Sunday, October 6, 2013

2nd Day - Slimey Crud

Today's featured attraction was to be attendance at the Slimey Crud Run, the reason that Mike and I built our trip around this weekend, this first Sunday in October.  Our last visit to Pine Bluff and Leland was back in the spring version (first Sunday of May) of 2012; Jeff joined us for that one.  It was wet, today's was not, unless you count the fog that was so thick this morning that I couldn't keep my glasses or my visor clean.

Last night, just after dark, while Mike and I were out admiring the evening weather.a couple of bikes showed up in our Richland Center motel parking lot.  We both could tell by the sound of the motor (and the dry rattley clutch) that one of them was a Ducati; both of them were twins.  As the stands went down and helmets came off, in the pale light both Mike and I knew one of the bikes....and its rider.  Eric Tretbar was on the green Moto Guzzi.  His bike is featured in the Indie film "Girl Meets Bike", a film we saw premiered last winter.  Eric's bike was in the film he wrote and directed.


Breakfast was planned, as last time, at the Lone Rock airport.  Here's the Piccadilly Lilly restaurant, this time without standing water in the parking lot.


After breakfast, we crossed the Wisconsin River at Lone Rock, rode past the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum and the American Players Theater.  Our roads?  High Point, Amacher Hollow, Sweeny Road, Zwettler Road, etc. on to Pine Bluff.  As we pulled in the parking lot of the Red Mouse (Crun Run Central), friend Bob was just getting out of some of his cold weather gear.  The sun was out, the winds calm and it was actually getting warm.  Quite a feat since Mike and I had left the motel at 7:30 in 40 degree heavy fog.


We were just west of Madison....



Crowds getting larger, bikes arriving by the minute....


An unfortunate scene in the viewfinder?


Another Honda Police bike, much like Mike's....


Leather on the 'other' American-made machine.....


The Cubs were handing out kickstand pads to prevent parking lot sink.






A sleek Norton.......


Two Ducati-powered machines, one for short runs, the other for maximum top speed.



A Victory from above.....


The middle guy of 5 has one too, but slightly different.


Wildcat Rally friends Tom and Brian showed up, posing here for a group photo.


All of the above photos were at the 'south end' of the Crud run in Pine Bluff.  Mike and I left around 11 to head towards Leland, via Spring Green.

In the large parking area in Leland.


The pond is back; it had gone dry for a few years and we missed it.


Still arriving from Pine Bluff...


Chad was there with his DR650.


Old style....



A better view of the pond.....the clouds getting cool, dark and thick.


Mike explaining, once more, the origins of his '70 Police bike.


Mike and I left around 2PM, our goal to wind our way back to Richland Center by 3PM so that he could get back to Mpls.  His bike in the truck, mine shuttled to motel #2 for the weekend and he was off.  I got checked in to the Starlite and headed out for another afternoon loop ride.


I've been paying extra special attention to large, lush Weeping Willows lately, not sure why, quite possibly because ours has barely managed to survive.....deer, dogs, goats and who knows what else.

This is a beautiful specimen....three giant trunks in there.  I had seen two trees, a matched pair, earlier today and not sure what it would take to top those.


Late afternoon clouds, County B along the Wisconsin River sand flats.


Looking forward to good rest tonight and more good riding tomorrow.

8 comments:

  1. I empathize with the fog and mist of the visor. Rode to coffee saturday morning and it was 35˚ and foggy. Visor misted up so I raised it and by the time I pulled into coffee my sunglasses were misted up too.

    Looks like fun so far. I am glad things stayed dry even if it wasn't warm and balmy out.

    I like the skeleton by the meat raffle sign. Makes you wonder what meat they were raffling. :-)

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    1. Brandy, I shouldn't have been riding; visibility was that bad. Wiping away one lens lasted only a minute and keeping up with two layers was about impossible. Happily, things changed in just a few miles.

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  2. Coop:

    such a large gathering. I saw two other beautiful Weeping Willows but parking would have been a challenge so I passed.

    I am strangely drawn to that flat road wishing I was riding to infinity.

    Looks like you had a great weekend of riding and being dry was a bonus

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. Bob, there was something about that road on the sand flats, heading towards those clouds, that left me with the same feeling. In this part of the state, there aren't very many flat, straight roads.

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  3. That's quite a gathering of bikes. And the fall scenery with the rolling hills suggests that this is a really nice area to be in.

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    1. Hey Richard, 30 degrees cooler and a couple of inches of snow......you'd like it here. :)

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  4. All those bikes, as characterful as their owners.

    Nice to have the pond back, it makes for a nice picture with the clouds reflecting in the water.

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    1. And characters we were, some an entire magnitude greater.

      As I remember the story, the dam for the pond needed expensive repairs (expensive permits??) and on more than once SC, there was a booth there..."Save the Pond". The marsh looks so much prettier as pooling water.

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