feeger's trip across North America

[JT 384]

Great pics!

 

[Niehart]

Great pictures. Oh, and I love Spud's shirt!

 

[feeger]

Here's a shot of downtown Rapid City on my way East:

I took 14 to hopefully see some small towns along the way and came across Cottonwood - Population 12!

So I turned in to see the Jail:

Here's Main Street:

And stopped to chat with Matthew (he liked the FJR!):

He was sitting on the steps of the town hall reading a newspaper when I pulled up:

Which was right across the street from the old Bank building:

He told me the town used to be bigger, but after the "fires"

most people moved away. Even the church was abandoned:

It was great talking to him and he seemed to appreciate me stopping to talk to him. He was sad because his father had just passed away unexpectedly three weeks ago, so he was taking care of his mother and three dogs. If you look past him, that's his home in the jumble of buildings. He was a genuinely nice person and shared a few stories with me. One was that his cousin was a sniper in Vietnam and they found his sniper rifle (had his name engraved in it) at a pawn shop. He said it has a "kick" when he fires it.

Talking to him has been one of the highlights of my trip.

Then, I was off down the road again:

look, a TREE:

I got to talk to the traffic guy at one of the three VERY LONG construction stops:

Once again,

I got to do some gravel:

The after crossing the Missouri River into central time, I stopped in the Capital, Pierre:

After that, my ride was straigh and WINDY! By the time I got to Brookings, I just pulled into the first hotel I could find and grabbed some food. The wind really wore me out today. I'm going to sleep now and may try to get to Chicago tomorrow so I can spend some time with my sister before heading to Toronto.

 

[madmike2]

It sounds like you're enjoying the adventure. :clapping:

Taking time to talk with a local...priceless! Set your own pace, friend, and enjoy the visit with your family.

BTW, great pictures and stories. B)

 

[hecpilot]

Very nice ride report. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to post. Love your insights and your "interviews" with small town folk.

Be safe!

 

[rogdeb]

Hey Al,

Havin' a great time huh? :yahoo:

It shows -- great pics and report -- keep 'em coming. :clapping:

Rog n Debs

 

[Sagebrush]

Very good pics, keep them coming.... Thanks

 

[jwilly]

Great pictures and report, see you at EOM!

JW

 

[Bugnatr]

No corn fields yet?

Those flat land pics are getting me prepared for CFO.

 

[feeger]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I made it to Chicago, but it's late and I'm too tired to do the ride report tonight. Keep posted!

 

[wheatonFJR]

Great report...I'm loving it. :clapping:

I also know that tired feeling at the end of a long day of riding.

Continue to have fun with the serendipity....and the curves at EOM.

 

[feeger]

I had a great day walking around Chicago today. This is from yesterday:

As I was leaving Brookings South Dakota, it looked like I might get some rain:

She wrote the Little House series

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ingalls_Wilder

Just for Tyler:

The weather got better:

Stopped in La Crosse where apparently, they're into deviant *** acts?:

and followed the Mississippi for a while:

At first I thought it said "no ****"

Saw this at a gas station:

I got to Chicago around 10 pm so no more pics. I did wake up to this close call:

I will start uploading the pics from my walk around the city today.

 

[madmike2]

Very cool! Enjoy your family and get rested (yeah...right!).

 

[feeger]

Very cool! Enjoy your family and get rested (yeah...right!).

I took a long nap after wandering around the city for 4 hours today. Selected pics are here.

Look a Givi case!:

A friend told me that I HAD to try this place:

I'm not a fan of hot dogs, but this one was pretty good:

Dinner:

The weather was perfect and I really enjoyed just aimlessly walking around the city, but this evening was about spending time with family. I'm have a great time!

 

[Silent]

Dangitall! Your makin me hungry!

And I want your camera Excellent pics Al!

 

[Dave Migliore]

Albert...

you sure are getting off to a great start - however a thought did occur to me...

do you think you'll be able to take this for another 5 weeks?

i am sure the answer is, "HELL YES!".

enjoy - keep 'em comin' - and be safe.

mig.

 

[Bugnatr]

Gee.... I will be in LaCrosse in a few weeks for CFO. No one said anything about "deviant *** acts".

Not that their is anything wrong with that.

 

[madmike2]

There are some waaaayyyy kewel pics onyour link to Picasa.

Well done, sir, well done!

 

[rogdeb]

Enjoying this thread a lot -- good work Al :clapping:

 

[feeger]

Thanks for the comments! I've been busy visiting family, and haven't had time to do a ride report. Here's a link to pics from the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto. link