Coop's Corner: August 2021

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Ol' Blue Ride-Along 2021/08/22

Sunday I was out for a nice loop and decided to record roughly 25 minutes (12.4 miles) of up and down Wisconsin back roads.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

BUG FEN

That's right, exactly as you see it.

I just had to share this incredible project build that friend Mike w/friends pursued and followed through on, darned impressive work these very talented fellows accomplished.

BUG FEN.......the Story

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Two Perfect Loops - 2021/08/14

Home from Michigan Friday afternoon, the original plans for the rest of the weekend sort of fell through. Perfect weather and temperatures, it was only natural to get out on the bike for some late summer miles, my adjustment to the schedule. Not all that early Saturday morning, I was anxious to take the Elite 250 out for a ride. A couple of weeks ago I rode it into Red Wing and all went well but on the way home, something was going wrong. The short story, somehow the airbox had come loose, the throttle cable clamp was loose and when I tried to fasten the plenum back on to the carburetor mouth, things just weren't lining up. Old hard plastic, apparently a bit deformed just wasn't going back into place. Cable clamp adjusted and tightened but I finally gave up trying to get the air passages back where they belonged.

Taking a better look, there was room for some other filter and a very cheap foam version was found online for a 48mm carb intake. With no real air filter oil, I just used some straight 30w that I used to run in the tractor. If I'd been thinking, the Bar Oil would have been a better choice but apparently I wasn't thinking. So a too short test ride out the driveway was successful, the scooter running at full strength.

Starting out Saturday on the Elite for my Wisconsin loop things soon went awry. The scooter ran fine on straight petrol, it ran very poorly on straight 30w. Off and on, on and off, I limped back home. Any time there was an extra load, the bike would quickly stall out and most of the time keep running. Most of the time.

I got home and swapped out the Elite for its bigger no-clutch brother, the 400 Auto and that fine machine ran like a top.

The Red loop Saturday on the Honda and the Green loop Sunday on the Morphous.

Bridge painting on the Wabasha-Nelson Bridge...

Along the river in Durand....

I know that it must be hard to believe but I've never been here before.

Twisted Sisters Bar.....I didn't stop

Five-Mile Bluff Prairie.....

Guess who I met on a Springfield Blue 2014 Indian this morning??

The Elite has been fiddled with and is now super tuned and race ready! I plan to share its many strong attributes with the guys at the Hiawatha BMW Rally in September.

Friday, August 13, 2021

Wisconsin 64 - 2021/08/13

A very last minute couple of vacation days, even more last minute riding details that quickly fell into place. There was not A Need For Speed, but A Need To Go....get some miles on, no real destination but I did have a direction in mind. I just haven't spent enough time in northeast Wisconsin. So when everything was put on the scale, a two motel night trip took shape. Tuesday evening at the last minute, two motel reservations were made to absolutely lock in a place to stay. Rates and availability have been at premium levels and even though a bit expensive, it seemed prudent to avoid mid-afternoon ride stops to lock something in and I'm glad that I did.

Back in 2010 (it can't possibly be 11 years ago) a 'Coffee' was called, the decision by some of my Chicago area riding partners to meet on Washington Island for a nice hot cup. I rode the Helix the entire width of Wisconsin, from the Minnesota border to Lake Michigan on State Hwy 54. Since that time, I've been thinking that a ride doing the same thing, only longer at almost the widest part of the state on State Hwy 64 would be fun.

It was.

Wednesday morning my planned 7am ride was calmly put off (I had a reservation) until 8:30 due to very heavy fog, the air so thick it was almost raining. The forecast and radar both agreed that I'd be behind any weather that was working its way across the state.

I was tempted to cheat a bit and cut off the first 60-70 miles and work my way northeast, a headstart to #64 but knew that I'd kick myself if I didn't do the right thing and instead go northwest right to the origin.

228 miles to the other side of the state...

It was like this off and on until mid-morning.

Cornell....the Guzzi has been here before, so has my Trangia 27....

And then I was getting too close...

I stopped in Medford at Rocky's Cozy Cafe to enjoy a L O N G lunch....

I normally deal with these a lot faster....

I stopped in Merrill for gas, it was looking better right there but not as nice off to the southeast.

With only a tiny bit of sleuthing, some Internet and some 'Earth, I managed to ride right to one of our friends' place. He has been sorely missed at rallies this year due to a recently suffered stroke, that stroke only a short time after picking up a brand new Indian Chief, one of a dozen or so that he kindly showed to me in his shop. The Vespa was out in the yard....ready for another local ride, local rides he still has confidence in.

It was really great to see you again Mr. R, heal well and fast!

I spent the night in Marinette, crossed into Michigan to take a few photos of Green Bay from the U.P.

Made it, "64 END"

Thursday morning it was full bore U.P. Stopped at Johnson Landing on Michigan #35, the park road using the old highway bridge, Door County Wisconsin across Green Bay in the distance.

Looks like the men that built it...1911?

Au Train....

Lake Superior...

Marquette, Michigan....

On my way to Houghton...

No way could I just ride past this!!

One plum didn't make it to photo time...

Houghton, Michigan....I decided not to visit Copper Harbor....this time.

One of the backpackers I follow only recently returned from Isle Royale. She made her trip from Houghton on the Ranger III. This boat needed to be bigger than the Mail Boat that I sailed on from Grand Portage.

Lunch time in Houghton, these guys from the Youngstown, OH area. I shared Larry's story with the guy riding the Indian.

The city park in Ontonagon, I'd really like to return to this place.

All the further the plum made it on Thursday...

On to Porcupine Mountain State Park...

On to Wakefield, then west to Ironwood where I spent the night.

South to Minocqua, then a turn west on State 70 ....

I didn't but I could have....

I'm really enjoying most everything about this GPS unit, one nice feature is the mention of what I'll call side notes. Hidden in the trees, even when knew it was there I rode past it and never would have seen it had the label hadn't been on the screen.

Another one....

876.2....a very significant mileage number. Just after I'd passed through Winter, I noticed a field of corn, a grain dryer, bins...It had been a day and many miles since I'd seen serious crop land. Timber and more timber is the crop of choice in the areas I'd ridden through. Beside the other farm machinery, one of the big roller implements that makes a field perfectly flat to maximize soybean yields and that's when I saw it......

A deer crossing the road.

In 876 miles through two states known for being near the top of the heap for car/deer run-ins, I'd seen ONE live, standing deer. We have 5 times that many sleeping in our front yard every night!!! But then we have soybeans too!!!

I stopped for lunch in Radisson and saw this photo on the napkin holder.

Known to most of as as Courderay....

On to Spooner, then a stop in Cumberland at Louie's....

A great ride, only a few sprinkles and storms avoided. I really enjoyed myself and passed a great many trees. This sort of thing needs to be repeated every so often, of that I'm certain.

Oh....that deer at mile 876? It was the very last one I saw until I was in our driveway at home....surrounded by soybeans.

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)