My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM this morning, just like every other morning. The difference with today was that this was the last day of our ride. Jan and I got up, dressed and packed. We took our bags to our Motors. As we walked outside of the hotel, C.E. was already at his Motor preparing it for today's ride. We took our covers off and put our bags in their compartments. We did a little cleaning of our Motors and then headed towards breakfast. It was partially cloudy and very cool. No chance of rain! We got to the restaurant on site and C.E. and Ken were already seated at "our table" having breakfast. It was a buffet and they had a pretty good choice for breakfast. There was a chaffing dish containing, what we all thought to be, grits. I asked the cook, who was stirring the grits, if it was indeed grits. She told me that it was Cream of Wheat! That is different. We have never encountered Cream of Wheat in any of the hotels we have stayed. The cooked ham was more like jerky, but it was good. A fork could not cut it. You either needed a knife or your teeth to cut the ham. Chuck came in and served himself and later, Bruce walked in. We had breakfast and talked for a short time. We couldn't delay the inevitable, so we all went back to our rooms and gathered the rest of our stuff. Our Motors were packed and we were ready to leave. It was 54 degrees and we left at 8:28 AM.
I was leading and took the Group west on I-40. Sixteen miles from the hotel was the Arizona border. We crossed back into Arizona and gained an hour. We were riding against a strong head wind. The head wind was reeking havoc with our gas mileage! We were headed for Holbrook, AZ to get gas. Before we reached, Holbrook, we passed a large group of Motor riders. I didn't count the riders, but I would estimate that there were about 20 to 30 riders with a follow up truck with 3 more Motors in a trailer. For a split second, I considered getting off at the same exit that the large group got off at to get gas, however, I figured that it would take forever to wait in line for us to get gas. We continued on. After riding 92 miles, we stopped at a gas station in Holbrook, AZ at 8:31 AM. If you'll notice, we left the hotel in Gallup, NM at 8:28 AM and got to Holbrook, AZ at 8:31 AM. It only took us 3 minutes to travel 92 miles? No, we gained an hour when we crossed the Arizona border. It took us 1 hour and 3 minutes to cover 92 miles. Not bad for having a head wind! We gassed up, made a pit stop and bought some drinks. Chuck's Motor took 4.9 gallons on a 5 gallon tank and Jan needed to put his gas tank on reserve. It was 61 degrees. We left at 9:03 AM.
Bruce was up to lead. We headed back onto I-40 and rode through Holbrook. We soon turned onto Highway 377 towards Heber. Soon after we got on Highway 377, we saw something that I don't think that we have ever seen in any of our rides. There was a large herd of sheep. I don't know, are they called a herd? Whatever they are called, it was a lot of "woolies on the hoof!" We rode for another 51 miles and stopped at a Circle K in Heber, AZ at 9:51 AM. We didn't need gas, however, we needed a pit stop. It was still 61 degrees so we left our jackets on. We left at 10:08 AM.
Bruce was going to leave the Group in Heber and go to his Dad's cabin, however, when we were in Holbrook, he found out that his Dad had some medical problem and was taken back to Phoenix to see his doctor. We continued on with Bruce leading and after riding 52 miles, we stopped at a Subway at 11:10 AM in Payson. We went in and saw that it was crowded. There were no tables available, nor was there a restroom. We left at 11:16 AM. We rode south for a mile and stopped at Macky's Grill for lunch. We had a good lunch and it was soon time to leave. Bruce was going to head south on the Beeline Highway to go and see his Dad. We all hoped that he was alright. The rest of us headed north on the Beeline Highway for a mile and it turned into Highway 260. C.E. was next in line to lead and did so since Bruce left. We rode through Pine and Strawberry and eventually rode into Camp Verde. We had ridden 63 miles and arrived at a gas station at 1:20 PM. We gassed up and made a pit stop. It was warm so we all took off our jackets. We talked for a bit and Jan told us that he was going to leave the Group at Cherry Rd., Highway 169, to head for home. We left at 1:38 PM.
As is customary on our rides, Chuck starts the lead on Day 1 of our rides and always leads us home. It worked out that it was his turn to lead in the rotation and we were close to home. Chuck led us south on I-17. Soon, Jan turn right on Cherry Rd. and left the Group. We continued south. The remaining four: Chuck, Al, Ken and C.E., rode south. We were riding about 80 mph on a 75 mph zone and making good time. When we got to Sunset Point, there was a lane closure and construction just south. We had to slow down and eventually stopped. We were soon out of the construction zone and were back to 80 mph. When we got to New River Road, C.E. left the Group and turned right to head for home. The three of us continued. When we got to Pinnacle Peak Rd, Chuck turn off and was headed to see his grand kids at his daughter's, Allison, house. Not much later, I got off at the 101 Eastbound, leaving Ken to ride solo, southbound for home. I finally arrived home at 2:44 PM, after riding 79 miles. It felt good to be HOME!
Well, let me recap. We rode 338 miles today; at least I did. We rode a total of 7,995 miles in 23 days...at least I did. We were all close to that number. We rode in 20 States, some several times. The original 4: Chuck, Jan, Bruce and me, rode in 4 more new States. We have now ridden in 45 of the Continental United States. We now need 3 more States: North Dakota, New Jersey and Delaware. At this point, we are not sure where we will be riding next year. We DO know that we will add one more rider. J.B. Henderson will be rejoining the Group next year with a brand new Harley. We welcome J.B. back...after all, he is one of the original members of the Group.
This is our 5th annual ride. I would like to thank my wife & girl friend, Laura, for allowing me to go on these rides. I know I owe you "big time!" I would also like to thank my daughters; Lori and Jenn; grandson, Connor, K & C and the "guys" in the Group. I also want to thank all of you who have logged on and read about our "journey." I hope that you enjoyed the blog. As I stated on an earlier date, my blog is not malicious and not meant to hurt anyone. It is just a blog to let all of you know "most" of the things that went on with us. I can't tell you everything, the guys would hurt me if I did! I look forward to next year's ride and doing the blog and taking pictures. So, until next year...
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
DAY 22 Monday, May 23, 2011
Another late night last night. I got to bed at 1:30 AM. My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM and Jan and I got up, dressed and packed. Remember...we are in separate beds for Christ's sake! We each took a bag out to our Motors. The weather was cool and it was cloudy. We took off our covers to our Motors and packed our bags. We went back in to the breakfast area. It was a nice breakfast. It was a full breakfast buffet! There was a cook there making omelets. That was different. Jan and I got a table for 6 and didn't wait for the rest. They wouldn't have waited for us! We were almost done with our first course when the others came in and sat. We all ate our breakfast and watched the TV about the tornado destruction in Joplin, MO. Four of us had been in Joplin a couple of years ago on our Route 66 ride. It rained hard on us that day also. We finished our breakfasts and went back to our rooms to get the rest of our stuff. I had noticed that Jan and I were overcharged. I went to the Front Desk and disputed the charge. I threatened the clerk with great bodily harm if he didn't fix the bill...then I woke up from my day dream! You all know I am not like that. Our bill, as well as Chuck and Bruce's, were corrected. We were ready to leave. We left at 8:34 AM.
Chuck led us away from Colorado Springs on I-25. We were headed to Gallup, NM. The speed limit was 65 and we rode at 75 mph. We rode for 80 miles and at 9:39 AM, we stopped in Colorado City, CO for a pit stop. After we took care of our pit stop, we reloaded our bladders and we were ready to leave. We left at 9:51 AM.
Chuck continued to lead. He still had gas in his little "peanut" tank. We rode for 23 miles and stopped in Walsenburg, CO for gas. After gassing our Motors, we bought some water and looked at the map. Chuck and Jan were looking at a different route that cut some mileage, however, didn't cut any time. It was off the Interstate and onto a two lane road. Instead of heading south on I-25, we were going to go west on Highway 160 to Alamosa, CO. We left at 10:27 AM.
Jan was up to lead. He took us through the Business I-25 into Walsenburg. We rode a couple of miles and turned onto Highway 160. Highway 160 was a two lane road that took us into the mountain road. The road was well maintained and it had TWISTIES! We passed by N. La Veta Pass, elevation: 9,413. Most of us had taken off our jackets and the temperature got down to 61 degrees. There was snow patches on the ground next to the road. There was Blanca Peak nearby with an elevation of 14,345 feet. It was a very scenic road. We rode for 77 miles and stopped in Alamosa, CO at 11:36 AM for a pit stop. We didn't stay long and left at 11:50 AM.
Jan led us through the city of Alamosa and then out, southbound on Highway 285. It was too early for lunch so we opted to find another town with a place to eat. As we rode south and rode through several small towns, we were thinking that maybe we should have stopped in Alamosa and ate lunch. We continued south and crossed the border of Colorado/New Mexico. We were NOW in New Mexico. Jan was getting concerned that Chuck was in dire need of gas. He told me later that he didn't really enjoy the ride because he was leading, Chuck needed gas and we couldn't find a gas station. He was thinking that Chuck would run out of gas. I told Jan that if Chuck ran out of gas, it would serve him right for not owning a Gold Wing! Jan thought that was funny. We had ridden for 96 miles and at 1:18 PM we stopped in Ojo Caliente, NM at a gas station. We all gassed up and Jan felt better. We had passed three small restaurants in this little town and we were considering riding back to one of them and having lunch. Chuck went back into the little store and asked the lady clerk if there were any restaurants to the south. The clerk told Chuck that there was. We opted to ride on and find a place for lunch. We left at 1:32 PM.
Ken, the Wild Man, took over the lead. His instructions were to find a place for lunch. We headed south on I-25. We rode for about 20 miles and turned onto Highway 84. As we turned, there was a larger gas station with three times the amount of pumps that were available at the little gas station in Ojo Caliente. We continued and after riding 24 miles, Ken pulled into a Blake's Lotaburger at 1:58 PM in Espanola, NM. It had been years since any of us had eaten at a Blake's Lotaburger. We had lunch and left at 2:46 PM.
We left the parking lot with Ken in the lead. Ken turned right and missed the correct road. We rode a couple of blocks and turned left. We continued on the road and it met up with the road that we needed to be on. We were on a new road. It was Highway 559. This was a very nice road and it helped us to by-pass the city of Santa Fe. This saved us time and mileage. We rode for 72 miles and at 3:53 PM, we stopped at a McDonald's/mini-mart in Bernalillo, NM. It was time for a pit stop. The mini-mart advertised 3 bottled waters for $.99. What a deal! We bought waters for all of us and we sat in the McDonald's and drank them. I got the map from my Motor and went back into the McDonald's. We looked over the map to see if we could by-pass Albuquerque. There wasn't anything available so we had to drive through Albuquerque in rush hour traffic. We left at 4:20 PM.
Ken led us on to I-25 and through the city of Albuquerque. The traffic wasn't that bad! We were out of Albuquerque after 7 miles and we were on I-40, westbound. We continued on and rode through some construction on I-40. It wasn't for very long. We made great time. We rode past several casinos, and no, we didn't stop at any of them! We rode for 77 miles and stopped at a Shell gas station/Truck Stop/McDonald's/Big Sky Casino at 5:25 PM in Acoma, NM. No, we didn't go into the casino, but we did gas up and made a pit stop in the mini-mart of the Truck Stop. We also went into the McDonald's and bought a small chocolate sundae. Chuck had coffee. We were done with our treats so I got up and headed to the Motors. It was my turn to lead, so the guys got up also and followed. We left at 5:53 PM.
I led the Group westbound on I-40. The speed limit was posted at 75 mph and I set my cruise control at 79. Jan was behind me, then Bruce, Chuck, C.E. and Ken. Soon after we started, Bruce and the others dropped back. They were back about a mile. They then sped up and caught up to Jan and me. Soon, Bruce and the others dropped back, then further and still further. Bruce and the others then caught up. They seemed like a yo-yo! We rode for 89 miles and at 7:06 PM, we stopped at the Best Western Inn and Suites in Gallup, NM. Jan, Bruce and C.E. went in, made the deal and checked in. This is a hotel that we have stayed before. We stayed here during the ride with our wives two years ago. The hotel has a restaurant on site. The pool was not working this time. We got our bags and took them to our rooms. We went back to the front of the hotel and to our Motors. We moved them to the rear of the complex and parked them next to our windows of our rooms. We tucked the Motors in for the night and went inside.
Well, another ride has come and now it is the last night of our ride. We had dinner in the restaurant and toasted our last night. We didn't talk much about next year's ride. Maybe we will leave it for our Wednesday afternoon, Denny's for coffee, or our "Tea Party" as our wives call it. I will post one more time...tomorrow night. Tomorrow we will be home. We have about 250 miles left. We rode 538 miles today. So, until tomorrow...
Chuck led us away from Colorado Springs on I-25. We were headed to Gallup, NM. The speed limit was 65 and we rode at 75 mph. We rode for 80 miles and at 9:39 AM, we stopped in Colorado City, CO for a pit stop. After we took care of our pit stop, we reloaded our bladders and we were ready to leave. We left at 9:51 AM.
Chuck continued to lead. He still had gas in his little "peanut" tank. We rode for 23 miles and stopped in Walsenburg, CO for gas. After gassing our Motors, we bought some water and looked at the map. Chuck and Jan were looking at a different route that cut some mileage, however, didn't cut any time. It was off the Interstate and onto a two lane road. Instead of heading south on I-25, we were going to go west on Highway 160 to Alamosa, CO. We left at 10:27 AM.
Jan was up to lead. He took us through the Business I-25 into Walsenburg. We rode a couple of miles and turned onto Highway 160. Highway 160 was a two lane road that took us into the mountain road. The road was well maintained and it had TWISTIES! We passed by N. La Veta Pass, elevation: 9,413. Most of us had taken off our jackets and the temperature got down to 61 degrees. There was snow patches on the ground next to the road. There was Blanca Peak nearby with an elevation of 14,345 feet. It was a very scenic road. We rode for 77 miles and stopped in Alamosa, CO at 11:36 AM for a pit stop. We didn't stay long and left at 11:50 AM.
Jan led us through the city of Alamosa and then out, southbound on Highway 285. It was too early for lunch so we opted to find another town with a place to eat. As we rode south and rode through several small towns, we were thinking that maybe we should have stopped in Alamosa and ate lunch. We continued south and crossed the border of Colorado/New Mexico. We were NOW in New Mexico. Jan was getting concerned that Chuck was in dire need of gas. He told me later that he didn't really enjoy the ride because he was leading, Chuck needed gas and we couldn't find a gas station. He was thinking that Chuck would run out of gas. I told Jan that if Chuck ran out of gas, it would serve him right for not owning a Gold Wing! Jan thought that was funny. We had ridden for 96 miles and at 1:18 PM we stopped in Ojo Caliente, NM at a gas station. We all gassed up and Jan felt better. We had passed three small restaurants in this little town and we were considering riding back to one of them and having lunch. Chuck went back into the little store and asked the lady clerk if there were any restaurants to the south. The clerk told Chuck that there was. We opted to ride on and find a place for lunch. We left at 1:32 PM.
Ken, the Wild Man, took over the lead. His instructions were to find a place for lunch. We headed south on I-25. We rode for about 20 miles and turned onto Highway 84. As we turned, there was a larger gas station with three times the amount of pumps that were available at the little gas station in Ojo Caliente. We continued and after riding 24 miles, Ken pulled into a Blake's Lotaburger at 1:58 PM in Espanola, NM. It had been years since any of us had eaten at a Blake's Lotaburger. We had lunch and left at 2:46 PM.
We left the parking lot with Ken in the lead. Ken turned right and missed the correct road. We rode a couple of blocks and turned left. We continued on the road and it met up with the road that we needed to be on. We were on a new road. It was Highway 559. This was a very nice road and it helped us to by-pass the city of Santa Fe. This saved us time and mileage. We rode for 72 miles and at 3:53 PM, we stopped at a McDonald's/mini-mart in Bernalillo, NM. It was time for a pit stop. The mini-mart advertised 3 bottled waters for $.99. What a deal! We bought waters for all of us and we sat in the McDonald's and drank them. I got the map from my Motor and went back into the McDonald's. We looked over the map to see if we could by-pass Albuquerque. There wasn't anything available so we had to drive through Albuquerque in rush hour traffic. We left at 4:20 PM.
Ken led us on to I-25 and through the city of Albuquerque. The traffic wasn't that bad! We were out of Albuquerque after 7 miles and we were on I-40, westbound. We continued on and rode through some construction on I-40. It wasn't for very long. We made great time. We rode past several casinos, and no, we didn't stop at any of them! We rode for 77 miles and stopped at a Shell gas station/Truck Stop/McDonald's/Big Sky Casino at 5:25 PM in Acoma, NM. No, we didn't go into the casino, but we did gas up and made a pit stop in the mini-mart of the Truck Stop. We also went into the McDonald's and bought a small chocolate sundae. Chuck had coffee. We were done with our treats so I got up and headed to the Motors. It was my turn to lead, so the guys got up also and followed. We left at 5:53 PM.
I led the Group westbound on I-40. The speed limit was posted at 75 mph and I set my cruise control at 79. Jan was behind me, then Bruce, Chuck, C.E. and Ken. Soon after we started, Bruce and the others dropped back. They were back about a mile. They then sped up and caught up to Jan and me. Soon, Bruce and the others dropped back, then further and still further. Bruce and the others then caught up. They seemed like a yo-yo! We rode for 89 miles and at 7:06 PM, we stopped at the Best Western Inn and Suites in Gallup, NM. Jan, Bruce and C.E. went in, made the deal and checked in. This is a hotel that we have stayed before. We stayed here during the ride with our wives two years ago. The hotel has a restaurant on site. The pool was not working this time. We got our bags and took them to our rooms. We went back to the front of the hotel and to our Motors. We moved them to the rear of the complex and parked them next to our windows of our rooms. We tucked the Motors in for the night and went inside.
Well, another ride has come and now it is the last night of our ride. We had dinner in the restaurant and toasted our last night. We didn't talk much about next year's ride. Maybe we will leave it for our Wednesday afternoon, Denny's for coffee, or our "Tea Party" as our wives call it. I will post one more time...tomorrow night. Tomorrow we will be home. We have about 250 miles left. We rode 538 miles today. So, until tomorrow...
Sunday, May 22, 2011
DAY 21 Sunday, May 22, 2011
Another late night last night. I got to bed at 1:35 PM. My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I got up, dressed and packed. I took a bag out to my Motor while Bruce was still getting dressed. We were on the 4th floor of the hotel and the elevator was very slow. It took the cover off of my Motor and packed the bag in the trunk. I was too tired to clean the Motor. I went in for breakfast. I served myself and sat down. Chuck came in and joined me. C.E. came in also and sat at a different table. The others soon joined us. We all had breakfast and we went back to our rooms to gather our stuff. We packed our Motors and did a little cleaning and we were ready to go. We left at 8:20 AM under cloudy skies.
