We were up at 6 AM and I laid around a bit before packing up to head out. We decided to have a snack at the hotel to tide us over before our real breakfast. I checked us out and found that they didn’t give us $10 per night off from the coupons I’d given them. They asked where they were and I said the woman that checked us in took them. They claimed they didn’t have them and I was prepared for a fight. They found them and deducted $20 from the bill.

We sat down and had a bit of brekky and while eating, a woman came in and talked to the snooty man at the front desk. She walked back out and then Pam came in. This woman’s husband had had some kind of bug crawl into his ear the night before and it started biting him. He was in serious pain and they’d called an ambulance. They’d been up all night, with the ambulance taking him in at 2 AM. The first hospital wouldn’t do anything for him, so they took him to one in St. Louis. She only wanted a room for an hour or so, so he could lay down while she got their stuff from the farm. The guy at the desk wouldn’t give them our room since we’d checked out. Something about “policy.” What a jerk. Just then, Sam and Gail (owners of the Big Bird bike) came down and she was able to use their room. I felt so sorry for the guy--he’d had a shot of Demerol and was out of it. CrowDog helped him get upstairs. We found out on Monday that it was a firefly that had gotten in there! He’s going to be fine, no damage to the eardrum fortunately.

Pat and Joi had come down and we said our goodbyes and headed out. I unlocked the bikes and loaded CrowDog’s stuff while he was helping Dave upstairs and we rolled out. We’d gotten gas the day before so our goal was the Dixie truck stop again. We made it there in good time and had an excellent breakfast again. This time I had pancakes.

Back on the “I” and headed north, we got cold again. I pulled over to don heavier clothing and guess where I stopped. Yep, the very same Minonk exit I’d picked on the way down to put on heavier clothing! Back on with the snoopy hat and heavy leather gloves.

Again, the ride was uneventful, although cold and cloudy. We stopped at the Petro station in Rochelle for gas and a bite to eat. I ordered a quesedilla that was HUGE. Something like 16” across! It was very good and lasted me the rest of the way home.

Come to think of it, there was one scary thing on the way home. A semi was turning into the weigh station north of Janesville when the sign changed form “open” to “closed.” He swerved back onto the highway and nearly took out the van directly in front of me!

I was glad to pull in the driveway and get back home. It was 4:30 or so and we brought our gear in. CrowDog turned the heat on since it was so cold and it felt good to just sit.

Again, an excellent trip.