Rules of the Road

With just one day to blast off you would think that we would be ready........well........we are.......sort of......... Hap and I have been taking these trips, although much shorter 2-5 week (400-1800 miles), for 21 years so we know what we need to take and how to pack it. One of the challenges for this is the "extra" stuff. Like the computer, bigger tent. We are probably looking at 10,000-12,000 miles give or take a few miles. For the first part of this ride, from here to Indianapolis, we will be also pulling "Katie's" trailer. We are staying a few weeks in Indy visiting family so we are going to need extra "stuff". We plan to leave the trailer there and ride the trip without it. In this picture you can see Katie in her trailer on a tandem rally ride last year. We lost our girl a year ago, but the pain of her not being able to travel with us still doesn't go away. But don't worry Katie will be with us somehow.


Alot of people want to know what our route is and how do we pick the route?? This route started because we didn't want to ride across the plains (KA, NB) of the US, wanted to see the Dakotas, love riding in Montana, wanted to visit friends in Idaho and Washington, wanted to go back to the Olympic Pensinsula and Mt St Helens and visit Hap's sister in Corvallis, OR. We also wanted to be able to go through Glacier Park again and actually have time to spend a few days hiking. We have ridden through there twice but not had a chance to stay. So that was the start. The rest of the route was pretty much decided the same way. What do we want to see and who do we know lives near there. The idea is that there are so many places we have had to rush past that we wanted to go back to. So now we can do that.


In our many travels we have certain "Rules of the Road" that must be followed or you have to suffer the consequences. I thought before we get started on our journey, we should share these rules. Also, when Hap breaks one of these rules I will have witnesses now. So here they are:

1. The ten mile rule: We can ride no farther than ten miles in the morning before we have coffee. During that ten miles, you may not talk to Diane.


2. Don't wake Diane up early in the morning and say, "It's 6am it's time to get up and ride." And being cheerful doesn't help!


3. Watch out for the ropes on the tent, because they jump out and grab your feet.


4. Keep the bike out of the ditch.


5. We have one disputed rule: Diane's is to be off the road by at least 4 hours before sundown. Hap's is to be off the road sometime just before it gets dark.

There are more rules but I am afraid this is getting too long. I'll share more later.....

By the way for those of you who are posting comments. If you don't sign your name they show up as anonymous. Which is fine with us. I just wanted you to know that your email address and your name are not published.

Thanks to all of you who have wished us well, and given us a wonderful send off. We are going to miss you. Take care Diane and Hap