Sunday, September 19, 2021

Minnesota Hiawatha BMW Rally - September 2021

The date changed due to Conditions but Money Creek Haven was still our host, giving possibly the very best weather that I can remember for the normally-held-in-June event.  I heard that attendance was 141, a decent crowd and from a selfish point of view, nicely sized so that I could spend good time with friends, both new and old.  It was great to see so many faces again that I manage to only see barely once a year.  Some hoped for contacts weren't made....let's hope that's accomplished next year if not before.

I had every intention of taking the lithe Elite 250, it had been packed a few weeks ago in preparation but lately it's been giving me fits, stubbornly working only when it wants to.  I gave it one last chance to prove itself Thursday evening and it let me down, hoping to spend the night in the Target parking lot but that was not about to happen.  Looking back, maybe that's where I should have left it.

In hindsight, it was fortuitous.....I'd have been the only scooter rider in attendance and would have felt very out of place.  The KLR a distance 2nd choice.

On my way....






Tapping their toes in waiting, I'm normally not last.

 
 Walking down to register....



 
Not long after, Scott arrived and an early dinner was about to happen at Stumpy's.

My brother brought two, one for hard pavement and one for soft gravel though he mixes and matches, seldomly following any sort of rules.


 
Pat??



We checked out a few of the demo bikes, not really intending to take any for a ride....things changed by Saturday afternoon.






 Saturday morning Curt arrived and a big breakfast ride was planned to Peterson.  Roughly half of us on gravel, the others sticking to pavement.  I was in the gravel group and the pavement crew had to wait for us at Berdy's.



Bright and clear up top, the valley's were filled to their brim with fog.






Dropping into Rushford....

Curt and his WR250....

Overlooking the Rushford airport runway....fog beyond.

Suburban Peterson...


There they were, waiting and hungry...




From Peterson, we 4 continued our quest for gravel on Eric's well-planned Route.  He asked me, confident of my answer...."do we show the new guy the cliff??"

It had to be.





We could have met this guy a minute earlier....odds were in our favor for avoidance....but we did not.



Our BBQ Dinner cooks....

I thought the meal was especially tasty this year but it's always been great.  Many door prizes were handed out, some very hefty gift certificates, free tire change, etc.  I was kindly presented with 2 passes to the Iowa BMW Rally next weekend but we have other plans so the tickets were shared with someone that I knew would be attending.

New friends Curt, Mark and Christine, Karl, a 2nd meeting with Jim and connecting with Scott after too many years with no face-to-face time.  Even though there is never enough space in a weekend, the treasured time with the rest of you folks means a great deal to me.  I can't wait for our next gathering and for lots of mutually safe miles until then.

Check out that Moving Average.....I'm really upping my game.  Do not be surprised in a future edition if you see me out West on white salt!!


I passed this guy(s) north of Winona.

That's 4-legged Fonzi in the trailer....

Late breakfast in Wabasha...


 A big thanks to the Hiawatha BMW Club for their work and efforts.  Just because they've now done 44 of these doesn't mean they happen at the drop of a hat.

2 comments:

  1. Great post (as always) Doug!! I did the 4 letter word instead (work).
    I saw a few photos from Mike Finn and it looked like it was an excellent weekend!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dan, it was easy fun this time. Everything good, weather at my very favorite time of year (silo filling) about perfect. Got caught up with many, asked Eric about Roy, hope he's feeling better.

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