Across the Heartland

Last night the internet connection in the Motel 6 was so poor that I couldn't add photos so I had to do them tonight.  Today was a good day and I made good time.  I left Toledo, OH, before 8:30 this morning and was able to get clear of Ohio and get in to Indiana quite early.  The weather was cloudy and while the temperature was around 80 F,. the rain last night lowered the humidity so for the first three hours the riding was quite comfortable. Around noon the sun came out and the temperature rose to the high 80s and the humidity returned. 

I passed by Strugis this morning, but it was in Indiana, not South Dakota.  Other towns had names like Peru (Pee-roo), Valparaiso, and when it can have a facitilitd Mishawaka.  I have heard about the fighting Irish fron the University of Notre Dame, so I made a point of riding in to South Bend to the campus of the UND.  The football stadium is larger than some NFL stadiums, (I think it holds more than 100 000 people for a football game.) and is quite modern.  It shows the relative importance of
football in the university.  Unfortunately all of the photos I took at Notre Dame were too dark because I left the polarizing filter on the camera.  I could kick myself!

The campus seems to have a great deal of new construction but the whole place projects the image of what a top notch American university should look like.  It almost seems that the campus is a self-contained small city.

Over the past two days I have had several people ask me if I was going to Sturgis.  Today an older couple with three Boxer dogs, two pups and the mother,  asked me if I was making the trip.  Right after that, I met three riders, including a really short woman who was riding a Heritage Softtail with training wheels from Pennsylvania to Sturgis.  Two other guys had ridden from Long Island to Youngstown, OH, yesterday, and almost across Illinois when I saw them.  They were making great time.  All four of us are heading to Sturgis, the biker equivalent of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.  Something that every true believer should do once in their lifetime.

Today is the second day I have been riding through almost interminable fields of corn with some soybeans thrown in for variety.  The ethanol subsidies appear to be working and from the sizes of some of the farms I suspect that they are owned not by individual farmers, but by big agricultural corporations.  I passed an ethanol plant as well.  It was a huge operation and considering the corn surrounding it, it would have to be.  The other thing is that all of the gasoline for sale here has 'Up to 10% ethanol' as it indicates on the pumps.  Even premium gas is included unlike Canada where some stations specifically state the it does not contain any ethanol.

The interstate highways here are full of trucks.  It's not unusual to pass a line of ten trucks because the speed limit for them is often 65 mph while for other vehicles it is 70 mph.  Often a truck will cut into the passing lane with very little warming, the driver frustrated  I suppose, at the slower trucks ahead of him.  There are roadside parking areas for trucks and often they are full.  Truckers are also warned not to park on the shoulders of highways.

As I cross this country, the geography is much the same as it was in many parts of Canada, but I don't have the connection to it that I felt for the Canadian prairies and forests.  It is beautiful country and all but the constant flag waving here is a little too 'in your face' and somewhat alien to me despite the time I spent in Seattle when I studied for my Master's degree.

The rest of the day was spent riding and part of that was going south to avoid Chicago.  Unfortunately, I also had to forego the opportunity to visit the Harley factory in Milwaukee because I would have had to go through Chicago to get there.  Maybe some other time.  Rdidng across Illinois took most of the day and somewhere in the middle of the state I crossed into the Central time zone so I had to move my watch back an hour.  It gave me an extra day of riding and toward the end of the day I crossed the second Mississippi River that I have crossed in two weeks.  This one is considerably larger than the first one, though.

One, Mississippi. Near Innisville, ON

Two, Mississippi. (The Big One near Davenport, Iowa.)

Bridge over the Mississippi between Illinois and Iowa

I was able to get a decent room in the Travelodge in Davenport, Iowa so I should be able to make a good start toward south Dakota tomorrow.  I'll ride to Iowa City, then north to Waterloo, and into Minnesota.  I hope to make it to Sioux City, South Dakota tomorrow,  a ride of about 425 miles and then on to Sturgis on Friday.  The temperatures are forecast to be in the high 80s for the rest of the week so the riding should be a bit of a challenge again tomorrow.