on this old little 70 but am definitely having the best time out of anyone. The route traveled through a park and everyone was confused so Terry and I were able to find a cool way out of the closed section and managed to end up quite a ways ahead of everyone else.

The only bike that competes in my mind with with 70 is the Grom which is basically a modern interpretation of the 70 that is a little bit nicer in every way with more suspension, power and a way nicer transmission. Soon everyone else managed to catch up to my little scooter White Lighting and I let them pass to get pictures as they crossed a couple more bridges.

A little bit more city driving before we ended up out in the country and were able to see what the country used to be. We also went from main 2-4 lane roads and dropped down to these spectacular 1 lane roads that had a mix of broken up pavement and gravel. It was a nice change of atmosphere being able to go from downtown New York to the country out in Pennsylvania. People began to be replaced by corn and trash was replaced by wildlife. It was an amazing transformation within a couple of hours of driving on these scoots.

A few more journeys down great back country roads and many more great stops we ended up getting close to the next Donut. This was the lunch stop of the day and it was filled with a great little concession stands outside and a bunch of bikers outside which were overwhelmed with our story and our journey. This place also had an interesting sign outside.

After having a great pulled pork sandwich and a side of mac and cheese it was time for dessert however since Dana made brownies, I couldn’t have any apple pie. The brownies, I guess, can replace pie however I am sure that their pie would have been spectacular and Dana’s brownies were as well! They tasted great even with the smushed brownies and it was time to put the rain gear back on and head down the highway.

I followed Mighty Mouse and boy did he want to catch up to Kato...just look at that determination in the ears. I know I wouldn’t want to get in his way with that look on his face. We ended up back on the country roads which wrapped along the river and finally turned off on one that crossed over a bridge. By now we passed the SoCal Zuma boys who were having trouble finding their wheel nut. My dad stayed behind to make sure that they figured out how to fix the problem.

The weather cleared up and it wasn’t quite as cold by now but we fought through the rain for 3+ hours and it was nasty however you just need to make sure to seal up your joints and that your outer layer is waterproof. Many more miles and lots of smiles especially on the dirt/broken pavement section. This was my favorite piece of they day cause I was able to fly and it reminded me of riding a dirt bike which is definitely my favorite type of riding. It is nice when the terrain tries to bounce you up and beat you up. On a full size bike I would want it rougher but for the 70 it was rough enough for me.

30-40 more miles of backroads before we ended up at the hotel. Today was a great day traveling 200 miles and filled with making many smiles and bringing similes to all of our faces. We got into the hotel around 5:15 and had a great afternoon in which we took our time and just tried to take pictures and spend time in the scenery whether that involved stopping at a covered bridge or by trying to climb to the top of a gravel pile. Everyone had a wonderful time and truly appreciates the adventurous spirit in the atmosphere. Stay tuned for tomorrow's ride.

Kato’s Column:

The most fascinating part of today’s journey was the country part of Pennsylvania. Being a resident of California, it was often hard to imagine life in the rural area of Pennsylvania. It’s completely different. It’s either I have never seen the most rural area of California, or Pennsylvania is simply way different. In California, it was mostly grassy areas in between towns. It’s never rural enough for a person to get lost in the midst because everything is flat and buildings easily stand out. It’s completely opposite in Pennsylvania. Instead of grass, we see forests untouched by humans. There are different roads scattered everywhere. Without proper guidance, anyone would have gotten lost easily. It’s a complete different world out here. When I looked into the trees and beyond, I only see lots and lots of trees. This is the real rural area, where humans have not yet ruined any part of the nature. I feel quite privileged to have this outstanding opportunity to experience the nature in the most humble way.

When we drive around the route on our GPS, we saw countless buildings that were either consumed by nature or buildings that can be traced back to the founding eras. Just to think about how many generations of families have lived in these houses and ranches, it’s oddly overwhelming. Not only are we witnessing history here, we are seeing countless untold stories of Americans from the past. Interesting to know is that, while we were fascinated by the landscape in the state which created the first national flag of America, the people of this state were also in awe as they saw a bunch of crazy people riding scooters on the road. I think we both were sort of caught off guard here.

Overall, there were two things that interested me the most. It was the old beat up Chevrolet car abandoned in the wilderness and the covered bridge, which was quite old. I like history classes. I really hoped I could find out the stories behind all these great things in Pennsylvania.

6/18-6/19 Exploring New York and Meeting the Group

The first day began with everyone traveling to New York. Most of the scooter group flew in from Southern California and a few of them came from Kentucky. Once we meet up and unloaded Gil’s van, many of us went out to lunch at this little hamburger stand.

After a good lunch and some of those fancy little burgers like the ones from White Castle, we came back to the hotel and met up with Kathy and Bob as they were pulling in and helped them unload their mighty bikes.

