Illinois Frost Heaves

Tuesday August 30th
I am not feeling too good in the morning so we decide to get some cold medicine on the way out of Elkhart. It is a one pill a day medicine so I am hoping that it last until Coralville, Iowa where we plan to finish the day. Our route takes us right back into Michigan and Highway 12. We could take the turnpike (notice it is not called a FREEway ) but it only saves us 7 minutes and we would lose that time at the tollbooths taking off gloves, digging into pockets for change or bills and putting the gloves back on. We go west on 12 through about 10 miles of Goldenrod which makes me sneeze continuously until we are within a mile of Lake Michigan. No, we can't see Chicago from the Michigan shore. Now we are on an interstate on our way to Illinois going through part of Indiana again.There is a noticeable difference in the road quality when we reach Illinois. There are many frost heaves that really jar and bounce the bike. I am experimenting with a saddlebag at the back of the bike for extra storage and fear that I made the bracket from too thin of metal. I check it every morning. For some reason the GPS routes us off of the interstate and onto Highway 6 which goes through several towns and will finally put us on I-80. But just before the turnoff to I-80 the road is closed. The Closed Road Curse has struck again. There are no detour signs, you are left to your own devices to find a way. I try the detour button on the GPS, you may remember that it worked one time and failed another. This time it works and we are finally on I-80. We turn off onto a street in Joliet and get the BBQ picture. And Then!! I notice that the Illinois frost heaves have gotten the best of our special rear saddlebag bracket. Darn, it lasted over 2500 miles before Illinois and maybe 75 miles in Illinois. There is a Dollar General store so I buy some bungee cords and try and use them to hold everything in place. A check on my cell phone shows a welding shop 3 mile away so I call them and then go there riding slowly over the bumps. The owner says he will see what he can do so I remove the bracket which just slides out of a receiver. His business is really manufacturing so he is doing us a big favor by taking someone away from their job to weld our bracket. I also had them add a brace to the bracket. 30 minutes later he is back with the bracket which I slide back into place and we are ready to go. When I ask about payment he says if we are poor then go in peace, if we are not poor then it is $30. $30 is a great price for getting something done so fast and we are happy to pay. Back on the road and headed for Iowa the predicted rain finally arrives. It is about 50 miles of rain the last 10 of which is pretty heavy. Naturally the rain stops when we arrive at the motel which is 3 doors away from the BBQ restaurant. We walk to the restaurant for dinner and split an order of ribs. We also try a sample of hot boiled green peanuts which are popular in the deep south but they are not to our liking. There is something basically wrong with eating a soft peanut. I am feeling pretty low so I turn in early and drop into sleep immediately. The next 3 days will be long interstate days, from here to Omaha, then to Kansas City, on to Pueblo, Colorado and then home. 

Starting for home??

Monday morning and we all meet for our final breakfast together, maybe. Linda and I are heading northeast, yes we know that home is southwest, and C & C are going south. But there is a slim chance that our paths will cross in the next few days. As we head out of Indianapolis we see some areas that are somewhat affluent and still there are boarded up houses. There was a lot of houses like that in the areas around the racetrack which are older and poorer. We are off to a BBQ in Ohio and finally call them for directions as we poor city folks have problems in the farm country with county roads and their unique addresses. The store owner explained his address but unfortunately it probably will not apply to the next state that we are visiting. However his place was not a restaurant but a meat market and BBQ catering company. But he did make us a couple of pulled pork sandwiches and let us have a tour. Just for information it was a 200 mile ride to get here and we could not verify on the weekend what type of business it was, however we would have come in this general direction as the BBQ place close by in Michigan was verifiable. From there we went to the Michigan BBQ which was not very far north. We quickly found it and then started west on state highway 12. I had forgotten how much we enjoy riding through the northern farm country. Everything is green, fields of crops, large trees, thick forests, quaint farm houses, red barns, crumbling barns, lots of antique stores and nice, clean small towns, and we almost hit a dead beaver in the road. But we finally left Michigan 12 to go to Elkhart, Indiana where we had a discount coupon for a motel. As we entered Elkhart we saw several industrial buildings that were closed and had real estates signs on them. Our motel was right to a MacDonalds where we can have breakfast and across the street was a restaurant that served walleye. If you have followed our blogs you know that finding walleye is a quest for me. It is a nice mild fish and is only found in the Great Lakes area. Linda and I split an order and after our pulled pork sandwiches that we had earlier we were quite content. So  now we will have a good night's sleep and prepare for the Illinois traffic that we will face tomorrow.

