Finish: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Distance: 805 miles Total to date: 6423 miles
Campground: Rode straight thru the day: 7:30 a.m. until 1:00 a.m.
Gas: Williamsburg, Iowa 3.479 gal @ $2.299 $8.00; Platteville, Wisconsin 3.640 gal @ $2.499 $9.10; Waupun, Wisconsin, 3.861 gal @ $2.569/gal $9.92; Marinette, Wisconsin 4.004 gal @ $2.499/g $10.01; Manisitque, Wisconsin 2.863 gal @ $2.449/g $7.01; Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan 4.001 gal @ $2.549/g $10.20
Our goal today, was to ride, ride, ride to get to the Sault. There is a severe storm warning from Nebraska & Iowa to Chicago that is right behind us, and another for the northern part of the Dakotas, so if we take our time, we might get caught in it.
We just saw on TV that about 16 people were killed in flash floods in Zion National Park and Hillsdale, Utah. We were there just one week to the day. Al thanks his daughter Kendra for the timing of her baby-to-be as we left on our trip a week early so that he could be back to the Soo when she is due. We recall seeing mud on the roads in Arches National Park and Zion due to the small bits of rain that fell and can now appreciate the flood warning signs along the roads.
In Des Moines, we were sort of in the middle of "too far to ride the whole distance", but "too close to stopover"...so being as stubborn as we are, we decided to grit it out. Also, Al put on clean jeans so Donna thinks he did his laundry on a regular basis, so we have to make it before he gets his jeans wrinkly.
One thing about Nebraska...there are miles and miles of corn fields and the wind can be very strong whipping off those fields while it's not as flat, Iowa has miles and miles of corn fields and the wind was strong as well. It was more at our back as we are heading more northward and the weather is pushing up from the south. We saw a lot of corn. In one corn field, there was a green area that was just so, so green in contrast to the golden corn crops.
We rode to Dubuque, Iowa, one of the few places in Iowa with hills. Dubuque is on the state line of Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, and sits along the Mississippi River. It looks like a prosperous, educated and cultural city as reflected by the architecture and companies there. It was a great view of the Mississippi River from the bikes and I could see some riverboats running the river, but there is no place to stop while on the Interstate 80 to take photos.
We were going to go east to Iowa City, but just before that, we saw a sign about an accident on the I340, so we veered off on Hwy151 as an alternative. It was a bit slower as we were going thru some small towns. Also, the highway had little dips, enough to keep you bouncing and bouncing and bouncing. It was like riding a horse and being out of sync with the horse.
We eventually got to Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital. This looked like an interesting city with a beautiful State Cpital building. As we rode into the downtown area, it looked like the Capital Building in Washington D.C. We could not take a photo of it as we were on a busy roadway when we saw it. We got off track in Madison as my map was not detailed enough to take the quickest most efficient route and we ended up going thru the town a bit. I was just following signs for Hwy 151, but there were intersecting Interstates that might have brought us back to the northern part of Hwy 151 a bit faster.
Once passed Madison, we continued on Hwy 151 towards Oshkosh, Wisconsin and our connection to Interstate I41. We rode the interstate thru Oshkosh, Appleton and Green Bay. This area seems to be a mass of stores and outlets. Glad I'm not a shopper! The last time we rode thru Green Bay, the highways were fully under construction and we had to go thru a maze of pylons at dusk. This time, we still went thru a lot of construction, but it was not quite as bad and it was not at dusk. There were still a lot of little dips in the road that kept you bouncing, just like Hwy 151 in Iowa.
We continued up the I41 to Marinette, Wisconsin and there, crossed a bridge and the state line into Menominee, Michigan. We started down Hwy 35/Hwy2 East and just outside of Menominee, I had to slow down quickly as a deer came out of the brush at the side of the highway. As it was starting to get dark, we tried to follow cars in case there were more deer on the roads.
We continued riding thru the night until we got to St. Ignace. We saw a glimpse of the Mackinaw Bridge all lit up at night. It looked like a postcard!
We got onto the I75 and rode the next 50 miles to Sault Ste. Marie. We were going to fill up with gas before crossing the border, and as I pulled into the gas station, my camper spare tire fell off. Luckily it was at the entrance and not on the freeway where Al was riding closely behind. I think those dips in Green Bay must have loosened the tire.
So, we arrived in the Soo about 1:00 a.m., tired but feeling really good about a fantastic trip. After a good nights sleep, a shower and a chance to relax, we will get an opportunity to reflect on our 3 week journey to the mid-west canyons!
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