A beautiful day of riding through all sorts of spectacular scenery including majestic snow-covered mountains, rugged cliff faces and rocky outcrops of all shapes sizes and colors as well as conifer forests and farming country. The roads were awesome, and food stops agreeable.

Some interesting facts: Elevation above sea level.
Durango USA – 2,000m
Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m
Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m
Highest elevation on our travels today – 3,852m

Silverton Hotel foyer.

Silverton Hotel from the outside.

Silverton in the street, yes, it is cold and that's a new beanie and a hot cup of coffee.

In transit heading for Durango and we had a little snow soon after.

A Durango streetscape.

And another.

And a mural in the Main Stret.

Last 2 night’s Accommodation.

Adventure Inn

Budget accommodation but clean and comfortable with breakfast and parking included and friendly and helpful staff. Best scrambled egg I’ve had since I’ve been in the USA.

I pulled up well today after feeling pretty broken last night but opted for a recovery day and spent my time doing the washing and updating the blog and just chilling a little. The weather was 16c when we woke and got to 26c so very pleasant. The photos come from Norm as he took the others around lots of sights and then headed back up the river for a few shots he wanted to get.

Some interesting facts: Elevation above sea level.
Moab USA – 1,227m
Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m
Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m

I wasn't kidding when I said Adventure Tourism had taken over, I cannot believe the number of AGTV's are on the road or sitting to be hired!

Queueing up to get into the park, only to find you cannot get there without a prebooked pass, so Norm opted to go back up the river for some photos and then lunch with me and the others went to Dead Horse lookout. Worked for everyone.

Still snow beyond Moab.

On the river and a great bridge as well.

Awesome canyon.

And another incredible structure.

Had a good 5.5 hours of riding lined up today (plus extra for stops) so it was a case of getting on the bikes and getting it done with stretch, fuel and food stops only, but to say the scenery was amazing would be an understatement. We were glad we had multiple layers of clothing on because we travelled through lots of snow (not on the road) but all around us and it gradually reduced until it was in the distance only. All kinds of wonderful which is impossible to convey, it felt like we were riding from one great Cathedral to another and witnessing the majesty and wonder of a master artist. Now 2 nights at Moab to allow for some exploring. I was glad my highway pegs were fitted; I was able to rest my hip so more comfortable.

Moab is a surprise for us. We visited 9 years ago, and commercialization and adventure tourism has taken over. ATV’s and pushbikes are everywhere with multiple camping spots and canoeing along the river and national brand name accommodations in town. I think I liked it better more unspoiled, but all that is still dwarfed by the surrounding countryside. A bonus for us this trip was taking the Scenic Byway from I 70 (how we traveled last time) onto Route 128 which initially was a shocker of a road but then turned to all kinds of meandering on a perfect surface along the Colorado River and through massive pillars of rock resembling great fortresses, embattlements, spires and whole cities. Truly breathtaking!

Some interesting facts: Elevation above sea level.
Moab USA – 1,227m
Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m
Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m
Highest point on our way today – 3,410m (Eisenhower- Johnson Tunnel 2.736km, the longest tunnel in North America about 96.561km from Denver and traverses the Continental Divide)

I’ll let the pictures tell the story, which they really don’t because they lack the depth and perspective but for all of us on the trip, they will be memory starters.

Yep, I wasn’t making that Mile High City quote up!

A quirky building from my hotel room and this was the street the fire truck pulled up in 3 times over the 2 days for false alarm fire calls. Very unsettling!

A view from our first fuel sop for the day.

A partially frozen lake on our way.

The Eisenhower Johnson Tunnel entrance.

In transit. Reduced to one lane and surrounding trees were dusted with snow so possibly protruding into the lane and icy earlier but all good when we passed

The place with no name really exists!

Awesome infrastructure. Would have loved to see a train on the tracks.

Changing landscapes as we headed for Moab.

Bighorn sheep, a random find!

The snow persists even amongst the awesome red of our approach to Moab.

