Go North, Young Man

[Hickey]

In the midst of a Summer that has been busy to say the least, I was shocked to discover that I was going to have five days to take a little motorcycle trip.  So where to go?  With only five days, the Rockies were out , so that left heading North, South, or South-East.  I put up a poll in Region 4 to help me decide, which suggested heading North into Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan.

So North is where I pointed my bike this morning and proceeded to wander through North-Western Illinois, Eastern Iowa, and South-Western Wisconsin today.

Here is the bike, early this morning as I prepared to hit the road:


My first stop for a photo was in the town of Toulon, Illinois.  Just a touch of the regional flavor from home.  That is the Stark County courthouse:


From there I meandered North and West on back roads.  I could have taken any of several interstates to speed things along, but I wanted to take in the sights of Summer as I went.  Aside from not making great time, the other downside is roadkill.  Of which I helped to create more, when I hit a raccoon with both tires.  No damage to the bike, I was startled by the experience, and the raccoon was very dead.  This is a nice road I stumbled onto outside the Quad Cities after the roadkill incident:


The mighty Mississippi overlooking the Clinton, Iowa area:


On the banks of the river near Fulton, Illinois is a real Dutch windmill.  It was built for the town by a Dutch company, shipped over, and assembled.  Apparently there were a lot of Dutch imigrants to the area at one time.

[Hickey]

Another shot of the Mississippi.  This one taken from an island park connected to both Illinois and Iowa by bridges.


Time for lunch.  I ate in Galena, Illinois.  Which is a nice town in the far North-Western corner of the state.  It has become a bit of a tourist trap over the years, but it is a very pretty town with good roads in the area.


A view down one of the main shopping streets in Galena:


I left Galena taking Stagecoach Road to the North-East.  It really is a nice road.  The pavement was new and the sweeping turns were a lot of fun.  It was a nice taste of what was waiting for me in Wisconsin.  Sadly the traffic was a bit thick so I explored some other smaller roads in the area, like this one:


Soon I was in Wisconsin, where I would spend most of my day.


I wandered up 78 and played on the county roads around Governor Dodge State Park.  I did have some nice pictures.  Or rather I should say, I thought I had some nice pictures.  Apparently my camera didn't save them.

I took 130 North to Lone Rock and then wandered East to the Frank Lloyd Wright estate called Taliesin.  Another pretty area which is just a few miles North of the House on the Rock.


I only stopped at the visitor's center for Taliesin and didn't take any of the tours of the actual estate.  I was running out of day by this point and the tours were very expensive.


Due to the previously mentioned camera issues, I have no other pics from today.  I did ride some fantastic roads in Sauk County.  Route 80 was pretty.  Route 33 was awesome, especially in the area of Wildcat Mountain.  

By that point I was getting very tired, hungry, and anxious to find a place to sleep.  So I took 27 North to Sparta to find food and lodging.  Got food, but all the hotels were booked up.  What madness was that?!?  So I ended up riding further North to the Majestic Pine Casino which is where I am composing this.  

Today's stats are: 497 miles; 9.5 hours in the saddle; and 13 hours total time (not counting composing this)

[brkhldr58]

Hey Bill, nice weather for your ride! Majestic Pine Casino has a pretty good buffet.

[RedCBRRider]

Good job Bill.  Keep the ride reports coming whenever you can.  Maybe there could be another poll.  Where in the world in Hickey?  

[VIVID1]

Awesome   I hope you enjoy your first long trip on your new bike  

[stefrrr]

 

[Razors]

Great post.  It makes me want to get out again for another long ride.  
Have fun and SAVE pics.

[Scottyfizz]

Hey Hickey. Where was the road near the Quad Cities you rode?  Nice pics too.

[Jetpilot5]

Nice report.  I'm looking forward to reading more.  There are some familiar views in a few of your pictures.  I've got family in the Morrison/Fulton area and in-laws in Galena.  Bike looks good too.  

[Hickey]

I found one of my pics from yesterday.  

This. Is. Sparta!

[Hickey]

Hey Hickey. Where was the road near the Quad Cities you rode?  Nice pics too.

Somewhere East of the Quad Cities.  I don't remember exactly.  Sorry.

[Hickey]

Today started where yesterday ended.  In Black River Falls at the Majestic Pines Casino/Hotel.


That was a nice place.  They even had dedicated motorcycle parking close to the doors, with a cement strip in the asphalt for kickstands.  

From there I wanted to head North and West to eventually end up in Duluth, Minnesota to visit Aerostitch.  So off I went up Route 27.  Which ended up being a pretty road in that area, but not really all that curvy.  


A bit up the road I took route 64 West to get to Route 40 North, which looked interesting.  Route 64 was also pretty and scenic, with some nice sweepers.  The road wandered through forests that would give way to farmland and pastures, then plunge into pine and birch forests again.  Route 40 was similar with miles of sweepers with fantastic views as it wound through forests and around lakes.


I had lunch in a town called Bruce.  Nice place.  Great chicken noodle soup.  


The best road I was on today was County Road F that I took North from Weyerhaeuser, Wisconsin.  It runs through Rusk and Sawyer counties.  This road rocks!  It has a nice combination of sweepers and tighter turns.  The pavement was good and the road surface was fairly wide for a county road.  The elevation changes are fun as it follows lake shores and then heads back into the hills.

