North by Northwet

[scarysharkface]

North by Northwet - Scarysharkface goes to Wetfest in Tumalo, Oregon, on a girl's bike..

Alternate title: Scary like a shark face.

Seems my firm decision to either ride the DR350 all the way from West Terre Haute, Indiana, to Bend, Oregon, or to haul the little thing on the back of the Jeep for Wetfest fell apart just that quickly. A quick scoot on Pinktoad's Wee-Strom the Monday prior to my scheduled departure and suddenly my mind fractures into three pieces.

I had gigs scheduled on either end of the trip, constraining me to 14 days with no wiggle room. Friday night was with Dicky James and The Blue Flames. I'll add a link if I can ever get the video to upload..



Packed and ready to head out Saturday morning..





First fuel stop in Paris, Illinois. Dethraz rode the first 90 or so miles with me on his 990 Adventure, up to I-74 via state roads.



Just outside of Peoria the sky starting to look interesting. There was a front headed through with lots of water..



The rain was intense across much of NW Illinois and Eastern Iowa. The Hawkeyes game was even postponed due to the stadium flooding. Trucks and cars were pulled to the side of the road with their hazards flashing. What do I do? I blast right through, knowing that if I stop and wait it may take the better part of a full day for the system to pass. It wasn't a consistently-heavy rain, but more like a series of heavy squalls with breaks in-between which was not so bad..





Loves me some McDonalds coffee..





Eventually I'm through it and headed up I-29. It is an odd sight, having the roadway lined with sand bags and large pumps as water sits in the surrounding fields. No room to pull off, though, so no pictures other than what's in my head..

South Dakota..



Interesting rest stop..



It had been recommended by fellow travelers that I hit up the dam outside of Yankton, South Dakota, and check out the water that's being released..



It's rather intimidating, and to think that a month earlier they were releasing twice as much water..



I end the night by the parking lot of the visitor center, on a bench next to the nature trail..





Today's numbers..



John