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Traveling Across America: Day 3

We slept in this morning after riding 640 miles. Then we took an Uber to Germantown in Nashville and had breakfast at Monell’s. This is a family style restaurant where you sit and eat with a bunch of strangers. The food was absolutely delicious as well. Then, we walked to Capital Hill where there is a statue of Andrew Jackson and also saw the Parthenon. It is a full scale replicas of the real Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

After this I wanted to show Gabe around lower Broadway where all of the Honky Tonks and the bars are. We walked around and checked out some boots at one of the stores. There are some very  nice cowboy boots.

Once we finished there, we heard live music at Nudie’s Honky Tonk. So, we stopped in for a drink and checked out the multiple floors. Went up to the rooftop to get a good look at Broadway from above. While looking out, I noticed some beautiful cowgirls walking by but didn’t have time to see if they wanted to finish the ride across the country with me. We finished our drinks and decided to walk around some more. While walking around near the Country Music Hall of Fame, Gabe wanted to check it out, so we did.

I really wanted to stop by Florida Georgia Line’s new Bar and Restaurant so we stopped there for a drink before heading back to our friend’s mother’s place to continue on or adventure.

Once back, we got our things together, and suited up as is started raining. We were really trying to avoid wearing the rain suits because it was warm and humid. Needless to say, it gets hot and makes you sweat a lot when you’re stuck in traffic. Unfortunately,  there is a lot if traffic around Nashville, so we crawled for a while. That was not fun.
As we got further from the city there was no traffic. We were able to cruise down 24, crossed back into Kentucky, and followed 24 until we reached route 45, or 62. We followed route 62 through some beautiful rolling farm lands with corn and possibly soybean plants. It was definitely unique. Then we crossed the Ohio and Mississippi River. Where we crossed, we left Kentucky, just touched Illinois, and entered Missouri. 

We finished the day in Charleston, Missouri at a Super 8. After two full days of riding and just a few hours from today, I have to say I’m feeling good. I’m ready for tomorrow!

Butt Pain Meter: 2/10 (only stiff when I go to stand) 

Traveling Across America: Day 2

We decided to go through West Virginia for nicer views and better roads rather than go through Ohio. 

Our plans were to make it to Nashville by the end of the day. We left at 6:45am and arrived in Nashville shortly after 8:00 (EST), after riding 640 miles for the day.

We first started off on route 711 to route 119 and on to route 43. Went through some local towns and down a steep windy hill to start off. While on 43, we were heading over a bridge near Cheat Lake when we became almost blinded. The fog was so dense it was almost a whiteout. Shortly after we stopped at IHOP and had breakfast and discussed some plans.

Then we took I-79 through most of West Virginia. There are some beautiful hills and valleys with small farms. I kept looking back and forth while taking it all in. At one point,  we stopped for gas so I purchased a Powerball. My plan is to buy one in every state since New Yorker’s never seem to win. We continued on and crossed into Kentucky. I’ve never been to Kentucky before so I was excited. Upon entering the state border, we passed Marathon Gas Stations Petroleum Plant. That was really cool. It it was like its own town right off the highway. Shortly afterwards, we stopped to fill up on gas because I was running low. After filling up, we thoght we would get lunch. Gabe asked the gas station attendant for recommendations for food so we don’t have to get fast food. We went to a Mexican place called Taco Loko. It was delicious. We got back on the road and came through a small portion of Daniel Boone National Forest, still on I-79, but didn’t get to see anything. 

Then we came into Lexington, Kentucky. There were many beautiful horse farms with some serious acreage! From there, we headed onto the Bluegrass Parkway where we saw historic signs for Abe Lincoln’s hometown and Wild Turkey distillery.

After riding longer, we stopped in Bowling Green Kentucky, just off I-65, to suit up after seeing the skies.  It was really dark and could actually see the rain failing. Good thing we stopped and changed into our rain gear. It rained hard for a few minutes. Then it stopped. As we entered Nashville, it rained again until we arrived at our good friend’s mother’s house.

Overall, it was definitely long day, but another good day for sure. It was sunny most of the way until we were close to Nashville and saw some of Hurricane Harvey. I also invested in a “cruise control” device which made an incredible difference. It is called Go-Cruise. I found it online as a substitute to electronic cruise control. I can sit up and take my hands off for several minutes at a time sometimes. It makes a world of difference considering I’m riding across country on a sport bike (crotch rocket).


Traveling Across America: Day 1

This is the post excerpt.

First Day complete. It was much more chilly than we anticipated. Only did 375 miles today. Tried to avoid storms from both hurricanes. So, instead of traveling south down I-81, we chose to head west on I-80 before heading south on I-99. Just before we stopped for lunch, it started to lightly rain, so we decided to stop and put on our rain gear. Then we stopped at Otto’s Pub & Brewery for lunch after seeing a brochure of Pennsylvania’s Beer Trail map at a rest stop. The food and IPA were great. After lunch, we saw a bunch of wind turbines heading down I-79. Also went through an awesome tunnel. It must have been close to 1.5 miles long through the Allegany Mountain on the PA Turnpike. Then we arrived at Log Cabin Lodge and Suites in Jones Mills, PA. It’s pretty cool and reasonably priced. There was even a zoo but we were too late and it was closed for the day. Overall, it was a good first day.