2011 Mid Life Crisis Tour

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CHILLICOTHE, Mo. - I left Jim and Lauri's place at 8:15 a.m. - the same time Lauri left for class. I dropped the rent check into the mail at the Crawfordsville post office and headed out of town on I-74, stopping for gas at a Pilot station near Covington.
I arrived at the Urbana BMW shop just before 9 a.m. (CDT) and spent the next three hours hanging out and looking at bikes. The shop has a cat, who has his own room with a cat door.
I got back on the road a little before noon, catching I-57 south to I-72 southwest, stopping on the southwest edge of Springfield about 2:30 p.m. for a McDonald's lunch and a tank of gas from a Huck's station. I used the McWifi to reserve a room at the Chillicothe, Mo. Econo Lodge after determining that St. Joseph, Mo. was farther than I cared to ride in the blazing heat.
My GPS weather kept me informed about the temperature as it climbed to 100, with heat indexes well above that mark across west central Illinois and northern Missouri.
I was pretty well spent by the time I got to Chillicothe, around 5:45 p.m.
I got into dry clothes and went next door to the Dairy Queen for dinner, then retired to the room to blog and go to bed early. I'm aiming for St. Francis, Kans. tomorrow, where the temperature is forecast to hit 101.
I only rode 409 miles today. I plan to be on the road at sunrise tomorrow to get as many miles down as possible before the heat hits.

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Photos

The shop cat
He's a kick-ass tomcat who likes to kill stuff.