The First Three Days are in the Books!!!

I adjusted the schedule a bit and started the FOUR CORNERS trip one day early.

Day #1 - First Corner

After spending Thursday in the Seattle area getting laundry done and making sure everything is ready to go. I had chosen to stay in that area in order to have the bike serviced before starting the trip. I usually like to have the maintenance done before going on the "clock" once I start the run. The local H-D Dealer could not get me in so I looked at the schedule to see what I could do. Since the maintenance wasn't mandatory until later in the trip.

On September 7th, I left the hotel at 5:00 AM and headed to Blaine, WA which is the first corner on

this trip. I left early so as to miss any rush hour traffic. I arrived in Blaine and got the mandatory picture at the Post Office and gas receipt at 7:00 AM. The temperatures in the morning were chilly, so I wore my winter gear. I stopped for breakfast about halfway back to Seattle and took a long break. I was trying to miss the tail end of rush hour. I successfully avoided the stop-and-go traffic and got through town in short order.

The remainder of the day was retracing my path I covered the day before. The last 175 miles was on fresh roads for this trip. I rode to Missoula, MT and had dinner before checking into the motel. The motel reminded me of a scene in the movie "My Cousin Vinny" where the train keeps waking them up. This motel was next to the railroad switching yard. Fortunately I was so tired that I slept through most of it.

The total mileage for the day was 695 miles over a 12 hour period.

Day #2 - The Rush to Sturgis, SD

I failed to set my alarm so I left about two hours late. It felt like I got a good nights rest despite the trains. I left around 8:00 AM and continued east. I stopped for breakfast in Butte, MT and passed the closest return point (I-15) but kept going. There is no quitting on an endurance trip like this. The temperatures were moderate until late afternoon. I put a cool rag on my head for the late afternoon run which did a fine job of keeping my body temperature under control. As the sun was setting, the temperatures dropped. I passed through several areas in Eastern Wyoming on I-90 that it had recently rained. Fortunately, I did not encounter any rain myself. 

Because of the late start, I didn't stop at Sturgis since Bike Week was a month ago and it was getting cold and dark. Before arriving at the motel, I had dinner at a Golden Corral in Rapid City. I got checked into the hotel but the WiFi was flaky so that is why I got so behind on this blog.

The total distance covered was 715 miles and took 13 hours of riding to complete.

Day #3 - Heading to Wisconsin 

This was the longest day so far of this trip with 756 miles covered in 12 hours. The temperatures were comfortable. It was in the upper 40's when I left Rapid City. I changed out of the winter gear at the first gas stop but wore the leather jacket all day since it never got out of the 60's and low 70's. I had to battle high cross-winds which I was also heading into. Gas mileage was poor (25 mpg versus 35 mpg) so I had to stop a few extra times to gas up. After three days and nearly 2,600 miles covered, I have to say that my backside hurt. I stopped near the Wisconsin Dells and put on the winter gear since the sun was setting and it was getting colder.

Our daughter Kristie lives outside of Madison in a small town called Black Earth. This was in the center of the major flooding that occurred after 11" of rain fell in one day. The bridges that cross over the Creek on the main highway were washed out. I had to backtrack to make a detour that my GPS helped with. I finally arrived around 8:30 PM in time for halftime in the Packer's game against the Bear's.

I visited with my son-in-law Mike as we watched the third quarter of the game and ate some pizza. I called home and caught up with what was going on there. I went to bed early and fell asleep quickly. 

What's Next?

I am heading out to the Harley-Davidson dealer in Madison to have my 70,000 mile service completed. This will take around 3 hours and the best part is they will wash off the 50 pounds of bugs on the front of my motorcycle. This has allowed me time to catch up on this blog. 

Monday's plan is to stop and see my brother Bill before heading to Lansing, Michigan for the night.

I am glad that