Sunday, June 16 2013 - Mankato, MN

Well, day 3 and over 900 miles behind me.  Today was a lot more interesting because I was off the Interstate for a lot of it and I got to wander around Wisconsin and Minnesota quite a bit.  I started out with a visit to my cousin Tom who lives in Appleton.  Tom’s a good guy, even if he is a lawyer and to prove it, he even bought breakfast.

Wisconsin is a nice place … but basically flat as a pancake ... at least the part I went through.  There is some geographic diversity ... it goes from an extensive Lake Michigan shoreline (unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the northern part of the state which I hear is beautiful) into vast farmlands (and I mean VAST – miles upon endless miles of farms) to La Crosse on the Mississippi River.  Here’s just a couple of places I snapped:

 Right in the middle of Wisconsin surrounded by nothing but endless, flat farms, sits this thing - 

Ship Rock

 Are the people of Sparta, Wisconsin just weird or is this proof of an alien presence among us - you be the judge.  Does this look like something straight out of "The Twilight Zone" or what?  And yet there it sits - right in the middle of nowhere.

I crossed over the Mississippi into to the rolling hills of Minnesota that were covered with thick green forest.  But, much like Wisconsin, that didn’t last long and I was right back into farmland as far as the eye can see.  The description of the Midwest United States as the “Breadbasket of the World” is indeed very accurate.  The amount of food produced here boggles ones mind, especially when you consider that the Great Plains not only extend to the Rockies but from our northern border almost to Mexico.  While the terrain isn’t the most fascinating, the function that these farms serve for the entire planet is truly monumental.  Again, I ventured off the highway and rode through a lot of  typical, small Midwestern towns … very clean, mostly older buildings, well kept homes with lots of small businesses and very few “mega stores”.   Classic Americana.  Wherever I stopped, the people have been very friendly and love to talk (not shy and withdrawn like me)!

Todays “Adventure Tale”:

So, I’m bombing down the highway at a leisurely 75 mph when all of a sudden, something starts flapping around in my right peripheral vision.  I grab it with my clutch hand and it’s a cord of some sort, so I give it a tug, which is when things got interesting.  Turns out that this was the leather “shoelace” that is used to adjust my leather vest on each side .  These laces essentially hold the front and back panels of the vest together.  What was flapping is a piece of this lace that had come loose and worked it’s way out of the eyelets.  When I pulled it, the rest of it came out and in an instant the front panel of the vest flew up into my face.  Now this isn’t as hairy as it sounds because I quickly pulled it down, got off at the next ramp and handled it.  But, it did make an otherwise calm day much more of an adventure!  (I hope I can get a refund on the vest…)

Tomorrow is a huge ride (8 or 9 hours with random thunderstorms expected to pop up all over the place) and then I’m in South Dakota, with the Badlands, the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore on the agenda for the following day.  My body, my mind and my motorcycle are holding up just fine.  Things are getting more interesting every day and I wouldn’t trade this trip for the world.

 I won't update tomorrow because I'm just grinding out a lot of miles on I-90, but Tuesday's update should be interesting.  I'll be touring South Dakota all that day.

 If you want to look at stuff beyond the daily update, just go to dickgaudy@blogspot.com where all the daily posts are together, you can see a map of the states that I go through, look at the weather where I'm going, etc.