Day 4 to Valentine, NE. We all wake early and seem to be getting in the groove. Everyone is joking around and eager to get back on the road. It is about 70 degrees at 8 am, and the first 100 miles are wonderful riding. Everyone has settled into their place in line, and FINALLY stay in staggered position, maintaining safe distances between. It’s so nice when we pull out from a stop and there are no delays or hesitations. We are starting to look like a cohesive bunch. I never realized how much corn and soybeans are grown in the Midwest. Some fields stretch to the horizon, and the horizon is 360 degrees around us. The corn and soybean fields are broken only by the “aromatic” cattle holding yards. Wow, are they attention getters! Soon it is over 100 again. I found my neck cooler in the saddlebag last night, and soaked it in water overnight and it puffed up like a 24” Bratwurst. I had put it in my cooler for later. Now I draped it around my neck between my t-shirt and long sleeve shirt. At the next stop, I realize that although the neck cooler doesn’t really feel cool, I am more comfortable. Toons is nearly back to normal, he had a good breakfast and lunch and is looking forward to hot wings and beer tonight. The black and blue marks on his stomach are fading. My new Mustang wide touring seat seems to be breaking in nicely, but after the 5th hour of riding across the plains there’s not much to distract me from thinking about my posterior and I’m always shifting positions. Somehow I find that putting my feet on the passenger pegs gives me a whole new seating position. Sort of like a sportbike, leaning forward with weight on my arms. The new position is relief for many miles. Toons is feeling good, but his radio is out again. Doc’s bike goes click-click at a gas stop, so he pulls the seat and finds loose battery cables. HA! We finally start seeing different geography, rolling hills, and what appears to be miles of hay production and cattle pastures. They even cut and roll the hay along side the right of way. I notice that we have seen very little unused land in the last 3 days. It seems all the mid-west being used for some type of crop, unlike the idle land in the South. Maybe that’s why it’s called the nations breadbasket? I think flatness and rock free are contributing factors. We pass a group of about 50 bikes, and chase vehicles on the side of the road. I bet managing that many bikes on a ride is a colossal pain in some-ones road weary Glutemus Maximus. My mind seems to jump around a lot, then I realize I’m internalizing what would be conversation if I was in a car with someone.
Storm clouds are forming all around us as we pull into Valentine, so we get rooms at the first motel we come to. Toons and I go to a nearby sports bar and get hot wings and beer. Then we go back to the motel and pulled the outer fairing off of Toons bike, and find the radio harness is chaffing on the heat sink fins. I don’t think it’s the problem, but isolate it anyhow, and put another fuse in (it lasted the rest of the trip). Right after buttoning up the bike, a dust storm came through. I have never seen one before, it looks like it is raining, but it is dirt and high wind, and hurts your skin if you’re curious (dumb) enough to walk out into it. It’s almost full dark out at 6pm, then the rain and lightning start and we watch the place fill up with miserable looking motorcycle riders. An hour later the sun is shining and the skies are blue again.