Ken was leading. It's funny to watch Ken when he is on his Motor and trying to remember how to get back on the Interstate. You can almost see the gears working in his head. We got back on I-80 and headed west. Our destination for today was Denver, CO., we started in Lincoln, NE. We were on I-80 going about 80 mph on a 65 mph zone. We also noticed that there were many "big rigs" on the interstate. We rode for 71 miles and stopped in Aurora, NE at 9:19 AM for gas. Not only did we gas up, but we made a pit stop and then reloaded our bladders with coffee and water! We left at 9:35 AM.
Now that we got gas, we needed to change leaders. It was my turn to lead. We continued on I-80 westbound. I set my cruise control at 79 mph. We passed several small cities and a lot of farms. Again, we noticed that Nebraska is FLAT. I think that it may even be flatter that Iowa. We constantly had to dodge the semis on the road and pass them. We rode for 72 miles and we stopped at Odessa, NE at 11:56 AM for a pit stop. We still had our jackets on as it was 68 degrees. We had some water and coffee and we continued. This place was also a truck stop. We even had to dodge the semis in the parking lot. We left at 10:46 AM.
I knew that by the next time we stopped, it would be time for lunch. I was hoping to go about 110 miles before we stopped. We would also be needing gas. Chuck had ridden next to me and motioned to me that he needed to gas up. I acknowledged him and we pulled off at the next exit. We had ridden 89 miles before we stopped at a Love's Truck Stop in North Platte, NE. I turned into the Love's because there was also a sign for a Subway. It was 11:56 PM when we stopped. We all gassed up and parked in front of the Subway. Next to the Subway was a McDonald's. We went into the Subway, got our meals and walked into the McDonald's and sat down at a table for the six of us. We had our lunch and then went outside to our Motors. Chuck got the map out and was showing it to C.E. and Bruce.
Bruce took the lead at this point and off we went westbound on I-80. We continued riding about 80 mph on a 75 mph zone. We came across a sign that told us that we were now in Mountain Standard Time. We had gained an hour! I got my camera and fixed the time as we were rolling along the Interstate. I couldn't fix the time on my Motor because the Motor has to be stopped before I can change it. I'll do it later. We rode on through more farm land...flat farm land! After riding for 75 miles, we stopped in Big Springs, NE at 12:55 PM. We made a pit stop and didn't stay long. We left at 1:11 PM.
We continued on, knowing that within 7 to 10 miles, we would be crossing into Colorado. We did and there was a sign for the Colorado Welcoming Center in a small town named, "Julesburg." Ken had told us that his Grandmother was born in Julesburg. We passed by Julesburg and I took some pictures of the little town. We rode for 70 miles and at 2:05 PM, we stopped in Sterling, CO for gas. We gassed our Motors and I rode next door to a Best Western to see if I could get a Best Western Map. When I was preparing for our trip, I collected a bunch of maps that I knew that we would need. I didn't think that we would need a Colorado map, so I didn't. I have one now! I returned to the gas station and Jan was talking with a couple who had ridden in on a blue Gold Wing. We had some drinks and a pit stop. We left at 2:29 PM.
C.E. was up to lead. We continued on I-76, westbound. The more we rode into Colorado, the more mountains we could see. WE rode for 80 miles and stopped at 3:30 PM in Roggen, CO for a pit stop. The mini-mart that we stopped at was an old business run by Asian people. There was a sign in the bathroom that stated that no one should drink the water from the faucet. The water was NOT potable. It could be harmful to those who drink it. With that in mind, Chuck told me that he decided against getting any coffee from the store. Who knows where they get the water to make the coffee. I thought that it was a wise choice! When we were ready to go, C.E. shouted, "OK, let's move out!" Jan and I looked at each other and I asked Jan if C.E. was allowed to say that to us. After all, he is still a rookie with only 3 years with our Group! We left at 3:52 PM.
We continued on I-76 and soon we were in the outskirts of Denver, CO. We passed the Denver Airport and it was far from downtown. We rode into Denver and transitioned onto I-25. C.E. led us at about 80 mph through Denver. That's OK, everybody else was driving at 80 mph! C.E. was only keeping up the with traffic. I-25 had a lot of curves. We were not wearing our jackets and it was comfortable. It was about 74 degrees. I was enjoying the view and was taking pictures as we rode. We rode for 73 miles and at 4:51 PM, we stopped in Castle Rock, CO for gas. Castle Rock is a suburb of Denver. We gassed up and made the required pit stop and purchase of waters. We talked about how far we were going. Colorado Springs and Pueblo were among the suggestions. Chuck told me that he was going to go as far as Colorado Springs and look for a place to stay the night. We looked to the south and the clouds didn't look very promising for us. The clouds were dark and it appeared as though it was raining. We left at 5:12 PM.
Chuck led us south on I-26. We were about 18 miles from Castle Rock when it started to sprinkle. We rode for a short distance and it stopped sprinkling. It sprinkled off and on until we reached Colorado Springs. We rode in Colorado Springs and we passed the U.S. Air Force Academy. Soon after we passed it, there was a Holiday Inn Express to our right. We had missed the exit so Chuck got off at the next exit and turned right and then right onto a street that led us back to the Holiday Inn Express. We went in to make the deal but they wanted over $130 per night. The clerk told us that $130 would be the standard rate for all of the hotels in the area. There is a graduation a the USAF Academy on Wednesday and a lot of the hotels were already booked. There were some cookies on a tray on the counter of the Front Desk. We all had some cookies. We walked outside and told the guys. Chuck got on his Droid and got the phone number of a Best Western that was about 2 miles away. He spoke with the clerk on the phone and the clerk have Chuck a rate almost half of what the Holiday Inn Express wanted to charge us. Chuck gave me the address to the Best Western to put in my navigation system and away we went. We arrived in no time and contacted the clerk. We got a good rate and we checked in. We rode around the building to our rooms, got our bags and took them to the rooms. We came back out to our Motors and tucked them in for the night. Did I tell you that the Best Western had a restaurant on site? I have now! That is where we had dinner.
Today, we gassed up 4 times and had 5 leaders. We rode for 577 miles. So far this trip, we have ridden 7,119 miles. We hope to get to Gallup, NM tomorrow. That would mean a lot or riding. It's a good thing that we all like to ride! So, until tomorrow...
Ken was leading. It's funny to watch Ken when he is on his Motor and trying to remember how to get back on the Interstate. You can almost see the gears working in his head. We got back on I-80 and headed west. Our destination for today was Denver, CO., we started in Lincoln, NE. We were on I-80 going about 80 mph on a 65 mph zone. We also noticed that there were many "big rigs" on the interstate. We rode for 71 miles and stopped in Aurora, NE at 9:19 AM for gas. Not only did we gas up, but we made a pit stop and then reloaded our bladders with coffee and water! We left at 9:35 AM.
Now that we got gas, we needed to change leaders. It was my turn to lead. We continued on I-80 westbound. I set my cruise control at 79 mph. We passed several small cities and a lot of farms. Again, we noticed that Nebraska is FLAT. I think that it may even be flatter that Iowa. We constantly had to dodge the semis on the road and pass them. We rode for 72 miles and we stopped at Odessa, NE at 11:56 AM for a pit stop. We still had our jackets on as it was 68 degrees. We had some water and coffee and we continued. This place was also a truck stop. We even had to dodge the semis in the parking lot. We left at 10:46 AM.
I knew that by the next time we stopped, it would be time for lunch. I was hoping to go about 110 miles before we stopped. We would also be needing gas. Chuck had ridden next to me and motioned to me that he needed to gas up. I acknowledged him and we pulled off at the next exit. We had ridden 89 miles before we stopped at a Love's Truck Stop in North Platte, NE. I turned into the Love's because there was also a sign for a Subway. It was 11:56 PM when we stopped. We all gassed up and parked in front of the Subway. Next to the Subway was a McDonald's. We went into the Subway, got our meals and walked into the McDonald's and sat down at a table for the six of us. We had our lunch and then went outside to our Motors. Chuck got the map out and was showing it to C.E. and Bruce.
Bruce took the lead at this point and off we went westbound on I-80. We continued riding about 80 mph on a 75 mph zone. We came across a sign that told us that we were now in Mountain Standard Time. We had gained an hour! I got my camera and fixed the time as we were rolling along the Interstate. I couldn't fix the time on my Motor because the Motor has to be stopped before I can change it. I'll do it later. We rode on through more farm land...flat farm land! After riding for 75 miles, we stopped in Big Springs, NE at 12:55 PM. We made a pit stop and didn't stay long. We left at 1:11 PM.
We continued on, knowing that within 7 to 10 miles, we would be crossing into Colorado. We did and there was a sign for the Colorado Welcoming Center in a small town named, "Julesburg." Ken had told us that his Grandmother was born in Julesburg. We passed by Julesburg and I took some pictures of the little town. We rode for 70 miles and at 2:05 PM, we stopped in Sterling, CO for gas. We gassed our Motors and I rode next door to a Best Western to see if I could get a Best Western Map. When I was preparing for our trip, I collected a bunch of maps that I knew that we would need. I didn't think that we would need a Colorado map, so I didn't. I have one now! I returned to the gas station and Jan was talking with a couple who had ridden in on a blue Gold Wing. We had some drinks and a pit stop. We left at 2:29 PM.
C.E. was up to lead. We continued on I-76, westbound. The more we rode into Colorado, the more mountains we could see. WE rode for 80 miles and stopped at 3:30 PM in Roggen, CO for a pit stop. The mini-mart that we stopped at was an old business run by Asian people. There was a sign in the bathroom that stated that no one should drink the water from the faucet. The water was NOT potable. It could be harmful to those who drink it. With that in mind, Chuck told me that he decided against getting any coffee from the store. Who knows where they get the water to make the coffee. I thought that it was a wise choice! When we were ready to go, C.E. shouted, "OK, let's move out!" Jan and I looked at each other and I asked Jan if C.E. was allowed to say that to us. After all, he is still a rookie with only 3 years with our Group! We left at 3:52 PM.
We continued on I-76 and soon we were in the outskirts of Denver, CO. We passed the Denver Airport and it was far from downtown. We rode into Denver and transitioned onto I-25. C.E. led us at about 80 mph through Denver. That's OK, everybody else was driving at 80 mph! C.E. was only keeping up the with traffic. I-25 had a lot of curves. We were not wearing our jackets and it was comfortable. It was about 74 degrees. I was enjoying the view and was taking pictures as we rode. We rode for 73 miles and at 4:51 PM, we stopped in Castle Rock, CO for gas. Castle Rock is a suburb of Denver. We gassed up and made the required pit stop and purchase of waters. We talked about how far we were going. Colorado Springs and Pueblo were among the suggestions. Chuck told me that he was going to go as far as Colorado Springs and look for a place to stay the night. We looked to the south and the clouds didn't look very promising for us. The clouds were dark and it appeared as though it was raining. We left at 5:12 PM.
Chuck led us south on I-26. We were about 18 miles from Castle Rock when it started to sprinkle. We rode for a short distance and it stopped sprinkling. It sprinkled off and on until we reached Colorado Springs. We rode in Colorado Springs and we passed the U.S. Air Force Academy. Soon after we passed it, there was a Holiday Inn Express to our right. We had missed the exit so Chuck got off at the next exit and turned right and then right onto a street that led us back to the Holiday Inn Express. We went in to make the deal but they wanted over $130 per night. The clerk told us that $130 would be the standard rate for all of the hotels in the area. There is a graduation a the USAF Academy on Wednesday and a lot of the hotels were already booked. There were some cookies on a tray on the counter of the Front Desk. We all had some cookies. We walked outside and told the guys. Chuck got on his Droid and got the phone number of a Best Western that was about 2 miles away. He spoke with the clerk on the phone and the clerk have Chuck a rate almost half of what the Holiday Inn Express wanted to charge us. Chuck gave me the address to the Best Western to put in my navigation system and away we went. We arrived in no time and contacted the clerk. We got a good rate and we checked in. We rode around the building to our rooms, got our bags and took them to the rooms. We came back out to our Motors and tucked them in for the night. Did I tell you that the Best Western had a restaurant on site? I have now! That is where we had dinner.
Today, we gassed up 4 times and had 5 leaders. We rode for 577 miles. So far this trip, we have ridden 7,119 miles. We hope to get to Gallup, NM tomorrow. That would mean a lot or riding. It's a good thing that we all like to ride! So, until tomorrow...
Saturday, May 21, 2011
DAY 20 Saturday, May 21, 2011
It was another late night last night! I finally got to bed at 1:00 AM. Bruce was sound asleep and had been since about 11 PM. My alarm was set to go off at 6:30 AM, however, I woke up at 6:18 AM. I noticed that Bruce was sitting on his bed so I got up and turned off the alarm. I got dressed and packed. I was out of the room before Bruce had finished packing. I took a bag out to my Motor and got it ready for today's ride. After I was done with my Motor, I walked to the lobby and got a cup of coffee. Bruce had made his way to the lobby also and was sitting on one of the couches reading the newspaper. I sat with him and read some of the newspaper and drank my coffee. I got up and walked to the restaurant and met C.E. and Chuck coming in from their room. Bruce met us and we all went into the restaurant. Jan and Ken joined us. We had a good breakfast and after we finished, we needed to talk about where we were going today. A couple of suggestions were thrown out and we all decided that we would get on Highway 34 and head west for home. We returned to our rooms and gathered our stuff and finished loading our Motors. There happened to be a Harley dealership not more that 800 yards away. Jan needed to go and buy a quart of oil for his Motor and Bruce wanted to go and buy a t-shirt. They left ahead of us while the rest of us rode to the front of the hotel and walked in to check out. We left and met the other two at the Harley dealership...oh joy! Jan bought his oil and Bruce didn't buy a t-shirt. We were getting ready to leave and it started to sprinkle. There was a large awning so we all rode our Motors under it and put on our rain gear. Ken was able to put on his "new" rain pants. If you remember the earlier blog, Ken blew out the crotch of his rain pants! The new rain pants were a bright blue color and it was so loud that you can be a block away, close your eyes and hear him coming. I took a picture of it and Ken objected. Too late! We were all ready and left at 9:19 AM.
Chuck was leading and we needed to get to Highway 34, which was about two miles to the north of us. For some reason, Chuck was very "turned around" this morning. He couldn't even figure which way north was, even after I told him where it was. I told him that we needed to go to the stop sign, turn left and turn right at I-74. I-74 is the interstate that we rode in on yesterday. We needed to go west (south) on I-74 for two miles. Chuck led us to I-74, went under the interstate and turned onto the on ramp to go east (south). This is similar to I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson. I-10 is an east/west interstate. When going to Tucson from Phoenix, you are going east (south). We all stopped at the entrance and Chuck continued about 100 yards. Jan rode up next to me and agreed that we were going the wrong way. I made a u-turn on the on ramp, it was clear, and rode the wrong way on the on ramp and made a right turn. Everyone followed me and we went back under the interstate and got on the on ramp to go west, or north. It is very confusing! Any way, we were now headed in the right direction, and it's raining. We rode for two miles and exited to go west on Highway 34. Chuck's mind started to clear up and it now looked familiar to him...about time! We headed west on Highway 34 and after about 15 minutes of riding, it stopped raining. We rode for 53 miles, most of it in cloudy and dry weather, and stopped at a gas station/mini-mart at 10:13 AM in Gulfport, ILL. We started to strip our rain gear off and packed them. It was 75 degrees by this time and most of us also packed away our jackets. We went in to the mini-mart and used the facilities...pit stop. We also reloaded by drinking more water and coffee! We left at 11:42 AM.
Chuck lead again and soon after leaving, we crossed the Mississippi River and we were now in Iowa. The weather was very nice without our jackets. We rode on, in Iowa, and noticed that it was primarily farmland. The colors I saw were green, brown and tan. There weren't many more colors for the landscape. Of course, there could have been more colors. I am a bit color blind! There were small hills and crappy pavement. We rode on Highway 34 and soon Chuck got off and headed for a town called Fairfield, ILL. There was a sign indicating that there was a Phillips 66 gas station there. We rode on "Business 34" and after riding 56 miles, we stopped at the gas station in Fairfield at 11:23 AM. We gassed up, made a pit stop, drank more water and coffee, (reloaded our systems) and looked at the map. We left at 11:42 AM.
Jan took over the lead. We were on Business 34 and headed west. The only agenda we had was to get to Omaha, Nebraska. I had set my navigation system for Omaha. We rode through downtown Fairfield and eventually got out of the town and back to the highway. We headed out and saw more farms, cows, calves, horses, baby horsies and tractors. Jan was going to go about 50 to 60 miles more before we stopped for lunch. Bruce had made a suggestion that we should stop at a sit down Mom & Pop restaurant so that we all can order a pork tenderloin sandwich. He has raved about them. He told us that that is Iowa's specialty. We rode through the town of Ottumwa, IA. I'm sure those of you who have watched the TV program, MASH, are familiar with Ottumwa. It is supposed to be the birthplace of Corporal Radar O'Reilly. Ottumwa was larger than I had expected. We continued and after riding 76 miles, we stopped in Chariton, IA at 12:57 PM. We stopped at Pennington's Grill. Bruce entered the restaurant and asked them if they served pork tenderloin sandwiches. He came outside and gave us the "nod" so we went inside. It was a family owned restaurant and the owner, Mom, was the cook. We all ordered the pork tenderloin sandwiches and, they were good. What made them taste better is that Bruce picked up the bill for our lunches. We suggested that maybe he could suggest another restaurant to eat at and he could again pick up the bill. I doubt that we will see that happen again on this trip! OK, so with full bellies, we left at 1:47 PM.
We continued on with more of the same scenery. We rode for another 60 miles and stopped at 2:45 PM in Creston, IA at a Kum & Go gas station/mini-mart. Strange name! We made our pit stop and had some water. Chuck asked me if he had enough time to get some coffee. I told him to go for it! We took the map out and looked at it. Ken was going to lead soon and he wanted to study it. Jan looked at the map also to see what town we could stop to get gas. Chuck would probably need gas for his Motor in 40 to 60 miles. Jan told us that we were going to stop in Red Oak, IA for gas. We left at 3:03 PM.
We continued riding on Highway 34 with basically the same scenery. We rode 50 more miles and we stopped...in Red Oak! We stopped at 3:51 PM and gassed up. We had some water and snacks. Ken looked at the map again and got the route that he was going to take. We decided that we would head for Lincoln, Nebraska instead of Omaha. Ken got my Dry Erase Marker and wrote the route on his windshield. We were ready to go. We left at 4:14 PM.
Ken, the Wild Man, led the group like he was on a mission. The speed limit was posted at 55 mph and we hit speeds of 70 mph. We made good time and soon reached the end of Highway 34 where we wanted to turn. We turned north on I-29 for 7 miles, which was under construction. We reached Highway 370 and turned west. We rode over the Missouri River, over a bridge and at the other side, we had to stop to pay a toll. It was 50 cents per Motor and Ken paid the $3. That's the rule! The leader pays the tolls for the Group. On the 4 Corner's Ride, I got stuck with $80 in tolls in one day. That hurt! Just past the bridge, there was the sign: Welcome to Nebraska. This is one of the States that the original 4 have not traveled together. Now we need only three: North Dakota, New Jersey and Delaware. Those will be taken care of in another ride. We rode Highway 370 for a few more miles before we transitioned to I-80 east. Now we can make up some time! The speed limit was posted at 65 MPH. Thanks to the Wild Man, we were going about 75 and sometimes 80 mph. The clouds looked very dark to the north of us, however, they were moving eastbound. We were OK. At one point, Bruce rode next to Ken and asked him to stop for a pit stop. After riding 52 miles, we stopped in Papillon, NE at 5:09 PM at a BP gas station. After parking our Motors, Chuck got off his Motor and hurried to the restroom to beat Bruce. Hey Chuck, that's against the rules! The one who asks for the stop gets to go first. Don't worry. Bruce made it. We left at 5:19 PM.
