Day 7 -- RAIN !!!!!

Woke up in our tent to sprinkles yesterday, and thinking they would pass, decided to wait a while.   Bad choice!   The sprinkles turned to thunder and lightening and a continuous downpour.   Unknown to us, Wisconsin Dells was under a flood watch, and we were having our own flood in camp and under our tent!  Up to 3 inches of rain was predicted throughout the day.

We decided that we couldn't get any wetter on the zipline than we would on our motorcycle, so continued on to the tour as planned.  Good choice, because the rain on the lines just made them faster!  Due to the heavy rain, we couldn't manage the camera and the equipment, and even the tour's photographers took the day off.   But we had fun, got soaked, and got the T-shirt!

At 12:30 we headed towards Sioux Falls in the rain.   The first hour was the hardest ride Ernie has ever had.  We were riding on I-90 in a torrential downpour.   The visibility was so bad, cars were slowing down to 55 or 60mph and truckers were doing 70mph.  Our visibility was even worse because Ernie couldn't keep his faceshield from fogging.  (No defrost and no windshield wipers!)

After an hour, the rain let off and it got warmer, but we were so chilled we were in full winter riding gear when it was 85 degrees outside.   We stopped in LaCross where we ordered extra-hot mochas and drank them outdoors because the air-conditioning was freezing!

From LaCross, we crossed the Mississippi River.   The clutch was getting worse, and we prayed for the Lord's hand to get us to Sioux Falls.   We arrived at our cabin at Big Sioux Recreation Area at 9:00 and laid our gear to dry.

Today is Day 8.   This morning we dropped the bike off at the Kawasaki Dealer who was waiting for the morning UPS shipment, hopefully with all the parts needed to repair our clutch.  We are sitting across the street at a truck stop, doing laundry and writing to you, our dear family and friends.   The dealership is optimistic that they will have the job done by early afternoon, and we will have about 7-1/2 hours on the road to reach our next stop, Powderhouse Lodge, in Keystone, South Dakota.   It is partially sunny and warm at the moment.   We have completed 1900 miles of travel, about half-way, and not tired of it yet!