Econo Lodge Madison

The weather was the story today as we traveled from Chicago to Madison, WI. Things were great until we reached Madison and then all the elements combined to make an interesting evening. But we weren't deterred. We walked thru the campus and down State St to see the impressive capitol building. Monday morning we took off for our end point of Mitchell, SD. Along the way, we saw farms, cows, and more farms as we drove thru WI, Minn and SD. Before ...

Wow, can't believe it's been a year since I left my house and moved onto the road. With hindsight I wish I took more pictures. I was in great places where I didn't document with my camera. Hopefully this next year I will be again motivated to write in this travel blog and take more pictures.

While I was in Madison I had a great time! So many good friends! I took photos of the Dairyland Cowboys and Cowgirls barn dance, the Union Terrace and ...

... br>move.... the poor people trying to get back into Chicago after a weekend must've been waiting for hours! I noticed that the standstill on that side went on for more than 10kms!

Today our aim is to get to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The next day we should be in Rapid
City (the badlands!) where we'll pass by Mount Rushmore...

Hopefully we'll have enough time to take it slowly and meander through Yellowstone ...

From Roswell we traveled north through a tip of Texas. No photos but lots of memories of seeing and smelling cows in feed lots. We drove through a nasty little snow storm in Kansas City, MO. and I now know how well Shorty Too travels in the show.

Madison was significantly colder than NM, the lakes were ...

... Number of photos taken: 1815 (plus 18 videos) Jess' favorite places: Ireland & Switzerland Cynthia's favorite places: Ireland, Switzerland & Croatia City we'd most likely move to tomorrow: London, England City that surprised us (pleasantly) the most: Ljubljana, Slovenia Biggest dud: Venice, Italy (except that Jess' mom was there and that was great) Number of unforgettable memories: countless Even with the world ...

... area, called the Scottish Arms. I figured I have not had that type of food... in 14 years so I dropped in. The inside of the restaurant was of dark stained oak, tartans and plaques on the walls, and my fave... a bartender in a Kilt. I ordered myself some haggis and sat down for a bit more blogging. I left the bar and St. Louis for that matter and continued on my trek. I am heading up to Madison, Wisconsin to ...

... t hurt his feelings. As Kris and I chatted and laughed, my host returned outside. He apologized for the earlier scene and said that all was well for me to come inside. I told him that Kris and I were chatting because I'd forgotten to ask him about animals and that my allergies were so bad that I wasn't going to be able to stay longer than just the night.

In we came with the mat, mother and daughter sat on the sofa and did not respond as ...

... and then 5 weeks in Southeast Asia. Fortunately I am not going alone, and have a great travel buddy, Kelly! The way I met Kelly is a great story: I had been back in the U.S. from my South America trip for only 3 weeks and my good friend Caren (who is the definition of a free-spirit :) invited me on a "spring break" extravaganza. So I flew down one way on a standby ticket to Atlanta where I met up with Caren and we drove down to Brunswick, Georgia, where we spent the night at ...

We are getting one last blast of winterly weather today with temps in the low 40's and winds of 20 plus MPH, and RAIN!We are still optimistic that the storm will move out and we can fire the bikes up at 7:00am for our departure. The temperature will be in the high 40's and yes that calls for cold weather gear [ Long Underwear ]and turtleneck's. This is Wisconsin and you are ...

... allowed you to get up close to them. And they made funny faces by pressing their face against the glass wall.
Next I went and stopped by Lake Mendota. It was getting late and I had to get some supplies, which I did at Nakoma Plaza then headed south were I found a spot for the night at a wayside on 92/69.