Day 9 - Heading South Again

This morning saw a late start for my ride, since I was up late last night, tirelessly editing the day's blog entry for all both of my fans! (Yes, I said all both.) Alarm clock went off at 6:45, and I think I finally decided to fully become conscious around 7:45. Today was going to need to be a high mileage day, but I figured I wouldn't do any good if I was trying to get out there while still groggy. It's interesting how packing things up in the morning is such a time-consuming ritual. You can't just toss everything together...there's no space for error, so each morning is like a new Tetris puzzle to reassemble. I was finally heading out of my room to load the bike around 9, but after that still needed to grab a bite for breakfast.

I got a welcome surprise in the dining area by seeing Joan and her mother there, just finishing up a bite before going shopping. We got to chat a bit more and I grabbed a picture with her before heading out. Finally started the ride by going back over the big bridge at 9:40 a.m. On the way out, a school bus full of little kiddies was waving at me as I rode by. The big, bad biker lady with her smoked shield on her helmet gave them all a big wave back. Too bad they couldn't see my grin :)

And across Wisconsin I went. The trees just to the east of La Crosse stand as thick as the hair on a dog's back. The composition of them was different than back home, but it reminded me a lot of some of the NC mountains around Murphy or Franklin where trees are practically impenetrable. As I got past Wisconsin Dells and over to Madison, it reminded me some of Virginia. I thought I had a pretty good idea of the different parts of this country, but there's so much more out there to explore! Around the Dells, I started riding behind a pretty sharp looking Cadillac CTS (black, tinted, painted wheels) and that made the miles melt away. I like to try to find a buddy to ride with, usually. It keeps things interesting. Sadly, he was able to go more than 180 miles on a tank, and I had to leave him to fill up, and put on some rain gear. The ground where I stopped to fuel showed evidence of recent rain, and the air smelled like it, but I never saw it. I was about 120 miles north of Chicago when I stopped, and I called my buddy at the branch to find out what the weather was doing there. Cloudy, but no rain, so I just put on my rain jacket to give a little break from the wind, but didn't put any covers on the luggage.

My trip had me running through Chicago, and part of me wasn't thrilled with the idea of riding through a city with an urban population of over 9 million folks, but another part of me actually was thrilled with that very same idea. I wanted to be able to go through the city proper (since, after all, it's not every day I'm riding my motorcycle through Chicago), but not have to sacrifice half a day to do it. I got directions to Soldier's Field from Ray, my branch buddy (who also happens to be a CDL driver), as well as an alternate route to take if the traffic was too bad and I decided to skip the photo op. Joan had commented that if the traffic was moving at least 35 mph by the time I-290 split off from I-90, I'd be ok to head downtown. If it was only doing 5-10 mph, skip it and go around.

When I got to the split, the traffic was whizzing along, and continued to move briskly for another few miles, until we got around O'Hare. I was roughly six miles away from downtown, and when the sign said it was estimating 77 minutes to get there, it wasn't far off. Now, I've driven through Atlanta in my truck when it's been hairy, but today was that, magnified by a factor of 73. It was Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the third largest urban population in the US (after New York and L.A.) The lane radar had to be on ultra high alert and I was very diligent about defending my space. (Never had to use my horn, though :) My directions took me in to the city on I-90, getting off at Roosevelt and heading over to Lake Shore Drive. As rough as it was to get there, and including the hour and a half of driving warfare, it was SO worth it to be able to see the city along Lake Michigan. It was exactly what I was hoping to see :) Also, one of the obvious upsides to riding a bike came into play...you can park it on a sidewalk when all of the parking meters for cars are bagged :)) [and thanks again to the lady who took my pic with the bike...hope you enjoy the blog!]

While at my photo site, I called Ray again to find out the best way back out of the city from where I was. He mentioned something about Ryan somebody being really bad at night, and I wasn't sure what he meant. Later, I found out he was referring to the Dan Ryan Expressway, which was also I-94. He'd told me to go 90/94 all the way to I-80 and then across to I-65. When I was going along, I-90 and I-94 split into two separate routes, one being the Dan Ryan Expressway, and the other being the Chicago Skyway. I had to make up my mind pretty quickly which of the routes to take, and I opted for I-90 (the Skyway), which turned out to be wonderful. Even looking at the map tonight, that was just the perfect route. I left my downtown vista at 3:50 and within 25 minutes, I was back to going 70 mph, which is pretty amazing. Within 45 minutes, I was on I-65, heading south to Indianapolis. Ray had estimated it would take an hour to an hour and a half to get to I-65, so I was tickled to have chosen that route. Part of the Skyway went over this enormous bridge, and I probably would have enjoyed the view more if I wasn't trying to anticipate huge winds that usually accompany bridges like that. There weren't any stiff winds, thankfully, and the little bit of the view I did enjoy was just beautiful.

Once I got onto I-65, it was another 140 miles to go to reach Indianapolis. My (pipe dream) goal for today was to ride just past Cincinnati, which is another 100 miles beyond Indy, but that didn't take into account the physical and mental drain of riding for over two hours in Friday Chicago traffic. As I was making my way south, the clouds were looking very moist up ahead, and again the ground showed evidence of recent rains. I started to notice fatigue creeping in, and realized I'd never had a lunch break for the day. Breakfast was an English muffin with peanut butter and honey, and since then I'd had a Zone bar, a bottle of water and a handful of M&Ms. It was now pushing 7:30 (6:30 to my still Central time zoned self) and I decided to stop to eat at the first Cracker Barrel I saw. Turns out the next one was only five miles down the road, but those five miles were probably some of the longest ones of the trip so far.

When I sat down to eat, I was pretty wiped out. I'd only had one small cup of coffee in the morning, so I got a Coke and stocked up on sugar and caffeine. I had a grilled chicken and pineapple salad that was pretty good, and by the time I left, I felt almost human again. It's amazing what a little food will do for you!

Indianapolis was now only 60 miles away, and I rode in while a beautiful sunset was being painted across the sky. I wanted to get out of the city, heading to Cincinnati before calling it a night, and I once again had to stop for gas. After I'd fueled, it was past twilight, and I got back into traffic for a few more miles. I was feeling pretty good, but knew I didn't want to ride until I felt tired, because that's too late. The next exit was in Shelbyville, IN, and had a Super 8, and although it was only 85 miles shy of my original goal of Cincinnati, I decided to be discrete and valorous.

Once I got settled in my room, the true state of my weariness kicked in, and I was very glad to have made the decision to stop. The motel is a little interesting, but I think it will provide what I need for the night. Today was 513 miles, and I've another approximate 500 miles to push through tomorrow to get me back home. Might be another late-ish start, but I don't have to go through Chicago, so I think I'll be fine :) One more day, and this ramble will be done.