Day 11 - Family, Friends, Food, Fun, and Finally...

Day 11 Auburn IN to Amana IA
Miles:

It's a funny feeling when you cross a state line and know you are back home... and I'm sure an Iowa Girl at heart that my first thought when we entered my home state was "Wow. The corn really looks good this year".

Before we hit the Iowa state line though, it rained. and poured and stormed. We finally decided to just stop and not even try to ride through all that water.

The first town we came to was Buda, IL.

We couldn't see through the rain enough to tell what all made up the town, but we did find an open bar where we could peel off our rain suits and sit for a while. As the very helpful bartender, Dena, said:

"It's 5 o'clock somewhere!"

When the rain let up and we got ready to leave, Tracy mentioned that there was a brand new establishment just down the road that we had to stop at - we'd be very impressed...and we were.

The Psycho Silo Saloon had just opened the week before. Apparently, some locals had purchased land just off I-80 in Langley, Illinois, with an old silo on it and turned it into a bar that was more like an event center.

The people were nice, the beer was cold, the music was fantastic and a drink called an oatmeal cookie was very tasty. But we knew we couldn't stay long, since we'd already spent most of the day inside rather than on the road.

Finally we made it to Amana, IA and the home of our friends Larry and Kathy. Sean's known them since they met in Milwaukee during the Harley Davidson 100th anniversary party back in 2003. When Sean and I started dating, they were just another wonderful part of the package deal.

They fed us another fantastic homemade meal and sent us off to bed for the night and then back on the road early the next morning.