Coop's Corner: Minnesota Moto Guzzi Rally 2013

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Minnesota Moto Guzzi Rally 2013

It's been another perfect August weekend, a great weekend for a Minnesota meeting of Italian motorcycles. Dave and I met in St. Charles for breakfast on Friday, then managed to find some dusty gravel, the shortcut but not really, from there to the Money Creek Haven Campground.

Jack arrived not long after we did, here at the registration tent. No, it's not a Guzzi but if Guzzi made a 2-wheel drive rig, he'd probably have ridden that.

I've seen Jack and waved hello at previous rallies but this weekend finally was able to really meet him and discuss roads as well as common riding areas. He knows the area roads better than I do Hopefully we'll be able to follow through on a coffee ride or two.

Here's a Guzzi sidecar rig with accompanying camper trailer, a one wheel drive in this case and for most purposes, sufficient.

Louie showed up on one of his Victory's this time, though there's talk of something else in his future. The question is and will remain, will his machine count remain the same or go up one??

Since Dave and I live so close, our ride, even with a late breakfast, put us at the rally site before noon. There was a method to our early arrival madness.....some Friday afternoon gravel exploring.

We come upon "Road Closed" signs from time to time, not necessarily a barrier to our plans, though this weekend we were foiled more than once (and a couple of times that we should have been).

Here's a favorite "Minimum Maintenance" road that's been a favorite...we're both wondering if it will ever be again after this spring's various flooding.

No way were we getting through this one.....'course if it hadn't been for that big sidecar along, I'd have popped right through this minor obstruction. :)

This one didn't stop us....this time....but may next time.

Since it was coffee time, or even slightly past, we headed for the touristy Lanesboro. The Friday afternoon Tubers, Canoers and Bicyclists were showing up for a weekend of Root River Valley fun.

I thought this duded up, fender skirted pickup truck was pretty cool. I wanted to center the truck in the shot but one hand was holding some exTREMEly hot coffee from the Pedal Pushers diner.

It then was time to head back to the rally site since our pulled pork Friday dinner would soon be served. There were many new arrivals back at camp.

Mike showed up on his Moto Guzzi Norge, their Sport Touring model and he was a Mike I didn't know. As it turns out, I used to work across the isle from his wife at one company and he works next to a life long machinist friend at another medical company. Rides will soon be planned that will hopefully get the three of us together in one spot.

Saturday morning dawned cool, clear and foggy. I walked down to the naturally spring-fed pool to prove there was moisture in the air.

On our way to Hokah for breakfast, we discovered this huge road improving project. This one led us to a Minimum Maintenance road that wasn't, so we had to turn around and do this part twice.

Our Saturday morning breakfast spot in Hokah.

A potty stop and leg stretching spot.....for Justin naturally.....on a steep, almost-Iowa gravel road.

This frog simply can't possibly have a big croak, can it?? It was doing its best to hide on this milkweed leaf but I was too sharp to miss it.

The New Albin City Meat Market and Store....a necessary stop for my favorite smoked pork jerky. John, I brought some back to camp for you but you weren't there.....in time. Offered to a few other campers, they initially didn't care for any.....then..."well maybe I'll try some". Not long after, "hey, could I have another chunk?"

I bought a pound and brought a couple of ounces home.

After making Dave, really, really dustier, we were back at camp. He stopped at the car wash to make his bike black again; mine's still a dingy grey-brown.

This one was for sale, very reasonably priced but I tried not to spend any more time there than necessary or I'd have been tempted to......

Brad's eternally beautiful Triumph....Jack's GS isn't hard on the eyes either.

A Ural that had seen as much dust for the day as we had.

That Twin Headlight guy's KLR.........

Somehow I even got into this shot........almost too many cooks in this one.

Scott's "1000 hour" custom fairing, bags, snack box (on the tank), windshield, etc.

On the left, one of many rows of campers and full season trailers not connected with our group.

After our steak dinner, there was more discussion, more enjoyment of a perfect Saturday evening before bedtime.

Sunday morning again arrived clear, cool and foggy. Dave and I weren't in any hurry, leaving just before 9AM. Once again, many riders from further away were already long gone. Since this is the closest rally for both Dave and me, it's hard to be in too big of hurry to head for home.

12 comments:

Martha August 18, 2013 at 7:40 PM
The best part is the dirt road, the gravel road and the one that got away down the stream. I feel like a city gal now. I need to go find some dirt roads.

I noted the petunias up on the light post. I'm glad all of our planters are on the ground...

You sure do stack up good weekends.
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VStar LadyAugust 18, 2013 at 10:02 PM
Coop - it looks like you are having way too much fun (I'm glad!)
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayAugust 19, 2013 at 5:29 AM
My goal is to hover at or near that threshold. :)
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TrobairitzAugust 19, 2013 at 8:44 AM
Another perfectly spent weekend.

Good roads (even the ones you had to turn around) good food, and good friends old and new.

Yep, perfect weekend. Thanks for sharing all the pictures. Sure is a pretty area.
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SonjaMAugust 19, 2013 at 12:57 PM
Definitely way too much fun. What a stunning set of pics, especially the gravel road bits. But the foggy morning is definitely my favourite. Thanks for taking the time to post this, it was fun watching.
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LuckyAugust 23, 2013 at 8:45 AM
Looks like a hoot! You're getting me excited to get out and explore the Middle Coast some more.

...I've really got to get some new tires. Lots of big changes at the moment, and the bike keeps ending up at the bottom of the list for my budget.
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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)