Westby, Wisconsin

Okay, I said I was just gonna go home and have no more adventures. I lied!
It took me quite awhile to cross Montana. I stopped and read each historical marker and toured several interesting looking towns rather than just pass them by.

I rode MT 89 and 294 rather than stay on US 12. There was an interesting ghost town called Castle or Castle Town. It took me down about 14 miles of gravel and rutted dirt road but it was worth it. I got pictures!

Back on the "Main Road" I also found new construction well marked with signs "Motorcycles use extreme caution". Most times this was nonsense. This time it was good advice. Great fun! In Minnesota I stayed at Aberdeen. The map showed the way east on US 12 to be divided highway so I went north to MN 10. About ten miles after passing a sign that warned of road construction I was stopped by barricades across the road advising it was closed. Beyond the barricade was a causeway covered with busy earthmovers. In remote Minnesota there are few roads that go anywhere. I found a way around via a twenty mile detour on roads that were mostly paved. I came out at the other side of the causeway and could see the barricade that had stopped me! The detour was great fun as the road was dicey.

I was forced to camp in New Ulm as the motels were all full. There I found the Hermann Park and the statue to Hermann, the German chieftain who massacred three legions of Roman soldiers in 9 AD.

I decided to stop for breakfast in Waseca. As fate would have it, there was a breakfast fly-in at the Waseca airport! I saw an ultralight called the Buckeye Special mad in Indiana. There were interesting people and airplanes.

If you spend enough time on these roads, you begin to understand the very conservative folks who live here. Conditions can be extreme and the difference between a bumper crop and a failure can be a fluke of nature. Divine intervention might seem less silly. Self reliance and true interdependence are understood. The government is remote and not timely if helpful at all. We city folk have no clue.