118 & out

Man plans and God laughs.
I awoke to see Springfield Missouri shimmering from a very light, intermittent misting. The western horizon looked dark and although no blue sky was visible, a lighter-shade of darkness stood out in the distance. There was just enough time to grab a banana from the breakfast buffet and head west to try to get past the heavy clouds. It worked, and once in sunshine, I celebrated with a breakfast feast of a gas station sandwich and a diet Pepsi. Happy days!

Traveling a series of beautiful country roads that were used in the 1930 era as RT 66, I passed through Carthage MO, then stopped in to see my old friend Gary at the Gay Parita Sinclair station. More of Missouri’s great motorcycling roads led me to Joplin MO. Then things changed. I don’t mind riding in the rain, but I do mind riding blind. Rain comes in drops, this stuff came in sheets, seasoned with good sized hailstones. I ducked in under an overhang and did the wet-weather-gear drill. After the hail let up, I trudged along in just rain and made it to Galena Kansas. Now Kansas claims only 13 miles of RT66, 18 miles including all historic alignments. That should be a breeze, but more hail, rain and purple flashy stuff said, “Hey you’ve never over-nighted in Kansas before, so why not now?”. At a stop sign, I noticed an opposing car with a mom covering her mouth as if to say “oh my gawd what is that idiot doing”. That pretty much indicated that it was time to find THE motel in Galena and call it a day. Flash floods and Tstorms are forecast through 9:30 CDT tonight. Tomorrow’s forecast is a 40% chance of a motorcycle wash.