[Hickey]

Near Hayward I got back on Route 27.  As I was passing though town I saw a really big fish.  Actually, I saw many really big, fiberglass fish in this park/museum.  But the big musky was what caught my eye.  This thing was about three stories tall and over 100 feet long.  I had to stop and take some pics.


To give you an idea of scale.  Can you see the people standing in the mouth of the fish in this pic?


In other interesting sights.  I snapped this pic along the road somewhere.  It was a memorial to Wisconsin soldiers, but I just can't remember what town it was in.


By this point I was in Northern Wisconsin, running out of day, and watching as ominous clouds rolled towards me out of the West.  Which was incidentally the direction I wanted to go.  It wasn't long before I was dashing into and out of brief showers.  So I stopped and put my rain gear on and zipped up the vents in my jacket.  Unfortunately this created my own personal portable sauna.  Hmmm... Sweaty.

On a side note, there sure are a lot of deer up here.  No close calls yet, but I've seen several cross the road or stare at me from the trees as I rode past.  

By the time I got to US Route 2 to head West into Duluth the rain was getting to be constant and with that came a welcome drop in temperatures.  The closer to Duluth I got, though, the more menacing the sky became.  Then came the real rain.  All that pissing around before was a pale shadow of the fury that let loose on me a few miles away from Duluth.  Nasty cross winds, huge gusts, heavy rain that became even heavier.  Once I passed through the front, the winds let up and it was just a nice, cool, steady rain.

[Hickey]

I made it to Aerostitch, despite the best efforts of the weather, rush hour traffic, and the terribly confusing Duluth interstate exchange system.  It was a conspiracy of annoyance, I tell ya.  


While there I tried a Stitch.  Wow.  Those things are stiff when new.  I didn't buy one of those though.  I wasn't the only customer who rode there today.  There were three guys from Canada there to pick up some gear.  And I did a little shopping too.  I got some Olympia gel gloves to replace my very well used Joe Rocket gloves, some Nikwax glove treatment, and an Aerostitch tire repair kit.  The gloves seem nice and will hopefully be my new Summer gloves.  The tire kit is insurance.  I'm hoping that by buying it, I'll never need to use it.

Finally, I was ready to call it a day and find a place to eat, work on this ride report, and sleep.  So here I am in Brule, Wisconsin at a nice little motel.  There was a restaurant next door and somewhere there is a Wi-Fi connection that my computer latched onto.  Oh.  And it finally quit raining.


According to the GPS, I've gone a total of 801 miles so far.  Tomorrow I am off to explore the Southern coast of Lake Superior and eventually the UP of Michigan.

[Hickey]

Hey Bill, nice weather for your ride! Majestic Pine Casino has a pretty good buffet.

Yes.  Yes they do!  

[traveler]

Great report so far. Also, you've taken some really cool pics.

[bomber]

Hickey/All

My best riding partner ans wingman had a very simlar experience last weekend -- we went walkabout in the WIldcat Mountain area (hint, take County P for as long as it goes, in either direction) -- crossed into Minnehoota, dropped down to McGregor Iowa, and had to ride another 40 miles east of the river to find a room --

anyone with some big dough to invest could do much worse that to put it into lodging in SW Wisconsin (at least in the summer months).

[Hickey]

Just to keep you all on your toes, I'm updating this ride report at midday, from a nice little coffee shop here in Ironwood, Michigan.  I left Brule today and headed North to Lake Superior.  There was nothing remarkable about the roads around there, but the views of the lake were great.  The fog was burning off in patches, leaving tendrils of mist that reached out of the woods onto the road or lake.  



All that rain yesterday has blown in some nicely cooler weather.  It has been in the 70s most of the morning and probably won't get too much warmer through the day.  Welcome relief from the high 80s and low 90s yesterday afternoon.



I followed the Southern lake shore to the East, mostly on Route 13.  The coastline was pretty and as I got further out onto that peninsula, the terrain got hillier and therefore twistier.  There were still many chances to get close to the lake.



East of Ashland, Wisconsin I found another road that wandered close to the lake.  This ended up also taking me across the border into Michigan.  Along that road I saw this dredging set up at a boat launch.  



Which gets me to now.  I am in Ironwood, Michigan.  I'll probably eat lunch here and then head North-East towards Copper Harbor.  I'll try to check in again tonight.

[VIVID1]

Copper Harbor 26 and 41 are both great roads with many curves, use one to get there and the other to head back out. There is so much amazing scenery along 26, it will take 3x longer to do 26 than to do 41.  

[PEST!]

Great looking Bike.  I got one just like it a month ago. I'm getting tired of these Florida roads. Last week I rode up to Georgia to have lunch and ride home trough the Okee Swamp. But its nothing compaired to your trip. You got some great places.  The Temps down hear are so hot I have to wash out the helmet liner daily. (Yuck)  The  Wind mill you saw could have been for a good purpose. They have been used to provide power for everything from grinding grain to pumping water.   Cant beat that bike for cruising and that part of the country is beautiful. Your a lucky man.   Enjoy its something you can remember for a long time to come

P.S. Get some sliders. They work. I dropped mine when it stalled pulling out of a parking lot. DUH!  scratches on the side of the mirror and the saddle bag the fairing never touched but the slider did.. Great investment.