NJ to CA: Day 2 : 7/25/2013 Frederick MD to North Liberty IO

The plan is to get past Des Moines IA, and I might be able to convince Mike to continue on to Omaha NE (only a hundred more miles).  If I get there, I won't have to deal with all of the Omaha morning commute, only half of it.  The forecast is below.  It looks like I'll be doning some rain pants in the morning to keep my legs warm and in the evening if it starts raining.

Meet Mike Adams and our bikes. Pic taken 7/24.

The morning started out well.  We got out the door as planned and were rolling by 5:10 am.  It was still dark and the temp was in the mid 50's.  About a half hour later, the sun started coming up over the horizon and I definitely appreciated the extra lumens.  Pulling through Pittsburg, the temps dropped off into the lower 50's and I decided I would try out the heated hand grips and seats.  They didn't make me toasty warm; but, I was never really cold or uncomfortable, just cool.  I have to say, having the big fairing out in front of me blocking the wind is a huge bonus when it gets comes to keeping warm.  The temps didn't climb north of 60 until we were well into Ohio.

Holy Toledo, we went through Toledo.  There is one big GM plant there.

I think the most impressive thing was the incredibly blue sky and all the beautiful farm land in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.  We even saw a crop duster and a bi-plane doing some impressive flying.

Well, I guess I better fess up now, since Mike let the cat out of the bag on facebook.  My speedometer isn't 30 miles per hour off like I thought.  Barney Fife in Indiana helped verify it's calibration with his nifty little radar gun and even gave me a certificate of calibration.  Mike got a certificate also.  It was only 13 mph off.  <sigh> Chrisal, please start praying harder.

A little into Iowa, we crested a hill and the sky went from blue to gray.  It looked rough.  We decided that 860 miles was enough for the day and pulled into a Sleep Inn for the night.  We decided to jump in the hot tub to get some blood flow back in our butts and when we came out, a couple other bikers were seeking shelter.  We had asked permission to park our bikes under the overhang and the manager said no problem.  These guys were parking pretty close to our bikes to keep theirs out of the way as well.  I offered to put the bikes in at a 45 degree angle so we could all get our bikes under cover.  Problem solved, friends made (John and Wes).  It looks like all of us might be stuck tomorrow.  There's a 50% chance of thunderstorms until noon!

Here's some pics from the day.

This is what our weather picture looks like now.  It's a good thing we got off the road when we did.

This is what I have in store for tomorrow.

And proof that I wear a helmet and protective gear!  Check out that beautiful blue sky and green.  It's a shame that I'm headed back to brown landscapes when there's this!

I nearly forgot, my tool kit saved Mike from near disaster.  That coffee cup holder was falling off and required a Torx wrench to tighten it up.  Should it have fallen off, Mike would have been without his morning Java.  I happen to have a full set of Torx and Hex wrenches in my tool kit.