Illinois, Indiana and Ohio

Illinois paves all their country roads, which is awesome. Don't have to worry about dirt roads if I want to make a detour. Only problem is on hot days the tar sticks to my tires and I pick up hundreds if pebbles.

Upper 90's and a couple of hundred degree days demanded a strict schedule:

6:00 am - wake up. Too hot. Try to back to bed.
7:00 am - already defeated by heat and humidity, get up and start riding.
8:00 am - break
10:00 am - break
Noon - lunch and nap
2 pm - break
4pm break and nap #2
6pm - arrive in camp

Gripe and groan all night because it's too hot and sticky to sleep.

These breaks were mostly spent picking pebbles out of my tires.




Illinois has corn and windmills. Subtle changes are exciting.







Lakeside camping in Fletcher, Indiana.

Passing state lines on country roads you miss the exciting welcome signs. Sometimes you get lucky.






Giant soup can in Napoleon, Ohio.



Got a tour of a restored 1860's opera house in Pemberville, OH.






Got to Lake Erie and went swimming.



Good East Coast beer.



Cleveland.



Wealthy Cleveland.



Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Wisconsin and Iowa

Been following the Mississippi since it started at Lake Itasca - from a mere trickle to a yacht haven.








Rode on highway 35 in Wisconsin - lovely scenery, cute little towns, cheese. I would have put a picture of the cheese but I had to eat it before it got melty.



Camp at Merrick State Park.



Wisconsin is definitely not flat.



Into Iowa! Iowa also not flat.



Lots of riding along ridges with ups and downs and ups and downs and ups and downs and..lots of corn too.



And imposing Catholic cathedrals in towns of 80.




These are fun to see in the middle of summer. I really want to see a snowmobile go by for shits and giggles just to brake up the repetition of up and down and up and corn and down and corn.




This place made the whole town smell like bread.

Hot today, hot tomorrow.

Heading South in Minnesota

Weathered a 'severe thunderstorm' in Bemidji where trees were blown sideways.




Tree blew over across the street.




Wind blew over this tree in Grand Rapids.




In Dalbo at a place called the bicycle bunkhouse. Shower, kitchen, food. Big thunderstorms predicted again tonight.

Minnesota

Crossed over into Moorhead, MN from Fargo, ND with little to tell me I crossed states except for a tollbooth charging 75 cents to cross. Bikes are free though.

Immediately encountered a detour which sent me 5 miles out of the way. Scenery changed immediately: deciduous trees, conifers, and shade! More humidity though.



Looking my best in Fargo. Classy beer too.




Minnesota has bike paths, and nice ones at that. Stayed at Lake Itasca State Park - where the Mississippi starts its journey.




Lake Itasca.




Crossing the Mississippi.




Lake Itasca and the beginning of the Mississippi.

Montana and North Dakota

Didn't know cactus grew in Montana.


Mokashika State Park in Glendive MT.













Head wind for the last 3 days. Blew in to North Dakota at a whopping 5 mph.









Nut Goodies are delicious.








Following the Custer Trail in North Dakota. In Hebron seeking refuge from wind that blows in every direction. Supposed to be 95 degrees tomorrow.

My European vacation in Montana

Passed through Havre, Devon, Chester, Inverness, Zurich, and Malta. In Glasgow at the moment, camping at an RV park that thinks it's a 5 star hotel. Some photos from Eastern Montana:

Rudyard may or may not have been named after Rudyard Kipling. It is in Hill County which, thankfully, was named after a man named Hill (my legs are thankful). Didn't meet the sore head.



Some mountains.



Usual scenery.



Old beer is better than no beer.




These signs appear randomly and are awesome. Whoever wrote these needs to be paid more; the vocabulary and level of wit is far too high for a roadside historic point. My favorite sign so far: "The Oily Boid Gets The Woim" about how Shelby, MT came into existence.






360 degree view of big sky.






A complete meal of baked beans, noodles, bread, pop tarts and beer.