Wild Motorcyle Roads in Illinios and Wisconsin

One of my favorite things to do is to break the day on a Motorcycle. The changing light in the morning is mesmerizing. I departed Tennessee at 0430; I'm on my way to Wisconsin on a 1,400-mile
odyssey. I'm in search of a River Road. This one is on the Illinois River between Peoria and La Sala.

The road is always calling my name. It's like a song I can't get out of my head. It's been that way since I was a little kid of 10, riding my Honda 50 around our neighborhood. I was always looking for new trails to ride. Today, it's no different. On the second day of the trip, I start on an unknown road, Illinois Highway 29/26.

It's a fast climb out of the Illinois River Valley onto the northern Prairie. Riding on the Prairie has its advantages. You can see the weather for miles; sometimes it is unavoidable, and sometimes it isn't. Today I skirt a squall line to the west, heading into Wisconsin, and only get a few raindrops. Riding on flat terrain gives you a peaceful, relaxing feeling. Then there are the windmills that fill the corn fields. Which, to me, brings an added beauty.

Once I get into Wisconsin, the terrain turns to rolling hills of the Driftless Area. A rare northern geographical feature where no glaciers were ever present during the last ice age. I make a turn to head north on County Road J, which turns into a gift from the motorcycle gods. Some of the best roads I've ridden, I have found by accident. This one was special, about 30 miles of switchbacks and S-turns.

It's been a good ride so far today. I'm stopping for an early lunch, and it's only an hour to Mom's house for a 4-day visit. After my 4-day visit with Mom, it's time to head home, another 700-mile adventure.  

After a 500-mile ride from Wisconsin, where I rinse and repeat County Road J, I thought about riding straight through to home. But the heat was getting to me, so I decided to stop outside of Mount Vernon in southern Illinois.  It's only a short 219 miles to the house.  

The next day I decided to leave the interstate to ride some more unknown roads.  Leaving the highway behind, Illinois Route 142 opened up into a rider's paradise, characterized by long, unbroken straightaways punctuated by wide, sweeping turns.  On this pavement, the heavy rumble of a classic V-twin engine smoothed out the tarmac, making the rural highway feel like pure silk. 

The final stretch promises a familiar rhythm.  The high-energy rock discography of the band Seether provides the soundtrack for the remaining miles, keeping the heat fatigue at bay.

Ahead lies Kentucky Route 109—a twisting asphalt ribbon that this motorcycle knows by heart.  The garage in Clarksville, Tennessee, is finally calling, bringing an end to an epic 1,400-mile journey defined by open roads.

A Night at The Bluebird Cafe

This was definitely a bucket list item, and when a good friend Gregg said Let's go try to get in on standby, I jumped at the chance.  The Bluebird, which only seats 90 people, is one of the hardest tickets in Nashville; when released for sale online, they sell out in seconds.  

This iconic venue is a showcase for songwriters and upcoming artists that gives you an up-close, hard-to-find personal experience.  We get here more than an hour before the show and are 5th and 6th in line.  As they seat the ticket holders, the door manager says they usually seat at least 6 walk-ups.  We are the last 2 through the door.  

Music City, Nashville, above all else, is a songwriters' town, and last night we got to listen to 3 of the best.  Listening to their music and their journey to success was a transcendent experience. 

Marv Green,  Kent Blazy, and Leslie Satcher are seasoned professionals who are clearly good friends.  Experiences and anecdotes roll off their tongues like a fine art display in a museum.  Marv said that when he first got to Nashville in 93, no one wanted to go to Broadway; Kent then chimed in, "Yes, the only thing down there were drunks and hookers.  And look at it now; they have Drunks and Hookers. 

 

Kent Blazy - had a long tribute to Kris Kristopherson.  He said he was the most driven songwriter he ever met.  Kristofferson, an Army officer whose father was an Air Force general, taught English at West Point, became a Rhodes Scholar, and was on the fast track for an illustrious Army career.  He gave all up to be a songwriter in Nashville. His family disowned him, and he started in Nashville at Capitol Records, cleaning toilets and sweeping floors.  The rest is history.

Merv Green sang a song he wrote for Willie Nelson: "If We Knew We Were Going to Live This Long.

Leslie Satcher sang a song she wrote the day before the show - I Love a Man with 18 Wheels.

You could write a separate book on each about their many hits. 

