Another successful road adventure is behind me. As always, it’s good to be home and I am thankful that the entire trip was enjoyable and safe.

We had planned a more scenic route home but got up to a weather radar that wasn’t as sunny as we had hoped.

It looked like if we jumped on I-74 and made a straight shot toward home we might, just might get there without getting wet. With the routes Mason and I had put together we had avoided the interstate this entire trip. That was about to change. We thought if we got far enough east we might be able to get off on smaller roads and still stay dry. The weather just didn’t cooperate.

We stayed on I-74 all the way to Indiana 32 then followed that road due east until Mason went south to his home base and I continued east to the Ramblings Ranch.

When I pulled into the garage, the trip was just shy of 2100 enjoyable miles. I was safe, sound (well – sort of), and dry.

My take aways from this trip. I really enjoyed travelling with Mason. He did a great job of planning routes, sharing conversations, and just having a great attitude. I’d travel with him again anytime. The norther part of the Great River Road is much more interesting than the portion from central Illinois south. It does not follow as close to the river as I would like but the roads are good. I was able to eat sensibly (kind of) – I only had ice cream once. The high temperatures of the first day took a toll on me physically. I ended up with a cold / sinus issues that lasted the entire 9 days of the trip. (I’m sure Mason was sick of listening to me cough into the intercom. Sorry Mason.) I took 3 too many shirts and a couple of extra pairs of socks. The trip was scheduled to be one day longer originally so not too crazy on the packing. Two more hat pins and two more smashed pennies were added to the memory bank.

It’s a short turn-around week. I’m headed out soon with my son for a long over-due father-son adventure. I’ll be taking the smaller bike which will be the first extended trip on it. I am ready to continue rambling so stay tuned.

Thanks for following along.