Last 2 night’s Accommodation.

Holiday Inn Express Denver Downtown.

A nice spot to stay, comfortable bed, breakfast included and secure parking not far away. We have had a variation of bathroom sizes, but this one wins the miniscule space award and the room though functional is also small, but good spots to eat nearby and not far from lots of stuff. No laundry. So, swings and roundabouts.

A quiet day to chill a little, pick up some highway pegs for my bike and walk about Denver a little. Cooler day today (16c) but comfortable.

Norm heading off on my bike to get the pegs and Graham along for the ride. Major roadworks going on so convenient for us with our parking with the road closed so easy access.

The Church at the end of our street.

The Palace Hotel across the road from us. A beautiful example of an Art Deco building. Note the Cowboy statue on the corner.

Inside the Foyer where we had a drink last night. I had to retrieve the drinks from the Cigar Lounge … yep you heard correctly, and I was glad to get out of there. The exhaust fans were nearly as loud as the patrons, but I still thought I’d choke!

And also close to our hotel, the American Museum of Western Art. Was closed but interested me.

Although we didn’t have a huge distance to our destination today, we had planned for a lot of interesting sights to see along the way. It was an incredible assault on the senses … in a good way. Had planned to visit the Garden of the Gods which is a series of incredible lumps of sandstone somewhat like the ridge on the back of a dinosaur but opted for a ride by only. It looked magnificent, Google it you will be amazed, we were wearing out and wanted to get to a hot shower.

Elevation above sea level.
Denver USA – 1,609m (Nicknamed the Mile-High City as it is exactly 1 mile above Sea level)
Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m
Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m
Highest point on our way today – 3,576m (Pikes Peak)

Royal Gorge & Railway Bridge.

Royal Gorge Historic Railway Bridge, now a footbridge over an incredibly deep gorge. Built to pursue mining interests many years ago along with pretty rough feuding and fighting. No lives were lost, and ownership was ultimately decided by the courts and handed to the Rio Grande Rail Company who had to pay Santa Fe Rail 1.4 million dollars for the construction of the track they had already done.

Skyline Drive – one-way road along a ridge between the freeway and Canyon City. The pillion passengers were a little freaked out and we still haven’t seen the video Lyn took with eyes closed, and doubt the volume will be on %#**^”# when we do from what we have heard!

Pikes Peak known as America’s Mountain – what an experience, couldn’t make it to the top as the road was still blocked with snow, absolute top elevation is 4,302m. We were puffing where we were! First shot on the way to start climbing, then on the top, where we had lunch then on the descent.

Note the ice shelf at the top where the snow / ice is blown up and over the top and the snow below is now receding. The next shot is a closer view.  

Last night's Accommodation.

Best Western Plus Eagleridge Inn & Suites

Good facilities, comfortable bed, parking on site and breakfast included. Literally walked across the road to dinner. Forgot to take a photo.

Started the day after breakfast with a visit to the Post Office by all of us to post home unnecessary stuff to free up our luggage space. No one was exempt and all feeling very self-satisfied now.
We wound our way through wonderful countryside into Pueblo and didn’t spend a lot of time off the bikes other than for rest stops, fuel and food so the pictures will tell the story when I have some from Lyn who was free to shoot them from the pillion seat. The views were spectacular with a lot of the time surrounded by snow covered mountains and either climbing up passes or sweeping down great winding roads to plains still way above 2,300m. Incredible!

Some interesting facts: Elevation above sea level.

Pueblo USA – 1,430m
Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m
Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m
Highest point on our way in today – 2,800m but majority of trip between 2,200 to 2,300m.

Cute little church as we headed out of Sante e. Love the NM structures and lots of artistic stuff on public roadways.

Bikes parked up for lunch at a Dutch Restaurant with a very Mexican menu.

Fuel after lunch at a Sinclair Servo, hence the dinosaur.

Lots of old trains here and two stations we could see. This was the larger of the two.

Last night’s Accommodation.

