July 3, 2016

I am trying to keep these posts in order and have definitely come to the realization that daily updates are not going to happen at this point; so here goes my attempt at a weekly one.     

So where to go after Peoria, IL well.......lets see if we can make it to Waterloo, IA. A simple day of taking Hwy. 116 to 34 all the way over to Burlington, IA then taking 218 north to Waterloo. 7.5 hours and 432.5km later we checked into the Comfort Inn. A grocery store supper of salads, yogurt and frozen yogurt treats. Checking the odometer on the bike at layup for the night showed 49,999km. I guess it won't be difficult now to hit 50,000km tomorrow.👍

Biker chick in the corn fields and it's not finished growing.

The Great River Bridge over the Mississippi River at Burlington, Iowa

A break from the heat of the day beside the Mississippi in Burlington, Iowa June 27 

Leaving town and continuing our travel north towards even more FLAT country, we put in 528km riding under cloudy skies. Made the effort to ride through just a tad of  Minnesota, Iowa 20 to 59 then 60 to Worthington MN, then blasting west on Interstate 90 to Cedar Falls, South Dakota. While checking in to the Sleep Inn a retired gentleman from Bakersfield CA asked if I was staying the night.

The question caught me off guard so I asked him why. He quickly told me that he had been staying there for several days now and informed me that a women staying at this establishment had her Harley stolen just the night before.(June 27).......... What to do? Well we were on the ground floor ( always my preference while on the bike) so I parked on the lawn and slept with the window open. (I could reach out and touch the bike) It rained through the night so we were cautious about leaving In the morning.

June 29th saw us riding under threatening skies. We rode north on the town bypass to find Hwy 34 and rode west to Hwy 281 before turning right (north again) and pushed on to Jamestown, North Dakota. We did get rained on today, but just for a few minutes while passing Millarton. Someone must be looking out for us! We allowed the Hampton Inn to put us up for the night and went for a walk to pick up a light supper. While cleaning the winshield I struck up a conversation with a safety officer (from Houston, TX) working near by on a wind farm project. The bike does attract conversation. He was telling me that the night before (June 28th) the LED  light bar off the ceiling of his truck was stollen while sitting in the motel parking lot. I went inside and inquired as to where the best view from the front desk and best camera view of front entrance canopy was. I parked it right there, as our room was on the second floor in the back. What is it with people taking what is not their's? In case some may be wondering, I purchased gas today in Coleman, SD @ $ 2.799/USgal that is getting up there. The ride today was 510.7km

So here it is Thurs. June 30 and the target stop for the day was CANADA......Estevan, SK in particular.

Passports in hand we pulled up to Portal and all I did was flip up the chin bar on the new Shoei modular but Gayle had to remove her full face helmet and expose her helmet hair with out the opportunity of floofing in first or checking with a mirror! Welcome back to Canada😎

We did make it into Estevan but after riding through town checking on places to stay thought it felt like a loud oil boom town like Fort St John BC back in the day, so we pressed on for another 50 minutes to find a quiet room at the Canalta Inn in Weyburn, SK. Again while hand washing the bike before putting it up for the day, an older couple (70 each) from Dallas, TX came out of the room next to us and inquired about the bike. Turns out she  was born up the peninsula near L'anse aux Meadows and was a chemist in her working years and he was a civil engineer (from Texas) They ride a Honda Goldwing Trike now, as knee replacements and other health issues took them off two wheels. On this trip for a grand daughters highschool grad, they chose the Ford half ton! Travel distance today was 576.5km .....last US gas purchase for awhile in Portal, ND @ $2.499/USgal.

Canada Day 2016 saw us ride 380km under a thunderstorm watch to Saskatoon. We managed to stay dry all day and had lively catchup conversations with Gayle's brother Bob and our sister in law Lynn. The evening was delightfully put into high gear after the arrival of their daughter Jennifer's 4.5 year old Olivia and 1.5 year old Maeve. What wonderful lively girls they are. Jay, Jennifer's husband, is every bit as good with new to us Maeve as I remember him being with Olivia, when we were here three years ago. Does not take long to feel at home whenever we stay with the LeMesuriers.