An 8300 mile motorcycle road trip over a 5 week period. I'll be photographing, videoing and writing about all the cool stuff I see and do along the way.
So I left Spokane after just over 3000 miles of being on the road
and headed west on highway 2. This is a route that I've taken several time before but I've always liked it. You get a good look at nearly all of Washington's many climates (there are a lot of them). It started off as the rolling hills typical right around Spokane but quickly leveled out to some good farmland. Mostly wheat which was nice and ripe and golden. That continued for a while until the rolling hills came back, this time much drier though. There were very few trees and it was mostly ranch land (cattle and a few horses). The ranch land quickly gives way to desert where the only thing growing (it seems) is sage brush.
Also in that area is the Grand Coulee Dam which was until Hoover Dam was built the largest in the world. It's because of that dam and it's fellow dams on the Columbia river that Washington has electricity and irrigated farmland.
At some point during all that looking at scenery I stopped at a place in Reardan for a cup of coffee (I hadn't slept well the night before. Justin's futon kept wanting to turn from a bed into a couch while I was on it. Very uncomfortable). Parked out in front of the place was this car. Nice.
After Grand Coulee Dam, I took highways 174, 17 and 97 until I ran into highway 20 which would become the North Cascade Highway. I've been through the NCH a couple times before and always liked it. I was really looking forward to trying it on a bike. Check out a few of these pictures and you can see what it was like.
Somewhere on this mountain is where Jack Karowak spent a summer in a fire watcher's tower.
As I rolled into Whidbey Island, I passed Deception Pass, which has a tall bridge spanning two huge chunks of rock with Puget Sound in between them.
And the view from the top of the bridge.
I got to Rory and Marcella's just in time for dinner.
Tune in next time to find out what we had for dinner.
So I got into Spokane in time for dinner. I brought all my huckleberry products (chocolate and jam) and some fresh peaches I'd bought at a farmer's market in Coeur d'Alene. Mom was cooking up some pork chops and asked me to season them. I like to cook and hadn't done it for quite a while so it was kind of nice. I tried using cinnamon on the pork with garlic and ginger. It worked out pretty good. I also played with Shaun's cat, Lexi. Shaun lives in LA but until recently rented a room from some guy who didn't like pets so Lexi has been staying at our parent's house.
That's pretty much all that happened that night. I was pretty tired and went to bed early.
The next morning (after blissfully sleeping in) I rode my bike into downtown for lunch with Justin, my oldest brother. He's tipping the age scales at somewhere nearing 40 I think. He's really getting up there. (He told me that he hadn't been reading my blog so I figured I'd put this in there about him and see if he ever done read this. Expect some incendiary comment if he does, he's actually 32).
Lunch was and Jack and Dan's Tavern, the quintessential Padden hangout in Spokane. While waiting for the old guy to show up, I ordered a Mac and Jack's beer. This is an awesome beer that I've only ever seen in the North West. If you ever have the chance to try it, I'd highly recommend it. Their brewery is in Redmond, WA, near Seattle. www.mackandjacks.com.
After lunch, Justin and I went to his new office. He works for Gonzaga University in the finance department. They just moved their offices to a different location and earlier in the day had their safe moved to the new site. This thing is a classic. It was built sometime in the 1890s and still has all it's original parts. Gonzaga acquired thing thing in 1910. They're still building part of the safe room but I was lucky enough to get a few shots of the thing before it's all sealed up for good. Pretty cool, eh? A little bit of Spokane history.
I spent the afternoon having coffee with my dad and talking about the trip and the political situation in eastern Washington. Dad has always been very involved in local politics. Dad also told me that several post ago when talking about the West Virginia/Ohio Padden's I mentioned Jim Padden. I was actually talking about Dan Padden and just got the name mixed up with his brother. My sincere apologies, Dan.
Dinner was stir fry chicken (with cinnamon again, I'm really liking this stuff). While the chicken was cooking I got the chance to go talk to Ron who is my parent's neighbor. Ron and his wife Hope have always been very good family fiends and it was nice to see him again. We talked about my trip and Ron's riding days.
The evening was cool and there weren't any bugs out. It makes me very jealous when I think back to the summer nights in Maryland. It never cools down much at night, the air is so thick with humidity it's like trying to breath through soup and the mosquitoes are huge and numerous. Spokane (and the west in general) is so much different. Maybe it's just because I grew up there that I associate the climate there with what a climate "should be". Either way, I'm liking Spokane more and more the longer I stay.
