Coop's Corner: Hiawatha BMW's

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Hiawatha BMW's

Once more, but not really a surprise since that is what we've all come to expect from this talented bunch, a great weekend of gathered friends and fans of Minnesota BMW's at the Hiawatha BMW Rally. Membership in the Minnesota club is not a prerequisite, nor is being a Minnesotan and most important for me (along with a few others) is attendance on a BMW is not necessary. Money Creek Haven Campground hosted as they have for 30 some odd years. I considered taking my BMW to better fit in but was still in the mood for some gravel roads after last weekend's adventure with Jeff, so the Honda was loaded up mid-week and the GPS Routed for a nice loop down into Iowa, a trip the RT100 was just as happy to pass on to one of the others.

I hustled south after work on Friday, making the roughly 75 mile ride in good time, the only real stop a bit of construction on MN #76. Here we are stopped right under the I-90 overpass where construction was also taking place in the eastbound lanes. At this point I'm only 7 or 8 miles north of the rally site......almost there.

New arrivals stopped for registration.....

A warm, sticky afternoon, the natural spring-fed pool looked very inviting.

Just outside the pool fence is where Leo's South sets up for their Demo Rides.

Once my tent was set up, I made a quick walk through the loop to see how many of my friends had arrived.

A view that some hold.......

Saturday morning was beautiful, as was predicted. After some casual wake up coffee down at the pavilion and a bit of wandering the grounds to see who and what else had arrived, Dave and I saddled up and headed to Stumpy's in Rockford for breakfast.

My advanced planning told me that the normally corresponding Rhubarb Festival in Lanesboro during the same weekend as our rally wasn't going to be held until the following weekend. Had the fruit gathering been held this weekend, I'd have joined Dave there but since it was still a week early to celebrate one of our favorite foods, I was pumped to get out on some loose rock and do it solo.

More than once this weekend I heard rider's lament...."it starts paved and then suddenly it turns to gravel"...and they're right; I can think of numerous places where that happens in this part of the state. Hwy 249 east out of Freeburg is one such place and a favorite road of mine. There's just something about that valley as it heads over to join the larger though not all that much grander Mississippi River valley. I've ridden it on most of my bikes and it's always a joy.

This guy was doing the same, pedaling his machine on the loose rock......

So was this guy, one of 'ours', not intimidated in the least by some rocky footing.....

I didn't stick with filming long enough (heard the car rig, didn't hear the almost silent K1200 not far behind) to catch his buddy that was making the same "good time".

Out of the valley and up on top.......

Hillside Drive south of Brownsville, here as in many other places on Saturday, very deep and freshly graded new gravel. I'd just come up from downtown Reno, the Mississippi Valley in the distance.

Getting back to the campground and then a loop through the grounds.

I was pretty excited when I saw this new CTX700 Honda, especially so when I discovered that it belonged to friend Ludwig. He's still getting it set up with his preferences. Ask him how proud he is of this rig's gas mileage.

The masses (311 registered) lined up for our Saturday evening catered pulled pork meal......

Looking for an opening.......

Timing was great, MOST of us were finished eating and waiting for the awards (some awards, many generously provided door prizes) ceremony when the deluge started.

After the many names were announced, a dry walk, rainless anyway back up to the main tent area.

Just before dark, the rain returned. I climbed into the tent and listened to Old Time Radio broadcasts on across-the-river Wisconsin Public Radio as I drifted off to sleep, snugly inside with rain pattering above me.

Sunday morning, the guys had the coffee brewing and ALmost ready at 5:30

What was left of the T-Shirt factory at sunrise.......

Many riders already headed for home......

Hadn't seen this last night......the hard, fast rain conveniently washed one portion of my rim and left telltale maple seeds behind to measure document depth. It would have taken water a lot deeper than this to get my bike clean but I'll take what I can get.

I've got one of these but so far it doesn't look this nice.

Dave was still packing up when Paul had started home for Iowa, gone past and U-turned back to say hello/goodbye.

A few minutes later, Dave was all set and we rode west over the hill for another breakfast in Rushford. Cheryl once again served we Double D's, Dave and Doug, putting up with us one more time. Dave headed back to Illinois on his designated brand of the weekend and I headed the opposite direction for home. 4 miles from home I ran into lots of road spray, 2 miles from home it started to pour.

I stayed dry all weekend.

After a short work week, next weekend some of us will be in southeastern Wisconsin for another motorcycle themed bunch of fun days. Now that summer is here, we need to make that proverbial hay.

9 comments:

SonjaMJune 2, 2014 at 12:35 PM
Interesting sticker on that Beemer. I am curious if it is a religious, a socio-economic or simply a rider's statement on things ;-)
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TrobairitzJune 2, 2014 at 1:54 PM
311 registered. Wow. That is a lot of bikes.

I like that you and your bike don't care if the pavement ends. That is one of the reasons we are looking for a used TW for me. So we can go out with that and the XT and just see where the roads take us.

Thanks for the trip report.
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RichardMJune 3, 2014 at 11:52 AM
Pretty nice turnout and it looked like a nice location for a rally. And even a few sidecar rigs...
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DebJune 3, 2014 at 7:21 PM
Minnesotans seem to have their act together when it comes to having a good time on bikes! Nothing like that around here.

Hey, I love that tie-dyed tee! Love those rough back roads...love it all!

Sorry you guys got soaked though...

Enjoyable post, as always!
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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)