Ken started again and it seems like we were riding like a bat out of hell! We had a mission. The clouds looked threatening and we wanted to get to the hotel before we got caught in the rain again. We rode another 50 miles. Ken's directions were to ride to Lincoln and stop at the first Holiday Inn Express that he came upon. He did just that. We pulled off of I-80 at a Holiday Inn Express at Exit 399 at 6:04 PM. Chuck, Jan, C.E. and Bruce went in to make the deal. Chuck did most of the talking, who would have guessed! A deal was made and we checked in. We got our bags from our Motors and took them inside to our rooms. We went back downstairs, moved our Motors to the parking lot and tucked them in for the night. We later walked to Lucky's Sports Bar & Grill, not too far, and had dinner. We returned to the hotel and Chuck, Jan, Ken and Bruce went into the hot tub. C.E. stayed in his room while I worked on my Blog. I was determined to make this an early night.
Today we rode 397 miles. We have ridden a total of 6,542 miles. We still have a ways to go. Tomorrow we will ride into Colorado. We will head for the Denver area. Like I have written before, plans change. We really never know where we will end up. So, until tomorrow...
Chuck was leading and we needed to get to Highway 34, which was about two miles to the north of us. For some reason, Chuck was very "turned around" this morning. He couldn't even figure which way north was, even after I told him where it was. I told him that we needed to go to the stop sign, turn left and turn right at I-74. I-74 is the interstate that we rode in on yesterday. We needed to go west (south) on I-74 for two miles. Chuck led us to I-74, went under the interstate and turned onto the on ramp to go east (south). This is similar to I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson. I-10 is an east/west interstate. When going to Tucson from Phoenix, you are going east (south). We all stopped at the entrance and Chuck continued about 100 yards. Jan rode up next to me and agreed that we were going the wrong way. I made a u-turn on the on ramp, it was clear, and rode the wrong way on the on ramp and made a right turn. Everyone followed me and we went back under the interstate and got on the on ramp to go west, or north. It is very confusing! Any way, we were now headed in the right direction, and it's raining. We rode for two miles and exited to go west on Highway 34. Chuck's mind started to clear up and it now looked familiar to him...about time! We headed west on Highway 34 and after about 15 minutes of riding, it stopped raining. We rode for 53 miles, most of it in cloudy and dry weather, and stopped at a gas station/mini-mart at 10:13 AM in Gulfport, ILL. We started to strip our rain gear off and packed them. It was 75 degrees by this time and most of us also packed away our jackets. We went in to the mini-mart and used the facilities...pit stop. We also reloaded by drinking more water and coffee! We left at 11:42 AM.
Chuck lead again and soon after leaving, we crossed the Mississippi River and we were now in Iowa. The weather was very nice without our jackets. We rode on, in Iowa, and noticed that it was primarily farmland. The colors I saw were green, brown and tan. There weren't many more colors for the landscape. Of course, there could have been more colors. I am a bit color blind! There were small hills and crappy pavement. We rode on Highway 34 and soon Chuck got off and headed for a town called Fairfield, ILL. There was a sign indicating that there was a Phillips 66 gas station there. We rode on "Business 34" and after riding 56 miles, we stopped at the gas station in Fairfield at 11:23 AM. We gassed up, made a pit stop, drank more water and coffee, (reloaded our systems) and looked at the map. We left at 11:42 AM.
Jan took over the lead. We were on Business 34 and headed west. The only agenda we had was to get to Omaha, Nebraska. I had set my navigation system for Omaha. We rode through downtown Fairfield and eventually got out of the town and back to the highway. We headed out and saw more farms, cows, calves, horses, baby horsies and tractors. Jan was going to go about 50 to 60 miles more before we stopped for lunch. Bruce had made a suggestion that we should stop at a sit down Mom & Pop restaurant so that we all can order a pork tenderloin sandwich. He has raved about them. He told us that that is Iowa's specialty. We rode through the town of Ottumwa, IA. I'm sure those of you who have watched the TV program, MASH, are familiar with Ottumwa. It is supposed to be the birthplace of Corporal Radar O'Reilly. Ottumwa was larger than I had expected. We continued and after riding 76 miles, we stopped in Chariton, IA at 12:57 PM. We stopped at Pennington's Grill. Bruce entered the restaurant and asked them if they served pork tenderloin sandwiches. He came outside and gave us the "nod" so we went inside. It was a family owned restaurant and the owner, Mom, was the cook. We all ordered the pork tenderloin sandwiches and, they were good. What made them taste better is that Bruce picked up the bill for our lunches. We suggested that maybe he could suggest another restaurant to eat at and he could again pick up the bill. I doubt that we will see that happen again on this trip! OK, so with full bellies, we left at 1:47 PM.
We continued on with more of the same scenery. We rode for another 60 miles and stopped at 2:45 PM in Creston, IA at a Kum & Go gas station/mini-mart. Strange name! We made our pit stop and had some water. Chuck asked me if he had enough time to get some coffee. I told him to go for it! We took the map out and looked at it. Ken was going to lead soon and he wanted to study it. Jan looked at the map also to see what town we could stop to get gas. Chuck would probably need gas for his Motor in 40 to 60 miles. Jan told us that we were going to stop in Red Oak, IA for gas. We left at 3:03 PM.
We continued riding on Highway 34 with basically the same scenery. We rode 50 more miles and we stopped...in Red Oak! We stopped at 3:51 PM and gassed up. We had some water and snacks. Ken looked at the map again and got the route that he was going to take. We decided that we would head for Lincoln, Nebraska instead of Omaha. Ken got my Dry Erase Marker and wrote the route on his windshield. We were ready to go. We left at 4:14 PM.
Ken, the Wild Man, led the group like he was on a mission. The speed limit was posted at 55 mph and we hit speeds of 70 mph. We made good time and soon reached the end of Highway 34 where we wanted to turn. We turned north on I-29 for 7 miles, which was under construction. We reached Highway 370 and turned west. We rode over the Missouri River, over a bridge and at the other side, we had to stop to pay a toll. It was 50 cents per Motor and Ken paid the $3. That's the rule! The leader pays the tolls for the Group. On the 4 Corner's Ride, I got stuck with $80 in tolls in one day. That hurt! Just past the bridge, there was the sign: Welcome to Nebraska. This is one of the States that the original 4 have not traveled together. Now we need only three: North Dakota, New Jersey and Delaware. Those will be taken care of in another ride. We rode Highway 370 for a few more miles before we transitioned to I-80 east. Now we can make up some time! The speed limit was posted at 65 MPH. Thanks to the Wild Man, we were going about 75 and sometimes 80 mph. The clouds looked very dark to the north of us, however, they were moving eastbound. We were OK. At one point, Bruce rode next to Ken and asked him to stop for a pit stop. After riding 52 miles, we stopped in Papillon, NE at 5:09 PM at a BP gas station. After parking our Motors, Chuck got off his Motor and hurried to the restroom to beat Bruce. Hey Chuck, that's against the rules! The one who asks for the stop gets to go first. Don't worry. Bruce made it. We left at 5:19 PM.
Ken started again and it seems like we were riding like a bat out of hell! We had a mission. The clouds looked threatening and we wanted to get to the hotel before we got caught in the rain again. We rode another 50 miles. Ken's directions were to ride to Lincoln and stop at the first Holiday Inn Express that he came upon. He did just that. We pulled off of I-80 at a Holiday Inn Express at Exit 399 at 6:04 PM. Chuck, Jan, C.E. and Bruce went in to make the deal. Chuck did most of the talking, who would have guessed! A deal was made and we checked in. We got our bags from our Motors and took them inside to our rooms. We went back downstairs, moved our Motors to the parking lot and tucked them in for the night. We later walked to Lucky's Sports Bar & Grill, not too far, and had dinner. We returned to the hotel and Chuck, Jan, Ken and Bruce went into the hot tub. C.E. stayed in his room while I worked on my Blog. I was determined to make this an early night.
Today we rode 397 miles. We have ridden a total of 6,542 miles. We still have a ways to go. Tomorrow we will ride into Colorado. We will head for the Denver area. Like I have written before, plans change. We really never know where we will end up. So, until tomorrow...
Friday, May 20, 2011
DAY 19 Friday, May 20, 2011
WOW! Two nights in a row with 7 1/2 hours of sleep. What a treat. My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM as usual. I got up, got dressed and packed, then Ken got up. While Ken was getting dressed, I took a bag out to my Motor. I took the cover off and put my bag in the Motor. I went to the breakfast room and Ken was out with his Motor. I served my breakfast when Ken and C.E. walked in. Soon the other three joined us. We finished our breakfast and returned to our rooms and got our bags. Does all of this sound familiar to you? It does to me. Well, that's what happened! We got to our Motors and we were ready to leave. We left at 8:27 AM.
Bruce was leading as he had just started to lead last night after gassing up and riding a short way to our hotel. Bruce led us away from Red Wing, MN. We rode through beautiful country that went along the Mississippi River. We rode for 63 miles and at 9:26 AM, we stopped at a Kwik Stop gas station/mini-mart in Minnesota City, MN for a pit stop. We bought some water while Chuck got some coffee. Sniff, sniff! We weren't there for very long and left at 9:46 AM.
We were off again. We rode through a lot of small towns. The river was beautiful. At some points, the river was very wide, probably a mile wide. We passed through Lake City before we stopped in Minnesota City. Lake City has Lake Pepin. The Mississippi River runs through Lake Pepin. It is a very big lake. It seems like it goes forever. We rode for 74 more miles and Bruce pulled into a gas station/mini-mart in Ferryville, WI. We had crossed over into Wisconsin again! Guess what? We made a pit stop, AND we bought water and snacks. We sat for a while looking out at the River. There was a picnic bench outside the mini-mart. We took some pictures and looked at the map. Bruce told us that he had been to this mini-mart in the past with a relative and also had gone to a nearby restaurant where they advertise the "largest hamburger." We took his word for it. It wasn't time to eat yet. We left at 11:46 AM.
Bruce had looked at the map, since he was leading. He got the directions to where we wanted to go. We continued and crossed over into Wisconsin. We followed the Great River Road south. We were going to cross the River and go into Iowa. We rode and stopped for gas at 12:23 PM in Bridgeport, WI after riding 30 miles. After we got gas, we looked at the map and found that Bruce had missed the turn off...6 miles back! We left at 12:42 PM.
It was C.E.'s turn to lead and get us back to the turn off that was missed. We rode back 6 miles and turned at the road that we were supposed to turn. We crossed the Mississippi River and into Iowa. Thanks C.E.! We continued west on Highway 18 and were going to turn at Highway 52. It took us a long time to get to Highway 52. We were all beginning to think that we had missed it. Before we knew it, we turned left onto Highway 52. Southbound we go! We rode through farm country. It looked as if we were going to ride in farm country forever. It then started to get more green. There were more mountain roads and twisties. This was looking more familiar! We finally saw the River. We had gone us a hill covered in trees and just as we crested the hill, we saw the Mississippi River Valley! To quote the two, gay BMW Motor riders, "How Pastoral!" We rode down the mountain and into Gutenburg, IA at 1:24 PM, after riding 38 miles. We stopped at a Subway for lunch. We had past by a scenic overlook on the mountain and we thought that that would be a great place to take a picture of the Group. We left at 2:08 PM.
It was only a mile away and we parked our Motors on the mountain, overlooking the Mississippi River Valley. I set up my camera on a tri-pod across the street and about 50 yards to the north. We have an agreement. If we are going to take a Group picture and it is close by, I will set up the timer and hurry to get into position. If it is a distance away, I will set up the camera and Jan will set the timer and RUN back to the Group before the camera snaps the picture. It seems to work well for us. Besides, Jan is our fastest runner! While we were at the overlook, Chuck took the map out again and studied it with C.E., since C.E. was leading. While we were at the overlook, Jan saw a Bald Eagle flying overhead and circling. There were many Eagles flying. We left at 2:34 PM.
We continued on our way and we rode through a very small town named, "Rickardville, IA." There was a business with the sign on the wall which read, "Bev's Cat House." We were not sure what kind of business it was. Bev, can you tell us? We rode into Dubuque, IA and there was construction. We needed to take a detour and C.E. took us through without a hitch. After riding 66 miles, at 3:56 PM, we stopped in Bellevue, IA. We stopped at Casey's General Store for a pit stop. We had a good break and C.E. told us to saddle up! We left at 4:22 PM.
We rode on and soon crossed the Mississippi River, again. This time we were in Illinois! We headed south on the Great River Road and after 63 miles, we stopped in Cordova, ILL at 5:36 PM at a Phillips 66 for gas. While we were there, we met a Police Sgt. for the Cordova PD. It was strange to see a cop sporting a goatee, while in uniform. It's not right! We told him who we were and he was very excited. He also noticed and commented about how cops always wear their uniform boots, even when they are retired! Why not, they are comfortable. Chuck had looked at the map and wrote some directions on his gas tank with the Dry Erase Marker. He told me that he was going to go onto I-74 to speed things up and get to Burlington, IA to find a place to spend the night. He had given C.E. and me the address of a hotel he found on his Droid to enter on our navigation systems. We left at 6:14 PM.
Chuck led the group and we rode through several small cities. Chuck told me, I was next to him, to help him get to I-74 with my navigation system. I talked him through the turns. We got on I-74 and the navigation system showed to turn onto another highway. Chuck turned onto the other highway, however, he went north instead of south. We had no choice but to follow the highway until an off ramp came up. Jan rode up to me and asked where we were going. He told me that we were going north, instead of south. I told him that I knew which way we were going, but that I didn't know where Chuck was going. Jan rode up to Chuck and Jan read Chuck's lips as he said, "I think we're going the wrong way!" We finally got to I-74, again, and Chuck got onto it and headed south. Chuck motioned to me to come up to him and asked me if we were going the right way. I told him that we were now going south. We rode for 47 miles and Chuck motioned for us to turn into the Krisdala Baka Road Side Rest Area, which was south of Lynn Center, ILL. We parked our Motors and Chuck went inside to make a pit stop. Most of us followed. He was still wanting to get to Burlington, IA, which was about 65 miles away. Jan and I told him that we should stop sooner because it was getting very late. Chuck told us that we were going another 20 miles away to Galesburg, ILL. We left at 7:33 PM.
We continued on and it was dark. Before we got to Galesburg, I saw a sign advertising a Holiday Inn Express. I told Chuck about the sign and it was at Exit 48. Chuck got off at Exit 48 and it was in front of us. We needed to turn right to get to it. We turned right and then left into a driveway. We thought that it was the driveway to get to the hotel. It was a driveway for a Taco Bell. Chuck led us around the building through a small drive. Just as we got into the drive, we realized that it was the exit to the drive through! We couldn't stop or turn around. We were committed! We hoped that there were no cars coming the opposite direction. There wasn't. When we turned the corner of the drive, there was a white mini-van at the menu board placing their order. There was plenty of room for the Motors to make it past the drivers door. We all made it and back onto the road. We finally found the entrance to the hotel and got to the Front Desk at 7:33 PM after 21 miles. The Desk Clerk told me that they were all booked up, however, the Best Western probably had vacancies. She called the Best Western and confirmed that they had rooms for us. Three rooms were held for us. Mike, a regular at the Holiday Inn Express, was talking with the Clerk and told us that he had to go to the Best Western also. He offered to lead us to the Best Western. He did and when we arrived, the Clerk at the Best Western gave us some rooms at a good rate. We checked in and had to ride all the way around to the back to get to our rooms. We parked next to the windows of our rooms, got our bags and tucked our Motors in for the night. We really got lucky because there was a restaurant on the property. We had dinner and, later, some of the guys got into the hot tub. I'm at the computer in the lobby doing my blog. It's going to be another late night for me. That's OK. I enjoy it!
Well, today we rode 403 miles and rode in 4 states; Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. We hope to get close to ST. Louis tomorrow. We might continue south or maybe get on I-70 and head west towards home. We'll see... `
Bruce was leading as he had just started to lead last night after gassing up and riding a short way to our hotel. Bruce led us away from Red Wing, MN. We rode through beautiful country that went along the Mississippi River. We rode for 63 miles and at 9:26 AM, we stopped at a Kwik Stop gas station/mini-mart in Minnesota City, MN for a pit stop. We bought some water while Chuck got some coffee. Sniff, sniff! We weren't there for very long and left at 9:46 AM.
We were off again. We rode through a lot of small towns. The river was beautiful. At some points, the river was very wide, probably a mile wide. We passed through Lake City before we stopped in Minnesota City. Lake City has Lake Pepin. The Mississippi River runs through Lake Pepin. It is a very big lake. It seems like it goes forever. We rode for 74 more miles and Bruce pulled into a gas station/mini-mart in Ferryville, WI. We had crossed over into Wisconsin again! Guess what? We made a pit stop, AND we bought water and snacks. We sat for a while looking out at the River. There was a picnic bench outside the mini-mart. We took some pictures and looked at the map. Bruce told us that he had been to this mini-mart in the past with a relative and also had gone to a nearby restaurant where they advertise the "largest hamburger." We took his word for it. It wasn't time to eat yet. We left at 11:46 AM.
Bruce had looked at the map, since he was leading. He got the directions to where we wanted to go. We continued and crossed over into Wisconsin. We followed the Great River Road south. We were going to cross the River and go into Iowa. We rode and stopped for gas at 12:23 PM in Bridgeport, WI after riding 30 miles. After we got gas, we looked at the map and found that Bruce had missed the turn off...6 miles back! We left at 12:42 PM.
It was C.E.'s turn to lead and get us back to the turn off that was missed. We rode back 6 miles and turned at the road that we were supposed to turn. We crossed the Mississippi River and into Iowa. Thanks C.E.! We continued west on Highway 18 and were going to turn at Highway 52. It took us a long time to get to Highway 52. We were all beginning to think that we had missed it. Before we knew it, we turned left onto Highway 52. Southbound we go! We rode through farm country. It looked as if we were going to ride in farm country forever. It then started to get more green. There were more mountain roads and twisties. This was looking more familiar! We finally saw the River. We had gone us a hill covered in trees and just as we crested the hill, we saw the Mississippi River Valley! To quote the two, gay BMW Motor riders, "How Pastoral!" We rode down the mountain and into Gutenburg, IA at 1:24 PM, after riding 38 miles. We stopped at a Subway for lunch. We had past by a scenic overlook on the mountain and we thought that that would be a great place to take a picture of the Group. We left at 2:08 PM.
