Day 50

Day 50; Boone Iowa to St Cloud Minnesota

What is a road trip without engine trouble? I don't know either, but I'll go with not adventurous enough. I assure you, today made me realize how rough this trip has been on my motorcycle. This morning as we tried to leave the house, my motorcycle wouldn't start.

I turned the key and all I heard was a click. Again I tried, only a click. We got out the jumper cables and tried to get it to start... Still nothing. After about half an hour, we finally got it started. We had to fill up with gas right off the bat, so I kept it running while filling up because I wasn't about to turn it off.

Then we rode about 100 miles below having to fill up again. I made the mistake of shutting off the engine. When I tried to go park it, all I got was a click! I was frustrated to say the least. We knew it wasn't the charging system (the bike wouldn't have gone 100 miles if that were the problem). We took the battery out and all the cells were empty! Batteries disassociate H2O which turns it into hydrogen and oxygen. The gasses float away and you're left with nothing... well I'm left with nothing. My mother did a fantastic job of refilling the cells with water and it fired right up!

With the bike fixed, we hit the road. Now I told you I was frustrated. So much so that I forgot to put my vest back on before we left. It didn't want to continue on today's journey. Some nice folks saw it fall off my bike, picked it up, and chased me down to give it back. Whoever you are, I really appreciate that!

Finally back on the open road! We rode up into Stewartville Minnesota where my dad lived in the fourth grade. We met some of his cousins for lunch, and then set out to find the houses he lived in (we think we found them). He stayed telling us stories of when he was young, and how the town had changed in 45 years.

After that we took to the highway again until we arrived at our campsite. We had beef pasta for dinner (my mom's first camping meal of the trip), and we all turned in for the night to avoid mosquitoes. Minnesota is the land of a thousand lakes. I think that directly translates to land of a thousand mosquito breeding grounds. Anyway, it's time for bed.

Bye now, LB