Day 12 - Cedar Rapids Iowa to Chicago Illinois

I could feel a little extra energy amongst everyone this morning. It was kind of like the feeling we had as we got closer to Sturgis. There was a sense of excitement building as we realised that today was the end of one adventure (San Fran to Sturgis to Chicago) and the beginning of another - Route 66. It also meant that the Kennedys' would finally join up with us and the whole team would be back together again. However before that could happen we had some sights to see on our way to Chicago.

We gassed up at another Casey's and took the opportunity to grab some breakfast and then it was straight onto 151 heading for Anamosa and the National Motorcycle Museum less than an hour away. It was an easy ride which I think we all appreciated as yesterday was a BIG day. We rolled into Anamosa pretty quickly and all the hassles that yesterday presented us were long out of our minds. What can I really say about this place. The National Motorcycle Museum was founded in 1989 by people who love motorcycling and it exists today because of their passion.

If you have a beating heart that loves motorcycles this is a bucket list stop. I didn't really know what to expect. I had already been to the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaulkee and I guess I was always going to compare Anamosa with that. But that is really not what the National Motorcycle Museum is about. Milwaulkee is about Harleys, Anamosa is about motorbikes albeit with an American flavour. It is an incredible tribute to motorbikes and all that goes with it. Go there!

If you are in Anamosa then there is one other stop and that is J and P Cycles. I am a big customer of theirs and their online service is second to none. This company ticks all the boxes when it comes to after market parts and accessories and any trip that has you going through Anamosa should have you in their car park at some point.

What a place. Now on to Galena and then Savanna. This meant going on to Route 61 crossing the Mississippi at East Dubuque and then on to US 20. This was good riding and we were making easy comfortable time.

Galena is a beautiful historic little town that had its beginnings like many as a mining town. It had been an American Indian site for a thousand years before miners moved in in the 1800's. The town and its building are simply beautiful.

From Galena we headed down US20 onto US84 and into Savanna. The original plan was to spend the night in Savanna so I could get to party at the Iron Horse Saloon. This was something that Bo and I had planned all along and it was a real disappointment for us that the delays coming out of Sturgis meant we had to lose a night on the way to Chicago as we were due there today. That meant no night in the Iron Horse Saloon. We arrived in Savanna around 11am and the Iron Horse Saloon looked shut. We pulled up outside and started taking photos and then one of us tried the door and....yes sirree it was open. Two Coors Light please and oh by the way what do you girls want.

I am coming back to the Iron Horse to stand and drink in that bar and maybe get a little drunk. It is the sort of place that a guy could do that in and feel like I was amongst my own. We were hungry and next stop Poopy's Pub n Grub the biggest biker destination in Illinois. As luck would have it the place was just round the corner. I like Savanna.

Poopy's is one of those places that if you like bikes, food, beer, tattoos and all that goes with it you can probably buy it over the counter. A real biker destination if you are on 84 anywhere near Savanna. Our food was great and a look around the shop and tattoo parlour that are part of the main building is worth the visit on its own.

Now it was time to head for Chicago. We headed East taking US52 until we finally made it onto I 88 and started hauling ass to Chicago. This should have been simple from here but nothing ever is when you hit rush hour and that is particularly the case in Chicago. What a fucking mess. It was hot and we were gridlocked. Not ideal. We continued through the traffic cutting across the lanes heading for the River North Best Western right in downtown Chicago. By this time the Big Guy was leading with Bo and I following. We have cars and trucks all over us and without realising we were right on our exit lane. The Big Guy made the turn and Bo just managed to get in behind him. As for me at the rear not a fucking hope. I waved them goodbye as they exited and I naively thought I would double back at the next off ramp. 40 minutes later I am in the middle of nowhere completely off the grid as far as my TomTom is concerned, lost in the construction area somewhere near the airport. No matter how hard I tried I could not find a way out. Luckily I managed to find someone prepared to actually speak to a biker and he put me back on the right track. It still wasn't over however - back into the gridlocked mayhem that seems to suffocate Chicago I went. At last my TomTom finally figured out where I was and another 40 minutes later I am on West Ohio and I can see the waving arms of Bo signalling me in to the Hotel car park. We did close to 300 miles today and were in the saddle for nearly 6 hrs.