Best Western Inn of Santa Fe.

Lovely New Mexican inspired building. Comfortable and includes breakfast and parking and literally dinner across the road. Worked for all of us.

Headed off and checked out the Cadillac Ranch before we had breakfast. From there the day was spent weaving under over and beside the Interstate and sometimes on it to follow Route 66, it was a challenge, but we got lots of photo ops for everyone. A shame to see how much deterioration there has been since 2015 when we were last here and of course that was also pre COVID. In any case we are finally in and will be heading out to dinner soon. Another big day of riding and we will have another tomorrow.

Some interesting facts: Elevation above sea level.
South Santa Fe USA – 2,199m
Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m (only 34m higher)
Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m
Highest point through the pass on our way in today – 3,000m

A reminder that the Cadillac Ranch is in fact a working ranch. Was pleased to see there weren't any spray cans spread about this time, so people are using the bins provided, mind you the 2 skips at the gate mainly had rubbish bags in them, I assume from vans. Grr.

Midpoint on Route 66. Literally ??miles from Chicago and ??miles from Los Angeles.

And a cute little diner beside the souvenir shop.

And took this one of the walls for our friend Adrian who couldn’t make it for the trip.

Santa Fe turnoff where we pulled up for a break and stretch. Note the geography and vegetation behind, it could easily be heading north to the Pilbara at home. Very familiar.

An example of a total lack of respect. A traveler (me) needing to get the kinks out of my back and stretch the tendon which makes me walk like I have done a center bearing on the diff …. which was effective by the way, but I was still very glad to get off the bike when we got in. Glad I did so much resilience training before we came but it’s still a challenge.

Last night’s Accommodation:

Courtyard Amarillo Downtown.

A beautiful building and spacious room. Restaurant on site but cash only so we lodged our complaint and went to the Mexican across the road for a cheap and delicious dinner, also gad breakfast elsewhere for the same reason since it wasn’t included.

Headed off and checked out the Cadillac Ranch before we had breakfast. From there the day was spent weaving under over and beside the Interstate and sometimes on it to follow Route 66, it was a challenge, but we got lots of photo ops for everyone. A shame to see how much deterioration there has been since 2015 when we were last here and of course that was also pre COVID. In any case we are finally in and will be heading out to dinner soon. Another big day of riding and we will have another tomorrow.

Some interesting facts: Elevation above sea level.
South Santa Fe USA – 2,199m
Mount Kosciusko Australia – 2,228m (only 34m higher)
Traralgon Australia (hometown) – 60m
Highest point through the pass on our way in today – 3,000m

A reminder that the Cadillac Ranch is in fact a working ranch. Was pleased to see there weren't any spray cans spread about this time, so people are using the bins provided, mind you the 2 skips at the gate mainly had rubbish bags in them, I assume from vans. Grr.

Midpoint on Route 66. Literally 1,139miles (1,833kms) from Chicago and 1,139miles (1,833kms) from Los Angeles.

And a cute little diner beside the souvenir shop.

And took this one of a wall for our friend Adrian who couldn’t make it for the trip.

Tee Pee Curios in Tucumcari NM.

And the Blue Swallow Motel also in Tucumcari NM.

Santa Fe turnoff where we pulled up for a break and stretch. Note the geography and vegetation behind, it could easily be heading north to the Pilbara at home. Very familiar.

An example of a total lack of respect. A traveler (me) needing to get the kinks out of my back and stretch the tendon which makes me walk like I have done a center bearing on the diff …. which was effective by the way, but I was still very glad to get off the bike when we got in. Glad I did so much resilience training before we came but it’s still a challenge.

Last night’s Accommodation:

Courtyard Amarillo Downtown.

A beautiful building and spacious room. Restaurant on site but cash only so we lodged our complaint and went to the Mexican across the road for a cheap and delicious dinner, also had breakfast elsewhere for the same reason since it wasn’t included.

