Day 5
I arrive at Interstate 70 in Northern Missouri at about 9:PM.
My intention is to head through Kansas City and on in to Topeka to stay for the night.
Here is what really happened.
I turn on to I-70, reputedly one of the most dangerous stretches
of interstate in the country. I know this from listening to the Truckin
Bozo on late night AM radio. Night has just fallen and the rain starts. Vehicles
are flashing lights at me and honking and a truck crawls right up my butt before flashing
me with high beams and then it hits me: I wonder if my tail light is out? It
was. I pull off at the next truck stop and find a replacement bulb (next to the porn.
Truck stops have really gone downhill, haven’t they?)
That fixed, I head back out onto the freeway. 2 hours to Kansas
City. The rain falls MUCH harder now. Can’t see the cars in front of me very well.
The trucks are flying at at least 80. I can’t go more than 70, as i just
can’t see. OK, now there is lightening striking the ground right over there. RIGHT
OVER THERE! Is that a funnel cloud? OK, that’s it.
Off the freeway at the next exit before someone squishes me.
The only things at this exit are an all night porn shop and a closed Dairy Queen/gas
station. Under the front door overhang go
the bike and I.
I wake up at 5:00 AM and hit the road again. You guessed it,
that means I hit Kansas City at 7:00 AM. Rush hour again. Due to my uncanny sense
of direction, I thread my way through the surface streets of Kansas City and find
myself successfully on the other side. I was able to ford a 8 inch deep underwater
road during this little excursion that had all 4 door sedans turning away. Very cool.
GS as an SUV! Did I mention that it was still raining?
Cross the Missouri River at Leavenworth Kansas and the sky
is clearing. A full day across KS to the string
ball and then north to Nebraska via dirt roads. OK, 70 MPH on a hard
pack dirt road is really exhilarating, but don’t let it go to your head. When
you come to mud on a 500 lbs. bike, DON’T
GET GREEDY.
Having had enough of freeways, I am paralleling I-70 on state
route 30 where I am writing this from the Hampton Inn in North Platte, Nebraska. I
think I am actually developing callouses on my butt. My god, this hurts. I rode 5
miles standing up today.