Day Twelve - Webster to South Haven

This is the last entry for the trip. I'm guessing it will be pretty short (if I don't get rambling on).

Charlie and I headed east out of Webster with the threat of three lines of storms lining up behind us ready to take one last shot at us. According to the weather man each of them potentially had heavy rain, hail and tornadoes associated with them. Our plan was to outrun them.

From the center if the state we bee lined for Dubuque on the Mississippi. The plan had been to stay the night at my daughter's in Algonquin, IL, but as the day wore on we figured we'd be riding in rain on Thursday if we did. So we headed home.

From the Iowa border the roads were great for riding. Winding through some pretty countryside past the Mississippi Palisades and some interesting towns like Galena, Savanna and Dixon, Illinois.

While in Savanna we stopped at the Iron Horse Bar and Social Club. An Interesting place. It was very old and in the center of town. It had three floors: the first was the bar and part of a motorcycle museum (mostly flat track racers and very old Harleys and Indians), the second was more old cycles and the third was the social club (sofa, chairs and a bar) and the chapel where some hard core types get hitched (Heather the bar keep told us about 2 per month). We only had a beer, but the lunch fare was a beer and a burger for $4.oo. As a side note, Kim later told me there was another spot just around the corner that we missed called Poopy's. Sorry we missed it (I think).

In any event we headed south to hook up with Route 80 past Chicago. Between the wind and the turbulence caused by the trucks (and there were a bunch of them) the ride on 80 was a bit of a workout, however we moved right along and made it to South Haven by about 6:30. For those who are curious, we did out run the rain. It blew up Rt. 80 about 2 hours after we rode through.

All told we put about 4480 miles on the scoots, traveled through a dozen states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan) and three Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia). The trip was shortened by two days because we clipped a couple of destinations from our itinerary (Revelstoke, BC and the Glacier Provincial Park, the Badlands and the night at Kim's). I kind of feel bad for having to do that, but the trade off would have been a high probability of riding in pretty nasty weather.

Maybe in the next few days I'll throw in a "conclusion" blog, but don't count on it. Thanks for reading this far and for your "best wishes" these past two weeks.

In the meantime; shiny side up and may the rain be always behind you.

Day Eleven - Winner to Webster, Iowa

Not much to report today, and no pictures. The weather for this non-report was perfect.

We crossed the Missouri River 3 times today. First at Fort Randall Dam in South Dakota, then at Yorkton, South Dakota into Nebraska and again at Sioux City Iowa. Most of the travel was straight and flat (some rolling). The crops did switch from hay to corn. In Iowa we saw some serious damage done to the corn crop due to hail. The stalks were stripped of both leaves and ears.

Along the way, my ear started to give me grief. It felt plugged. It was not painful at all but very irritating. Someplace in Iowa the GPS bit the dirt. I thought it might have been a fuse to the accessories, but it doesn't work off the bike either so I doubt that's the problem. I'll deal with that when we get home.

We ended up near the center of Iowa in Webster. We saw that the local Kiwanians was having a BBQ dinner at the local Middle School so we went. Once again we were the youngsters of the group. Charlie caused quite a stir when he mixed his iced tea with his lemon aide but I'm sure the old lady behind the counter has completely recovered and is probably resting comfortably by now.

Tomorrow, east again. The weather will determine the route, but it's supposed to rain so it may be a bee line to Kim's place.

By for now.

Day 10 - Sturgis to Winner, South Dakota

Sorry.... this post is a day late because of the poor connection at the motel in Winner, SD.

The road through the canyon south of Sturgis was beautiful and twisty... but easy riding. I think if ever I were to go to Sturgis for the rally, I'd stay in the little town of Deadwood. It appeared clean, geared for the visitor (read that "tourist") and steeped in history.

Out of Deadwood we headed for Mt. Rushmore and even the ride there was pretty. The monument was nicer than what I expected and impressive to say the least. Once we left the monument we headed through the Black Hills, following a lady on a bike from Saginaw, MI. Some of the switchbacks were even more than 180 degrees, they were 270 plus. You go through a one lane tunnel and start into a turn which carries you up over the tunnel through which you just came. There were three of those if memory serves. Although it usually doesn't.

The ride through the Hills was interrupted on several occasions by bison crossing the road. They are cool critters but look as dumb as bricks. There were cars stopped to take pictures, but didn't impede us too much. Not quite as impressive, but cute never the less were the wild burrows that would try to mooch through the car windows if the tourists allow it.