Here is Bob and Kathy and their scooters showing up in a U-Haul all excited to start the ride. After unloading, a bunch of us went into New York to go see the city. We walked over to Journal Square (Jersey City, NJ) and exited some of the run down neighborhoods and hopped on a subway and headed over to New York. On the subways throughout the day we met quite a few characters and they all were very excited and enthusiastic. Some were having these huge arguments and others were singing and playing music trying to make some money. The trains and subways were very crowded and we ran into many, many people.

This is Jessica’s first experience in New York and the big sky rises and she was overwhelmed with the amount of people and the size of the buildings. We popped out of the subway at 33rd Street and began to experience the city for all of its glory. We walked over to Macy’s and experienced the shopping and fashion center of the US with tons of booths trying to sell different things. After looking around for a bit, we walked outside and up the street looking at some of the famous buildings as well as the incredible architecture. In the middle of the city we managed to find a small little park and took a walk through it to get a break from the city atmosphere and this was the most crowded park that i have ever seen.

After seeing a lot of people lying around and enjoying the park, we walked over and saw how all the traffic flows and how hard it is to get a parking spot here. We now understand when Kramer fought for his parking spot right in front of the apartment and why Jerry never wanted to move his car so he wouldn’t lose the spot. Next we headed over to Grand Central Station to see how all the trains and transportation was laid out at the turn of the century.

This building was incredible and was filled with tons of pieces of marble and amazing murals and paintings. There was even some incredible Greek mythology characters painted on the ceilings. After this we headed over to Times Square and were able to take a couple amazing group pictures.

We sat around there and just watched the flow of people and machinery move around the city. We even as a group ended up on the Love camera and on one of the big screens. There were some executives that we watched close the Nasdaq and were being broadcast on the screen behind us. Next the whole group headed up to go to George’s work. We got back on to the subway and headed uptown and then got off the subway. We walked down to the street and were able to experience one of America’s favorite sports and one of the biggest teams.

After taking a look around the stadium, a few of us went to the game. Kato and I determined that we were too tired and had been awake for too long so we decided to head back as opposed to watching a game. We also aren't the biggest sports fans in case you didn’t know. Getting back to Journal Square was quite an adventure since Terry (who was acting as the tour guide) had stayed to watch the game. We remembered that we had to get down to 33rd in order to connect to PATH and head back to Journal Square. Once we got there we began to walk back to the hotel and knew where we had to have dinner.

That is right. Us California boys had to go try the famous White Castle. We got a bunch of sliders and ate them as we were walking back to the hotel. Now they were good, but they weren't that great, but then again, it is for the nostalgia. Once we got back we all called it a day and headed to bed. The next day began by getting our scooters ready for the ride and getting a little bit of experience in Jersey City and Hoboken. We ended up riding by Carlo’s Bakery which was made famous by a TV show (Cake Boss) and looked for parking for a while. We finally found parking. We ended up at the Black Bear Bar & Grill.

After a great lunch we got back on the scooters and headed back to the hotel traveling through some cool little neighborhoods. Earlier we also looped around the Statue of Liberty and got an idea of our route for the next day. Hung out at the hotel for a few hours and worked on the blog before heading over to dinner. Kirley found this awesome Portuguese restaurant close by. Today was my 21st birthday so I had to get a drink so my dad bought me a whiskey sour.

Kirley really made some connections with the bartender and he started to tell us stories of the place. We learned that the owner is close friends with Mike Tyson and he used to fight there before he was well known. He later took us up on the roof and showed us around and some of Tyson’s homing pigeons which he supposedly got into from meeting and hanging out with the owner of the bar. After a great dinner we headed back to the hotel and had some discussions before calling it a night.

Kato’s Perspective of NYC:

Welcome to the jungle. We got fun and games!!! This song was being played in my head when we first landed at the airport. The first day in NYC, it was very exciting. It’s an experience which I can’t find the words to describe just yet. Not only am I new to this city, I am also sort of new to this country. It’s quite different for me to come to New York. For all my life, I have seen countless amount of American television shows and movies, New York has always been an iconic symbol to everyone else in the world. It’s great to see New York in reality right in front of my eyes. Since, we were traveling from New Jersey, we first got onboard the Path trains to go to New York. It was pretty cool to see New Yorkers in their daily life doing their business. We, as tourists, were just trying to fit into this community. As we walked casually exploring this great city, everyone else around us was just rushing to where ever they were going. Californians and New Yorkers have a very different way of living. To my surprise, I didn’t find New York that hot. I thought it was going to be uncomfortable just walking on the streets of NYC. The train system was massive and a bit confusing to get at first. After taking a few trains, Jeffrey and I were able to take the trains by ourselves without guidance. We saw the Grand Central Station and Macy’s Mall, Chrysler Building, and Times Square.

6/15/2015: Mighty Mouse Super Hero unveiled:

Comments from people watching us make this adventure and cheering us on!