Final Day - Wisconsin Dells to Home

I got a decent start about 10am today and the first thing I did was to go to Starbucks and have coffee and breakfast one last time on the road. This consisted of the largest blackest coffee they had, a blueberry muffin, and a Naked juice – orange/Mango or something like that. I was on the road by about 10:30.

Driving up 90/94 I have never experienced a weekday as I usually travel down this road on the weekends, but it was very nice and not busy. I had expected busier traffic, but that was not the case. I veered off onto 90 at the split, and headed for LaCrosse. My plan was to get through LaCrosse and then head up the Minnesota side of the river on Hwy 61 all the way to Hastings, and then take 55 north to home.

Just before LaCrosse I stopped at a small town called West Salem and got gas and a bite to eat. At the gas station they actually have a Coney Island hot dog stand, and I was able to get those at the time I went through, so I had three cheese coney's, or chili dog’s with cheese as they call them. They weren’t as good as Skyline, but they were pretty darn good. http://www.coneyislandhotdog.com/index.html

Once back on the road I crossed into Minnesota, and headed up hwy 61. I did stop a couple of places along the way for photo opportunities, but I made good time, and I was in Lake City by about 3pm. I then headed North through Red Wing, and at just outside of Red Wing I noticed some serious clouds in the sky ahead. I had to make a decision on the path home as I didn’t want to get wet and wanted to avoid the storms.

I decided to head up 61 to 371 which goes past Treasure Island Casino, and ends up in Hastings. From there I would take 55 to 52 and I would be home. I am glad I did that route, because the alternate would have gotten me very very wet from the looks of the clouds. I arrived home about 4:30 no worse for wear.

All told this final day I did 218.4 miles, and if I am doing the math correctly, the total mileage for the trip was 1876.2 miles. Not bad for a 25 year old bike, eh?

I will follow up this post with some final thoughts on the trip, and some analysis of mileage for the bike as I took meticulous notes to keep track of such things. I’ll probably post that in a week or so. Until then I guess.

Day 6 - Detroit to Wisconsin

I began the day early as I wanted to get my bike’s oil changed, and needed to be at Muskegon by 3pm as that is when they started lining up cars for the ferry. They told me I didn’t need a reservation, so I didn’t make one just in case I didn’t get there in time.

Hwy had construction going on the day before, but luckily that was all south of downtown, so I was able to head North on that road with no problems. I had found a Honda dealer in Warren – Honda Suzuki of Warren – and they opened at 10am, so I hoped I could get an oil change from them if I did a walk-in. I was early getting there so I stopped and did breakfast at Starbucks again, and waited until the proper time for them to open.

I arrived there about 10 minutes early, and waited for them to open. Once they were open I went in and talked to service about an oil change. Basically, there was no way I was getting my oil changed by them that day. Apparently they don’t have any time reserved in their day for passing touring bikes to do a quick change, and one of his mechanics was late, so I would need to wait until tomorrow at the earliest. I thought this was absurd and even offered to do it myself if they would lend me an oil pan and wrench, and I offered to pay their going rate even if I did the work myself in the parking lot in the back, but that wasn’t going to happen. I simply needed someplace to put the used oil as you can’t just drop it on the ground anymore, but no luck. Sometimes I really hate Dealers!

I went to service and paid premium prices for the filter and oil, and headed down the road looking for an oil change place. I tried jiffy lube, Valvoline Instant oil change, and a couple of others, but they wouldn’t touch a motorcycle. I finally found a small independent garage that had an open bay, and I talked the mechanic on duty to do the oil change for me. He BS’d with me the whole time as he had owned a few older Honda’s, but didn’t have a bike at the time. It took him a total of 15 minutes, and I had new oil and filter. I gave him $20 which he seemed happy with, and I was back on the road. Thank you for the Independent garages out there, as none of the chains or the Stealer were able to change my oil. Just what are bikers supposed to do anyway?

