"How it Started" or "How Hannah Got Her Ring"

Some of you may already know this; a lot of people don't who might be reading our blog.  Hannah has an allergy to metal and cannot wear jewelry; the rivets in jeans can cause a small rash.  When a young woman is to be married and cannot wear any kind of conventional ring it can cause quite the conundrum.  So we decided that we would get tattoo rings as a symbol of our marriage.  That was until we went to Silver Dollar City, Missouri.   We went to SDC with another couple and while the girls were looking at baskets or something my friend Big Joe and I went to watch the blacksmith work.

http://www.silverdollarcity.com/

Joe and I were looking though the wares that the blacksmith had out and we saw a basket of rings made out of nails.  They were something like a couple of bucks and we each had one sized to our fingers.  The girls thought they were silly, that is until they got to looking at them.  That night Hannah kept going on about wanting to get one.  After some discussion about the fact she can't wear metal, I told her that it was only a couple of dollars and if she wanted one we would just get her one.  The next day we went straight to the blacksmith and had her fitted;  she didn't know that I was going to use this opportunity to propose to her and make it official.

To Hannah's delight I proposed to her in the square at Silver Dollar City and she got her ring; we thought that she would start to break out and have to keep it in her pocket.  However, much to our surprise, she didn't break out!  Turns out that she can wear iron as jewelry!   Also, this meant that Hannah got to finally wear a ring after all this time.  That is the short story of how Hannah found out what kind of metal she can wear and in the process got herself engaged in the bargain.

http://www.casabonitadenver.com/

I have decided to to highlight a place that I want to stop into and go into some of it's history and today's location is Casa Bonita Mexican restaurant. Casa Bonita was featured in an episode of South Park (Season 7 Episode 11) and was opened in Lakewood, CO in 1974 and has been a staple in family fun eating.  For those of you that don't know about it, think Showbiz pizza with a Mexican theme.  A lot of people will question the wisdom of eating cheap Mexican while on a motorcycle trip; not to worry, we won't be far from our first stop; Frisco, CO.

See the town here:  http://www.townoffrisco.com

Stereophonics - Long Way Round

This is the theme from the the series "Long Way Round" which was an epic show and an inspiration for this adventure.  I recommend that if you want to see a real reality show, pop some corn and curl up to be amazed. The Long Way Round

Another Brick in the Wall...

There was a sudden rush of questions about where Hannah was going to register.  As we have lived together for the better part of six years; we have our own stuff and we have always tried to buy quality when we bought things.  Honestly at this point there isn't a whole lot that we really need. Of course there are things that Hannah wants, but all of the places that sell those things do not have registries.  We discussed the idea of doing Wal-mart or Target, but there aren't a lot of things outside of motor oil or toilet paper that we buy at those establishments anyway.  Hannah wanted to register at IKEA; IKEA doesn't have a registry and won't be built until several months AFTER we get back anyhow.  So it was brought up that the real goal of our wedding and starting our life together is to begin our lives, as Mr. and Mrs. Turley, with an epic adventure.  I always thought that I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and since the ending is always in the beginning, I want this new life to start out with a lot of momentum.



So it is that after weighing out our options, and trying to make life easier for everyone else; I introduce the PayPal button.  Yes, we are registered at PayPal... sort of.

The way that the budget works out is about a dollar a mile.  So every dollar that is donated is another mile that we roll down the road and another adventure.

We get to see another ghost town (which are really cheap to see it turns out).

Elvis can be even cooler with upgrades! (This will be webcast and you get to decide how cool the show is)

Another filming location becomes another check mark on the list of things we saw (also really cheap)

Gas station from "Easy Rider"

Various locales from "Breaking Bad"

We want to see a lot of museums (These can cost more than I would like at times, but not always)

Hannah also loves mushroom clouds... I know, don't ask.

So, as you can see, we are not looking to party hard the entire time; we are not that kind of couple.  We are the kind of couple that loves to experience new things and this entire trip will be new things for Hannah.  We are not asking the world to pay for everything we are doing on our trip; we are working people after all.  Instead we are just pointing out that you can help this trip be every bit as epic as it should and could be.  So over the next few months we will be describing another locale we hope to visit and let you all know how our plans are going.  Thank you again for all of your kind words and encouragement.

Best Laid Plans...

Hannah and I have been talking about this trip since the Fall of 2013 when we realized that we might be able to pull off this adventure.  Hannah expressed her desire to get married by Elvis, at a drive-thru, in Las Vegas.  After looking over the options I decided that if we were going to be doing that, then I wanted to do it on the back of a motorcycle.  After talking it over with my boss he said that I would need at least 10 days to do the trip right and we started to look at the calender.  It was decided that early Summer would be a good time to make the route I had planned as it would not be too cold in the Rockies and not too hot yet in the desert.

I have been spending so much time planning the trip that when Hannah's Mom asked about where we were registered it occurred to me that I hadn't thought of that.  So Hannah and I are still talking it over and we shall see what we come up with.  Honestly I am against registering someplace... I like to give people more options.  However, there ARE practical reasons for doing so and I don't know where we would put twenty toasters.

The route will cover 3352 miles as planned and will be going across some of the most amazing roads a person could ask for on a motorcycle.  We will be seeing man made and natural wonders of every size and shape... and some that will be beyond description.  Here is the link:

https://roadtrippers.com/trips/528c43b75c4c99a313000008

Please feel free to offer suggestions and thoughts!