Day 23 of ALAA, Sun, June 5, 2011-From Marion Lake, MI to St Ignace, MI

Today was NOT a good day. Nothing went wrong with the bike or anything but I'd rather just not post anything.

Day 22 of ALAA, Sat, June 4th, 2011-From Brainerd, MN to Marion Lake, MI

This was a weird place because Marion Lake, MI is in a National Forest and I expected to see a lot of people camping here. There were two weird things about this place. First is that it is 5-6 miles off the highway on a remote gravel road. That 5-6 miles of gravel road was totally deserted. Nothing, no houses, no businesses, NOTHING! Think Deliverance! Now, if you don't know this, motorcycles don't do well in gravel because of the traction. The second weird thing is that I saw only ONE OTHER VEHICLE IN THE CAMPGROUND! A white pickup drove down the road while I was setting up the tent and getting organized but that's the only sign of mankind I saw! None of the other campsites were occupied and I started to worry that it was closed.

The registration was with an Iron Ranger-put your money in an envelope and drop it in the metal box. I was starting to worry that I was in Deliverance but it was just quiet. The campground is built around a beautiful lake and I don't think I heard a manmade noise, except for that one pickup, the whole time I was there. I sat on the shore of the lake, watched the sun set, ate my Cheetos and got in the sack. It was kinda creepy but I guess just another part of the adventure!

Day 21a of ALAA-Fri, June 3rd, 2011

One thing I forgot to mention about Crow Wing SP is that it is set on the banks of the Mississippi River. But don't think of the mile-wide river that flooded Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans down South. Think of a pretty good sized creek or a small river up here. It's pretty easy to throw a rock across it! I'd hoped to see the headwaters further North near US 2 but got diverted to near Brainerd because of flooding in ND. Today is East into Duluth and the start of the Great Lakes.

Day 21 of ALAA-Fri, June 3rd, 2011. Minot, ND to Brainerd, MN



Campground at Crow Wing State Park, MN




The (Narrow!) Mississippi River



They call Minnesota the Land of 10,000 Lakes but I have another appropriate name for it: How about the Land of 10 Million Mosquitos! I stopped at Crow Wing State Park to get a campsite and a swarm of 'em attacked me! I grabbed the insect repellant and started sprayin', swingin', swattin', and cussin as I ran into the Ranger Station. They probably thought I was a complete lunatic and, you know what, they were probably right! The two Rangers were standing by the window just howling at my antics to keep the mosquitos away! And these aren't just normal sized Mosquitos but they are about the size of small helicopters!


Today saw me avoiding flood waters from Eastern ND to Western MN. The road I wanted to take, US 2, was blocked by flooding near the geographic center of North America (I dare you to find THAT on a map!) so I had to drop down to Fargo, ND on my way to Duluth. I haven't seen the biggest ball of twine yet but i AM looking for it! :-) MN is nice so far except, of course, for the skeeters. It seems to be a little neater and cleaner than ND. I was on a nice stretch of interstate today, straight and flat, with a strong tailwind. I just set the cruise (actually a basic mechanical throttle lock!) at 70 and ran straight into Fargo. It was a 400 mile day but not so bad with the flat land and tailwind.


The temps today have been pretty nice-from about 70 this morning to about 85 before the sun set. BUT the feedlots are back! And maybe worse than that are the chicken pens or farms or whatever they are called. They are set in neat little rows of buildings that each probably house either next months scrambled eggs or a Chick Fil-A dollar menu item. They have a unique smell-think of catching a rat in your garage and you don't notice it for about a week! Got that smell in your mind? Well, that's about it! Which is worse? Feedlots or chicken farms? I dunno-it's a tossup. Tomorrow looking for Duluth and Lake Superior.

Day 20 of ALAA-Thurs, June 2nd, 2011. Malta, MT to Minot, ND

A New State . . . . for me at least!

Hummmmmm, Couldn't Stay at THIS KOA!