After dinner I went up to Justin's house and then out for drinks with some friends. We were joined by Matt, Patti, Brook and Gina (and one of Gina's friends who's name I can't remember). These are people that I got to know over the years any time I was in Spokane. Sadly Jen, Matt's wife couldn't make it (some work thing). Neither could Dan and Missy. Dan was in Texas and Missy just had a kid and didn't want to bring her to the bar. Anyway, a good time was had by all. This video is Patti's reaction after she said something perfectly innocent but that sounded filthy dirty.
The next morning I plan on heading to Whidbey Island, on Washington's west coast to see Rory, Marcella and Ethan (my godson). I'm going to take the North Cascade Highway, one of my favorite roads. It's right up there with highway 14 along the Columbia River in southern Washington and the newer favorite of highways 71 and 385 through the Black Hills in South Dakota. I'll let you know how it goes.
(I know, I know. I'm behind in my postings. I'm working to get caught up. This is was I did on the 23rd. I'll get up to date soon.)
So the day started off with me waking up in a bad mood. Despite my exhausting day, I somehow didn't sleep well. Go figure. I did however start to improve after a couple cups of coffee and a look at the view out of my hotel room. Not bad for stumbling into the last hotel in town well after dark.
I got on the road pretty early and headed for Spokane, my planned endpoint for the day. It's also where I grew up and where my parents and one of four brother's still live. The seven and a half hour drive is less then some of the day's I've done so far so I wasn't too worried about not making it that far.
I was still pretty cold when I set out. Something like 55 degrees or so. That's a guess on my part but I think it's pretty close. It was cold enough that when I got to Belgrade, MT I stopped at the Harley dealership there to get a face mask (a little cloth thing that covers the lower part of my face so I don't get wind burn). That along with a short sleeve shirt, a long sleeve shirt and my jacket made the trip fairly comfortable. I know 55 doesn't seem that cold but keep in mind I was riding at about 75 MPH so add that wind chill to it and it's a bit cold.
I stayed on I90 pretty much the whole way to Spokane. Not my first choice but there aren't really many ways to go northwest from Yellowstone. I could have gone up to highway 2 but that's really far to the north. It's the route I would have taken if I had gone through Glacier. I also could have taken highway 12 but that would put me pretty far south of Spokane and add on quite a few hours. So instead I stayed on I90. That said, I90 through western Montana, northern Idaho and into Washington is not a bad road at all. There's lots of scenery as it twists through the Rockies. Plus, I've taken that road so many times in the past that I'm pretty familiar with it. It felt kind of nice to be on a known road after so many uncertain routes that I've been on in the last week or so.
I stopped in Butte, MT for lunch at Trimbo's Pizza. I kind of had to look for a bit before I found it. I wasn't looking for Trimbo's specifically when I pulled into Butte, I was just looking for something that looked interesting. I just rode around town for a bit before I came apron this place. I didn't want to wait for a pizza so I had the Italian beef sandwich which was excellent.
Continuing on, I stopped next in St. Regis, MT. I have to admit that I always stop in St. Regis whenever I go through this area. St. Regis is just this tiny little town but they have a shop there where you can get all kinds of things with huckleberries in them. Now, believe it or not, I've actually met people who have never seen nor tasted a huckleberry before and actually think that they don't exist. They think of huckleberries like the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot. Well, let me tell you, they exist and taste wonderful. They kind of look like a blueberry but taste so much better. They only grow in high elevations so I don't think anyone has ever domesticated them. People have to hike up into the mountains and fight the bears for them. (Bears like huckleberries proving what I already knew about bears having good taste. I mean, come on. They like all kinds of berries and salmon and the occasional deer. All good stuff.) Anyway, I got some huckleberry jam and chocolate and then sat outside and had a huckleberry shake. You can only get huckleberries in certain parts of the country at certain times of the year so when whenever I'm able, I get as much as I can. I just wish I could have gotten some fresh ones and made my Grandmother's huckleberry cream pie, the epitome of huckleberry products.
I continued west, stopping only at the top of Lookout Pass on the Montana/Idaho border for a quick picture. To me, Lookout was always the point where I knew I was close to home. So naturally I had to stop.
Up to this point I had mostly been climbing up the Rockies. Now it was time for some downhill. If you've ever been through this area you know that there's very little need to step on the gas. You just let gravity do it's thing and try to hold on. It's pretty fun.
I rolled into Spokane at about 5:30, just in time to clean up for dinner. I'll be taking some time off and spending a day and two nights in Spokane. I'm really looking forward to just hanging out with family and friends and not riding anywhere for a day.