From the Black Hills we headed to Custer park (buffalo there too), and rode Needles Highway. The rock formations were incredible but my camera's memory filled up and I didn't take many pictures.

All of the riding through this area, whether we were in the parks or on the local roads was out of sight. Once we left the are and began our trek east, the roads went straight as a string and the land either flat or rolling.

We traveled through a lot of Indian territory here and the poverty was palpable. In fact we were only 7 miles south of Wounded Knee.

We ran out of steam in Winner, South Dakota in the heart of pheasant hunting land. We saw quite a few prairie chickens, but I'm not completely sure we saw any pheasant. (Some of the chickens might have been hens. They look similar but are skinnier.)

We ate in the bar associated with the motel... the lady said they had the best hamburgers in town... maybe the world. They were large but prepared on a George Forman Grill. They were a bit (quite a bit) on the over done side. All was not lost however as we were amused by two locals. One a rather persistent fly (Charlie thought there were a dozen) and George. George thought he was Jimmy the Greek and kept on betting on a kick boxing show on TV. I don't think he won a bout. By the time we left it was a wonder that George could still stand up. He was knocking brews down at the rate of one a round and we watched about 8 rounds while we sat there.

Day 11 coming up.

Day 9 - Red Lodge to Sturgis, South Dakota

Let me make this clear. I am not complaining. This is the first day since arriving in Carrington that we did not ride, at least some of the time, in rain (although it's raining here in Sturgis now).

Having said that, we rode in some of the most brutally cold weather I've ever ridden in. As we crested the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming, we rode Route 14A past pastureland covered in fresh fallen snow. Past the summit, we talked to a guy at a restaurant who said he came over that pass yesterday in the snow and had a heck of a time riding in slush.

Although parts of the road were torn up with construction (Obama's Dallahs at work), it was a beautiful road to ride. It towered over spectacular vistas and was full of twistys and switchbacks.

Much of the afternoon was spent highway riding on Route 90. We ended the day at a motel in Sturgis, South Dakota. Of course the rally has been over for a while, but there are still quite a few bikes around and many of the shops are still open trying to dispose of 2009 t-shirts. We had dinner at the Loud American.... good food and a welcome rest from the road.

Tomorrow we'll try to run a few of the scenic loops in the area, visit Mt. Rushmore and ride on toward the Badlands.

Hope to fill you in tomorrow.

Day Eight - Helena to Red Lodge, Montana

We made it through entire day today without it raining on us; almost. After leaving Helena, Charlie and I headed south and entered the West Gate of Yellowstone in Idaho.

To begin the ride there were a few sprinkles but not enough to get us wet, but the temperature was in the 40's and at times uncomfortable. We finally adjusted our clothes to the weather and did o.k. Along the way we saw antelope just on the outskirts of Ennis, Montana. Turns out today is opening season on antelope; it's my guess they move into town for protection.

In Yellowstone we were in and out of Wyoming and Montana as we rode through the park to reach the East Gate and the little burg of Cooke City. The park is beautiful, but the number of people kind of take the edge off a little. For example, soon after entering (which was free, by the way) traffic came to a standstill. Cars were parked all over and blocking the road. Turns out an elk was taking a drink in the Madison River. On another occasion we came around a bend and there were people all over blocking the road to see a grizzly that wandered out in a meadow. The bison were common enough that there were cars stopped, but they didn't block traffic.

Through the East Gate is the little "town" of Cooke City. We stopped for gas but wanted to run Route 212 to Red Lodge. The road is incredible (twistly after twisty), but broken up with road work. Over Beartooth Pass (almost 11000 feet in altitude) there was over a 5 mile section that was hard packed dirt and stone which is either oiled or watered to keep the dust down. We were looking down on ice and snow. In that it wasn't melting my guess is the temperature was below freezing. There were very few guard rails, narrow lanes and plenty of really tight switchbacks. After cresting the summit and heading down toward Red Lodge you could look down and see your road switching back 4 or 5 times while it wound down the moutain.

We're spending the night in Red Lodge and will strike out for Sturgis in the morning. The weather was just on TV and they're saying we're stuck in the same weather pattern because of the jet stream which means questionable weather all the way into next week.