Today was a long day, 340 miles considering that three hours were spent getting a new rear tire on the bike BUT this was a new state day! I had never been to North Dakota before so that only leaves me six more states on my Bucket List. There is not a lot to slow you down in North Dakota-no hills, no curves, no traffic, etc. By the way, I ordered a new front tire and it's waiting for me at Warren Honda in a suburb of Detroit. The Honda dealer in Glasgow didn't have the type of helmet I like so I'm trying to keep mine stuck together with duct tape and chewing gum until I get to another town with a bike shop. The ol' gal will have a complete set of new shoes for the rest of ALAA. Most of Eastern Montana and Western ND are rich agricultural land-they grow a lot of wheat, barley, and other grains but I've found a huge surprise! There are 157 active oil drilling rigs working in the new oil field around here! Whoda thunk it?


I was headed to a KOA in Minot to watch the NBA Finals but the KOA is under 2-3 feet of water! I've seen a lot of water standing in low places but the population of Minot has increased by 10,000 because of flooding in adjacent areas.


Where am I sleeping tonight? Well, that's another interesting story. All the hotels and motels are full and the campgrounds are either flooded or full. So I pulled into a campground looking for a place to put my tent and there were two good ol boys from Indiana standing by their pickups. I started talking to them and they are contract workers in piping all that crude oil to the refineries. They let me set my tent up on their site so it's all good! This campground has clean showers and a laundry so I'm squeaky clean for the first time in 2-3 days! These guys live in travel trailers that they pull from job to job around the country. That's a unique way to live-leave their families in Indiana and work one to three months wherever the oil drilling is hot. Tomorrow toward Minnesota.

Day 20a of ALAA-Thurs, June 2nd, 2011

Have you ever hears the expression that bad news comes in threes? Well, yesterday I had my three almost all at once! I was stopped getting gas in the big fat middle of Nowheresville, MT and I couldn't get my iPod ear buds to stay in. So I took the helmet off and the pivoting face shield almost came off in my hands, that knocked my glasses off, and one of the lenses popped out! So I'm standing there with one ear bud in, holding a broken helmet, trying to get the lens back in my glasses, and wondering how long my nearly bald rear tire is going to hold out! Did I mention that this trip was supposed to be fun?

So I'm at a Honda motorcycle dealer in Glasgow, MT getting that new tire, fresh oil, and a new helmet if they have one I like! I can't think of anyplace I'd rather be than here (if you don't count with my Bride in Texas, Big Sur, Lake Tahoe, the Florida Keys, or anywhereelse.)

Two thing I've noticed about this area: This is a rich agricultural region with a lot of early season wheat coming in and there aren't very many trucks on the roads. The railroads run from city to city and gin to gin. The people are friendly and 2-3 have commented today about the thick layer of mosquitos on my windshield (and I DO mean thick!) heading for North Dakota when the bike's finished.

Day 19a of ALAA-Wed, June 1st, 2011

As I woke up in the Malta, MT City Park (with the permission of a kind Deputy Sheriff), I thought of two things about yesterday: First, WILDLIFE! I saw a very calm, almost domesticated deer up in Avalanche in Glacier NP yesterday morning. I was sitting on a picnic table and it walked up within 10 feet of me. As I was leaving Glacier, I saw the requisite bear with three cubs on the side of the road. This is to say nothing compared to the mosquitos on my windshield, as you can see above!

The second observation is that Montana has some very liberal gambling laws! You can see as many as 8-10 casino's in a town as small as 3-5,000 people! There are casino restaurants, casino bars, casino hotels, casino motels, casino liquor stores, casino convenience stores, and even casino gas stations! Almost every consumer business you see has the word Casino attached to it! They are all very, very small but that's also very weird! I've seen Indian (Native American?) casinos in many Western states but they are large and elaborate. Weird that Montana has all these neighborhood casinos! Oh, one more thing. Montana has the worst mountain roads I've seen. That's probably understandable with such a geographically large state with a small population base but I've been bounced around a bit and even rode through gavel for a few miles on US Highway 2. Well, up and off toward newrearnewtireville at a Honda MC dealer in Glasgow, MT!