The morning dawned a little foggy and comfortably cool, and gradually cleared and warmed up with temperatures expected in the 80F range this afternoon. We followed Route 12 until close into Chicago to stay off turnpikes and experience more of the country and it was a treat. The countryside was pretty with lots of different sorts of agriculture happening. Attractive little towns and settlements and overall gently undulating and leafy terrain and in what seemed no time at all we were pulling into Dupage Honda & Yamaha and catching up with Mike, Mark and all the team These guys have been awesome in sorting our bikes for us to make it all possible and will do the same before our return next year.

A very nice house in the surrounds of Coldwater … it’s always an awesome one that brings out the camera, this one was the next but still very nice.

Lovely town buildings as we continued.

And that would be the thumbs up for the ride, the view, the holiday and the whole experience.

All sorts of different farms to be seen.

And attractive towns.

Effective marketing for on farm marketing .... hopefully.

Halloween approaching and there are pumpkins everywhere.

 And that's a quick grab at a quaint old bridge as we turned onto another road. It's no longer used.

Intensive farming support.

Barns still in evidence.

Serious farming efforts here.

Loved this sign at the Truckstop where we stopped for lunch and the announcements over the loudspeaker for shower bookings and the like were also great. So good to see and hear the truckers / truckies being valued and respected.

As we headed back to the bikes after lunch the Sherriff’s car pulled up beside us, in the employees car park spot. As the guy got out of the passenger side and said hi I could have told him we were about to go so they could have our parking spot but no, the opportunity for a photo was far too good.

And there we are back at Dupage Honda & Yamaha to hand the bikes over and feeling very plesed with our efforts. It was an awsome ride and we loved every minute of it especially catching up with Ashley in NYC and Kevin and family in Louisiana, not to mention only experiencing 1 wet day (heading into Toledo) being our first day out with about 2 inches of ran in half an hour!

Our hotel for tonight is the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare Hotel & Conference centre.

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.

We opted to add the long johns today as it was cool and were grateful for them except for the last hour (1.5kms) in a snail pace dribble over some of the interstate to our exit 200m from our hotel. The only respite from the heat was briefly under an overpass or two and in the shade of trucks …. Not enough.  But that said we had a beautiful day of riding along Route 28 then Route 20 through lots of farmland forest and cute little communities. More eagles soaring and lots of pumpkins in evidence as the locals get ready for Halloween.

We particularly loved Skaneateles Auburn and Seneca Falls with Skaneateles (pronounced as skinny atlas) being knobs hill (our opinion) and the next two in descending order of status going on the real estate. The first incredible, the second just beautiful and third still quite lovely.

Creative use of a bale elevator.

Great view of a lake in passing.

A part work shot. I'd seen this truck earlier but wasn't quick enough to get a photo so was chuffed when I came back from my walk to find Norm had snapped this.

Found a little community recreation park (closed) but went for a walk and startled some ducks.

 An old-time clothesline … and a trailer in the back yard.

Serious intensive farming in this area.

Specie real estate,

And again.

And again.

Another great bridge.

A wildlife reserve complete with eagles or osprey nests on the top of transmission towers. We’ve seen these elsewhere in the states on previous trips. They are quite a hazard to themselves not to mention the power supply.

The sunflowers are about done.

No stopping on pavement … would be more than happy to oblige! The last 1.5km took us 1 hour!

Hotel foyer display.

And our hotel for the night the Buffalo Grand Hotel, some of it not as grand as it used to be.

We started with grey skies and a light dusting of the wet stuff at some point, but a clear blue sky soon made its way through the clouds and the day has been just lovely to travel in. We wound our way through lots of forest and farmland and delighted to see a lot of trees starting to colour up and have arrived this afternoon in Cooperstown where all things Baseball happen. There are baseball Museums, this is the home of Cooperstown bats, there is a Baseball Stars Wax Museum and even the Baseball Hall of Fame. Apart from that the town is just a delight with picturesque houses and leafy streets. Just beautiful.

Rondout Yacht Basin bridge, quirky … but a 3-ton load limit?

Ahh, that would explain the load limit. Probably about to dissolve in a rust cloud.

Ahh a cute bridge in Lexington.

Love the farm buildings.

A change of colour slowly happening.

Awesome barn.

Prattville Diner for lunch.

Country roads.

And again.

Into Cooperstown and there is a definite Art Deco feel in the street.

And again.

