Labor Day at the Gap is an event all by itself. People were rolling in on bikes from all over the country. There were things rolling in on two and three wheels that made you pause and reflect on the wonders of creativity and the human spirit.

The riders were lining up for pictures at the parts strewn Tree of Shame in front of our motel room and the resort's souvenir store was packed. I was bummed we were rolling out this morning. Sitting on the park bench in front of the room with a pitcher of Margaritas watching the crowd would have been great. As it was we had to wiggle out of the parking lot that was already nearing capacity at noon.

We squeezed and wedged all our crap onto the bike including the $100 worth of stuff I sprung for in the Gap store. We had a 8 bottles of beer that I couldn't give away that we had to hang off the back of the bike in Jane's extra bag. I walked up and down the hotel parking lot trying to find a home for these ice cold beers and failed. The nearest beer store is an hour away and I still had no takers.

The 4 guys next door already had 12 beers in the fridge and felt that was already too many for the guys to choke down in the three days they would be there. This was the general theme I kept running into group after group. The bikers didn't feel they would need more than two or three beers a piece for the whole holiday weekend...and were fired up cause they were partying! I didn't have the heart to dump them so we strapped them on for the hotel stop that night.

We shot down the Dragon at a good clip for an overloaded touring bike riding two up. Jane was much more at ease this run and got a lot more video of the famous road. We hit the bottom of the mountain and headed north. We jumped off of I-75 onto the old Dixie Highway 25-W that runs from Michigan to Florida. Before the interstate system this was the route to the sunshine state and back. It's the Route 66 of the south.

The road twists through the mountains and follows rivers in such a way it must have taken forever to get from end to end. The old long since forgotten towns are a history lesson in themselves. We spent the day snaking around and eventually had to bailout onto the freeway and get some miles behind us after entering Kentucky. Kentucky is a helmet free state and we were bare headed 30 feet beyond the state line! The mountain air felt good blowing through our hair.

We found a nice room in Lexington where we iced down our beers and relaxed after a magical day of riding.The next morning was sunny and cool. We hit the highway to make up for the lost time from playing on the Dixie the day before. It was worth it though and I'm thinking about doing the whole dixie highway from end to end on a future ride. I'm not sure it still exists in it's entirety but it would be a great ride. I've never heard of anyone doing it so that might be a clue.

We blasted north on the cruise control stopping for lunch at a Hooters before settling into a Days Inn in Bowling Green Ohio for the night. If we really hit it hard we could've rolled into the boat by midnite but opted to back out early to beat the holiday rush and get a room. The trip's pace was wearing on Jane so I went out and found her favorite wine coolers and hit the fancy Mexican restaurant down the street for some take out. I came back to the room with a bag o' feast and we had a picnic on the bed.

The next morning was a gloomy one but dry. We shot straight up to Bay City Michigan where Jane's car was left at her Brother's when she flew down to meet me a week earlier. After a visit there we headed on up to the house in East Tawas on the shore of Lake Huron stopping in Standish for a spaghetti dinner at the Wheelers Inn along the way. The next morning I headed back south to Detroit alone completing the loop.

Looking back on the trip I am amazed that the weather worked in our favor as well as it did. This trip was originally planned as a three weeker but a death in the family ate up one of the weeks. This didn't give me any time for weather related down time. During the planning I decided to throw a bed in my van and roll on all four. This morphed into plans to trailer the bike down to Texas and play while there visiting family.

Then the whole challenge of the ride started to intrigue me. I love extremes and the run and gun nature of that many miles in that short of time would be a test of endurance and preparation. i'm glad I choose to ride it out. The van would've allowed me more time at my various destinations but with the bike the ride is the destination.

I have always found an interesting parallel to bike touring and cruising on the sailboat. Both involve extra prep and planning but still have a shoot from the hip kind of impromptu quality to them. Both require a weather eye and weather planning. Both are adventures where you are naked to the elements and as such you feel and taste the rawness of the world around you learning to appreciate the wonder that is life.

The fuel total boiled down to 18 fuel stops for $237 of fuel. That works out to a little more than 6 cents a mile. A damn good deal for all the adventure and smiles per mile!