Day 2: Po-po shut me down
I’ll start off by saying today was pretty eventful. Started off with as a pretty uneventful day though.
Got out of bed early because I kept waking up from the room being to cold and then too hot when I turned the heater on. Packed my bags and strapped my stuff on the bike. It took me longer than expected to strap everything on the bike and make sure that everything was right. It was 1 degrees in the morning which was pretty cold but I was okay with it because of the amount of gear I was wearing. The only thing that was cold was my neck. I suppose I should invest in a scarf.
Roads were pretty empty and I’d only see a car every couple of miles so I picked up the speed to cover ground since I was a little behind schedule. I covered backroad after empty backroad and didn’t see a cop or any animals so I picked up the pace a little more. This went on for most of the day. I was careful to pick spots to speed up and slow down.
As a rule of thumb:
School Zones=Speed Limit
Towns=Speed Limit
Cars oncoming/in sight=Reduced Speed
Areas around town=Reduced Speed
I thought it was all figured out, but I ended up breaking one of my rules, and it just so happened that the first cop I saw today was coming in the opposite direction. I didn’t see him until it was too late because I was enjoying the scenery, looking into the trees and didn’t realize how fast I was going. Plus its harder to spot them in the US because they don’t run Daytime Running Lights, which in Canada is a dead giveaway when spotting the ominous Crown Vic headlights. He pulled off to the shoulder and as I passed, he lit me up so I pulled over right away. Shut off the bike, took off my helmet, and waited there.
Cop: Going a little fast there?
Me: How fast was I going? (I really didn’t know and I wasn’t going to play stupid as Im not planning on fighting the ticket)
Cop: 79
Me: Ouch.
Cop: You have your license with you?
Me: *Gives license*
Cop: A Wisconsin license?
Me: Nope, I’m from Canada.
So he walks back to his car and I’m trying to figure out how much over the speed limit I was. The last time I saw the speed limit sign, it was 55mph. 29mph over the speed limit. Now how much is that in km/h? A lot.
Hes sitting in his car for a while and I’m getting a little worried. Is he calling me a tow truck? Calling for backup? 20 minutes later he calls me over to his car. It turns out he couldn’t find me in the system since the computer wont let him put in a postal code. Lucky day I thought. Nope, he kept trying. Eventually he got in to the system and wrote me up a ticket. $229 and 6 (Wisconsin) demerit points. He told me that you get a suspension at 12 so I was a saint coming out of Wisconsin.
Later on in the day, I was taking I-90 to head West to South Dakota. It’s a long straight boring road. Very windy too. I passed a bunch of wind turbines and that’s when I started feeling strong gusts of crosswind. At least my tires would get rounded out from having me lean into the wind. I saw a storm in the distance and lighting all around. But there was an opening in between and it just so happened that the opening was on I-90 but it was 30mi away. Should I try to catch that opening? The storm is blowing over and I don’t want to get caught in it. I took the gamble, besides everyone else was travelling fast as well. Covered some good ground and made it out of there (mostly) dry.
It came the time to find a place to stay for the night as it was getting dark. Further into the distance I saw another storm and wanted to find a place quick. My GPS told me that there were motels but I’d have to go backward and I didn’t want to do that. So I pushed on and my GPS found a Best Western for me. When I got to the location, it was in the middle of nowhere and no Best Western to be seen. Even worse, I’m about 2 mi from the thunderstorm and its pitch black. I consult my GPS again and it tells me Best Western is 12mi West….on a dirt road. I wasn’t going to take that way, it was too dark and theres no telling if my GPS was trustworthy enough. Hopped back on I-90 and went the long way. Eventually I make it there just as the rain came pouring down. I’m tired and wet, just want to go to sleep and that’s what I’ll be doing.
Covered some good ground today...
I apologize for not too many pictures today, I was trying to cover as much ground as possible. Tomorrow I’ll be seeing Mt. Rushmore and hopefully Crazyhorse (as the border guard suggested yesterday). I’ll also be meeting an advrider in Boulder who will be letting me stay at their place for the night. If I can make it there early enough to the adv meet, I’ll be able to meet some other advriders. Should be fun!
