2005 - August 19 - 25
Photos	1916 miles(GPS) - Sights of Pennsylvania
Rider		Trips		Cycle
James Stedl	-	10	-	1999 BMW R1100RT
Holly Meyer	-	2
Walter Stedl	-	10	-	Honda 1400 Goldwing
I have upgraded my ride and now the Harley's don't want to show up! Good ride out to PA, then the interstates had some nice curves through the hills which made for a fun ride. Once you leave the highways south east PA is all stop and go traffic, aka Hell. Got to Hershey where the whole town is about chocolate. Then on the way to and through Philadelphia we visited Valley Forge, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. We missed the US Mint because it closed earlier than listed on their web site. Back in Reading we did a little shopping and visited The Reading Pagoda which sits on top of a local mountain. Next we went to see the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, it would be a great place to camp and hike.

2004 - August 7 - 11
Photos	1297 miles(GPS) - Sights of Missouri
Rider		Trips		Cycle
James Stedl	-	9	-	1984 Honda V65 Magna 1100
Holly Meyer	-	1
Walter Stedl	-	9	-	Honda 1400 Goldwing
Jon Maurer	-	7	-	1990 Harley Davidson FLTCU 1340
Harvey Maurer	-	5	-	Harley Davidson
Jeff Maurer	-	1	-	Harley Davidson
We are back at it again after missing two years, and this time no camping, we got a condo! 2BR, 2Ba, Lr, Dr, Kit, fireplace dual patio doors to the porch, nice. The trip down was a good ride in great weather, 400 miles with a stop for lunch at FlatTop Grill. Second day we spent riding around Mark Twain Lake seeing the sites, and sites. Next day we visited Hannibal, checked out the historic river front. Yes to have to get fudge! Took a riverboat ride, with drinks, and visited Mark Twain cave. Day four the group split with some heading to St Louis others heading to Mexico, MO. In St Louis we went up in side the Arch and went on the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour. The ride home was windy and cool with the day high of 62'. All in all a good trip, rain was limited a few drops, and all had a good time! Yay Corn!

2001 - August 9 - 12
Photos	1100+ miles -Around Lake Michigan
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1984 Honda V65 Magna 1100
Walter Stedl	-	1986 Kawasaki XII 1200
Jon Maurer	-	1990 Harley Davidson FLTCU 1340
Blake Maurer
Harvey Maurer	-	1969 Harley Davidson ElectraGlide 1200
We learned that Lake Michigan has places where the water is warm. In Manitowoc the water tempeture never hits 70 degrees, during this trip we were swimming in 80 degree water.

2000 - July 28 - August 6
Photos	1500+ miles -Sites of Minnesota
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1984 Honda V65 Magna 1100
Walter Stedl	-	1982 Suzuki GS1000
Jon Maurer	-	1990 Harley Davidson FLTCU 1340
Blake Maurer
Harvey Maurer	-	1969 Harley Davidson ElectraGlide 1200
We had great weather; a few raindrops at the beginning and a few at the end. We learned that the Vikings were in Minnesota between 1000A.D. and 1300A.D. "Mille Lacs Kathio State Park" is a nice park; the camper cabin worked great. Not much else to see but a lot of trees and lakes. It's very nice to look at but gets boring.

1999 - July 23 - July 31
1900+ miles -Kentucky/Mammoth Cave National park
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1984 Honda V65 Magna 1100
Walter Stedl	-	1982 Suzuki GS1000
Jon Maurer	-	1990 Harley Davidson FLTCU 1340
Harvey Maurer	-	1969 Harley Davidson ElectraGlide 1200
HOT, HOT, damn it was hot! 90+ in the shade! The radio kept telling us that we should stay out of the sun; that is a little hard on a motorcycle! The caves were the only cool place we found, and they would not let us sleep down there! Visited Makers Mark and Jim Beam distilleries, hmmm... whiskey makes you frisky!