Headed off hoping to beat a bit of the rain forecast and rode through ferocious winds skirting a storm and tornado warnings behind us. Stopped a bit early for lunch as the sky looked bad with potential of tails touching down but thankfully it turned around and headed away from us and we headed off again in calmer weather and towards clearer skies. The wind ramped up again as we entered Texas but remained clear. Overall, we managed to stay on Route 66 more than other days and that was also a bit slower pace so kinder on ourselves and bikes especially in the heavy winds.

El Reno, cute little main street. I hope it got on okay today because there were tornado warnings around there when we had lunch further along.

The stormy sky while we were having lunch. You can see three lines heading down. Was a relief it turned back on itself.

The Historic Conoco Servo at Shamrock plus bikes. This was the servo depicted in the 'Cars' video.

Conoco Servo Tow Truck.

Britten water tank. Quirky.

Street view in Amarillo.

Last 2 night’s Accommodation.

Country Inn & Suites by Radisson
A lovely spot for two nights. Comes with breakfast and parking. Nice and spacious, walk in shower, and capacity to self-cater if wanted. No restaurant but free shuttle to town and good value compared to last stay (which was heavy on quirky but low on value).

A warm and sunny day so got the washing done and dried and Norm tidied up the bikes after the drenching they got with filthy floodwater and road runoff yesterday and I had a kick back morning getting the blog up to date. The others did some exploring and checked out the Bricktown Canal tour and the OKV National Monument, a very moving experience as we previously found, then the Cowboys Museum and we joined them to do some more exploring and dinner before returning to our hotel. The pictures can tell the story.

A working shot from our hotel window. Train line, concrete batching plant with working trucks and another train line and locomotives.

Part of the OKV Memorial.

Horse carriage transport around Bricktown.

And back to the Bricktown brewery for dinner. Awesome use of an old building. The atmosphere was great....and the food...and beer.

We started in rain and headed for sights on Route 66 under a tornado warning but after very wet shots for photos we were hit with a massive rainstorm and the cameras and phones stayed locked away for the rest of the day and instead of the sights, we had planned to track down we opted for getting in out of the weather. In that time, we encountered torrential rain, thunder and lightning (very very frightening), flood waters and incredible wind trying to blow us off or throw us over for the rest of the day. Were a bit concerned to see very dark clouds late in the afternoon forming a circle with a clear patch in the middle, so it wasn't really a surprise to hear a small tornado had touched down later in the day. The rain stopped from lunchtime on (murphy was obviously confused) so only got in wet instead of wet and dripping but we saw lots of lovely countryside and a progressing Spring with green buds well progressed to leaves so a happy outcome. Had lunch at the Buffalo Ranch Roadhouse where there were a couple of live buffalo in the yard but by the time Lyn had her gloves off, they’d gotten bored and lay down out of view, so she had to satisfy herself with a photo of the mounted one in the shop. If I can pinch the photo I will. It was good to get in and a hot shower revived us enough for a lovely dinner at the Bricktown Brewery.

Gary Parita Sinclair Servo Ashgrove.

And another old bridge, glad nothing came along while we were here.

A shot from our second last coffee and stretch stop from the security camera in store. Check out some very worn-out travelers.

And the last stop before we were in. I had enough oomph to ride forward but not enough to back up so was suitably rubbished by my fellow travelers, hence the photo. Note the faint hint of approaching blue skies!

Dinner at the Bricktown Brewery which was great, awesome atmosphere beer food and company.

Last night’s Accommodation.

Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven

A quirky little stop which has been here since the 30’s and has modernized without losing a touch of the Route 66 Main Street era including a mini diner look to the breakfast area. Comfortable bed and one row back from the road so quiet to sleep. A few bikes at the entry making it look even better.

A Goldilocks day for riding mainly warm and sunny and comfortable and very little traffic on Route 66 proper which we sought wherever we could, but haphazard signage was a challenge. We saw some of the countryside in both directions as a result. Saw heaps of trucks on the Interstate and they were close to two full lanes coming out of Springfield whereas we had a relatively clear run. Our first Mexican meal tonight. Beautiful and fresh and cheap so great for the budget. A bigger day coming up tomorrow.

