Day 13.
September 2nd, 2021.

I awoke very early today.
By 6:30 a.m. local time I was ready to begin this leg of the journey.
My plan today was to try and “cover” as many miles as I possibly and safely could.
There was nothing planned to see between here and home.
It was literally a straight shot.
As I loaded the bike up, it began to rain!
Weather report had it clearing to the east.
“Yaaay, that was the direction in which I would be heading”!
It was 19’C (66’F).
Cold, to endure for a long ride!
I was in no rush, so I decided to mull around for a while in the hope that the rain would ease up.
So much for that!
I finally pulled out and got onto the road at 8:55 a.m.
It was still raining with no end in sight when I got to the Minnesota state line.
Pulling over to acquire my customary state line crossing photo, the rainfall intensified.
Enough to the point that I knew I had to get off the highway.
Besides, it was doubly unsafe to be doing what I was doing under even the best of weather conditions at the side of this now busy highway.
The reality struck me that I was back in a more urbanized setting, no longer in the countryside.
Slowly beginning to get drenched, I took the exit off the highway into the town of Adrian, MN and “ducked” into a “Kum and Go” Gas Station/Convenience Store to shelter from the now-torrential rain.

I took the liberty and fueled up the bike as I began to "wait out” the rainy weather.
After 2 hours there was no break in the rainfall whatsoever.
Vehicles were pulling off the highway in droves, some coming into the same yard to take shelter from the rain.
I called my eldest daughter and asked her to check weather forecasts for me along my route (she has a great “Weather App”).
“Dad, you’ve got a storm ahead of you for the next 96 km (60 mi)”.
“Shucks”!
I remained optimistic.
“Oh, it’ll quit I kept telling myself”.
“I’ll be able to continue”.
An hour later it was still coming down, just as hard as ever!
I was in “home-going mode” and returning to Sioux falls to stay an extra night was not an option I wanted to exercise.
I went into the convenience store and asked the store clerk if there were any motels close by, only to find out that there was not a single one in this area.
Too small a locale to support that kind of business.
Besides it was literally in the middle of nowhere!
I went back outdoors and as I gazed out to the nothing but dull, grey, wet weather I made another phone call to my daughter for a possibly better weather forecast.
“No luck, Dad. It’s moving eastwards as well”.
3 hours had now gone by.
Stubborn as I was and based on what I was confronted with, I suited up and headed off into the rain.
I was going to try and outrun the cloud that was hanging overhead, dumping it’s water all over me!
I didn’t care anymore that I was still wet.
It could be worse than it already was.
I gained a lot of confidence in my new Michelin Road 5 GT tires!
I experienced such a high degree of wet-weather performance, way above and beyond any I had ever experienced to this ride and all I can say is that these tires delivered performance way above and beyond what they were advertised to do.
I won’t tell you what running conditions I asked of them - for fear of incriminating myself.
But take it from me - these tires did not seem to know the difference between wet or dry conditions.
They just stuck to the road surface, allowing me to get ahead to the dry edge of the rain cloud in 2 hours!
and there I stayed with the cloud only catching up to me when I stopped to fuel up along the way.
I arrived in Cedar Rapids, IA close to 9:00 p.m. local timed checked into a Comfort Inn Hotel at the outskirts of town.
I was now only 960 km (600 mi) from home.
The rain caught up with me, but I was indoors and dry with a river flood warning for the area.

Day 14.
September 3rd, 2021.
I awoke to rain.
Same like yesterday, the weather forecast called for it for the whole day.
I really didn’t worry too much.
I was so much closer to home today.
It was within striking distance to attain.
I had good confidence in my tires and bike (and myself).
Yes safety was paramount, so I would “notch down” my speed today.
At 9:15 a.m., after indulging in the complimentary breakfast in the dining area of the hotel, I loaded up and headed out into the weather and the riding day ahead of me.
It was a relatively cold 16’C (61’F) with 100% R.H.!
I made my only stop for the day in Utica, IL for a lunch and fuel break - Subway and a Sprite for me and Premium Unleaded for the Bike.
We were “cool” with that.
I pulled into the driveway at home at exactly 10:30 p.m. local time, as the garage door opened.
My wife had timed my arrival perfectly!

It was good to be home after enduring the relative traffic congestion of this, the most densely populated part of the country!
I was ready to “be off the road”.