Sunday, November 18, 2012

Last Ride Of The Season?

We're running on borrowed time now.  Dave and I got out for a really nice Sunday ride and this might have very well been it for a ride with any distance.  I'll often take out the TW200 for some very local backroad riding but the rides are short, both in time and in distance.  Once the first snowfall arrives and the roads get salted, my riding is over on the paved roads.

Anxious for one more ride on the new-to-me RT100, Dave and I agreed to meet back in Alma for lunch.  We both left home a bit earlier than necessary and wound up meeting at the gas station on our side of the river by chance.


Justin, peaking out of his carrier, on the back of the Elefant.



Dave had pup Justin along and wanted to stop prior to lunch at Reich's Park to let the dog get some exercise before we ate.


Reich's Park is where over the last decade the migrating swans have often stopped in the Buffalo River/Mississippi backwaters to rest on their flight to Chesapeake Bay.  Through the years it has been a gathering place for tourists to see what once was thousands of big white birds landing and taking off from their momentary resting place.  The migration was later this year than what seems to be normal and in recent years, the number of birds stopping for our viewing pleasure has gone way down.  We did manage to see a few of them though in among the Canadian Geese.  The white birds in the center of the photo are Tundra Swans.


After this stop, we mostly rode, finding many quiet gravel roads mixed in with those paved, hunters and their recently fallen prey were everywhere.  We made one more stop to let Justin run and roam a bit before heading back towards MN.  Gas mileage for the RT yesterday was a fraction over 49mpg and I most likely made almost that kind of gas mileage again today.  I put on about 20 miles more than yesterday for just under 145.

7 comments:

  1. I hope the ice and salt stay away so that you can ride a little longer this year.

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    1. I wish that I could will it so....but according to the forecast, it doesn't look promising. Thanksgiving is supposed to be beautiful but that's a family day for me. Friday we brutally go back to what the 23rd of November is supposed to be like in Minnesota. No matter the weather, Black Friday will find me outside, putting up a snowfence along the driveway and taking care of long neglected outside pre-winter chores.

      Hopefully your season will continue on?

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  2. Sounds like you had an excellent day and were able to take advantage of it. (I have to say I love your friend's Ducati-Doggie carrier!) I had no idea the swans went to the Chesapeake Bay area for the winter, they must be a sight to see. Enjoy what's left of fall.

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  3. Just-in(-time) seems to do well in his little carrier though is always anxious for our next rest stop. Now that Dave's got his sidecar rig, we're convinced the terrier prefers that.

    What's really fun and amazing is the sound of the swans as they migrate either direction depending on the season. We're near the river, The Mississippi Flyway a major thoroughfare for bird migration. They fly high and in V's and the subtle honks they make as they move overhead is an incredible, unique sound. Every spring and fall, their appearance just sort of starts and fades away over the course of a couple of weeks.

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  4. Howdy, Neighbor! You have some nice shots of the freighters! I was going to move to LaX, but decided against it. It really is a beautiful area, and SE MN is, too.

    I love the bike photos on the trail in the oaks. Sad to let that weather go.

    Your header photo is just what I remember about SW WI and SE MN.

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  5. Hey Martha, I thought "neighbors" as well. Anyone in Sconny is a neighbor even if they're as far away as the opposite corner. Were you over here in Bluff Country? Is the big white yacht still tied up there in the channel opposite the museum?
    I know.....I am full of questions :)

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  6. Can't answer that about the yacht. I was over in the "Driftless Region" and Bluff Country many months ago. I especially enjoyed the flat open farmland of SE MN. I felt so high up! And it is over 1,000 feet there. I can not (or maybe I can) imagine travelling that area west in the winter by wagon or horseback. I often think of those poor souls when I see landscape like that. It was a nice change of view and I'm a flatlander.

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