Ben and Ale Moto trip

Ride from Y.W.A.M. base in Buffalo to Ihlen, Minnesota, campground, and then to Sioux City, Iowa.


As we traveled from Buffalo-Rockford township (Highway 25 south), we jogged west on Highway 12 over to Montrose, then south again on 25 through Watertown and Mayer; we wiggled a ways on 212 to catch Highway 5, which took us on a diagonal past Hamburg (with a picturesque church), to a gas stop at Green Isle. We continued southwesterly to Gaylord, where 5 segued into Highway 19 on to Winthrop; thence south on 15 to New Ulm and beyond (by mistake missing 14/68 west). We reconnoitered at Searles. Road 24 took us directly west, back to 14 at Springfield, where we stopped to snack at the impressive Catholic Church and school. Highway 14 west was more of a main route. We stopped again at Yankton Lake in Belaton. Though it was windy and chilly, the evening was entrancing. A patrolling police car drove by us and a shy grade-school girl walked by. The moto went to the reserve tank shortly thereafter. Turning south on 23, we found no services at Florence, but we did get the wind at our backs once again. We got gas at a Shell station in Ruthton, in view of a harbor of energy windmills. Aiming for a campsite near the monument at Pipestone, and the sun nearly setting, we found no inn. At Coburn's Grocery, we did succeed in getting groceries and directions to Split Rock Creek State Park in Ihlen, where we arrived about 9:30, with some glimmers of daylight remaining. We set up the tent, ate sandwiches, and found lots of firewood for our ring.

The next day, from the Ihlen campground, we took road 2 east to Highway 75 south and into Luverne. We ate at Taco John's and headed down 75 through Rock Rapids toward Sioux Center. Ben could only keep the moto going 50 mph max. We figured it was losing compression or had poor carburetion. We got gas and a McD's coffee treat. We passed LeMars and a huge ice cream plant before arriving at the outskirts of Sioux City. About 5:00, Ben spotted a Honda shop where he thought he could get some advice about his fading motorcycle. As it turned out, the dirty gray overalls with gap teeth told him, "You could stay the weekend and have it fixed--and we'd do it right--I wouldn't do nothin' less--or….” So we got to work calling for a truck to rent before everybody closed and found one shop open and with a UHaul truck to rent. Just before we made our last turn on the way to the UHaul facility, Ben turned into a Taco Bell parking lot and told us the moto was done for. We got the moto strapped down inside the truck, ate some Taco Bell for dinner, and started driving the truck-car caravan about 8:30 p.m. Thanks to a series of detours, we were delivered directly to the Schuyler City Park-campground, arriving about 11:30 p.m. The grass was stickery dry and the air a bit stale. At intervals through the night, I heard trains whistling and/or rumbling not too far distant, yet we had a place and got our rest.