LDEM - 48 States - Day 4 - IA to OH

Day 4 - Friday, August 3, 2018

Osceola, IA top Willoughby, OH

Google Maps (as planned route): https://goo.gl/maps/p7gR7KUBGsB2

GPS Distance: 994 miles  

Travel time: 17h 22m

States Claimed: MN, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH

A handful of states - and the ‘last’ thousand mile day. If I did my arithmetic correctly, with a respectable day of riding, this should qualify me for a Saddlesore 4000 certification.

This morning, Iowa. Tonight? Ohio. By way of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Each stop on the ride represents a ‘corner’, as well as a state. Now, we really get into the one tank of fuel per state segment of the ride. Planning the fuel stops was an exercise in efficiency. Can I get a few of those 10 to 12 minute stops today?

Farms...

...one of those areas you have to figure...

...the farm was here before the Interstate!

Iowa, then Minnesota farms...a LOT of farms. They started disappearing as the wooded areas returned. that suddenly turned into forests as WI approached.

What are those white puffy things? Oh, yeah, clouds!

More farms...

...low clouds. What brief weather I've been looking at is....

...lower clouds! ...I'm chasing a weather system across the midwest for he next day or so.

I had done a trip related to work in the Madison area a few years ago; I didn’t recognise it from the freeway, which was under construction back then, as I recall.

My one-and-only stop in WI - or so it was planned to be.

Stopped waving here.

Wisconsin - home of the Bar-and-Shield brand. Local ride, or a ride a few hundred miles west of here?

Wisconsin...supper clubs. My Android phone is now haunted with all of the places along my route I’ve researched. The day I wrote this segment of this report, a story about Wisconsin “supper clubs” popped into my newsfeed.
Stop in WI - 15 more minutes fighting that water jug, now empty. It’s tied down, not well - still have to find a better way. Remember what I wrote about that Archives of Wisdom article?? I’m now beginning to believe it to be more like the Ten Commandments - thou shalt NOT do stupid crap!!

I’m getting fatigued earlier in the day - it’s catching up to me. I can't exactly think straight.

I had to stop here to position my toll tag. Good, easy, temporary location for this ride. Now, I’m ready for Illinois.
Soon after crossing the border into the state, I aimed the bike right for the I-Pass Express Lane with my NC Quick Pass on my AZ plated motorcycle. I may have confused the heck out of at least a couple of states, since my tolls to date is exceedingly low. Shhh...don’t tell ‘em! Oh, no - they got me. It just took a bit of time to catch up.

High-speed tolling - a technological marvel? Naah.

Service Plaza - Needed gas to clear IL, but these places are huge wastes of time, part of the reason you’re paying tolls.

Road Construction! Holy Crap!

Toll tag check? Well, why not?

So, I didn’t think about this until the end - in IL - was my tag even working? The tag can be taken in the ‘slow lanes’, where people would typically pay by means other than the tag. In this case, I beared to the right. As soon as I approached, up went the gate, the display on the left gave me a ‘go’ indication, and I was back up to speed.

Speed? Not for long - wait! Friday? Everyone leaving town early??

Timing - is there really ever a good time to go thru (or even near…) many of our major metropolitan areas? Like Chicago? Why in the world would everyone be headed away from there and into Indiana?? Second service plaza was for a drink and to relax a bit after wall-to-wall traffic. Listening to the CB, there’s about 20 miles of traffic ahead of me, and no easy way right now to avoid it.

I need a Gatorade and five minutes of Internet, then back on the road again.

Indiana - and still more traffic.

Clear traffic, now in IN wander to next road in the route; stop for fuel. Timing a bit better - next stop will be MI

Indiana Service Plaza. Find a set of green gloves? Think I left them here

Again, whoever actually came up with these routes is a genius. So, exit toll road (with a transponder, who cares?), then a few miles, cross into Michigan. Another mile, and the station that was on the list.

Nikon didn't get this, but GoPro did

I go thru my routine - but the driver that was roughly my age in the clapped-out sedan next to me could just get screwed! His cheap-assed $4 imitation Ray-Ban glasses just couldn’t control that stare at me thru the entire time they were there. Fortunately a couple of kids jumped into the car after a couple of minutes, with soft drinks and fist-fulls of snacks, and off they went with their car running really, really rich in fuel mixture. I’m suspecting that I may have been one of the first people he’s ever seen in ATGATT apparel on a non Bar-and-Shield brand motorcycle. Jealousy? Confusion? Don’t care, gotta go - and this is probably why I missed the Bubbler mark here.

Reverse my entry into the Wolverine State and return to Hoosier-land. The shadows are getting longer, and I see the distance that remains until I reach lodging.

The time between off the toll road and back on the toll road? Eleven minutes.

I’d been randomly taking photos with my Nikon that’s been around my neck for a LOT of miles. As a precaution, I had purchased a spare battery. Well, right about this time - yep, the Nikon dies and I’m about to do my stop in Ohio.

Ohio Service Plaza. Service? Naah...

I’d chosen to do this as it was time to eat. Seems like my body finally figured out that at least something in me once a day isn’t such a bad thing. As I pass the sign, I note that one of the vendors is a bagel place. Now, right about now, a toasted bagel with peanut butter sounded really good. I pull in, walk inside (did I remind you of the time drain at these places? It’s okay now, my ride today is almost done) and head for the bagel shop.
The snooty female at the register says that the man in front of me is her last customer.
“But it’s twenty till closing”
I’m sorry, but we need time to clean up.
You’ve GOT to be sh!tting me! It seems the plaza’s restaurants close at 8pm.
I do NOT want a burger; the only other place appealing was a common chain pizza joint found in malls and airports. I’m not a big fan of over-sweet cinnamon rolls, so that establishment was crossed off the list - ugh!
Semi-warmed cheese pizza was a letdown, after I had my heart set on that bagel.

8pm closing? What - nobody travels after 8pm around here?? It's still light out!

Back on the bike, get enough fuel to make it to my motel. An hour and a half later, I’m there. Around 4055 GPSmiles in four days. At the time I couldn’t keep track of time to save my soul, but upon review, in four days, I’d only lost a couple of hours - not including the time I’m ‘losing’ as a result of east time zone crossings.

Building layout very odd, but hey it's a place to stop moving for a bit.

Did the same drill of calling home, cleaning up and getting some rest. My call home was quite short... In fact, I can sleep in a bit, if my body let’s me - it’s in the plan!

THE RIDE CONTINUES - CLICK HERE!