Lower48Mate Part 13

Part 13. A perfect number to finish off on because it aligns with the number of stripes on the USA flag, which was the number of states that existed before the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Triumph Boise in Idaho was voted by you, the reader, as the perfect place to start this finishing off … More Lower48Mate Part 13

Dining in the USA – y’all want sides with that?

On our previous shorter visits to the USA we had experienced the unique dining style that defines this country. Serving sizes had been the most confronting, a standard diner breakfast of eggs, crispy bacon, beans, sausage, “biscuits” (actually a savoury scone) and “gravy” (white sauce) can conceivably feed a family of 4 instead of just … More Dining in the USA – y’all want sides with that?

Lower48Mate Part 12

Day 110, Moab. Up, let’s do breakfast. Next door to the hotel was a classic diner experience, looks good. Well it did look good from the outside, not so much from the inside, with an immobile queue and no-one attending to it. People were also queued up at the register trying to pay. No-one attending … More Lower48Mate Part 12

Lower48Mate Part 11

Day 99 ended at the Sahara in Vegas. After a long roll up the Strip in the relentless heat and a stop to take in the popular Vegas sign photo, Garmin decided the Sahara was 13 miles and ¾’s of an hour out into the ‘burbs. Because I was leading, I missed the actual Sahara, … More Lower48Mate Part 11

Lower48Mate Part 10

Day 88. Crescent City, just inside the Californian border on the coast. Dennys luncheon. We had started up a conversation with our server. Of course we knew we must be coming into the land of large trees, having just ridden down the Redwood Highway from Oregon. She asked if we’d seen the large trees, not … More Lower48Mate Part 10

Lower48Mate Part 9

Rawlins Wyoming. Day 75. We were in the second perfectly rectangular state of the nation, with the one we’d just left (Colorado) being the other one. Because their borders are actually based on longitude and latitude lines, they of course aren’t rectangles, damn you curvature of the earth. We’d heard about a pair of shoes … More Lower48Mate Part 9

Lower48Mate Part 8

Mobridge, South Dakota. We love North and South Dakota because their state initials are ND and SD. None of that is MI Mississippi, Michigan, Missouri, or Minnesota? nonsense. Day 66, and iPhone recovery euphoria still left a faint glow on the shiny forehead. Righto, let’s use that luck and tackle the Mo Bridge over the … More Lower48Mate Part 8

Lower48Mate Part 7

Out of Punxsutawney on Day 59, having done Gobblers Knob and learned all about the Groundhog. But first a mechanical crisis, a bolt had come out of the front of my bike, with noticeable wobbling of something that shouldn’t wobble. A bit like virtually every part of one’s post-middle-age body, but unfortunately none of those … More Lower48Mate Part 7

Lower48Mate Part 6

Salem. The Puritans decided that Jeru’ was a bit artsy so went with ‘salem. Over time, it was capitalised and the shortening apostrophe was dropped, and through the next 399 years it prepped itself for our arrival, this time at the end of a day rather than the start of a new one. We lobbed … More Lower48Mate Part 6