Quirky Bar & Grill at Bourbon must be on the coach tour circuit as one was pulled in at lunchtime.

Wagon Wheel Motel next door, making an effort.

Coroners building in Cuba.

The bridge at Devil's Elbow.

Road Ranger Truck Stop where we stopped for a stretch and drink on our way into Springfield.

Some of the memorabilia at tonight's motel where Elvis Presley stayed once before he was famous in Suite 409 which is available to rent but it looks a lot like a shrine so a little creepy. We didn't stay in it.

A pretty specie car under the roof in the picnic area at the motel.

Last 2 night’s Accommodation.

Pear Street Inn

Another comfortable accommodation including a hotel breakfast as well as happy hour with nibble each night so very generous. Bed lovely and comfortable also. Undercover parking was good but oops we forgot to take a picture.

Everyone else went to check out the Arch and I stayed behind to figure out how to resize pics for the blog …. without success then walked down to the Union Station to join them for lunch and enjoy the beauty of the building. May try to keep working on the pic issue as we travel or if no success will do it when I get home, if I don’t throw the notebook away before then!

Sort of managed, but still not happy. Will keep working on it. Pics from phones downsize okay but I must need to change a setting on the camera as I don't get the option to get them right and they are out of whack!! Grr.

Norm and I walked back from lunch to our hotel amidst rain thunder and lightning, very very frightening so we decided to eat in again rather than heading out to an Irish Pub for dinner.

Red brick Greenway a walking path beside a huge stadium between our hotel and the Historic Union Station. If you look in the distance down the street, you can get a glimpse of the Arch.

A wet view of the St Louis Arch. Last year we took the lift to the top for the view which was awesome.

The Historic Union Station which is a magnificent building where Norm and I stayed when we were last here. We took the others to see it and have lunch and found a very obliging hotel employee who gave us a terrific tour on his break. It was great! So, the only photos I have are from there.

A stained-glass mural above the original entrance on ground level. It depicts New York, Saint Louis and Los Angeles which the rail line represents. There were 42 lines in and out of the station, and this was where the change from East to West took place. It's supposed to be long, sorry. Around the edges are all the fruits each area produced.

The Lobby on the mezzanine level. There is also a bar here and a light show over the doe takes place each night from 5 - 11pm. Very speccie.

The reception area at the end of the Lobby. Note the mural above, it was unearthed and restored during reclamation of the station after it had been abandoned for many years.

Going upstairs these are a quirky bench top in the alcove. Very well done. A couple of tourists taking a pic also!

The Lobby from above. Stairs down to the ticketing level to the left and bar to the right and reception straight ahead. Through the end arch Railroad head offices for all the companies who operated through the station. The railroad offices now suites have retained the doors as it is a listed building. There were originally around 50 guest suites in the hotel, now over 600 as there are the originals, the railroad offices now suites and a whole lot more built out over the area where the trains used to reverse into the platforms.

An example of the magnificent arch work detailing.

And a schedule of the one days of trains Sunday November 2nd 1930.

Started out walking past the Old Capitol Building then a tour of the new one finished in 1888. Just beautiful. We were guided by a young tour guide through the Parliament and also what was the original Supreme Court. The photos don’t do it justice. After that we rode by Abraham Lincolns home (not open until May) then got onto the road proper and pretty much stuck to the old Route 66 with an occasional diversion through vast harvested cornfields. The scale of farming reminiscent of through the wheatbelt at home. Lots of road maintenance visible in both Springfield and St Louis.

Truckstop for coffee complete with Blues Brothers and Route 66 themes.

And some quirky signs to the Loo's and stating the obvious that women are always right ..... just saying

Some Aussies visiting the Capitol Building (Where Government is enacted for the State of Illinois). I love that they are all reminiscent of the White House in Washington

In the building one of the halls around the center dome.