Marv Green is known for co-writing Lonestar's 1999 single "Amazed", which reached number 1 on both the Hot Country Songs and Billboard Hot 100 charts.  This song won him a Song of the Year award from Broadcast Music, Inc.   He has had artists including George Strait, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Reba, Jewel, Eric Church, Dierks Bentley, Lonestar, Faith Hill, Brooks And Dunn, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Bon Jovi, Jason Aldean, Chris Young, Dustin Lynch, Jo Dee Messina, Lee Ann Womack, Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Jessica Andrews, Kelly Pickler, Brad Paisley, Rodney Atkins, Billy Currington, Danny Gokey and Joe Diffie have record his songs.

Leslie Satcher is known as a country singer and songwriter; her talents cross all genres.  She has written or co-written songs that have been recorded by everyone from Willie Nelson to Ariana Grande; Vince Gill to Sheila E.; George Strait to Sheryl Crow; Martina McBride to Keb'Mo; Blake Shelton to Bonnie Raitt and many, many more   She has received multiple BMI "Million-Air" awards recognizing a song's one millionth airplay, and her incomparable vocals contribute to an astounding number of Grammy, CMA & ACM award-winning projects.

Kent Blazy met with a then-unknown Garth Brooks, who gave him the idea for a song entitled "If Tomorrow Never Comes." He and Brooks co-wrote the song, which went on to become Brooks' first number one hit.  He has gone on to write seven #1 hits among many others with Brooks.  Many of his songs continue to be recorded by artists such as Kenny Chesney, Diamond Rio, Terri Clark, Clay Walker, Patty Loveless, Julie Roberts, Andy Griggs, and Blaine Larsen"

The Wright Brothers: Conquering Flight in Dayton

DAYTON, Ohio — As the Wandering Soldier, my travels often take me to battlefields and monuments, but today my boots are on the ground at the true birthplace of aviation.  Walking through Dayton, I am tracking a different kind of military operation: a relentless battle against gravity fought by two self-taught brothers.  I'm amazed by the fact that if the Wright Brothers had stopped, given up after Kitty Hawk, they wouldn't even be a footnote in history.  It took them another 3 years to truly master controlled flight. 

The Wright brothers' journey to achieving controlled flight wasn't funded by government grants.  It was fueled entirely by their own blue-collar grit and commercial ventures.  Long before they conquered the skies, Orville and Wilbur were businessmen.  They started out running a family print shop, but as the cycling craze swept the nation, they transitioned into the bicycle industry.  Over the years, their enterprise grew until they eventually operated six different bike shops across the city.

It was this booming bike business that provided the critical financial runway allowing them to pursue their costly dream of flight.  Here is how that mechanical foundation—and the hurdles they overcame—unfolded across the historic sites I visited today.

My first stop was the Wright Cycle Company complex.  Walking through this space, the engineering connection between a bicycle and an airplane becomes immediately clear.  The brothers didn't just use bike profits to fund their experiments; they actively incorporated bicycle parts into their early airplanes, using chain drives, sprockets, and spoke wires for tension.

The hurdle here was a fundamental lack of accurate data.  Before 1901, the brothers relied on aerodynamic lift tables calculated by earlier pioneers.  In the back of their shop, they realized these formulas were deeply flawed.  To fix it, they used their mechanical skills to build a makeshift wind tunnel out of a starch box and scraps.  By testing miniature wing shapes, they discarded existing scientific understanding
and manually rederived the laws of aerodynamics.

Historical note: The physical history of their business is split today.  While Dayton preserves this historic complex, Henry Ford actually purchased one of their original bike shop buildings during the Great Depression.  He moved it to his Greenfield Village museum in Michigan in 1936 to preserve it for the nation.

Next, I climbed the hill to the massive Wright Brothers Memorial, looking out over the Miami Valley.  Standing here, I reflected on the massive conceptual hurdle the brothers had to overcome regarding pilot control.

At the time, other inventors were trying to build inherently stable flying machines that would fly in straight lines like a boat.  The Wrights, drawing directly from their experience riding and building bicycles, knew that a flying machine had to be inherently unstable.  It required a pilot to constantly balance and correct its path.

Observing how turkey vultures twisted their wings to maintain balance in gusty winds gave them a breakthrough.  They developed "wing-warping"—twisting the wingtips to control roll.  By combining this with a front elevator for pitch control and a rear rudder for yaw control, they engineered the world's first successful three-axis control system.

My final stop was the historic marshy pasture of Huffman Prairie Flying Field, tucked inside modern-day Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.  While their famous 1903 flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, proved they could get off the ground, it was right here at Huffman Prairie, between 1904 and 1905, that they truly mastered controlled flight.