Enough for now... may be tomorrow.

Day Seven - Sand Point to Helena, Montana

We didn't make it too far today because so much of our time was spent in bars and casinos trying to stay dry.... for the most part it didn't help.

While having breakfast in a bar along route 200 in Montana we ran across a couple from Vancouver whose son is the sales manager at Grand Rapids Harley. They had just picked up a new ride from the son (I think his name is Dave Eisenberg) and were heading back home... small world.

Later in a bar in Missoula we met another biker (from Albuquerque) who gave us some tips on Yellowstone (sounds like we'll be slowed quite a bit by construction).

Out of Missoula we headed east on 200. There are miles and miles of rivers, streams and creeks that beg to be fished. I got the itch, but there really isn't any time to scratch it..... fishing will have to wait. The road was great and except for occasional "spitting" was dry (but cool and overcast). We missed a turn and decided to re-route down route 279. It turned out to be a great motorcycle road with plenty of twists and turns with numerous switchbacks to get up (then down) from the pass over the Continental Divide. I haven't been taking many pictures but did snap one on a turnout that was near the Divide (although I didn't know it at the time). I'll try to include a picture with this.

As we came off 279 into Helena it was raining heavily. We couldn't see worth a hoot and were pretty damp so we ended the day in Montana's capitol city.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to Yellowstone and ride 212 out to the east. It's supposed to be a great road and none of it straight. NOAA also says a 60 per cent chance of thunder storms. Nothing new there. How far we go will be more determined by weather than time. Except for some side trips in the Spearfish area we are mostly heading east.

Day Six - Banff to Sand Point, Idaho

Sorry - couldn't post yesterday because there was no 'net connection. It's maybe just as well because the only post required would be.... RAIN!

I guess I can add a little. We shortened our route a little. The plan was to travel over the mountain from Banff to Revelstoke. When our friend, the desk clerk, heard of our intention she looked as though she thought we were insane. We asked her what the problem was, she explained that there was a good possibility that there would be snow falling at that altitude and unless we could put on studs or chains, it might be a good idea if we chose an alternate route. We did.

Our new route headed south right after crossing the mountains into Radium Hot Springs. It was a great road. Deer along side the road were somewhat unnerving, but they stayed put and we had a cool (40 degrees F) but enjoyable ride. The rain was sporadic from then on and at times was torrential... at times it was impossible to see.

Our border crossing had us sitting in a line for about an hour, but we passed through with little delay when it was our turn.

By then we were feeling like drowned rats and ended the day at a Super 8 in Sand Point, Idaho.

I am convinced Charlie and I can make a fortune visiting drought plagued areas and charging the local farmers for our services. Sounds like California might use our talent as well to assist with those pesky fires.

More later.

Day 5 - Still in Banff

This is probably not the best time to write. I tried to use the cell phone and couldn't. I've just spent an hour trying to work through one of those ridiculous phone company systems trying to get an answer and couldn't. At the moment I'm frustrated and not in the mood to write. Enough of my whining... I'll tell you about our day.

This morning Charlie and I struck out for Lake Louise and Lake Peyto. On the suggestion of the motel clerk we headed north on A1. The road was twisty and in great shape. The scenery spectacular. The weather ran from good to questionable depending on the moment.

Soon after getting on A1, traffic (which was light) stopped while a wolf worked its way across a mountain side maybe 75 meters off the road. We didn't stop to take a picture but is was interesting to see the critter. For those of you insisting on a picture, wait until I return to MI and I'll snap a shot of a coyote for you.

A short way further on we stopped to watch four bull elk along the side of the road. I did take a few pics of them and may include one here.

The weather was cool; running about about 50F for the entire ride. Also we hit some light rain periodically along the way. We were pretty well dressed for both so it didn't bother us too much. As a side note; when you enter a roadway there are often Texas Gates (Cow Gates) which are grids across the road in an effort to discourage critters (elk and moose) from entering the roadway. The grids are metal and when wet are pretty darn slick. When I went over one yesterday, the back end started to come around and gave me quite a thrill. All considered it was a pleasant ride.

At Lake Louise we stopped and checked out the lake, the glacier and the Fairmont hotel... all very impressive. While there a bunch of kids on a tour went swimming. Now, this is a fairly small lake entirely filled with glacial melt and I doubt the temperature could have been much above 40F. Ah, to be young again.

