May 10, 2016 - Day 1 to CA

Forgot to add the picture of Mike Albrinck  with his wife.  Looks great 50 years after serving.  He currently has 3 kids.  2 have serve overseas as part of the National Guard.  Brittany was in Kuwait for 6 months and Brian was in Afghanistan for 6 month.  Following in dad's footsteps.

Several people have asked about what we pack and how much will fit in the compartments of the motorcycle.  Here is a pic of the items in the suitcase that fits in the tour pack ( the one on the back of the bike). The rain gear and other items are already in the saddle bags.  You have to learn to pack with only few items you do not mind wearing several time over the next 3 weeks (washed several times of course) .

Well as most of you know we have lots of rain the last few days and today was no exception.  What a way to start off the trip.  We left with rain gear on and headed to Florence to meet Jenny ( aka "Lady Jen") and Ken (aka "Catfish") Ward for breakfast.  The sky was trying to let the sun thru as we left Loveland.

As we cross the river to KY, looked liked we have have blue skies.

A little recap about the Wards. Ken was in the Navy from 1977-1981.  No war at this time. He served in Norfolk VA. He was electronic warfare technician and always looking for enemy on radar.
He was our platoon leader last year for RFTW (platoon 3)  and was the central route coordinator in 2014. This year he will be a road guard.   This is his 9th year and is currently the Treasurer for RFTW. This is a very big task. His wife Jenny is also very involved in the Run. Larry and I will be assisting Lady Jen in her tasks this year.  We will get an education of some of the logistics it takes to get 300 people across this beautiful country. We will get more details on this later.

So we meet them at Cracker Barrel, and as we are sitting waiting for our food, I receive a few text wishing us safe travels.  I tell Larry he was on copy and should have also gotten them.  At that point he tell me he does not have his phone.  Left it at home.  Has the case for it but no phone. We all got a good laugh because it is normally me that forgets my phone.  I was able to get a hold of our neighbors who were so kind to Fed-ex it to CA for us to pick up there.  Thanks Kevin and Carol.

All geared up and ready to go!!

We are off  

Not long and the rains came.  Sooo much fun... NOT!!!

We did get a good amount of nice weather.  This is Ken and Jenny.  I guess you all figured that out.

Heading  thru Illinois the sun was out.  If you read blog last year , you know I am a sucker for the scenery.  Great colors. 

Check out the clouds, they look like roles of cotton.

Saw a lot of fields like this.  Must have been hit with lots of rain.  

As we head into Missouri, we see the St. Louis Arch.  

Then head across the Mississippi River.  Check out the bridge.  Pretty unique design.

Sorry have to turn your heads on this one.  Have not figured out how to flip it.  :-)

The Great Mississippi River

The rest of the day we see lots of green fields and blue skies. 

 Nice puffy white clouds to end the ride for the day.

For dinner, we met with Willy and his wife.  He was in Platoon 3 with us last year.  Due to surgery on his foot he was unable to ride this year.  He rode in 2013, 2014 and 2015.  Hope you are back on the mend for 2017.  Was great seeing you.  They live in Mexico, MO.

Forgot to mention that at some point between rain and sun, Ken lost his keyfob for his bike.  He clams it was my fault. Really!!!  I never touched.  In the recap, he was putting on his rain gear and laid it on the seat, he thinks.  Then I asked for a picture and thinks he forgot to pick it up.  Anyway, good thing we always bring a second one.  Jenny had one.  He will get a new one in CA.  See Aaron, happens to the best.......

We went 516 miles today.  We are taking the route backwards.  So we hit I 71 to Louisville, then picked up I 64.  When we got to St. Louis, we got on I-70.  Stopped at Columbia MO for the night.

We started out at 55 degrees with rain and ended at 82 and sunny skies.  Hope tomorrow is like the end of the day.