Today did not start well. I guess one should explain the I90 toll system. If you ever travel on it through Illinois, it is toll from end to end. No problem with that, many Interstates are toll now. However, this one has a few gotchas. If you get onto I90, the toll booths are frequent, and manned by an attendant. So if you are paying cash, you can get change. Many of the payments are 60c. Why they do not have a card system I do not know. Actually I do know, and that brings me to the main gotchas. It is getting off, and back on again that is the problem. Many exit and entry ramps do not have an attendant, so you need the correct change to chuck it in the bucket. Unless you want to just drive through. I do not know if there are cameras, or what the penalty is. I know you can pay on-line. Not only that, many exit ramps do not have an entry for the same direction. So if you are heading west, and wish to get off for gas, make sure you have the correct change, and that you can get on again at that place to continue west. All part of cost saving I guess.
So this morning I decided I would get gassed up before hitting the Interstate. It took about 5 miles to find one. So I head back, and I did make sure when exiting last night that I could get back on I90 again. The only problem was I had no more change to throw 60c into the bucket. So back to the motel to get change. Once all that was sorted out, I could hit the road. I don’t know what the state does with the toll money, the state of I90 leaves a lot to be desired, it is like a patchwork quilt for miles. The $3 to use the express road through Chicago is worth the money, the rest is really like nickel and diming you. The best toll road I have used by far was the Florida Turnpike.
Today was the best riding weather I have had for a while. No rain, and fairly cool with no humidity. It was sunny through Illinois and Wisconsin, but clouded up in Minnesota. When I hit Minneapolis I thought I would get rained on, it was dark. However, it stayed dry, and the sun broke through later on. As I got close to the state line with North Dakota, it was really black ahead, so I pulled off for the night at Fergus Falls, about 60 miles from Fargo. Lots of motels, and eating places.
The scenery to-day was at times fairly interesting. Once clear of Chicago, Illinois is quite rural, as is Wisconsin. Many farms, corn for miles. I saw very few cattle though. Wisconsin had a few small hills, which made a change. It is obviously a big outdoor resort state. I passed some huge ones, including a monster Great Wolf Lodge near Wisconsin Dells. It seemed to go for miles, and many water slides etc were visible. Only in Wisconsin would you stop for gas, and there are more ATVs filling up than road vehicles.
Minnesota was much the same, very rural. However, as I neared Fergus Falls, I passed many ponds, or very small lakes. Some were just marsh pits. This area is full of small lakes, cottage country I expect. I did pass a couple of quite large lakes with houses that were more like Ontario. The best scenes for photographing were the views of St Paul and Minneapolis as I passed through, they were quite spectacular. There was no way I could stop, far too much traffic, and very little room on the hard shoulder. A pity. One great view was crossing over the Mississippi River. That is twice I have crossed it since leaving home. Once in the south, and now to-day.
Tomorrow I continue west into North Dakota, then Montana. I have had enough of Interstate concrete, so once I hit Montana it is onto the red roads for me. Having some things to photograph would be good too. The past 2 days have been much the same old. You could be anywhere.
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