A year ago our small group of friends talked about an idea of riding our bikes in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The issue of doing this always comes down to time needed to travel the 1,200 miles from Central Indiana to some of the most fantastic motorcycle roads in the country. Not all the members of our crew are retired and a leisurely ride of 3 or 4 days each way makes such a journey really hard for the working guys. I happen to have just enough trailer capacity to hold 6 motorcycles but someone would need to drag one of the trailers. Hmmmm. One of the guys has just such a vehicle that not only would pull the trailer but have seating capacity for all of us once we dropped the trailers. The beginnings of a plan were taking shape.

Fast forward a year (that brings us to today). Hotels rooms were booked. Cost estimates were developed and a house big enough for 6 was located in Spearfish, South Dakota. Today was the day we put all the planning into action. The weather continued to be hot so riding in air conditioned comfort was a great choice. The two towing vehicles were coming from different starting points so we had agreed on a meeting location to get the circus train formed up.

At the last minute I decided to change the rendezvous point and sent a text to the other vehicle the new information. Well for some reason my text didn’t make it and they went to the original meet-up point while the other vehicle was 5 miles back down the road. An easy fix but we have already deviated from the meticulous plan.

The rest of the day was spent dodging orange barrels along I-74 from Indiana to Bloomington, Illinois. There is not much exciting to talk about unless you are a road construction aficionado. We pulled into our designated hotel – Hampton Inn Bloomington West about 5:00 local time.

Dinner was at a nice place that we could walk to (that was the #1 reason for this choice – food within walking distance). Eric’s Too had some really good food and Eric himself waited on us.

After a day of traveling and a good dinner, we’re still speaking to each other – it’s early yet.

Tomorrow the journey west continues. I’m hoping none of the clowns choose to abandon the circus after a long day on the road.