It was only a mile away and we parked our Motors on the mountain, overlooking the Mississippi River Valley. I set up my camera on a tri-pod across the street and about 50 yards to the north. We have an agreement. If we are going to take a Group picture and it is close by, I will set up the timer and hurry to get into position. If it is a distance away, I will set up the camera and Jan will set the timer and RUN back to the Group before the camera snaps the picture. It seems to work well for us. Besides, Jan is our fastest runner! While we were at the overlook, Chuck took the map out again and studied it with C.E., since C.E. was leading. While we were at the overlook, Jan saw a Bald Eagle flying overhead and circling. There were many Eagles flying. We left at 2:34 PM.
We continued on our way and we rode through a very small town named, "Rickardville, IA." There was a business with the sign on the wall which read, "Bev's Cat House." We were not sure what kind of business it was. Bev, can you tell us? We rode into Dubuque, IA and there was construction. We needed to take a detour and C.E. took us through without a hitch. After riding 66 miles, at 3:56 PM, we stopped in Bellevue, IA. We stopped at Casey's General Store for a pit stop. We had a good break and C.E. told us to saddle up! We left at 4:22 PM.
We rode on and soon crossed the Mississippi River, again. This time we were in Illinois! We headed south on the Great River Road and after 63 miles, we stopped in Cordova, ILL at 5:36 PM at a Phillips 66 for gas. While we were there, we met a Police Sgt. for the Cordova PD. It was strange to see a cop sporting a goatee, while in uniform. It's not right! We told him who we were and he was very excited. He also noticed and commented about how cops always wear their uniform boots, even when they are retired! Why not, they are comfortable. Chuck had looked at the map and wrote some directions on his gas tank with the Dry Erase Marker. He told me that he was going to go onto I-74 to speed things up and get to Burlington, IA to find a place to spend the night. He had given C.E. and me the address of a hotel he found on his Droid to enter on our navigation systems. We left at 6:14 PM.
Chuck led the group and we rode through several small cities. Chuck told me, I was next to him, to help him get to I-74 with my navigation system. I talked him through the turns. We got on I-74 and the navigation system showed to turn onto another highway. Chuck turned onto the other highway, however, he went north instead of south. We had no choice but to follow the highway until an off ramp came up. Jan rode up to me and asked where we were going. He told me that we were going north, instead of south. I told him that I knew which way we were going, but that I didn't know where Chuck was going. Jan rode up to Chuck and Jan read Chuck's lips as he said, "I think we're going the wrong way!" We finally got to I-74, again, and Chuck got onto it and headed south. Chuck motioned to me to come up to him and asked me if we were going the right way. I told him that we were now going south. We rode for 47 miles and Chuck motioned for us to turn into the Krisdala Baka Road Side Rest Area, which was south of Lynn Center, ILL. We parked our Motors and Chuck went inside to make a pit stop. Most of us followed. He was still wanting to get to Burlington, IA, which was about 65 miles away. Jan and I told him that we should stop sooner because it was getting very late. Chuck told us that we were going another 20 miles away to Galesburg, ILL. We left at 7:33 PM.
We continued on and it was dark. Before we got to Galesburg, I saw a sign advertising a Holiday Inn Express. I told Chuck about the sign and it was at Exit 48. Chuck got off at Exit 48 and it was in front of us. We needed to turn right to get to it. We turned right and then left into a driveway. We thought that it was the driveway to get to the hotel. It was a driveway for a Taco Bell. Chuck led us around the building through a small drive. Just as we got into the drive, we realized that it was the exit to the drive through! We couldn't stop or turn around. We were committed! We hoped that there were no cars coming the opposite direction. There wasn't. When we turned the corner of the drive, there was a white mini-van at the menu board placing their order. There was plenty of room for the Motors to make it past the drivers door. We all made it and back onto the road. We finally found the entrance to the hotel and got to the Front Desk at 7:33 PM after 21 miles. The Desk Clerk told me that they were all booked up, however, the Best Western probably had vacancies. She called the Best Western and confirmed that they had rooms for us. Three rooms were held for us. Mike, a regular at the Holiday Inn Express, was talking with the Clerk and told us that he had to go to the Best Western also. He offered to lead us to the Best Western. He did and when we arrived, the Clerk at the Best Western gave us some rooms at a good rate. We checked in and had to ride all the way around to the back to get to our rooms. We parked next to the windows of our rooms, got our bags and tucked our Motors in for the night. We really got lucky because there was a restaurant on the property. We had dinner and, later, some of the guys got into the hot tub. I'm at the computer in the lobby doing my blog. It's going to be another late night for me. That's OK. I enjoy it!
Well, today we rode 403 miles and rode in 4 states; Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. We hope to get close to ST. Louis tomorrow. We might continue south or maybe get on I-70 and head west towards home. We'll see... `
Thursday, May 19, 2011
DAY 18 Thursday, May 19, 2011
It was another late night last night. I wrote and posted my blog and then had to do my pictures. By the time I finished my blog, it was 12:30 AM. After posting my blog, I called Laura, my wife, and spoke with her for a while. I needed to go to my room, try not to wake Ken and transfer my pictures from my camera to my computer. When I got to the room, Ken woke up momentarily and went back to sleep. I decided that I would do the pictures in the morning. I finally got to bed a little after 1:30 AM.
My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I was barely able to hear it. It seems that I lowered the volume to my cell phone when I set my alarm. I got up, got dressed and packed. Ken got up and told me that he didn't sleep very well last night. It must have been the 20 wings he had for dinner! I set up my computer and then walked out to my Motor to get my charger for my camera battery. When I got to my Motor, C.E. was cleaning his Motor. I returned to my room and transferred the pictures. Ken took a bag down to his Motor and got it ready for today's ride. After I transferred my pictures, I went down to the breakfast room and joined Ken and C.E. We all had breakfast so I returned to my room, gathered my stuff and took it down to my Motor and loaded it. I cleaned my Motor a little and had to return to my room to get my helmet. When I got back down, Ken was checking out of our room at the Front Desk. I gave him my key and went to my Motor. We left at 8:31 AM.
The skies were overcast and it was 61 degrees. Ken took the lead again and we headed south; back the same way we got to the hotel in Bemidji. We passed familiar landmarks, signs and towns. Before I knew it, we were approaching LaPort, MN, where we stopped yesterday for a pit stop and gas. Soon after riding through LaPort, there was a farm to the right (actually, there were farms all over the place) that had a few fat and contented cows. We passed the cows and came upon two horses. They were very contented! As we were passing the horses, I could have sworn that I saw a bottle of wine and thought I heard the sound of Luther Vandross coming from a nearby boom box while the horses were "making love." Well, maybe not the wine...nor the boom box with Luther. But the horses WERE making puppies! Any way, as you can tell, by this time, it doesn't take much for me to be entertained. We rode for 54 miles and at 9:25 AM, we stopped at a BP gas station and Swanson's Bait Shop in Hackensack, MN. The weather felt very good. It was 61 degrees. We went in for a pit stop. While we were "taking care of business," Ken was taking care of business. He was shopping and bought a brand new pair of rain pants to replace the pair that he blew the crotch out of. He was happy, except for the color. Chuck was drinking some coffee so we had to wait for him to finish. I was very envious that Chuck gets to drink coffee. I love drinking coffee, however, the guys won't let me drink coffee during the breaks. They say that we have to stop far too much as a result of me drinking coffee...so I don't! We left at 9:49 AM.
We continued on with Ken in the lead. We rode for 63 miles. Ken lead as if he were on a mission. We stopped at a Sinclair gas station at 10:53 AM in Ft. Ripley, MN. After gassing up our Motors, we went into the mini-mart and bought some water and snacks. Chuck bought some more coffee. He walked by me and I could smell that wonderful smell of coffee, the Nectar of the Gods! I believe a tear ran down my cheek knowing that I'm not allowed and I wanted some. Bruce was drinking a Diet Coke and asked me to give him a two minute advance warning before we were about to leave so that he could go make a pit stop. I told the guys to get ready and we left at 11:17 AM.
It was my turn to lead now. We headed south on Highway 371. After riding about 2 miles, I motioned to Jan, who was right behind me, that I was pulling over at a cross street. We stopped and I told the guys that there was a National Sign indicating the Great River Road. We had been talking about getting a picture of the sign and each of us. They were wondering how we were going to do it. I told the guys that when the traffic cleared, I would ride out into the street, make a u-turn and stop by the side of the road next to the sign. I did and Jan followed, stopping in front of me. I positioned my Motor in front of the sign, got off and gave Jan my camera. He waited for traffic to clear and he took a picture of me, my Motor and the sign. I moved my Motor and Jan made the u-turn and stopped next to the sign. I took his picture. C.E. came next, then Bruce, Chuck and finally Ken. We all had our pictures taken so we continued on. Highway 371 turned into Highway 10 soon after Fort Ripley. We rode for 66 miles and we came into a small town named Becker, MN. It was time for lunch and I happened to see a Subway on the left side of the road. I slowed, as did the others, and we turned into the Subway at 12:23 PM. We went in and had lunch. We had not gone to a Subway in two or three days and it was time! The clouds were threatening rain. I was hoping that if it rained, that it would rain while we were having lunch. It didn't. We left at 1:09 PM, still no rain.
We rode on. Knowing that we just had lunch, I didn't intend to drive for a long distance. As we rode, I was getting a little tired and sleepy. I knew that if I was being affected, the others were also. After riding 35 miles, we stopped in Coon Rapids, MN at 1:50 PM. We stopped at a Mobil gas station and mini-mart. We went in for a pit stop and bought some drinks. Jan and Chuck went back to the area where our Motors were parked and both laid on the grass. I believe Jan took a nap! There was a cute, young lady as the cashier in the mini-mart. I went back in to buy a bottle of water. She was outside and held the door open for me. I thanked her and she asked me, "Do you need me?" I asked, "What?" She repeated, "Do you need me?" At that point, I looked at her and I could have sworn that I saw the light bulb go on above her head as to what she had asked me. She got embarrassed and chuckled. I told her that I was going inside to buy something. I got my bottle of water and went to pay for it. I told her that what she had asked me was a "loaded question." She laughed and I went back to my Motor. Laura, I want to tell you that she started it! I didn't start it. I was innocent! I was being respectful! We left the Mobile station and the "cochina" lady at 2:18 PM.
We were not very far from Minneapolis/St. Paul. We had talked about it and we had intentions of by-passing the two cities and going around them. I had looked at a map and plotted the road that we took. We continued on Highway 10 to I-35 W s, to I-694 East, to I-494 East and then back on Highways 10/61. That was a lot to remember so that we wouldn't get lost. We wouldn't have gotten lost because I had my navigation system on and, with a Dry Erase Marker, I wrote the directions on my windshield! All is fair... We continued south on Highways 10/61 until we came upon Highway 50. We turned east. After riding for 74 miles, we arrived in Red Wing, MN at 3:37 PM at a Super America gas station. We gassed up and Chuck checked his Droid for any place to stay in the town that we were headed for. We were going to meet Gary Mulleneaux in Lake City, MN, however, there was only one motel listed on the Droid and there were several to choose from in Red Wing. We opted to try the Best Western in Red Wing. We left at 3:55 PM. the hotel was 2 1/2 miles away on the right side.
Bruce was up to lead. He had a very hard job ahead of him. He needed to lead us 2 1/2 miles away. We rode east on Highway 50 and arrived at the hotel at 3:59 PM after riding for a little over 2 miles. There was a Perkins Restaurant on the property, next to the highway and the Best Western was on the other side of the Perkins. Bruce pointed to the Best Western and turned off of the highway and continued to turn right onto a street. He continued on the street as the rest of us rode into the parking lot of the Perkins Restaurant and into the adjoining parking lot of the Best Western Hotel and we parked our Motors. A minute or two later, Bruce joined us. Jan, Bruce and I went in to make the deal. Jan and I spoke with Lori, the Front Desk Manager, and made the deal. The others came in. We checked in, got our room keys, unloaded our Motors and took our stuff to our rooms on the second floor. Jan called Gary and asked him to meet us at the Best Western. Jan, C.E. and I waited in the lobby for Gary while Chuck, Ken and Bruce rode to the laundromat, not far away, to check for the closing time. The laundromat was down the same road that Bruce turned onto initially when the rest of us rode to the Best Western.
We were in the lobby when Gary walked in. It was GREAT to see him again! We gave each other "man hugs" and sat and talked "old times." We each had a chance to catch Gary up on our families as he did with his family. Chuck, Ken and Bruce returned and "man hugs" continued. We sat and talked for about 45 minutes before we walked next door to the Perkins Restaurant and had dinner. As we ate, we talked "old times" some more. Gary apologized that his wife, Connie, was unable to accompany him to see us. She had prior commitments. Gary made me feel very special when he told us that he didn't want to hurt any one's feelings, but Connie wanted to come and especially see me! Thanks Connie! There were some stories that the memories were very vague, however, we still had a good time. We must have been at dinner for about an hour and a half, about the same amount of time Gary and I used to take for our 15 minute breaks...back in the day of Motors. After dinner, we walked back to the Best Western parking lot where our Motors were parked and we took several pictures. We talked some more and, like most good things, it had to end. Gary left us and went home.
After Gary left, the guys rode to the laundromat while I stayed at the hotel and typed my blog. Hopefully, I will get done at a decent hour and get a good nights sleep. After I finished my blog, I went outside and tucked my Motor in for the night. The others returned soon after and they tucked their Motors in for the night.
We rode for 292 miles today. We also got to see and spend some time with an old, dear friend. It was good to see and talk with Gary again. Tomorrow, we will head south and follow the Mississippi River. Since we are getting close to the southern border of Minnesota, we will more that likely get into Iowa. We shall see...
My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I was barely able to hear it. It seems that I lowered the volume to my cell phone when I set my alarm. I got up, got dressed and packed. Ken got up and told me that he didn't sleep very well last night. It must have been the 20 wings he had for dinner! I set up my computer and then walked out to my Motor to get my charger for my camera battery. When I got to my Motor, C.E. was cleaning his Motor. I returned to my room and transferred the pictures. Ken took a bag down to his Motor and got it ready for today's ride. After I transferred my pictures, I went down to the breakfast room and joined Ken and C.E. We all had breakfast so I returned to my room, gathered my stuff and took it down to my Motor and loaded it. I cleaned my Motor a little and had to return to my room to get my helmet. When I got back down, Ken was checking out of our room at the Front Desk. I gave him my key and went to my Motor. We left at 8:31 AM.
The skies were overcast and it was 61 degrees. Ken took the lead again and we headed south; back the same way we got to the hotel in Bemidji. We passed familiar landmarks, signs and towns. Before I knew it, we were approaching LaPort, MN, where we stopped yesterday for a pit stop and gas. Soon after riding through LaPort, there was a farm to the right (actually, there were farms all over the place) that had a few fat and contented cows. We passed the cows and came upon two horses. They were very contented! As we were passing the horses, I could have sworn that I saw a bottle of wine and thought I heard the sound of Luther Vandross coming from a nearby boom box while the horses were "making love." Well, maybe not the wine...nor the boom box with Luther. But the horses WERE making puppies! Any way, as you can tell, by this time, it doesn't take much for me to be entertained. We rode for 54 miles and at 9:25 AM, we stopped at a BP gas station and Swanson's Bait Shop in Hackensack, MN. The weather felt very good. It was 61 degrees. We went in for a pit stop. While we were "taking care of business," Ken was taking care of business. He was shopping and bought a brand new pair of rain pants to replace the pair that he blew the crotch out of. He was happy, except for the color. Chuck was drinking some coffee so we had to wait for him to finish. I was very envious that Chuck gets to drink coffee. I love drinking coffee, however, the guys won't let me drink coffee during the breaks. They say that we have to stop far too much as a result of me drinking coffee...so I don't! We left at 9:49 AM.
We continued on with Ken in the lead. We rode for 63 miles. Ken lead as if he were on a mission. We stopped at a Sinclair gas station at 10:53 AM in Ft. Ripley, MN. After gassing up our Motors, we went into the mini-mart and bought some water and snacks. Chuck bought some more coffee. He walked by me and I could smell that wonderful smell of coffee, the Nectar of the Gods! I believe a tear ran down my cheek knowing that I'm not allowed and I wanted some. Bruce was drinking a Diet Coke and asked me to give him a two minute advance warning before we were about to leave so that he could go make a pit stop. I told the guys to get ready and we left at 11:17 AM.
It was my turn to lead now. We headed south on Highway 371. After riding about 2 miles, I motioned to Jan, who was right behind me, that I was pulling over at a cross street. We stopped and I told the guys that there was a National Sign indicating the Great River Road. We had been talking about getting a picture of the sign and each of us. They were wondering how we were going to do it. I told the guys that when the traffic cleared, I would ride out into the street, make a u-turn and stop by the side of the road next to the sign. I did and Jan followed, stopping in front of me. I positioned my Motor in front of the sign, got off and gave Jan my camera. He waited for traffic to clear and he took a picture of me, my Motor and the sign. I moved my Motor and Jan made the u-turn and stopped next to the sign. I took his picture. C.E. came next, then Bruce, Chuck and finally Ken. We all had our pictures taken so we continued on. Highway 371 turned into Highway 10 soon after Fort Ripley. We rode for 66 miles and we came into a small town named Becker, MN. It was time for lunch and I happened to see a Subway on the left side of the road. I slowed, as did the others, and we turned into the Subway at 12:23 PM. We went in and had lunch. We had not gone to a Subway in two or three days and it was time! The clouds were threatening rain. I was hoping that if it rained, that it would rain while we were having lunch. It didn't. We left at 1:09 PM, still no rain.
We rode on. Knowing that we just had lunch, I didn't intend to drive for a long distance. As we rode, I was getting a little tired and sleepy. I knew that if I was being affected, the others were also. After riding 35 miles, we stopped in Coon Rapids, MN at 1:50 PM. We stopped at a Mobil gas station and mini-mart. We went in for a pit stop and bought some drinks. Jan and Chuck went back to the area where our Motors were parked and both laid on the grass. I believe Jan took a nap! There was a cute, young lady as the cashier in the mini-mart. I went back in to buy a bottle of water. She was outside and held the door open for me. I thanked her and she asked me, "Do you need me?" I asked, "What?" She repeated, "Do you need me?" At that point, I looked at her and I could have sworn that I saw the light bulb go on above her head as to what she had asked me. She got embarrassed and chuckled. I told her that I was going inside to buy something. I got my bottle of water and went to pay for it. I told her that what she had asked me was a "loaded question." She laughed and I went back to my Motor. Laura, I want to tell you that she started it! I didn't start it. I was innocent! I was being respectful! We left the Mobile station and the "cochina" lady at 2:18 PM.
We were not very far from Minneapolis/St. Paul. We had talked about it and we had intentions of by-passing the two cities and going around them. I had looked at a map and plotted the road that we took. We continued on Highway 10 to I-35 W s, to I-694 East, to I-494 East and then back on Highways 10/61. That was a lot to remember so that we wouldn't get lost. We wouldn't have gotten lost because I had my navigation system on and, with a Dry Erase Marker, I wrote the directions on my windshield! All is fair... We continued south on Highways 10/61 until we came upon Highway 50. We turned east. After riding for 74 miles, we arrived in Red Wing, MN at 3:37 PM at a Super America gas station. We gassed up and Chuck checked his Droid for any place to stay in the town that we were headed for. We were going to meet Gary Mulleneaux in Lake City, MN, however, there was only one motel listed on the Droid and there were several to choose from in Red Wing. We opted to try the Best Western in Red Wing. We left at 3:55 PM. the hotel was 2 1/2 miles away on the right side.
