On to Iowa!!!!

Hi Kidz!
We woke up bright and early and ready to take on the road.  Not really.  Actually, we woke up at 2:30 am to another kitty throw-down taking place on our bed.  I covered all exposed flesh so as not to be lacerated by Kiwi's claws!  Eventually, peace was restored and we slept until 6:00-ish.   How to get all this crap on the bike?!?!?!  It's like stuffing sausage into skin!  We packed extra crap this time due to the uncertain weather ahead....the chaps, both the half helmets AND the full-face helmets...those full-facers are awesome in the cold & rain!  After loading the bikes and saying tearful Good-bye's to the critters, I was ready to roll!  This road trip started as typical as any other.  I lifted the bike off the stand and thought "what a heavy pig she is!"  There's a lot of crap packed on this thing!  OK...slow speeds & parking lots are gonna suck but once we get rolling, I won't even notice the extra weight! We swung by McDonald's for a quick fill-up and off we went!  My mind was in typical road trip mode...It starts out with hearing & feeling things on the bike..."what's that noise?"  "Is that a new vibration in the front?"  "Does that front brake feel OK?"  "What's that squeak?  Is there a squeak?"  Then it turns to the "What Ifs" "What if Gunther gets skunked while we're gone?"  What if my front wheel bearings go?"  "What if I have a blow out?"....Yes.  This is the soundtrack in my mind at the start of EVERY road trip we take.  So anyhow my mind is swirling with "What's that?" and "What ifs" and I realize that the turnpike will probably be coming up soon...HEY!  There it goes!  Weren't we supposed to get on the turnpike?!?!  Oh Crap.  Was I so lost in thought that I didn't see Tom's turn signal??!?!  CRAP!  We're not even 5 miles from home and we're lost already!  LOL!  So we exit Route 8 at 303, do a U-Turn and head north, catching the turnpike from there.  Whew!  (I found out later that Tom's head was up his ass, too!  He didn't see the turnpike until it was too late as well!)
So we get on the Turnpike and head west.  YAY!  The "what's that noise?" lasted until about the first 100 miles, when I settled into a comfortable hum with my bike and the road.  Just then....PERFECT TIMING...My iPod Shuffle shuffled itself to "Lido Shuffle"!  I LOVE to sing this song at the top of my lungs while riding!  Even more awesome is that we're on the turnpike instead of city traffic!  Not so much more awesome for me, but rather the motoring public around me!  On the turnpike, nobody can hear me shouting "LIDO!  WHOA OH OH OHA!"  On the other hand, stopped at a light in city traffic...well it just sucks to be them to have to hear me!  Hahahahaa!!!
The rest of the day pretty much rocked.  Although I HATE to take the boring interstates instead of the much more interesting secondary routes.  We are pressed for time, though...so the boring interstate it is, this time.  Today was a great ride, though...not too hot.  Lots of cloud cover as we approached Iowa.  We made great time...525 miles in about 8 1/2 hours!
OK...I'm REAL tired and I have a belly full of food from Granite City Brewery (right by our hotel!)  Tomorrow we ride across Iowa and into Kearney, Nebraska.  I predict a lot of corn and wind turbines in my future!  ....Oh yeah!  I almost forgot!  We'll be going by The Iowa-80 Truck Stop!  The World's largest truck stop and dog wash!  Yes...you heard right...dog wash!!!!
Thanks for hanging with us!  Catch ya tomorrow!
MB