A lot of specie real estate in Cooperstown.

And again.

And the Railroad Inn, used to be a feed supplier building in the railway precinct.

We have had a lovely time exploring Poughkeepsie And Hyde Park area with our grandson Ashley. Norm collected him from the train on Friday and we hired a car and walked the foot bridge over the Hudson River and then visited the Franklin D Roosevelt Home (Springwood) Museum and Library on Saturday and then the Vanderbilt Mansion and some of the surrounding area on Sunday before delivering Ashley back to the station. We were grateful of the car Saturday with a fair amount of rain while today the sky has been blue and the day just beautiful. It was a treat to spend some one on one time with Ashley, we don’t get the opportunity to do a lot of that individually with our grandchildren, and given Ashley’s work is as demanding as it is we were particularly grateful also knowing it will be some time before we catch up in person again.

Norm and Ashley about to set out on our walk of the Highland Railroad Bridge which was originally considered the great connector for rail traffic being the only bridge between New York City and Albany (Capital of New Yor State) but failing industry and increasing use of interstates saw the decline of rail travel and after a fire on the bridge it looked like it would be demolished but the community fought that and it is now a shared linear park and trailway commenced 1992 and completed 2009. Thankfully we decided to walk it Saturday as it was going to be closed Sunday with a function on.

Walking bridge.

Poughkeepsie Railway Station from the bridge.

Mid-Hudson Bridge from the walking bridge.

View of the bridge from the elevator platform.

Almost across the bridge.

The details.

Teamwork approaching one of the entry gates to the Marist University. It was the stonework in these entrances which enticed us in for a look.

Our Saturday lunchtime Diner.

The FDR Museum and Library. Some great displays.

The FDR residence – Springwood.

FDR’s library (in the residence) almost empty of books as major restoration is going to start next year and things are already being packed up.

Vanderbilt Mansion.

The Man Cave (smoking room).

And a view in the garden.

And another.

And more of the garden itself largely established before the mansion was built as this was on a site of a previous mansion unsound to restore.

A view from the overlook across the Hudson River on our way through the yard.

And our Sunday lunch Diner.

And inside. All kinds of cute,

A shot in the Marist University. Beautiful stonework.

Mid-Hudson Bridge.

Some Highland area real estate.

And another.

Crossing the Mid-Hudson bridge.

And finally a farewell shot at the Poughkeepsie Railway Station with Ashley.

Without trying to stick to country roads we did anyway because we headed for the country township of Bethel which was where the Woodstock Music Festival was held in 1969 and found a largely sparsely settled old area which I doubt would have survived without the festival apart from a few farms. Woodstock was held on a dairy farm on the edge of town which is now a terraced community space used for all sorts of functions. It reminded us of Lardner Park plus it has a Museum to all things Woodstock and the arts as well.

We diverted off the road to check out the Dingmans Falls which were a comfortable walk on a recycled plastic boardwalk and even though it is the end of summer there was still some water coming over the top.

The forest was predominantly Hemlock trees with lower coverage of rhododendrons. It must look magnificent when they are in bloom. They are also under attack by a Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) an aphid like insect from Asia responsible for the severe decline and mortality of up to 80% of Hemlock Trees in the Shenandoah National Park! But enough doom and gloom this is a still section of water on the way to the falls.

We came across a picturesque little village of Milford and this is the Community Centre.

And then it was off on the road again.

And then it was off to find Woodstock territory, and this is some of what we saw. A Hippie VW … sort of.

The only serious looking farm we saw.

A photo of a poster in our lunch spot.

And an Ariel view ….. unbelievable.

Lunch was at a little country store which is depicted in the board outside. At the time of Woodstock, it was a store with petrol as well as being the Post Office. Just a little store and café now.

The board with pics from the day.

A plaque outside the museum.

About to head through the toll booth before Poughkeepsie.

The walking bridge from the station.

And the station itself.

And Norm found Ashley at the station and brought him back to the Inn.

The Marriott Residence Inn, where we will stay for 3 nights. A lovely 2-bedroom apartment and couldn’t be more opposite in all respects to last nights’ accommodation (all of which have been our choice).

We  set out this morning aware that there were forecasts for scattered thunderstorms in all the areas we would be travelling through so were relieved and somewhat surprised that we didn’t encounter any rain until about 30kms before our destination so we decided to forego lunch and make a run for it and soon changed direction from the storm before getting really wet and didn’t get any more rain until after we were in. Yay! We enjoyed the ride through picturesque Pennsylvania farmland and forested hills with all sorts and sizes of communities along Route 209. Very nice travelling, lots of windy bits and not much traffic.