Bruce was up to lead. He had a very hard job ahead of him. He needed to lead us 2 1/2 miles away. We rode east on Highway 50 and arrived at the hotel at 3:59 PM after riding for a little over 2 miles. There was a Perkins Restaurant on the property, next to the highway and the Best Western was on the other side of the Perkins. Bruce pointed to the Best Western and turned off of the highway and continued to turn right onto a street. He continued on the street as the rest of us rode into the parking lot of the Perkins Restaurant and into the adjoining parking lot of the Best Western Hotel and we parked our Motors. A minute or two later, Bruce joined us. Jan, Bruce and I went in to make the deal. Jan and I spoke with Lori, the Front Desk Manager, and made the deal. The others came in. We checked in, got our room keys, unloaded our Motors and took our stuff to our rooms on the second floor. Jan called Gary and asked him to meet us at the Best Western. Jan, C.E. and I waited in the lobby for Gary while Chuck, Ken and Bruce rode to the laundromat, not far away, to check for the closing time. The laundromat was down the same road that Bruce turned onto initially when the rest of us rode to the Best Western.
We were in the lobby when Gary walked in. It was GREAT to see him again! We gave each other "man hugs" and sat and talked "old times." We each had a chance to catch Gary up on our families as he did with his family. Chuck, Ken and Bruce returned and "man hugs" continued. We sat and talked for about 45 minutes before we walked next door to the Perkins Restaurant and had dinner. As we ate, we talked "old times" some more. Gary apologized that his wife, Connie, was unable to accompany him to see us. She had prior commitments. Gary made me feel very special when he told us that he didn't want to hurt any one's feelings, but Connie wanted to come and especially see me! Thanks Connie! There were some stories that the memories were very vague, however, we still had a good time. We must have been at dinner for about an hour and a half, about the same amount of time Gary and I used to take for our 15 minute breaks...back in the day of Motors. After dinner, we walked back to the Best Western parking lot where our Motors were parked and we took several pictures. We talked some more and, like most good things, it had to end. Gary left us and went home.
After Gary left, the guys rode to the laundromat while I stayed at the hotel and typed my blog. Hopefully, I will get done at a decent hour and get a good nights sleep. After I finished my blog, I went outside and tucked my Motor in for the night. The others returned soon after and they tucked their Motors in for the night.
We rode for 292 miles today. We also got to see and spend some time with an old, dear friend. It was good to see and talk with Gary again. Tomorrow, we will head south and follow the Mississippi River. Since we are getting close to the southern border of Minnesota, we will more that likely get into Iowa. We shall see...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
DAY 17 Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I couldn't believe that I got to bed last night at 11:00 PM! Wow, I had a full nights sleep. Unfortunately, my eyes opened at 5:30 AM, an hour before my alarm was set to go off at 6:30 AM. I forced myself to get back to sleep. At 6:20 AM I got up, turned the alarm off, got dressed and packed. Chuck, my roomie, got up also and was still getting dressed when I told him that I was going to my Motor to get it ready for today's ride. Chuck told me that he would catch up to me at breakfast. I took a bag down to my Motor, uncovered it and packed the bag. I cleaned up my windshield and then walked over to the breakfast room. I was the first one there so I got a table that sat all six of us. Soon, Chuck walked in, as did C.E. and Jan. Ken and Bruce walked in a few minutes later. This was NOT a free breakfast, however, when we checked in, the lady, Rose, gave us a discount ticket for breakfast. We ordered and were served. We had a nice and young waitress with a good sense of humor. She had us laughing. We finished breakfast and C.E. needed to go to Wal Mart to get a new holster for his cell phone. We left and Ken went with him. While they were gone, we all went back to our rooms and gathered our stuff and packed them in our Motors. The "old guys" were still gone so we started cleaning our Motors. I asked the Front Desk Clerk for some rags and she gave me two. These two rags cleaned three Motors. Bruce and I went back to the Front Desk and checked out of our rooms. The "old guys" returned and C.E. walked to the Front Desk to check out. While he was gone, the rest of the guys saddled up and were ready when C.E. returned. We left at 9:28 AM.
Chuck was up to lead again, as he didn't finish his turn yet. I called to Chuck and pointed the direction that we needed to go. It was a "one way," so he had no other choice! We headed out on Highway 2, going along Lake Superior. Did I tell you that four of us had been to all five of the Great Lakes? Oh yeah, I did! We left Ashland, WI and rode for 46 miles. At 10:13 AM, we stopped for gas at a Mobil gas station in Poplar, WI. It was a strange gas station to me. The pumps were away from the building as usual, however, after we finished pumping our gas, we parked next to the building by the restroom. There was no other life at the station except us. I looked around the building and there were no attendants. Strange. We left at 10:29 AM.
It was Jan's turn to lead. I positioned myself behind Jan, then Ken, Bruce, C.E. and Chuck. We continued on Highway 2. Soon after Jan took over the lead, we came up to the "Welcome to Minnesota" sign. In the past four years, we have been to almost all of the States. We were lacking Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. We took care of those States. Now, we need North Dakota, Nebraska, New Jersey and Delaware. We will leave those four States for another year. We continued on in Minnesota and rode for 66 miles before we stopped in Floodwood, MN at 11:40 AM. We were in need of a pit stop. We parked our Motors and you would swear that we were a bunch of beginners parking our Motors. They were not parked in our usual neat and orderly fashion. Chuck couldn't believe it so he took a picture. We bought some water and snacks. Behind the gas station was a "Minnesota Harley." I pointed it to Ken and he kept looking for it. I was more descriptive of the item and told him that it was the red tractor. He liked that! I forgot to tell you. You probably don't know it, but Ken is a "Wild Man." That is a story that I will tell you later. We were sitting on some picnic tables and we noticed a sign on the wall that said, "No Loitering." How long does it need to be before we were considered Loitering? We discussed lunch and decided that we would go another 30 to 45 minutes before stopping for lunch. There was a Subway across the street. I told Jan that we needed to drive out of the gas station parking lot and go to the Subway. He laughed, but didn't. We left at 12:11 PM.
Soon after we left, I made a quick panic stop. I didn't see my camera in my usual spot. I checked my pocket and didn't feel it. I thought that maybe I left it on my rear seat. I looked but it was not there. I check my right jacket pocket again and there it was! It was a deep pocket...but I found it. Off we go again. We rode through several small towns but didn't see any Subways. We kept riding through little town and I told Jan to stop at a local Mom and Pop restaurant. We rode for 55 minutes and stopped in Remer, MN at 1:06 PM at the Woodsman Family Restaurant. This restaurant is famous for their "Woody." They had a hooded sweater pinned to the wall that was screen printed with, "I got my hoodie where I got my Woody." The Woody was a sandwich. Get it...Woody...Woodsman...never mind! We finished lunch and left at 2:11 PM.
We continued on Highway 2 for 9 miles and changed to Highway 200. You know, I can now understand why Minnesota's nickname is, "The Land of 10,000 Lakes." There are more lakes in Minnesota than there are Circle K's, Starbucks, Fry's and Target's in Arizona! We passed by Leech Lake. It was HUGE! Looking at the map, there are other larger lakes. We rode for 48 miles and at 2:57 PM, we stopped for gas in LaPorte, MN. The pumps were the old style where you get the hose, lift the handle and pump. After you pump your gas, you go inside and pay for it. Aah, the good old days! We finished pumping gas, made a pit stop and Ken snapped at us saying, "Let's go!" We were scared so we saddled up and left at 3:13 PM. Wild Man!
It was Ken's turn to lead. Ken had looked at the map with Chuck and me and got the directions that he needed to lead us to. We zipped right along and covered 23 miles quickly. We arrived at the Lake Itasca Welcome Center at 3:37 PM. We needed to go to the Welcome Center to purchase a one day permit. We got our permits and started sight-seeing. We eventually got to the Mississippi Headwaters stop, which is the Source of the Mississippi River. We parked our Motors in the parking lot and walked down about 800 yards (it was marked with signs) to the Start of the Mississippi River. We took many pictures. It was breath-taking, or, as one of two gay BMW riders we met about a week or a week and a half ago said, "It was Pastoral!" We didn't know whether he was talking about a religious person or a pasture with cows! We learned a new word. Jan sat by the river's edge and took off his boots. He was going to wade across the Mississippi River. It was about 18 feet wide and about 1 1/2 to 2 feet deep in some areas. I took a couple of pictures of Jan. I then switched to video. Jan walked across the river and looked at Chuck. Chuck was taking his boots off also and was going to walk in the river with Jan. Not wanting to be outdone by Jan, Chuck went one step further. Chuck took his pants off and was in his boxers and t-shirt! The six of us were the only ones there at the time...thank God! I continued the video and got both in the River walking across and back. Chuck starting splashing about trying to get us wet, but all he accomplished was to get his skivvies wet! That'll teach him! Chuck and Jan got out and eventually put their boots back on and Chuck also put his pants back on...just in time. An older couple came walking up to where we were and talked to us. The lady told us that a bus load of little girls were also coming our way. If the little girls saw Chuck in his skivvies, they would have had a good story to go back home to tell their mommies about...STRANGER DANGER! They could have also told their mommies about the "homeless" guy that couldn't afford to buy pants. We were done with the start of the Mississippi River and Lake Itasca so we headed to our Motors. We needed a pit stop so we took care of that first...in a restroom! Ken took charge and told us to line up our Motors in front of the Mississippi Headwaters sign so that we could take a picture. We parked our Motors in front of the sign, Harley's on the right and Honda's on the left. We all stood behind the sign. My camera was on a tri-pod several yards away. Since I'm not a runner, Jan was asked to start the timer and run back to us for the picture. We did this three times. We wanted to make sure that we got a good picture! We mounted our Motors and left the area and rode on the Wilderness Trail. It is a 10 mile road that circles Itasca State Park. It is a one way street with a lot of twisties, uphills and downhills. We left the Park 5:43 PM after riding sight-seeing in the Park for 18 miles.
We headed towards a town called Bemidji, MN. We had seen a sign before entering the Park that advertised a Best Western. We rode to Bemidji and drove through the town. We went over a bridge for Lake Bemidji and the Mississippi River. We rode on Paul Bunyan Blvd. NW, which is the Great River Route. We also saw a large statue of Paul Bunyan and Blue, his ox. As we neared the Best Western, we saw a Holiday Inn Express. Chuck and Jan broke away to go check the price and Chuck would call me with the report. I followed the other three to the Best Western. We rode for 35 miles and at 6:29 PM we arrived at the Best Western in Bemidji, MN. The four of us went inside and Bruce was talking with the Front Desk Clerk to make the deal. A deal was made and I told Chuck and Jan to come over...they did. I did a load of laundry and we all got into the hot tub. After the hot tub, we walked about 2 blocks to a sports bar/restaurant and had dinner. While we were having dinner, Jan told us that he had spoken with Gary Mulleneaux earlier and that he would meet us tomorrow along the River somewhere. Gary is a good friend of us all and lives in a town about 300 miles from where we are staying tonight. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and four guys covered their Motors and tucked them in for the night. Jan and I needed to go to Wal Mart. We did and when we returned, tucked our Motors in for the night also.
We rode 291 miles. We saw a lot of lakes and some of them were beautiful. Some were smaller that others. We finally got to the northern start of the Mississippi River and two guys walked in the River; one dressed and one in skivvies. "But they look like trunks!" is what I later heard. Tomorrow, we start going south following the Mississippi River and meeting up with Gary Mulleneaux. We will try to get as far south by the River as possible. The other guys have to do laundry also. Who knows where we will end up. So, until tomorrow...
Chuck was up to lead again, as he didn't finish his turn yet. I called to Chuck and pointed the direction that we needed to go. It was a "one way," so he had no other choice! We headed out on Highway 2, going along Lake Superior. Did I tell you that four of us had been to all five of the Great Lakes? Oh yeah, I did! We left Ashland, WI and rode for 46 miles. At 10:13 AM, we stopped for gas at a Mobil gas station in Poplar, WI. It was a strange gas station to me. The pumps were away from the building as usual, however, after we finished pumping our gas, we parked next to the building by the restroom. There was no other life at the station except us. I looked around the building and there were no attendants. Strange. We left at 10:29 AM.
It was Jan's turn to lead. I positioned myself behind Jan, then Ken, Bruce, C.E. and Chuck. We continued on Highway 2. Soon after Jan took over the lead, we came up to the "Welcome to Minnesota" sign. In the past four years, we have been to almost all of the States. We were lacking Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. We took care of those States. Now, we need North Dakota, Nebraska, New Jersey and Delaware. We will leave those four States for another year. We continued on in Minnesota and rode for 66 miles before we stopped in Floodwood, MN at 11:40 AM. We were in need of a pit stop. We parked our Motors and you would swear that we were a bunch of beginners parking our Motors. They were not parked in our usual neat and orderly fashion. Chuck couldn't believe it so he took a picture. We bought some water and snacks. Behind the gas station was a "Minnesota Harley." I pointed it to Ken and he kept looking for it. I was more descriptive of the item and told him that it was the red tractor. He liked that! I forgot to tell you. You probably don't know it, but Ken is a "Wild Man." That is a story that I will tell you later. We were sitting on some picnic tables and we noticed a sign on the wall that said, "No Loitering." How long does it need to be before we were considered Loitering? We discussed lunch and decided that we would go another 30 to 45 minutes before stopping for lunch. There was a Subway across the street. I told Jan that we needed to drive out of the gas station parking lot and go to the Subway. He laughed, but didn't. We left at 12:11 PM.
Soon after we left, I made a quick panic stop. I didn't see my camera in my usual spot. I checked my pocket and didn't feel it. I thought that maybe I left it on my rear seat. I looked but it was not there. I check my right jacket pocket again and there it was! It was a deep pocket...but I found it. Off we go again. We rode through several small towns but didn't see any Subways. We kept riding through little town and I told Jan to stop at a local Mom and Pop restaurant. We rode for 55 minutes and stopped in Remer, MN at 1:06 PM at the Woodsman Family Restaurant. This restaurant is famous for their "Woody." They had a hooded sweater pinned to the wall that was screen printed with, "I got my hoodie where I got my Woody." The Woody was a sandwich. Get it...Woody...Woodsman...never mind! We finished lunch and left at 2:11 PM.
We continued on Highway 2 for 9 miles and changed to Highway 200. You know, I can now understand why Minnesota's nickname is, "The Land of 10,000 Lakes." There are more lakes in Minnesota than there are Circle K's, Starbucks, Fry's and Target's in Arizona! We passed by Leech Lake. It was HUGE! Looking at the map, there are other larger lakes. We rode for 48 miles and at 2:57 PM, we stopped for gas in LaPorte, MN. The pumps were the old style where you get the hose, lift the handle and pump. After you pump your gas, you go inside and pay for it. Aah, the good old days! We finished pumping gas, made a pit stop and Ken snapped at us saying, "Let's go!" We were scared so we saddled up and left at 3:13 PM. Wild Man!
It was Ken's turn to lead. Ken had looked at the map with Chuck and me and got the directions that he needed to lead us to. We zipped right along and covered 23 miles quickly. We arrived at the Lake Itasca Welcome Center at 3:37 PM. We needed to go to the Welcome Center to purchase a one day permit. We got our permits and started sight-seeing. We eventually got to the Mississippi Headwaters stop, which is the Source of the Mississippi River. We parked our Motors in the parking lot and walked down about 800 yards (it was marked with signs) to the Start of the Mississippi River. We took many pictures. It was breath-taking, or, as one of two gay BMW riders we met about a week or a week and a half ago said, "It was Pastoral!" We didn't know whether he was talking about a religious person or a pasture with cows! We learned a new word. Jan sat by the river's edge and took off his boots. He was going to wade across the Mississippi River. It was about 18 feet wide and about 1 1/2 to 2 feet deep in some areas. I took a couple of pictures of Jan. I then switched to video. Jan walked across the river and looked at Chuck. Chuck was taking his boots off also and was going to walk in the river with Jan. Not wanting to be outdone by Jan, Chuck went one step further. Chuck took his pants off and was in his boxers and t-shirt! The six of us were the only ones there at the time...thank God! I continued the video and got both in the River walking across and back. Chuck starting splashing about trying to get us wet, but all he accomplished was to get his skivvies wet! That'll teach him! Chuck and Jan got out and eventually put their boots back on and Chuck also put his pants back on...just in time. An older couple came walking up to where we were and talked to us. The lady told us that a bus load of little girls were also coming our way. If the little girls saw Chuck in his skivvies, they would have had a good story to go back home to tell their mommies about...STRANGER DANGER! They could have also told their mommies about the "homeless" guy that couldn't afford to buy pants. We were done with the start of the Mississippi River and Lake Itasca so we headed to our Motors. We needed a pit stop so we took care of that first...in a restroom! Ken took charge and told us to line up our Motors in front of the Mississippi Headwaters sign so that we could take a picture. We parked our Motors in front of the sign, Harley's on the right and Honda's on the left. We all stood behind the sign. My camera was on a tri-pod several yards away. Since I'm not a runner, Jan was asked to start the timer and run back to us for the picture. We did this three times. We wanted to make sure that we got a good picture! We mounted our Motors and left the area and rode on the Wilderness Trail. It is a 10 mile road that circles Itasca State Park. It is a one way street with a lot of twisties, uphills and downhills. We left the Park 5:43 PM after riding sight-seeing in the Park for 18 miles.
We headed towards a town called Bemidji, MN. We had seen a sign before entering the Park that advertised a Best Western. We rode to Bemidji and drove through the town. We went over a bridge for Lake Bemidji and the Mississippi River. We rode on Paul Bunyan Blvd. NW, which is the Great River Route. We also saw a large statue of Paul Bunyan and Blue, his ox. As we neared the Best Western, we saw a Holiday Inn Express. Chuck and Jan broke away to go check the price and Chuck would call me with the report. I followed the other three to the Best Western. We rode for 35 miles and at 6:29 PM we arrived at the Best Western in Bemidji, MN. The four of us went inside and Bruce was talking with the Front Desk Clerk to make the deal. A deal was made and I told Chuck and Jan to come over...they did. I did a load of laundry and we all got into the hot tub. After the hot tub, we walked about 2 blocks to a sports bar/restaurant and had dinner. While we were having dinner, Jan told us that he had spoken with Gary Mulleneaux earlier and that he would meet us tomorrow along the River somewhere. Gary is a good friend of us all and lives in a town about 300 miles from where we are staying tonight. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and four guys covered their Motors and tucked them in for the night. Jan and I needed to go to Wal Mart. We did and when we returned, tucked our Motors in for the night also.