At Lake Peyto, we hiked up a mountain for about 20 minutes to check out the glacier and lake. It was beautiful, but the grade and the altitude caused this old, fat, out of shape low-lander to suck wind a time or two.

After returning to Banff we rode the gondola up the mountain to get some pretty good views of the town and the surrounding area from about 7000 feet.

Back to town and a rib dinner at Tony Roma's then to the motel where I write this.

Tomorrow we'll head out. We don't know the route yet in that it is supposed to be cold and rainy and we may try to pick a path to avoid the worst of the weather. I'll let you know how it went tomorrow if the net is available.

Day 4 - Swift Current to Banff, Alberta

Today began cool (50's) but dry. After some time on the road we stopped for breakfast at a little restaurant in Gull Lake. We then struck out for Calgary and points west. About the time we crossed the border into Alberta the wind began. It's hard to imagine the joy involved with with riding down the highway at 12o kph (as Charlie so aptly put it) 10 degrees off plum. At the town of Brooke, we decided to stop so I could contact MasterCard (Oh, did I tell you that MC locked my card because it was being used on a cross country trip?). While waiting for me to make the call, Charlie had a cup of coffee and a piece of lemon meringue pie and was presented with a $7.98 check (Canadian). I thought the lad was going to punch the manager out after questioning whether the bill was a joke. He only announced his thoughts on Canadians in stead.

By the time we reached Calgary the wind began to lessen and the temperature dropped 10 degrees in 15 minutes. This of course should have been a clue that there was to be a problem ahead. Of course, the problem was rain. As we left Calgary (right at the point the Rockies would have shown there magnificence) the skies opened up. After donning our rain gear under an overpass, we forged ahead for the remaining 35 kilometers pelted by rain and road spray from every manner of vehicle imaginable.

As soon as we arrived in Banff, the rain stopped and after a period of overcast, the sun once again shown. The town is beautiful and ringed by spectacular mountains. I snapped a picture or two and will try to include a couple with this post.

I hope the weather tomorrow will be as pleasant as it is right now, because we're spending the day here tomorrow too and plan on a run up to Lake Louise to scope out the scenery there (maybe from a gondola).

We're getting better at using their Loonies and Toonies up here, but the dollar exchange is still something of a mystery (currently $1.04 U.S. to $1.00 Canadian)..

Today we logged 350 plus miles.

Day 3 - Carrington to Swift Current, Saskatchewan

To begin with I withdraw any and all negative comments I made about North Dakota. That state has lush rolling hills covered in beautiful sun flowers and yellow blooming mustard; and the people are incredibly attractive and intelligent compared to... (drum roll please) Saskatchewan.

Talk about flat! We traveled in Saskatchewan from Portal (the border crossing), past Regina to Moose Jaw and all we could see was horizon with the occasional farm 9 or 10 miles off in the distance. The roads are good (with the exception of being stopped for about 30 minutes at two construction sites) and we were able to make about 530 miles before ending the ride in Swift Current. Miles and miles of wheat describes the landscape we passed.

We rode through Moose Jaw, just to say we were there, but it turned out to be a rather large town, obviously catering to tourist. This is all well and good but a little disappointing in lieu of the fact that both Charlie and I were rather expecting (hoping) for an old fashioned kind of town with bearded trappers running around in skin caps and fringed leather jackets.

At this point we are about 512 kilometers from Calgary and hope to make Banff by 4:00 Michigan time tomorrow.

I didn't take any pictures today because a picture would have showed an image with brown on the bottom (that would be the wheat) and blue on the top (that would be the sky). I was temped to take a picture of our windshields because the colors of the the bugs smeared all over them created a rather attractive mosaic of black, brown, yellow, red and green. During a last minute bout of sanity I refrained.

Maybe over the next few days I will tell you of some of the exciting times we had while dealing with some of the local folks here abouts, but I'm just too tired this evening, so I'll just check out for now.

Hope to talk to you tomorrow.

Day Two - Eau Claire to Carrington, ND

Ok... after all the moaning and groaning about the weather yesterday, I must admit that we had a beautiful day for riding albeit the early morning was rather damp and misty. After leaving Eau Claire this morning we crossed the Mississippi River into Minnesota. The river is rather wide even that close to its headwaters. Boaters and fun seekers abounded. Well, I saw 2 boats actually.