MotoGP

Today was the MotoGP race. Watching the race on tv does not come close to reproducing the incredible sound of the engines. It is also the same with Formula 1 races. Clint & Charleen are happy as the race was won by Casey Stoner who also is Australian, an Australian was second in today's Formula 1 race and yet another Australian won yesterday's AMA motocross race. After the race we returned to  the hotel and rested for an hour before walking downtown for supper. We will go our separate ways tomorrow but could possibly meet up again as we are both going to the same cities on the way home. We will say our goodbyes at breakfast tomorrow. Tomorrow Linda and I will go northeast to the northwest corner of Ohio and then into Michigan to  get 2 more BBQ pictures. Then we will go into Illinois and decide if we want to go to Wisconsin and Minnesota or take a faster way home.

Reunited with the Aussies

Saturday August 27
Back to the race track for day2. This is qualifying day, each class has a practice in the morning and then qualifies in the afternoon. When we arrive at the racetrack Linda asks if I have the tickets. No, they are back at the hotel room so we turn around and go back to get them. We are still back at the track in time for the first practice session. Linda and I take the time to visit the racetrack museum and we all meet again in the grandstands for qualifying. Casey Stoner was by far the fastest qualifier and will start on the pole for tomorrow's race. On the way back to the hotel we stop at a Subway for a light meal. After we get back to the hotel C & C go for a walk around town. Linda convinces me to get on the bike and get a BBQ picture as we had seen a BBQ on the way back from the racetrack. This is another place with no parking in front but it is closed so I go through their parking lot and park on the sidewalk. Then I stand in the street when the traffic clears and get my picture. When I return Linda and I also go for a walk. We go by a Brazilian restaurant so we go in so that I can have a Capirinha which is the national drink of Brazil. Then it's back to the hotel to get some sleep as we want to leave early in the morning for the racetrack.

Friday August 26
We are on our way to Indianapolis for the races. We want to watch the practice sessions that start at 1 PM. Clint & Charleen are in their rental car and Linda and I are on our bike. Clint has planned a route that will take us through the farmland of Ohio except! Except that State Highway 27 is suddenly closed. No matter, we go around the signs and keep going. But then it is closed again and this time it looks serious. Clint goes on but I have a feeling that this time is for real. So I turn right and hit the detour button on my GPS. It quickly plans a detour route that will return us to Highway 27 in less than 12 miles and it does. The closure was for real and C & C had to backtrack. We are now ahead of them and pull over to wait in front of the Baptist Temple of Centerville. We waited for about 20 minutes. Those of you who are observant will have noticed that we do not yet have a BBQ picture in Ohio. C & C finally arrive and we are off again and this time I am leading. Once again Highway 27 is closed and this time we are detoured to Highway 44. Now we are moving right along until the next town where Highway 44 is closed. I turn left, the only choice, and hit the detour button and my GPS  sends me around a few city streets and then right back to the road closed sign. We then notice a very small detour sign and follow it's directions. Now C & C are in front. The detour  finally returns us back to Highway 44 until the next town. There are 2 signs for Highway 44 west one block apart, the GPS says take the first street which we do. But the street signs route us to the second street while the GPS tells us to stay on the first. We ignore the GPS and keep ignoring it for several miles until we reach an interstate highway to Indianapolis. At this time both the GPS and ourselves are in agreement. We stop for coffee and go on to our hotel in Indianapolis without further problems. After checking into the hotel we are off to the racetrack for an enjoyable afternoon especially as the fastest person in this practice is Casey Stoner who is an Australian!! We would have gone back to the hotel but C & C have left an electronic adaptor back in the Cincinnati motel and need a replacement so we go off searching for said replacement. After successfully finding the part we stop at a fast food for the evening's repast and return to the hotel for sleep and recuperation. However Linda and I need to wash some clothes so we are up quite late taking care of laundry issues.

