[TheBlade]

So I'm riding home after work tonite in Rapid City and head to the Safeway and I spot a yellow V-Strom parked at a hotel. Turns out it belongs to our one and only Stromtrooper, Janice Clanfield! We had a great visit tonite! Great looking yellow Vee! She is on tour with her Amazon Club from Toronto. They've been touring western South Dakota the past few days. Tomorrow they head in to Nebraska to visit Carhenge, then east thru the Sandhills on their way back to Toronto.

 

[Midnullarbor]

.
Excellent. You score two points.
Janice is indeed a Celeb-Stromer.
Best of luck to her & the rest of the Amazon "Clan".
.

 

[janiceclanfield]

Hiya! Was nice to run into TheBlade here in South Dakota. Some of the roads here are a real treat. Wish we could stay another week to discover more of them.

Thanks to TheBlade for the cool South Dakota V-Strom t-shirt. It's actually long enough!

Anyway, like he said, we're heading to Nebraska in a few minutes, and hope to avoid the worst of the rain, thunderstorms, wet roads, and demented corn huskers...

 

[Stromin'Nroman]

Dude, you must be pretty tall!

 

[bikefree]

Janice, come on down to the southeast next time. We have lots of good riding down here.

 

[kwkride]

. . . . . and demented corn huskers...

HEY! . . . . LOL

What route are you taking in Nebraska?

 

[TheBlade]

I am 6'1" and felt vertically challenged standing next to Janice. The Amazons were heading south to Carhenge near Alliance, Nebraska, then heading east on Hwy 2 through the Sandhills. If you've never ridden thru the Nebraska Sandhills, add it to your Bucket List.

Janice: Beware of the Children of the Corn. :yesnod:

 

[Godfather]

Janice, are you headed 2 east through the UP of MI then south through MI?

 

[aldntn]

Its hard to hide when you're ridin around on a big yellow Vee. Have a great trip!

 

[janiceclanfield]

We made it to Spring Valley, Il. Iowa was really pretty, rolling hills and small towns, all with the same town square...

We'll be travelling through Chicago on the south side to try to avoid most of the freeway traffic, but I have a feeling that it's gonna be busy, especially after all these days riding through the countryside.

One of the things we noticed about Iowa was the lack of zillions of american flags everywhere. It was refreshing after going through places with flags, bunting, and 'merkin slogans plastered all over the place.

People seem to be nice to us wherever we go though...

Pics later.

 

[Stromin'Nroman]

It was refreshing after going through places with flags, bunting, and 'merkin slogans plastered all over the place.

People seem to be nice to us wherever we go though...

Flags don't necessarily equate with hostilities,















until we invade.

 

[Godfather]

We made it to Spring Valley, Il. Iowa was really pretty, rolling hills and small towns, all with the same town square...

We'll be travelling through Chicago on the south side to try to avoid most of the freeway traffic, but I have a feeling that it's gonna be busy, especially after all these days riding through the countryside.

One of the things we noticed about Iowa was the lack of zillions of american flags everywhere. It was refreshing after going through places with flags, bunting, and 'merkin slogans plastered all over the place.

People seem to be nice to us wherever we go though...

Pics later.

When you say "south side" I hope you do not mean the south side of the city itself...:yikes:...I hope you mean to skirt around the southern suburbs of Chicago. Please do not go through the southside unless you know exactly where you are going. That could be a fatal mistake. (I lived in Chicago for 29 years before moving to MI)

 

[aldntn]

A road on my TODO list is hwy 30 (Lincoln Highway). Looks like you could catch it in Joliet where it goes pretty much due east. I think that would be south of the tough places in Chicago (Godfather? What do you think?)

I like riding rural Illinois. Nice, relaxed: straight roads and mile after mile of corn (and occasional soybean) fields.

http://lincolnhighway.jameslin.name/by_state/

 

[Godfather]

Areas of Joilet are not too good either (not as bas as the south side of Chicago)...in fact if they were to give rural Il an enema...they would stick the hose in Joliet :green_lol:

Just be careful, and if you hit Gary IN, use caution there as well.

 

[janiceclanfield]

OMG! The highways around Chicago were obviously manufactured in hell.

We tried to skirt around the south side of the metro Chicago area and ended up on the wrong roads a couple of times. Traffic was hideous and the roads were all being torn up and worked on. What a stressor on poor Princess Barbie!

We finally got the hell out of town on hwy 94 and it was a bit better. Once out of the suburbs is was easy going on the highway.

Most of the time we use secondary roads, but it would have taken way too long to get around Chicago that way, which is why we opted for the freeways. Never again...

Michigan drivers are suicidal maniacs. I thought Toronto drivers were insane, but they pale by comparison...

Anyway, it was quite an adventure. 6100KM total. We arrived in one piece in Toronto this afternoon.

Sadly, tomorrow we have to attend a memorial for a biker who was killed 2 weeks ago while riding with one of our members. SUV in front head on into oncoming van. Killed biker and van driver. SUV driver survived. Our Amazon member is messed up in the head as you can imagine.

 

[greywolf]

OMG! The highways around Chicago were obviously manufactured in hell.

We tried to skirt around the south side of the metro Chicago area and ended up on the wrong roads a couple of times. Traffic was hideous and the roads were all being torn up and worked on.

You should have arranged for a guide. It's all about timing.

 

[TheBlade]

Glad you got home safety, Janice. Sorry about your loss.