The entire day was spent expressway riding usually between 70 and 75 mph. Still not our favorite way to ride, we did manage 481 miles before ending the ride for the day in Carrington, ND. I must say though that the road so far has been in excellent condition compared to Michigan's byways.

Along the way I was hoping to see Fargo (since I saw the movie), but I-94 by passed it. We did pass Avalon, Minnesota. For the uninitiated (I was until Charlie educated me), Avalon is the community for which Garrison Keeler fashioned his town of Lake Wobegon. In fact as you pass on the highway there is a sign for Lake Wobegon. Although we didn't stop, we did notice that all the women were strong, all the men were handsome and all the children were above average.We rode the last part of the day through the North Dakota country side. Those who spoke to me before we left might have heard me question why anyone would want to live in this state. The fact is that it's a beautiful state particularly if you are a fan of agriculture, hate geographic features and dislike people. Their state tree, the telephone pole, does abound and is beautiful.

The only photo for the day was of a lake called Middle Spunk... begging the question: "Where were Left and Right Spunk?". In any case the lake was completely common and and looked like many lakes in Michigan; but with a name like that and the fact that I had no other pictures I immortalized Middle Spunk (I'll stick the picture in here somewhere).

Soooo.... I write this from Carrington, North Dakota. We are in a motel on the town's main road which has largely been reduced to a huge deep trench, making it a real challenge to find the parking lot for this place. The hotel clerk is a fine ambassador for the town; at least I think she would be if she put her teeth in to greet the guests. Upon asking her to suggest a local restaurant, she couldn't think of one (it is Sunday after all). It finally occurred to her that there was a pizza joint down the street which proved satisfactory.

Tomorrow we will strike out with the plan to make it someplace west of Regina, Saskatchewan.

One other thing. The bikes are performing beautifully so far..... with one interesting exception. I was enjoying the cruise control to relieve my right hand. Rather abruptly the the cruise became very erratic then wouldn't work for more than a few seconds at a time. Very frustrating and annoying. I guessed it to be a simple adjustment but didn't know how to correct it. In any event, while cruising down the road it occurred to me that the leather strips I have on my levers were getting whipped around pretty violently by the wind and that they were causing enough drag to move the brake lever, therefore kicking the cruise off. I removed the leather and the cruise control works flawlessly. It really does save your hand.

Kind of boring today.... thanks for reading to here.... hopefully more tomorrow.

Day One - South Haven to Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Let me make it clear; I have never done anything that could be construed as remotely offensive to the gods or rain and wind. Never the less, it seems that every time Charlie and I plan a ride, we are plagued by high winds and torrential rain.

Take this morning as an example. We had reservations to for the 10:15 departure of the Lake Express Ferry. We left South Haven at 8:00 to arrive early enough to tie the scoots down and settle in for the two and a half hour ride to Milwaukee. On this particular occasion, it had been raining during the evening but had mostly stopped by the time we bid my daughter Kim and our friend Bonnie a fond farewell. All went well until we reached Holland; at which time the skies opened up in a blinding downpour. In all fairness, we were warned of the impending "rain" with a spectacular light show consisting of numerous air to ground lightning strikes to the accompaniment of thunderous clashes that would have made Tchaikovsky envious when he composed the 1812 Overture. We stopped at Perkins to gulp down a coffee and hoped the rain would abate. It did...kind of. We arrived at the boat just a little late, but took care of business and settled in.

The ride to Milwaukee was interesting. Did you know that there are people whose only job is to wander around the ferry's cabin collecting well used barf bags? Well, there are and yes she was busy. The stated wave heights were 5.2 ft, but both Charlie and I were convinced that this was a considerable understatement. Let me assure you there is very little to compare to the sounds of stereophonic ralphing.

We disembarked in cloudy but rainless weather. The rainless part lasted for all of half an hour when once again the skies opened (and stayed open) all the way to Madison, Wisconsin. The wind made for some interesting riding along this stretch too.

From Madison to Eau Claire it was pretty good riding, although hot and humid. At least it was dry. We opted to spend the night in Eau Claire because the thunder heads were forming again. It was about 5:00 (EST) when we signed in to the Heartland Motel. There were about 320 miles on the odometer.

Tomorrow we'll see how far past Fargo North Dakota we can get. However far we manage to go it's bound to be at least partly in foul weather.