We doubled back from Hershey to Harrisburg at the start of the day to find route 209 which gave us a perfect opportunity to check out the Rockville Bridge which is the longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world built between 1900 & 1902 by Pennsylvania Rail. It has 48 arches, is 3,820 feet long and replaced an iron one built in 1877 which replaced a timber one built between 1847 to 1849.

Great timing. A coal train crossing. Was still crossing when we turned around and came back.

And the other side.

Lots of little towns along the way, many of them several kms long with houses right on the street like these and only 2 – 3 streets deep..

Coffee at a Diner in Pottsville on this little square.

Many ups and downs in roads in the country as well as the towns.

Nearly in and so is the rain.

We had a genuine American hotdog for a late lunch which was yummy.

And of course, it started to rain while we ate. My handbag served as a very inefficient umbrella on the way back to the motel.

The Pocono Plaza Inn, under restoration…….

We didn’t have a very big day of riding lined up toady and had planned to call into the Flight 93 Memorial to pay our respects and hadn’t realised until last night that today was in fact the 18^th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks so we visited along with several thousand others. We enjoyed a lovely ride there through fields of corn and many small farming communities which was peaceful. Then we arrived at the memorial and considering this wasn’t a public holiday here the numbers were impressive. Much work has been done since we were last here and the trees have grown incredibly so softening the edges of things somewhat. The Vice President, other dignitaries and family members of those on the plane were in attendance so security was tight with Secret Service, State Troopers and local Police all in attendance. We couldn’t go as far as the memorial site and left our bikes some distance away, were cleared by the secret service then transported by shuttle bus. Was quick on our way to the memorial but we waited in line for over an hour for a shuttle on our return. We were pleased to see the incredible number of motorbikes in attendance and the demeanour of all in attendance was respectful and patient. Our not so big day got to be a very big one.

Heading out of Cumberland.

Pennsylvania farming land.

Country roads.

Corn corn and more corn.

A real general store where we grabbed an iced coffee.

Flight 93 Memorial.

RIP.

What happened.

The Investigation.

‘We’re going to do something’.

Since 9/11.

The Tower of Voices and a couple of Aussies coming to pay their respects and despite some of the chimes being readjusted we did hear the chimes.

A common field one day, a field of honour forever. What looks like a path heading up between the 'field of' is the path from the memorial to the impact site.

Interstate hold up on our way in. We went from 120kmh to stopped in a matter of metres and managed not to get run over with both of us heading over the fog line and  a 4 wheel drive finally stopping beside me not to mention many cars off the sides of the road and choking smoke from all the truck tyres.  2 lanes into 1 and snail pace for around 5kms. We were hugely hot by the time we got past that!

And the Econo Lodge Hershey where we will lay our heads down tonight. Sorry we couldn’t pick up a Hershey bar this afternoon, it would have melted by the time we got it here so would have been a waste ….and a very messy pannier / saddle bag.

Another cool start with comfortable travel throughout the day, partly due to the temperature and partly to being in the shade for most of the day travelling on country roads with only the last 2kms on an Interstate. Yay. We rode through mountainous hillsides, forested hills and open farmland. Even saw a few cattle and sheep and with or without the scattered settlements we saw the ride would have been magnificent with dappled shade, rugged rocky outcrops, rippling streams and more leaf confetti and leaves on the ground to swirl through. It would seem the fall / autumn has arrived in these here parts even if it isn’t official until September 21^st over here. Norm spent some time exploring Downtown Cumberland this afternoon while I caught up on some NTC work.

Part of the Old Dairy at Warm Springs. It is an intriguing historic little settlement which has had many historic buildings retained and well maintained. Very nice.

And quite the oppsite, a bit down at heel later in the morning.

A little bit of country delight.

Lovely country roads.

A specie house in Franklin.

A cute little tractor sign finally got a pic.

My next ride…a Slingshot. Nah,

More country roads and even more rugged rocks in them thar hills.

The Mall Downtown Cumberland.

The historic West Maryland Station.

An impressive tribute to the developent of travel in front of the West Maryland Station.

And our hotel for the night The Ramada by Wyndham. Can't get much closer parking than that!

