Day 16, Monday, May 15, 2017
Remember when I posted yesterday about having to make a
couple of U-turns after passing the town of Peterson, MN? I forgot to post as to why. When we were at our last break, I asked Ken
as to why he had stopped and made a U-turn.
He told me that he thought that he saw a sign that read the population
of Preston, MN. he wanted to show
Chuck. Well, it wasn’t a sign for
Preston, so he made another U-turn and we continued. Well, I had finished my Blog and pictures
early and had 7 hours of sleep. I
finally went to sleep about 11:30 PM while Jan and I watched the movie about
Jesse Owens. My alarm was set for 6:30
AM. I woke up at 6:15 AM and turned my
alarm off. I got up at 6:30 AM and got
dressed. Jan woke up as I was getting
dressed. We packed our bags and I took
my bags out to my Motor. Our room was at
the end of the hall, next to the exit.
Our Motors were parked right outside.
I loaded my Motor and cleaned it.
Jan came out as did Jake and they loaded their Motors. I went in for breakfast. While I was outside, I noticed that the
clouds to our west were dark. I went in
and ate breakfast and the others came in also.
We finished and we talked about the rain coming our way. It was decided that we would wait it
out. We were going to head north for a
distance, but the rain was coming fast, so I was told, and we were going to get
caught. We don’t mind the rain; it’s the
hail that was also coming that we didn’t want to ride in. I asked the Lady at the Desk if it would be
alright if we all parked our Motors under the awning because of the rain. She said that it was alright. We all moved our Motors under the awning and
covered them. We went back inside to
wait.
We had waited for a couple of hours and I couldn’t just sit
any longer. I had to move. My leg was hurting. I told Ken and Jan that I was going to walk
to the Target store about ¾ miles away.
I walked to the Target and bought a few items and walked back. Soon after I got back, the first big clap of
thunder sounded at about 11:27 AM. The
rain soon followed. The rain came and
went and we started to get ready to leave.
We uncovered our Motors and at 1:01 PM we left.
Ken led us to…lunch.
We rode for 2 miles and at 1:07 PM we arrived at the local Subway. We had lunch.
C.E. had spoken to Chuck about a returning “knock” sound in his
Motor. While at the Subway, I got the
address of the suggested Honda repair shop by the Gold Wing Road Riders Association. Chuck asked me to put it on my navigation and
lead the Group. I did and we left at
1:42 PM.
I lead the Group onto US 14 to North Mankato to the Honda
Dealer. After riding for 7 miles, we
stopped at 1:53 PM. C.E. rode straight
into the Service Center. We all just
parked and waited. Ken asked me if I had
done a “walk around” of my Motor with the ignition on to check on all of my
lights. I told him that I didn’t and
when I walked in front of my Motor, I noticed that the right headlight was not
working. I told him that I would fix it
later. As we waited, Chuck, J.B. and Jake rode to the nearest Harley to buy a
t-shirt. The returned and we waited some
more. C.E. finally rode out on this
Motor and told us that the problem was the same as before…loose
connections. Everything was tight again
and we left at 3:09 PM.
Ken led us on US 60.
I followed then C.E., Jake, Chuck, Jan and J.B. We rode for 40 miles and at 3:45 PM we
stopped in St. James, MN. at a Casey’s General Store and gas station. C.E. needed to top off his gas tank. The guys drank their coffee and we took a
needed pit stop. We left at 4:11 PM.
We continued on US 60.
We continued for 67 miles and at 5:09 PM we stopped in Worthington, MN.
at a Holiday Inn Express. Jan and I went
in to “make the deal.” We got a good
price so we all decided to stay. As the
guys were checking in and unloading their bags, I rode to a nearby O’Reilly’s
and bought a couple of headlight bulbs.
I will fix it in the morning.
When I returned to the Hotel, the Motors were parked and most of them
had covers. Jake was working on his
cover and I asked him if we were going to walk to dinner. He pointed at the Ground Round Restaurant
next door and said that we were going there for dinner. I covered my Motor and tucked it in for the
night. I took my bags to the room and
soon we walked to the Ground Round for dinner.
When we arrived at the Ground Round Restaurant and were
seated, Chuck started speaking to three men at a nearby booth. They had asked where we were coming from and
that they were “wanna be” bikers, their words not ours. They were impressed as to the way we rode in,
parked and covered our Motors. The guys
ordered drinks (beer) and water. When
the waitress came to get our food orders, she told us that our drinks were
already paid for…by the “wanna be” biker.
The reason he calls himself a “wanna be” bikers is because he has a 2007
Motorcycle with only 11,000 miles. I have a 2007 Motorcycle and it has 99,000
miles on it. They are limited on riding time because of the weather and his
busy time at work coincides with the riding time. We soon left and returned to the Hotel for
Hot Tub time!
Today we rode for only 112 miles. We did wait out the rain and hail. We found out that when we arrived at the
Hotel, we had just missed a rain shower.
I believe that tomorrow we will be headed south into Iowa, headed for
Kansas City, MO. I’m not sure as plans
seem to change at a moment’s notice. We
shall see…
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