Now that's what I call a FULL day of riding!

Day 12 Grand Forks, North Dakota to De Forest, Wisconsin

This was supposed to be an average day, but it's been anything BUT average. You'll see....keep reading.

Mileage today: 594 miles.

Time on the road: 10:00 am til 10:30pm (12.5 hours!)

So let me give you the brief overview-

I chased rain today and was chased by rain today. Once again, the rain genie looked out for me, for the most part, but I think even the genie got tired and went home early. I got wet at the end.

I started off by chasing some rain clouds out of Grand Forks as I headed toward Fargo to pick up I-94. I did a great job of cussing them to get out of my way and it worked. At least for a long while.

Even got to the point near Minneapolis where I got hot. Yes, I know there's only been one other time on this trip where I said I was hot, and this wasn't as bad. I applied sunscreen because the clouds gave way to beautiful sun for the majority of the morning. Well, technically early afternoon. I'm jumping ahead of myself, so let me start at the beginning with pictures!

This is Marie, and I believe she is from Evansville (Evanston?) Illinois. Marie was very nice and was treking around carrying a bike on her car. After 12.5 hours of riding, I cannot remember where the heck she said she had been on their trip, but she was obviously enjoying her retirement (again, I'm tired. Is she the person I met today who was retired?). Anyway, she promised to look up the blog, so Marie please comment and let me know you made it here!

As if the Super 8 in Grand Forks didn't have enough of a cutie with Montana, along comes Rylie in the morning (sounds like a radio show, doesn't it?). Rylie was very kind and just as cheery as can be. Somehow I stayed up until 2am last night blogging (just for you folks, I might add) so I missed my alarm completely and woke up at 8:30 am in full panic mode. How the heck was I going to get to De Forest (near Madison, Wisconsin) before dark?! Not when it should take a little over 10 hours of straight driving and no stopping (according to Google Maps).

I got the bike loaded as quickly as I could and that's where I chatted up Marie. I hope she doesn't think I was rude, I was just in a hurry to get moving.

Plus, Rylie told me there was another storm moving toward Fargo, so I figured I probably better get going. Sure enough, it had just passed to the west when I got to that depressing little town, but I was glad to have missed the rain.

Here's the sky in Grand Forks as I was leaving. Looks great, hey? It was.

I stopped for fuel and Monster at a gas station near the I-29/I-94 interchange. Not the friendliest folks in the station, but that's okay. I'm getting used to being treated like a second class citizen because I am a biker. It could be worse - I could work for BP. (sorry Marie, I couldn't resist!)

Not much here, but then again I just chose a random exit to get some fuel. I'm sure Fargo has at least one redeeming value. Wait - it does: It has two major interstates that will get you out of that town!

Shortly after departing Fargo, I crossed the Red River, and into Minnesota. I'm sure the traffic thinks I'm nuts for pulling over to the side and taking pictures of their 'welcome to our state' signs.

A bit closer of a view.

I stopped at this place for lunch. It was near Alexandria, Minnesota. Sheila is the manager of the Subway and was interested in my story. She told me that if I had told her what I was up to, she would have given me my sandwich free! Now Sheila, you don't have to do that. I'm happy to pay for my meals! I love Subway anyway. Sheila also hooked me up in an important way:

All along this trip, when I buy something I get change. When you are wearing chaps, you cannot get to your front pockets to put the change away. Since I don't (and will never) carry a 'man-purse' or 'manny pack' or 'European satchel', it goes into a baggie in my luggage. After awhile, you accumulate a lot. Like more than $10 worth of change. Sheila hooked me up by trading me paper bills for my coins (take THAT, Canada!). And thank you Sheila!

I bit later on, as I got heated up, I stopped at a rest area for a quick potty break and to reapply sunscreen. As I was walking back to Cheeto, this guy on a beautiful bike swings back around the parking lot, looking at Cheeto. He says he just wanted to see how she was packed. Turns out, the guy is Mike Berens and he has his OWN card to pass out! It's hilarious! It says his name and then, "Licensed Motorcycle Rider, chauffeur, pool boy, lawn mower". He's from Stillwater, Minnesota and was heading back home from about 30 days on the road. At least I think that's right! Great to talk with you Mike!