Charleen and her $5 lemonade

Linda tests a sidecar at a vendor's display

Thursday August 25
We found no evidence that we could visit Fort Knox and lots of evidence that we could not so we went to the Jim Beam Whiskey Distillery and took a tour. I drank whiskey 40 years ago but do not care for it now. But I enjoy seeing how things are done and Linda said it would be interesting so we went. It was interesting but short. They had some sampling at the end. I remembered why I do not care for whiskey.

After the tour we continued on to a motel in Cincinnati where we were to meet our Australian friends. On the way there the highway went to one lane on the other side and the traffic there was backed for almost 3 miles. I was thinking how lucky we were and then we arrived at the edge of Cincinnati and our luck changed. Linda says she was proud of how I controlled my temper in the heavy traffic. It took about 45 minutes to go 12 miles. That is pretty fast by California standards but I no longer am a Californian. Clint was waiting outside for us at the motel. We had a cheerful reunion and went out for dinner to celebrate the reunion and Charleen's birthday. We went to the Outback Steakhouse as it was within walking distance. Although they advertise genuine Australian food Clint & Charleen did not think that their menu was representative of true Australian fare. It was late when we finished eating so we called it a night when we returned to the motel.

Nashville Madness

Wednesday morning
In the early morning hours I heard some booming and looked out the window and saw nothing. We are close to Interstate 40 so I thought maybe I was hearing empty trucks hitting a bump in the road. Later I looked again and saw nothing except that it was dark because the skies were cloudy. Las night Linda had washed my special riding shirt in the sink. It is designed for that and is supposed to dry quickly. It was not dry yet so I decided to hang it on the bike to see if the warm weather would dry it. But when I looked outside this time it was pouring down rain complete with lightning. So I went to the lobby for coffee and let Linda sleep in. It appears now that the rain is letting up so maybe we can be on the road at 10 AM. If we were in a hurry we would have left in the heavier rain, depending on how much lightning there was, but we are not really in a hurry so we waited to see if the rain died down.

So we left at 10:45 and rode in the rain for about an hour. We went over the Mississippi river and then south into Mississippi for a BBQ picture. I was going to go into Alabama for another picture but decided to skip it as it would have cost us another hour and a half. I wanted to get to Nashville in time to go through the Country Music Hall of Fame. Linda is a country music fan and she would enjoy the visit. So we negotiated the Memphis traffic and once again proceeded east on Intestate 40. It is interesting to be on the top of a hill and look along I-40. It is big trucks as far as you can see. It is less pleasurable to ride I-40 among the trucks. While riding along I thought about staying in Nashville and getting tickets for the Grand Ole Opry show. I checked at a state information center and found that there are no shows on Wednesdays. Darn! Finally we arrived at Nashville just in time for the rush hour which was made MUCH worse because a freeway was closed and I-40 had to carry the extra traffic. What a disaster! It was almost as bad in town. We finally arrived at the area of the Hall of Fame to find a big construction site where we would have parked. A policeman told us where we could find public parking but it turned out to be private parking only. So we did not see the Hall of Fame. But there was a BBQ in Nashville that I wanted a picture of but it was on a busy street where I could not stop. My pictures must have the motorcycle in them and I could not stop in the street.       But I did find a parking spot a block away but we had to take everything that was loose off of the bike and carry it with us to the BBQ. We might not get a picture but we could see if the food was as good as I had heard. I was not that impressed but I am not really a BBQ fan. There was a loading zone in front of the restaurant so Linda waited while I went back, reloaded the bike and came up to the loading zone. She took a couple of quick pics and we left for Kentucky. I did not want to stay any longer in Nashville. I remember a song about musicians coming to Nashville with their guitar hoping for fame and fortune. It is still true.There were many people walking the streets carrying their guitar cases. The traffic leaving was not as bad as the traffic on I-40 but it still took some patience to get out of town going north towards Kentucky. We found a motel 22 miles into Kentucky in Bowling Green. We found a BBQ restaurant and got our Kentucky picture and then got a salad as the order of ribs we shared in Nashville did not quite fill us up. Our bike is parked in front of the motel lobby. It is covered up as we are expecting heavy rainstorms tonight. Our plans for tomorrow are not decided. The motel told us we could take tours of Fort Knox but according to the internet there are no tours. So tomorrow will also be a day of improvisation as are most of our traveling days.

