Short Trip to WI, Day 1

Much like the last few years, I had extra vacation from the previous year.  The company I work for makes the previous year's vacation be used by the end of April so I had a few "forced" days off.  The first few days was spent doing stuff around home, but I couldn't stomach the thought of not doing anything more interesting with at least some of the time off.
So, I planned (sort of) a trip to Wisconsin to see the House on the Rock and Maria and Nicole.  This was also a good opportunity to take a first trip on the Triumph Trophy and test the new Zumo GPS.

As the trip time came close, the weather looked terrible.  But, weather can't dictate vacation and there is no better test of bike and equipment than a motorcycle trip in crappy weather.

The morning to leave arrived and I was packed and out the door by 8:00.  It was sunny as I left, making the GPS really hard to see.  But, weather started good and as is usually the case, traffic on Sunday morning was virtually nonexistent.
Getting around Indianapolis was easy by Indianapolis standards, but the wind was significant.  Once around Indy, I headed north.  The wind grew more intense and almost directly from the east.  The east wind was indicative of the very low pressure system that was to come through the area bringing very heavy weather to the South and Midwest.

Getting off the interstate on US 24, I stopped for gas.  As I was leaving the gas station, the GPS was basically impossible to read, despite the presence of high clouds thinning the sunlight.  I pulled into a vacant parking lot and unloaded the saddle bag with the tools and adjust the GPS bracket down a few degrees.  What a major difference!  That small adjustment made the GPS go from basically unseeable to very visible, even in the sun.
The success with the GPS mount was followed by very nice weather.  The temperature warmed quickly into the low 70s with mostly sunny skies.  It was still windy, but the wind was from the east still so it didn't affect the bike other than giving me fantastic fuel economy.
The joy of the wind to my back lasted until I got to I-39.  Headed north, the east wind became constant work, making maintaining land position difficult.  It got a little better as I got off the interstate, but only due to the lower speeds.  Wind speeds increased as I went north, the gusts as hills blocked the wind caused a few nerve-wracking moments.
From this point, I followed the GPS, which is pretty big departure from my normal way of travel.  The new Garmin Zumo does turn-by-turn where as my older Magellan  Meridian was more like a moving map.  I see benefits to both approaches, but after the investment in the Zumo, I am committed to working with it.  I don't like the "3-D" view of the GPS, choosing the overhead, north up birds-eye view instead.

I continued north and west as the wind grew more arrogant.  By the time I got to Dodgeville and the GPS got me right to my motel, I was ready to be done.  I checked in and marked the occasion by a picture of the bike in front of the hotel.  At this point, over a third of the miles on the bike are from this trip.

I ran down to the gas station and got snacks, followed by Subway to take back to the hotel for dinner.  A few minutes after I got back to the hotel, the first rain of the trip started.  This is also the baptismal rain for the Trophy.

Once settled into the room, the radar suggested I was pretty lucky in not hitting any rain until parked for the night.