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...