Another day of adventure. After spending an unplanned night in a motel, I am happy to report that the tornado did not materialize in Albert Lea but we did get some massive rain storms. When I got up at 5am the rain had left behind a dense fog and I could barely see across the adjacent highway. The weather app indicated more rain between 7 and 8am, heavy at times, so I took my time getting the day together.
About 7:30 I packed and started loading the bike. Whatever rain had thought about showing up had changed its mine so it was time to hit the road. Rather than travel northwest toward the campground I’d stay in tonight, I headed south on I-35 for a bit more dark touristing. While back in Pittsburgh I’d gone to Andy Warhol’s grave and visited a few cemeteries, I don’t really consider myself a “dark tourist” but when I saw how close I was to Clear Lake, Iowa, I just had to go.
The weather was actually pretty nice and I enjoyed hitting the freeway speeds first thing in the morning. The navigator app gave me some wrong information and I ignored its command to exit the freeway and continued on to the next ramp, county road 300. I rode it for a half mile and then did 3/4 of gravel roads. I generally do not like being off pavement but these weren’t too bad.
I arrived at my destination, the parking lot from where I would hike to site of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and their pilot in 1959.
There is a memorial at the start of the trail
The hike is about 1/2 mile through an easement that the property owner has granted.
The memorial at the site is quite nice.
I hiked back and then rode the 5 miles to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, where Buddy had played his last show the evening before the crash.
That was it for my tourist excursion this morning and well worth the effort. Now to head to the campground which is somewhere north, east of Fargo, ND. I charted a route all on backroads that the app said would take me about 7 hours. Before leaving I got gas at a station on Buddy Holly Place. I saw two other nearby streets named of Valens and the Bopper.
I stopped for a break in Emmons, MN. When I looked at the map I saw that I was on the state line so I walked back and took of photo of the bike while I was standing in Iowa and it was in Minnesota .
And a photo of the town.
I stopped in Alden, MN because the clouds up ahead told me I would be needing my rain gear. It has a pond in the middle of town.
Just down the road I pulled over for an another milestone on the odometer.
Here’s what’s up ahead.
And then I hit the rain. Lots of rain. I rode in a steady, sometimes heavy, downpour for the next 1-1/2 hours. While not a preferred riding condition, this bike is just excellent. I cruise along at or slightly about the speed limit and it feels just like it does if the weather was clear and dry. The only times I slowed down was when it got really heavy and visibility was an issue.
After a bit the rain would let up and then the temperature dropped. It was about 60° and with the wind I’d generate riding, I started getting cold. I was mostly dry but my jacket gets wet (the liner inside keeps me dry) but then it acts like an evaporative cooling system. The PinLock thing in my visor prevents it from fogging up. But, of course, my gloves are soaked. I countered that by turning my grip heaters up all the way.
Here’s radar map of what I am riding through.
Somewhere along the way, when the rain had let up, I pulled over and dug a couple extra t-shirts out of my bag and put them on to help warm me up a bit. That really did help. Here’s a couple photos from that stop.
I stopped for a break, and lunch, in Hutchinson. 4 years ago when I rode cross country to Pittsburgh, I’d camped here overnight. I passed Hwy 212 just south of town, the road I took from Billings to here back then. The lunch break help warm me up.
I stopped for gas in Hoffman, MN and it was raining again. It’s just the way it’s going to be today. I went through Fergus Falls, a very nice place, and stopped for a map check.
It wasn’t far to the campground from here. I stopped for another photo along the way.
I’d left the rain behind and arrived at the campsite just in time as my wife had already set up the big tent. We hadn’t seen each other since yesterday morning so we caught up on our adventures while we had salads and chips and dip for dinner. I’d made hot cocoa to warm me up and it worked. I had a nice IPA for afters while I wrote this.
It was a 408 mile day.
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