DAY 10 - 704 Miles- 3339 total miles YIKES LITENTING

Oh boy oh boy, the girls had a wild experience with a bit of lighting. We'll get that that story in a minute.


Sadly, this morning was the day the girls had to leave Milwaukee. The trekking trio and the chicken became a duo. As Ginger decided to travel on her own. So, at 6:25am Bif, Sheri and Thrivette were off. Thrivette took her usual place on the back of Bifs bike complete with her favorite pink seat belt - bungee cord. Sheri decided she wanted to take a side trip to Aberdeen South Dakota to see family. So, vroom, vroom off they went.

Even thought they were sad to be leaving Bif homeland, it could not have been a more beautiful morning. They watched the sunrise, the steam rise off the Wisconsin wet lands, sip their coffee and listen to npr review the Sarah Palian choice and the republican convention. In this chilly morning our Bif was toasty warm in her heated gear and her "hot pants." This was one of the best investments ever...heated gear good.....


Along the way they continued to meet Harley riders who loved Thrivette. Here are two charming fellows from Minneapolis. The girls stopped for lunch in Albert Lea MN where they met another group traveling back to California, they were from the Glendale HOG (Harley Owners Group) chapter. In addition, to being introduced to the Trivette they always shared stories about the HD 105 gathering, how much fun everyone had in Milwaukee and shared information about routes.

The scenery was beautiful and they past through the rolling hills, lush green, and the Mississippi Valley into Minnesota. The land began to flatten out and more and more lakes and lots of cows appeared as they travelled through the southern part of Minnesota.

The girls were making excellent time and by 3:30 they had arrived in Sioux Falls SD which was their original destination. They chatted and Thrivetted stopped for a bit of a look at the Casino...She was liking South Dakota. After the little rest they decided they had it in them to go a few more miles all the way to Aberdeen. So, off they went north on hi way 29. South Dakota has amazingly desolate landscape. It was so flat the girls could see for miles and miles and miles. They were hugh fields of corn, lots more cows even cute little baby cows.



Eventually, they made another turn toward the west to Aberdeen. They did briefly stop and and discussed if they should get gas. They only had about 45 more miles to go and the gas tank said they had 121 miles left on the tank. So they decided that was more than enough gas for this last leg.

The air began to change and the sky was getting grey. Suddenly, the girls were in the middle of a huge wind storm. There were 50mile an hour wind coming right across them. Even though the girls bikes were big with that wind it was clear just how small they were and how vulnerable they were to the elements. As they past through Blue Dog Lake and Enemy Swam the lakes had hug white caps and the wind was blowing. The bikes were chugging along and Thrivette was on the back with her feathers quite ruffled by this time.

Then.....OMG.......HAIL,RAIN, LIGHTNING.....One fricking big STORM......OMG......Luckily there was a gas station that the girls turned into to watch the storm. Thrivette was shaking and frightened so for her own protection she took up a new riding place safely inside a saddle bag. As the girls watched the storm all of a sudden lightening stuck oh maybe 20 yards from them BOOM, BOOM, FLASH, FLASH, SPARKS....Yikes.........It was a bit frightenting as Bif screamed and jumped.....Sheri called her family to tell them we were in a storm and the ever so enlightened Brenda asked if we were pulled off. Hmmm let see, it was hailing, lightening and Sheri was texting....yea all from the bike...NOT.

As the rain calmed a bit the girls jumped back on their bikes and off they went. Oh no........the bikes had been working so hard they had been burning a lot more gas then usual...and yup all of sudden....both gas tanks were registering low.....oh no....now what......that meant they had at best 10miles left on that tank....Oh joy....there was a gas station. WHEW!! And it was six miles from Aberdeen.

That last forty mile ride was heroining!! But well worth it when we pulled into Sheri's cousins drives revved the engines and beeped the horns. We saw the whole family jump as they had no clue the duo was stopping by for a little visit. Here are some of the family meeting our lovely Thrivette.