A  break from the guidebook vacation – a guest post from No Kids, Will Travel family-member Andrea Changuris:

It was my boyfriend’s turn to pick our vacation and I was surprised with a motorcycle trip to Oklahoma. Yes, it was quite a surprise.  We had one week off and we were going to visit his college roommate. He had it all planned out, complete with a tent and sleeping bags strapped to the backrest. I had one saddlebag and the other was for him. This would not be a trip for a girl who couldn’t pack light. We would ride for two days to get there, visit for three and take two days to return home. We would camp overnight somewhere between Beckley, West Virginia and Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Great! I have an enthusiastic sense of adventure. He was doing the driving. I just had to sit on the back of the motorcycle, hold on and enjoy the view. Six hours into it, that enthusiasm waned. If you have ever traveled for an extended period of time on a motorcycle the size of a Kawasaki Vulcan (pictured, left), you know what I mean. Let’s just day you don’t feel like sitting.

We started off easy enough,  we even visited Charleston, West Virginia. I had never seen the capitol before and was excited to take a quick look. After that, it was mostly open roads. We stopped when we needed to and rode west the rest of the time. I liked the way that enabled us to find some pretty fun places along the way. We stopped at places based on when we needed breaks, when we were hungry, or when something looked just plain interesting. Honestly, that was the coolest concept about our vacation. Listed below are some fun places we found between WV and OK.

Notable visits:

• JJ McBrewster’s– the barbecue place in Kentucky. (featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.)
• Meramec Cavern– the cavern where Jesse James and his gang hid. This stop was because it was hot, there was a river to wade in, and I always ask to stop at caverns and rarely (never) get my request granted.
• The flagship Sonic in Stillwater, OK
• RibCrib near Stillwater, OK
• Budweiser brewery in St Louis (and I got to see the horses!)
• Blues City Deli– a jazz cafe in St. Louis that had the best sandwiches!