Coop's Corner: Day 4 - Change Of Plans

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Day 4 - Change Of Plans

Monday evening (Day 3 of 4), I was diligently Route planning for the 2 GPS units (more on this in a later Post) that I had along, redundant Routes so that I could use/compare how each satellite receiving device would handle my zig-zag exploration. Through the course of Monday afternoon, much thought was given to which direction I'd head, destinations that I'd seek out, etc. Many things were considered and then finally, I buckled down and created my next day's ride.

That was at slumber time on Monday. By wake time on Tuesday, plans were altered. Considering my location in SW (almost South Central) Wisconsin, heading east to visit a couple of friends between Madison and Milwaukee (SE Wisconsin) was suddenly the new and improved ride plan for the day. Gene and John are old rally friends that I see off and on each summer at the various brand rally gatherings. Now that the end of our riding season's are coming up, it may be a long time before I get the chance to see them again so a personal visit was decided upon.

First a call to John, and then to Gene got things organized. I rode east, into a bright but I'm-not-complaining sun where I was to meet John in Waterloo. John picked a rendezvous time perfectly based on my called-from position and I nailed our meeting time. From there, I followed, he in his TDI to Gene's place in Watertown. This is a section of Wisconsin I've spent the least amount of time riding in. It's typically more urban, less hilly and the roads much straighter. I think we'd all agree that the riding is better to the west.

Based on Bob's and Dave's (two other guys that I mingle with at these outings, both close to Gene and John) suggestion, I rode through the Roxbury crossroads to stop at the Dorf Haus. A German-themed supper club that serves, according to Dave, the world's finest pancakes, the place was very quiet at 10AM on a Tuesday. Sunday's are breakfast pannycake days so my timing was off for the delicate monsters, soaked in honest-to-goodness real maple syrup. Instead of a Sunday Coffee, looks like we'll have to arrange a Sunday Pancake.

It was great seeing, sitting down with and discussing the same sort of things that we talked about last time and will talk about the next time....it's just that letting the gaps between those same discussions get overly long is less than ideal. Guys, I'm happier than you know that I called and made the trip over; glad that it worked for us to get together again.

Following John's advice, leaving Watertown, I went north up to WI #60 (that didn't quite go as John advised) and then following State 60 back to the west, I blended perfectly into County PF as John did advise, a road known to any and all decent Slimey Crud attendees. Thinking I might seek out Martha's nearby Lodi wilderness hiking area on the way, I changed my mind and kept on going, my next stop at a much quieter, weekday Leland. One of the bar owners was out spraying the exterior for box elder bugs; a few cars in front of his establishment.

No people, no motorcycles....well, one motorcycle.

The pond is still there....

An empty parking lot....

Across the road, another park area beyond the pines and where the "Beer Here" sign was on Sunday.

The pond from the other side of the barn.

Peek-a-boo farm; in a couple of months it will easily be seen from this spot on the road.

The road through the cut....

and a bit to the left, a natural amphitheater, the picked corn on stage.

Almost back to Richland Center; I'm still behind the distant load of hay after following from up on the hill.

Just outside of downtown Neptune on Dogwood Hollow Road.

Back to the car, the Honda soon to be tied down and moving under something else's power. My stay at the Starlight Motel (sign across the highway) was a very pleasant one......I hope to do this again.

10 comments:

Martha October 9, 2013 at 9:18 PM
The Lodi spot is wonderful, but there is so much just as wonderful all over SW WI and NW, too, just as you already know.

So where's my Romance photo?
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UnknownOctober 9, 2013 at 10:04 PM
Coop:

we don't have roads like this. All of our farmland is in the Fraser Delta either in the Fraser Valley or in Richmond. All formed by the silt from the Fraser River so we do not have your rolling hills. Most of our roads are in square grids so you are fortunate to have terrain and roads like in your photos.

bob
Riding the Wet Coast
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TrobairitzOctober 10, 2013 at 8:14 AM
I love the rolling hills. It reminds me of riding our backroads in the fall or spring when the fields are all green. The new fall planting are sprouting up now so the fields look like chia fields dotted with sheep.

Thanks for sharing the pictures and trip report. It looks like you had a great time.
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LuckyOctober 10, 2013 at 9:27 AM
Great photos! I'm definitely going to need to explore more of Wisconsin.

...I suppose I should explore more of Minnesota first, though. ;)
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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)