First 1400 miles were an interesting equipment test. Plenty of rain and cold the first two days. Lots of sunshine and blue sky the third day.Departed from Winchester, VA at about 9am on May 15. Drove 440 miles the first day. We ended up in Richmond, IN. Nice drive for the first half of the day, drove through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. It did start to rain around noon and remained cold and rainy through the end of the day. There was definitely a cold front moving in. The "waterproof" gloves I bought for the trip turned out be be exactly 0% waterproof and will need to be replaced before anymore cold and rainy riding.
Needed to make good time again on Friday and my first priority was a stop at the Cycle Gear store in Indianapolis for some real, waterproof gloves. Found some sweet, albeit expensive rain gloves and was off again. It rained all day again, on and off. It didn't rain as hard as it did the previous day but was still wet most of the day. Good gloves made a big difference. The rest of the riding gear I have purchased is working very well and keeping me dry and warm! Decided that 545 miles was plenty for one day and called Des Moines, IA our home for the night. 500 miles in a car is no big deal, in fact I usually make the trip between Denver and Aberdeen in one day and it's 680 miles. It's something I have done on many occasions. 500 miles on a motorcycle, in the rain is a completely different animal and I was very happy stop at the end of the day. I was pretty cold, cramping and miserable by the end of the days ride.
Saturday and beautiful sunshine! Allow me to take one second to tell you I was very, very happy to see nothing but blue skies and sunshine in the morning and it lasted all day. This did make for a nice day riding. I took the opportunity to get off the beaten path (Interstate) and take some state highways and see a little Iowa and Minnesota farm country. Nothing too exciting but is was a nice, leisurely drive through the countryside on a beautiful day. I only had to cover the last 400 miles on that day so I wasn't pressed for time as much as the previous two days and it is more enjoyable to take in the sights when it's not raining and cold.

Dexter graduated on Sunday and I spent the next few days just taking it easy, waiting for Dex to get his partying out of his system so that we can get on with the trip. 4 days in Huron is more than enough and I am ready to move on. There is absolutely nothing for me in this town. Next stop is the Black Hills then on to Denver.