Coop's Corner: A Mid-November Ride

Saturday, November 10, 2012

A Mid-November Ride

This morning started out wet and warm (for November) just as predicted. I was up early, planning to do coffee with the crew in Northeast Minneapolis, then a brief spot of shopping and a quick return home so that I could get out for a decent afternoon ride. The mist and almost-rain looked quite dismal in Mpls but by the time I got near home, the sky was brightening and the rain had stopped. It was obvious the day wanted to be warm and dry, doing its best before tomorrow's cold front arrived.

Home by noon, the Helix took a bit of cranking but fired before long; its 'bystarter' definitely adding extra fuel which caused our outside barn cats to abandon me, sneezing with their speedy exit. GPS on, with enough clothing on to make me almost sweaty. As almost always happens though, once on the road I got it just about perfect; 45-46 degrees was feeling just about right.

We live near the upriver side of Lake Pepin, a wide spot in the Mississippi that separates Minnesota and Wisconsin, the lake almost 3 miles wide at its widest. I believe it is roughly 20 miles long before it narrows down again into a navigable channel with wide areas of shallow backwater.

Here I am near the southern, downstream end of the lake at roughly 1PM, the Wisconsin bluffs in the distance on the right.

Down to Wabasha, across the river and into the adjoining state. Barely out of Nelson and up Mike Varenick Road.

The Mississippi River valley in the background, just a bit of actual water visible above the scooter's nose.....

County I, Center Creek Road, Johnson Hill, County V, the always fun County B loop, BB, A, H, Albany, ZZ and finally Z (never done this one before, can't say that very often within 100 miles of home). Down through Mondovi and then Double T, for some reason still and always a favorite. It's rougher than a cob, but there's just something about it.....

County TT's cemeteries, one outside the corner, one tucked inside the corner. The rough School Road climbing the hill in the distance....but I didn't take it this time, instead headed south on Hagness Road.

Just before I stopped for this photo, I came upon what must have been the largest Buck I've ever seen. He was crossing the road as I rounded a corner and I caught him mid-stride about 50 yards ahead. We both stopped. I did my best to fumble my camera out but there was too much for two hands to accomplish. The road was steep, the parking brake needed to be set on the scooter and in those long 15 seconds, he ran out of patience and hopped into the woods.

This was just a few hundred yards south of there.....

There are some very interesting road names in the area; from Hagness it was onto Moy, then Pfund Bros and finally German Valley. On into Modena, then another favorite (was there not long ago on the TW200), Serum Road.

Here's Serum's east end, the only section that's paved. It turns to gravel at the base directly in front of me, then winds around to the left as it goes up that distant valley.

On to County KK, McDonough, Deer Creek and then Marke Bluff, the gravel climb with a couple of switchbacks to get up on top.

Marke Bluff Road, headed down the other side. The Mississippi backwater shining in the distance. If the river had been at normal levels, there's be a lot more 'shiny'. I set the scooter's parking brake more times today that I think I ever have over the course of one ride. I was hesitant to get off here, wondering if in fact the brake would hold it.

The bridge to Wabasha, MN is normally visible in the distance but the afternoon's warm, moist air and reflections were hiding it today.

Just a mile or so back into Nelson and a mandatory stop at the Nelson Cheese Factory for some ice cream and a pound of Aged Swiss to bring home.

The Helix fits right in....

Back at Lake Pepin, 4:30PM......

Home by 5PM, 140 miles in a little over 4 hours which is just about right :) Our home thermometer said 62 degrees when I got home. The warm afternoon almost made me feel guilty about stopping early but dusk and the 5 deer I had to 'push' out of our driveway made me glad I was home and in the garage.

6 comments:

Erik RNovember 10, 2012 at 8:42 PM
Those pictures make me miss living down in the "cities". I don't think it got over 45° today. It was cold and damp up here. At least the snow is gone for a while.
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayNovember 11, 2012 at 6:40 AM
I heard about your snow only after the fact, a bit surprised....and then not so much :) It's that time of year when it can happen even here and those miles north where you are from us make a difference. Lucy for you your snowshoe season beats ours hands down. Stay healthy and warm!

I know of what you speak re: the "cities" and most everything it defines.
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SonjaMNovember 11, 2012 at 2:12 PM
Your bright and shiny scooter makes a wonderful contrast to the landscape. Glad that you are still able to ride.
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayNovember 11, 2012 at 5:01 PM
I've been told by my sportbike friends that the Helix is almost too much yellow in one spot (those guys are so much fun to play with) but you're right, with the dark and cool landscapes ahead, the yellow really jumps out. I haven't give up yet....there still may be some miles made this season. I'll handle cold; normally what stops me is when the snow starts and the road salt starts being applied. In the spring I struggle to wait for rains to wash the residue off.
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bavet185December 26, 2013 at 5:05 PM
I really enjoy your documented voyages! I too take pleasure in the roads less traveled. And being one of very few Hagness' left in Mondovi, I'm so happy that there are still people that feel the same way about the backroads and stories they hold! I hope you continue on,

Mike Hagness
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)