In search of a past home...

The weather was not looking too good this morning and I contemplated leaving tomorrow but Garrett was up for getting underway and quite frankly he was right. As an Englishman once said, "There is no such thing as bad weather, merely inappropriate clothing". Therein hangs a tale. We did last minute checks on tyres and gear and donning our weatherproof gear rode off in light drizzle from Mound. Next stop Sioux Falls South Dakota. Ten miles down the road the flippin' sun comes out. We kept our gear on as we rode Hwy 169/60 south through very pretty scenery of rolling hills and heavy woods. We had one or two brief showers but nothing untoward as regards rain. The wind was another story. Garrett and I had worked out a riding pattern and hand signals and we were getting along famously. I was very glad to see that Garrett was a careful rider as I normally ride completely alone. Solo flight is my delight. As we rode on I started to cook in my gear and called a stop to remove the outer layer before I fainted. That was right as the 60 met the I90 west. A friendly trucker told us to sit a bit longer as bad weather was coming. We had been battling very powerful side winds again and were getting tired so a rest was well due. In lovely sunny conditions we hit the I 90 with just 60 miles to go and I was feeling so free without my waterproofs...I swear that blasted black cloud KNEW I had removed them. It poured down fit to make Noah run for it. We could hardly see 6' ahead of us. At one point I stopped under a bridge for cover. Ha! The rain blew horizontally through that overpass so we just had to get soaked. I was very concerned that getting my leathers soaked would mean days waiting for them to dry out but just as quickly as it appeared the cloud skipped away and we let the breeze and sun begin the drying process. Garrett wanted to visit an old house where his father first lived until 1941 so we rode south on Hwy 75 and 11 to Steen MN, right on the Iowa border. Garrett spoke to some locals and 74 year old John Bosch knew Garrett's grandfather and was able to clarify which farm was the old homestead. We rode to Iowa for 10 seconds and then to that farm. Glen and Ann had a lot of cows and pigs to care for but made us so welcome as we explained about our ride and Garrett's search for the house. I noted what happy people they seemed to be and how friendly all these southern Minnesotan's were. We made our way to Sioux Falls and a cheap motel and had a good meal at a real American roadhouse. Garrett then proceeded to run off into the dark with his camera and come back looking smug with some good shots. I'm too busy getting a cold and blowing my nose to show enthusiasm. 231.8 miles under pretty tough conditions. It was a good start.