From Warren, I gassed up and got back on the road to Muskegon. You take Hwy 696 West to Hwy 96 West and that goes all the way to Muskegon. The drive across Michigan is pretty much like driving across Wisconsin. Lots of trees and lakes, and sometimes you see a town, but lots of green. I stopped for lunch in Lansing, and I made it to Muskegon by 3pm. I followed signs to the Lake Express dock - http://www.lake-express.com/ - and got in line behind cars and others to board the ferry.

About 3:30 they started lining us up, and luckily they had room for me as I didn’t make a reservation before, and they were pretty full. If I had been in a car I wasn’t sure I would have gotten on, as the driving deck was absolutely full. I paid the additional money for the “Premier” cabin, but you definitely don’t need to do that as the seating is pretty much the same in either cabin. Price to cross one way with a Motorcycle was $130, but it was a small price to pay not to have to drive through Chicago. The ferry arrived from Milwaukee about 4pm, and once it was unloaded we were allowed to drive our bikes on. There were about 8 total motorcycles on the trip, and we were in a specific part of the deck. We needed to tie our bikes down, and they provided straps for that purpose. They were pretty greasy, so if you do take the ferry keep that in mind and use your own straps if you don’t want to get dirty.

The ferry was very full and I was quite surprised at the number of passengers – apparently it is a popular service. The departure was 4:45 and we left pretty much right on time. Leaving Michigan you get a view of the shoreline and the harbor, and eventually you can’t see anything as you are on open water. The crossing takes about 2 ½ hours and the boat goes 40 MPH at the top speed, so it is very fast crossing the lake. They server snacks and beverages on board, and even had a movie.

We got to Milwaukee about 6:15pm and it was raining – remember there is a one-hour time change between Michigan and Wisconsin. I looked at the weather and it said light intermittent showers, and only for about 20 miles into Wisconsin, then it would clear up. I decided not to gear up for rain and brave it, and most of the other folks on bikes did the same thing. It was cooler in Wisconsin however, and most everyone traded t-shirts for jackets and leather. I already had mine on, so I went with that. We exited the ferry and I finally found 94 Westbound, and was on my way home.

About 5 miles into the drive it started raining – and I mean raining hard. I drove through about 10 miles of steady rain that was very heavy at times, and eventually broke through the clouds and had a break and some sunshine. The main issue was that I was soaked. My water-resistant jacket leaked like a sieve, and I had the wrong gloves on as well, so my hands were wet and pruned up pretty bad. I had some waterproof gloves along - I should have switched to them on the ferry. I stopped at Johnson’s Creek to dry off, get a snack, and change gloves. I also dried off my jacket as best I could and changed shirts so I wasn’t so cold. My pants had already started to dry in the wind, so I stuck with them.

I got back on the road and decided I would make a run for the Dells. I had stayed there the first night of the trip, so the last night would work as well. It was too late to make the run all the way home, so this seemed like it would be the best bet. I got through Madison and was really feeling the effects of being cold and wet. I couldn’t wait to get to the Dells and have a shower and a meal. I got into the Dells about 9pm, and got a room at the Best Western hotel just off the highway.

I was going to eat at Famous Dave's, but right across the street was the Das Boot & Grille restaurant – German food and beer were a-calling. http://www.essen-haus.com/Dellsmenuweb.pdf. They had over 10 German beers on draft, and also a great menu, so I was a happy camper. And it was nice enough weather to be able to drive in a T-shirt, so all was good. I had several different beers and the Das Boot Sizzlers combo, which is 4 mini sandwiches in different styles – it was all good. And the bartender was great and had 100 stories of different stuff that had happened there. It wasn’t busy at all, so I heard many of them. If I lived in the Dells I would definitely be a regular customer at this place.

I got back to the hotel about 12 and showered up and went to bed. I was tired and a bit tipsy, and I slept great. Tomorrow would be the run home to IGH, and I wanted to get an early start. Total miles today was 351.6.

Final day tomorrow…

Day 5 - Cleveland to Detroit

This is the first day I stray from my original itinerary. Originally I was going to go to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to see the Pirates play baseball, then the next day I was going to Toledo to watch a Mudhens game, but I have decided to cut both of these out. Instead I will drive directly to Detroit and watch the Tigers play a game there. I have a couple of reasons for doing this, but mainly I wanted to cut my trip short by a couple of days. I also decided it would be too difficult to do a day game in Detroit and then leave town – I was worried about my bike and all the stuff packed to it being stolen.


