Day 3: Off To The Mississippi River

Entering Minnesota

Entering Iowa

The Mississippi River

Lock and Dam on the Mississippi River


On Wednesday I decided to head west into Minnesota and Iowa, two states that I had not bin to by motorcycle. I packed up the camper an headed toward the Mississippi River. My plan was to cross the Mississippi at La Crosse, Wisconsin and then head south along the rivers west side. Well, just my luck, I stopped at the No. 7 Dam and Lock and was told that route 16 south along the west side of the River was closed due to a train derailment and a spill of Methanol. Now I had to re-route and got to see a lot more of Minnesota than I had planned. Then once I made my way into Iowa, I found that Route 76 South was closed due to resurfacing. Now I had to re-route and got to see a lot more of Iowa than I had planned. I finally made my way to Route 80 East and started for home.


On Thursday, I was about two miles from the New York State border when a tire on the trailer blew. It was about 4:30pm, and I had to hustle to find a replacement tire, which I did find. When I returned to the location where I had left the trailer, I called AAA to get someone to come and change the tire since I didn't have tools large enough to remove the lug nuts. I was shocked when the person from AAA told me they would not help me, because although I have the "Premium Plan", I did not have "RV" coverage. I was livid when I realised that AAA would be so petty, and had the nerve to leave me stranded far from home with a broken down vehicle. Needless to say, I gave AAA a piece of my mind and then hung up the phone. By a pure stroke of luck, just about the time I started to figure out how I was going to change the tire without tools, a gentleman in a pickup truck came by and asked if I could use a wrench to change the tire. Thanks to the gentleman in the pickup truck, I was able to change the tire in less than five minuter and get back on the road. I arrived home at about 9:00pm about three hours later than scheduled. I want to give a VERY BIG THANK YOU! to the gentleman that offered to help me.



More pictures of AirVenture can be seen at "My Picture Album", area on the right side of this page.