Rollin' rollin' rollin'

We awoke on Wednesday, July 15, to a hazy day.  It was 68 degrees so I had on four layers of clothing … T-shirt, cotton long-sleeved shirt, denim vest and a sweatshirt.  It was perfect for the day.  It was good weather for riding although it warmed up to 83 degrees fairly quickly.

We gassed up and as we were leaving a lady said to me, “You’re brave.”  I’ve never thought of these road trips as something where I’m being brave.  But I guess to some, females traveling by themselves, or alone, are.  Okay, I’ll take that.  Cept I just wanna ride.
 

The barn quilts have been a little sparse, but we did stop to take a photo of one that is quite colorful.  I've seen these in Wisconsin and Iowa.  A barn quilt is an 8x8-foot board that is painted with a quilt pattern, or a pattern someone made up, or something they liked and then placed on the barn.  They can be quite beautiful. 

I've also seen more small ones on this trip, maybe on a barn, or freestanding in front of a business or home.

Iowa – the land of corn and grass.  We could see corn fields forever, acre after acre, mile after mile.  And the grass?  It seems as though nearly every yard has acres of grass, and that means it has to be cut.  Men are out driving their big-rig riding mowers.  Some of them are larger than my FJ Cruiser vehicle.  It seems as though women mostly didn’t drive those.  They used the little push-style.  What’s with that?  I see all of this big machinery in fields cutting crops and I want to drive it all … hay balers, combines.  Let me at ‘em.  Many of the crops near the roads have the grass mowed between them and the road.  It makes it very neat looking and I wondered if there was a reason to do it that way. 
 

Yep.  Grass and corn.

 Iowa – the land of corn and grass.  We could see corn fields forever, acre after acre, mile after mile.  And the grass?  It seems as though nearly every yard has acres of grass, and that means it has to be cut.  Men are out driving their big-rig riding mowers.  Some of them are larger than my FJ Cruiser vehicle.  It seems as though women mostly didn’t drive those.  They used the little push-style.  What’s with that?  I see all of this big machinery in fields cutting crops and I want to drive it all … hay balers, combines.  Let me at ‘em.  Many of the crops near the roads have the grass mowed between them and the road.  It makes it very neat looking and I wondered if there was a reason to do it that way. 

Today’s ride took us mostly on Highways 3 and 4.  There were lots of tar snakes going across the road.  Bounce, bounce, bounce.  If you have to pee, you wonder if you will make it to the next gas station.  Now I have to use a restroom every 25 miles.  The “pee now” dash light keeps coming on at 25 miles.  It makes for a very long day when you have to keep stopping.  Wah!!!

We did find a few more oddities today as we’ve even had people tell us of one or two.

Pocahontas was born in 1595 and named Metoaka, Little White Cloud, promise of rain and good harvest.  As a young girl she was named Pocahontas, Water Running About Swiftly, because she won both the girls and boys race at harvest.  As a young woman she was given the name Rebecca in hopes to unite two peoples.  She is known for befriending Capt. John Smith and the Jamestown colony, bringing food and saving Smith's life.  She became ill and died at the age of 21 as she and her family were returning from a visit to England.  In England she was known as Lady Rebecca, Indian Princess.  Her statue here was built in 1956.    

Pocahontas is located in Pocahontas, Iowa.  She is 25-feet tall and was built in 1956.  There’s even a teepee nearby where you can enjoy a picnic at a table, and there’s a small totem in there that is also kind of neat.  Some may think her tacky, but I liked seeing her.

 

The totem was very cool with the animals and their meanings.

 We’d heard about a mallard duck so off to Mallard, Iowa, we went.  That one also did not disappoint.  I love the hunt for the roadside attractions and oddities.

We didn't spend enough time here to find out how friendly they were.  I do know that the duck originally started as a parade float for the community club.  It was quite an undertaking with offset wheels so the duck would waddle and a moving beak and head.  It was pulled by pickups in several parades before being put up on the sign.  It's constructed of wood, chicken wire and Fiberglas, and was refurbished in 2004.

Today I’ve paid a bit more attention to some of the welcoming logos the towns have and they’re kind of cool.  I don’t know if I’d call them oddities, or not, but just something of interest.  Pocahontas is the Princess City, Rock Rapids is the City of Murals and Mallard is We’re Friendly Ducks.   

I was coming up on needing a 45,000-mile service for Harlow, my bike.  And she was needing a new shoe on the rear.  I called the shop in Gillette, Wyoming, and asked if I could get in on Saturday, three days-plus from now.  They could do some but not all.  And I was told I wasn’t the only person traveling.  Really?  I didn’t know that?  I tried Okobodji.  They didn’t have the mechanics as two were at a funeral, but they were very nice and said to try Sioux Falls.  Yep, J&L in Sioux Falls could, so we headed in that direction.
 

The Udder Cow, an ice cream establishment.

That says it all.  I believe we're coming up on a week.

Once again we skirted all the big clouds, sliding into Sioux Falls with nary a raindrop.  The only downside to the day was the Super 8 on Russell Street.  Usually Super 8s are pretty consistent.  This one was a dive. 

But there was a Corvette event, Hot Harley Nights and a Jazz Festival coming up and all the hotels we called were full.  So we were pretty limited.  But tired and it had to do.

We did our usual evening walk and did find more statues, a buffalo.  How could I resist that face?

We got up on Thursday, July 16, and headed to J&L Harley-Davidson.  They were excellent.  They got the bike in right away and said it would be a few hours.  They finished on-time and gave her a bath so she’d look brand-new for maybe 50 miles.

Smudge rode over to visit with us for a bit and told us of a little town called Aladdin that had a store we should visit.  It’s on the way to Devil’s Tower, and that’s where we were headed.  Maybe not today, but soon. 

With the service done we rode to Mitchell, South Dakota.  There was a rest room at the Corn Palace calling my name. 

Doing a little renovation work to keep it fresh-looking.

How corny!!!

Once again we had lunch at a train depot.  It was good, but the best depot lunch was still the depot called Maxim’s in Oconomowoc.

We kept rolling, and ended up at the same Best Western in Huron, South Dakota.  We knew this one and it was nice.  Once again the thunder clouds had been building, and we avoided it all.  We’ve done quite well on this trip.