I departed Cleveland about 10am and headed West out of downtown on highway 6, which goes along the southern shore of Lake Erie. I was going to take Hwy 2, but at the game last night a couple of guys I met told me to take 6 as it goes along the lake most of the way to Toledo, and was very scenic. I took their advice and headed down the road.

Before leaving Cleveland proper I stopped at a Starbucks for breakfast and a coffee. I had planned on having coffee most mornings, but this was the first one I had been able to do. Once done with that I continued out of town. A few miles out of downtown, hwy 6 passes by some beach parks along the south shore, and you have some great views of downtown Cleveland from here. It was a beautiful day, and Cleveland looked great from the high bluffs above the lake. I continued on towards Sandusky and Toledo, and about 1pm or so I went through Sandusky.

I got a bit lost in downtown Sandusky as the signs for hwy 6 were sparse and the path wasn’t well marked, but I did end up downtown and had a nice view of the harbor there and the quaint downtown. Once I found my way again I headed west where hwy 6 combines with hwy 2, and then west to Toledo. Along this route from Cleveland to Toledo you go through several smaller towns, many with a lakeshore theme to their main industries. There are also several very large estates along the south shore of the lake. It sort of reminded me of the drive through Chicago and the houses along the lake on the north side of the city.

Once into metro Toledo I stopped for a late lunch. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was hungry, so I stopped at a Wendy’s. Back on the road I headed north on 280 which turns into Hwy 75, which goes North to Detroit. There were several signs along the way warning of construction on Hwy 75 in downtown Detroit, so I stopped at the first rest area I could find and they had tourist information. Luckily they had a map that showed the detour around the construction, and I grabbed that along with a map of Michigan.

The detour was a pain as it took you way around the west side of Detroit. To get to downtown you went north up Hwy 275, and then East on Hwy 94 past the airport, and then into downtown. There were good signs and the turns were well marked, so I was able to drive directly to my hotel without incident.

I stayed in the cheapest hotel I could find in downtown Detroit, which was the Leland hotel. I was able to get a room with parking for just over $80 a night, which was a great deal. I was likely one of the only overnight guests however, as the hotel looked to provide more permanent accommodations to their guests. I never felt unsafe however, and I did get a great night’s sleep. Apparently the hotel is a famous Haunted site with ghosts of people murdered there haunting the halls, but I never found any ghosts there. It made me wonder how many murders there had been.

I arrived at the hotel about 5:30pm and the game started at 7, so I changed and headed out to the park right away. The ballpark was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel, but I just followed the crowds and I eventually found the ballpark. The one unbelievable thing about the ballpark and the surrounding area are the ticket scalpers. I have never witnessed such voracious scalpers, and you really get hounded the entire time walking to the park. They ask if you need a ticket and you say no, then they hound you about selling extra’s. 10 feet down the street it all happens again – unbelievable. That was really the only time I didn’t feel safe there.

The scalpers need to stay across the street from the ballpark as they can’t sell tickets on Tiger’s property. That didn’t stop them however and while I was walking to the ticket booth I got catcalled from across the street by several of them begging me to buy their tickets. Normally I will talk to a scalper and see what they have, but not in Detroit – ever. I ended up with a great seat about 25 rows behind home plate, and it was about $40.


The seats were great and I ended up sitting with some family members of the visiting team, the Blue Jays. I sat right next to one of the player’s uncles, and behind me was another proud relative. It was great as they both traveled quite a bit to watch their family member play ball, so the guy sitting next to me had been to almost every ballpark. I had been to a few he hadn’t and vice versa, so we had a great time talking baseball and watching the game. He was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to see his nephew play, but that is how it goes.

