Another good night’s sleep was had which just shows that a long motorcycle ride is the best thing for me to sleep well. We were up about 5:30am and did the usual morning stuff. It was a little cool but certainly not chilly. When we were loaded up and ready to go, we went together to the nearby town of St. Charles and parked downtown to look at our maps.
She laid out a route via the Superchargers that would take her to Madison, WI before turning south. My route would be to Rock Island, Illinois, which is across the river from Davenport, Iowa. I have something I want to check on there, which I will explain down below. Since I am avoiding highways, I’ll be doing the stairs tapping route on county and state roads where very 15 miles or so I’ll change direction to either east or south. It’s a great way to really experience a place and all the small towns one goes through. This my proposed route.
An observation: when I was traveling across North Dakota and would come to a small town, it was always to the north or south of the road I was on, never directly through it. Once I get further east, the small roads go right through these towns with the speed limit dropping to 45, then 35, and then 25, or, in one town, to 20. I really like seeing all these out of the way places.
Another observation: the smells. Traveling by car with the windows up and the the A/C running, one missing all the smells out there. Some are animal, some are vegetable, and some are mineral. With the latter, it’s the spraying of a field with whatever they and using, probably something I shouldn’t be taking deep breaths of. The animal smells are curious as they don’t always provide a clue as to the species that originates it. Then the vegetable smalls. Sometimes it’s from a hay truck passing in the other direction or an unidentified odor that is fleeting.
The fields from North Dakota to Minnesota to Iowa have all been recently planted and whatever is in the ground is starting to come up like a green patch fuzz across the landscape. Experience tells me that in North Dakota, it’s grains, based on all the silos, and that continues through Minnesota and into Iowa. However, something else is coming up and I know that corn and soybeans will start to dominate before long.
Before I left St. Charles, I rode over to their city park to use the facilities and sit at a picnic table and update yesterday’s blog.
Now it was many miles of riding. When I started out I was on a backroads that was very hilly with lots of curves. I really like Twisties for breakfast. Right when I hit then, “Already Gone” by the Eagles came up on the playlist in my helmet. Perfect. After a bit the roads straightened out and I saw lots of sites like this:
It was starting to get warm so I stopped at a shopping center in Decorak, Iowa to get rid of my sweatshirt. I was riding in Levis today, having packed my riding pants due to the heat. I’ll take the risk. I opened all the vents on my jacket too. The was a Stanley tool manufacturing plant nearby.
I stopped for gas in Postville and it had one of those gas pumps that plays some high audio, high distortion commerical for some such thing as soon as the pump runs. However, this pumps showed where the “mute” buttons was. Some other pumps have that as well but most don’t actually work. I have a VERY strong dislike for those things. After all, I am trying to transfer an explosive hydrocarbon into a container and don’t need that kind of distraction.
Here I am at the pump in Postville.
And what a curious town. Here in the middle of Iowa, the downtown has both an Islamic center and a Jewish Center.
A ways down the road I stopped to take a couple photos that show what I was typically seeing today.
In Luxembourg, Iowa, I stopped to take a photo of the large steeple on this church.
Just down the road was the town of Little Vienna and they have a church that might be outdoing the previous one.
In Worthington, I stopped at the city park to use the facilities. I also added some air to my AirHawk pad as I am experiencing as issue that I won’t be going into detain here as it would be TMI.
Not too far down the road, I I saw a Dollar General store. As I’ve ridden all over the country the past 4 years or so, I have seen these in MANY smaller towns but had never been to one. I told myself that today, the first one I’d see at noon I’d stop at and buy a snack/lunch. I angered through the store and could see why the word “general” applies as they have a little bit of everything: diapers, motor oil, household stuff, beverages, and lots of food items. I got a small box of lemon flavored cookies and called it lunch. I ate a few in the parking lots, stowed the rest, and got on my way.
OK, the next stop is in Rock Island, Illinois. Here’s the thing. About two years ago I sent a camera to be repaired to this place. It’s a fairly expensive medium format single lens reflex that had a stuck shutter. I had a hard time finding a place and this one had good online reviews and told me they would diagnosed it for $20. OK, I sent it to them. They responded with a price to repair it and I sent the money. A month or two later I got it back, missing a lends cap. They said I hadn’t sent one. OK, we go downhill from here.
I bought another lens cap online and went ahead and used the camera. On the third roll of film the shutter jammed, just like before. The have a 6-month warranty so I contacted them and they said to sent it back. I did and then didn’t hear anything for many months. I’d send and email and get no response. I’d call and they said that it needs a part that is no longer available but a guy is supposed to be manufacturing them and they are waiting for him.
Time goes on and my emails are no longer answered and my phone calls go to a voice mail where the box is full so I cannot leave a message. Finally, in early May, I get through and talk to the guy. He informs me that due to his failing health he is shutting the business down and send customers’ orders back to them. I hear his wife in the background saying that she is helping but has to wait for his instructions. OK, I tell him I am sorry for this situation and will await the return of my camera.
So, while heading there today, my wife tells me that her post office app says that there is a package to be delivered. We have the mail held why we are gone so I’m not sure what it is since I also ordered a dash cam for the motorcycle and it could be that.
Routing my course to Rock Island would allow me to go to the shop and see what’s what and it’s not that far out of my way. When I get there, yes, it’s closed up.
After that, I rode surface streets out and through Moline before getting on the slab for a bulk of the remaining mileage. After a bit I got on a county road fro the last 40 miles or so. I got to the campground, Shabbona Lake State Park, about 5:15pm.
It was a 360 mile day.
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