Eureka Springs Arkansas to Terre Haute Indiana

We were up fairly early and packed while it was still dark. There was a heavy fog hanging in the air so we went slowly when we pulled out about 6:50 AM, after bidding Sherm and a few other early risers goodbye.

The fog started to break near Branson and things went uneventfully until we stopped on I-44 at the Fort Leonard Wood exit. First, the good thing. The Colt's gas station pumps said they asked for Zip codes for pay-at-the pump. It didn't, so maybe they have a system that recognizes Canadian cards.

Now the bad. When I hit the starter button, all I got was the solenoid click as all the electronics reset themselves due to a break in the electrical supply. Ouch. This happened at Sherm's back in June and we jump started it. No cables here, so I gave it some time and tried it again. Several times. Luckily, it restarted. We moved over to McDonalds for breakfast and my Butler mug, the one that hangs from my handlebars, spewed a coffee geyser all over the table when I snapped the lid down. Spurts are common, but this went on for much longer than usual.

After breakfast, the bike refused to start again. I loosened and re-tightened the battery connections without success and then, suddenly, it fired right up. It occurs to me that both times this happened, Sandy was on the bike and her electric jacket was plugged in. Regardless, when we get home the battery will get load tested and all the connections will get cleaned.

As usual, while we were heading east on I-44 the wind was out of the east, despite the fact that there are usually west winds in this part of the country. Head winds. Always. I started to get really fatigued (probably the two late nights catching up with me) and stopped at a big Shell station for some energy boosters. It took some time because someone who had fueled a fleet of trucks at various pumps was arguing about how much he owed.

We had an idea that we might push through to Auburn Indiana, which would get us home tomorrow. As we rode, and as they forecast storm fronts east of Indianapolis, we decided not to rush it. We stopped at a Super 8 in Terre Haute, just over both the Indiana and Eastern Time Zone borders. We had our hour back even though we had covered just 497 miles.

We walked over to Bob Evans for supper and then came back to the room, relaxed and watched TV. I spent a little time on the newsgroup in a discussion about what a VROC World Reunion looks like and reviewing the details of the new Kawasaki Vulcan Voyager 1700 touring bike announced yesterday. Then we turned in fairly early.