August 22, 2025- Hannibal MO to Loveland OH

August 22, 2025- Hannibal MO to Loveland OH        

After a long last day, we finally got home to Loveland OH.  Crossing the Mississippi River within the first 5 minutes of our ride today. Pretty nice sun rise.

But not too far down the road, lots of fog....slow down boys.

Finally, blue skies as we cross the Illinois River.

We still have corn and soybean fields but not as many.  

So..... only thing left is to look at the cool formation of all the clouds over the next 4 hours.

Blue skies trying to get thru.

Last water for the trip..... our pond in the front yard.

Destination: Loveland, OH

Temps: 63-80

Miles: 436

Route: I-72, I-55, I-74, I-275

This has been an absolutely fabulous trip.  

Here are some of the stats.

Number of States = 15

Number of days = 19

Number of National Parks = 8

Temperature Range = 42-102

Elevation = 0 - 11,200

Total Miles = 7900

We had many route changes and lots of people along the way making suggestions.

I want to thank all the RFTW family member that welcomed us and guided us to the best possible roads and local areas to visit along out way.

Thanks to Ron and Larry for a beautiful, unforgettable trip.  

Goal Accomplished:  We now have ridden in all 50 states!!!

August 21, 2025 Lincoln NE to Hannibal MO

August 21, 2025 Lincoln NE to Hannibal MO

Today started out on the slow side. Last night, Ron noticed our back tire was a little bald. There happened to be an Indian dealer in Lincoln, so we went first thing in the morning.   Can you see the name....Guess, this is John Elway Powersports.  Yes, THE John Elway.  The employee said he stopped in there a few years back.  Pretty interesting.  They said John was a pretty down-to-earth guy.

The service guys were awesome.  They got us right in and by 11:15 we were back on the road.

Kind of hard to see but it is not good.

LOTS for corn and soybean fields!!!  Boring but beautiful blue sky today and nice temp, 80-84.

Crossing the Missouri River.

You guessed it.  MORE corn and soybean....

Check out the clouds.

The bikes are looking a bit buggy.

Most of the view for the day.

Looks like someone missed the runway.

This was at one of our gas stops.

WOW!!  check out this purple truck...

"Trunk Monkey Custom".  Love the monkey on the bumper.

We stopped in Hannibal, MO for the night.

Fun Fact: Tom Sawyer is from the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain, the author, grew up.

H

We walked along the Mississippi River.

Interesting... a cruise ship on the Mississippi.

Sun was behind me so we could not see sunset, but it created a nice color on the river.

And the clouds a pretty color.

Here, there were 2 sets of railroad tracks. Ron was between when they went thru at the same time going the opposite directions.  See the red shirt on the right, that is him.

Ron laid a quarter, dime and a penny on the track.  Even though we looked for it (with the help of a stranger who lives in Columbus, OH), no luck finding the penny and dime, but did find the quarter.

Look at the left of the middle one.  It is the silhouette of the dime or penny. The middle one was the one the train ran over, and the one on the right is an original quarter.

A great day even though it was started a little late. We followed St Rt 36 today instead of I-70.  I kept us from going thru St. Louis and Kansas City.  We went thru beautiful farmlands.

Destination: Hannibal, MO

Temps: 72-84

Miles: 367

Route: I-80, St Rt 77, 2, I-29, St Rt 36

August 20, 2025 - Broomfield, CO to Lincoln, NE

August 20, 2025 - Broomfield, CO to Lincoln, NE

The other day, we saw that Daniel (from Olympia) and Frank (from near Yosemite) posted on Facebook the following.

Frank posted this...

Thanks guys, pretty funny!!!

We want to thank Dan and Kay for their hospitality and garage space.

Sun was up and shining again today. This is over a local pond near Dan's house.

On the way to breakfast, this was a pretty cool site.  An air balloon on the right and a small white plane bottom left with the mountains in the background.

Today was a great day. There are several RFTW family members in the Denver area that get together for breakfast weekly on Wednesday.  Dan took us and we saw several surprised looks as we walk to the restaurant.  It was so much fun.

The crew....

It was great to reconnect with some and connect new with others.  Thanks ladies for a great morning!! Cannot wait to see you all in May.

Top Hat has been my buddy since he recovered my RFTW vest.

He also blessed Ron and Larry's new bikes.  Very special.  Thank You!!

Dan , Ron, Larrry.

Janelle and Denise are my six pack buddies from a few years ago. 

Cannot wait until May for the Run to reconnect again.  Is it May yet?

On the road.  We went thru this little town I thought was really "unique". Town name was AULT.

After all the beautiful pictures from yesterday from the mountains, we head thru Nebraska again and it is FLAT and CORN fields.  

.....and hay fields.

We went off the highway and took a side road St Rt 14.  Lazy Susan flower for miles along this road.

Back on the highway. There were several ponds in the middle of "nowhere". This broke up the monotony of corn and hay fields.

Hahahaha... "you are NOWHERE".  This was the last gas stop for the day.

Hey Ron.....  How much further to our next stop....?

Answer: mile , mile and half.  

Comment for the trip. Thanks to Dan from Montana.  hahaha

800 miles left to get home.

Destination: Lincoln, NE

Temps: 64-89

Miles: 512

Route: I-26,St Rt 14, I-76, I-80