When life gives you lemons, go ride Lemonade!

Planning 2013/2014

The planning for the rides during the year of 2013 consisted of deciding to do only small two or three day trips during Kathy's weekends, which usually fell during the middle of the week.  We are saving up for a big trip in 2014 and don't want to her to lose workdays because of trips.  She does not get any paid vacation.  As usual the first trip planned is the Polar Bear Run on January first.  After that some were planned in advance but most were planned quickly as time became available.  All in all we took 11 trips during 2013.

I am writing this in the middle of November 2013.  I have been very negligent in keeping our web pages updated this year.  Anyone who has tried to keep up with us has probably been disappointed and given up.  I will do better during our 2014 trip to the East Coast of the USA next year.

The 2014 trip will start by going south to Los Angeles and turning east to get to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras and then go on to Daytona for Bike Week.  After that we will head down to Key West, turn around and follow the weather north, ending with the fall colors in Nova Scotia before turning west and heading home.  This is planned to take up to eight months.  That will make it our longest single trip.  The previous longest was seven months in 2008 in Europe/Africa.

During our upcoming trip we plan to see the Everglades, the mansions of the South, the famously popular motorcycle roads of the Smoky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains, the monuments of DC, the battlefields of the Civil and Revolutionary Wars, the sights of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, the New England seacoast, and Nova Scotia before turning west towards Montreal, Niagara Falls, Detroit, the Great Lakes and the plains of Saskatchewan.

The poet Robert Burns said The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley, and those of you who have followed our adventures for the last eight years know that we have had to change plans quickly more than once. (See Planning Part B, Planning Part C and Planning Part D for the problems we had while planning our European adventures.)  So keep watching during the upcoming year and find out if we make it.  I sure hope we make at least the first half as we have several paid reservations already through Louisiana and Florida.  Reservations at the state parks of Louisiana and Florida may be made no earlier than 11 months in advance.  At 11 months in advance of Mardi Gras our computer crashed and we ordered and bought a new one.  One week later, at ten and three quarter months in advance I got the last campsite in the second state park near New Orleans and the second to last campsite in the only state park near Daytona Beach Bike Week.  Only one week into the 11 month reservation period and only one campsite is left!  (We like the state parks whenever possible because they do not raise their prices for special events.  It is why we stayed at Custer State Park in S. Dakota for Sturgis Bike Week.)  We also have reservations at several other parks in Florida because it is the busy season for Florida.  Now we just have to get there.