The day was cooler than we have had since heading north and warmed slowly and was comfortable overall. We have continued riding through the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia and a slight change in colour is becoming slightly more obvious and this afternoon leaf litter on the ground was getting evident and we were enjoying a confetti effect on the quieter roads. Lovely. We spent a good part of the day on Route 311 which was a treat. Lots of little settlements of varying size and stature. We even saw a small number of cattle grazing and one very small flock of sheep. Getting into more country where one’s efforts need to be self-sustaining I suspect. We were told if we went to White Sulphur Springs we would be able to find the boneyard for the ‘Barnyard Builders’ show. We found the town but not the timber but loved the roads.

An unusual truck and axle configuration. No idea what it is or what it does.

Morning coffee in Salem and we were impressed with the Roanoke College Buildings everywhere

Great hills to climb up and down, yum.

Lovely country view USA style.

And another one.

Paint Banks settlement had some lovely buildings and a quirky Swing Bridge café at the general store for lunch.

Great barns still in use.

Quirky bridge … and Norm in place obviously … wondered where he got to.

Village of Bacya, all kinds of cute and quirky. Loved a roadside sign which said, ‘Drive like your Kids live here’.

And tonight, we are staying in the Barley Suite in the Millers House at the Inn at Gristmill Square. This is the restaurant where I plan to have a well-deserved drink very soon.

The day started comfortably cool but warmed up rapidly though not as hot overall as yesterday. We travelled largely on country roads though a few were dual lane, even so we encountered very little traffic until we were on the Interstate and heading for Marion this afternoon. We loved travelling through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina and then on into Virginia. Amazed at how much grass and farmland we have seen including hay bales in evidence and no cattle at all. Okay the countryside was predominantly forest but even so, it feels weird for us. At one stage we doubled back for a few kilometres not being able to find the connection to a town we were headed for but were rewarded with travelling along the Windy Gap Lane. What a treat! It was so pretty and at least as windy as the Dragon Tail yesterday just not for the same distance and there were heaps of little settlements barns and buildings …. Again, no cattle but saw one property with 3 donkeys so we suspect tree changer rather than long term local. Sort of confirms the feedlot beef theory except for big Texas country perhaps.

This one’s for Norm. A bad ass ute he saw in the carpark this morning with all sorts of things that wouldn’t be allowed at home.

Some of many specie cars in the hotel carpark this morning. The owner of the Ford introduced himself as Joe Hatfield, the great grandson of William Anderson ‘Devil Anse’ Hatfield who was part of the original Hatfield & McCoy feud. He told me Kevin Costner played his Great Grandfather in the movie.

And not to be outdone one of the theatre dinner options in Pigeon Forge is the feud itself.

Beyond Lens, typical of some of the ‘out there’ family entertainment in town.

Heading out of town Norm was impressed with this.

The sign is self-explanatory, in Hot Springs where we stopped for a cold drink.

A stretch of wildflowers sown along othe side ofmone of the roads we travlled today.

One of many barns, all timber in all sorts of condition.

Typical of the views on the Windy Gap Lane.

A view from an Overlook in North Carolina. Was a specie bit of road, steep grades and 2 runaway truck runoffs. The first was in line with the road but the second headed off at such an angle if a runaway truck tried to get in it laying it on its ide would be inevitable. A bit weird.

We’ve seen the start of some colour showing in trees and Norm returned from the Overlook with some evidence of it.

We’re staying tonight in an Historic Hotel, the Francis Marion Hotel, a lovely old building in a quaint little town of approximately 6,000 people.

Today we headed off with a plan to find a famous road / ride for motorcycles called the Dragon / Tail of the Dragon (US129) situated in North Carolina and Tennessee which has a staggering 380 curves in an 11mile stretch with 12% grades and 15 – 20mph corners. All kinds of awesome. Not surprisingly we found all the motorcycles we hadn’t seen since we got here and the road to and from it were also some of our favourites with sweeping corners, gentle grades and beautiful shaded green surrounds. Very reminiscent of our previous ride down the Skyline Drive / Ride through the Blue Ridge Mountains. We were grateful for the shade as it was quite hot.

We were surprised to get into Pigeon Ford and find a massively bustling Gold Coast on Steroids! There are theme parks and musical and theatre options with meals all over the place, but I think we will opt for a quiet dinner in. Felt like it was a big day.

As we headed off to find our road we rode alongside the Ocoee River and multiple dams and hydro facilities. Lots of white-water rafting opportunities and Zip lines available. This was an opportunity to get close enough for photos.  

