Day 10 Homeward bound

It is time to head home.  It is nice to go home.  It is nice to have a home to go home to.  My destination is my boyhood home.  I left home at 18 and have not lived there since except for a couple of months after college.  I usually visit at least once a year.

It was a pretty idyllic home to be raised in. It is on the water, Medicine Lake.  My best friend lived down the street.  A woods to play in.  A gang of other kids to play with.  Boating, fishing, skiing, sliding, and amateur sports like wiffle ball, touch football and pickup hockey kept us occupied.  It was there when I first rode a mini bike then a motorcycle.  Brilliant!  You turn the throttle and you go.  You turn it farther and you go faster.  The gateway drug.

Thanks mom, thanks dad.

Home is different since my dad died.  His presence is still everywhere.  I see it in his post it notes which lists projects and tasks which will never be completed.  His parts bins all labeled and organized. 

Mom is there and is holding it all together.  Her gardens are beautiful.  I know she is lonely.

I have people to see and to talk to.  Something I have not done much of this trip.

But I digress…..

I did not have the most restful night.  I came “home” a bit late but there was still music playing off in the distance.  As I am in my tent I hear other bikers with their loud exhausts announce their arrival back into camp.  This goes on until the early morning. 

In the very early morning we have the early risers, who also have incredibly loud exhausts, announcing their departure from the camp.  They are off to their own adventure.

I pack up my tent, and sleeping bag.  I compress my air mattress.  I am ready to roll.  I head east out of the Sturgis circus. 

I am surprised at the number of compounds lining I-90 filled with motorcycles.  Every exit for the next 40 miles has something to attract bikers.  It is really incredible how many ride motorcycles and how many of those converge on Sturgis the first week of August. 

Today will be long and boring.  Most of it will be on freeways.  There is not a lot to see in South Dakota.  The rider is a bit tired from the adventure and not quite as willing as the machine.  This bike is made to munch the miles.  Reasons why I bought it:

1. Because I could, it is an expensive extravagance (I have pulled the plow for many years)
2. Because I like to plan and knew this machine would do the job
3. I wanted to take the trip, ride the roads before I die
4. Six cylinders and uses them all!
5. You cannot buy happiness but you can buy horsepower and that is pretty satisfying

Minneapolis is 600 miles away.