We rode 291 miles. We saw a lot of lakes and some of them were beautiful. Some were smaller that others. We finally got to the northern start of the Mississippi River and two guys walked in the River; one dressed and one in skivvies. "But they look like trunks!" is what I later heard. Tomorrow, we start going south following the Mississippi River and meeting up with Gary Mulleneaux. We will try to get as far south by the River as possible. The other guys have to do laundry also. Who knows where we will end up. So, until tomorrow...
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
DAY 16 Tuesday, May 17, 2011
I hate it when that happens! I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm sounded. Chuck was up also. I got up, got dressed and packed. Chuck did the same thing. I told Chuck that I was going out to my Motor to get it ready for the ride today. I took one bag with me. Chuck did the same, however, he took out two bags. As I was cleaning my Motor, Ken peeked out of his window by the Motors and asked how the weather was. I told him that it wasn't very cold, although the TV reported that the temperature was 37 degrees. He closed the window and I continued. Jan was rooming next door and he opened his window also and spoke with me. I was finally able to finish and went to have breakfast. The breakfast room was very crowded this morning. There was a tour bus parked out on the parking lot. As Chuck and I were having breakfast, Jan and C.E. came in. A little bit later, Ken walked in and then even later, Bruce came in. We all had our breakfast and as we were all eating, the tour bus left. The room wasn't as crowded. We all finished breakfast and really didn't want to go out because of the cold, but we had to! We returned to our rooms and gathered all of our belongings and took them out and packed our Motors. We knew that we were going to go over the Mackinaw Bridge and there is a toll. The toll was $3.50 per Motorcycle and, with Bruce leading, he needed to pay for it. We all gave Bruce $3.50 for him to pay for all of us. We were ready to leave and guess what? All of the Motors started without any problems. We left at 8:47 AM.
Bruce led us over the Mackinaw Bridge. It was cool, both in temperature and going over the bridge. While on the bridge, on the left side of the bridge is Lake Michigan and on the right side of the bridge is Lake Huron. Chuck, Bruce, Jan and I have now seen four of the five Great Lakes during our rides. Lake Superior is the only one we have not seen. We went over the bridge and we had to stop at the toll booth. Bruce paid the attendant the money for all six of us and she asked that we entered one at a time. We did. After we were all through, we continued north on I-75. We soon got on the on ramp for Highway 2, westbound. We were now westbound on Highway 2, headed for Duluth, Minnesota. As we rode past St. Ignace, MI, I waved to the town and people for Sean, a friend who grew up in this town. Sean, I took care of that for you! We rode for 50 miles and at 9:52 AM we stopped in Naubinway, MI for gas. We were going west and the gas station was on the south side of the Highway. After we gassed up, we parked by the west end of the parking lot next to the west exit. This was a good move since we were going to leave the parking lot and turn left, westbound. An older gentleman approached us and spoke with us. He was 74 years old and looked like he was in his middle to late 60's. He told us about his Motorcycle riding and that he does the Iron Butt Rides. The Iron Butt Rides are rides that are for 1,000 miles to be ridden in a 24 hours time. He was telling us how he gets pissed at his group because they all want to stop and stay in a hotel where he wants to camp out. We all wish we look that good when we reach his age! It was now C.E.'s turn to lead. Chuck got out the map and showed C.E. which direction to go and which town we had hoped to stop in for lunch, Escanaba, MI. It was time to leave and we all mounted our Motors and started them. With C.E. leading the Group, the movie, Forest Gump comes to mind. He's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. C.E. started out and rode east in the parking lot and stopped in front of the pumps. OK, I can understand this. We need to line up to get ready to leave as a Group. We left at 10:22 AM. C.E. led us to the east exit and we all stopped. C.E. looked to make sure that it was clear to leave and he turned...right...eastbound. We all stood still. We didn't follow because we needed to turn...left...westbound. We all watched C.E. ride for about 200 yards and stop. He looked back at us for a few seconds and finally made a u-turn and headed westbound. After he passed our location, we all followed behind him.
We were doing good on the ride, however, the speed limit was only 55 mph. C.E. had us going about 62 mph. That was a better speed to ride. We had heard that there were many deer and wildlife in the Upper Peninsula, especially at night. I had hoped to see some deer or elk. As we rode, I didn't seen anything, other than "road kill." We had been riding for a while and I needed to make a pit stop. I rode up next to C.E. and asked him to stop so that I could answer Mother Nature's call. He nodded. We rode for a few miles more because there weren't any good places to stop, like a gas station or mini-mart. C.E. started to slow down and had his left turn signal on to turn left. There was an old rickety motel that looked abandoned on the left side of the street. C.E. turned into the parking lot of the rickety motel. I guess he was expecting me to go in and use the facilities. I told him to just keep going until we found a place. C.E. continued with the rest following. We rode a couple more miles and stopped at a Mobil gas station in Rapid River, MI, 87 miles since C.E. started to lead and it was 11:56 AM. Chuck asked a general question. Chuck asked if we were stopping to pee or stopping so that C.E. could fix his "Highway Peg." The Highway Peg was loose and dangling like a wet noodle. The rule is: The one who asks to make a pit stop, gets to be the first one in. I was allowed to go in first. We all "took care of business" and also bought some water and snacks. C.E. tightened up his Highway Peg. No one took any pictures. I was in the Mini-mart at the time. C.E. asked us if we were hungry and maybe we should stop at a Subway for lunch. We all said that we were not hungry yet. As we were getting ready to leave, Jan asked C.E. which direction we were going to turn and leave. C.E. pointed towards the west...the correct way. We left at 12:12 PM.
We continued on and C.E. did make the correct turn. We rode for 8 miles and C.E. saw a Subway on the left side of the Highway in Gladstone, MI. No, J.B., it was not Gladstone, MO. He turned and led us to the Subway and we stopped at 11:23 PM. This was not the city that Chuck had asked C.E. to stop at, but that was OK. Escanaba, MI was further west. C.E. was leading. We had lunch and we left at 1:04 PM.
We continued west. We rode for 35 more miles and stopped at a restaurant in Hermansville, MI at 12:44 PM for a pit stop. Jan noticed that we had crossed over into Central Standard Time and verified the time on his cell phone. We had gained an hour. We didn't stay very long and left at 12:58 PM.
We rode westbound again. We left Michigan for a short time and enter Wisconsin. We rode for 12 miles in Wisconsin and then we crossed over into Michigan again. We rode into a small town named Crystal Falls, MI. We stopped after 56 miles and at 2:00 PM, we stopped for gas. We all gassed up and had some snacks and water. C.E. pointed to an old building to me and told me that that was an old building. I told C.E. that the entire town was full of old buildings! It was ready to leave so we saddled up. We left at 2:23 PM.
It was Chuck's turn to lead. We headed west on Highway 2. I was behind Chuck then Jan, Ken, Bruce and C.E. We had been riding for a while doing about 65 mph. The scenery all looked the same. My music was low, it was warmer, riding between two Harley's with the lull of their engine noise, I was getting sleepy. I noticed a doe, a deer, a female deer, etc. to my left grazing. I had been wondering when I would get to see some wildlife! I'm sure that we were all tired. We rode for 90 miles and stopped at 3:47 PM in Wakefield, MI at a gas station/mini-mart. We made a pit stop and bought water and snacks. We all needed to wake up! For some unknown reason, we were all tired and sleepy. We noticed a Michigan State Patrol Station across the street. The bright blue patrol cars were parked in the parking lot and we talked about the "old fashioned" gum ball light on top of the roofs of the cars. We checked the Best Western book and found a hotel in Ashland, WI. I got the address and put it in my navigation system. It was 52 miles away. We left at 4:15 PM.
We continued west and soon rode into a small town named, "Ironwood." As we were riding in the middle of downtown, we had to come to a complete stop because of a car ahead of us that needed to stop because of two deer (does) crossing in front of us. I got my camera out and took pictures of the does. We continued on and soon crossed over into Wisconsin, again. We rode for 56 miles and got to the address on the navigation system, however, it was not a Best Western. It had been sold about 6 months ago. We also saw Lake Superior, the last of the Great Lakes that we needed to see. We arrived at 5:15 PM. I made the contact with Rose, the Front Desk clerk. I made the deal and we got a good price. We all got our room keys and rode to our rooms. We took our bags to our rooms upstairs and went out the back doors onto the balcony. The view of Lake Superior was spectacular! After a while, we walked next door to the restaurant and lounge, had a drink (alcohol) and dinner. We walked back to the hotel and tucked our Motors in for the night.
We rode for 382 miles today, and none of it on any interstate. We looked at the map and saw that tomorrow, we will probably get to Lake Itasca. Lake Itasca is the Official start of the Mississippi River, on the north end. Lake Itasca is not too far from where we are tonight. After we get to Lake Itasca, it is southbound! So, until tomorrow...
Bruce led us over the Mackinaw Bridge. It was cool, both in temperature and going over the bridge. While on the bridge, on the left side of the bridge is Lake Michigan and on the right side of the bridge is Lake Huron. Chuck, Bruce, Jan and I have now seen four of the five Great Lakes during our rides. Lake Superior is the only one we have not seen. We went over the bridge and we had to stop at the toll booth. Bruce paid the attendant the money for all six of us and she asked that we entered one at a time. We did. After we were all through, we continued north on I-75. We soon got on the on ramp for Highway 2, westbound. We were now westbound on Highway 2, headed for Duluth, Minnesota. As we rode past St. Ignace, MI, I waved to the town and people for Sean, a friend who grew up in this town. Sean, I took care of that for you! We rode for 50 miles and at 9:52 AM we stopped in Naubinway, MI for gas. We were going west and the gas station was on the south side of the Highway. After we gassed up, we parked by the west end of the parking lot next to the west exit. This was a good move since we were going to leave the parking lot and turn left, westbound. An older gentleman approached us and spoke with us. He was 74 years old and looked like he was in his middle to late 60's. He told us about his Motorcycle riding and that he does the Iron Butt Rides. The Iron Butt Rides are rides that are for 1,000 miles to be ridden in a 24 hours time. He was telling us how he gets pissed at his group because they all want to stop and stay in a hotel where he wants to camp out. We all wish we look that good when we reach his age! It was now C.E.'s turn to lead. Chuck got out the map and showed C.E. which direction to go and which town we had hoped to stop in for lunch, Escanaba, MI. It was time to leave and we all mounted our Motors and started them. With C.E. leading the Group, the movie, Forest Gump comes to mind. He's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. C.E. started out and rode east in the parking lot and stopped in front of the pumps. OK, I can understand this. We need to line up to get ready to leave as a Group. We left at 10:22 AM. C.E. led us to the east exit and we all stopped. C.E. looked to make sure that it was clear to leave and he turned...right...eastbound. We all stood still. We didn't follow because we needed to turn...left...westbound. We all watched C.E. ride for about 200 yards and stop. He looked back at us for a few seconds and finally made a u-turn and headed westbound. After he passed our location, we all followed behind him.
We were doing good on the ride, however, the speed limit was only 55 mph. C.E. had us going about 62 mph. That was a better speed to ride. We had heard that there were many deer and wildlife in the Upper Peninsula, especially at night. I had hoped to see some deer or elk. As we rode, I didn't seen anything, other than "road kill." We had been riding for a while and I needed to make a pit stop. I rode up next to C.E. and asked him to stop so that I could answer Mother Nature's call. He nodded. We rode for a few miles more because there weren't any good places to stop, like a gas station or mini-mart. C.E. started to slow down and had his left turn signal on to turn left. There was an old rickety motel that looked abandoned on the left side of the street. C.E. turned into the parking lot of the rickety motel. I guess he was expecting me to go in and use the facilities. I told him to just keep going until we found a place. C.E. continued with the rest following. We rode a couple more miles and stopped at a Mobil gas station in Rapid River, MI, 87 miles since C.E. started to lead and it was 11:56 AM. Chuck asked a general question. Chuck asked if we were stopping to pee or stopping so that C.E. could fix his "Highway Peg." The Highway Peg was loose and dangling like a wet noodle. The rule is: The one who asks to make a pit stop, gets to be the first one in. I was allowed to go in first. We all "took care of business" and also bought some water and snacks. C.E. tightened up his Highway Peg. No one took any pictures. I was in the Mini-mart at the time. C.E. asked us if we were hungry and maybe we should stop at a Subway for lunch. We all said that we were not hungry yet. As we were getting ready to leave, Jan asked C.E. which direction we were going to turn and leave. C.E. pointed towards the west...the correct way. We left at 12:12 PM.
We continued on and C.E. did make the correct turn. We rode for 8 miles and C.E. saw a Subway on the left side of the Highway in Gladstone, MI. No, J.B., it was not Gladstone, MO. He turned and led us to the Subway and we stopped at 11:23 PM. This was not the city that Chuck had asked C.E. to stop at, but that was OK. Escanaba, MI was further west. C.E. was leading. We had lunch and we left at 1:04 PM.
We continued west. We rode for 35 more miles and stopped at a restaurant in Hermansville, MI at 12:44 PM for a pit stop. Jan noticed that we had crossed over into Central Standard Time and verified the time on his cell phone. We had gained an hour. We didn't stay very long and left at 12:58 PM.
We rode westbound again. We left Michigan for a short time and enter Wisconsin. We rode for 12 miles in Wisconsin and then we crossed over into Michigan again. We rode into a small town named Crystal Falls, MI. We stopped after 56 miles and at 2:00 PM, we stopped for gas. We all gassed up and had some snacks and water. C.E. pointed to an old building to me and told me that that was an old building. I told C.E. that the entire town was full of old buildings! It was ready to leave so we saddled up. We left at 2:23 PM.
It was Chuck's turn to lead. We headed west on Highway 2. I was behind Chuck then Jan, Ken, Bruce and C.E. We had been riding for a while doing about 65 mph. The scenery all looked the same. My music was low, it was warmer, riding between two Harley's with the lull of their engine noise, I was getting sleepy. I noticed a doe, a deer, a female deer, etc. to my left grazing. I had been wondering when I would get to see some wildlife! I'm sure that we were all tired. We rode for 90 miles and stopped at 3:47 PM in Wakefield, MI at a gas station/mini-mart. We made a pit stop and bought water and snacks. We all needed to wake up! For some unknown reason, we were all tired and sleepy. We noticed a Michigan State Patrol Station across the street. The bright blue patrol cars were parked in the parking lot and we talked about the "old fashioned" gum ball light on top of the roofs of the cars. We checked the Best Western book and found a hotel in Ashland, WI. I got the address and put it in my navigation system. It was 52 miles away. We left at 4:15 PM.
We continued west and soon rode into a small town named, "Ironwood." As we were riding in the middle of downtown, we had to come to a complete stop because of a car ahead of us that needed to stop because of two deer (does) crossing in front of us. I got my camera out and took pictures of the does. We continued on and soon crossed over into Wisconsin, again. We rode for 56 miles and got to the address on the navigation system, however, it was not a Best Western. It had been sold about 6 months ago. We also saw Lake Superior, the last of the Great Lakes that we needed to see. We arrived at 5:15 PM. I made the contact with Rose, the Front Desk clerk. I made the deal and we got a good price. We all got our room keys and rode to our rooms. We took our bags to our rooms upstairs and went out the back doors onto the balcony. The view of Lake Superior was spectacular! After a while, we walked next door to the restaurant and lounge, had a drink (alcohol) and dinner. We walked back to the hotel and tucked our Motors in for the night.
We rode for 382 miles today, and none of it on any interstate. We looked at the map and saw that tomorrow, we will probably get to Lake Itasca. Lake Itasca is the Official start of the Mississippi River, on the north end. Lake Itasca is not too far from where we are tonight. After we get to Lake Itasca, it is southbound! So, until tomorrow...
Monday, May 16, 2011
DAY 15 Monday, May 16, 2011
This was a very nice Holiday Inn Express and the beds were great! I slept very well. I hated to have to get up, but I did, before the alarm sounded. The alarm was set for 6:30 AM. C.E. also got up so we dressed, packed and took a bag out to our Motors. We took off the covers and cleaned them a little, packed the bag and went back inside for breakfast. We were having breakfast when we saw Chuck and Ken walk past us to their Motors. Soon they returned and sat with us for breakfast. Jan and Bruce came in shortly thereafter. It was very cold outside and we really didn't want to leave the warmth and go out there and ride. We were all hoping that it would miraculously warm up to the 70's. We all returned to our rooms and finished getting dressed, not that we weren't already dressed in the breakfast room! We went to our rooms to get our warm weather clothes on: sweaters, jackets, etc. We went out to our Motors to get ready to leave. As we mounted our Motors, I walked to each one of the guys and took a picture of them all bundled up. Bruce and Jan were the last to get their pictures taken. As I was taking Jan's picture, Bruce was attempting to start his Harley. It coughed a couple of time and wouldn't start. I told the rest of the guys that Bruce's Motor was dead. C.E. stayed on his Motors while Ken, Chuck and Jan got off of theirs and tried to "push" Bruce's Harley. I saw that there were already three guys pushing so I helped also by getting my camera and took pictures. The pictures were great, however, the video was even better. They tried pushing the Motor twice and it wouldn't start. A suggestion was made to "jump start" the Motor. Chuck got his tools from him Motor to take the Bruce's seat off to get to the battery. He was also going to move his Motor closer to Bruce's Motor to jump start it with his battery. Bruce parked next to a "vomit spill" that two seagulls were fighting over earlier. I suggested that Ken use his Motor because it was closer to Bruce and it was much easier to get to the battery of a Gold Wing than a Harley. I also thought that it would make a great photo op if the Gold Wing would start the Harley. Ken got out his cables and Chuck connected Ken's battery to a "pig tail" connection on Bruce's Motor. They attempted three or four times to start Bruce's Motor, however, the battery was dead! R.I.P. battery! Bruce called AAA to come and pick up his Motor and tow it to the nearby city of Bay City, MI, where there is a Harley store. Chuck had found the Harley store in his Harley book. Once again we have to go to a Harley store. I think I now know why Harley riders have a lot of Harley shirts from different Harley stores from different cities and states. Those t-shirts are from Harley stores where they had their Harley's FIXED! HA! We waited until the flatbed tow truck arrived and Nate, contacted Bruce. Somehow Nate just knew which of the three Harley's was in need of tow. The one with stuff from the Motor spread around the parking lot! I took pictures of the contact with Bruce and Nate, and also the loading of the Motor onto the flatbed. Chuck gave me the address of the Harley store in Bay City, MI. It was called, "Great Lakes Harley." I put the address in my navigation system and we left Bruce with his new buddy, Nate. It appeared that, if need be, Bruce can take him! We were going to meet Bruce at Great Lakes Harley. We left at 10:55 AM.
