Day 5 (9/10/11

Day 5 is in the books. The itinery called for me to head northwest to hit the southeast corner of North Dakota. It was a beautiful ride up with temperatures in the mid 60's in the morning and warming to the low to mid 80's in the afternoon. Not a cloud in the sky and no wind to speak of. Just perfect motorcycle weather. The roads up here are absolutely flat with only the smallest variaions in elevation and very well maintained. I notice more soy beans up in the north, but corn is still the mainstay of the crops. Huge fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. Each of the small towns have parks with camping sites, many of which are on water. I took a picture of the huge fish in one in North Dakota. It is easy to forget that there are an endless string of small lakes in every dip in the terrain. Some are used for recreation and others for water supplies for cattle. On one stretch of two lane in South Dakota the road went right through the middle of a lake and was only inches above the water level. Someone with a sense of humor, put a small marine sign by the side of the road that said: "slow no wake". There was no berm so I could not get a picture of it safely, but it was funny. I would imagine with the slightest rain, the road had to be under water. Unlike the east things are relatively dry here, but you can see the remnants of a wet spring because lots of fields have patches where the crops were ruined by high water. I decided to take Route 81 south instead of I-29 south as the plan called for, just to get a better feel for the area. I am glad I did. You really get to experience how people live when you get off the beaten path. One of the pictures attached shows what I will look like in a few years on my motorcycle. :-) Someone had a sense of humor and a welder to play with. I arrived at the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota. All of the murals on the building are whole ears of various kinds of corn. They get updated and replacd each year. It was stunning to see in the bright sun today. Along the way, I passed a litle car that had a camera pot sticking up above the roof. If you ever wondered how Google Earth gets those street level pictures of intersectiond roads and neighborhoods. This is it. I understand they have a huge fleet of them driving all over the country filming all the time. This is only the third or fourth one I have ever seen though. Hope you enjoy the photo's. I am camped for the night in my tent and will pack in the morning and head down into Nebraska and then up into the black hills. I noticed that my low beam headlamp is burned out, so I will replace that first thing in the morning. I carry spares. I hope this string of great weather continues. I have power tonight for my CPAP machine, so it is time to saw some timber and get some sleep.