Go East young man!!!

Monday 12^th Aug Sturgis to Murdo

Having spent a week camping it took me a while to get my head around packing up and getting on the move again! I took a slow ride out of Sturgis and headed for an air museum, I was looking for the Minuteman missile sites but I couldn’t find them.  Stayed on the interstate just to make up some miles and ended up in a lovely town, found a cheap motel and it was lovely to sleep in a proper bed after a week of using the tent!

Tuesday 13^th Aug Murdo to Magnolia

I once again took to the interstate, theres not a great deal to see here so its best just to make up some miles. Found a lovely quiet city campsite, it only had a couple of RV’s and I was the only one camping.

Wednesday 14^th Aug Magnolia to Nashua

I came off the interstate and headed out on some smaller roads. Again, theres not a great deal to see around here. I did stay at a city park for $12, which was just on the side of a lake and was a bargain. On the way out of town I stopped to see the Little Brown Church, quite quaint and well worth the stop.

Thursday 15^th Aug Nashua to Maquoketa

Taking to the back roads I decided I would nip into Winconsin for about 70 miles to add that state to my ever growing list of states completed.
Once again I ended up camping in a small city park for $5, the days are still quite hot but hardly any cloud cover in the nights mean the nights are getting colder and the tent and bike has condensation on them in the mornings.

Friday 16^th Aug Maquoketa to Chicago

I made my way to Chicago to meet up with Pete the Polish guy I had met in Alaska. I was not prepared for city traffic and the temps were close to 30 degrees!
To top it all, one of the roads to Petes house was closed for traffic, so I managed after 20 minutes to work out a detour and finally got to Pete’s house.
A quick beer and lovely Chinese takeaway and we were in his car and heading for downtown Chicago, even at 9 at night the traffic was still a nightmare!

Saturday 17^th Aug Chicago

Pete had to go to work but his mother kindly offered me a room for the night. So I just chilled out for most of the day.

Sunday 18^th Aug Chicago to Angola

I decided that Sunday was probably the best day to try and escape the city traffic and it was a good decision as the roads were quiet.
Again I took a detour to Michigan to tick off another state, I was going to stay there for the night but all the motels in Michigan are non smoking rooms. So I rode another 90 mile into Indiania and found a smoking motel, however it turns out that in Indiania you cannot buy beer on a Sunday! Luckily I had a couple of cans in my bags.

Monday 19^th Aug Angola to Cleveland

I really needed a new rear tyre as the roads in Alaska are so rough and have taken their toll on my rear tyre. I could not find anywhere in Chicago so my search took me to a bike shop in Cleveland.

Also on the repair list was a new chain and sprockets, which after 31,000 miles are still fairly good but the front sprocket is showing signs of wear. I thought while the rear wheel was off I might as well get a new chain and sprocket, The front tyre is still good for another 7,000 miles.

Anyways, the shop couldn’t get the parts till Thursday so I booked into a cheapish motel but the wifi wouldn’t work in my room, so in the morning I went off in search of a cheap motel with working wifi.

Tuesday 20^th and Wednesday 21^st Aug Cleveland

Well managed to find a cheap motel with working wifi and booked 2 nights, spent some time doing laundry and sorting out my bags and the just chilling.

Wednesday I had a skype session with my mate Tony and caught up with all the news and gossip from back home.
Later in the afternoon I took a ride to downtown and spent a few hours visiting a submarine, it was really interesting but I don’t think I could have lived on one, I feel too restricted in them.