I led the Group, minus Bruce and his broken Harley, to Great Lakes Harley. It was 46 degrees and we got there quickly. We rode for 15 miles and arrived at 11:17 AM. We parked our Motors and went inside. Chuck made contact with the service writer and told him that Bruce was en route with the tow truck and the sick Harley. One of the employees of Great Lakes Harley asked if the riders of the Gold Wings could cover the Motors. He said that it is "bad business" to have the Honda's parked there. He was a funny guy! While we were at Great Lakes Harley, Chuck told the service writer about the problem he was having with his throttle. It was sticking so they took it back to the mechanic. Two Harley's down! Also, since we were there, Jan asked the service writer to take his Motor back to the mechanic and give it an oil change. Three Harley's down. A trifecta! Bruce, Nate and the sick Harley made it to Great Lakes Harley finally. I took pictures of Nate unloading the sick Harley. Nate was very good and took great care. Nate told me that he has brought many, many Harley's on his tow truck to Great Lakes Harley! I don't doubt him one bit. We looked at the new Motors in the showroom. There was a beautiful Harley in the showroom priced at $39,000. What?! It WAS pretty. It had a lot of chrome! My kind of Motor. Chuck's Motor was done and brought to the front, then Jan's. Not much more time went by when they rode Bruce's Motor to the front. We were ready to roll! We left at 12:37 PM.
We rode south for one mile and I stopped for lunch at a Bob's Big Boy Restaurant. Do you remember those? We stopped at 12:35 PM. We each had the Big Boy hamburger bar. It was a salad bar and a build your own, all you can eat hamburger. Don't worry ladies, we didn't make pigs of ourselves! Ken and C.E. did sit at their own table and we told the waitress that they were troublemakers. The waitress had a great sense of humor and treated Ken and C.E. like troublemakers. She gave them the price for the Hamburger bar and lowered the price for us by a dollar! She also had another waitress come and wait on them! Ken and C.E. did get the much younger, prettier waitress. We were done and left at 1:26 PM.
I continued to lead the Group north on I-75. The weather was cool at 46 degrees and cloudy skies. We were bundled up for the cold and it was a great ride. The landscape was beautiful and very green. We rode for 54 miles and at 2:17 PM, we stopped at a Marathon gas station/Mini-mart in West Branch, MI. I thought that Chuck needed gas by this point. Chuck told me that he could go probably another 50 miles. We took advantage of the stop and made a pit stop. We left at 2:33 PM.
We continued north on I-75 and at 3:07 PM after riding 41 miles, we stopped in Greyling, MI. This was a nice truck stop with an Arby's, Motel, Mini-mart and gas station. We gassed up and then parked our Motors by a ramada with picnic tables. We had bought some water and were sitting on the picnic table when I set up my tripod and took a picture of the Group. After the picture was taken, an old man walked up to us and gave us each an ink pen. The ink pens were promotional pens with the name of the Truck Stop. The old man was the "owner" of the truck stop. He told us he owned the entire complex: motel, gas station, land and was 1/2 owner of the Arby's. He was very funny. He could have been a stand up comic with a good routine. He had us laughing from the time he walked up to us until the time we left. What a very colorful man! He was in his 70's and he told us about his 72 year old wife. He told us that he and his wife had been married for over 50 years. He gave me his business card and his personal card with his cell phone number. He told us that if we ever needed him or wanted to stay at his motel, to just call him. We left at 3:46 PM.
Bruce was up to lead and, guess what? His Motor started right up! Bruce led us on I-75. We passed a few Highway Patrol cars parked in the median looking for speeders...or sleeping, I don't know what they do in Michigan! We rode for 70 miles and at 4:46 PM, we stopped at a roadside rest area at Mile Post 317. We all made a pit stop and got back on our Motors. It was a very nice rest stop. It was very green surrounded by a forest. There was a road leading away with a sign posted for a "scenic drive." We went on the scenic drive road and stopped a short distance away where there was a small parking lot and path that lead to a wooden lookout. We walked to the lookout and there was Burt Lake in the distance and I-75 just below us. Cars honked at us as they passed. We met a nice, young couple at the lookout. We talked to them for a short time and then returned to our Motors. We left at 5:11 PM.
We continued north on I-75 and soon we were able to see a large bridge. It was the Mackinaw Bridge, which is just north of...can you guess? Mackinaw City, MI. This bridge separates Lake Superior with Lake Huron, two of the five Great Lakes. Just before we got on the bridge, we exited I-75 and rode into Mackinaw City where we started looking for a Holiday Inn Express. We knew there was one because we saw the signs along I-75. We found the hotel and after riding 23 miles, we stopped at 5:33 PM. Chuck, Jan, Bruce and C.E. went in to "make the deal." C.E. came out with a baggage cart and told Ken and me that we were staying. We unloaded our Motors and took them to our rooms. After a few minutes, the Group, except C.E., got on our Motors and went to tour the city. We stopped at a park on the east side of the bridge and along the shore. There was a Lighthouse in the park and we walked to it. There were millions of flying insects that, for lack of a better term, we called mosquitoes. They weren't mosquitoes, but there were millions of them! We quickly left the area and rode to what I think was the center of town. There were many shops that lined the street. It seemed as though every other shop was a fudge shop and the others were t-shirt shops. There was a post office and a couple of bars and restaurants. We walked the streets (street walkers?) and spoke with some of the locals. We returned to the hotel and parked our Motors. We walked across the street to Darrow's Family Restaurant where we had dinner. C.E. did go with us in case if you were wondering. They specialized in sea food, because of their close proximity of the Great Lakes. We finished dinner and walked back to the hotel where we tucked our Motors in for the night.
Well, tomorrow we plan to head north over the bridge and take a few pictures, provided that we don't get attacked by the millions of flying insects! We hope to follow Highway 2 along the coast of lake Michigan. We will hopefully head towards Lake Superior. Maybe a Harley will break down, hopefully not. We shall see.
Because of the trifecta at the Great Lakes Harley, we were cut short on the mileage that we could have traveled. We rode for only 207 miles. Don't get me wrong! I'm not blaming the Harley's for the lack of mileage. It could happen to any Motor. It's all part of the journey. It just gives us more ammunition to raze the Harley Boys. It's all in fun! We have a great time. I just wish that I could post everything that is said when we stop for breaks, lunches, pit stops, etc. Those are the times when we really get on each other! Again, it is all in fun and never a thing is said maliciously. I do have to admit, this Group does provide me with great material to write about! So, until tomorrow...
I led the Group, minus Bruce and his broken Harley, to Great Lakes Harley. It was 46 degrees and we got there quickly. We rode for 15 miles and arrived at 11:17 AM. We parked our Motors and went inside. Chuck made contact with the service writer and told him that Bruce was en route with the tow truck and the sick Harley. One of the employees of Great Lakes Harley asked if the riders of the Gold Wings could cover the Motors. He said that it is "bad business" to have the Honda's parked there. He was a funny guy! While we were at Great Lakes Harley, Chuck told the service writer about the problem he was having with his throttle. It was sticking so they took it back to the mechanic. Two Harley's down! Also, since we were there, Jan asked the service writer to take his Motor back to the mechanic and give it an oil change. Three Harley's down. A trifecta! Bruce, Nate and the sick Harley made it to Great Lakes Harley finally. I took pictures of Nate unloading the sick Harley. Nate was very good and took great care. Nate told me that he has brought many, many Harley's on his tow truck to Great Lakes Harley! I don't doubt him one bit. We looked at the new Motors in the showroom. There was a beautiful Harley in the showroom priced at $39,000. What?! It WAS pretty. It had a lot of chrome! My kind of Motor. Chuck's Motor was done and brought to the front, then Jan's. Not much more time went by when they rode Bruce's Motor to the front. We were ready to roll! We left at 12:37 PM.
We rode south for one mile and I stopped for lunch at a Bob's Big Boy Restaurant. Do you remember those? We stopped at 12:35 PM. We each had the Big Boy hamburger bar. It was a salad bar and a build your own, all you can eat hamburger. Don't worry ladies, we didn't make pigs of ourselves! Ken and C.E. did sit at their own table and we told the waitress that they were troublemakers. The waitress had a great sense of humor and treated Ken and C.E. like troublemakers. She gave them the price for the Hamburger bar and lowered the price for us by a dollar! She also had another waitress come and wait on them! Ken and C.E. did get the much younger, prettier waitress. We were done and left at 1:26 PM.
I continued to lead the Group north on I-75. The weather was cool at 46 degrees and cloudy skies. We were bundled up for the cold and it was a great ride. The landscape was beautiful and very green. We rode for 54 miles and at 2:17 PM, we stopped at a Marathon gas station/Mini-mart in West Branch, MI. I thought that Chuck needed gas by this point. Chuck told me that he could go probably another 50 miles. We took advantage of the stop and made a pit stop. We left at 2:33 PM.
We continued north on I-75 and at 3:07 PM after riding 41 miles, we stopped in Greyling, MI. This was a nice truck stop with an Arby's, Motel, Mini-mart and gas station. We gassed up and then parked our Motors by a ramada with picnic tables. We had bought some water and were sitting on the picnic table when I set up my tripod and took a picture of the Group. After the picture was taken, an old man walked up to us and gave us each an ink pen. The ink pens were promotional pens with the name of the Truck Stop. The old man was the "owner" of the truck stop. He told us he owned the entire complex: motel, gas station, land and was 1/2 owner of the Arby's. He was very funny. He could have been a stand up comic with a good routine. He had us laughing from the time he walked up to us until the time we left. What a very colorful man! He was in his 70's and he told us about his 72 year old wife. He told us that he and his wife had been married for over 50 years. He gave me his business card and his personal card with his cell phone number. He told us that if we ever needed him or wanted to stay at his motel, to just call him. We left at 3:46 PM.
Bruce was up to lead and, guess what? His Motor started right up! Bruce led us on I-75. We passed a few Highway Patrol cars parked in the median looking for speeders...or sleeping, I don't know what they do in Michigan! We rode for 70 miles and at 4:46 PM, we stopped at a roadside rest area at Mile Post 317. We all made a pit stop and got back on our Motors. It was a very nice rest stop. It was very green surrounded by a forest. There was a road leading away with a sign posted for a "scenic drive." We went on the scenic drive road and stopped a short distance away where there was a small parking lot and path that lead to a wooden lookout. We walked to the lookout and there was Burt Lake in the distance and I-75 just below us. Cars honked at us as they passed. We met a nice, young couple at the lookout. We talked to them for a short time and then returned to our Motors. We left at 5:11 PM.
We continued north on I-75 and soon we were able to see a large bridge. It was the Mackinaw Bridge, which is just north of...can you guess? Mackinaw City, MI. This bridge separates Lake Superior with Lake Huron, two of the five Great Lakes. Just before we got on the bridge, we exited I-75 and rode into Mackinaw City where we started looking for a Holiday Inn Express. We knew there was one because we saw the signs along I-75. We found the hotel and after riding 23 miles, we stopped at 5:33 PM. Chuck, Jan, Bruce and C.E. went in to "make the deal." C.E. came out with a baggage cart and told Ken and me that we were staying. We unloaded our Motors and took them to our rooms. After a few minutes, the Group, except C.E., got on our Motors and went to tour the city. We stopped at a park on the east side of the bridge and along the shore. There was a Lighthouse in the park and we walked to it. There were millions of flying insects that, for lack of a better term, we called mosquitoes. They weren't mosquitoes, but there were millions of them! We quickly left the area and rode to what I think was the center of town. There were many shops that lined the street. It seemed as though every other shop was a fudge shop and the others were t-shirt shops. There was a post office and a couple of bars and restaurants. We walked the streets (street walkers?) and spoke with some of the locals. We returned to the hotel and parked our Motors. We walked across the street to Darrow's Family Restaurant where we had dinner. C.E. did go with us in case if you were wondering. They specialized in sea food, because of their close proximity of the Great Lakes. We finished dinner and walked back to the hotel where we tucked our Motors in for the night.
Well, tomorrow we plan to head north over the bridge and take a few pictures, provided that we don't get attacked by the millions of flying insects! We hope to follow Highway 2 along the coast of lake Michigan. We will hopefully head towards Lake Superior. Maybe a Harley will break down, hopefully not. We shall see.
Because of the trifecta at the Great Lakes Harley, we were cut short on the mileage that we could have traveled. We rode for only 207 miles. Don't get me wrong! I'm not blaming the Harley's for the lack of mileage. It could happen to any Motor. It's all part of the journey. It just gives us more ammunition to raze the Harley Boys. It's all in fun! We have a great time. I just wish that I could post everything that is said when we stop for breaks, lunches, pit stops, etc. Those are the times when we really get on each other! Again, it is all in fun and never a thing is said maliciously. I do have to admit, this Group does provide me with great material to write about! So, until tomorrow...
Sunday, May 15, 2011
DAY 14 Sunday, May 15, 2011 RAIN!
I had plenty of sleep last night. I got to bed at midnight. My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. C.E. and I got up, dressed and packed. C.E. went downstairs to the breakfast room before I did. I went outside to my Motor and took the cover off. I had also taken down my bags and put them in my Motor. When I got to the breakfast room, C.E. had almost finished breakfast. The others started coming in soon after. We talked about hopefully getting to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was overcast, so we got dressed for rain. We had our rain gear on and left at 9:16 AM.
Ken led us towards Highway 20. Just after we left the Day's Inn, it started to rain. We got to Highway 20 and headed north. It was 54 degrees as we rode north in the rain. We didn't go over the speed limit and a lot of the cars passed us. We rode for 40 miles and stopped in Maumee, OH at 9:55 AM. I'm glad that Ken stopped because I really needed a pit stop. We had stopped at a McDonalds. After we parked, I didn't wait for anyone. I quickly went inside. When I came out, the other guys were already situated at 3 booths. They had taken some of their rain gear off and were drinking. (No, not alcohol!) Although, riding in this type of weather CAN drive you to drink. Not only were we relaxing a little, we were also warming up! As we were sitting, shooting the bull, Ken told us that he had a "blow out" at the crotch of his rain pants. We all laughed as he played with the little flap. Ken was suggesting that he might repair it with a band aid. Jan suggested duct tape to repair the "blow out." Ken thought that maybe he could put a strip of duct tape from front to back. That would look good! Rain pants with a "racing stripe." We had been there long enough so we got dressed...again and left at 10:25 AM.
Ken continued leading. We rode north on Highway 20 and soon transitioned to I-475. We rode around Toledo, OH. After we passed Toledo, we got on Highway 23. Soon after getting on Highway 23, we crossed into Michigan. We rode for 55 more miles and stopped in Ann Arbor, MI at 11:21 AM and parked our Motors under cover at a Chase Bank at the drive in teller window. It was still raining and the temperature dropped to 45 degrees. While we were by the teller window, some of us took off our jackets and put on more clothes under the jackets. Chuck checked his Droid and saw that the rain had stopped in the area of Saginaw, MI., about 100 miles to the north. We could ride to Saginaw or go to lunch and hopefully the rain will stop sooner than expected. We opted to go to lunch across the street at the Quiznos. We talked about leaving the Motors under cover and walking to the Quiznos. What the heck, the Motors were already wet and the water won't hurt them so we rode over and parked in front of the Quiznos. We had lunch and used two tables and chairs to set our rain gear on. After we had lunch, we started to get dressed and got ready to ride in the rain. As I was putting on my helmet, my face shield broke in half. The other guys suggested that I fix it with duct tape! I told the guys to stand-by while I went back to my Motor and got my "spare" face shield. I put on the spare and we were ready to leave. We left at 12:22 PM.
By this time Ken had had enough of riding in the rain and leading. Being the trooper that he is, Ken continued to lead us. We rode in the rain some more and headed north on Highway 23. We rode for 28 miles and at 1:00 PM, we stopped in Heartland, MI at a Speedway Gas Station and Mini-mart. It was 41 degrees. We all gassed up and went in to the mini-mart to get out of the rain and use the facilities...pit stop." Some of us went more than twice! Ken and C.E. told me that they were ready to quit for the day, they had had enough. They were willing to go across the street to the Best Western, check in and call it a day. I told Chuck this and he checked his Droid for a Holiday Inn Express in Saginaw. He found one and gave me the address to put into my navigation system. The hotel was 48 miles away. We figured 48 miles was very doable. Ken felt better about this because he didn't have to lead. We left at 1:42 PM.
It was my turn to lead. We headed out and just after we pulled out of the parking lot and got into the left turn lane to get onto Highway 23, my Motor died! I was reaching to push a button on my Motor to check and make sure that I zeroed out my tripmeter and my Motor died. I looked around all of the buttons and knobs to see what had happened to cut the engine. I saw that the key in the ignition was turned off! How in the world did that happen? The best I can figure is that when I reached to push the button for the tripmeter, the sleeve of my jacket got caught on the key and turned it off. I started my Motor again and we continued on. We got onto Highway 23 and we were northbound. We had ridden for a short time and it stopped raining! The further we rode north, the dryer the streets became. We were now going 75 mph and making some good time. We soon got off of Highway 23 and headed west through Saginaw. We rode for about 16 miles and at 2:59 PM we stopped at the Holiday Inn Express after 67 miles. We went inside to "make the deal." It was a little higher than expected, however, we were good with it. It WAS time to stop for the day. Riding all day in the rain, wind and cold takes it out of you. We got our bags and took them to our rooms. We returned to our Motors and parked them all together close to Jan and Bruce's room. We had discussed going up to our rooms and returning in twenty minutes to go to the hot tub. We did...and, we did. After the hot tub, we went back to our rooms and changed. We walked across the street to an Outback for dinner. We finished dinner and returned to our Motors and tucked them in for the night.
Tomorrow the weather is expected to be clear and COLD. Chuck suggested that tomorrow we all wear every bit of clothing that we brought! We were told that it is supposed to drop to 37 degrees, somewhere in the low 40's by the time we leave. We should make it to the Peninsula tomorrow and maybe headed westbound. We'll see...
Ken led us towards Highway 20. Just after we left the Day's Inn, it started to rain. We got to Highway 20 and headed north. It was 54 degrees as we rode north in the rain. We didn't go over the speed limit and a lot of the cars passed us. We rode for 40 miles and stopped in Maumee, OH at 9:55 AM. I'm glad that Ken stopped because I really needed a pit stop. We had stopped at a McDonalds. After we parked, I didn't wait for anyone. I quickly went inside. When I came out, the other guys were already situated at 3 booths. They had taken some of their rain gear off and were drinking. (No, not alcohol!) Although, riding in this type of weather CAN drive you to drink. Not only were we relaxing a little, we were also warming up! As we were sitting, shooting the bull, Ken told us that he had a "blow out" at the crotch of his rain pants. We all laughed as he played with the little flap. Ken was suggesting that he might repair it with a band aid. Jan suggested duct tape to repair the "blow out." Ken thought that maybe he could put a strip of duct tape from front to back. That would look good! Rain pants with a "racing stripe." We had been there long enough so we got dressed...again and left at 10:25 AM.
Ken continued leading. We rode north on Highway 20 and soon transitioned to I-475. We rode around Toledo, OH. After we passed Toledo, we got on Highway 23. Soon after getting on Highway 23, we crossed into Michigan. We rode for 55 more miles and stopped in Ann Arbor, MI at 11:21 AM and parked our Motors under cover at a Chase Bank at the drive in teller window. It was still raining and the temperature dropped to 45 degrees. While we were by the teller window, some of us took off our jackets and put on more clothes under the jackets. Chuck checked his Droid and saw that the rain had stopped in the area of Saginaw, MI., about 100 miles to the north. We could ride to Saginaw or go to lunch and hopefully the rain will stop sooner than expected. We opted to go to lunch across the street at the Quiznos. We talked about leaving the Motors under cover and walking to the Quiznos. What the heck, the Motors were already wet and the water won't hurt them so we rode over and parked in front of the Quiznos. We had lunch and used two tables and chairs to set our rain gear on. After we had lunch, we started to get dressed and got ready to ride in the rain. As I was putting on my helmet, my face shield broke in half. The other guys suggested that I fix it with duct tape! I told the guys to stand-by while I went back to my Motor and got my "spare" face shield. I put on the spare and we were ready to leave. We left at 12:22 PM.