Looking directly up at the dome. Several Storeys

Part of the original brick road (about 2kms)

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge over the mighty Mississippi River

And again

And again with the new one we travelled over still being improved in view

And a very picturesque farmhouse we saw on the way into St Louis

Last night’s accommodation

Carpenter Street Hotel

Comfortable stay. Lovely comfortable beds again and good facilities. USA Hotel breakfast included and a short ride to some sites before departure...and thankfully pulling up a lot better than the citizen on the left!

The bikes parked up at the front of the hotel, also one being ridden by a German guy doing a Route 66 tour.

A long day today weaving our way in and out of little communities trying to stick to what remains of Route 66, often only an old road beside the one we travelled on visible and many tired towns trying to stay relevant followed by a frustrating night trying to get a home delivery dinner and being let down by IT a number of times finally having dinner after 11pm and walking to get it …. Bikes parked at front door of hotel which felt good until told they were best there under the cameras!

Also, a special thankyou to Chris Humphrey Office National at home in Traralgon who helped me with an IT issue supposedly from Russia!! Office Supplies, Stationery & Furniture - Chris Humphrey Office National

Old servo at Odell. Also had a lovely lunch in a local Cafe.

Pontiac Route 66 Museum in an old Fire and Police Station. Checked out the old cells and glad I wasn’t a guest.

Largest Mural depicting Route 66 behind the museum, brick roadway under bikes from the original road. 

Last 2 night’s accommodation

Hampton Inn Chicago-Carol Stream

A comfortable stay. Lovely comfortable beds and great facilities. USA Hotel breakfast included and handy to the bike shop. About to head off on the big trip. Nice to see signs of Spring everywhere.

After close on 20hours in the air and on land via Dallas Fort Worth we arrived in Chicago to dinner in a local pizza restaurant and a loong sleep then off to collect the bikes ready to start the trip tomorrow.

Celebrating with bubbles in the lounge at Tullamarine before departure. How decadent at 10am in the morning!

 Flying in over Lake Michigan and over the city complete with one of many other planes in the air if you look closely.

On the ground at O’Hare airport with hundreds more.

Bikes picked up from DuPage Honda Yamaha.

And with the rest of the crew, our 5th time and the 1st for the others.

We last did some exploring around the USA and Canada on our motorbikes in 2019 and our plan was to return the next year to do some more but then COVID hit and life took over but now it’s almost time to head back to do some more exploring so come along and join us for the ride and I’ll try and keep you up to date here as best I can. Grateful thanks to our housesitters in our absence.

It has been another lovely sunny day just made for bike travel. Not too cool to start and not too hot to finish. Bit of a Cinderella ride really albeit with not a lot of photo opportunities spending most of the ride on Interstates but at least that meant we had plenty to occupy our time and attention so there wasn’t any likelihood of being mesmerised and needing to have a nap before we got here. Where we started in Canada was obviously an English settled location with London and then Chatham Kent Windsor and Blenheim (and they’re only the names I can remember) all being passed through. We saw heaps of interesting truck configurations and suspect these are known as Michigan Mules (within the industry anyway, if you need more weight add an axle principle). They look a bit bizarre to us but apparently do the job so some shots of those. We got in by 3.30pm so Norm is tidying up the bikes as we will be returning them tomorrow for storage, so he wants them looking good for the handover. A bit sad the journey is close to finishing. Boo hoo on that front and yippee on getting home to catch up with family and friends but especially new grandson snuggles!

Lots of roadworks early in the day, narrow lane between concrete barriers for the other direction. All 80kmh.

Norm was on a mission when we stopped for coffee to talk to a driver about the axle situation, this is the truck he was driving.

So, the trailer is a triaxle with 1 single axle in front of the tri and 2 single steer axles (1 at the very back of the trailer and 1 just behind the legs). All up this allows him to carry a payload of 40 tonnes.

