Day 1

Well it's 11:30 and we're sitting in a Quality Inn in Marion, Illinois. It's late and I'm tired so I'm not going to write much. I reached a milestone in life tonight... Carla at the Quality Inn gave me a senior citizen discount. She said she was just giving us a cost break cause we were riding across the country on our motorcycles and we looked exhausted, but Brad said it was my first of many senior discounts and that I should embrace it. Either way, we got a discount and she upgraded us to a suite at no extra charge too. Hope all our rooms are this nice. Not likely.

We got a late start today. Brad had to work this morning and we didn't hit the road till 3:30. We totaled 350 miles. Got gas in Nashville, ate and gassed again in Paducah, and rode another 55 miles to Marion before we decided to stop at 10:30. Weather was great today. It got a little cool when the sun went down. I had a light jacket on, but Brad was in his shirt sleeves so we stopped on the side of the road before we got to Kentucky and put our heavier jackets on. I love the intercoms. We talked the whole time and that really helps the time to pass.

This is the first of ten days and we had a great ride. Hopefully the weather will hold up. It will definitely get colder. We're hoping to get to Sioux Falls, SD tomorrow. The Quality Inn has a really good free breakfast (for everyone, not just seniors), so that will get us started on the right foot. Time for bed.