And again.

Fuel stop and we discovered Doc from the Cars movie. Unfortunately to quote his owner and restorer “she just laid down on me”.

We found green surrounds and shade nearly all day but had our hands full on the Dragon Tail, so this is a shot before we got there.

The Tail of the Dragon.

Some only of the 100 plus bikes parked up at the Den....and look at that a Triumph Rocket converted to a trike!

The Tree of Shame commemorating silliness and tragedy.

The Sculpted depiction of the Dragon.

Signs to Motorcycle Heaven, well somewhere to stay and eat called the Den.

One of the Dam walls from an Overlook (scenic outlook) as we start to descend.

Some of the silliness in Pigeon Forge, King Kong.

We are staying the night at the Music Road Resort, Pigeon Forge and as you see you don’t have to go to Cuba to see old cars. There were quite a few here.

We have had a quiet day as well as exploring just a little. We were treated to a personal tour of the Chattanooga Station by Marvin a concierge who has worked here forever and was delighted to say he visited Sydney 2 years ago. The whole station and hotel are fascinating and so much of the city here has obviously been laid out around the many rail lines and associated infrastructure that came with that. Chattanooga has a population of approximately 175,00 compared to Bendigo approximately 140,000 and Birmingham yesterday of approximately 300,000.

We discovered the free electric shuttle literally outside the door of the hotel so that meant we got to explore much of the city highlights in comfort. The temperature is hot again today (in the 90’sF) but not as humid as it was further south thank heavens.

We plan to have dinner in the Brewhouse in the Terminal building beside out hotel. A very quirky shaped building as many are having been constructed around the railway transport hub. In the civil war the North tried on several occasions to take over the city so they would control the railway but didn’t manage to do so. Was no doubt a huge strategic advantage for the South although as history shows it wasn’t enough.

The NEW station (1907) with12 platforms and 14 lines coming into it. The plans were on the wall of our room.

This photo was in the lobby and shows the massive turntable complex used.

Breakfast at the Frothy Monkey (& lunch) great use of some of the station space.

Tennessee Aquarium.

Statue beside the river commemorating the Cherokee Nation who lived in the area for 10,000 years before they were evicted reservations in Florida along what came to be called the ‘Trail of Tears’. Very sad.

There is an Incline Railway from the base of Lookout Mountain which is steep and then the last part before the summit is a 72.7% incline so seriously steep. This is halfway up where the cars pass.

Warehouse Row, once warehouses, now very specie department store.

And some great silos, wouldn’t they look great painted up like they are at home!

Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. The tag line is More than a Hotel and indeed it is. You can stay in a rail carriage or opt for the hotel rooms like we did and the gardens where the platforms and rail lines used to be are called the Glen Miller Gardens and are the location for concerts during the summer, Jazz I suspect.

Well we started out trying to get onto country roads again but after several false starts and detours with closed exits for roadworks we headed out on the Interstate for a bit. We were amazed to see 2 separate wide loads in the city of Birmingham under Police Escort at 8.30am … wouldn’t happen at home but it was no great disruption so clearly the authorities don’t get as precious here … or they have a better appreciation that industry needs to be able to operate to enhance productivity.

We soon got onto country roads and had a lovely ride through lovely leafy glades and farmlands. It seems weird seeing lots of grass and yet not seeing cattle grazing!  We travelled through Anniston, Cedartown, Rome and Sommerville on the way into Chattanooga and what a treat it was to arrive at the hotel with the reception in the old Railway Station and several suites in old carriages as well as rooms behind where we are. There were originally 12 platforms here which must have been awesome. Thankfully a lot of the platforms have been preserved and courtyard gardens now replace some of the lines, but it still has great character.

Feeling for the people down the North and South Carolina coastline today with Hurricane Dorian impacting them with lots of wind rain and storm surges. Glad we rode down there last week and are the other side of the Appalachians this week so safely out of reach.

On the Interstate.

A water view, one of many.

Great Patriotism in view everywhere we travel.

Rome was a quirky place … note the serious rumble strip beside the fog line. They are gouged out of the surface and are all over the place and only vary in size between the states.

Norm has a theory that the shortest possible measurable time is between when a red traffic light lights up and someone toots their horn, he has also stated that the next shortest possible time is between when a green light lights up and I shout ‘go go’. Not to be outdone today when a light turned green and I was beside him he shouted ‘go go’ at the top of his lungs and frightened the living crap out of me. I was compelled to overtake him at the first available opportunity and give him the finger… as one would expect.