And obviously circumstances / different freight tasks call for different configurations.

And again.

And again.

Flat and windy and many wind turbines here amongst the corn.

Ambassador Bridge. A privately-owned bridge so our toll transponders wouldn’t work. Glad it was dry when it came to fish for cash.

And it's crossing a big body of water with serious shipping underneath.

And back into the USA we go.

We love the many and varied water towers at all the towns, this one in Summit Township.

Pumpkins and flowers for sale. Have seen lots of these coming up to Halloween and they vary from being quite professional like this and plenty with them lined up on cardboard under trees as well.

And some interesting things for sale for would be collectors.

Our hotel for the night the Holiday Inn Express & Suites. This is where Norm cleaned up the bikes so he could remain in the shade.

To start, I should announce that my phone was ringing when we got into our hotel room last night and we were shocked to see our daughter Rosey with a newborn baby, she was supposed to be induced today but ended up with an emergency caesarean. Little Arlo is in the special care nursery but doing well and will hopefully be out of there very soon. It goes without saying that he is perfect!

Back to the trip. We left the long johns in the case today figuring that we weren’t going to have any mountain riding like yesterday and that most of the hills were behind us and we were right with mostly undulating to flat land throughout today and comfortable temperatures throughout. We rode through heaps of corn fields and all sorts of agriculture including orchards, berries, pumpkin and vegetables of all descriptions, some of which we were struggling to identify. We have been in Canada since the first few minutes of our trip and have found the housing quite different to the USA. Overall there appears to be very little marginal housing and more brick being used as well as various timber finishes rather than vinyl cladding and consistently good quality along Route where we travelled. The big highlight was to visit Niagara Falls

And there we are in Niagara Falls.

One of the Fall faces.

And the other, the horseshoe.

And all together.

Some of the manicured gardens at the falls.

Our parking ticket and the infringement issued when we had 30 minutes left! Norm tracked down the Policeman who was apologetic. $12 to park was enough without a fine on top when we weren’t out of time.

And it’s all happening back from the falls.

And again.

Farm autumn colour (since we are in Canada) and wind turbine. Have seen a few throughout our trip.

Another barn.

80km straight roads nearly all day is mesmerising …. nap time.

And some work shots. Rigs in yard.

And again.

And what exactly is that???

Some more nice real estate.

And again

And tonight, is a highlight staying at the Idlewyld Inn & Spa in London Ontario. All kinds of lovely including a delicious dinner and a buffet breakfast will start our day in the morning. The only downside was a slowere mthan ideal Wifi but I guess you can't have everything.

And a view of the bikes from our dinner spot which is the front of the little round room on the right above. Heavenly.

Well we had an absolutely awesome trip from start to finish and with this being our 5th trip OS on bikes I guess we would need to be getting the hang of it after all. Lot's of people make one of two comments.

1. I'd love to do that but I doubt I ever will - Our response- If you really want to you need to plan it to make it happen and you will .... and then work like mad for 40 odd years to make sure it does.

2. You did what? Man how lucky are you! - Our response - Yep and the harder we work the luckier we get.

Bit of a theme happening here I think.

The favourite part of our trip as always is being out and about together….being immersed in spectacular geography and on the bikes was a great bonus!

What worked well:

• Packed less and still didn't use it all .... again. Better get it right next year it will be the last year in the USA and we will have extra bits to bring home!

• Circling all destination towns on map so we could track weather from the weather channel and make decisions for more / less direct routes, also to divert off 4 lane highways to more rural roads and to key in other sights / must sees locals have told us about (often highlights of our day).

• Norm arranged a birthday present for me (driving lights for my bike) so I could be seen and be safe and his new bike had them also, shame we had to disconnect his so they could be rewired but his headlight was awesome anyway so he was still very visible.

• Thankfully our health was good and the old bodies didn't let us down. I had a restless nights sleep a few nights before we got to Chicago to return the bikes and apparently slipped a tendon to the wrong side of my shoulder which wasn't too comfortable but I could comfortably ride which was just as well and it's now sorted.

