Coop's Corner: Great River Road Rally

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Great River Road Rally - 2021/05/16

We attended the GR3 returning rally but our adventure was much larger than that; it began the weekend before just outside of Richland Center in the Alana Springs Campground. Once again, Colleen our gracious and accommodating host.

My week at the campground had been planned as a solo week, a trip to one of my favorite riding areas in lieu of my normal Slimey Crud Run attendance the weekend before. The thrill of the 'Crud event has faded as the joy of riding the area has only grown. That realization solidly occurred back in March sometime when I contacted the campground host wondering about a spot being open for me the 2nd week of May.

"Come on down..." was the way I heard it.

Plans started taking shape. Various discussions with the normal cast of riding partners came and went and then eventually my solo week expanded, first by a potential one and later changes, additions and subtractions led to our very fine group that ebbed and flowed in size over the days.

Friday the 7th Steve and Greg were on their way down, shown here, a Double Cupper as they left the Twin Cities.

Eric and I met for breakfast in Westby on our way south and when we arrived at the campground, brother Kevin was already there and set up. After we all were settled, the three of us went out for a loop south and when we returned later in the afternoon, Greg and Steve had arrived, tents up and wondered where the Coffee Station was that I'd promised to have ready. Dinner in town and our first campfire of the week that Friday.

After breakfast Saturday morning out for another loop, the 5 of us, a counterclockwise swing to the NE in broad general terms. A recent quest for us all has been finding, stopping and photographing the few remaining wooden silos that we randomly come across. It was a banner week in that regard....they were popping up all over.

The photographs a combined and shared effort since during the week we were not always in the same place at the same time. There was a lot of communication back and forth, texting the 'shares' and I'm quite sure that these aren't the only ones discovered.

Saturday's visit to Trail's End (Amish Walmart) found the parking lot busier than I've ever seen it, buyers and 'shoppers' galore.

And.....Stop #1 for ice cream at The Goose Barn.

Sunday our jaunt included Rockton BBQ chicken and for desert, Stop #2 for more ice cream two valleys over at the Goose Barn, both favorite stops that we make when we can.

Drive Thru for the carry-out customers, ~600 plates served, we made an effort to arrive early since we had not called ahead with reservations. Folks were being turned away before we left.

Time for desert....

This family from LaCrosse enjoyed ice cream at the next table, mom was on the Ducati. A family that rides together stays together.

Sunday afternoon, young Eric left for home (and a work week). The rest of us old retired codgers (me of retirement age) spent the week at Alana Springs, riding each day with plans for Eric to once again join us the following weekend at the Great River Road BMW Rally in Soldiers Grove.

Which he did.

Repeated from last week's Post, this is where I went those 10 days and I say that "I went" because Monday - Thursday I rode each day on my own, a Secret Mission, sharing breakfast and dinner each day with the group. Those 3 guys were off on some twisted loops, I was off on my own.

No rain all week other than a dozen drops, a wonderful way to put 1476 miles on two wheels. As per normal for me, those days average moving speed, 34.7 MPH with LOTS of stopping. The Secret Mission beat goes on.

Dinner in Richland Center....

We had freezing or below temperatures every morning.

Frosty...

Very frosty....

You can imagine how this felt in the mornings.....

Steve's tent for sale...very little interest in the campground but a different story once we made the BMW Rally.

Some day I'll be able to add the scent of freshly cut hay to these Posts....

I asked 80+ year old Nancy if I could photograph the sticker on her pretty blue car, she very obviously and proudly not only alive but leveraging life.

Train enthusiasts at North Freedom....

An early morning at camp....once the coffee pots were dripping.

Our 2nd Friday morning, loaded and ready to leave Richland Center and head to Soldiers Grove for the BMW Rally.

Another kind gift from friends determined to keep me attired in appropriate gear for new endeavors.

Getting set up in Lion's Park, Soldiers Grove

The Unique Cafe, Boscobel....

Big octane...

After a big octane meal.....

Followed by snack time....

The look of delight on a Big Tent seller's face

Packing up Sunday morning, rally over.

Stopped for breakfast in Coon Valley, from there everyone off in their own directions.

And to watch some small roads in action....

6 comments:

redlegsridesMay 22, 2021 at 11:10 AM
Nice sunrise shots! Trespassers will be hogtied? And then what? Threats should be clear to be effective. :)

The Amish WalMart seemed quite well stocked for one's farming needs.....did they require masks? Or is your area of the country like this part where a lot of people have stopped wearing masks in public areas?
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RichardMMay 22, 2021 at 7:49 PM
Did you mean 2021 or was this last year?
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DanMay 26, 2021 at 10:26 AM
Fantastic Doug!! I would have loved to have been there, but I got my covid shot Friday afternoon and I didn't know how I would feel after that.. I was achy and a little chilled until Saturday afternoon, so I'm glad I didn't plan anything. I'm hoping to be at the MN Guzzi Rally this year. Be nice to catch up with everyone. :)
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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)