Day 18, Wednesday,
May 17, 2017
My alarm
sounded at 6:30 AM and I got up right away.
I was getting dressed when Chuck woke up and looked out the window. It is raining! I slowed my speed of dressing after Chuck
said that. I did get dressed and
packed. Normally I take my bags out to
my Motor, however, this morning; I left my gabs on my bed. I told Chuck that I was going to
breakfast. After I got to the breakfast
room and served myself, the others came in and ate. We took our time to eat and looked outside
from time to time to check on the rain.
It was a constant rain. It wasn’t
a sprinkle, but a good rain. It rained
all morning. We talked about riding in
the rain and heading away from the rain.
The rain cloud was large and it looked as if it was not moving. The weather report on our phones was checked
from time to time to see the progress of the storm. It seemed as if the rain cloud was not moving. We had decided to get a late check out. Chuck kept checking with us to see if we were
good with staying, yet another day. We
all said that we were. Chuck, at one
point, said that he was going to go and change into his swim suit and get in
the Hot Tub. He didn’t. He checked the weather on his phone and
checked the maps. It was obvious that he
was antsy to leave. We were set up in
the breakfast room with the TV on and watching movies. There were three soft chairs that three of us
were sitting. We were there until the
breakfast foods were put away. We had
late snacks. Chuck finally decided that
we were leaving. Sure it was raining,
but we were going to ride in the rain at one point or another. The Motors were a distance from the lobby and
under covers. We all had to get our rain
gear from our Motors. Jake went first
and got his. I went, got mine as did the
others. Jan moved his Motor to the front
door, under the awning. I did the same
thing. The others followed suit. We went inside and put on our rain gear and
grabbed our bags from our rooms and secured them in our Motors. We were all dressed and ready to go. Chuck looked at the map and asked C.E. if he
had enough gas to get to Valentine, NE., which was about 60 miles away. C.E. said that he did and that we would stop
in Valentine and we would all gas up. Chuck told C.E. to go west on US 18 to
the town of Mission and turn south on US 83 to Valentine. We left at 12:18 PM.
C.E. led us
west on US 18 with Chuck following, then Jake, Ken, Jan and Me. It was raining and the temperature was 54
degrees. As we rode, I checked the
temperature after 15 minutes of riding and it had dropped to 50 degrees. With all of the rain falling, there was a
puddle forming on my seat. The water was
COLD! The water on the seat was
affecting a certain part of my anatomy.
It was becoming uncomfortable. I
had a great idea of turning my “Seat Heater” on. The seat heater warmed the seat AND the
puddle of water on the seat. That
certain part of my anatomy was no longer uncomfortable and the ride wasn’t so
bad. I FELT BETTER!
We continued
riding and then rode into the town of Mission, SD. We had ridden for 46 miles and it was 1:05
PM. C.E. was still in the lead and
started to slow down. We were confused
because we all new that Chuck told C.E. to go to Valentine, NE. for our break
for gas. C.E. slowed and turned into a
Subway. The rest of us continued west
and about 200 yards west we all pulled into a gas station on the left side of
the road. C.E. followed and pulled next
to a gas pump. We were all confused…again. C.E. began filling his tank with gas as we
all were stopped, waiting in the rain.
Chuck pulled up next to C.E. and the spoke. We don’t know what was said. I figured that I was going to take the
opportunity and go in and use the facilities.
When I came out, we were all ready to leave. We left at 1:16 PM.
C.E.
continued to lead the Group. We went west on US 18 for a few blocks and turned
left onto US 83. The road was good. We had no problem riding on the wet street. We
crossed over into Nebraska at 1:40 PM. We continued on for 33 miles and at 1:52 PM we
stopped in Valentine, NE. at a Casey’s General Store and gas station. We all gassed up and went in for a pit stop. When we were all done, Chuck asked if we were
hungry. We rode around the corner to a
Subway. When Chuck entered the Subway, there
were two women and the Clerk…or “Sandwich Artist,” inside. Chuck asked the Sandwich Artist if he owned a
mop. The Artist answered that he
did. Chuck told him that that is good
that he had a mop because he is going to need it when we left. We all came in dripping water. We took off our helmets, rain jackets and
gloves. We used a couple of tables to set
them on. We ordered our meals and
ate. When we were done, we got dressed
and went out to our Motors. We left at
2:39 PM.
Chuck took
the lead. I followed, next was Jan, Ken,
Jake and C.E. Chuck led us back on US
83. Again, the road was good, but
wet. It wasn’t bad riding on the road
except when we got behind a truck that we needed to pass. The trucks kicked up a lot of water and mist
and it was difficult to see around the truck to pass it and to see if any other
vehicle was coming in the opposite direction.
What made it more difficult is that some vehicles were not driving with their
headlights on. We managed to pass the
trucks safely and continued. We rode for
66 miles and at 3:38 PM, we stopped in Thedford, NE. at a truck stop for a pit
stop. When we stopped, it had stopped
raining about 5 to 10 miles prior to stopping.
We had a nice break, even though we were going to stop soon. We were ready to leave and did so at 4:05 PM.
We continued
on US 83 and it was nice to not ride in the rain. We rode for another 71 miles and at 5:10 PM
we saw a Fairfield Inn. We were going to
stop at the Holiday Inn Express, however, the Fairfield Inn came up first and
we stopped. Jan and I went in to “Make
the Deal.” We did and the others came in
and checked in. We were told that there
were two restaurants within walking distance of the Hotel. We parked our Motors, grabbed our bags, put
the covers on and tucked our Motors in for the night. We took our bags into our rooms and met in
the breakfast area for coffee AND cookies.
I think that we are spoiled! We
walked to the Canteen Bar and Grille, which was attached to the Quality Inn
next door. The Restaurant gave Hotel
guests a 10% discount. We had dinner,
drinks, good conversation and laughs. We
finished dinner and returned to the Hotel.
When we returned, the two, young Desk Clerks told us that there were two
cookies left. I have never seen Chuck
and Ken move so fast and get the two remaining cookies! It was now Hot Tub time. The others went into the Hot Tub and I went
into the breakfast area to do my Blog and pictures.
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