Day 37 - Cambridge, OH to Reading, PA

Well my trip has come full circle as I find myself at my son Keith's home to spend a few days helping out with some handyman chores. (Remember the early post with the picture of Keith dancing with his youngest daughter, Laney?)

Keith met me outside of Harrisburg, PA and we road the remaining miles to his house together. (He has a VTX1800.) It was quite enjoyable riding with someone I knew after all those miles I put on the Gold Wing riding by my lonesome.

I am going to consider my Alaskan Adventure to be complete at this point. The final leg from Reading to Woodstock is a trip that I've done many times and while enjoyable, certainly does not qualify as an adventure.

So some statistics ...

In 37 days I traveled 12,450 miles as indicated by my GPS or 12,927 miles as indicated by the Gold Wing's odometer. (I'm sure that the GPS is the more accurate.) Based on the GPS mileage, I averaged 44 miles per gallon making the Wing a fairly economical ride!

I averaged 336 miles a day which is pretty much what I'd planned. Although I only had 2 days with no forward progress which is about 3 less that I had planned for the little over five weeks I was on the road.

And some thoughts ...

I did not see a single speed trap and only a couple of vehicles pulled over by a police cruser in all the western states and British Columbia. They are definitely not trying to raise revenue via speeding tickets. And with the lack of police presence I did not notice an increase in the number of vehicles that were traveling excessively over the posted limit. Perhaps we could get by with fewer law enforcement officers if we Easterners adopted the Western model.

Hyder, Alaska has no police force or taxes. Plus each citizen got a check for $3700 last year from the oil revenues. Why do so few people live there? Perhaps it is the fact that none of the streets are paved.

Why does the Northwest (and half of Colorado) and British Columbia (and a small part of Alberta), have such a monopoly on breathtaking beauty? (Yes, I know that there are magnificent places in the Northeast. But few of them take your breath away!!)

I think that we should begin negotiations to annex British Columbia and make her the 51st state! Then Alaska would no longer be isolated from the Lower 48. And we will have picked up a real jewel.

The miles go by quickly when you are enjoying the sights offered by the Western landscape. On the other hand, traveling through the Great Plains seems to take forever.

I slept better the six nights that I camped than the nights that I stayed in motels. Perhaps it is because there was nothing to do but to go back to sleep at 3 A.M.. In the motel, I'd get up and get on the computer. Computers are neat. And the Internet is wonderous. But both seem to have infused themselves into my being in an obtrusive way.

Companionship, while not necessary, would have been nice. I was having a wonderful time traveling by myself. But the happiest bikers I saw were traveling in small groups sharing the experience (and costs! :-) ). And I might have made it up the Cassiar if I'd had a support group with me.

You, the readers of this blog, were my support group. I really apprecated the comments and emails that offered encouragement. Especially to continue the blog as there were times that I posted out of a sense of obligation because I knew, that if I fell behind, I would never catch up! I also now know that the blog will serve as a reminder of my trip and allow me to revisit a special time in my life as time rushes on.

That's it for now. Thanks for keeping me company!!!