Arrived home from Billings.

[Willow]

I arrived home from Billings about 01:30 Monday morning.  I left Billings at about 10:30 Saturday morning and rode some 412 miles to Kadoka, South Dakota.  It wasn't a ride into the night but Kadoka was where I had spent a couple of days on the way out and I stayed at the same location.

On Sunday morning I was able to participate via live stream with my home church service and departed about half past eleven.  I had a little over six hundred miles left between me and home.  As I rode all day across South Dakota in the heat I developed a little more sympathy for those enslaved by air conditioning.  I'm not ready to join them yet but I have developed some sympathy.

I stopped at the Custer Battlefield Trading Post.  I spent time looking over what they had regarding battle and tribal history.  I interacted with a young man of Arapaho descent who wore a cross.  He and I are both believers and we had a good time together.  Well, at least I had a good time.  I have no real way of understanding the lives of those trapped in the poverty and dependence of the Native American culture and environment.  I bought some Crow produced jewelry for my wife and rode on.

I stopped for a burger and fries in the middle of nowhere, South Dakota.  The PRV crossing SD is generally 80 mph.  I varied from 75 to 85 with the occasional spurt to 95 mph.  The heat and wind was taking their toll.  All roads are toll roads.

Toward the end of the day, coming up on 21:00 I stopped in Council Bluffs.  I was a bit disoriented and not completely sure whether Council Bluffs is in South Dakota, Nebraska, or Iowa.  I had spent all day flying east on I-90 and had turned south on I-29.  I-29 would take me all the way in to the Kansas City are.  Olathe and home sits on the southwest corner of the Kansas City are.  my mapping software was showing me to be a little over 200 miles from my home address.

I fueled up and found an Olive Garden where I at half an order of chicken parmigiana.  I had decided I was worn out enough to sit down even within four hours of home.  I checked the Wyndham properties in the area.  There were two Days Inns that were listed as permanently closed.  There were three other properties showing $205 and $206 for a nightly fee.  I wasn't up to paying that rate only a few hundred miles from home.  I asked the server at Olive Garden if there were any nice places to stay at less than exorbitant rates.  She said she wasn't very familiar with the local area but she would ask the other servers.  As I finished my meal another server came to my table and said someone recommended a place next to Applebees and that she had stayed at a place called Countryside Inn and Suites.  The name of the latter struck a chord with me so I put it into my mapping software.  It was few miles away and I went to the door.  There was a sign on the door that I read as "This door is locked.  Use the desk phone" with an arrow pointing to the phone beside the door.  I picked up the phone and the young lady at the desk answer.  I could see her.  I had missed the word "If".  I asked whether they had a room.  I don't know whether they were completely full or if she just didn't want to deal with this crazy haggard looking motorcycle person but she said they had nothing available.  I asked if she knew of any plac eneaby that might have a room and she said that she didn't.

I began to think since I was refreshed and had just had a meal maybe I could make the ride on in.  The wind had died down and the temps had dropped well below the intolerant level.  There was a small problem.  My night glasses were among others under the saddle.  My duffle was tied down to the pillion.  That seat normally required removing the screw at the back and lifting the back to unlock the front.  I decided I would give a try at pressing the front down hard enough to unlock it and see if I could just reach around under the saddle and pull out glasses (plastics) until I found a night set.  With some effort the lock did release.  I reached under and the first pair I pulled out were clear.  I took that as a good sign.  It was a little more difficult to relock the front of the saddle but it did happen.

I rolled out onto I-29 south and headed toward home.  It was a little after 22:30.  I stopped at a couple of Rest Areas as I was drinking plenty of water and it took its toll.  All roads are toll roads.  I fueled up once more to put a couple of gallons into the tank to make it home.

I rolled into the driveway (rideway?) at about 01:30.  I normally ride between two cages to approach the garage.  The headlight of my bike revealed that the cars had sat still for long enough for a small spider to build her web between them. Poor spider.  I destroyed her home with not too much concern over where she ended up.  I took some time to unwind.  

I enjoyed the time at Billings with some two hundred of my closest friends but it was good to be back home.  I slept in late on Monday morning.      

[Avanti]

Look up Bunk a Biker. It might come in handy in the future.

https://www.zeemaps.com/bunk-a-biker_world

[John Schmidt]

Geez Carl, 700 miles in one run! Pretty good for an elder citizen...was going to say "old fart" but wanted to be respectful.

Headed home from Rapid City I ran into loads of weather, took nearly four full days to make a two day run of 800 miles. Took me three days to recover from the beating(minimum 40mph crosswinds), guess I'm not as young as I used to be. 

[DIGGER]

700 miles......impressive.  I used to could but dont think I could anymore.

[hubcapsc]

It is looking like 5,000+ total for me and Ross... We're in Cookeville TN, we'll
be home later today... compared to Oklahoma I kind of liked Nebraska
and Kansas, but not the brutal winds...

-Mike

[scooperhsd]

Kansas literally means "People of the South WInd" - and it is usually a good indicatpr of summer weather.

[Rams]

Well shoot, I thought "Wind Therapy" was a good thing.  

I guess it's similar to a "prescription" drug overdose.   Some is good but you can get too much.  
Carl, glad you made it home safely.   Just a few more miles and a couple of left turns and you could have been in Hattiesburg suffering under the intense cold of my AC. 

Rams

[Willow]

Well shoot, I thought "Wind Therapy" was a good thing.  

I guess it's similar to a "prescription" drug overdose.   Some is good but you can get too much.  
Carl, glad you made it home safely.   Just a few more miles and a couple of left turns and you could have been in Hattiesburg suffering under the intense cold of my AC. 

LOL! As a motorcyclist one encounters winds of two distinct types.  One type is that generated by one's own movement through the ambient atmosphere.  It's refreshing and exciting.

The other type is the natural atmospheric movement generated without regard to the innocent traveling victim.  It is especially tiring and aggravating when it pushes at a rider from one side or even from the front.  It can be tolerable and, in fact, not annoying at all when the velocity of that natural atmospheric movement is 20 mph or less.  When the velocity the irritation exceeds twenty or thirty mph it is not refreshing at all and tends to tap into one's strength and some of the enjoyment of the day.

I appreciate the thought regarding just a few (745) more miles.  I would truly enjoy the fellowship but as for the intense AC, I'm just not there yet.

Be safe and well.  I look forward to seeing your ornery self somewhere down the road.       

[Rams]

Be safe and well.  I look forward to seeing your ornery self somewhere down the road.      

Ornery?   Some things just come naturally.  

Rams  

[Willow]

700 miles......impressive.  I used to could but dont think I could anymore.

I don't fully know how I made that mistake.  I was a little over six hundred from home.  I apologize for the misinformation.   

[Pappy!]

Coming up from Florida we had two back to back days of 600+ miles. One at 651 and the other around 630.
Going home across Nebraska we encountered verified 44mph crosswinds almost all day including dust storms that completely enveloped the lead rider at the time to where he was no longer visible. High heat was the order of the day, every day.

[H*GLEG]

and after all of that you shipped out a mirror.  You definitely have earned the hard-core award.  Thanks, $$ headed your way.