by Joe Russo, Jr. 

     July 7, 2006.  96,400 miles.  I left Tucson, Arizona early in the morning.  Out of Flagstaff, Arizona I got on Rt 40 towards Albuquerque, New Mexico and spent the night there.  It was a 600 mile day.

     July 8, 2006.  It was a day of clouds and scattered showers; nice and cool to travel.  I spent the night in Limon, Colorado at a real crappy hotel.  It was a 500 mile day.

     July 9, 2006.  Traveled through eastern Colorado and western Kansas on Rt 36, both were very deserted.  Right now I’m in Washington, Kansas in a real nice room.  The friendliest and nicest people in the U.S. are from Kansas, from my past experiences.

     July 10, 2006.  Still on Rt 36, I traveled across Kansas and Missouri.  As soon as I crossed the river into Missouri I stopped for food.  I crossed three rivers today:  Missouri, Mississippi, and Illinois.  Right now I’m on Route 36, 100 miles west of Indy at a Haji Hotel.

     July 11, 2006.  It was a 550 mile day traveling through Ohio, just into Pennsylvania.

     July 12, 2006.  It was another 550 mile day traveling through the armpit of Up State New York, the Troy, Albany and Schenectady area.  I spent the night in Rutland, Vermont; it was so good to be in Vermont again, it was my home for 7 years.

     July 13-17, 2006.  I spent 5 days at my friends Bob’s house.  He lives on Cold River Rd in Shrewsbury, Vermont, right next to Rutland.  I haven’t lived there for 20 years, but he and his family made me feel like I never left.

     July 17-22, 2006.  Sherry flew into Burlington on Wednesday.  I got in on Tuesday and had set up camp.  We camped with the Antigonish Touring Society from Nova Scotia, Canada; we have been life members since the Fredericksburg National in Texas.  The ATS Club is by invitation only!  We had a blast at the rally and didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits.  The bike also turned over 100,000 miles while we were there.

     July 23-25, 2006.  We shipped all our camping gear out there, so Sunday morning in the rain we broke camp and shipped it all back; it was a good way to do it.  It rained all day Sunday and Monday.  We spent Sunday night in Maine eating lobster dinner at a small restaurant named Claudia’s.  We spent Monday night in Amherst, NS, a beautiful little town with a lot of history.  Tuesday we traveled the coast to NS on the Sunrise trail.  Words cannot give it justice; it’s more of an experience you just have to see.  We saw three Bald Eagles today and two at Balentines Cove.  Bernie and Karen let us stay at their summer cottage on the Atlantic Ocean at Balentines Cove.  It’s about as far North East as you can go, 4 time zones away from home.

     July 26, 2006.  Today we relaxed at the cottage in the morning and went out on the Cabot Trail in the afternoon.

     July 27, 2006.  Bernie changed the oil and filter on my bike and did a few other things to prepare us for traveling again.  That night we all went down to Boyds Cove for Seafood Platters.  It was really good.

     July 28, 2006.  More seafood and R&R at the cottage.

     July 29, 2006.  101,717.  Sad to leave Balentines Cove.  Saw three Bald Eagles again today.  We stayed outside Bangor, Maine.

     July 30, 2006.  102,100.  Traveled across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and are in upstate New York now.

     July 31, 2006.  We only went 400 miles today, had a bad case of Monkey Butt.

     August 1, 2006.  103,000.  Left Pennsylvania and I-80.  We went through Ohio and Rt 76 & 71 down to Louisville, Kentucky.  Right now were on Route 64 west.

     August 2, 2006.  We only went 300 miles today because we wanted to stay at George & Shirley’s.  Shirley was camping with the grandchildren, so we took George out for dinner.  He didn’t complain about anything.

     August 3, 2006.  103,724.  In the morning we all left to have breakfast with Shirley.  She and the grand kids were about 70 miles west at the Merrimack River; it was nice to see her again.

     August 4, 2006.  Today is Friday and we had to bring the bike to the BMW dealer in Tulsa, OK with electrical problems.

     August 5, 2006.  They said the problem was the ignition switch and they didn’t have one in stock so they hotwired it.  To make a long story short, the starter needed new brushes.  The shop assured me it wasn’t the starter, so Sherry was the push starter for the next 1,000 miles.  Leaving Tulsa at noon it was in the 90’s and very humid.  We went about 500 miles and we’re spending the night in Clovis, New Mexico.

     August 6, 2006.  104,830.  Left Clovis at 6 a.m.  From Portales to Roswell we saw 30 Red Tail Hawks.  We stopped in Ruidoso Downs for Huevos Rancheros; traveling on Route 70 was very nice.  We picked up I-10 in Las Cruces and with a strong tail wind we made it home by 4:30 p.m.  A total of 31 days and 8,430 miles. 

     What did you do last summer?