Thought i would reach out and let a few people know that during my summer of work i am traveling most of the midwest.

I have been in KS, TX and Ok so far over the last three months. I currently am in Emporia KS. I work 21 days on and 7 off. My 7 days off is spent riding the Vision where ever i can. I will be leaving KS on the morning of the 23rd of June and headed to Houston, San Antonio and Austin before returning back to Emporia around the 29th. I will also be working Gallup, NM and plan on visiting Phoneix on my time off. Aug and Sept will have trip to Chicago and the Grand Canyon on my agenda as well and back in the DFW area in Oct. Anyone wanting to meet up or offer suggestions of places to ride or see, just drop me a line at dwhite28@hotmail.com and i will gladly pass on my cell number and we can work from there and see if we can meet up if so desired. I only have 30K on the Vision after 22 months. I plan on correcting this problem by adding at least another 10K by Nov.

As has been stated here before, people unfamiliar with the Metropolitan area around Chicago should avoid it like the plague during rush hours.  This goes double for motorcycles.  I commute 94 miles round trip through both rush hours daily and on average I see MAYBE ONE poor soul on the expressways on a bike each way each day.  Chicago ALWAYS BLOWS for traffic, people here cut in and out of traffic, tailgate, and talk on their cell phones all at the same time.  This year its worse or at least as bad as it ever has been as we have over 50 miles of expressways "under construction" this summer.  

Anyone planning on riding through this area on a bike this year would be well advised to go around, way around.

All this being said, there are routes to take into the city that avoid all the expressways.  If you tell us where you're headed, I, or someone else from this area would help with the route.