I continued west for a ways until I saw a sign that said Medicine Wheel 3 miles. I figured why not so I took that side road. The road quickly turned into a gravel trail barely wide enough for one care. It wound around a couple hills before stopping at a little parking lot with a hut at one end. By the hut was a park ranger. When I asked her where the medicine wheel was she pointed up a small trail and said "It's 1.5 miles that way. But it's kind hilly so it ends up being uphill both ways". Great. But I figured I'm already here, I might as well. Besides it would be nice to get off the bike for a while and walk around. I quickly learned that my riding boots are riding boots and not walking boots. I also discovered quickly that I was at 10,000 feet and that they air at that altitude is a bit thin. Literally 10,000 feet. I'm pretty sure that outside of a plane, I've never been up that high before.
When I got to the top there was another park ranger there to help explain to people what the medicine wheel is. He told me that no one really knows who built the thing or how long ago it was built. The estimated time frame for it's construction is somewhere between 1200 and 1700 AD. Obviously a pretty broad estimate. Before I got there I was thinking back to the Black Hills. I could really see why the Lakota consider that area sacred. Sacred probably isn't the word I would choose; maybe serene or something. I had that same feeling about this medicine wheel. To be on top of the world practically and in the presence of something so mysterious was both exhilarating and calming all at the same time. It was quite an experience.
So after I hoofed it back to my bike (I was passed by a van coming the other direction carrying a bunch of old and infirm people to the medicine wheel. Very disheartening.) I continued west on highway 14 (alt). I left Bighorn, passed through Cody, WY, where I had originally wanted to spend the night last night, at about 4 in the afternoon. Thinking I'd better haul ass if I wanted to make it through Yellowstone before dark, I pressed on. I could see that it was raining ahead of me somewhere, which was a bit worrying. I thought the rain was a ways off when, just outside of Cody I was hit by a wall of wind and hail. Fearing that I would be knocked over, I pulled over to the side of the road and got off my bike. I was just wearing a tee shirt at the time and I could feel every bit of hail hitting me. I pulled my leather jacket out of the saddle bag and hunkered down under it on the side of the road to wait out storm. I was worried that the wind would knock over my bike but fortunately it was pointed into the wind. I think if it had been a side wind I would have been in trouble. Lucky for me the wind and hail only lasted for two or three minutes. It was a crazy two or three minutes though.
After the storm passed, I continued into Yellowstone. By this time is was raining and I was soaked and miserable. It was also getting pretty cold. Yellowstone itself was pretty cool I have to admit. The only problem is that I was cold and wet and tired and just wanted to get through it and find some place to sleep. I did see some more buffalo which was pretty cool. There was one big bastard that was walking down the middle of the street. There were cars back up behind him and cars passing him going the other direction. He didn't care one way or the other. I approached him head on and went right around him. He didn't even blink an eye when I went past. I didn't get a picture because I was riding. It really made me wish I had a helmut mounted camera or something so I could share stuff like that with you.
I did stop at some mud pits. One was called the Dragon's Mouth (or something like that, I'm can't remember exactly.) That was really cool.
Look at how green that stream is. What causes that? Algae maybe? I don't know.
I didn't see Old Faithful. It was a ways out of my way and there was no guarantee that it would have been erupting when I got there. You can't win them all. I'll have to hit it up next time I do a trip like this (whenever that is).
As I left Yellowstone it started to rain again. There had been a little break for a while but I stopped at a place for some hot coffee and while I was warming myself up the rain caught up too me. I left Yellowstone and went into Gardiner, MT right outside the north gate to the park. There were several hotels in town but they all seemed to be full. Apparently a bunch of the people that were camping in the park decided to get a hotel for the night because of the rain. I managed to get one of the last rooms in the last hotel in town (the furthest one from the park entrance). I was just glad that I didn't have to go to the next town up as it was already pretty dark by this point. I collapsed into bed and dreamt of a rain free tomorrow. My wish was granted but you'll have to read the next post to find out about it.
Alright, I know I've kept my many, many adoring fans waiting on this post for far too long. I've had reports that some of you are even going into withdrawals. Fear for your health has motivated me to sit down and write this. Enjoy.
So 22 August, Tuesday started off poorly. I hadn't slept well, I felt like I was coming down with something and I was generally unmotivated. I figured I'd be sure to have a good breakfast before heading out. Maybe that would make me feel better. So I did a search online for good breakfast places in Buffalo and guess what came up. McDonald's. Not what I had in mind. I did some more Google searches and still didn't come up with anything that looked the slightest bit appetizing. At that point I got frustrated and decided I'd find somewhere along the way and have a late breakfast/early lunch. But then as I was headed out of town I saw Pistol Pete's, a cafe that served breakfast. They turned out to have an awesome ham and cheese omelet with some amazing green chili sauce poured over the top. And their coffee was really good too.
