Day Two - Ashtabula to Dexter, MN
Day
two Started with me packing up the bike and heading to Cleveland for my first
stop to see something on the trip. I had lived in Fairview Park, Ohio from
the time I was 3 years old until the seventh grade. I had not been back to
see the old house for over 25 years. It was kind of surreal riding back
into a place that you only remember in faded memories. It brought back a
lot as I turned on to my old street, Nottingham Drive. I rode around the
old neighborhood and the town for about an hour. A fun trip down memory
lane.
After departing Cleveland I continued west on I-90 through Ohio
and Indiana. As it got later in the day I found myself in a rest area just
East of the Border of Illinois. I had a dilemma as it was Friday Afternoon
and I needed to get through Chicago. The last thing I wanted was to get stuck in
Traffic on a hot afternoon. I met a guy on a Harley in the rest stop who
was going the same way. He and I looked at the map and our options.
His plan was to continue west on I-80 and then go north when he got to Des
Moines Iowa. This seemed like a long way around to avoid some
traffic. I opted to continue on I-90 like I had planned and take the outer
loop around downtown Chicago. I did have to slow down for traffic, spent
about an hour at less that 50 MPH. But in looking back I think I made the
right decision. Who wants to look at corn fields in Iowa anyway? In
Rockford, IL I ran into to first big rain storm on the trip. It rained
heavily all the way to Madison WI. The one thing that helped me get
through the storm was the ability to see a live radar picture on my blackberry.
It is a great mental boost to know how long the rain is going to last. At
around 11:30 PM I stopped in La Crosse, WI. I had enough and was looking
forward to a nice warm bed. The first hotel I stopped at said they had no
vacancy, when I inquired about what hotel might have a room I was told that
every hotel for 100 miles was full due to some state sports championship being
played in town. I found this hard to believe and returned to the bike and
with the help of my GPS I found this to be true after making a dozen phone
calls. This sucked, I had at least 800 miles down since I left Ohio that
morning and there was a steady misting rain.
After
searching further and further out on the GPS I found a hotel in Dexter MN.
The guy who answered the phone said they were open until 1 AM but he would wait
for me. Nothing like mid-western hospitality. When I got there I
found the bar still open. I enjoyed a beer as they checked me in.
What a long day, I put 940 miles on the bike that day.
Day One - Marlborough MA to Ashtabula OH
Day Two - Ashtabula to Dexter, MN
Day Three - Dexter MN to Mount Rushmore, SD
Day Four - Mount Rushmore, SD to West Yellowstone, MT
Day Five - West Yellowstone, Mt to Logan, UT
Day Six - Logan, UT to Cedar City UT
Day Seven - Cedar City UT to Williams. AZ
Day Eight - Williams, AZ to Durango, CO
Day Nine - Durango, CO to Amarillo, TX
Day Ten - Amarillo, TX to Little Rock, AR
Day Eleven - Little Rock AR to Cordova TN
Day Twelve through Fifteen - Memphis, TN
Day Sixteen and Seventeen - the long ride home