RFTW 2009 Day 1 Grand Rapids to Albert Lea

Only 280 miles the first day. Juice rode with me from Grand Rapids to Moose Lake. It was a windy but beautiful day for a ride. After lunch and topping off the tanks Juice turned around to head home and I headed south. A block after separating my shift linkage broke. Ironically, last year in Moose Lake my shift lever came loose. I was all set to turn around and go home (damn Cupid) and call the whole thing off. I stopped and did a temporary fix on the linkage knowing I would be in Albert Lea and a H-D dealer by 4pm. Weather stayed nice until Forest Lake and then I ran into rain and got soaked from rain and road spray. In St. Paul at the River it stopped and the sun came out and I dried off. Then south of Owatanna it rained again and I got wet again. The rain stopped after about 10 miles, but I was watching another system moving in and I was hoping to get to A.L. before it hit. I pulled into the H-D dealer and they said drive it in and just as I was driving into the shop it let loose and it poured for the next 1/2 hour. By the time the bike was done it had stopped raining and I called it a day.