Earache

About 6 hours later and I stop for another pee break - STILL in Kansas. That fuckin' state is w-i-d-e as fuck ....

Almost sunrise and I stopped for a pee break in Kansas near a DOT garage...

Stopped in Kansas City at 0400 for fuel. Weird being in a empty place that is usually packed with cars and people....

After Indy, I hit Columbia, Missouri to stay at Todd's house. Got there kinda late and had to leave at 0200 the following morning to make it home. I was trying to beat the heat by leaving early but the temp was already around 80F / 27C...

Following day was spent at my friend Clint's house hanging out at the pool drinking beers. Good day off the bike....

Bid my Chicago friend's goodbye and headed to Indianapolis for a couple of days and some Mexican food at a friend's restaurant. Think the roasted pepper platter (habaneros and jalapenos) was a bit over done, but still tasted good...

Then off to a local Italian joint for dinner ...

Met up with some of my old buddies from Chicago at our former meet up place - MA's Pizza ...

Spent my first day there at my bud's house, changing my oil in his shop. And stopped by Chicago's finest restaurant for lunch. Had the whole place to myself ...

Wheels down in Chicago amid 97F / 37C temps and 90%+ humidity. Felt great to get into the a/c in my room...

No Diet Dew on the Turnpike service areas so I had to switch up brands at lunch. This shit is foul ..

That night landed us in Akron, Ohio. What a dump. I should have known better than to stay there, but was the only place I could get a hotel discount. Ate dinner sat the hotel bar - forgettable burgers and beers. The next day Craig and I split up; he headed north to Michigan and I west towards Chicago. Rode on the fabulous Ohio Turnpike for hours of tedium ...

More shots from Route 6 across PA...

We dined at nothing but the finest fuel stations. I think I actually got the "Sheetz" from eating here...

Roads were mostly empty as we cruised along across northern PA ....

After two days at the Artisian, we slough off to Scranton, Pennsylvania. PA gets a bad rap but the riding was decent - better than anything in Vermont, New Hampshire or New York. Good view from our hotel ...

We did manage to get into the hotel bars though. Packed with single, hot looking women and no men at all. Odd. But Stella's at $11 for a 10 oz draft might have been the reason........

We ate at the hotels Tuscan market - kind of an open air market that also had a bar and some table service. Good food - had pizza the first night and pasta the second night. The hotel's restaurants were a little pricey for us and had weird food - Pedro style . The open air beer garden was too packed for us to get a seat...

Craig / DesmoDog moved in fast ....

Made it to the hotel that my wife;s firm owns. Good thing I got the "I'm married to the boss" discount or else I couldn't afford to stay here on a bike trip. Salem, New Hampshire. ...

I have - it's not too bad but like most of the northeast; it's not worth the effort to get there. Amazing amounts of traffic on this trip - the northeast is just over run with cars going 10 mph under the limit and shitty driving in general. I'll get back to posting pics later today............

We bolted outta Lake Saranac the next day, headed across Vermont and New Hampshire towards Salem, NH. Quaint old fuel stations and restaurants are all over the place....

Our hotel was in an old art deco building and looked cool from the outside....

The town of Lake Saranac was kinda cool - although mostly empty buildings and not a lot going on...

Had a nice bar though, vaguely reminiscent of Hitler's office at the Reich Chancellery...