Feeling fortified I headed north along I90 for a little bit before turning west on highway 14 and into Bighorn National Forrest. My thinking at the time was to blow through Bighorn quickly so I could make it too Yellowstone with some time left in the day to look around. This plan abruptly changed when I entered the forrest. Coming in on 14 you enter Bighorn by climbing what I can only call a massive cliff (or at least a really big hill). The road switchbacks up this cliff which has all the rock layers exposed. They put signs up along the way so you know what age and how old the layers are. (Permian, Cambrian etc.) All very cool.
There are also several turnouts where you can stop and look out at the view and see the road you just took winding up the hill. I stopped at several of them. It was all very majestic.
When you get to the top of the cliff the land levels out a bit and is generally flat with a few hills and valleys here and there. It was incredibly beautiful and it really made me realize that this is the kind of stuff that I miss while living in Maryland. There are no mountains or scenery like this where I live. I miss it.
At one such stop I came across a pack of wild hippies. Note the telltale signs of wild hippies; the pickup truck heavily overloaded, the unwashed hair, the tie-died shirts and the bare feet. They seemed pretty laid back though (as hippies often are). The fellow standing on the guard rail decided he would moon his friend while she took a picture shortly after I snapped this shot. They are clearly a fun loving pack.
I stopped at a visitor's center just to look around and take a few pictures. The cool mountain air was great. After the hot wind blasted roads I've been on (like in Nebraska), this was bliss. I could just sit there, smell the pine forests and the wildflowers and let the breeze wash over me. Awesome.
I don't gave much time to write right now, trying to make good time to Spokane so I can meet some people for dinner. I'll give you all the details about yesterday later tonight. For now I'll say that it started off really great but then there was hail, then rain, then freezing cold. I lived through it though so it wasn't that bad.
Today was good. It was long and at times hard but in the end it was really good. I started out in Gordon, Nebraska. It wasn't as far as I had hoped to get to yesterday but it wasn't too bad. I headed north into the Black Hills and South Dakota. The ride was awesome, lots of nice scenery and hills to ride around. I was hoping I'd be able to see some buffalo and before long my wish was answered. At first it was one buffalo off in the distance and then more and then even more closer up. Check out the video.
And now for the main attraction. This was an area where there were buffalo hanging out right by the road. At first everything seemed ok but then two of the great beasts tried to cross the road and found me and my motorcycle in their way. They charged and me, in my immense wisdom, got the hell out of there.
OK, so they didn't actually charge but they might have, you never know. They are wild animals after all.
So I continued north and passed through Hot Springs, SD. It was a very cool town and I kind of wish I had spent more time there. It was one of those old towns but it did't have that annoying, "we keep the town like this for the tourists" looks to it. It was pretty cool. I don't think they get many tourists through there. Most of the Mt. Rushmore crowd come down from the north (from I90) so this place was less affected by the hordes of tourists. It was nice.
From Hot Springs north along highway 385 to Custer was one of the nicest roads I've been on so far. It wound around and through a bunch of canyons and gave some really nice views.
My first real stop was the Crazy Horse Monument. Very cool place. They are carving the mountain (Mt. Rushmore style) into a monument of Crazy Horse, the one time leader of the Lokata tribe. The thing is huge, way bigger than Rushmore. In fact, they said that all of the heads on Mt. Rushmore could fit inside the head of Crazy Horse. The monument has been in the works for 40 years or so. The guy who started it died but his wife and kids are continuing the project. One of the cool things about it is that they're not taking any government money. Every dime is raised from private donations and the proceeds from the visitors. Below is what the monument will look like when it's done in the foreground and the actual mountain in the background.
Pretty cool, eh? Inside they have a museum and some Lokata guys selling artwork and jewelry etc. That's where I met Harry Burke who was selling some necklaces. I'm normally not much of a necklace kind of guy but this one caught my eye. The long black parts are made of buffalo bone. Harry and his wife, Lula Red Cloud made these necklaces until Lula died a couple years ago so now it's just Harry making and selling these.
The next stop was Mt. Rushmore. It was very disappointing. The whole thing felt like a tourist trap. The mountain itself was very cool and amazing but everything around it was packed with families from all over. It felt more claustrophobic than anything else. I didn't stay long. I hope that doesn't make me too un-American.
