Over 5K down and a few more to go!

Well, it is hard to keep the blog completely updated as we did last year. What a challenge this ride is with a time limit of 21 days. We rode from Oshawa, Canada to Battle Creek, MI  in warm weather at last and so dry as compared to last week. When leaving Battle Creek, we thought we would run into some rain but were able to skirt the terrible storms around the Chicago area to I 80. As we ran through Iowa we kept hearing about the the tornado warnings for Eastern Iowa that we had just passed through. The winds were very strong and I would have to say my hands and arms were tired by the time we stopped at Grinnell, Iowa for the night. Jacquie was a pleasure to deal with when checking in. She makes a mean Rhubarb pie and happily shared some with us as we checked in. We headed on to I 29 and stopped for lunch and gas and as we were finishing we discovered that a storm was heading our way. I told the boys, let's go and I mean right now! I don't want to put rain gear on, haha if I don't have to. We ran fast and hard to the past Sioux City and into South Dakota. We had the cold down burst and gusty winds pushing us along. We stayed in Mitchell, SD for the night and were warned by several people about watching out for the many deer along the way. We did see a few but most of them were lying on the road already. We blew through South Dakota, stopping at Wall Drug for lunch. You have to experience it as there is nothing like it. My darling husband couldn't resist helping me pick out some Black Hills gold gems while there. He is just the greatest guy in the whole world. Lucky me to have a motorcycle riding fool for a best friend/husband. On to Montana, it's one of the best parts of the ride as far as I'm concerned. Antelope all over the place,the mountains are beautiful which also makes for some fun riding. Not just those long flat roads, yuk. For those of you couples out there that ride together, food for thought... isn't it funny that you can ride down the same road and yet don't see the same things. Clear weather and cool mornings but warm afternoons made it possible to shed the coats. Soon we will not need these or the rain boots again. We passed through Idaho and entered Washington today for another spectacular ride. We will make Blaine tomorrow midday and make our u-turn down I 5 for the last of the for corners. My second favorite part of the ride is tomorrow over the Cascades  Even better is the weather forecast for tomorrow... clear, only slight mountain showers and Seattle is clear??? Really!!!