WEDNESDAY 20th JULY 2016 - STRAIGHT LINE ACROSS MINNESOTA

After breakfast we got on the road and Chris took us to a 'Look Off' overseeing the Mississippi River.  We have now entered Minnesota.  We continued west through beautiful 'Bluff' country to Rushford where we said our heartfelt goodbyes to Chris.  He headed back to Wisconsin and had several hours of riding ahead of him.  We continued in a westerly direction wondering what adventures lay ahead.

We eventually got on to Interstate 90 and chose to stay there.  We figured the countryside wouldn't be much different on the smaller road slightly to the south and the road wasn't hugely busy so we made some good time.  We had lunch at Blue Earth and can highly recommend the Country Kitchen.  It was quite hot and we always made sure Ellie was parked in the shade.  Sometimes shade was not easy to find but we put her needs before our own, afterall, she's the one doing all the work and needed the rest too.

As we rode west there was an unfamiliar smell in the air.  It was hot but not unbearably so as there was the slightest breeze which probably saved our bacon.  We learned that evening that the 'smell' was corn sweat.  We could see the vapour in the air and enjoyed the smell as we rode along.

Time was getting on and we decided to pull off the highway and travel south to a little town called Canistota.  It was so quiet and looked deserted.  We booked in to the Best Western Motel and was warmly greeted by the owner, Jim HALE

Jim told us a few stories and I reckon he was the friendliest man on the planet.  His story was quite funny (the way he told it).  Jim's real name was Dale and he was adopted by the HALE family at the age of 7 or 8.  He didn't want to be known as Dale HALE so his new family let him chose  what ever name he wanted.  He chose Jim.  And then he tells us he was the World Drag Racing Motorcycle Champion in 1968 and 1969.  We couldn't believe it.  He is now 79 years old but if he said he was 59 we would have believed him.

 

We unpacked, showered and walked up the street to get some dinner.  The town was almost deserted but it you looked carefully there was movement all around.  There was almost total silence, quite nice really.  It was an Amish town and everyone was shuffling about quietly doing their business.  We found this diner but the meal was less than desirable.  We were saved by some chocolate from the nearby supermarket.

Afterwards we walked around the town and you could actually shoot a gun up the main street and not hit anything.  You could see paddocks at the end of the road at each end. 

We decided that we actually liked the place and were glad we stopped in for the evening.