I came out of the Black Hills and into Sturgis, SD. Every year Sturgis hosts the biggest biker rally in the country. That rally ended a week or so ago. I could easily see how the town markets itself to bikers. Mostly with bars. Now that the rally is over it's pretty much just a small town. I did get a tee shirt though and stopped for lunch to have a buffalo burger. It was my way of celebrating my near death experience when the herd of wild buffalo tried to kill me.
I wanted to end the day in Cody, Wy which is right outside the eastern edge of Yellowstone. Like the last couple days, I didn't make it quite that far. I'm in Buffalo, Wy. It's not too far from Cody. Yet again, I ended the day heading west with the sun blazing away right into my face. I got pretty hot. Also, from Gillette to Buffalo there is nothing at all along I90. I found that out when I noticed I was running low on fuel. I started looking for gas stations and found absolutely nothing. When I got into Buffalo the fuel gauge was below "E" and the gas light was on. I was a little worried there for a while but I made it. I didn't really want to go on I90 or any interstate today but it was really the only real option.
So I decided to change my plan. After Yellowstone I was planning on going north to Glacier National Park. But with me not making it quite as far as I hoped for the last few days I think I need to cut something out. Glacier I've been too before several times. I was looking forward to going through there on the bike but that's life. Now I'm planning on leaving Yellowstone and heading west through Idaho to Spokane. Hopefully this will save me some time and I'll get to Spokane a little sooner. I'm not really sure what route I'll take. There aren't may roads through that area and it's pretty rural all throughout there. I'll figure it out. In the meantime, I'm going to bed.
So I was a little worried about today. There was a thunderstorm rolling through Nebraska and it looked like I was going to get hit with it. Luckily there was a little gap in the storm that I was able to duck through. After that it was sunny and clear for the rest of the way. I stopped in Lincoln at the Harley dealership there and bought a shirt (I'm running out of clean ones) and a cup holder that latched on my handlebars. The shirt turned out to be just fine but the upholder was crap. My bottle of water bounced out of it at the first bump. I took it off shortly after that. Waste of money. I was really looking forward to having one on there because it's so easy to get dehydrated. The sun is so hot out here and with all the wind you really don't feel yourself sweating but you are. I guess I'll just have to make do with gunning down water at every gas station I stop at.
Anyway, after Lincoln I got on Highway 36 and headed west to Grand Island (which was neither grand nor an island) where I turned north and went to O'Neil. O'Neil claims to be the Irish capital of Nebraska. They had a four leaf clover painted on the main intersection in town. I stopped for peach pie and coffee at a diner there. I got some weird looks when I walked in there, a look like they didn't like some outsider in their restaurant. By the way, the peaches clearly came out of a can. Very disappointing.
West on highway 20 after that. Ever since Ohio the land has been pretty flat. It's just been miles and miles of flat farmland. Terrain wise it's been very boring so I was happy to see some hills starting up. Not many and not big hills but hills all the same.
(Not sure how to edit the maps so they look right on this. Sorry)
I stopped for dinner at a steak house in Valentine, NE. I figured I really should have a steak before I left cattle country. It was pretty good I have to say. I'm thinking it was pretty fresh. I did get that same "outsider" look again. That has pretty much been the standard in these little podunk towns.
I normally don't have dinner until I get to wherever I'm going for the night, mostly because after a long day and some dinner all I want to do is go to sleep. The reason I stopped this time is because the sun was really blazing down on me. Since I was headed due west it was right in my face. I figured if I let it set a bit it would be easier to deal with. It was but the downside is that now I was running late. Not that I had anywhere in particular that I need to be but I did want to be close to the Black Hills so I can see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument and still make it a good distance west tomorrow. I ended up stopping in Gordon just as it was getting dark. It was the third town I tried to stop in but the first that actually had a hotel. One place had a whopping population of 113. Apparently that means they don't get a hotel, motel or inn. Maybe you have to have 114 people in a town before you get one, who knows. The hotel in Gordon didn't give me a good first impression but as it turns out it's actually pretty nice, and cheap.
That picture is no joke. The nice old guy who runs the place had two cats in the office that seemed very happy to have someone there new to pet them. The guy told me that the fire happened a while ago and now he's down to just 9 rooms and most people take one look at the place and drive on. He was pretty happy I stayed. I was pretty happy he was open because I don't think there's much civilization past here.