The hurdles at Huffman Prairie were brutal:

• The Lack of Wind: Unlike the steady, powerful ocean winds of Kitty Hawk, Ohio's air was dead and fickle.  Their early Flyer II struggled to lift off at all.
• The Catapult Solution: To defeat the dead air, they built a heavy derrick-and-weight catapult system to sling their aircraft into the sky.
• The Terrifying Tail-Spins: In 1904, tight turns often caused aircraft to lose control and crash.  They solved this final hurdle by making the rear rudder movable and linking it to the wing-warping system, creating the truly practical Flyer III.

Standing on the airfield as the wind swept across the prairie, a heavy piece of history came to mind.  Wilbur Wright, the brilliant co-architect of human flight, died tragically of typhoid fever in 1912 at just 45 years old.  Because of his premature death, he never lived to see the massive global and commercial success of the flying machine he sacrificed his life to build.  Walking back to my Jeep, I couldn't help but feel a wave of gratitude that modern medicine has given us a vaccination for typhoid—a shield those brilliant brothers never had.

For a wandering soldier, tracing this battlefield of human ingenuity reminds me that the toughest victories aren't always won with weapons, but with blueprints, bicycles, and an unyielding refusal to stay grounded.

A Trip To Shawshank Prison

MANSFIELD, Ohio — A visit to the historic Ohio State Reformatory offers much more than a glimpse into prison history.  For fans of The Shawshank Redemption, it provides a unique opportunity to step inside one of the most recognizable filming locations in movie history.

Our trip to the Ohio State Reformatory began with a recommendation from Terry's cousin, who told us this was a place we had to see.  As longtime fans of The Shawshank Redemption, we decided to stop on our way to Cleveland and experience it for ourselves.

The former prison, located in Mansfield, is an imposing structure with towering stone walls, massive cell blocks, and a fascinating history that stretches back to the late 1800s.  We chose the self-guided tour, allowing us to explore the grounds at our own pace.

One of the highlights of the visit was the museum dedicated to the history of the reformatory.  The exhibits tell the story of the prison's construction, its operation through the decades, and the lives of both inmates and staff who passed through its gates.  Historical photographs, artifacts, and detailed displays provide visitors with a deeper understanding of the institution's role in Ohio's history.

Another popular section focuses on The Shawshank Redemption, the beloved 1994 film that brought international attention to the reformatory.  The museum features movie memorabilia, behind-the-scenes information, photographs from the production, and displays highlighting scenes filmed throughout the facility.  Fans can trace the footsteps of Andy Dufresne and Ellis "Red" Redding while learning how the filmmakers transformed the aging prison into a cinematic icon.

Like many museum visits, our group eventually became separated while exploring the sprawling complex.  While that is usually no cause for concern, this particular visit took an unexpected turn.

I've visited countless historic sites and museums over the years, and very rarely do I find myself rattled.  But walking alone through the empty cell block created an eerie atmosphere that was impossible to ignore.  The rows of vacant cells and the silence of the massive structure seemed to amplify every sound.

The most unforgettable moment came when I wandered into the old hospital section of the prison.  Completely alone, I was taking in the surroundings when a door suddenly shut by itself.  The unexpected noise echoed through the empty hallways, sending a chill down my spine.

Whether it was a draft, an old building settling, or something else entirely, it was a moment I will never forget.

For movie enthusiasts, history buffs, and those intrigued by the paranormal reputation of the reformatory, the Ohio State Reformatory offers a memorable experience.  The combination of historical exhibits, Hollywood history, and the building's haunting atmosphere makes it a destination unlike any other.

If you're a fan of The Shawshank Redemption, this is truly a must-see attraction.

A Trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame

I walked into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, carrying more than a ticket stub and a camera. I carried decades of memories.

Outside, the Ohio Historical Marker declared Canton, "The Cradle of Professional Football," and standing there, I realized I wasn't just visiting a museum. I was walking into part of America's story. The marker noted that representatives from ten professional football teams met in Canton on September 17, 1920, forming what would become the National Football League two years later. It spoke of rough beginnings, Midwestern factory towns, and a game that slowly spread across the nation like wildfire.

Inside, the history stretched even further back. One display described the birth of professional football in 1892, when William "Pudge" Heffelfinger accepted $500 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. That simple cash payment became the first documented moment an athlete was paid to play football. Reading those words, I imagined muddy fields, leather helmets, and men playing for pride before glory, television contracts, or billion-dollar stadiums existed.

Another exhibit honored Jim Thorpe, the NFL's first president in 1920. His face stared out from an old black-and-white photograph with the same intensity that legends seem to carry forever. Thorpe had already conquered the Olympics before becoming one of professional football's earliest stars. Back then, the league was called the American Professional Football Association before becoming the NFL. Thorpe represented a bridge between football's rough frontier days and the national obsession it would eventually become.

