Late start this morning. Thunderstorms were moving through and finally abated 830ish. We took our time loading and decided to dress in full weather gear. This will be one of the wisest decisions on the trip…

Talked with a couple of young guys on bikes (understand anyone younger than me is a young guy so that opens up the population). They were riding some vintage bikes around the U.P. from the Milwaukee area. One had a 1975 Honda Goldwing. The first year they made them. Rare and neat bike that he is restoring himself.

When they found out our planned itinerary, we were elevated to most admired status. I was going to mention by crossing the the 45th parallel at precisely 9am 30 days before the autumnal equinox but didn’t think they were ready and didn’t want to spoil the moment.

Quick note, on the way out of town, Watersmeet, we noticed the name of the high school team was the ‘Nimrods’. Just thought that a bit odd.

So we fired up and headed west. The weather pattern was one of those counter clockwise systems that moves ever so slowly east to west. Temps were in the low 50s when we left and the winds were absolutely relentless. 30mph and gusting 40 to 50. All day long. Rain on and off all day long.

We had decided to hold off on stopping to eat until we hit Duluth. The wind when we started was coming out of the south west. The bikes preformed flawlessly. Usually good winds are not a problem. Wheels spinning act like giant gyroscopes and you are not going to get push on your side. You will however get pushed over your lane.

Coming into Duluth the winds had shifted to straight out of the west. Jonathan, who has the smallest bike, was at times full open throttle, hunkered down behind his windscreen during some of the gusts to keep up a 60mph speed. Figuring 60mph speed, a 50mph on the nose gust equals 110mph for the engine. Yeah. It wears you out. You burn a lot of fuel as well.

Pretty country. Weather gear kept us warm and dry. We got into Superior (WI side of Duluth) and stopped at a great little place for lunch. We were hungry and everything tasted spot on. We took our time and got ready for the trek across Minnesota. Jonathan put his ‘GoPro’ camera on the bike frame. He didn’t want it blowing off his helmet. We looked at the maps and figured we could make it to North Dakota by evening. So we took off and headed west.

We crossed the bridge into MN and got on the interstate heading south for 15-20 miles. Wind was still out of the west so we got those gusts squarely on our right side. Coupled with the rain, I kept speed down to 55mph. Cars were giving us wide berth and I noticed several behind us were happy with the pace we were setting. We found our exit and again headed west.

I should also mention, that gradually through out the trip towns come farther and farther apart. When we left Watersmeet this morning I believe the next town was like 50 miles. Rural MN is the same. Point being is you buy fuel when you see a gas station. We kept on. For the most part we had the road to ourselves. We fueled up in Brainerd and checked the maps. ND was possible, figuring we would get there just about sunset. However, figuring the lack of facilities (gas and motels) that we had been seeing I did make another executive decision and decided to shoot for Fergus Falls, MN. It was in one of those bold prints on the map so there had to be some commerce there. I should also point out that early in the day I decided this was not a camp night as well.

So we headed west. This is where we had some fun. The winds had shifted, but not abated, to coming out of the north. We could actually see on the far horizon the edge of the front. With the wind coming straight on our right side, keeping bikes in the lane still was a handful. I have sitting on my fuel tank, what they call a ‘tank bag’. Think of a macho purse for motorcycles. No foo foo colors or designs, straight black, always. Its held on with magnets. Big powerful magnets designed to hold that thing on. Well with gusts coming straight off the side and at the speed we were going, it took my tank bag, which was probably filled with 3-5 pounds of stuff, sucked it off the bike, into the air, across the highway and into the ditch on the other side. I had to make 2 or 3 passes driving up and down the highway before I found it. Thinking it was a fluke gust, I put it back on and 15 minutes later, it was blowing off again. We stopped and lashed that thing down on Jonathan’s bike and continued heading west.

We finally got to Fergus Falls. A really nice little town. The sun was setting, the front was passing through and the winds were beginning to settle. We found a clean little motel for 2 rooms at $50 each. There is a bar and restaurant within walking distance. The boys and I had some nice meals, talked with some friendly locals, and recalled the events of the day. We were all beat and came back to the motel. 9p ish and calling it a night. Tough ride today. But it was one of those rides that give you the experience on motorcycles. Not much on the picture taking today. It just wasn’t conducive to the events of the day. I am sure we will work on that.

We did not make North Dakota. It is only 20 miles west so tomorrow we will head west though the great plains. I am looking forward to see where the buffalo roam and the deer and antelope play. Life is good….