I did it!  I actually rode my motorcycle all the way from Seattle to Key West and back!  I always knew I could and would do it.  I rarely, if ever back away from a challenge.  This one came from my husband Terron, who put this trip on his bucket list years ago.  So we saddled up our matching Honda ST1300 motorcycles and hit the road!

On this last day, we are on a deadline like most other days of this trip.  We must make it home, because I have to be at work at 3am the next day!  But despite my urgency to start riding, there’s Terron, out in front of our hotel room, washing the bikes, with shampoo!  Now I understand that there is a purpose beyond vanity to this:  you don’t want your radiators full of bugs, so the initial excuse is to get those bugs all cleaned out.  But let’s be honest, he just likes to have clean things!

Given this delay to our departure, we still choose the back roads!  Getting into Redding last night, was spectacular, through forested roads that wind their way through the mountains.  All last evening, since we were rolling in at sunset, I really marveled at the little pink grasses along the roadside.  I figured the sunset was casting that pink hue, but now today, in bright sun, I see it’s just the color of that type of grass!  So pretty!   Does this only grow wild, or could I add this to my yard?

Now headed out of Redding, we pick up Highway 97 through Northern California and then Oregon.  Every single mountain is strutting her stuff today!

I’ve climbed many of these mountains and it’s always fun for me to stare at the summits and say to myself, “I’ve been there; at the top!”  I haven’t seen Mt. Shasta in a few years, since I reached that summit in 2012.  Just spectacular (especially since our Climb to Fight Cancer team just summited her over the weekend!).

Winding our way up north, we pass through one small town after another, with wide expansive meadows and forests, plus rivers, streams and lakes in between them.  The waterways we pass are just sparkling in the sunlight.  The lakes and Klamath River, near Klamath Falls, are just incredibly peaceful looking.

We rode through Bend a few years ago, on another epic motorcycle vacation, but today it looks very different, more touristy than I remember.  In each town we pass through, I see families and couples enjoying their vacations!

We veer off onto highway 26, which takes us right by Mt. Hood (I’ve stood on her summit 3 times) though this time I’m getting a slightly different view, since I’m coming at her from the opposite side I normally approach it.   The forest here is stunning.  I want to stop and check out every trail I see!  In some areas it’s super dense and dark.  And then in others, the sun is beaming through the trees.

Once we reach the outskirts of Portland, I can feel the end of this trip upon us.  It’s been an awesome adventure and hardly seems like we’ve been gone for 18 days now!  This is the longest vacation I’ve ever taken as an adult!

We reach home at 8:00pm.   And our odometers show we’ve traveled 8,556 miles to get back here!

Our dog  Buddy is beside himself to see us!  I spend time with him and Terron and I toast ourselves with a beer.  I think I’ll save the laundry and cleanup for tomorrow!