Day miles: 281
Cumulative miles: 281
We are off!!! Eileen was at work so Rachel stopped by to take pictures before we left. Left to right in the picture: Floyd, Johann and Dale. We do wear helmets all the time - just did not
have them on for the picture.At the last moment I decided to take my motorcycle trailer. I had been debating whether or not to take it, but finally decided it would make the trip much easier and give some roomy storage.
I always say the two most difficult days of a motorcycle trip are the first day and the last day. On the first day your body is adjusting to the motorcycle, the riding equipment, the noise, etc. The day can last forever. The last day you are so tired all you want to do is get home as quickly as possible. That day also lasts forever.
This year the difficulty of the first day was compounded by 100 degree temperatures and congested traffic. Northwest Indiana and the areas surrounding Chicago are full of many small towns, traffic lights and way too many vehicles. Toward evening we saw lightening and hear thunder. Not long after that it started to rain. We stopped so Dale and Johann could throw some items into the trailer. I decided against putting on my rain gear. It was so hot, I just wanted to feel the cool rain. It was wonderful!!! The temperature dropped from 100 to 75 in a matter of minutes. We rode in fairly heavy rain for 15-20 minutes, then enjoyed the cool feeling of evaporating water as the wind dried off our clothes.
Jill (the voice on my GPS) has been a great guide. I don't know what we would do without her. Each evening we plan our route using software, then load that route into the GPS. However she must have been tired as she directed us to our hotel the first night. It was late and dark as she guided us through the streets of Fulton. She directed us to a long building that did not look like a hotel. I went in anyway and discovered it was a nursing home!! The nurse on duty thought it was quite funny. She told me she had a few rooms, but thought we might not like them. The old geezer slumped over in a chair by the door didn't seem to notice a guy in motorcycle gear walking into the lobby. In Jill's defense, the map on the hotel website shows the location Jill directed us to. Hmmm - bad data in the map company's database. By the time we arrived at our hotel we were tired and hungry. We made it to a restaurant 30 minutes before closing time.
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