Part One of our odyssey across continental USA from San Francisco to Chicago was over. 11 days of amazing riding through country that simply left you gasping for air in its raw beauty - Yellowstone, Yosemite, Beartooth and the Grand Tetons. The Loneliest Highway after the stunning Lake Tahoe had us thinking of the Pony Express and just how damned hard those riders must have been. Sturgis was everything we had hoped for and more. The murderous Bison, the close encounter with a stag and the exploding tyres were now part of our riding folk lore that will be greatly exaggerated over the coming years. The four of us have shared something truly remarkable made all the better by being on these Harleys. We have three nights here and the Big Guy gets to finally hook up with his young brother Barry (over from New York) and the Kennedy's (just in from London) rejoin The Lostboys for the ride back to San Francisco via Route 66. It is time for a beer. Fuck it - lots of beers. Lazza your round. Let the good times roll - and they did.

COMING UP NEXT - Day 1 in Chicago and the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaulkee

Day 11 - Valentine Nebraska to Cedar Rapids Iowa

Not much to really say about Valentine as we literally only slept there. Arriving late in the day yesterday I got no sense of the place other than it looked like another little hardworking Midwest town like so many others we had ridden through here in Nebraska. I know it is known as Heart City as the receptionist at the Motel said so when we checked in. Probably do a good deal on Valentine's day as well. We rose early as we had another big day on the road. Our aim was to head for Savanna Illinois where Bo had us booked into a little B&B right opposite the Iron Horse Saloon and Social Club. Long before we finalised this trip I had said that this was a bucket list destination for me but I was already under no illusion that with the delays yesterday we were still a long way off getting there. I knew that meant major highway riding and going hard. We had all slept well and were up for it. Little did we know just how long a day it would really be.

Heading out of Valentine I immediately pushed onto US 20 and opened up the throttle heading east towards Sioux City and beyond. There is not much to say about this sort of riding - normally we try and avoid it. 4 and 6 lane black tops packed with cars and trucks and then even more trucks. But for some reason this was like something new. Probably because we had spent so much time 'in country' that we had forgotten what it was like to dial up 80mph and set the cruise. For a change this felt pretty good and we were making good time. The temperature was sitting nicely around 75 - 80 and the traffic wasn't too bad. None the less I was acutely aware of the distance we had to ride and I kept on the throttle.

240 uneventful miles later we hit the Nebraska - Iowa State Border. This occurred just past Sioux City as we crossed the Missouri River on US20/I-129. As a matter a fact it occurred on the Sergeant Floyd Bridge to be precise. We needed a break. Not wanting to lose too much time I found a Casey's General Store just off the Inter State.

 I love these places. We have only just discovered them but there are somewhere around 1700 of the damned things through the mid-west and it (like many of the other major chain stores) all started with one little store in a small town of around 5000 people. Try and do that back home. Good food, cold drinks, somewhere to sit - and yes you can also get gas and ammunition for your rifle. We were also close to some US history at this point. The Lewis and Clark Expedition had gone through this part of the country back in 1804 on their quest to find a route to the Pacific. Sergeant Floyd (of the Bridge fame) was on that expedition and died a short distance from where I was eating my pizza. I know this because I was reading a local tourist attraction pamphlet as I knocked back my pizza. There is also a bluff named after him where he is buried.

It was about this time that I realised that Savanna was still a damned long way away. To complicate matters Bo and I wanted to see the National Motorcycle Museum at Anamosa and this would take us an even longer way to Savanna. My dilemma was that two of the bucket list destinations we had picked for this trip were rapidly becoming difficult to achieve. Not only were we well short of our destination we were running out of time. We had to be in Chicago tomorrow night.

I checked with the Naikeys. They were still up for a big ride if that was what we had to do and so was Bo. But again nothing is simple. Riding direct to Savanna was another 350 miles or around 5 and a half hours riding and we would probably not get to the Museum in Anamosa before it shut. After nearly two weeks on the road we had a pretty good feel for our riding stamina and in the end I made the call. We would head for Cedar Rapids for the night and then Anamosa and Savanna on the way to Chicago. A relatively short ride the next day after some of the days we had completed. It meant I couldn't party at the Iron Horse Social Club but I would still get to have a beer there.

