Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

There was an anniversary party of one of the chapters of the motorcycle club my husband is a retired member of. We were planning on attending in Arkansas. We could have flown like several of our other friends, and instead, we rode or motorcycles. Me and my husband, together – from Warrenton, Virginia, all the way to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Ofcourse, we decided to leave in the evening, after work, so that we could get a head start. The first night we made it to well, Staunton Virginia. We stopped early because of torrential rain. We could not see a thing, our goggles were fogging up – actually, they were filling up like miniature fishbowls, and we were soaked in despite of our rain suits. Trucks would pass us and leave us in a whirlwind of water, it was a bit scary, yet, we were in control of our bikes, our speed, and even with the rain and being cold and wet, there is still that sense of freedom. We were riding, until we were not – rain was not the problem, it was that traffic came to a standstill with no place to go. We got off at the next exit and decided to spend the night.

The motel we found was cheap, $45 dollars a night, and this was one of those places where you are worried what hitchhikers you may pick up during your stay. It was kind of gross. It was only for a short night as we were going to leave before sunrise the next day.

On day two, we slept, got up, got on the bike, and then my husband got stuck in a hole with his bike, and so we pulled the bike out of the hole together. Due to the hole something happened with my husband’s bike where it kept idling really high. We stopped by a Harley shop on the way to figure out what the issue was. This is how we found out that his bike has a feature where it memorizes the rpms it was going when it stopped, and then the Harley shop showed him how to reset this. This took us a bit to figure out. We left and rode 600 Miles that day, and it was the most scenic route, with the most beautiful weather. We rode through West Virginia, Kentucky, into Tennessee. We ended up in Memphis, Tennessee where we had dinner and spent the night at a hotel. It was a long 10 hour day!

On day three, we went across the Mississippi river, my oh my, that is an amazing experience! That river is huge! And then in the afternoon, it was raining again just as we arrived in Arkansas. The speed limits are like 70 something, no guardrails, it was pouring rain, and here is my husband going 80 miles per hour. Not me! So I fell behind while uttering and sputtering words that should not be in my vocabulary because of both the rain and because I was scared to lose track of my husband. Anyway, the rain at some point stopped and we made it safely to our destination, around 2 pm. We rode over 1100 miles to get there. What a ride!

After spending a few days in Arkansas, we rode back over St. Louis, where we saw the arch, and cruised around for a bit. We stopped at a hotel near St. Louis, because the weather was coming in, and the weather was following us as there were remnants of a hurricane coming over. This caused us to either chase the weather, where we rode into it, or it was chasing us. That night, we figured out a route to avoid most of the terrible weather so we rode down I69 straight through Indiana to get back to I64.

We took I64 into West Virginia. We missed most of the weather but not all! In the mountains in West Virginia, it was raining so hard and the trucks were driving by us through puddles that could drown a person -it was super scary. At some point, we got so drenched and then, when we stopped for gas, I just could not continue. My hands were so cold, they were cramped up, and I could barely pull my brakes and clutch, so we found a hotel and spent the night, even though we were only a few hours from home.

The last day, full sun, and only a few hours to go, we got on the bike and had an amazing drive. It felt so good to be back home! After so much rain, we finally made it home. We did a total of 2500 miles on our bikes within a week, and it was amazing. It was an unforgettable time.

To this day, I am so proud and happy we did that ride, it was in despite of the rain, a lot of fun, an amazing personal accomplishment, and very memorable.

I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed our trip!