DAY
20, FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2013
NOTHING like waking up to rain, thunder and news reports
of tornadoes, especially when you are riding a Motorcycle! My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM, but I was
already awake. Jan was awake also,
because of several claps of thunder before the alarms sounded. Jan was awakened by the thunder and the sound
of rain hitting a tin roof. Well, it
wasn’t a tin roof. It was the window
that the rain was hitting. Jan had put
the Weather Channel on the TV in his room and heard the report that there was a
tornado warning for Rochester. I heard
the thunder, but to me it sounded like a Harley rider revving up his engine
close by. We got up and got
dressed. I looked outside and everything
was wet! We packed our bags and then
walked across the street in the rain to go to the hotel lobby for
breakfast. We were the first to arrive;
however, the room was crowded.
Apparently, there were a lot of guests in the hotel. A lot of the young girls were part of a swim
team. This hotel also caters to the
Families of the Patients who go to the local Mayo Clinic. It was apparent that we were going to leave
with rain gear on. I went back to my
room and put my gear on and loaded my Motor.
The other guys stayed in the breakfast room and finally got back to the
rooms at about 9 AM. Jan told me that
Chuck said that we would leave at 9:30 AM.
We all got packed, put on our rain gear and left for the nearest gas
station. We gassed up and left at 9:39
AM with C.E. in the lead.
C.E. got us back onto I-90 West. It was windy and the Weather Band reported 39
mph wind gusts. We were sometimes riding
slanted to the left, like as if we were making left turns. We rode through a town named Austin. There was construction on the interstate. There were large traffic cones closing off
the right lane. All of the traffic was
required to drive on the left lane.
There were exits allowed and the traffic cones marked them. We were riding about 40 mph because of
traffic. C.E. was behind a truck and
really couldn’t see around the truck. At
one point, the truck took an exit from the interstate. C.E. was so close to the truck that he
followed the truck and we all got off of the interstate. I, along with others I’m sure, was wondering
why we were getting off of the interstate.
We came up to an intersection with a Stop Sign. We stopped, and then continued straight up
the ramp to get back on to the interstate.
I was watching the traffic on the interstate going westbound. It didn’t appear that the road was closed and
forcing everyone to exit. Well, we all
got back on; however, we were separated by traffic. After riding for about a mile to two, the
road opened back up and we had two lanes again.
At this point we all got back together again. We rode for 58 miles and stopped at the
Oakland Woods Roadside Rest Area in Albert Lea, MN at 10:32 AM. The first thing that we did was to take off
our rain gear!
When we arrived, C.E. didn’t say anything to anyone as to
why he got off of the interstate and then back on. We didn’t ask. When we were done, we continued
westbound. It was still very windy. The road was very good, but it was kind of
warm. It was 86 degrees and it was
getting us very tired and sleepy. Don’t
worry! We all stayed awake. No one slept while we were riding. I simply took a short nap. No harm, no foul! We rode for 87 miles and C.E. stopped at
12:03 AM at a “Kum & Go”…a what?!, for lunch at the Subway. It’s a good thing that we got in when we did
because after we got served, it got very crowded! We finished our lunch and then we were off at
12:56 PM.
C.E. didn’t have much more gas in his tank. We rode for 45 miles and stopped at 1:36 PM
for gas in Worthington, MN. Some of the
guys got coffee, others got pop, while others got snacks. I couldn’t resist the good, old ice cream
sandwich. We had seen on the Weather
Channel this morning that there was another storm front going east and was in
South Dakota. We knew that as the storm
traveled east, we were riding west; we would meet up somewhere in South
Dakota. The sky to the west was getting
darker as we rode west. We left at 1:53
PM with Chuck in the lead.
Chuck took us west on I-90 at a quick pace. Don’t worry!
There were other cars and trucks passing us. We rode and it was still 86 degrees. The wind had died down a little. We were all enjoying the ride and the
“Welcome to South Dakota” sign came up on us unexpectantly. We passed the sign so quickly that I was not
able to get the camera out and take a picture of it. Sorry to you, South Dakota fans, who won’t be
able to see a picture of the sign. I’ll
try harder next time! We rode for 100
miles and stopped at 3:10 PM at a Roadside Rest Area in Salem, SD. We all went in for a pit stop. We spoke with the couple behind the counter. They were very helpful by answering all of
the questions that we had, especially Greg.
He seems to have more questions than anyone I know. The lady behind the counter told us that they
received a report that a tornado had touched down in a small town 50 miles
north of the Rest Area. As she was
telling us that information, the lights in the building flickered and then
turned off! The sky was very dark to the
west and north of us. The lights came
back on. Chuck got his phone and had the
Doppler Radar of the area. The storm was
going in a Northeastern direction. We
were trying to decide whether to put on our rain gear and continue west or stay
put and wait out the storm. With what
Chuck found out about the storm on his phone, we didn’t put on any rain gear
and we continued west! Gutsy or stupid,
we did it. It was 86 degrees and very
windy when we left the Rest Area. I
watched how the wind was pushing Chuck left and right. At times, he was having some difficulty
keeping his Motor in his lane. He
actually slowed his speed to the posted speed limit! It started to cool down the more we rode
west. Within 18 miles, the temperature
went from 86 degrees down to 68 degrees!
It was very cool and some of the guys complained later that they wanted
to stop and put on a jacket. I thought
that it was nice riding. I put my heater
on my Motor and enjoyed the ride! You
gotta love the Gold Wing! It was a good
ride. The wind was pretty strong. I checked the Weather Band and it was
reported that we were experiencing wind gusts in the upper 40 mph. I don’t remember the specific number. As we rode, I was trying to break the
monotony. I rode up to Chuck and handed
him a Tootsie Roll. I then slowed and
waited for Jan to catch up and I handed him a Tootsie Roll also. Something to do! It kept me awake. We rode for 101 miles and stopped for gas in
Chamberlain, SD at 4:58 PM. We talked
about the last stretch of riding and thought that it was pretty cool what we
rode in. The clouds, possible rain, possible
tornado, the wind, the Tootsie Rolls; they were all the topic of
conversation. Also in this town were
other gas stations and hotels. One of
which was a Best Western. We talked
about possibly riding further west.
Chuck and I checked our phones to see where the next hotel would
be. We couldn’t find one on our
phones. We decided to go to the local
Best Western to see if they had a South Dakota Map with BW hotels listed. We left at 5:25 PM.
We rode through town and after 4 miles; we arrived at the
Best Western at 5:38 PM. It was awesome;
not the hotel, but just south of the hotel is a big bridge. This bridge spans over the Missouri River. We will ride over the bridge tomorrow. I will take some pictures of the bridge and
river tomorrow. I went in to “make the
deal” with the clerk so that we could stay here. I made a deal; however, not as good as I had
hoped. Nevertheless, we are here for the
night. We got our rooms, parked the
Motors, unloaded them and took the bags to our rooms. We rode about a half mile to Charley’s
Restaurant, family owned, and had dinner.
We returned to the hotel, parked our Motors and “tucked” them in for the
night.
We rode 395 miles today.
We didn’t get to Rapid City, SD where we had hoped to get to today. It was a far stretch because it was more than
500 miles from our starting point.
Tomorrow, we should get out of South Dakota and into Wyoming. I will make sure that I take a picture of the
sign! Once we cross the border, we will
be getting into another time zone and we will gain another hour. I’m not sure where we will end up
tomorrow. The Weather Channel is calling
for more showers in the area. We shall
see. So, until tomorrow…
p.s. I forgot to mention on yesterday’s blog. Last night, J.B. texted Chuck just before dinner
telling him that he is home now, safe and sound!
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