Full gas tanks and straight back on to US 20. We still had four hours riding ahead of us so the day was far from over. The heat was building up too. Edging towards 90 degrees but the traffic was still light. I kept the pace and the music on and we were carving up the miles with ease. These bikes were in their element. Fully loaded and only pulling 3500 rpm. I love this shit.

Then it happened. About 50 miles out of Cedar Rapids on US20. You see the stuff laying all over the highways and inter states and give it no thought. I've heard the stories but never seen one - until now. And it happened right beside me. The traffic had been slowly building and there were now a lot of trucks on the road. Still - they were moving quickly and we had plenty of room. In the lead I took an open lane on the outside of an 18 wheeler and as he was doing over 80 I just slowly moved up alongside as I passed.

Next thing KABOOM! And I mean KA-FUCKING-BOOM! There was an explosion and I am in this thick grey smoke with debris hammering my screen and batwing. No jacket - no helmet. At the same time my bike was literally picked up and thrown into the next lane. I had no idea of where I was and could not see around me - AND - I am still doing around 80 mph. This is just surreal. I feel like I am floating in this fog and it is absolutely silent - not a sound to be heard. But wait a minute I am on an Interstate with 18 wheelers all around me AND I am on a very noisy Harley. I realise I am also now deaf. Couldn't hear a damn thing. Then I run clear of the smoke and I am through it only in time to see the Naikey's hit the smoke and debris on the road. By this time however they have slowed and have already warned Bo who was following them. I then saw the truck that I had been beside and could see that two of the rear tyres had been blown completely off. Now I know how all that rubber ends up on all the big road. As I said before that stuff is everywhere and you pay it no mind. Biker beware I now say.

With nowhere to pull over safely I had to start taking stock while still riding. No cuts or bruising. Hearing coming back. Bike looked OK from what I could see. Everyone was pulling in behind me as we continued rolling. I ride with good people. A quick thumbs up all round and with Cedar rapids now clearly visible on my left we looked for an off ramp to take stock. As luck would have it the first one we took had us right opposite a Best Western - and it was a Best Western with a bar. You know what I am gonna do.

We pulled straight into the car park and for the third time on this trip I had a reason to celebrate cheating death or serious injury. Bo didn't waste any time finding the tequila and as I knocked it back I looked skyward and said 'thank you - whoever you are'.

Cedar Rapids looks like a beautiful place. We only ever got to see the sights from riding through on US20 and the car park of the hotel but from what I saw you could easily spend some time here just relaxing. And Cooper's Mill Hotel is a great place to stay! Right on the banks of the Cedar River and all the amenities.

We had ridden over 500 miles today and we were in the saddle for over 8hrs. Epic. Okay so we didn't get to our planned destination in Savanna and I didn't get to party in the Iron Horse Saloon. I am disappointed about that - but on the bright side I will still get to go there and we can now spend some real time at the Bike Museum (only an hour down the road) and also take in the beautiful town of Galena before heading for Chicago. Now where's that bar cos I am ready to pop some tops!

And what a bar. Welcome to Vinnie's Man Cave. Hit it right on happy hour so the big guy and I set about teaching them a lesson in drinking economics. Not only was the beer cheap it was Coors and it was them damn big ones. We talked about the ride - well I guess we were talking because I could see mouths moving but all I had was this fucking ringing in my ears. It finally left somewhere around the fourth can. Funny thing is that whilst we didn't have the grand scenery and nice long stops in beautiful out of the way places we still reckoned it had been a good day. Riding the main highways and Inter States for a change made it that little bit different. I wouldn't want to do it all the time but today had been good despite the last minute drama. The locals in the bar gravitated over to us and wanted to know all about us. We are getting good at this part so we obliged over more beer. Good people in Cedar Rapids.

I said it before. I ride with good people. I am not sure how we might have dealt with a different outcome but we didn't have to. The point of it all is that we had a big day on the bikes and we came through it. It had been one of those days that had crept up on me and nearly changed everything. In the end it didn't and the only change was our route for tomorrow. We are looking forward to it. LTGTR!

COMING UP - The National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, the Iron Horse Saloon in Savanna and riding in to Chicago to meet the Kennedy's and the big guy's little brother Barry.