•  Last minute failure of my GPS before we left for our trip and difficulty by the bike shop getting another mount for my bike saw me without a GPS for a few days until we came across GARMIN HQ... who says there isn't a God! They were brilliantly helpful and nothing was a bother. I would NEVER consider such a trip, especially into and out of large cities as we do without one especially if on your own unless you want to quickly go round the bend ... as in the insanity one.

• Had a number of comments of how visible we were on the road with the yellow 'rain coat covers' we have over our suitcases. Good feedback.

• The roads overall were excellent, surface and camber good and even the older ones maintained well. Travelled over more than 100km on gravel roads this year ... what were we thinking? Thinking we wanted to get to or from somewhere we couldn't otherwise do is what. VERY variable surfaces on these as you would expect .... enough said.

• Norm solved an age old problem of flat feather pillows suffocating him and not being comfortable......shove one pillow into the pillowcase of another pillow. Worked a treat!

Balanced Rock-heard about it from the locals. NO signs until almost right on top of it. The Canyon area surrounding this was literally in the middle of a lot of fields of corn. Bizarre.

What didn't /could improve

• Some things we have little / no real control over other than feedback to hotels and that is often like a 'talk to the hand ' experience. Only 2 hotels on the whole trip had luggage stands for 2 suitcases. Seriously? I don't think I've ever seen a couple travelling with 1 suitcase and it sort of defeats the purpose of having a nice armchair if it's covered with a suitcase.

• While I'm at it I think a lot of hotel bathroom installation people must have chiropractic businesses as a sideline for all the overstretched necks arms and backs from trying to access a toilet roll while using a toilet!

• Enough whingeing. Small things only but both things from the customers perspective which would be simple to fix with little cost.

• I need to try and review rooms better also so we can hopefully have enough floor to stretch out on to do our morning flexibility exercises to keep everything where it should be and be willing to work like we need it to.

• The blog was on a new format and wasn't as user friendly as it should have been so I'm hanging out for the capacity to upload multiple photos at a time among other things. Still working on that.

• I used my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 to do the blog and we're still getting used to each other so not sure what the final outcome of that will be .... we will see.

Reasonable size but only one chair, had to use the floor for the second case when we didn't have one.

What was different / better than last time / expected

• The USA economy (and citizens) both seemed more positive.

• The people in business clearly wanted to be there and there were fewer retirees working in fast food stores and looking like they wanted to be anywhere but there and overall apart from really small communities, there seemed fewer empty shops and big shopping centres generally had more parking spaces being used and more people in shops.

• Truck configurations were also vastly different to what we saw last year. Not sure if that is differing state rules or just more practical application since the GFC.

• Last year there were predominantly tandem drive and tandem axle semi's. This year there were countless tri-axle semi's and heaps of flat top open trailers where we hardly saw any of those last year and they were almost always loaded.

• Like in Australia in both the USA and Canada there were many young people from other countries, university students and others of similar age, working in seasonal workplaces and apparently there are many adds in Universities of work coming up in University break times, I assume it is the same in Australia. Heaps of Aussies working in Whistler and other places which are snow ski sites as well as summer attractions.

• Conclusion - the economy has improved, infrastructure works are increasing (and road maintenance was definitely more noticeable this year) and fewer operators doing what has always been done i.e. taut liners from point to point. We talked to truckers at roadside stops and roadhouses but not enough to really know.

A more creative combination than was usual to see last year

Planning for 2015 USA.

• Well underway so we can be poised and ready to swoop on specials for airfares!

• Travelling part of the way again this year with Sharen and Ken our usual travelling companions so we are looking forward to that.

• Have just finalised the route for 2015 as opposed to theory and making sure we can take advantage of 'must sees' along the way, now to getting onto booking accommodation.

Got the Map marked up with most of our last 2 trips on it except where the map didn’t spread far enough.