The Tigers play at Comerica park, and as you can see from the few photo’s here the park is a beautiful one. They have a couple of unique features I have never seen inside a ballpark. One was a food court type of place where there were several choices for food – kinda cool. They also had a full size carousel at the food court, so if the kids are unruly and tired of the game, you can take them there. I think there is even a Ferris wheel there, but I didn’t see it. One very cool thing is that you can walk all the way around the park, so you can see every vantage point. I always like parks that have that feature so you can see everything. Food was average and I had a hot dog that was good, and an Italian sausage with peppers and onions that was great as well. I tried a coney, but it was nothing compared to the Skyline one in Cincinnati.

The outside of the park is decorated everywhere with tiger statues and heads, etc. On the way out I realized some of them even lit up - very cool. Toronto won the game 6-4, so the crowd was a bit down after the game. I decided not to wander around downtown as I didn’t want to get knifed, and I walked directly with the crowd back to my hotel. Again, I never felt unsafe downtown Detroit, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Overall the downtown looks very dumpy and I must have walked or driven past a half dozen boarded-up buildings in various states of repair, including one that was very tall and being converted to condo’s or something like that. Why anyone would buy a condo in that craphole of a downtown I don’t know, but they were building it. I was really surprised at how dumpy the downtown looked – even the skyscrapers were old and dumpy looking. Cleveland and Cincinnati looked much more modern, and I never felt like I was in the armpit of the world like I did in Detroit.

Back at the hotel I did some research as I had decided to cut my trip short by another day or so, and I was not going upstate in Michigan to the U.P. I decided to drive to Muskegon and take the Lake Express Ferry to Milwaukee, and then head home from there. The ferry would depart the next day at 4pm, and it was about 200 miles to Muskegon, so I needed to plan my day’s travels. I also needed to get an oil change as I had about 1300 miles on the current oil and it was definitely time for that. I did some research and found where the nearest Honda dealer was – north side of town, and planned for that the next morning. All told I had a good day. Total miles today was 189.1 - shortest day of the trip thus far.

More tomorrow.

Day 4 - Cincinnati to Cleveland

I awoke on Monday morning feeling refreshed and looking forward to the drive from Cincinnati to Cleveland. This would be a casual day as the only planned activity on this day was attending the baseball game in Cleveland, and that wasn't until 7pm, so I had plenty of time to get there.

I woke up early and packed up and prepared to depart Cincinnati. I decided to have a good breakfast, so I started on the way to Cleveland, and exited just north of Cincinnati to have breakfast at a Waffle House restaurant. Theirs isn't the best food in the world, but their pecan waffles keep me coming back. After breakfast I fueled up and got back on the road towards Columbus and Cleveland. This was highway 71, which cuts across the state from North to South and East to West, so I would be seeing as much of Ohio as possible.

Columbus is about 100 miles northeast of Cincinnati, and I made good time stopping just before Columbus to gas up. Columbus is the capital, and if you stay on 71 it takes you right through the heart of the city. There is a river you cross, and while going north on 71 the downtown is to your left. It looked like a beautiful city but I didn't stop at all. I kept going until I got to Belleville where I stopped for a bottle of water and decided to have lunch. Troyers Dutch Heritage restaurant is just off the exit there, and the food was amazing. I had a "Manhattan" which is an open faced sandwich covered in gravy. You could get turkey, roast beef, meatloaf, etc. I got the roast beef, which was basically a hot beef sandwich, and it was probably the best one I have ever had. Everything was homemade including the roast beef, gravy and the potatoes. I had peach cobbler for dessert and I felt very satisfied leaving there - I didn't think I would need to have dinner after that. http://troyercorp.com/restaurant/bellville/bellville.php.

I got back on the road for the run into Cleveland, and I arrived at my hotel in Cleveland about 5pm. I got checked in and then decided to do my laundry as I had planned to do so at this hotel, and I did need clean jeans, etc. It was quite a sight on the bed with everything pulled out of my bags to find the dirty clothes - seel the picture below. It was $3 total to wash and dry a load including soap, and by 6:15 I had all my clothes clean. I changed into clean shorts and t-shirt and headed off towards the ballpark for the baseball game.