At the hotel, quite an entrance and thankfully in the shade … it was VERY hot.

The dome within the entry.

Registering.

T

Looking from the foyer out to the courtyard between platforms.

More of the courtyard.

Chattanooga Station complete with steam train.

And in the American brewed beer carriage doing the blog. Someone must support the local industry and we were happy to do it.

We weren’t travelling anywhere today but had the bikes booked in for an oil change at 9am and used the opportunity to check out a little bit of Birmingham before the day got too hot.

The Birmingham area was founded on the basis that it had abundant supplies of coal iron ore and limestone so the right ingredients for making steel and forging (if you’ll pardon the pun) it’s future as a powerhouse of industry. The depression hit heavily but the need for WWII munitions and shipping saw the fortunes of industry revived again. We visited Vulcan Park and Museum which was interesting and covered the industrial history as well as the towns part in the fight for justice and equality, medical breakthroughs and advanced technology.

Vulcan Park, and this is the statue of Vulcan.

Birmingham from the lookout at Vulcan Park.

The only remaining Pig Iron factory in town zoomed in from the lookout. Apparently the molten iron was poured into sand shells and the layout looked like piglets suckling a sow, hence the nick-name of ‘pig iron’ or so the story goes.

A view out over the park, beautifully maintained.

A work shot near the bike shop.

And our hotel the Hilton Garden Inn, just across the road from a massive Children’s Hospital.

We’ve had a hot day of riding today with temperatures near the 100F. Glad we got some directions from Kev’s friends of some country roads to use to avoid a lot of Interstates and the bonus this morning was that they were also nice and shaded. Lots of forests, logging and farming areas with hay, silage, sale yards, signs of bull sales …and no cattle in sight so is that because a. there are only hobby farmers properties next to the roads and therefore no cattle visible? I suspect not or b. the cattle activity here is in feedlots not close to the roads … more than likely I suspect. Have continued to see lots of eagles today, I think we’ve seen way more this trip than any other so not sure why that is since we have previously been in predominantly country areas, but we’re enjoying it anyway.

Had to take a pic of the Ranger with the fire warning, reminded us of the Yogi Bear cartoons.

Our very first drive in / ride in restaurant. 

Gave Norm a chance to replace my headlight globe in the shade.

Coffee spot ... we didn't see any flying pigs but soaked up the airconditioning in the 100F heat.

The Smith County Court House and Veterans Memorial in Raleigh.

Fuel stop and loved the No Solicitors sign … obviously means no Soliciting but it cracked me up.

Saw many convoys of Electric Transmission line vehicles heading for the coast for post hurricane repair. This is a small one. Also saw semi-trailers full of electric transformers. Felt quite emotional seeing these guys heading to the turmoil. The hurricane stalled over the Bermuda Islands with the eye of the hurricane in place over land for 36 - 40 hours. Incredible! The hurricane is expected to skate up the east coast along the east side of Florida (all areas of the state are declared under a state of emergency)… we will see how things look tomorrow but no apparent danger to usaas we are well to the west of there and on the other side of the Applaachians.

And the tag on the back of the cab took Norm’s fancy ‘Sweet Home Alabama’.

Well we have had a couple of lovely days chilling (if you can do that in Hammond) with Kevin and Matt Grace, family and friends. It was great to catch up with Tamara and some of her rellies also. We enjoyed a ‘shrimp boil’ and we survived the spices though I nearly managed to choke after eating some onion … dumb move, should have realised onions are full of water, in this case very spicy water, sure cleaned the old sinuses out. The weather has been very hot and humid as it is in Darwin. We plan to head off around 7am in the morning to get north before it gets too hot. Likely come into some rain compliments of activity of Hurricane Dorian on the way. Have enjoyed a brief respite from the bikes, much napping and reading.

Man that onion was hot!!!

And that's what we're eating at the Shrimp Boil. The bits at the top are caulifolower which is added to the pot late to soak up the spices ... yeah well nice theory, the onion was $#^&**$@!

And Norm decided to tackle the bikes for a bit of a clean before we take them to get an oil change ... but the humidity was so high the polish wouldn't dry to be polished off. Crazy.

And here are the Graces with us. Tamara, Kevin and Matt, Chris  being at the airforce base where he has started his career.