1998 - August 14th to 23rd
1700+ miles -Sites of Wisconsin
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1984 Honda V65 Magna 1100
Walter Stedl	-	1982 Suzuki GS1000
Jon Maurer	-	1990 Harley Davidson FLTCU 1340
Harvey Maurer	-	1969 Harley Davidson ElectraGlide 1200
We got free beer at Leinenkugel Brewing Co.. We got to see the west side of Wisconsin! Great curvy roads run through the hills and along the Mississippi. We found the town of Clam Lake. It is not hard; just look in the middle of nowhere! Some back roads in Wisconsin are really bad!

1997 - August 9th to 18th
1900+ miles -Tennessee/Smokey Mountain National Park
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1982 Suzuki GS1000
Walter Stedl	-	1978 Yamaha Virago 920
Dry counties... what is up with that? We drove/walked up a mountain to take a look and two minutes after we get to the top, it starts raining. Driving down a curvy mountain road in the rain is not fun! If you go river rafting, take extra beer with you! We stopped by Mammoth Cave on the way home; now that is a cave! They have over 300 miles of mapped caves! We wanted to see more but had to head home.

1996 - August 1th to 10th
3100+ miles -Colorado/Rocky Mountain National Park
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1982 Suzuki GS1000
Walter Stedl	-	1978 Yamaha Virago 920
Jon Maurer	-	1990 Harley Davidson FLTCU 1340
It rained on us on the way out, but we made good time! Colorado was hot and dry, but once we got up into the mountains it was cooler. Great views! Sometimes you just need to stop and take a look around! Taking a drive through Rocky Mountain National Park is highly recommended! You had better know how to ride and not have a fear of heights if you want to ride a motorcycle up Pike's Peak! Kansas is way too flat! It's a little boring and bartenders are not friendly... not rude, but just not friendly!

1995 - August 11th to 20th
1700+ miles -Canada and Niagara Falls
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1983 Honda Nighthawk CB650
Walter Stedl	-	1978 Yamaha Virago 920
Jon Maurer	-	1982 Yamaha Seca 550
We got turned away from some small campground because it was a "family" campground and they did not want motorcyclists. We were family: myself, my father and his nephew. We feel we gained the right to call ourselves hard core riders this trip. It rained from about 3pm until noon the next day and we were wet to the bone the whole time. Sleeping in the rain, and getting up, and riding for 6 hours in the rain, is not fun! This was not a few drops here and there. At times it was raining so hard we had to slow down to 30mph!

1994 - August 11th to 20th
1500+ miles -Canada around Lake Superior
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1983 Honda Nighthawk CB650
Walter Stedl	-	1978 Yamaha Virago 920
Scott Hanson	-	1982 Honda Special CBX650
Trees, trees and more trees! Canada is quiet and had beautiful valleys, lakes and streams. I highly recommend taking a drive around Lake Superior if you are looking for a nice ride. I had the wrong idea about Canadians though. I thought they were big drinkers. There is a big problem when you ask where the local bar is and they do not know what you mean. After trying a few other terms the answer was, "Oh, we have two of those in town". This was a town of about 7,000 people. In Wisconsin that would mean at least a dozen bars! The best lesson was that 1500 plus miles in nine days is much easier on the backside!

1993 - July 23rd to August 1st
3200+ miles -Wyoming/Yellowstone National Park
Rider		Cycle
James Stedl	-	1983 Honda Nighthawk CB650
Walter Stedl	-	1978 Yamaha Virago 920
Scott Hanson	-	1982 Honda Special CBX650
Krag Kotche	-	1982 Kawaski GS750
We met a lot of friendly people. They all wanted to have a drink with us! We tried not to turn anyone down. We got snowed on. We were at 10,000 feet, but still it should not snow in July! Yellowstone is huge!! Two days is way too little time to see even a small part of it! We learned a lot about taking trips on motorcycles! One of the big lessons was that 3,200 plus miles in 9 days is too much!!

Up through 2001 each trip's mileage is figured as a rough average of miles logged by the riders over the whole trip! Mileage is then rounded down to nearest hundred. In 2004 I brought along the GPS to keep track of the journey.