Day 1 – July 9, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 6:14 AM MST. Arrived Belen, NM 4:56 PM MDT.
Nice ride out of the hot valley into the somewhat cooler high desert.
Taking US 60 across was better, but slower, than taking the superslab. I get to do I-40, etc. for the next 4 days. Took some video of the Salt River Canyon and a couple of pictures of the VLA (Very Large Radio Telescope Array) which I’ll get posted in about a half hour or so.

464 miles today.

Day 2 – July 10, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 6:48 AM MDT. Arrived Shamrock, TX 3:45 PM CDT.
Cool in the morning but got up to 102 around noon. That and very heavy crosswinds out of the south cut short my day by about 20 miles. No big deal. Going to try to leave very early tomorrow morning to stay in the cooler temps longer and then stop earlier in the afternoon. We’ll see how that works out.

414 miles today.

Day 3 – July 11, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 4:15 AM CDT. Arrived Morrilton, AR 1:10 PM CDT.
Got the early start I wanted. Cool morning, muggy late morning. Cloud cover helped. All in all a good riding day.

I forgot to mention that I did ride the “Musical Road” that is outside of Tijeras, NM yesterday. It seems to be geared for vehicles with two right wheels or two-wheeled motorcycles. Having only one right wheel I think I missed half the sound while driving over the “notes” (grooved pavement). Next time I’m up that way in a car I’ll give it another try.

456 miles today.

Day 4 – July 12, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 4:30 AM CDT. Arrived Bowling Green, KY 1:30 PM CDT.
Basically another travel day. Took Arkansas off the list yesterday and Tennesee off today. 4 states left.

448 miles today.

Day 5 – July 13, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 6:00 AM CDT. Arrived Seville, OH 3:30 PM EDT.
Okay, I don’t know what happen to my GPS tracks today. For some unknown reason, the cell phone App stopped transmitting the coordinates to the RTT website. Maybe their site crashed. I’ll check with them later tonight. Great morning ride then it got hot and muggy. Started seeking air conditioning every 90 miles or so. Once again I forgot to buy stock in Gator Ade before I left home. Kentucky is a pretty state. I guess I never noticed that before. It’s laundry day, and after that, I have my choice of Burger King, Arby’s or McDonalds. Where oh where is my Magic 8 Ball?

422 miles today.

Day 6 – July 14, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 4:50 AM EDT. Arrived Bennington, VT 8:40 PM EDT.
I get back to this tomorrow. Very long and frustrating day thanks to a faulty GPS. Going to bed now. But I did get to Vermont. 3 down, 3 to go.

Edited – 07/15/16

Okay, where was I? Ah yes, the long day yesterday. First I stopped by Ken’s mom’s house for a visit.
Ken was my best friend for 35 years befoe his constituent atoms went their separate ways in 2006. Angela and I had a nice visit for about one hour then I had to get back on the road. She made me promise to call her when I got home. She lost her husband not too long after Ken passed then she lost her youngest son, Chris, earlier this year.
The “Golden Years” have not been kind to her. I’m really glad I stopped in.

Second, I took a long lunch break due to the heat and humidity.
But that gave me a chance to talk to Marie for awhile.

Third, My GPS has a mind of its own. It restarts on its own, Does not provide accurate fuel management information, also provides inaccurate turn information. I was on the phone with Garmin Technical Support for an hour the other day about these problems. Basically, they said to perform a factory reset. I’ll do that tomorrow morning and let them know the results. Anyway that caused me to wander aimlessly for a bit of time.

590 miles today.

Day 7 – July 15, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 8:00 AM EDT. Arrived Griswold, CT, 2:30 PM EDT.
GPA still acting out of sorts. Plus the user made a few wrong turns which didn’t help matters. Long about 2 PM a serve thunderstorm came out of nowhere and I gained about 20 pounds of water in my clothes.
I had no place to hide. Pulled off under a bridge a few miles down the road, put on the rain gear, by then totally useless, and then backed up on the road shoulder about 400 feet to an exit I just passed. Rode to the nearest motel and that was my day.

On a good note, I rode my bike in Rhode Island. 4 down, 2 to go.

227 miles today.

Day 8 – July 16, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 7:50 AM EDT. Arrived Parsippany, NJ. 5:15 PM EDT.
Once again the GPS is screwed up. I need to talk to Garmin again on Monday and get this resolved by a replacement unit. Short day today due to a walking tour of the Chuang Yen Monastery followed by lunch at Orange County Choppers. Photos have been uploaded. Got into New Jersey after those stops. 5 down, 1 to go.

227 miles today.

Day 9 – July 17, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 6:50 AM EDT. Arrived Front RoyalL, VA. 8:40 PM EDT.
I’ll finish this up tomorrow but the 49 continental states are now completed.