P.S. This new seat is really great. With the old one I was starting to wonder if I would be able to finish this trip when every time I got on the bike I was that uncomfortable. I used to shift my weight around all the time just to change the pressure points and make things a bit more comfortable and I had to stop at least every hour or so. Now, after an hour on the bike I have only the smallest amount of discomfort. I'm quite happy with it.
I'm gonna try to push west right away and try to get through that little break in the front you see south of Omaha. Once I'm through there I should be good for the rest of the day at least. Wish me luck.
P.S. Cold Valentino's pizza makes for a pretty good breakfast.
Today was an awesome day. I'll tell you all about it at the end of this post. See, that's what we writers (yes, I now consider myself a writer) call foreshadowing. It means that you will want to read all the way to the end to find out why this was such a good day. If I don't win a Peabody for this then something's messed up.
I stopped for breakfast in Pocahontas. It's the home of country music star Gretchen Wilson. That's all that's going for that place. The food was not good. They focused on cramming as much food and grease onto a plate and I'm pretty sure they cooked that bacon earlier in the morning and just heated it up when I got there. I didn't each much.
Speaking of breakfast, I talked about the Daybreak Diner a few posts ago. After I uploaded that post I ended up talking to the guy at the grill for a bit. It turns out he's the owner, chef and chief dishwasher. It's just him and one waitress working there. Mike was his name I think. Anyway, Mike worked construction most of his life before he saved up enough money to start his diner. The food is awesome, especially the gravy. If you're ever going through Columbus, OH look it up and stop in. It's not in the best neighborhood but it's worth it.
So the day started with a stop at Cahokia Mounds in St. Louis. Like I said in the last post, Cahokia was this huge city that was built along the Mississippi somewhere around 1050 AD. They built these big mounds all over the place but the biggest was Monk's Mound. This was the big central pyramid that is(was) the largest man made structure north of Mexico City at the time. It's also the third largest pyramid in the new world. The museum that they have there on the site is actually pretty good. I was expecting some run down place but it was really well put together. The big mound itself has eroded quite a bit and to be honest it's not that impressive any more. It just looks like a big hill with some stairs going up the side. There was also the Woodhenge. It's just like Stonehenge but made of wood. Overall, seeing the site wasn't all that interesting. I think learning about the city itself is very interesting but actually seeing....not so much. It just looks like some grass covered hills. On a side note, the museum didn't hardly mention the human sacrifices found there. There were something like 300 people (mostly young women) who were buried with this one guy, some rich, important guy. The 300 people all had slit throats or their heads bashed in and were all arranged around the rich guy. Pretty messed up eh? I can't imagine why they don't put that in the museum. See, this is why I read books, so I can learn all the things they don't put in the museum.
When I got a little west of St. Louis I got off the interstate and headed north on highway 63 and then west on highway 36. By the way, who in their right mind puts highway 63 right next to 36? I'm tempted to write to the city planner of Macon, MO and let him know about my displeasure. On a side note, Macon also sports the "Huggybear Flea Market". Huggybear, the friendly neighborhood pimp from Starsky and Hutch has apparently retired to run his flea market. Tell me that's not funny.
I had a lot of bugs on my windshield. There are a bunch of butterflies out; maybe it's their mating season or something because there are always two flying around together. I hit one and the smudge on the windshield actually looked like a butterfly. It was almost art-like. These are the things I think about when I get bored. Check it out, it's the pinkish looking shape on the left.
Now for the part that made this day so good. It starts with bad but ends good. Yesterday I talked about the soft gel pad that I bought for my seat. Well, it sucked. I ended up taking it off and the seat was noticeably more comfortable (though still not very comfortable). So I stopped in St. Joseph at the Harley dealership and bought an entirely new seat. When I went in there I wasn't expecting to find much (clearly I've gotten used to the dealership near where I live that never has anything in stock) but they had a seat there that fit my bike and was comfortable. When I sat on it for the first time, it felt like sitting on whale (I imagine that whales are pretty soft, you know, because of all the blubber). I think it will make the rest of my trip much, much better. It cost about $300 but I already think it was worth it.
So I made it almost to Omaha tonight. I'm staying in Nebraska City, just south of town. I felt kind of bad because I asked everyone for suggestions on where to go in Omaha but I didn't make it quite that far. One of the suggestions I got was Valentino's Pizza. When I got to the hotel I found a ad for Valentino's that said the deliver to the hotel. Turns out it's not bad pizza.
The plan for tomorrow is to make it to somewhere near Mt. Rushmore/the Crazy Horse Monument. It's supposed to rain tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. Should be fun.