It was about a 15 minute walk to the stadium and I just followed the crowds to get there. The ballpark there is now called Progressive field, but it used to be Jacobs field and most fans there still call it that. It is one of the newer parks in that it is very open and accessible to the fans. One disappointment was that you couldn't walk all the way around the park, and I started at one end and walked all the way to the other to get to my seats. Speaking of my seats, I bought a ticket from a scalper for $20, and it was lower level about 1/2 way down the third base line into the outfield. Great seats and there were players warming up right in front of us. Definitely the best seats for any game during the trip.

Food at the park was decent. I had a hot dog that was above average, and found a stand with an Italian sausage with peppers that was good as well. Overall above average for food, but there wasn't much variety, so that could have been better. Nothing like some parks where you can have almost anything you desire. The Indians played the Orioles, and won the game13-8, so the crowd was totally into the game. There were a few home runs and they shoot off fireworks for those, so it was quite a sight. I am very excited to have outdoor baseball in Minnesota for the 2010 season and then I can compare it to other parks that are outdoors.

When I left the park I wasn't ready to go back to the hotel yet, and looked for a late night place to have a couple of beers. I ended up at The Winking Lizard - http://www.winkinglizard.com/data/content/. This place wasn't very busy when I arrived, but got busier as the night progressed. I sat at the bar and talked to some guys from Minnesota who were in town on business. They hadn't gone to the game however and I recommended they do so tomorrow night. I also talked to a gal and her boyfriend about the Indians and other things. It is always great to talk to the fans and hear about their loyalty and how much they like their teams. These two were very passionate. I had a few beers and left sometime after midnight, and then had trouble finding my hotel. I got turned around on the streets and ended up taking a very indirect route, but I did eventually find it.

I pretty much went to sleep right away as I had a few beers in me and I had a long day. Tomorrow I would be heading to Detroit for the Tigers game, so I had another day of driving ahead of me. Total mileage today was 259.7 miles.

Until Tuesday...

Day 3 - Indiana to Cincinnati

Day three was to be the first day I would have major scheduled activities. My plan was to drive from West Lafayette, Indiana to Cincinnati, Ohio, and go to a Reds game and also to a concert that evening. I needed to get to Cincinnati early as the baseball game started at 1pm.

I awoke about 6am and the sun was already up. It looked to be a great day to ride and the sun was out with no clouds, so I was really eager to get on the road. It was a very chilly morning and I believe it was in the 50's when I departed. I packed up at the campground and loaded up the bike, and got on the road.

I didn't go far as I needed gas, so I stopped at the gas station near the campground and filled up. I had a donut for breakfast, and also put a quart of oil in the bike. On the drive through Chicago the previous day the bike got really hot, and I ended up needing to add a quart. I wasn't expecting problems like that today as I was doing mostly highway driving and didn't expect bad traffic in Cincinnati.

Once on the road I wasted no time in getting on my way to Cincinnati. My plan was to drive down 65 toward Indianapolis, and once there take the northern loop around the city onto hwy 74 towards Cincinnati. I had a reservation to camp at the Winton Woods, which is in the north part of Cincinnati, but not far from downtown.

Going through Indianapolis was a breeze at it was still fairly early when I drove through town. When I got to the outer loop I got onto 865 which turns into 465, which connects to 74 on the southeast side of the city. It is about 50 miles between W. Lafayette and Indianapolis, and I made great time. I stopped when I got past Indianapolis and gassed up for the final run into Cincinnati.

The drive was fairly uneventful and the scenery is very flat for much of this trip, but once you get into Ohio the drive is more hilly and you can tell something has changed. Once in Cincinnati I drove first to the Winton Woods - http://www.hamiltoncountyparks.org/parks/winton.htm. This is a county park that I highly recommend as it is beautiful and the facilities are fantastic. I wasn't scheduled to arrive as early as I did, but luckily the folks on the campsite I had reserved had left already, so they let me setup early. I found the campsite, pitched my tent, and stored my gear inside. I packed my camera onto my bike and headed downtown for the baseball game.

