Gee I wish TravelPod had never closed I had this chapter written and went to add a photo and as so often happens it just lose everything!

What is home?,

What is a birth place?

Does a motorcycle have a home?

Does a motorcycle have a birth place?

These were the biggest questions to ponder, research and wrestle with in plannig this epic trip.

So I found myself in Minnesota in discussion with Polaris Public Relations, well to be honest Polaris Customer Complaint Resolution who finally decided No Sir you cannot visit Spirit Lake where your Indian Scout was manfactured as new models due to be released at Sturgis are on the production line. That's ok as long as it is not the 2018 Indian Scout Bobber as anyone with a keen interest in motorcycles has already seen images even the dealer in the Twin Cities was happy to show the images. Actually I and many of Indian enthusiasts think the bobber is the most backward step in Indian history since a two stroke motor was put in a Italian frame and a stick on Indian decal was placed on the tank. Will history repeat itself or has Polaris cracked a new "non Indian"market in their quest for sales?

So a mutual thought gathered, go to Springfield Massachusetts it is only a 2130km diversion according to my GPS!

So why go to Springfield? It was at Springfield that the Hendee Manufacturing Company started to make Indian motorcycles way back in 1901, even before Harley Davidson, thus Indian is the original American motorcycle. Springfield continued to make the Indian up to 1954 and the tradition continued with Floyd Clymer, Gilroy California,Rouges Mountain up until productio recommenced at Spirit Lake. Incidentally Polaris do not have full rights to Indian manufacture as the original broadtracker models are still in production in Edmonton Canada and the four cyclinder model is still in production in Edinburgh Scotland. The boadtracker models were used extensively for racing and exhibition on The Wall of Death,to this day.

Well with Springfield some distance away I chose the far less scenic routes of the US Interstate system especially I80,I90 & I94. These motorways do not allow stopping except at Service Centres and for emergencies. They also charge in these Northern States tolls which especially in Illinois were equal to my fuel costs and the attendants were at the least unhelpful and often plain rude! They had no consideration for the needs of the motorcyclist to stop, open a pocket to collect change (no they are still in the past and do not accept credit cards),or a toll ticket and then replace gloves and move on.

Well I developed some games after the first few stops and they occured every 5-10kms. My favourite is "no speak English". You pick the busiest lane, pull up, get off the bike (they see that as agression one told me) you approach the window and say for example "German only!"in a short time they start to wave their hand across the nose and say turn off, but not understanding I walk back to the bike and giving a big smile twist the throttle saying yes yes? o boy what fun I had over such a mundane chore!

The roads are bad enough physically without the insult of paying to use them. Being summer costruction is frequently occuring bringing down the speed limits and needing a careful watch for "the boys in blue"as fines can be up to $10000 and 6 years in jail if you hit a worker or loss of licence if caught speeding in a work zone twice.

The surfaces are laregly concrete and often affected by the snow & ice of winter making for a very unpleasant bumpy ride o a short wheel based vehicle like a motorcycle, kind of like a choppy sea. They also lay ashfalt in non continuous strips leavig dangerous gaps and different levels.

Those service centres are much the same from stop to stop and no you don't visit towns as that means paying a toll getting a new ticket and paying again. The other downside is yes they do have Etags called EzeWay but for a casual visitor they are not worthwhile applyig for gettig registered and then paying a monthly rental, so you just forkout toll after toll and just to let you know they appreciate tourists you pay either a 33% or 50% levy, so if coming to the US avoid the Northern States like the plague if driving and the scenery is no where as nice as other Western States and mountain areas. Mainly fields of sorghum,maize or barley.

My trip in these tolled states has seen me pass through Minnesota (no tolls) into Wisconsin (dairy farms had nice scenes) into Illinois (home to the highest tolls collected by the rudest attendants) into Michigan (spend hours getting past Chicago in peak hours being the only motorcyclist on the road ot sure by the looks if they thought "he's mad or boy wish I could carve up the traffic like that!" into Indiana,Ohio, Pennsylvania which had far better English green fields,treelined roads and signficant architectural features but then the towns were called Avon, Suffolktown and I was back to New York state. Back you say well unexpected to myself I was here only last year so it seemed like a home coming when I passed by Buffalo and the turn off to Niagara Falls,tomorrow I will roll into Massachusetts and awaken the past spirits well it will be Sunday when I arrive.

On a final note these Northern States are the home to what Australian's call the Looney Left, those who still worship Hillary refusing to accept she was thrown out by real American's eager for whole of country goverance and equality for all states not just the North and California. They still believe that the ugly wind turbines are "solving the energy issues"they even believe that Al Gore is a god who speaks god like about the non existent Global warming while raking in personally millions from fake pieces of paper called carbon credits.

I was having tea last night at IHop (a food chain like McD) and the young server Dan asked if i thought it was a good idea if he tried to come to Australia? I asked what for a holiday? No he replied Mum & Dad said now we have Donald Trump we should think about leaving!

I asked his boss if he could have 10mins off which he agreed to, well in that time I told him there are other news outlets apart from the fake news channels of ABC/NBC/CNN so go see what is really happening like the $4trillion gained on the stock market since Trump became President, the 6million US citizens now in employment and off food stamps since Trump became President, the growth in infrastructure countrywide since Trump became President, the growth in the manufacturing sector since yes Trump became President.

He said but the Russians put him there that's why Congress is investigating him. Hey son look again at the facts. They are not looking at Russian influence they, are looking at Trump's dealing BEFORE he became President a witchhunt not seen since Watergate, his family are not imunned either. The Proscutor, Mueller,has appointed Hillary's personal Attonery and every appointee has come from the opposite side of the House to President Trump hardly a bipartisan approach,incidently no guideslines,no timeline to report back and no limits to expenditure.

He counted but he sacked Sean Spicier, the White House Press Secretary, No kid Spicier himself asked if he could step back.Fact.

Hey young man if this was a real investigation into US politics howcome we hear nothing about the 33000 emails Hillary deleted off her personal server? What happened to the Urkarian Nuclear issue?

What happened that no action was taken to investigate why US Postal workers were allowed to campaign for Hillary while being paid by the US tax payer to be working?

I guess he will at least now look at both sides and be better informed to make a valued judgement provided Mum & Dad didn't kick him out of home-sure glad I was only one night in that town, probably marked by the Democrats for destruction better watch out for big black vans!