Canada150 Epic Roadtrip - Day 16
Day 16 - July 18th Tuesday
Distance travelled for the day - 465 km
Total distance for trip - 8756 km
Route - Minneapolis, MN - Green Bay, WI
It was a rainy Tuesday went I left Minneapolis for Green Bay. Like many of the states I had visited, Minneapolis was located close to the border of it's neighbouring state, Wisconsin. The border is defined by a river and it was only about 30 miles east.
A rainy Tuesday in Minneapolis
Wisconsin is known as the cheese state. And where there's a lot of cheese there are a lot of.... dairy farms. It's also a very green state with fields of corn and lots of trees.
The rain held off for the first 3 hours then the temperature dropped and very dark clouds appeared in the east. When rain drops started hitting my helmet, I stopped my bike on the side of the road to pull on my rain gear. The road was quite wet and I hoped that the worst was over. Wishful thinking.
Stopped to pull on my rain gear
Dark clouds in the east. It got much darker with lots of thunder and lightning.
As I continued east toward Green Bay the sky became very dark and I could see lightning bolts from the clouds to the ground in the distance. One, two, three and then I stopped counting. It started to pour, the wind picked up and I slowed down. Then it got even darker, almost like night and with the rain pouring down my helmet visor I could barely see. I worried that the rain would turn to hail. The car in front of me slowed down and put on their 4 way flashers. I followed the car like a beacon through the rain.
Lightning flashed across the sky above me and I thought to myself that I would google "what happens when a motorcycle is struck by lightning", when I got to my hotel. A few more miles east and the rain was coming at me sideways. I could feel the water seeping into my helmet and down my neck. Then I thought that people often compare winning the lottery to getting struck by lightning. I'm confident that I'll never win the lottery so I probably won't get struck by lightning and felt better.
The sky lightened a little, the car in front of me turned off their flashers and the rain wasn't as intense. It rained all the way into Green Bay and to the hotel. When I pulled into the entrance I was soaked and the hotel staff and other guests were very sympathetic. I grabbed my bags off the bike, checked in and then parked my bike on the sidewalk beside the entrance for the night.
My rain gear helped but my boots and both pairs of gloves were soaked. My waxed leather and cotton saddlebags did well but they weren't waterproof and things got wet. Luckily my clothes were packed in space saver plastic bags and I had something dry to wear to dinner after a hot shower. I had a bowl of chilli for dinner and called it an early night.
Fun Facts about The Cheese State
Route for the day