Coop's Corner: Wisconsin Moto Guzzi Rally

Monday, August 3, 2015

Wisconsin Moto Guzzi Rally - 2015

After meeting Dave for breakfast, we changed things up a bit this time by not swinging back into Minnesota or Iowa, rather kept to the east side of the Mississippi the entire way down. One good reason to not do that is to avoid going through the length of LaCrosse but I was stubborn and decided that for just this one time we'd tough it out and work our way through. It wasn't all that bad really.

Highway for the most part until just east of LaCrosse where we jumped on Cty MM (a Rustic Road) that actually is a shortcut, at least in distance terms. Back out to US-61 and then in Coon Valley, up Old Mill Road and on to Cty B to take one more shortcut to Viroqua. We stuck with US-61 until Fennimore, then used more County roads through Stetzer, Arthur, Rewey and finally skirted the Belmont Mound before crossing the freeway to the Lake Joy Campground.

There was a potty stop on the way down, both for the humans and the canine. Justin used the extra time to program his next hoped for Route, but only after he was absolutely certain that Dave was going to return.

Early afternoon, we weren't first, we weren't last.....and yes, the Breva was leaned over almost too far but not too far.

Roy was there and my neighbor across the street, arrived at a Rapid pace......

Diana was there.....

Packer boosters too......

Glen's Yamaha rally machine....

Tim's, Kevin's and Dave's.....

Dan and Al once again made the trip from Lincoln.....good to see you guys again!

I never really did find out.....

Dave explaining his car rig's features.....

Greg and the Mrs. signing in at Registration....

Beer wagon always easy to find...

I really like these and admired this one...

Saturday morning and all day Saturday we had clouds to admire. I wasn't alone watching the sun sneak up through the clouds.

Tom's Sport.....

Did I mention that I like these??

This one tugs the camper beyond....

A lovely morning, the sun mostly decided to stay with us. Dave (and Justin) along with Dan (and Jill) joined me on a loop ride, our first real stop breakfast at Grandma's in Highland.

I had to look back to make sure we were still together after crossing US 151.

Then we hit some gravel that I hadn't planned on. However my name may have been taken in vain while actually here, the guys were quick to forgive. Dave's other rig gobbles this stuff up but the double wide Hannigan hasn't got an abundance of clearance. Lucky for us all, there were no ruts.

It really didn't last all that long.....

Omelet's I'd go back for.....and do.

As we got closer to Mt. Horeb and Madison, the bicycles were everywhere, some solo riders but many large groups.

A leg stretching stop.....

Not everyone was out playing on the roads like we were......

Another stop, this one in downtown Fayette.

Earl's Girls did a fantastic job of selling 50/50 Drawing tickets, so fantastic that the lucky number payout was $600+ and I'll speculate that their 50/50 uniforms had to have been part of that success. My 6 winning numbers for $5 were not......maybe next time.

Ernie was there vending and I happen to know that there was quite a run on his super duper tent stakes.

Weather in not-that-distant northern IL that had no impact on us whatsoever.....

Another Italian brand.....

Tim discussing V50's with someone....

Dinner is being served....

Randy, Dave and Tim enjoying some sunny shade....

After dinner I retired to my Monarch chair in the shade provided by my 'Stich and Moto Guzzi....listening to some grand new music as the sun and my meal settled. (I like the IPA)

I wasn't the last to leave Sunday morning but it was getting darned close.....I'll never be in less of a hurry to head home than John is. Dave's tent is still up, his BMW still shedding daylight.

Mogwai had a tent there that you just won't see at any ol' rally.....

Finally starting to deflate the Exped......

I left and headed north, thinking that just possibly I'd rendezvous with some of the Mn Sportbike guys at Rockton. I arrived just after 11:30, chicken was still on the grill and I was #8 in line.

Roughly 45 minutes later, many had been and were being served.

That rough looking old '63 Hardtop has a 409....not much to look at but the concept sure brought back memories. I lost patience, didn't wait around for the MN performance machines to arrive and headed for home. First up Dutch Hollow, the nearby Rustic Road and then through the heaviest concentration of Amish farms in SW Wisconsin. I passed and met more buggies on this ride than I've ever encountered on any single ride.

Grain shocks were everywhere....

A gorgeous 609 mile weekend, the Moto Guzzi never missed a beat.

12 comments:

VStar LadyAugust 3, 2015 at 7:11 PM
Coop looks like another fantastic rally ... I'd probably be saying a few curse words if I had been following you and hit dirt 😄 but then it didn't look too bad and I probably would have forgiven you too. You guys have way too much fun!
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RichardMAugust 3, 2015 at 9:55 PM
Hey! The marque of your bike matched the rally. Was there a mistake?
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Dar August 4, 2015 at 12:53 AM
Coop it looks like a whole lot of fun was had! I was particularly enthralled by the blue bike with the side car rig.
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SonjaMAugust 4, 2015 at 1:08 PM
I also noticed, Coop, that the motorcycle brand and the rally theme matched up for a change. Well done. Beautiful pics, and the weather played along nicely.
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TrobairitzAugust 4, 2015 at 2:22 PM
A lot of beautiful machines at the rally and interesting clouds too!

600 miles seems like a good number for the weekend. The gravel road is begging for the TW200.
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David MasseAugust 7, 2015 at 4:19 PM
I thoroughly enjoyed that excellent account about a whole lot of fun.

That side car rig is unlike anything I've ever seen.
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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)