Coop's Corner: Wisconsin week pre-AHRMA at RA

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Wisconsin week pre-AHRMA at RA

Monday morning before 6am, on the road. US Hwy #10 was my choice to cross Wisconsin. First stop on the edge of Neillsville at the WCCN Radio location. The Cheese Pavillion, the same building at the 1964 World's Fair in Seattle. I was inside but first had to go visit Chatty.

Point Beach State Park, just a few spots from where I stayed when I rode over on the TW200.

Since I towed it in, I have a TOW PASS. An annual sticker on the van.

Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. I visited last time, a very fine museum but decided to just walk the grounds outside this time.

From across the channel....

Beach damage....this was a large sandy beach last time I was here.

Getting to campsite #52...."NO TRAILERS"

Some hard showers Monday night, thunder and lightning. Life is good under the pop-up.

Tuesday morning I had breakfast in Kewaunee at Kunkel's Korner, then on up the peninsula to Washington Island.

On the old bridge in Sturgeon Bay...

Took a break at the 5th and Jefferson Coffee shop for a cup and a scone.

North of Sturgeon Bay I stopped at this same place on County Q for the same photo, but with my Helix. Back in 2010, sometime in January, Prubert called for "...we're going to coffee on Washington Island, May 16.....be there..." The Sport Touring . Net fellas call coffee often, most of the time I didn't attend since most of their coffees were in the Milwaukee and eastern shore locations though I was down in Dubuque by 10 AM one day for a cup.

Washington Island?? I went who wouldn't??

Heading up 42 I went past a sign proclaiming, WI MOTORCYCLE MEMORIAL PARK 1.5MI. Curious, I missed that corner but took the next one and found it.

Door County....an interesting place

Proof....9.2 mph

Lunch at Nelsen's Hall.....

I wasn't the only bike there.....it was only later that I learned of his link to Cornucopia, Ehler's Store, Uncle Sonny, Snookie, Ad and Coon, Emery, etc. etc. Small world.

A Door County IPA....a good start for what was to come.

I wasn't the only one documenting One-Eyed Jack's advice....

Grilled chicken sandwich....another good thing; I ate hearty!

I'm in the Bitters Club, a shot of 90 Proof bitters.....

I'm in.....stamped bonification.....

Schoolhouse Beach, a favorite stop on the island.

Outlier rock....

The port for trips to Rock Island State Park, another island further from the mainline.

Another beach stop on the island.

Down through Sister Bay, Ephraim, Fish Creek, Egg Harbor.....busy but actually quieter than I'd expected for early June.

Dinner at Sonny's in Sturgeon Bay....

Tuesday's ride.....

Wednesday's plan was to visit Peshtigo and then cross the border into Michigan. But first I had to wipe off the mess that the raccoon left on my seat....dust and dirt...I never!! A good thing there weren't munchies in my tank bag or tail bag; I saw no sign of forced entry.

End of the road at the Peshtigo Harbor State Wildlife Area.

Marinette Harbor....

Off on the horizon, Door County.

Leaving Marinette on 64 west, a few rain showers (the only ones of the day, another lucky ride) but cloudy and cool all day. When I got to the edge of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest I started watching for Forest Roads that might veer off of 64.

There were many so I decided to try one.....

Even in the wet sand, the Himalaya with road air pressure in the MT60's, moving through the way-to-deep-for-me sand was just not going to happen. Before I try that again, full knobs.

No single line was left for as far as I tried to go, believe you me. There was no "down" but I came way toooo close.

Highway 55 on the Menominee Reservation ....

Just south of Seymour, Wisconsin.....

Ride for the day.....

So, Thursday noon I'm in the Two Rivers Library getting this Posted. I finally got my phone working again....phew....hard to be without one even when there is no signal in the campground. Tomorrow morning early, at the Road America gate to get setup for a weekend of Antique and Historic Motorcycle Racing.

I'll mention here the bike is working better than ever. Power, braking, smoothness, fuel mileage....it's an absolute joy for my exploring. When I get home, my accessories will have arrived and be mounted for time in a few weeks up on the north coast of Minnesota at the MN Guzzi Rally.

But before then, a Post (at least one) highlighting a few days at the track.

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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)