As I wandered through the exhibits, I realized the Hall of Fame wasn't just about statistics or championships. It was about memory. Shared memory. Even if you are not a football fan, it can be said that the NFL's impact on American culture has been tremendous. It has united families, cities, generations, soldiers, workers, and dreamers every Sunday for more than a century.

My own memories began with my father. He was a Green Bay Packers fan, and some of my earliest childhood memories were of sitting beside him, watching Bart Starr hand off the ball with calm precision while Ray Nitschke terrorized offenses with that fierce stare of his. Football wasn't just a game in our house; it was part of the rhythm of life. Autumn meant cold weather, television glowing in the living room, and voices rising with every touchdown.
When our family finally bought a color television, I inherited the old black-and-white set. To me, it may as well have been a throne. I remember watching Joe Namath lead the Jets against the Miami Dolphins in the 1974 "Monday Night Miracle." The Dolphins were the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, and the Jets looked buried early, trailing 24–7. But Namath brought them roaring back for a dramatic 34–28 overtime victory. Even on that fuzzy black-and-white screen, I could feel the electricity of it all.

Years later, after I joined the Army, football followed me there too. I remember sitting on my barracks bunk watching Joe Montana launch "The Catch" to Dwight Clark, a play frozen forever in NFL history. Soldiers crowded around televisions in day rooms and barracks, cheering as though we were back home for a few hours. Football became a connection — to home, to family, to normal life in an uncertain world.

I can still remember seeing John Elway uncork a 70-yard shoestring pass in a preseason game that made everyone around me gasp in disbelief. I remember sitting only a few rows away from Franco Harris while watching the Tennessee Titans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs and advance to the AFC Championship Game. Moments like those stay with you because they become tied to places, people, and chapters of your life.

Growing up in Washington State before Seattle received an expansion franchise, I had the Oakland Raiders as my first team. Later, after life carried me to Tennessee, the Titans became my AFC team while the Seahawks remained my NFC team. My dream Super Bowl has always been Titans versus Seahawks — two parts of my life colliding under one stadium roof.

Then came the Seahawks' Super Bowl victory, and like millions of fans across America, I celebrated not just a championship but the feeling of belonging to something bigger than myself.

Walking through the Hall of Fame, all those memories seemed to gather in one place. The early pioneers from the 1890s. Jim Thorpe and the league founders in Canton. Bart Starr. Namath. Montana. Elway. Franco Harris. The Seahawks. The Titans. My father. My Army barracks. My old black-and-white television. The Hall of Fame tied all of it together.

Football has never simply been about wins and losses. It is America's same because it travels with us through every stage of life. It becomes part of family traditions, military service, friendships, heartbreaks, victories, and Sunday afternoons, all of which somehow become lifelong memories.

Standing there in Canton, I realized the NFL'sgreatest achievement is not the trophies inside the glass cases. It is the way the game has united us for generations.

A Visit to Sacred Ground: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

I stepped into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland today, a wandering soldier looking for the heart of a movement, and found myself on a profound trip down memory lane.

As I walked through the exhibits, I kept thinking about where this massive global phenomenon actually began.  If you ever visit the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, you will see plaques on the walls from rock royalty like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.  They are all thanking the first blues artists for the music that laid the foundation for everything we hear today.

It all started right there in the Mississippi Delta cotton fields.  Enslaved people were given instruments to play, forced to entertain plantation owners and their neighbors at dinner parties and social events.  Over time, an amalgamation of the blues, country, and gospel gave rise to a thriving, undeniable beat that eventually energized a movement worldwide.

The Hall, as it's called here in Cleveland, serves as a stunning kaleidoscope of the diverse artists who grew from this uniquely American genre.  Walking its halls triggered a flood of personal memories, reminding me of when and where I have seen its legendary inductees perform over the years: hearing Joan Jett rock out in a small, sweaty dive bar in North Carolina, watching Little Feat bring the house down at the historic Ryman Auditorium, and witnessing the legendary Bruce Springsteen command the stage twice.  Standing among a roaring crowd at a race track in Germany to see the Rolling Stones.

Then, I reached one final exhibit that stopped me in my tracks.  A video screen showed Tom Petty and Prince playing together—two icons I never had the chance to see live in my travels.  Prince was delivering a guitar solo so indescribably beautiful it felt otherworldly.  Looking at the screen, I felt a sudden pang of being cheated, knowing I would never get to witness that dual magic in person.