By this time Ken had had enough of riding in the rain and leading. Being the trooper that he is, Ken continued to lead us. We rode in the rain some more and headed north on Highway 23. We rode for 28 miles and at 1:00 PM, we stopped in Heartland, MI at a Speedway Gas Station and Mini-mart. It was 41 degrees. We all gassed up and went in to the mini-mart to get out of the rain and use the facilities...pit stop." Some of us went more than twice! Ken and C.E. told me that they were ready to quit for the day, they had had enough. They were willing to go across the street to the Best Western, check in and call it a day. I told Chuck this and he checked his Droid for a Holiday Inn Express in Saginaw. He found one and gave me the address to put into my navigation system. The hotel was 48 miles away. We figured 48 miles was very doable. Ken felt better about this because he didn't have to lead. We left at 1:42 PM.
It was my turn to lead. We headed out and just after we pulled out of the parking lot and got into the left turn lane to get onto Highway 23, my Motor died! I was reaching to push a button on my Motor to check and make sure that I zeroed out my tripmeter and my Motor died. I looked around all of the buttons and knobs to see what had happened to cut the engine. I saw that the key in the ignition was turned off! How in the world did that happen? The best I can figure is that when I reached to push the button for the tripmeter, the sleeve of my jacket got caught on the key and turned it off. I started my Motor again and we continued on. We got onto Highway 23 and we were northbound. We had ridden for a short time and it stopped raining! The further we rode north, the dryer the streets became. We were now going 75 mph and making some good time. We soon got off of Highway 23 and headed west through Saginaw. We rode for about 16 miles and at 2:59 PM we stopped at the Holiday Inn Express after 67 miles. We went inside to "make the deal." It was a little higher than expected, however, we were good with it. It WAS time to stop for the day. Riding all day in the rain, wind and cold takes it out of you. We got our bags and took them to our rooms. We returned to our Motors and parked them all together close to Jan and Bruce's room. We had discussed going up to our rooms and returning in twenty minutes to go to the hot tub. We did...and, we did. After the hot tub, we went back to our rooms and changed. We walked across the street to an Outback for dinner. We finished dinner and returned to our Motors and tucked them in for the night.
Tomorrow the weather is expected to be clear and COLD. Chuck suggested that tomorrow we all wear every bit of clothing that we brought! We were told that it is supposed to drop to 37 degrees, somewhere in the low 40's by the time we leave. We should make it to the Peninsula tomorrow and maybe headed westbound. We'll see...
Saturday, May 14, 2011
DAY 13 Saturday, May 14, 2011
I finished my blog at about 10:30 PM last night and tried to post it. I was unable to do it and tried a few more times. After being unsuccessful, I decided to try in the morning. I finally went to bed at 12:30 AM.
My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I got up, got dressed and packed. Jan finally got up and started to get dressed. I told Jan that I was going to my Motor to get it ready for the ride. As I got down to the Motor, I noticed that it was cloudy and a bit cool. I took off the cover and cleaned my windshield. As I was doing this, Jan came down and started on his Motor. I had told Jan that I wanted to check my tires but had forgotten. I looked at my Motor and, sure enough, there they were. The tires were just where they belong, at the bottom of the Motorcycle. Actually, I checked the air pressure of the tires and found that they needed air. Jan took his teeny, tiny air pump out and I used it to air up my tires. Now they were where they needed to be. We finished with our Motors and went to the breakfast room. C.E. and Ken were there enjoying their breakfast. We sat with them and ate ours. Soon, Chuck and Bruce came in. The old guys vacated their chairs at our table and gave them to Chuck and Bruce. Chuck started to mope and whine because there was no more "Raisin Bran" or scrambled eggs. Chuck and Bruce finished their breakfast and I told Chuck that I was unable to post my blog last night. He suggested that I go to his room and use his computer to post. I followed him to his room and did so. Jan and I returned to our rooms and gathered our stuff to load our Motors. I left the room first and got to my Motor. C.E. and Ken were at their Motors and Ken had asked me if I posted my blog or was the blog broken. I told Ken that the blog was up-to-date and posted. Ken replied, "Shit!" Ken told me that he was a little sore from yesterday's fall. The rest of the guys came down and we were all pack now and ready to go. We left at 9:02 AM.
Chuck led us away from the hotel and towards I-79. As we got to the entrance ramp, Chuck entered the southbound exit. Yes, I wrote, "southbound." We were going to Ohio and needed to go north. That's OK. South is where we needed to go. We needed to go 5 miles south to catch our good friend, Highway 50. We rode the entire length of Highway 50 last year from Ocean City, Maryland to Sacramento, CA. Highway 50 had a speed limit of 65 mph and we all enjoyed riding at that speed. We rode for 83 miles going through little towns and at 10:18 AM, we stopped for gas in Parkersburg, WVA. I had seen the Weather Channel earlier and saw that we might ride into a patch of rain. The clouds looked threatening to the west, and that is where we were going. We bought some water and goodies and looked at the map. After studying the map for a while, it was decided that we were going to go north on I-77 to Highway 250 and connect with Highway 20 to Toledo, OH. We left at 10:46 AM.
Jan led us north on I-77. We were averaging 70 mph on a 65 mph zone. It was a comfortable speed. The weather was good and it was still cloudy. The surrounding area along the Interstate was very green and beautiful. There were occasional low lying clouds within the trees. We rode for 98 miles and at 12:13 PM, we stopped in New Philadelphia, OH at a Denny's for lunch. We had not stopped at a Denny's during this trip...yet, until now. The food was good, however, the service was crappy. It took long for our food to arrive and we noticed that the Manager was in the kitchen cooking. Elaine, where are you when we need you! We finally left at 1:27 PM.
Jan took us back to I-77, northbound. We rode for 6 miles and exited at Exit 87, which connected us with Highway 250. We rode west on Highway 250, however, in the city of Wooster, Jan and I missed the sign for Highway 250, which would have leaded us northwest. Instead, we went straight west and connected with Highway 30. We rode for 12 miles and didn't notice. I rode up to Jan and told him that I needed a pit stop. As we were looking for a place to stop, I noticed the roadway ahead and it was wet. It was raining ahead of us. We turned on County Road 30a and turned into a parking lot for a local business at 2:28 PM after 54 miles. The business was closed. We all put on our rain gear and we also found a place to made our pit stop. We looked at the map and noticed that we would locate Highway 60, which would connect us with Highway 250 again. We left at 2:48 PM.
We headed west on Highway 30 and it started to rain. A mile away was the turn off for Highway 60. We took it and after getting off of the off ramp to go north on Highway 60, there were sign and barricades indicating that there was a detour. We needed to get back on Highway 30 and go 4 miles. As we did, it started to rain harder...and harder...and harder. I'm sure that you all have heard the old proverbial saying about the cow and the flat rock? Well, we can sympathize with the flat rock! It rained so hard, I know...how hard did it rain?..it rained so hard that we couldn't see anything ahead of us. There were cars that had pulled off to the side of the road because their windshield wipers could now keep up with the rain. We could barely see the guy ahead of us and the center lane lines. I don't know how he did it, but Jan saw the exit detour and turned right. We all followed, don't ask me how! We continued riding. There was no place to stop and get shelter. It was all farm land and no gas stations to stop at. It was very difficult to see where we were going. We continued in what seemed an eternity! We finally came into the town of Ashland, OH. We stopped at a red light and I told Jan to try and find a place to get some shelter until the storm blew by us. He told me that he was trying. We rode into downtown and Jan and I caught the yellow light at an intersection. the light turned red when Bruce got to it. Bruce was right behind me. The people in the vehicles on the cross streets motioned to Bruce and the others to keep going and not stop for the red light. God bless them! Jan made another turn and we eventually saw an gas station on the left side of the street. Jan pulled into the parking lot in hopes of stopping under the awning. Unfortunately, the awning structure was there, however the roof wasn't! It was just framing. We circled the parking lot and rode across the street to a Circle K. As we were parking our Motors, the rain let up! It was sprinkling now and the sun was poking through the clouds and we got off our Motors. We took off our helmets and compared notes with each other. Even though we were wearing rain gear, our shirts at our chests were wet. Our feet got soaked. I was shielding my eyes from the downpour and water had gone down my left arm so it soaked my sleeve. Chuck told me that his crotch was wet. Because of what we had just rode through, he didn't know if the rain soaked through to his crotch or that he peed himself! I asked him if the wetness of his crotch was warm. He told me that it wasn't. It then told him that he didn't need to worry, it was the rain! Chuck told me that he felt better. We were all safe and felt better that we were not longer riding in the downpour. Like other times from other rides, we can now laugh about it and have a good time! We had some drinks and snacks from the Circle K. We made sure that our rain gear was on right and that Ken and I had on our face shields. We rode back across the street to the gas station and gassed up our Motors. We were told that there were no other gas stations in this city. We left at 3:45 PM.
Ken took over the lead and took us north on Highway 250. When we connected with Highway 20 it started to sprinkle off and on. We rode through very pretty farmland. The green colors are spectacular! As we rode further, we couldn't believe that we were now riding in fog! It was getting cold and at a local school, there was a clock and thermometer that read 59 degrees. We rode for another 44 miles and stopped at 4:36 PM in Bellevue, OH. We were cold and needed a pit stop. While we were stopped, some of us put our jackets on under our rain coats. Chuck and I discussed with Ken that if he saw a Best Western or Holiday Inn Express between our current stop and Toledo, to stop. We would make it a night. Ken understood and agreed. Without argument! We couldn't believe it. We left at 4:55 PM.
As we were northbound, we were in line and traffic was coming south, against us. I was watching Ken and saw a pick up truck pass him southbound and splash him "big time." There was a large amount of water splashed onto his left side getting him and his windshield! I couldn't help but laugh! The bad thing about it is that I could share this with anyone! We were each on our Motors. We rode for another 22 miles and at 5:28 PM we stopped at a Day's Inn Hotel in Fremont, OH. Fremont is a small town that is about 16 miles south of Lake Eerie. The Day's Inn advertised a bar, restaurant, pool, hot tub and wi-fi. What more can we ask for?! We pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and under the awning. Chuck, Jan and I entered and spoke with the Front Desk clerk and MADE THE DEAL! This was awesome! We checked in and got our bags from our Motors and took them to our rooms. I had asked the Clerk if we could park the Motors in a neat row under the awning and she said that it was OK. Great! We parked the Motors neatly, wiped them down...a little, and tucked them in for the night.
WOW! What an adventure we had tonight. We rode 313 miles. The sights were spectacular! We rode through rain, a downpour and fog. It was great! We hope to get into Michigan tomorrow. We hope to get to the Upper Peninsula and head towards Minnesota. We'll see...
My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I got up, got dressed and packed. Jan finally got up and started to get dressed. I told Jan that I was going to my Motor to get it ready for the ride. As I got down to the Motor, I noticed that it was cloudy and a bit cool. I took off the cover and cleaned my windshield. As I was doing this, Jan came down and started on his Motor. I had told Jan that I wanted to check my tires but had forgotten. I looked at my Motor and, sure enough, there they were. The tires were just where they belong, at the bottom of the Motorcycle. Actually, I checked the air pressure of the tires and found that they needed air. Jan took his teeny, tiny air pump out and I used it to air up my tires. Now they were where they needed to be. We finished with our Motors and went to the breakfast room. C.E. and Ken were there enjoying their breakfast. We sat with them and ate ours. Soon, Chuck and Bruce came in. The old guys vacated their chairs at our table and gave them to Chuck and Bruce. Chuck started to mope and whine because there was no more "Raisin Bran" or scrambled eggs. Chuck and Bruce finished their breakfast and I told Chuck that I was unable to post my blog last night. He suggested that I go to his room and use his computer to post. I followed him to his room and did so. Jan and I returned to our rooms and gathered our stuff to load our Motors. I left the room first and got to my Motor. C.E. and Ken were at their Motors and Ken had asked me if I posted my blog or was the blog broken. I told Ken that the blog was up-to-date and posted. Ken replied, "Shit!" Ken told me that he was a little sore from yesterday's fall. The rest of the guys came down and we were all pack now and ready to go. We left at 9:02 AM.
Chuck led us away from the hotel and towards I-79. As we got to the entrance ramp, Chuck entered the southbound exit. Yes, I wrote, "southbound." We were going to Ohio and needed to go north. That's OK. South is where we needed to go. We needed to go 5 miles south to catch our good friend, Highway 50. We rode the entire length of Highway 50 last year from Ocean City, Maryland to Sacramento, CA. Highway 50 had a speed limit of 65 mph and we all enjoyed riding at that speed. We rode for 83 miles going through little towns and at 10:18 AM, we stopped for gas in Parkersburg, WVA. I had seen the Weather Channel earlier and saw that we might ride into a patch of rain. The clouds looked threatening to the west, and that is where we were going. We bought some water and goodies and looked at the map. After studying the map for a while, it was decided that we were going to go north on I-77 to Highway 250 and connect with Highway 20 to Toledo, OH. We left at 10:46 AM.
Jan led us north on I-77. We were averaging 70 mph on a 65 mph zone. It was a comfortable speed. The weather was good and it was still cloudy. The surrounding area along the Interstate was very green and beautiful. There were occasional low lying clouds within the trees. We rode for 98 miles and at 12:13 PM, we stopped in New Philadelphia, OH at a Denny's for lunch. We had not stopped at a Denny's during this trip...yet, until now. The food was good, however, the service was crappy. It took long for our food to arrive and we noticed that the Manager was in the kitchen cooking. Elaine, where are you when we need you! We finally left at 1:27 PM.
Jan took us back to I-77, northbound. We rode for 6 miles and exited at Exit 87, which connected us with Highway 250. We rode west on Highway 250, however, in the city of Wooster, Jan and I missed the sign for Highway 250, which would have leaded us northwest. Instead, we went straight west and connected with Highway 30. We rode for 12 miles and didn't notice. I rode up to Jan and told him that I needed a pit stop. As we were looking for a place to stop, I noticed the roadway ahead and it was wet. It was raining ahead of us. We turned on County Road 30a and turned into a parking lot for a local business at 2:28 PM after 54 miles. The business was closed. We all put on our rain gear and we also found a place to made our pit stop. We looked at the map and noticed that we would locate Highway 60, which would connect us with Highway 250 again. We left at 2:48 PM.
We headed west on Highway 30 and it started to rain. A mile away was the turn off for Highway 60. We took it and after getting off of the off ramp to go north on Highway 60, there were sign and barricades indicating that there was a detour. We needed to get back on Highway 30 and go 4 miles. As we did, it started to rain harder...and harder...and harder. I'm sure that you all have heard the old proverbial saying about the cow and the flat rock? Well, we can sympathize with the flat rock! It rained so hard, I know...how hard did it rain?..it rained so hard that we couldn't see anything ahead of us. There were cars that had pulled off to the side of the road because their windshield wipers could now keep up with the rain. We could barely see the guy ahead of us and the center lane lines. I don't know how he did it, but Jan saw the exit detour and turned right. We all followed, don't ask me how! We continued riding. There was no place to stop and get shelter. It was all farm land and no gas stations to stop at. It was very difficult to see where we were going. We continued in what seemed an eternity! We finally came into the town of Ashland, OH. We stopped at a red light and I told Jan to try and find a place to get some shelter until the storm blew by us. He told me that he was trying. We rode into downtown and Jan and I caught the yellow light at an intersection. the light turned red when Bruce got to it. Bruce was right behind me. The people in the vehicles on the cross streets motioned to Bruce and the others to keep going and not stop for the red light. God bless them! Jan made another turn and we eventually saw an gas station on the left side of the street. Jan pulled into the parking lot in hopes of stopping under the awning. Unfortunately, the awning structure was there, however the roof wasn't! It was just framing. We circled the parking lot and rode across the street to a Circle K. As we were parking our Motors, the rain let up! It was sprinkling now and the sun was poking through the clouds and we got off our Motors. We took off our helmets and compared notes with each other. Even though we were wearing rain gear, our shirts at our chests were wet. Our feet got soaked. I was shielding my eyes from the downpour and water had gone down my left arm so it soaked my sleeve. Chuck told me that his crotch was wet. Because of what we had just rode through, he didn't know if the rain soaked through to his crotch or that he peed himself! I asked him if the wetness of his crotch was warm. He told me that it wasn't. It then told him that he didn't need to worry, it was the rain! Chuck told me that he felt better. We were all safe and felt better that we were not longer riding in the downpour. Like other times from other rides, we can now laugh about it and have a good time! We had some drinks and snacks from the Circle K. We made sure that our rain gear was on right and that Ken and I had on our face shields. We rode back across the street to the gas station and gassed up our Motors. We were told that there were no other gas stations in this city. We left at 3:45 PM.
Ken took over the lead and took us north on Highway 250. When we connected with Highway 20 it started to sprinkle off and on. We rode through very pretty farmland. The green colors are spectacular! As we rode further, we couldn't believe that we were now riding in fog! It was getting cold and at a local school, there was a clock and thermometer that read 59 degrees. We rode for another 44 miles and stopped at 4:36 PM in Bellevue, OH. We were cold and needed a pit stop. While we were stopped, some of us put our jackets on under our rain coats. Chuck and I discussed with Ken that if he saw a Best Western or Holiday Inn Express between our current stop and Toledo, to stop. We would make it a night. Ken understood and agreed. Without argument! We couldn't believe it. We left at 4:55 PM.
As we were northbound, we were in line and traffic was coming south, against us. I was watching Ken and saw a pick up truck pass him southbound and splash him "big time." There was a large amount of water splashed onto his left side getting him and his windshield! I couldn't help but laugh! The bad thing about it is that I could share this with anyone! We were each on our Motors. We rode for another 22 miles and at 5:28 PM we stopped at a Day's Inn Hotel in Fremont, OH. Fremont is a small town that is about 16 miles south of Lake Eerie. The Day's Inn advertised a bar, restaurant, pool, hot tub and wi-fi. What more can we ask for?! We pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and under the awning. Chuck, Jan and I entered and spoke with the Front Desk clerk and MADE THE DEAL! This was awesome! We checked in and got our bags from our Motors and took them to our rooms. I had asked the Clerk if we could park the Motors in a neat row under the awning and she said that it was OK. Great! We parked the Motors neatly, wiped them down...a little, and tucked them in for the night.
WOW! What an adventure we had tonight. We rode 313 miles. The sights were spectacular! We rode through rain, a downpour and fog. It was great! We hope to get into Michigan tomorrow. We hope to get to the Upper Peninsula and head towards Minnesota. We'll see...
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