Day 2: Salina, KS

We are here in Salina, KS tonight finally laying in our sweet air mattress and gi-normous tent (no really, it's beyond enormous into the gi-normous category). We drove 406 miles today, mostly on highways, for a total of 711.4  miles for the trip (305 to Fordland yesterday). It took 8 hours to get here...and it was HOT. We ate some real good BBQ for dinner on the advice of Uncle Matt.  I forgot to mention earlier their big beautiful property with an amazing garden, peach trees, pond with a little pond house and a dog that can do math. Real math; addition and subtraction math. We didn't want to leave...but we did. We'll certainly be visiting again (maybe on our return home).

Everyone along the way has been very nice. We've yet to pay for refills on our waterbag. Speaking of waterbag...

Devin had this excellent idea to use his camelbak water bag on the bike (looks like a backpak with a big water bladder in it and a hose that you drink from). Our friend sold us his tourpack (a motorcycle trunk) and the camelbak fits right inside. There is a little hole that the hose fits right through. We are able to then drink ice cold water as we are going down the road. He even retrofitted it to 6 ft so that it reaches right up to him. Yesterday it was a dream. Today it was too, even when I realized that we had actually been dragging it down the road (4 lane HWY & interstate) for over 30 minutes. It lost its cap, got nice and black on the hose, and chewed up the mouthpiece pretty good. We've made sure it's tucked away very well ever since. You can see the battle scars in the pic below.

And that's not all...I filled up our waterbag at one stop only to come out and realize it was carbonated water. You know how you go to the fountain sodas and they have the little 'water' button....yeah it was carbonated. Devin liked it...said it was "refreshing"...made my stomach not so happy. The next stop I went in to refill it and, again, the fountain station 'water' was carbonated. I just used the wash sink. Guess we learned TWO things about the bike water...

Otherwise it's been pretty uneventful (thankfully).  A few other interesting points: 
Baxter, KS is the birthplace of waterjet cutting.
Chetopa is the pecan capital of Kansas.
One-lane road construction in Kansas is unique: They escort with a pilot vehicle that says "FOLLOW ME" because apparently we aren't smart enough to stay on the one side of the road for a mile and not hit the big flashing truck in the 10 meters of road they are working on...
The KOA in Salina, KS is supremo. If you ever come through here it's worth staying. Wish we had more time to really enjoy it.

Tomorrow we continue west to see several geographic features in Kansas. We will be staying the night with Devin's Uncle Mic & Aunt Carol near Tribune, KS. He's running out of uncles to stay with so I guess we'll have to really commit to this camping thing ;-)
Until then...

Day 2 towards Kansas

We just left Matt &Ellens after a good nights sleep and wonderful peach waffles. I would have taken a picture but they really didnt last long! Matt sent us with some garden tomatoes and peppers...the tomatoes will be our lunch!

The weather is overcast making for nice riding. We are on our way to Salina, KS and will start seeing geographical features in KS tomorrow. I'll post tonight once we set up camp!

Day 1 Fordland, MO

This didn't want to upload last night so we'll try again.

We are finally on our way...

Packing for a several week trip takes a lot more time than we thought! But we got away safely and, despite the heat, made it to our destination without incident. Well, e except that one incident where, just before Cape Girardeau the bike just stopped working. Engine turned off, no lights, etc. Devin is so good at what he does though and got us quickly and safely to the side of the road. A very nice man soon stopped.

They determined it was a fuse, replaced the fuse, blew the new one... Long story short there was a pinched wire in the handle bar which they repaired and we were on our way (see photo).

A subsequently uneventful trip had brought us to Matt & Ellens house (devins aunt and uncle) where we had an amazing dinner (and fresh peach pie from their peach trees) hot shower, and a bed...pretty good for camping :-).

The scenery thus far has been very nice and a great sunset as we pulled in. The clouds about  2/3 way through made it a good ride. We are headed to Salina, KS tomorrow. The forecast is looking like 100+ ... We'll try to scoot out early (for us anyway) to beat some of the heat. Until then...

Where it started...Where it's come

When we first started dating we always talked and dreamed that someday we would take a trip together and travel across America, seeing everything we ever wanted to see. As young 20-somethings, we thought the reality of that trip was 40 years and a lifetime away. We were young and starry eyed at the time and figured we'd settle down, start a family, and live life by the book, traveling in retirement.

When Devin was nearing his final year in college we began to talk about our next steps. Jokingly we said, let's do that trip we always talked about. The more we thought the more it occurred to us that it might be a possibility. "If we did this, and I did that, and we started here..." suddenly it all came together. By January of 2012 we had decided that we were most certainly going on this trip starting sometime in August. We were crazy enough to commit to taking our motorcycle and camping most of the way.

So here we are, making this once in a lifetime trip come true.

We have been amazingly blessed. Our family (although we know they are nervous) are excited and very helpful in our preparations. My bosses and coworkers are very supportive and believe in my ability to do my job even when out of the office and area, helping me to do that. Our friends & family abroad have offered up a warm bed and meal when we come through. And many we know have helped guide our stops along the way.

We plan to leave around August 1, 2012. We plan to post daily or nearly daily about where we are, what we're doing, and any other interesting points. In our heads we'll ride roughly 300 miles or less a day. When we are ready for a hotel we'll get one. 


Our trip, as of now, will occur in 3 legs. The first is roughly 36-40 days and covers most of the west and northwest. The second takes us east and will last another roughly 30 days. Our third leg (roughly 30 days) takes us southwest and back across the south officially ending in Key West, FL. We plan to be back by Thanksgiving. Please feel free to email us any ideas (devinanderinmiles@gmail.com). We are avoiding time in cities, because we can always fly there for a week/weekend trip later on (and bikes with trailers and cities can be daunting). We are looking for good riding and good sights.


Our goals: See what we want to see. Take it easy. Enjoy. And if we can, hit the four corners of the contiguous 48 states.  We hope you enjoy following our journey!