Thursday June 5th to Tuesday June 10th

It was on to Schaumberg near Ohare airport to meet eMagine consulting group. JoAnn Freeman greeted us and we met Bryauna Bieneman and Cheryl Plencner to learn how they assisted businesses in getting the right talent into their firm. Their extensive HR knowledge is one of their main assets. Then it was off to Ohare for Jax flight back to Riverside and my ride on toward Minneapolis in the heat. The R1 and I sure did miss Jax. En route to Madison a helpful chap grabbed his Garmin GP and announced it was 292 miles to Minneapolis. Try 300 plus. I stopped in Madison and went for a meal at Olive Garden. I was settled in to my motorcycle magazine when Danny the friendly waiter came up. Now that boy is outgoing and he was soon giving me tips about seeing the best of Madison and drawing me maps. To top that off he insisted I give any tip to the Hole in the Wall Gang charity. Thanks Danny, I'll make sure that happens. Unfortunately the weather next morning washed away any chance of a Madison photo op and I was marooned until noon watching black clouds and horizontal rain. Then sun. I took a chance and headed out for Minneapolis in my leathers and the sun held all the way. Jax had called from California and begged me not to ride as the weather was so stormy and the winds so powerful. Oh yes! Of course I ignored her warning as it involved being sensible and safe. Idiot brain! I was keen to see my mate Garrett that day so I set out. It was an EPIC ride! I battled a westerly wind as I headed more north than west (if you are compass challenged it meant the winds were hitting my left side almost all the way). It took me a long time to get used to the intense concentration as I was battered from side to side. It was a 5 hour ride and during my stop for petrol the wind started to blow the bike over as I filled up! Not since crossing the St. Laurence leaving Montreal had I been so scared. 3 hours west along I94 the blasted farmers had cleared a zillion acres of trees and left a valley that the winds HOWLED along. I had just passed a huge Kenworth 18 wheel truck when I was blown across 2 lanes as if I weighed 100 grammes. That poor truck driver. As soon as the bike touched down I accelerated and swung left across the lanes again as I didn't want to hit the ditch on the right if it happened again. I had to keep enough forward speed so that the headwind countered the sidewind and that got me to Minneapolis in a quicker time. It was amazing how quickly one adjusted to the conditions and I was relaxed in spite of the constant little heart-stoppers. Nevertheless, I was very happy when I rolled up outside my mate's garage doors. I put away a few beers that night! En route I saw these weird rocks near the Wisconsin Dells and this Harley engined ocean liner sailed in. Why not just put a saddle on an 18 wheeler?
Garrett is an unstoppable host and loves to cook up specialty foods. Friday evening, Saturday and even Sunday passed in a blur of meeting people and old friends and catching up on news. Garrett has bought an orange Kawasaki Ninja 636 (I did tip him the wink on that choice) and done all his own mechanical servicing and man that engine sounds like a symphony. I also met Connie & Doug Schnabel at the Caribou coffee house (internet) because I was gawping at his new Kawasaki KLR650 which got great reviews in the american mags. He LOVES it. Happy riding you two!
Monday we went into Minneapolis as I desperately needed a new front tyre. I think it has done over 13,000 miles! The guys at Hitching Post in Hopkins MN obliged me with instant service, good advice, friendly banter and checking things beyond what was expected. Matt, Trent, thanks a million. Garrett wanted photos of the Russian grizzly bears so we spent a few hours at the zoo. I also took a pic of one of the houses he built. He also built his parents lovely Cape-Cod style house. Billions of kids made photography very difficult. I think I have now heard the DUMBEST kid in the world whilst at the zoo. I was standing looking at a small african antelope with LONG sharp horns. There were huge Bactrian camels in the field over to the right. A girl of about 15 or 16 looking at the antelope said to her father (who looked one tin short of a six-pack) "Like what is that? A baby camel?" "I dunno" he said. Now this girl MUST have grown up with Lion King, Discovery Channel, School, endless safari scenes on Telly and she thinks baby camels are born with 3' straight pointed horns? I won't even begin to mention all the American kids that yelled "meerkats" when they saw those most american of animals the prairie dogs. I suppose that is forgivable in little ones who just see them standing up to attention but I honestly think you may want to burn all your schools down and just let the Discovery Channel take over. I suppose in reality I just overheard some teenager that has had a mobile phone to her ear for 12 years without a break...
Monday evening Garrett and I met up with no less than 4 ACCs. What a reception! Krista Young of Automated Business Solutions spread the word I was in town and David (NOT Dave) Sunnarborg of MarketPlace Innovations, Karen Fine "The ACT! Lady" and Jim Fry of ACTSource all made their way to Champs for a little food and drink. Garrett enjoyed Krista's African experiences as he is well travelled and plans to tour Africa later this year on a motorbike. David insisted on spoiling us as guests and we all compared notes about consulting work with ACT! It amazes me how all these people are so friendly and helpful and easy-going when on paper we are all competitors. In reality, we all work together to get the best service to our customers and they love learning about solutions and tips and tricks. Thanks for a very pleasant evening guys and gals!
This morning I rode down here to Caribou Coffee and some connectivity to update this blog. Tomorrow should see Garrett and I set out on the final half of the journey. If you are en-route and want a visit do email me.