Okay, it’s tomorrow already.
The weather was great and the traffic light except till I got to the D.C. beltway. Sunday afternoon goin’ home traffic. The ferry ride from Cape May was enjoyable. Couldn’t get on the 11:30 but They did have space on the 1:30 sailing. Oh, that sea breeze felt so good. The ride over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was nice as well. Great views when I could look. I’ll post the video when I have time.
Pictures have been uploaded.

Every place I stop someone comes over to talk about the spyder. I found out it is also a “Chick Magnet”. Sorry ladies, I’m spoken for.

375 miles today.

Day 10 – July 18, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 10:00 AM EDT. Arrived Waynesboro, VA. 4:00 PM EDT.
Looking down at the valleys from 2800 feet on Skyline Drive the view was hazy all day.
Took quite a few pictures that are now uploaded. Unfortunately, the video camera was set a bit too high on my helmet so they did not turn out so well. No point in uploading those but the pictures will give you a good idea. On a clear day, the views must be very nice. They have a wonderful visitors center right in the middle of the park. One of the best I’ve seen. The centers at each end are just typical.
It took 6 hours, counting lunch, to traverse the park due to all the flower sniffin’ and picture taking. Tomorrow I start the Blue Ridge Parkway.

100 miles today.

Day 11 – July 19, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 09:30 AM EDT. Arrived Roanoke, VA. 4:00 PM EDT.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is beautiful. I would like to come back in late September for the fall colors. Like yesterday it was slow going due to the many stops and a lunch break. Tomorrow not as many stops unless they are exceptional. Pictures have been uploaded. I have videos but need to edited them and then upload to YouTube. The upload speeds at these motels is horrifically slow.

109 miles today.

Day 12 – July 20, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 08:15 AM EDT. Arrived Pigeon Forge, TN. 4:20 PM EDT.
I decided to blow off the rest of the Blue Ridge Parkway and head to Pigeon Forge.
After all, how many pictures do I need of looking down into valleys? Pigeon Forge is a pretty big town. That surprised me. It is the home of Dollywood and, in general, a tourist town. The place is packed with vacationers.
There is a real neat Go-Kart track right next to my motel and a 14 zipline park not to far away. If It was earlier in the day I would do both. Ate at a Japanese Steak House tonight. Nice change from my usual fast food repast.
Pictures have been posted. Tomorrow I ride the Tail Of The Dragon.

260 miles today.

Day 13 – July 21, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 09:00 AM EDT. Arrived Knoxville, TN. 5:35 PM EDT.
The Tail of the Dragon has been conquered. Lots of fun. Also, the Cherohala Skyway is a pleasant change from the Dragon. Lots of curves but not as tight. A very relaxing ride after the Dragon. I highly recommend it.
I have a very slow internet connection tonight But I’ll still try to upload some picture.
Going to bed now. I’ll finish any textual changes tomorrow. All-in-all a great day.

192 miles today

Day 14 – July 22, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 09:45 AM EDT. Arrived Forrest City, AR . 7:0 PM CDT.
Decided not to ryde the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is already too hot and humid up this way so why should I head down to Louisiana and Mississippi for even more heat and humidity. About 106 miles east of Memphis I ran into a bit of rain. Then a bigger bit of rain. Then a huge F’ing amount of rain. Managed to get under a bridge quickly enough. Cars, trucks were pulling off I-40 onto the shoulder; those that kept driving had their flashers on. Visibility was pretty close to zero. Looking at my weather radar app I saw that I was the little dot under the deepest, darkest red part in the center of the cell. I have never been that close to and surrounded by lightning strikes before. One even hit the topside of the bridge I was under. Sat there for 50 minutes until the cell moved on enough to ryde. Not fun.

431 miles today

Day 15 – July 23, 2016.
Parking Brake Off at 09:00 AM CDT. Arrived Fort Smith, AR . 2:50PM CDT.
Too hot to ryde. I’ll get back on the road around 2AM tomorrow.

241 miles today

Day 16 – July 24, 2016.
Parking Brake6 Off at 03:00 AM CDT. Arrived Tucumcari, NM. 2:00 PM MDT.
Got my early start this morning. The temp was 73°F. Wish I would have brought my hoodie. 😉  I still have 636 miles to home. Looks like a Tuesday arrival.

565 miles today

Day 17 – July 25, 2016.
Parking Brake6 Off at 03:50 AM MDT. Arrived Phoenix, AZ 6:30 PM MST.
A very mixed day as far as the weather goes. Cool in the morning, Hot and wet in the afternoon. Decided to go all the way home, at least to Marie’s house, today instead of waiting until tomorrow.
Had a great visit with Max and Mary my next door neighbors when I lived in Rio Rancho, NM. It was good to see them again and catch up.
Did add two more pictures from the Tail Of The Dragon ryde,

Now that I have a decent Internet connection I will edit and upload the remaining videos I have.

672 miles today

6,239 Miles for the trip.