Total mileage for the trip: 1068.7
On the previous two mornings of the trip, we had a lot of lollygagging around since the Rotary Prison didn't open until 10:00AM and our Prison Tour in Jefferson City didn't start until 9:00 AM CT. This final day of the trip was more typical of a motorcycle vacation as we were on the road by sunrise.
Light rain had moved through the area very early in the morning, but mercifully, there was little rain as we packed up and the morning temperature was quite tolerable, if still a little humid.
Once on the road, I was really glad we stopped the previous night when we did. Early morning is the best time to ride and this day was no exception. Temperature was really quite nice and there were almost no other cars on the road. I think it was nearly an hour before I even had to pass a slow moving Sunday driver.
The clouds in the area painted a subdued sunrise as we motored toward home.
The motorcycle ride through Southern Indiana hill country is very pleasant. Lots of hills, beautiful green trees and enough straight stretches that we can still make good time.
In a predictable amount of time we were getting fuel at a gas station not too far from home. Home by 10:00 AM, we had plenty of time to unpack and get settled before getting the dogs back from the kennel.
I prefer week(s)-long trips across country on the motorcycle, but these long weekends definitely do make a few days feel like a real adventure.
As far as trips go, this June quest on the Goldwing has to be one of the hottest and stickiest motorcycle tours ever, especially given the trip length. June is usually cooler with a bit more rain expected, so I'll count myself as lucky that we only had at most 2 hours of rain. Areas around us got deluged and much of Southern Illinois smelled like a marsh from all the rain.
As a bit of an aside, shortly before leaving on this trip, I replaced the windshield on my Goldwing with a Klockwerks Flare. The stock windshield had cracked and I always hated how the top of the windshield could sometimes be right at the sight line. The 14" Flare at the lowest setting is perfect. There probably isn't quite as much wind protection when ambient wind was high, a little more during calm winds and it works quite well during heavy rain. Baptism by storm. Being firmly of the belief that looking through a motorcycle windshield is very, very wrong, I really like the Flare windshield.
Overall, what a great trip. We rode through some really nice parts of the Midwest and saw some amazing, if somewhat tragic, historical aspects of the United States. The tours were both interesting and the time away from the daily issues of life was a nice break.
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