DAY #4 - Having Dinner with my Family

Nebraska to Michigan

Today I covered 607 miles in roughly 12 hours leaving the hotel sometime before 7:00 AM. The weather was great for riding. It was dry and not too hot. Fatigue was the greatest enemy today.

I stopped after 45 minutes in Shelby, Iowa to have breakfast and then rode to the eastern side of Des Moines before stopping for gas the first time. I then had lunch in Iowa City. I have driven this stretch of I-70 so many times that I almost know it by heart.

Alexa and Bennett

I have been working in Omaha for a client for roughly 2-1/2 years and will continue to do so through years-end. Our daughter Kristie and her family live in Southern Wisconsin. So we had just covered this stretch of highway just 4-weeks ago. Sometime during the day, my phone sent me a reminder that I was around 2-hours away. But alas, I will have to wait for a later date to see the best great-grandchildren a man could ever ask for. They just turned 18 months old at the end of last month. Several times a year I make a trek from Omaha to Wisconsin to visit family and to work.

I crossed the Mississippi River at roughly 2:00 PM. So far road construction has been minimal with only a few miles of single lane interstate. I stopped in Moline for gas as the day got warmer. I adjusted my riding gear as the sun was warm but the air temperatures were still cool enough to wear a sweatshirt and riding gloves. After covering two-thirds of the state, fatigue was kicking my butt pretty bad. So I stopped in Morris, Illinois for a quick break. So I texted to let my brothers to let them know that I was on schedule. When I got on the bike, disaster struck. My GPS unit died on me. I was devastated because this was not a cheap unit and I have become dependent on it when I am travelling. I especially needed it for my journey through Canada which starts tomorrow.

I told my two brothers that I would meet them at 4:30 PM, and was scheduled to be there a few minutes early. However, my gas situation forced me to stop just before entering Indiana. I had scheduled the time to meet my two brothers and sister-in-law several months in advance. I revved the engine and was able to get their attention as I pulled in and they were entering the restaurant. So we had a few extra minutes to visit while I dismounted the bike. We had a nice meal together and I left after one hour to resume my trip to Kalamazoo, Michigan today's destination. Fortunately, the hotel was visible at the exit, so the lack of GPS wasn't to painful.

I managed to catch completely up on the paperwork, emails, bills, etc. It took three hours to do so. I initially planned an early start but because of the late hour, I Google'd my GPS problem and found a solution that didn't work but the second one did. I needed to to a soft-reboot and the unit would power up again. I decided to push my departure time to 8:00 AM. I am writing this in the morning, so I will wrap this up so that I can get ready for the next segment of this trip.

TODAY'S GOAL:

One of the things that I discovered just prior to leaving home was that when I ordered an electronic tire monitor unit that interfaces with the GPS unit only came with a single RFI unit in the box. So I had to order a second unit and have it delivered to my brother Dave. Fortunately, it came early enough that he was able to get it to me when we met for dinner. I will try to install it this on Sunday Evening.

I will cross into Canada at Port Huron/Sarnia which is at the southern most tip of Lake Huron before heading towards Toronto. I hope that I don't run into traffic there since the Blue Jays are playing at home today. The late start may get me into this time frame. My hotel reservation is in Kingston, Ontario which is on the far end of Lake Ontario. I calculate that this is about 530 miles and will take 11 hours or so.