Monday, May 27, 2019

Lovely Day For A Spin

First of all, thanks to Mike for his timely suggestion to prevent walking home after any more chain trouble.  The only issue I see is that I'll need 6 or 7 different sizes.....my boots are of a fairly decent capacity, I guess there will be sufficient space.


This comes to mind and should have weeks ago....I sing it often enough in my head, that very famous Sailcat song.  Remember Peg??  Our courtin' song??

"Tell your Daddy and your Mama too. You got something better to do.
THAN Stick around the house the rest of your life. YOU'RE eighteen you can
Be my wife. you'd be the queen of my highway, my motorcycle mama.
AND WE'LL see the world FROM my Harley. AND WE'LL see the world FROM
My Harley. AND WE'LL see the world FROM my Harley if the chain don't break!"


Bev's Twin Bluffs Cafe in Nelson...happened to meet Ray and friends there, they on their way to Rockton Bar for Chicken Q.




Sometimes it has trouble following me....I wonder if highlighting my balding spot will help?





 Cole Road....my first time??....Unbelievable!!  It can't be but I certainly don't remember it or the road it emptied out to on the east end.  From there I'm sure there were more new ones.


Lunch in Eleva......Eric knows why.


Peach one of many reasons.....


Along County TT, a favorite.....more rows than I can count.


Roads with names....

 

 Dana, nice to see you again!  I thought that was you mowing the lawn but wasn't quite sure, the beard a very fine addition!

Another lovely day for our long weekend and it looks as though our Memorial Day's weather will be one made for reflecting and remembering.  Enjoy a safe and thoughtful Memorial Day!

Saturday, May 25, 2019

A Ride To Diamonds

Today was a bit unique in that I actually RODE to Diamonds for coffee rather than drive.  I make almost the very same drive daily to get to my place of employment and considering the many places that I can ride my bike the other direction (away from Mpls), away from the city core, riding to the metropolitan area is just not that great a treat.  Combine that with the errands/cargo trips that I've tried to implement on the Saturday's that I take the van, getting to northeast Minneapolis on the bike just doesn't happen very often.

It did today.

5:30 AM, a lovely morning.....


Under our new soon-to-be-completed bridge to Wisconsin.


Gas stop in Hastings....


Diamonds......7:02 AM












The lineup.....





Then it was time to visit Lissa and Marty....I needed a couple of oil filters for the Himalayan.

The Lowry Bridge across the Mississippi in Minneapolis....

 

Lots of truck parking on N. Washington Ave......Interstate 94's Frontage Road.


Tooo close in more than one way....


There's been some very interesting family news lately...today a meeting that was long overdue.


I left the Twin Cities, got home and swapped out the black Yamaha scooter for a V-Star.






Another AeroPress Coffee 'Make'




Heading back home.....Lake City....and more of Lake Pepin.


Monday, May 20, 2019

Great River Road Rally (GR3) - 2019

The predicted weather outlook was Dismal, yes that with an uppercase "D".  Dismal enough to be a major excuse in keeping many of our long time ralliers home.  It was easy for me at least to cut them some slack....I considered both coming home early, Saturday evening and/or putting the bike on the trailer.  There was no way I was not going to go but how I went and how long I stayed were open to conditions.  In the end, none of the predictions held true although the front moving through on Sunday from the northwest did cause some discomfort.

Home at 11am, our thermometer and AccuWeather's were in sync, the last hour north of solid rain was getting miserable. "Rain" was all that we'd been hearing for the weekend.  I noticed rain after dark both Friday and Saturday nights, we rode in no more than 30 minutes of rain mid-Saturday and then 2/3 of my ride home was wet, the last 1/3 wetter and colder.  We all slept warm and well, the riding conditions actually almost ideal....no dust, no bugs, the gravel in nice shape for powered 2 wheel travel.


Eric and I did the green loop on Friday, Paul and Kevin joined us for Saturday's red one.  Speaking for myself, 280 mile round trip to get there and home, roughly 300 miles of some of my favorite accessible gravel roads with the paved ones required to connect them.


The Lion's Park in Soldiers Grove suffered greatly from last fall's major flood, the damage there as well as in every other village in the Kickapoo River valley was extensive.  Abandoned homes and businesses, roadways and other structures not to mention the eroded ditches and field roads will be dealt with for years to come.  The proverbial 100 year flood seems to be happening almost yearly if not more often.



We could tell that lots of cleanup had been done only recently in the park and it was very much appreciated, certainly by the 90 rally attendees, a number roughly half of what had been typical in the recent past.  Our hosts, the Madison BMW Club once more did a great job, they and the rest of us adapting to changes we weren't used to or necessarily expecting.  It would have been great had our numbers been doubled.

As mentioned, the last half of the trip home was wetter and colder.  Once again this year, our rally weekend coincides with the Lake Pepin 3 Speed Tour.  As I was getting wetter and colder, I came upon bicycle after bicycle (their turnout must have been huge!) riding with ponchos or less along the busy Hiway 61 on the shoulder.  Some hearty souls indeed!!

Thanks again Paul for making the trip; our small group had the most KTM's of any at the rally I'm sure.  I'm glad that we talked about plans for August, really looking forward to that one.  Please feel free to do some planning!  Eric and little brother Kevin, thanks so much for sharing the trip.

Hiawatha BMW Rally in less than 2 weeks.  Planning, packing and preparation underway and as always, refinement of The System.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Vindication?

So, those of you that understand meh can isms better than I......what's your opinion, was this a Coop riveting failure?  Changed oil in the Himalayan tonight and this side plate had fallen off the chain and was under one of the other tires, noticed when I made some room.  Part of the pin is stuck inside the hole.

Was my process a potential cause?


Sunday, May 12, 2019

Lunch On The KLR





Ride Planning And Riding

This week I've been once again Rally Ride planning, putting together some GPS Routes for next weekend's GR3 (Great River Road Rally) event in Soldiers Grove.  At least one day's ride will be gravel-focused and if I can find enough of them that we haven't worn out, a second day of gravel as well.  I'm hoping that Paul will come up from KS and join us again.

The wonderful Wisconsin Bicycle Federation Maps, a series of 4 that cover the entire state.  Every and I mean every road, accurately detailing paved vs. gravel.  These among my most prized possessions.



Dashed or Solid, it's all good to me!



Saturday afternoon after we had Mike's new ones uncovered, I got out.










Robert and Mary were there on the Ducati and BMW....


 Raspberry/Blackberry...... and it was good!!


Maiden Rock front and center....





The Dark and Gloomy finally caught up with the speedy Morphous....but didn't last very long.



Our driveway will soon receive some attention and our barn will soon disappear.


Which means our family's artwork will be in no danger of being stolen.


Speaking of the barn, Friday I sez to Peg I sez, "where are our barn swallows...all I'm seeing are the finches and Red Starts?"  In fact there's a pair nesting in the swallow's mud nest which will not make the returning swoopers very happy.

This morning, the barn swallows are back and ready for another season of insect control.  I've missed them and will enjoy their company when the first lawn mowing happens later this week.