round trip report

[daemon]

some may know that for a B-day present my little lady set aside a fair amount of funds so i could go back home and visit with my friends and family.

so....we started off on the ZED which is by no means a sport-touring bike,but i would like to think it is!!

fully packed and ready to run!!!!

taking a less travelled road is not always the best choice.
we ran into quite a bit of road construction on our way to visit a fellow rider's dealership.

deron and norm!!


for quite some time i have wanted to gaze at the "holy family shrine" which is off the 432 exit on I-80 in nebraska!!!

i'm sure you know me well enough to know i didn't stop there for the view!!!!!


i came to defile!!!!



as the day drug on and i was getting weary i told freda i wanted to make the 700 mile mark for the day.
that meant getting to Des Moines for an overnight stay.

someone just didn't want me there.
as we made our approach i could see the sky was lit up with all kinds of turmoil.

time to look for a bed-down for the night.
i had recently cancelled our reservations in Lincoln,Nebraske because i knew we could make it further.

a problem arises....too much construction in the area left us with little few places to stay.
after much searching and 4 motels-hotels,we found one that had 1 room still open.
lucky #11....plus it was the 11th pic i took with my cam.....weird....EH???


not much to look at,but we were safe and sound for the night...
664 miles for day one....14 hours including stops.

so i get up early which is usual and get some coffee and enjoy the scenery...LOL

and fetch a few things we need for the day 2 adventure!!!

sky looks overcast and i decide to let freda sleep in for awhile(hell,it was a long day yesterday),much to my surprise that when she turned off the shower and i continued to hear water running that we would be in for a long day!!!

one and a half hours later in the pouring down rain we finally got ahead of the storm.
only 1 ocassion did i think we were in trouble.
crossing a bridge that had standing water at least 5 inches deep!!

try that at 75....not even a wobble to spook me.

after getting ahead of the storm we were hard pressed to keep moving whenever possible to stay ahead of it.
at least 2 of our stops were less than 5 minutes and the storm was back on our tails.
chasing us down the road!!!

keeping a heavy pace we managed to make it to illinois unscathed and soaking wet....at least partially wet.


we had taken the Princeville exit and ready for our short jaunt south to go to my sisters house!!!!


more to come.

[daemon]

we stop for lunch in princeville and start our jaunt south.
always forboding that the storm will catch up to us.
it never did!!!
i stopped at my mother and brothers grave for a moment of silence and remembarence!!!
off we go to my sisters.
a short jaunt from henry.
she is happy to see us alive and kicking!!!



starving ....we head out for a bite to eat at a local(authentic) mexican resturaunt for dinner


after dinner we make our way back to the sis's house for a bit of a party to commemorate my visit!!!


my cousin and i
the 2 towers!!!!


on saturday!!!!
my first wife was nice enough to drive down with my daughter for a 5ish hour visit.
i get ocassional updates from her,but see her rarely!!!

they grow so fast!!!

my sister,sheila and myself!!


next to my tallish cousin!!!


my evil camera isn't always evil.
i just thought this was a good pic!!!
so what if i'm a proud father!!!


even if i am a dorky father i can still make her smile!!!


it's amazing to me that even without my upbringing she has still turned out to be alot like me!!!

[daemon]

after that fun afternoon we head off to watch my cousin's band play!!!




and woke up late the next day to make the ride to my aunties house by the lake.
first day was full of kids!!



second day was a short trip to visit with my only existing G-MA

along the way freda had a chance to see the train yard in galesburg!!!

large,but not the largest!!





and a few camels in AVON,illinois!!!

[daemon]

chance(my nephew)making a home run finish was part of the 2nd day!!!

more from that later,but the 3rd day was filled with awe and amazement..
a (bug crazy)friend told me that it is rare to see this type of butterfly with it' wings open.
it had smacked the truck and landed in the boat.

dazed and a bit confused we took the oppurtunity to photo it for posterity!!
"mourning cloak"


caught a few fish!!!!!
[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c312/daemon1965/illinois%20trip/P7010174.jpg[/IMG
and freda was more enthralled with the wildlife!!!


suffice it to say!!!
she was having a good time!!!!


seeing as how i didn't catch a single one of the fish pictured!!!!

race back to catch my brother in laws B-Day party.
here he is with his TWIN brother!!!

[chad23]

did i see that right.....are you wearing flip flops with socks
post#2
picture #6
Now that's funny right there

[daemon]

yeah yeah!!!

[Sean]

did i see that right.....are you wearing flip flops with socks
post#2
picture #6
Now that's funny right there

Honestly, have you ever thought of Mayo as a fashion icon? 'nuff said.

Looks like a good trip.

[daemon]

my old stomping grounds from before i was a teen.

remeber when your mother would say "go outside and play,be home for dinner"???



i'll post up more later,but for now i gotta ride

[chad23]

looked like you had fun there brother

[sky_blue]

No way dude, that girl is way to cute to be your daughter!

[Sortarican]

Looks like you had a nice trip Mayo.
I didn't get to make it back to the Rustbelt yet this summer.
Between getting a bunch of pics from a couple friends 4th outting, Dana's tales from his trip to upstate NY, and your post,
I'm now officially Jonesing for some green hills, 120% humidity, and bugs the size of farm animals.

No way dude, that girl is way to cute to be your daughter!

LOL,
She's just sayin what we're all thinkin.

I thought it was ironic that she had a picture of Mayo on her shirt too.

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Cool trip man. Glad you guys enjoyed it and made it there and back safe.

How many miles?

That shrine looks cool........did you burst into spontaneous human combustion as soon as you desecrated the Holy grounds?

[daemon]

Cool trip man. Glad you guys enjoyed it and made it there and back safe.

How many miles?

That shrine looks cool........did you burst into spontaneous human combustion as soon as you desecrated the Holy grounds?

2700 miles total for the round trip.
550 of those were just in illinois during our visit.

i felt like i might burst into flames on our ride through kansas.
98 degrees or more plus the blacktop was scorching us.
we made many stops just to cool off during the return leg.

i still have tons of pics that i may post from our trip and a little bit more story.

be patient....more to come

[*GSXR~SNAIL*]

Nice read and pics Daemon!

[pilot]

That was a great post Mayo! If you enjoyed your trip 1/2 as much as I did reading it, you had a great time.

[daemon]

Nice read and pics Daemon!

That was a great post Mayo! If you enjoyed your trip 1/2 as much as I did reading it, you had a great time.

thanks guys.
it is always good to see friends and family that you can rarely visit with.

freda was loving all the greenery and water everywhere for the eye to see!!







my uncle jim and i enjoying the lake!!


my auntie lex!!


little minnows!


the henry lock and dam!!