Every once in a while opportunities come along and you either grab them up or move on with your routine life.  This year one of those opportunities came along and I decided this might be a now or never.  Jana and I enjoyed Utah so much that we decided to head back there again this year.  Our son Spencer and his wife Laura mentioned that they would like to see that area sometime.  A long motorcycle trip with them might not be possible too many more times.  The light bulbs started coming on and 6 months ago we started planning the trip.

It has been a long wait but today we finally actually hit the road.  Given the current status of our lives we decided that we were going to trailer the bikes.  I’ve never trailered my bike for anything other than taking it to get it serviced.  I had purchased the trailer years ago to take extended trips but never used it like that.

The weather today was really sticky.  I think it was about 340% humidity.  The temp only got up to 86 but it was pretty ugly.

I loaded the bikes last night and after breakfast at our favorite spot we went to pick up the rest of the crew.  It seemed easy enough – 200 miles or so then into an Effingham, Illinois Holiday Inn.  The truck performed great as did the trailer.  The streets got a little narrow at times but we made it through without any issues.  My son and daughter-in-law are great travel companions.

On the way we stopped at Casey, Illinois – the town with the “world’s largest …….”.  It seems the town folk had hatched an idea that would draw people from far and wide (or at least from Indiana).  The highlights included the world’s largest pitchfork, golf tee, mail box, knitting needles, wooden shoes, etc.  It really is hard to prove that these are actually the world’s largest whatever because not a lot of people document this stuff beyond the Guinness (the record book – not the beer) people.

It was a fun break in the action and we took the required tourist pictures.

So that’s how our latest motorcycle adventure begins.  We were in the truck all day and took pictures of the largest number 2 pencil in the world.  It’s like I turned a page – trailering all day.  Tomorrow is another day and the plan is to actually get the bikes out of the trailer.