Back to the Heartland – Columbus, Ohio, August 4, 2022

Over the last several days, we wound our way through South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and ended up in Ohio again yesterday. Let me just say we passed A LOT of corn and soybeans. Much of it looked like this…

Based on my new expert observation of nothing but farmland the last 4 days, it is time for dusting the crops.  That means every now and then we have an exciting moment which looks something like this.

Or that fact that we had one of the freeways shut down on us when a semi going 70 miles an hour plows into a construction truck (or at least that was the story of the truck who pulled into the gas station behind us after following us through the stand still of traffic).  Once again being on a bike had its upside since we were able to weave through traffic to get back to the exit and find an alternative route.  The bad news was it included gravel roads.  This is not fun on a motorcycle, but my experienced hubby managed fine, and we found our way out (no thanks to Apple).

Now that we have managed to ride nearly 9,000 miles here are a few new items to add to our trip notes.

• I have a farmer’s tan…on my face.  It’s attractive.  You can clearly see the lines from the chin strap of my helmet and sunglasses.  Ron’s looks the same, but his beard is nearly blonde as well. 
• The number of RVs on the road out west is insane.
• The farther east we got, the more rain, traffic, and more semi’s we encountered.
• We passed an inordinate number of other bikers heading to Sturgis and I am glad we won’t be there during the very insane week.
• Since we are from the Midwest, it became increasingly boring as the scenery was all too familiar.
• We had hoped to go through Upper Peninsula Michigan but due to the temperature and storms, had to change plans and go the route we did. 
• We both desperately want a home cooked meal after eating out and from the gas station the last couple of months.
• Hotels are sold out everywhere…including Columbus and are 25-50% more expensive than we planned for them to be.  Thank goodness for some good old fashioned travel hacking.  It shocks me.

We have decided to change up our whole plan again cause…why not? We have loved this so far and while we want a few days break, we don’t want to quit, and we will share more on the new plans soon.