August 11th
06:00-19:03
Rochester MN to Rapid City SD
568 Miles

	I was up at 4:30, showered and packed and out the door at 6am.
	One of the things I do when I get up is to check the lights on the bike. I found the left turn signal was out and that the right turn signal cover was melted. It was quite warm going through the outskirts of Chicago but I didn't think it was that hot.
	At a break I briefly chatted with a couple on a BMW. He was from Chicago and she was from Minnesota. I noticed a piece of metal sticking out of side of the bike. I asked about it and she said they were foot rests. When they got up to speed he kicked them out and rested his feet. I thought that was cool.
	As I headed through Sioux Falls I spied J&L Harley and pulled in to get a replacement bulb and cover. I have a replacement bulb in my gear but it was already packed when I checked the bike. The service guy didn't believe the melted cover. It was bubbled in texture with bits of black, seeming carbon bits on the outside. I couldn't think of anything I leaned on and had checked it yesterday morning before leaving the campground (it was covered there).
	When I put the cover on that bulb went out so I had to get another bulb. The service guy asked about rear signals. Since my local dealer said that front ones would work on the rear, I said that I had plenty. He said that the ones in front were double poled but the rear signals were singal poled. The brake lights and front signals were interchangable though. Based on that I picked up a couple of rear bulbs but I'll have to check it out later.
	While the ride was fairly uneventful it was soothing. I could feel myself settling down to riding at 80 MPH along with everyone else. Coming out of my lunch break stop I was passed by a sedan with two nuns. As I got up to speed I passed them. A few minutes later they passed me at about 90 MPH. :-)
<-  Yesterday  -o-  Continued  ->