Walmart Central

Those of you who know Linda are aware of her preference for Walmart. This has made her the recipient of many Walmart jokes. Today we went to Bentonville, Arkansas the home of Walmart. They have a visitor's center there so we took the tour. Afterwards we found an Arkansas BBQ for the contest and headed for Nashville. We stopped for the night about 40 miles west of Memphis. It was very humid when we arrived at 7:30 so we quickly unloaded the bike and hid in out air conditioned motel room. I did find the courage to walk across the parking lot and get a couple of cold beers from the convenient gas station. The attendant was a young Russian lady from Moscow who had only been here 7 months. Then I planned tomorrow's route. Hopefully we should get 3 more BBQs and also visit the Country Music Hall of Fame. After that I have a special site planned that should catch Linda's eye, hopefully we can get some samples!!

Late Start or Early Start

We wanted to be in Indianapolis on Friday the 26th. To get there without riding hard we needed to leave Tuesday morning. But we considered doing some sightseeing and leaving Sunday. Our daughter from Kyrgyzstan was staying with us until Saturday so we had no chance to prepare until Saturday afternoon. Normally we camp when we travel and we pull a small travel to hold our camping gear. This time we decided to stay in motels, hopefully cheap ones, so we left the trailer at home. But I did make a rack that fits in our trailer hitch that holds an extra saddlebag. This also required making an exhaust pipe outlet that turned the exhaust down to the ground instead of straight back into the saddlebag. By the time everything was ready to go it was almost 3 PM on Sunday. We thought about leaving Monday morning but I decided that we could get to Amarillo, Texas before it was too late at night. So we left at 3. We hit a little rain but it did not last long. Amarillo has plenty of cheap motels but the first one we tried was $65. So we moved on and found one for $35. It was next to the Harley-Davidson shop where our friend Dennis bought his bike. We had went just a little more than 300 miles. I left Linda at the motel while I went hunting and gathering for the elusive Subway sandwich. I was successful and returned to my true love with the food and drink for the evening. After our feast we settled down for the night. I woke up about 4 AM and waited for Linda to wake up. And I waited until 9 AM. Evidently the girl was badly in need of rest. We left Amarillo about 10:30 after finding a BBQ restaurant for yet another revision of my BBQ contest. We were expecting heavy rain in Oklahoma City but encountered high heat instead. 111 degrees was the high we saw on the ever questionable BMW thermometer. Our previous high was 110 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. In Oklahoma City we took a photo of another BBQ restaurant (we need 15 restaurants, one in 15 different states in 15 days) and headed to Prague, Oklahoma. As you can guess Prague has a Czech heritage as does Linda so we are always looking for anyplace Czech and especially some place that sells Kolaches which are a Czech pastry with a fruit compote center. Too bad that the Czech bakery closed at 4 which was an hour before we arrived. But next door to the bakery was a Subway so we stopped in for dinner or maybe breakfast as we had not yet eaten. Prague is also the home town of Jim Thorpe. There are no motels in Prague so we went back to I-40 and continued east to a Super 8 motel for the night. Tomorrow we will continue on to Fort Smith , Arkansas and then we may go north to Bentonville which is the home of Walmart. I have always thought that the Walmart historical site probably has a picture of Linda as one of their preferred customers!