Following signs to downtown I ended up driving directly past the ballpark and following the crowd to parking. This was the only bad traffic I encountered this day as I was arriving near the start of the game and lots of fans were arriving at the same time. I followed the traffic to public parking a couple of blocks from the park, but was not allowed to park there as I was on a bike. I was directed back to the ballpark and had to park in the ballpark underground parking. The entrance is on the road on the south side of the park, and actual motorcycle parking is just inside the entrance to the garage outside of the pay gate. You still must pay however, and it was $15 which made me a bit angry as the parking 2 blocks away was only 5, but what could I do.

Once parked I went to the ticket booth and bought a ticket for the game. I was expecting to be hounded by scalpers, but there were none so I had to go to the ticket office. They had plenty of availability so I got a ticket in left field in the 2nd deck about 1/2 way up the seats. These were great seats and the only problem was the sun shined directly on the seats so you really got hot. I got up and down many times and walked to stand in shade so I could cool down.

Food at the park was the basic ballpark fare, and since my only meal so far today was a donut in W. Lafayette, I decided to eat. The basic hot dog was OK - average for a ballpark. The one standout food was the Cheese Coney's made by the Skyline grill - they are amazingly good. They are basically a coney dog with "Cincinnati Chili" on them, and then loaded with shredded cheese. I bought only one the first time at the stand and had to go back for seconds. http://www.skylinechili.com/signature.php .

The baseball game was a good one, but the Reds lost, so the crowd was very mellow. The final was Cincinnati 4, Houston 13. It is a beautiful park though as you can see from the photo's I took, and I would definitely go back. And there are beautiful views from the park of both the riverfront and also the downtown skyline.

I left the game and headed towards the venue where the concert would take place. The event was called the Union Center Boulevard Bash - http://www.unioncentreblvdbash.com/. The band I was going to see was KingsX, and they were opening for Extreme. KingsX was scheduled to go onstage at 7pm, and I had arrived about 4:30, so I went over to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch some baseball and have some wings and a beer. I ended up talking to the bartender who was excited to know I had a Nighthawk 700 as he had owned one in the past and missed riding it.

About 6pm I went over the the boulevard bash and went onto the grounds for the bash. There was no entry fee and no controlled access, so it was sort of a free-for-all. There were many food and beer vendors and I tried some of the local fare. One of my favorites was the BBQ from Boston Butz - the pulled pork was fantastic and the ribs were very tender. They had a spicy sauce to put on them that was some of the best I have ever had. There were also several beer vendors that were local, so I tried something from most of them and all of it was good beer. One of the most amazing sights however was the Warsteiner vendor which had a huge fan type of awning coming out of their mobile beer stand. I did have one even though they aren't a micro brew, and it was good.

KingsX took the stage about 7 and played for almost an hour. Ty, Doug, and Jerry were awesome as always and covered some old material as well as material off their new album "15". If you have never heard KingsX before I recommend them - http://www.kingsxrocks.com/. They did come out a do an encore which was great as they had played longer than they were scheduled to and I expected it to end at any time. The cool thing was that even though were the opening band there must have been 100 people wearing KingsX shirts, including myself, and nobody wearing "Extreme" shirts that I saw.



Extreme took to the stage later and they sounded good, but their performance looked a little forced. They looked like they were trying too hard and although for the most part they sounded good, it wasn't my favorite thing. It always pisses me off when a band with 15 albums has to open for a bunch of has-beens that haven't released an album for years, and then decides to try to cash in on past success. Oh well - that is KingsX for you and that is how it will likely always be - under appreciated.

I left the venue about 9:30 and headed back to the Winton Woods to sleep. It had been a long day and I was very tired so I was very happy to find my tent and crawl inside for sleepy time. All things said today I had a great time and had a full day of activity and excitement. I got to see a baseball game and also my favorite band, so I would call it a win-win day. Total mileage for the day was 250.3, so much less than yesterday. Tomorrow would be Cleveland and the Indian's game.


Until tomorrow....

