50/80/50 Trip Day 10 - I Still Was a Mad Man

 North Platte, NE to Jacksonville, IL:  663.8 miles

I woke up to rain at some point overnight.  By the time I got up it was mostly dry, but there were massive puddles everywhere so the rain must have been relatively heavy.

There was no coffee maker in the room so I walked down to McDonalds - the first time I've been in a McDonalds in many years.  The coffee was OK, but in all fairness probably better than hotel coffee.  It sprinkled a little on my way back to the hotel.

Once packed I was on the road a little before daylight again.  The radar showed a little rain up ahead, but it didn't look too bad so I didn't put on my rain suit.  As it got light the rain down the road started to look much worse.  As I got closer I started to see quite a bit of lightning too.  I stopped to put on my rain suit which was 100% the right thing to do as I subsequently went through a couple hours of very heavy rain with frequent lightning strikes.  There was enough cloud to ground lightning to be concerning as well.  I pulled the early radar image and while northern Nebraska looks a lot worse, it was bad enough.

The lightning was bad enough I wasn't totally happy being on the road, but I just didn't see waiting this one out as a possibility.

Stopping at a gas station during some heavy rain, the guy at the pump next to me looked at me dripping wet in my rain suit and said, "You, sir, are a real motorcyclist."

"Uh, maybe a real dumb one?"

And I could tell I was back in the midwest since people talked to me at every gas stop through the day.

Eventually the rain lightened and stopped.  I decided to avoid the interstate and drove south before hitting I-29.  There was very little traffic which was nice, but it also got broiling hot and humid.  When I was stopped for a train anyway, I pulled over and took off the rain suit.

Crossing into Kansas briefly, I got treated to another ear worm:  Carry On My Wayward Son ... though my mind could think I still was a mad man...

I was surprised to see quite a bit of terraced farming in the area.  This must be a pain to farm, but I guess it does allow more productivity if the soil is really good.

I crossed over into Missouri.  North-South Missouri is a bit of a slog, but East-West wasn't too bad.  There were some pretty views as well with the road snaking out to infinity.

Throughout much of the Midwest, I've been hitting these rock hard bugs (they hurt if they hit me in the face).  One of these little buggers wedged itself inside my helmet and started crawling around.  I didn't stop, but did finally get it out and saw it was a Japanese beetle.  Yet another reason to hate the evil things.

I crossed the Mississippi River at Hannibal, MO.  SO and I had been here in August of 2002 when we still toured on a Harley Dyna Superglide T-Sport.  We met some really goofy motorcycle characters while exploring the world of Mark Twain.  It was one of several very memorable things about that trip.  The world is different now.

I made it to Jacksonville and easily found my hotel.  It seemed to be a fairly new building and was a REALLY nice room.  Subway and cookies rounded out the evening.  I'm ready to be home.