Now this guy....I could go on for days. I stopped again for fuel somewhere (nearing Minneapolis), I think it was St. Michael, and these three college kids get out of a car. This guy, Jake, went over to throw something away and I struck up a conversation. At first you could tell his momma taught him not to talk to strangers. But then, I got the feeling about this kid. You could tell he was a good kid. And you could just get the sense that he is probably the life of a party at Anoka Ramsey College. But, he also seems like the sneaky one who cracks lots of jokes, but never seems to get more than 6 feet away from the kegger. Let's just say I suspect he gets his fair share - and then some. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I just mean to say, he seems like he'd be a fun kid at a party, and probably not one to get into a lot of trouble. He seemed pretty smart like that.

Much later on, I stopped fuel again nearing Eau Claire. The weather was holding up, but I had been chasing this storm. I could see it, I could tell it was moving the same direction I was, but I didn't want to catch up to it too soon. However, I did want to get to the hotel before "Deer-thirty". So I stopped for a fuel up and had problems getting the pump to read my credit card. So I go inside. There the clerk, Tika, was talking with another customer, Jack, about an approaching storm or tornado sighting. Looked great outside, so I kinda thought they were nuts. But turns out Jack has HIS own card and he's an actor and stuntman. He is currently driving a van across the country promoting this charity effort to provide dolls (and money) for underprivileged kids. I wish I had gotten a picture of the van, it was pretty cool! Anyway, the site is http://www.junobaby.com/ Thanks for the weather update Jack. You were spot on! And Tika, thank you for your hospitality!

This was a truck that belonged to the owner of the same convenience store/gas station where I met Jack and Tika. He had parked under the canopy because he heard there might be hail. Hail yeah there was!

Ominous looking clouds. They were trying to tell me something.

They were trying even louder by the minute.

So I get down the road a bit, about an hour from the hotel and I start catching up to this storm. Turns out it's a massive one, and indeed a tornado did touch down in Sparta, Wisconsin (more on that in a minute). So after I fuel up, along walks this gentleman. named Rick. He's from Janesville, Wisconsin so he had about 2 hours to go. He had jsut been up in Eau Claire with a friend (and the friend HATES storms) and he was kinda waiting out this one with me in Oakdale. Really friendly guy, this Rick.

We decide to get back underway and both take off. A few minutes later Rick passes me and waves. Not more than 5 minutes after that, the skies began to open up. I took the next exit and found an old gas station that was no longer open. It still had a working canopy so I just took refuge there until it finally passed (about 20 minutes.) Then I had just about 60 miles to go.

As I get back on the highway, with less than 60 miles to go and some wet pavement (but nothing falling from the sky) I hit a construction zone that had all traffic completely stopped. Two guys on bikes roll up behind me, see Cheeto's plate and assume that's my name too. They were headed to Milwaukee but had already been soaked twice today. Hope they got there fine.

Finally, another bright spot to end my day (and I'm not being sexist, it's just that I seem to always end my day on a positive note, brought on through some conversation with attractive females.) This was the case again tonight. These two beauties are mother and daughter and they were checking into the Comfort Inn just after me. Pam (on the right, the Mom - I know it's hard to tell who is younger) and Courtney (on the left, with the cool shades) were only a few hours from Pam's Mom's house, but that was in Sparta. And that's where the tornado touched down. (Don't worry, her Mom was fine). They decided that rather than drive and drive through another storm, they would bed down here for the night. They are from Huntsville, Texas (they come standard with the pre-requisite Texas accent, by the way) and had just been out to Virginia to visit Pam's son (Courtney's brother) who was in the military there. Looks like they had a good plan: It's storming out there as I type this and lightning is everywhere. Poor Cheeto, she wasn't allowed under the awning so she's out there in the wet. And it's coming down hard enough to wash some of the grime off of her.

A long day of riding, but another great day of meeting very special folks. Thank you to all of you who took the time to speak with me! I hope your travels are safe!