Day 2 - Chicago and Indiana

I departed the Dells at about 11am on Saturday morning after a late breakfast/early lunch at Culvers. I had decided that today I would follow my original path, but since I was behind schedule a bit I would skip the Cubs game at Wrigley. My route would take me to Madison, WI and then on to Delafield where I would head South around Milwaukee, and then on towards Chicago. Through Illinois I planned on skipping the toll roads and drive through smaller roads across the state line and into Chicago. Once in Chicago I would get onto Lakeshore Drive and follow that through the city to the south side where I would connect to 90 and across into Indiana. From there I would drive south to West Lafayette, Indiana where I had a reservation at a campground for tonight. You can see a general path of my trip at Google Maps -


View Larger Map

The drive to Madison went well and it was a beautiful day. Plenty of corn and bean fields along the way and plenty of traffic on 90/94. At Madison I took 94 towards Milwaukee and exited from the freeway and began the trek on smaller roads. From Delafield I took 83 south to Waterford and Rochester and then took 20 East towards the lake and back onto 94. I wanted to see some countryside and leave the freeway behind and I definitely got my wish. The drive on 83 was through farm country and again lots of corn and bean fields along with small towns along the way. 2-lane roads are the best on a motorcycle and these were exceptional.

At 20 and 94 there is a little place called Spokes where I stopped for a beer. It is a great place with many vintage bikes displayed all over the place, and some of the coldest beer I have ever drank. The owner apparently is a biker himself and the bikes on display come from his personal collection. He is also apparently a butcher by trade and the place has a meat shop and deli as well. And around the west side of the building they have motorcycle parking and sort of a "Beer Garden" which is great as well. Nice folks - I recommend the place.

Onward south on 94 and I exited a few miles short of the state line and worked my way over to Sheridan road, which runs right into the heart of Chicago. This is a hell of a drive as there are some of the most grand houses along Sheridan that you have ever seen once you get closer to Chicago. I did run into some construction and had a few detours, but eventually I found myself driving within about a block of Wrigley field. What a thrill to be driving through this enormous city, and if felt very normal. And I got alot of waves from folks along the way like they were cheering me on or something.

I stopped for gas on the north side of Chicago, and paid 4.349 per gallon for 93 octane - what a ripoff. That is easily the most I paid for gas along the trip - by at least 20 cents. I asked a local for directions to get to Lakeshore as I was off course from the construction, and he had no idea. I consulted my maps a bit and tried to get there the best I could. I mean - I knew where it was and I could see it several times, but I'll be damned if I could get there. Traffic was awful through much of this portion of the drive, and Lakeshore drive is like a highway at this part, so I needed to find an exit. I finally found one but with the traffic it would take me 20 minutes to get on. I decided to move south further in the city as my bike was getting really hot and starting to burn oil. I finally found an entrance to Lakeshore that wasn't overcrowded and I was finally moving in the wind again. Looking at maps I think it was Belmont where I got on, but I am not 100% sure.

Moving south I stopped along Lakeshore and swapped maps. I had a great view of the city and wanted to stop and take some photo's, but I was way behind schedule as the traffic had been bad through the city, so I decided to keep moving. I wanted to get to West Lafayette with some light left so I didn't have to setup my tent in the dark.


South Lakeshore Drive is very different than the North part. It isn't a highway and meanders through some rough looking neighborhoods, but luckily there was traffic to move with so I didn't feel alone. There were some beautiful sights along the way including several harbors full of sailboats, and some beach parks that looked like they would be a great place to spend a hot afternoon.

Once through the south side of Chicago I ended up back on 90 and had to pay the one toll to cross into Indiana. It was the only toll I paid on the entire trip. There was more construction ahead so I got routed around that and then ended up on 65 towards Indianapolis. Driving through northern Indiana along 90 you end up driving past steel mills including US Steel, and it is an impressive sight. I am a farm kid from North Dakota so I am used to seeing miles of Nothing, but to see miles of steel plant was quite a sight. It was beautiful and ugly at the same time, and I couldn't help wonder what they did in all of those buildings.

