Reminiscing Childhood

Today I decided to take a ride northwest and maybe see some greener pastures. Things are rather dry in the Topeka area. I headed up through St Marys, on to Corning then headed west on a county road. This used to be the old highway 9 that came out of Centralia. The crops are good up that way. I noticed there are quite a few new farm homes along this paved road. They have had good crops for several years in a row and somewhat better prices for their grain so they are fixing up their homesteads.

When I went through Centralia I noticed the Methodist Church on the corner. I attended school in Centralia for about three years and they were building a new school so we went to the Methodist Church for school. I remember shooting marbles in front of the church at recess. When I was west of Centraila I decided to head north 2 miles to the farmstead where we lived. This is what it used to look like.

From Dot

An aerial view.

From Dot

Dad and us kids.

From Dot

Mom and kids.

From Dot

This is what it looks like now. Not one original building left.

From St Louis Kids & Frankfort

I went on west a mile then back south to the highway. I went west three more miles and went north to farm where we lived in 1946 when dad got out of the Army. This is what that house looked like.

From Gerstner

Not a pleasant sight.

From Dot

September 1947

From Dot

Alvin, Betty, Connie at Vermillion about 1948

From Dot

As you might expect there are no buildings left there. The windmill is still there and this is what it looks like now.

From St Louis Kids & Frankfort

From St Louis Kids & Frankfort

I went on around the section and went west, then back south. I went by John Hollands old place and some of it is still there. Mom & Dad used to visit with them and play cards. Us kids would play with there kids. When I came to the highway and looked west there was my grandparents old home. It has been added onto and is kept up well. The large barn is gone.

From St Louis Kids & Frankfort

From St Louis Kids & Frankfort

This is dad and me in front of their house.

From Al's scan's from Dot's albums

This is dad and me on a new 1945 Massey Harris tractor in front of the house.

From Al's scan's from Dot's albums

Farm sale February 1949.

From Al's scan's from Dot's albums

I went on west on highway 9 to Vliets and went about a mile and half south to Dan Gerstner's, my cousin. He, along with two hired men, were putting new siding on the house and had a machine shed framed up. I forgot to take a picture. I visited with him for a short time and I mentioned I had stopped at some of our old farms. He said they had taken their dad, Lloyd, to his dads old place a while back and was invited into the house. Lloyd could remember where some of the rooms were before the remodel. Dan suggested I stop at our old farm south of Frankfort so I did. It is about 2 and a half miles south, then east a mile. I managed to get a picture before the dog ran me off. I sure looks a lot nicer now. Ed Dressman bought the farm from dad. Dad had it built in 1961 the year I graduated from high school. This is what it looked like then.

From Al's scan's from Dot's albums

The old house at Frankfort with 61 Ford. I lived in this house from 1953 to 1961.

From Al's scan's from Dot's albums

It looks like this now. Notice the dog coming at me!

From St Louis Kids & Frankfort

I went on east to the next mile road then went south going by the Farrell farm that now has a new house. I headed back west to 99 highway past Blaine, Westmoreland, and Wamego to I-70. I headed back home after a nice trip remembering old times. Not all were good times, but most were.

This is what our lawns look like in Topeka. Mine is green because I water but notice the one across the street that is not watered.

From St Louis Kids & Frankfort

Cloverdale, IN to Home

I left Cloverdale at 6 AM Central time since I was awake and wanted to try and beat the heat.  The continental breakfast started at 6:30 Eastern time so I had some breakfast before heading out.  I had enough fuel to get me down the road a 100  or so miles.  These are the kind of motels I look for on the cycle.  Seems like all have Wifi and continental breakfasts.

I like to be able to pull right up to the door so I can unload.  It wasn't quite as important on this trip since I didn't carry camping gear.  The two side boxes lock with a padlock so I can leave some items on the bike.

I spent $492.40 for 8 nights motel for an average of $61.55 which is cheap compared to Canada and Alaska.  I rode a total of 3,451 miles and spent $227.80 for gas and averaged 43.7 mpg burning premium fuel.

 I rode 444 miles on the Natchez Trace, 469 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway and 105 miles on Skyline drive in the Shenandoah National Park.  There is a lot of great scenery along the way and I did not see all the sights I could have visited along the way.

My ride home was not uneventful.  While I was still in Illinois I came across a semi truck accident that had the entire east bound I-70 shut down.  The drivers door was down and had both lanes and the shoulders blocked. I would imagine he went to sleep.  There were probably 50 trucks behind it and the next exit that got caught when the accident occurred.  I did not stop for a picture as it is to dangerous because someone looking at the accident could run into me.  In fact about a mile past the accident a semi was coming into my lane on a bridge and I quickly shot around him.  He was probably talking on the CB.  Traffic was backed up for about 3 miles and they were all exiting off the exit ramp for a detour.

Before I got into St Louis I took I-270 and I-370 to stay out of the downtown area.  This is much quicker and easier on the nerves.  As I crossed the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers they were both running bank full and maybe flooding a little.  West of Columbia, Mo where I-70 crosses the Missouri river there was lots of flooding there.  I ran into rain several miles east of Columbia and it was coming down hard going through Columbia.  I rode in the rain for about 50 miles then pulled off for a burger.  It quit raining soon after that and I pulled into a rest area and took off the rain gear as it was starting to warm up.  I pulled into Topeka at 2:30 after 506 miles of riding.