Petty later summarized the jaw-dropping display by simply saying, "He just burned it up." You can watch the full remastered performance on the Rock Hall's YouTube Channel to re-live the magic anytime you want. 

Ultimately, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is an incredible, moving experience.  It is an absolute pilgrimage that any true lover of rock and roll music must make.

Flight of the Phoenix: A Wandering Soldier Returns to the National Museum of the US Air Force

DAYTON, Ohio — Stepping into the National Museum of the United States Air Force this week felt like stepping into a time machine. As the Wandering Soldier, my travels have taken me to many museums, but returning here for the first time since 1998 was a deeply personal homecoming. The sheer physical growth of this aviation mecca over the last nearly three decades is staggering. The addition of the massive 224,000-square-foot fourth building has completely transformed the footprint, turning what was already a world-class collection into an absolute titan of aerospace history.

The absolute highlight of my return was the rare privilege of walking through the cockpits of two legendary giants: the B-29 Superfortress and the B-52 Stratofortress. As I stood inside them, the stark generational leap in technology was mesmerizing. The B-29, a marvel of World War II, felt raw and mechanical. Moving into the B-52, however, revealed a massive leap forward in complexity and engineering. The rows of advanced gauges, switches, and early electronic warfare stations showed a whole new era of global reach. Amidst all that devastating Cold War power, one human detail caught my eye and made me smile: a built-in coffee pot right there in the B-52 cockpit. It was a poignant reminder of the grueling, marathon missions these crews endured.

Seeing these cockpits up close brought back a flood of memories from the 1980s, when I took a few flying lessons. I learned firsthand back then that keeping an aircraft in the sky is an unforgiving, complex discipline. Looking at these massive bombers, my respect for the pilots who tamed them doubled.

It also stirred up one of my genuine regrets in life. Due to financial constraints at the time, I discontinued my lessons and did not complete my pilot's license. Standing beneath those wings, that old ache returned. Yet, looking out at the sprawling, expanded museum, I felt a deep sense of gratitude. I may not have earned my wings, but as a soldier, walking through these living legends allowed me to touch the sky one more time.

The museum has grown to match that ambition. The exhibits are no longer just rows of planes; they are masterfully curated stories of survival, engineering triumphs, and technological leaps. For a Wandering Soldier who understands just a fraction of what it takes to leave the ground, this return trip was a humbling reminder that the sky is never truly conquered—it is merely negotiated with, by the very best of us.

A Wandering Soldier Finds Unexpected Adventure in his Hometown

Clarksville, TN - For years, I've been a wandering soldier, deployed overseas, traveling as a contractor, and now traveling for recreation. Using Clarksville as a quiet, unchanging place, as our home base. I have been visiting new places around town recently. It has felt like I was stepping into a completely new world. It is proof that new adventures await around every corner.

My reconnaissance led me to a cluster of new businesses I barely recognized. Walking into "Firepot Korean Barbecue and Hot Pot" gave me an eye-opening glimpse into our changing city. The sheer scale of the restaurant's buffets blew me away. Rows of metal trays filled with noodles, fried rice, and savory chicken dishes. The industrial expansion has completely transformed our local culinary scene.

The quiet streets I settled in are bustling with new construction. Clarksville is really coming up in the world, largely thanks to the massive Samsung and Hankook factories that recently opened in our industrial park. With these massive companies came a wave of Korean managers and engineers, and thankfully, they brought their incredible food culture with them. Intrigued by the changes in my own backyard, I set out to explore these new experiences.

But the main objective for the day was trying something totally new to me: Korean Hot Pot. We grabbed a table equipped with its own integrated induction burner. I sat back and watched as my dining companion showed me the ropes, expertly snipping fresh ingredients into the simmering broth with scissors.

Learning the local techniques: using scissors to prep ingredients for the bubbling, spicy broth. The fiery red broth was rich and complex, making a perfect base for our meal. I loaded up my plate with a beautifully glazed pork rib and some massive shrimp to enjoy on the side. The perfect combo: A pot of bubbling stew right next to my plate of expertly grilled pork ribs and large shrimp. Our raw ingredients are ready to be cooked at the table.

For the main event, we had an incredible spread of fresh ingredients to cook in the broth, including a huge variety of seafood, clams, squid, and lotus root. Cooking it all right in front of us made the whole experience feel interactive and exotic, yet firmly rooted in the modern town that Clarksville is quickly becoming. The food was, without a doubt, unbelievably good.

I'm already planning my next mission back here. Next time we go, we are definitely getting the Korean BBQ so we can grill our own meat right at the table. Who knew that after traveling the world, some of my favorite adventures would be waiting for me right down the street?