For
driving through a lot of corn fields and cattle pastures, it’s been an eventful
few days since Chicago.
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| Iowa |
Our
first night camping went well. Just as night was falling, we found a park with
lovely cement pathways that led nicely around the closed gates. Closed for
cars? Yes. Closed for walkers, bicyclists and motorcycles? It seems not : )
But
just in case we would not be welcome there, we got up at the chilly crack of
dawn and headed back to town to do a little blogging and photo uploading at McDonald's. It seems many people in the US do not know this, but McD’s, in
addition to consistently selling delicious fries, consistently offers
complimentary wi-fi… a travelers best friend.
Well,
at this McDonalds in Island Lake, Illinois, I met Leroy and his friends who
regularly get together for coffee. Upon hearing our story, Leroy very
generously made a donation to our trip and “sponsored” my next few McDonald's
coffee/wifi sessions. So, this blog entry is dedicated to Leroy.
We
got back on the road and immediately it started raining. Brilliant. But on we
rode, stopping to warm up occasionally. After some map studying, we found a
recreation area near Manchester, IL. When I read recreation area, I think lake.
And when I think lake, I think covered shelter. Bingo! Sure enough, we showed
up and there was a perfect shelter, complete with picnic tables, enough room
for the tent and bikes, AND an outlet, so I could blog while Roel boiled our
rice and curry dinner. Now, this is not exactly “roughing it,” but we have to
ease ourselves back into that after staying with friends and family for the
last month.
The
temperature took a tumble overnight and by the time we dragged ourselves out of
the tent at 7am, it was apparent that it would not be a pleasant day of riding.
We wanted to get a few miles out of the way, but almost as soon as we got back
on the highway, we began looking for an exit with… you guessed it… a McDonald's.
We passed one because it was too far off of the highway, assuming that surely
there would be another one right away. Or, 100 miles later, as our luck would
have it.
By
the time we pulled into the lot at the Iowa Falls, Iowa McDonald's, it had just
started to rain and I couldn’t really feel my toes anymore. We pulled ourselves
off of the bikes, grunting as our stiff legs hit the pavement and turned to
walk into McD’s, only to see windows full of faces gawking at us and the bikes.
Sometimes we forget what a sight we must be. I guess it’s a bit of mid-West culture to “coffee” at McD’s,
as there were several groups occupying various sections of the joint.
A few
asked questions about what we were doing, a few asked if we were cold (duh!!) and
apparently one guy ran over to the local newspaper office and told them we would
be a good story… because 2 hours later we were in front of The Times Citizen
having our pictures snapped. Good times.
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| Post Times Citizen Interview |
We
continued on in a pretty dedicated manner, only stopping for a quick lunch and
to get a bit warm, until we made it to Sioux City, Iowa. We took a quick ride
around town, but it was getting late and we only had about an hour of light
left to find a camp spot, so on we rode to Ponca State Park in Ponca, Nebraska.
Well, this was a pretty swanky State Park, complete with a golf course and
lovely condos. There was a gatehouse with an open gate and a sign stating that
a park permit was necessary for entry, which could be purchased at the Visitors
Center. Well. It was 7pm. The visitors center had long since closed, and there
was a lovely stone hewn shelter with picnic tables, a hidden parking spot for
the bikes and power outlets, that was too good to ride away from. So, we made
dinner (pasta), set up the tent and got to sleep. I was a little uneasy
sleeping in that shelter as there seemed to be a lot of traffic and work
vehicles driving around the park, but given how cold it was, being in the
shelter was MUCH better than freezing out in the open.
But
sure enough, at 5:30am, the work trucks started arriving. And out of the whole
damned park, they happened to be working right next to the shelter we were
sleeping in. The way the shelter was constructed, it wouldn’t be easy for
anyone from the road 10ft away to see us, and we didn’t think the workers would
mind too much that we were there, but not wanting to take any chances, we took
particular care with packing up quickly. In the dark. Noiselessly. Moving stealthily.
We
waited until they started up one of the paving machines, and started our bikes
at the same time. Well, we tried to. My bike was a little grumpy and needed a
bit of choke/throttle coaxing in order to wake up.
I
followed Roel up the nice cement pathway that led to the road where we had to
ride by the 15+ workers with their shovels and paving machines. They obviously
hadn’t detected us at all, and I would have loved to have picked up their jaws
up off of the ground for them as they watched us ride by, but I was too busy
chuckling. Roel was calling out “Morning” in his deep voice as he rode past,
and being social, I giggled out a “Good morning” as well… but only one… with
all of my gear on, I must look like a small boy, so the poor guys shock turned
to full stupor when they realized I was in fact female.
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| Ponca, Nebraska |
We
chucked all the way to town, and only laughed more when we saw the bank clock
flashing the temperature… 31 deg F.
Really
brilliant.
We
made coffee at a park in town and Roel whipped up really nice egg/cheese
sandwiches. I ran around like a lunatic trying to get the blood to flow into my
extremities, (it’s amazing what a 5 minute ride in 31deg weather can do to your
body temperature) and we finally got on the bikes at 9am. The rest of the ride
through Nebraska took us through beautiful farmlands. Lots of corn and lots of
cattle.
South
Dakota did not give us a warm or friendly welcome. I had met a woman a few
months ago who described driving through Kansas and said it was so windy that
she had to keep her bike at a 45 deg angle to the road. I couldn’t imagine
this. Until South Dakota.
2
miles over the border, I got hit with a gust of wind seemingly out of nowhere.
As soon as I would think that I got the (literal and figurative) hang of it, I
would drive through a patch of trees, everything would go back to normal and
then after the trees, another never-ending gust would hit, knocking my bike
about on the road. Now, this wouldn’t be so terrifying if there weren’t tractor
trailers coming down the highway in the opposite lane every couple of miles.
Or, if the wind consistently blew in a manner that allowed me to anticipate the
degree of my lean. But no. It whipped around, changed angles, disappeared all
of the sudden causing me to feel like I was about to lean right down onto the
pavement or swerve into oncoming traffic. Poor Roel got an earful about how
much I despised South Dakota for the first 30 minutes. But still, I was only
probably at a 65-70 degree angle to the road.
And
then we hit a stretch of highway where I was convinced Mother Nature was a
motorcycle hater and was trying to force me to meet my maker. At that point,
the belligerent curses turned to sobs and
prayers. I was at a 45 degree angle to the pavement.
We
slowed down and Roel, with the patience of a saint let me determine the speed.
Needless to say, we didn’t make it to Rapid City, South Dakota today.
But,
we made it to a McDonald's in Winner, South Dakota. And a lovely lady named
Coleen, who owns the True Value here in town with her husband, Dan, asked us where we were staying
tonight. When we responded that we were really hoping to happen upon a farmer
so we could ask to pitch our tent in his barn, she very kindly invited us to
return home with her.
So,
I am typing this blog entry from within 4 walls. Outside the wind is howling
and the temperature will likely drop to 35 degrees again, tonight.
I
love McDonald's (and the people who frequent them).
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