As usual I am glad to get home.  I filled the bird feeders, took some pictures of our hydrangea and got out the clippers to trim my beard.

Saturday it was time to pick cherries.  I got up early and drove out northeast to a friends house and the tree was loaded.  I thought I might be too late as my son-in-law and daughter had picked a bunch and the grand kids too.  I picked about three gallon then it started to rain so I went home and started pitting.  My daughter Jenea came down to help and brought another gallon and a half.  We got all these pitted by 2:30.  It was still cool out and wasn't raining so I went out and picked 5 more gallons.  There are still lots on the tree.  They are really nice, plump and red this year.  Lots of good pies, jam and cooked cherries. Yum!

I have the cherries all pitted.  I worked on them for 9 hours yesterday and today.  Mary helped about an hour but is baking us a pie.  I have 22 quarts, a gallon bag, 6 pounds for jelly, a pie and wrinkled hands.

Well I am glad you could ride along with me again on this journey.  I now have 24,000 miles on this BMW in less than two years.  Thanks for all the comments about my blog while on this ride.  I had much better weather than I thought I might.  I was expecting extreme hot, humid weather in the south but it was really quite comfortable.  I had some rain but that is to expected.  At least there we no long rain-out periods.

Moorefield, VA to Cloverdale, Indiana

I left Moorefield about 7:45 and arrived in Cloverdale at 5:15 so that is my 8 hour day.  I made 546 miles and went from West Virginia to Maryland, to West Virginia, to Pennsylvania to West Virginia to and through Ohio and into Indiana.  I have been through this area before but it is still pretty.

When I left this morning it was foggy but the visibility wasn't too bad.  The moisture built up on my windshield and visor.  It was cool and when I got to higher elevations even cold.  But that didn't last to long once I was out of the mountains it warmed up and I put on my warm weather riding clothes.  It was really quite comfortable to ride until I got to Indianapolis then it warmed to 91 degrees.  I came through there around 5 o'clock and expected traffic problems but made it through okay.  I stopped about 15 miles south of Indianapolis for the night.  It should be another 550 miles to home so I will sleep in my own bed tomorrow night.  I didn't take any pictures today as I had her in git-r-done gear.  I guess you will need to head out on your own and send me some pictures.  I talked with Jenea and the cherries are ready to pick so I have plans for Saturday morning to pick several gallon. .  Last year I was gone to Alaska and missed out on them.  The year before that I picked and pitted seven gallon. 

I will make one further installment after I arrive home to sum up this wonderful  trip.  Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Roanake, VA to Moorefield, West Virginia

I started out the day by getting lost.  I sure miss Lola.  Can't live with them and miss them when they are gone.  I wanted to get back to the Parkway without going all the way back and thought there was another entrance close by.  The gal at the service station told me how she would go and I don't know whether I didn't listen or she didn't give me good directions.  I expect the latter.  She said she didn't know how many miles it was, but about 10 minutes.  I rode for about 15 and asked for directions again.  He said keep going the way you are going for about 11 miles and you will come to a bridge.  Don't cross it but turn right on Hwy 43 and go 4 miles and there is the Parkway.  Sure enough there it was.  All was good again.  I have sure had to ask for directions a lot this trip.

When I was getting dressed this morning I decided I was wearing my rain clothes because I had looked at the weather and there was a good possibility I would encounter some rain.  I had been cold on Tuesday and decided if it was to warm I could change.  I ended up putting on another jacket under the rain coat as I was cold and left it on all day.  The temperature just made it to the mid 70's and much of the time was cooler than that.  I forget how far the end of the Parkway was yesterday but I think around 100 miles.  I took these pictures near the James river.

I made it to the end at 11 AM and I had my route planned out I would take after I got off..  For some reason it didn't seem right and I couldn't find the road I wanted so I pulled off I-81 and filled with gas then asked the attendant.  She didn't know but there was another guy there that took my map and showed me where I was and then it dawned on me that the Parkway quit but then it turned into the Shenandoah National Park and he said it goes on another 50 miles.  I thanked him and went to a Subway for a sandwich then headed back the way I had came from.  It was probably 20 miles back and I got back on headed north on the Shenandoah.  I showed my Golden Age Passport and saved the entrance fee again.  It was another 105 miles.

This is a beautiful park.  The speed limit is 35 mph but I mostly drove 40.  I hadn't gone too far when I saw this guy near the road.

Then it started a light rain and continued for about two hours.  It wasn't bad, just annoying as I had to keep the camera covered so I missed a few pictures I would have taken.   I see some of my pictures have water spots.  I did manage to get most of the shots later as the rain let up or I just decided I was going to take them.  Here are some of them.

All of a sudden there were two deer on the road and I stopped.  It took a while to get the camera out but this one stood in the middle of the road and scratched an itch.

There were lots of pretty flowers again.

I'm not sure if this was a weed or flower but it took me a long time to find the right one where I could pull off for a picture.

Then it was foggy in places.

At times it was difficult to see to ride.  I slowed way down and hoped others did too.  I made it without any problems.

So I guess it is time to put it in get-r-done gear and head for home.  May try to go on West in West Virginia before heading north to I-70.  Should be home Friday if all goes well.  If you want to see more pictures they are posted on Picasa at: http://picasaweb.google.com/home