I blew it last night by stopping too early. I realized it last night when I checked NOAA for the weather forecast and sure enough, a front was coming up from the southwest and the choices were go north to Minnesota and come across Canada or get up early and ride for a few hours in the rain to push through the storm. I do not have my passport, so Canada was out. I set my alarm and punched the starter at 5am. It was not raining yet but it was pitch black. I headed south on 26 and then east on 80 (yuck). The rain started about 15 minutes later so I stopped under a bridge to put on the rain stuff. It was pitch black but the beemer has a parking light and I have a flashlight to figure everything out. It poured off and on for the next 3 hours until I got to Des Moines. I stopped to get gas about 5:30 and got some coffee at an all night truck stop which was hopping. The farmers were up and happy about the rain, the truck drivers were just starting their day and a state natual resources guy and his partner were gassing up their boat. The consensus was that the rain was great and I was nuts to ride a motorcycle in the dark and pouring rain. Visibility was not good with oncoming headlights but I kept it around 50 and kept my eyes peeled for deer and road trash (dead critters and retread tire shrapnel). It was much better when the sky was light enough for me to see the road and road sides and I picked the speed up a bit. I got to Des Moines and the rain let up so I stopped for coffee. But I could still see black clouds behind me so I went another hour or two down 80 to put some time between us. Sometime before hitting Iowa City, I turned south on a 2 laner and then east on another 2 laner in nice shape and empty. I spent the rest of the day just poking through these back roads. There a lot of these roads in Iowa and Illinois with speed limit of 55 and all you have to do is slow down to 30 every time a small town comes up, and then you are off again. So the bad news is that there is nothing but corn and soybeans in these 2 states, but the people are again very friendly and polite everywhere I stopped to hydrate me or the bike. I did pass several ethanol plants which smell like breweries kind of and have big tanker cars on rails out back and big yards for truckloads of corn out front. The corn is pitiful (see picture above), and nothing was being cut except a couple fields in Indiana tonight. I don't understand soy and couldn't find anyone who could explain it to me, maybe tomorrow.
So I was surprised how many miles I put on considering all the bouncing around I did, but I did start pretty early and once again I am feeling great.
So I gotta find some dinner (little restaurant in town) and check the weather and figure out tomorrow. Hopefully more wiggling across Indiana if I can find some good roads..
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