Day 55

 Day 55 we rode to our next planned stop and arrived at about 2:30 pm. Our next and final leg was 220 miles so we rested up a little and decided to finish up this adventure a day early. Watching the weather radar there was a possibility of rain. My original route would take us up high, meaning across the top of Tennessee instead of down to I40 and across. But the GPS reared it's ugly programming again and despite my installed route it kept rerouting down to I40. I changed the preferences (which for a planned route I should not have to do) to "curvy" roads and it designed a route across the top. I figured I would use this route until I got to an area I was familiar with and go on my own.

A note about the routing, I started out the day with the GPS following my planned route, but a bridge on that route (in the start of the route) was out and the detour "help" was questionable. Since the GPS was insistent on me going back to the closed bridge I had to stop the routing and go to a location on the other side of the closed bridge  to try and reactivate the route. The GPS thought it would create it's own route which involved going from one interstate to another. I felt like I was racing around in circles, seeing exit signs for the same spot a number of times.

After starting the final return route we got on 421 and I knew from there I could ignore the GPS and take it to 58 and back home. We did about 550 miles today, so our longest day of the trip. We hit rain three times, each time very light and not for more than a few minutes. So for the trip we hit rain maybe 10 to 12 times and only twice was it more than a very light rain and both those times it was for maybe two hours each time. A big difference from last year's trip to Newfoundland where we were in a lot of heavy rain all day. We even hit historic rains in New Hampshire with flooding on our way back. 

We made it to our home at about 7:30 pm and are happy to be home. The total mileage for this trip is about 14600 miles. The trip was very expensive, like my first new car expensive. But you have to do what you can or want to do while you have the health, opportunity and the means to do it. Our next adventure is going to be our new puppy arriving August 17.

I wan to thank Ken in Idaho for hosting us, feeding us and taking us on a great ride and hike. Gregg and Morgan our Nephew and Niece in Anchorage for hosting us, feeding us and taking us around and showing us the sights. Karen in Redmond who's VRBO was home for the rally. I hope she was able to sell and get herself a new place as she planned. Terry who's B&B we stayed at near Denali National Park. The Motorcycle Shop in Anchorage and Mark of Outwest Motorwerks  for servicing the motorcycle. Craig our at home neighbor for getting our packages and mail. Terri and Brian for getting our packages and for their finish line  they place in our driveway. My brother Craig who kept a close track of our progress and check with me to make sure we were OK.