DAY 29

Up around 6:30 and were on the road at 7:50. We started off on Hwy 36 and rode 55 miles to Marysville. Hwy 33 took off Northwest from Marysville, which was a freeway for about 32 miles. We made some very good time on that section. It was very warm this morning - at 8:00 it was 77 degrees and 82% humidity. Started looking for a place to have a coffee, around Bellefontaine, but couldn't find anything until we hit Wapakoneta, at the junction of I-75. The place was busy, but we managed to get some breakfast and had a good break. On the way up Hwy 33, we saw a huge Honda plant. While we were having breakfast, we talked to a local couple and asked about the Honda plant. They said it is still in operation and is one of two such plants in the area.

After our bite to eat, we continued on Hwy 33 and a few miles up the road, had a detour and road work. While we were stopped for the construction, I took a picture of the large farm along the road. It is very typical of the landscape in this area.

Hwy 33 continued all the way to Indiana and we stayed on it to just South of Fort Wayne. At this point, we cut West on Hwy 224 and followed it to Huntington, where we stopped for gas. This one was a real gong show. There was no pay at the pump here, so had to go inside to pay first. I got $8 worth, but wasn't sure what it would take. I put in regular, as usual, and it turned out it didn't fill the tank that much.

Allen gave the guy his credit card and, the cashier told allen, he would put $6 on his card. By the time he handed Allen his card back, and told him how much he could have, it was a done deal. Already Allen isn't impressed. He went out to pump the gas and it wouldn't pump. He went back inside and told the cashier, who told him he must be doing something wrong. Allen went out and tried again, with no success. Back inside he went, and the cashier asked what he was trying to put in. Allen told him premium, and was told they are out of premium, and had told me that. They re-set the pump and told him to pump regular. Allen went out and tried again, but it wouldn't work. By now the owner had come out and asked Allen what he did to HIS pump. Allen stayed calm and told him nothing. The owner tried to pump the gas and it didn't work, so he cancelled that pump, went in and setup the opposite pump, which he started and handed it to Allen to finish. All this for $6 of gas!!!

By the time we finished, we realized that huge black thunderheads were rolling over the area, and the winds were starting to whip around. We figured we were really going to get dumped on.

We got back on the road and made a turn onto Hwy 24 West. It is a 60 mph freeway and we were headed away from the Thunderstorm. We got a few drops of rain for a couple miles, then it started to brighten up, as we raced West, and it got very hot again. We passed one sign that said it was 94 degrees and it's still humid.

At Kentland we stopped at a McDonald's and had a milkshake. We got talking to a fellow on a Honda Intercepter, who told us there were not a lot of motels on Hwy 24, over the next 50 or 60 miles. When we looked up motels, we found a few at Pontiac, Illinois, so that's where we headed. Got gas next to the McDonald's and then got back onto Hwy 24. A few miles along, we saw several large trucks in a parking area, starting to form up a convoy, with pilot cars. They were hauling three large propeller blades that are used on wind generators. They are huge and barely fit on the standard size trailers. I had to get a picture of them, but it is hard to see the shape of the propellers.

There are now very strong winds coming from the South and are hitting us pretty hard as we ride West on Hwy 24. Traffic is also building so we turned North on Hwy 47 to County road 116 and then West to Pontiac. We checked into the Comfort Inn at 6:30 Eastern time. We are now on Central Time, but it was still a 10 1/2 hr day - very tired!!

Around 6:45 local time, the skies opened up and we had a huge thunderstorm, with thunder and lightning. We ended up calling four Pizza places before we found one that would deliver in the storm. Apparently there is lots of flooding going on. I also did a load of laundry.