Once you get free of 90 and Gary you end up in corn and bean country again - mostly corn. The drive to West Lafayette from here was about 80 miles or so, and I got into the campground about 8:30 or so that evening - the sun was already down in any case. I setup camp in the semi-dark and using my flashlight and proceeded to go back up to the camp office where they served food. I had only eaten breakfast, and couple of candy bars, and a triangle ham-n-cheese, so I was hungry. I would have looked for a restaurant, but the campground was about 10 miles off the main road and nothing else was around. I was tired so I settled for what they had. I ended up with 2 corn dogs, onion rings, and a diet Pepsi for a grand total of $5.25. At least the price was right and the food hit the spot.

This campground is right along the Wabash river, and I was able to get a fairly private spot along the banks. There were a few fishing boats at the campsite and a launch, so fishing was definitely on some minds at this campsite. Lots of families and luckily little noise or activity after about 11pm, so I got a great night's sleep.

The tent was a bit cramped with all of my gear inside, but the sleeping bag and mattress and pillow were very comfortable, and I have no complaints. It was warm when I went to sleep, but by morning it was in the 50's, so it cooled off quite a bit. My sleeping bag was great though, and I never got cold.

All told today I did a total of 360.9 miles - the most so far on this trip. My butt was definitely feeling the pain and I was looking forward to tomorrow with less riding and a baseball game in my future.

More tomorrow.
Craig.

Departure - Day One On The Road

The posts from the road were written in a log and then posted upon my return. I have modified the date of the post to reflect the day on the road covered by the post.

Travelogue - Friday 8/8/08:

Well, Friday finally came and today is the day. I am a bit bummed today as I have been planning this trip for months, and when I woke up today I had a severe pain in my left foot. I get gout-like pain in my big toe joint sometimes, and today was one of those days. I think all the crawling around on the floor on Wednesday did my foot in. I noticed a twinge of it last night and had taken medication for it, but it still was bad today. It was hard to walk so I wasn't sure if I would be leaving or not.

Work took forever and by the time I got home about 4pm I had pretty much decided not to go today. My foot was really in pain, and I knew it would get better with time, but it really hurt to shift. Oddly enough the most painful part of my foot was right where my left foot hits the shifter, so every shift up hurt. I wasn't concerned about being able to ride, but if I broke down I wouldn't be able to walk to get help - at least not very far. And I couldn't get my riding boots on, so that seemed to seal the deal.

My wife suggested I try a different pair of shoes and just pack my boots for later days down the road. I wear this pair of brown tennis shoes most of the time when riding as I usually am only commuting to or from work. I had wore them all day and after I had a couple of Tylenol in me my foot felt better. I packed up the boots and got everything loaded onto the bike, and by 6:30pm I was ready to go.

Another factor in my decision to depart was that I had signed up for towing insurance through Motorcycle Towing Service of Denver, IA. That way if I broke down I only had to call an 800 number and then wait for the tow truck. Their website is here - http://www.mtstowing.com/, and I recommend the product if you will be going on the road as I had the confidence to depart knowing that I would have assistance if I did break down.

I was on the road by about 6:45 and headed south from Inver Grove Heights towards Rochester on hwy 52. I got gas in Rochester and continued on to La Crosse, Wisconsin where I fueled up again and had dinner at Famous Daves. It was about 9:30 when I got back on the road and headed up I90 towards the Wisconsin Dells. I got into the Dells about 11:15 or so and got a hotel room. I had planned on driving all the way to Madison, WI on this first day, and then camping at one of the county park campgrounds there, but it was late and I was tired. I didn't think I had 60 miles left in me, so I called it a night.

I was happy to be on the road finally, but I was disappointed as I had gotten a late start and was already 60 miles behind schedule. I had planned on driving to Chicago the next day and going to the Cubs game at 3:00pm, but I pretty much decided not to try and do that. My destination the next day was a campground at West Lafayette, Indiana, and I was going to make that with nothing to stop me. My route tomorrow would still take me through the heart of Chicago and avoid toll roads, and I would likely get close to Wrigley field, but I have seen a game there before, so I didn't need to do it again.

Total miles on 8/8 - 234.4. Not bad for day one.

Off to sleep and more tomorrow...