Thursday, October 29, 2020

Carley Visit w/o Camping - Sunday, 2020/10/17

Considering that it was October, the latter half of October, it was a very nice day.  Not as nice as some of the last ones had been but not tooo bad.  After some morning chores were covered (and any daylight warming that I could get) the afternoon saw me back on the Himalayan for another ride.  I knew what I wanted to include with the ride but where I'd go and where it would happen were decided only at the last minute.

It was to be another wander, a look for the last of the maple colors and for the brightest oaks, plus a lunch cooking stop.

All I knew was that somewhere along this Route I'd be stopping to make my burger...TBD.

Not here....


I stopped at various parks, Whitewater State Park in particular, one of Minnesota's most popular and the place was more crowded than our State Fair.  That wasn't going to work.  Due to the pandemic, our parks and especially our State Parks have seen an explosion of attendance.  I'm quite sure that Minnesota will start asking for some of their funding to be returned as a result.

Whitewater is nearby Carley, the place that I've been overnighting at so it was easy to give that a try.  When I arrived, the picnic area was crowded, none of the picnic tables private enough for me.  But when I rode through the campground, my favorite site was wide open, campers that had been there and in nearby sites for the weekend were already on their way home.





The culinary culmination!!

Now we wait for a day, here or there with just enough improvement to get back out for some more of my foolishness.

Monday, October 26, 2020

Quick Wednesday Afternoon Ride - 2020/10/14

I had been working in Waterloo since early Monday, home Wednesday afternoon.  An extremely nice day, as quick as humanly possible, the KLR was my pick primarily and exclusively because nothing else needed moving for out the door access.  No GPS, no helmet cam and horror of horrors, no tank bag!  Time, she was a wastin'....Get out there and GO!!


Surprising myself, without my customary GPS along (almost always feels naked) it was easy to turn down some 'other' roads, more than one of them that I'd never been on before....too close to home!  Normally most everywhere, it takes a lot to get me turned around but it happened that Wednesday.  This big move west had me fooled, for a couple of miles I believed that I was going south and had to smile when I realized that I was crossing roads that I should have been paralleling.   Excited about the entire adventure, when I got home I quickly sat down and created this Track to save as a reminder.  It was a really fine 76 miles.

A reminder to never again leave home without my GPS.


Ever watchful of the time, my scheduled call to mom was about due so I hustled that last little way to the Cheese Curd Capitol of the World in Ellsworth, Wisconsin.  I didn't visit their retail store, instead stopped for a coffee to accompany my phone call in their convenience store across the parking lot.

No curds though.


A new one...I knew it was there but had never bothered to try it.  We all make mistakes.


A true enthusiast....

A stop at the little riverside park in Diamond Bluff...


On September 2nd, only two hours after I'd enjoyed dinner there, Liberty's Restaurant in Red Wing suffered an automobile crash that tumbled the corner of their building down.  A police chase resulted in a very altered building on one of Red Wing's main intersections.  Brother Kevin had done all the air handling duct work back when the restaurant originally opened.

Courtesy of KARE11 TV

Wednesday afternoon, for the first time, I realized that the restaurant had reopened, so I stopped to dine and to see my favorite waiter, Duane.  I think he'd rather talk sleds but he's a motorcyclist as well and seems just as adept at the machines with wheels.




It had been a long day but a great one and I was tired.  One more too-good-too-miss riding day, a successful run in Iowa but really nice to be home.



Thursday, October 22, 2020

Sunday, the Overnight A Memory - 2020/10/11

Another turn for Old Blue, the '78 XS650 Special.  Not everyone appreciates the unique qualities of the Special's but I sure do enjoy this one.  You'll see few machines with rear view's as exceptional as this making it even better!

 And when it can take me places like this??

Pier 4 for breakfast, an especially good place!

No Planes, but Trains, Automobiles and Mississippi Tugs surround the establishment.  Lock and Dam #4 right here.  A very mainline BNSF double track is quite literally adjacent to the outdoor seating, Wisconsin 35 out the other side.

Right at the crest on County H....



Hay production along County ZZ....



For Pete's Sake Bar in Arkansaw, Wisconsin....I'm waving to two riders on the bench that I recognize but don't really know.





Seen all over the area, obsolete dairy farm milk bulk tanks that are now used in the woods for maple sap collection.

Hoses through the woods that plumb the sap to the collection tank...

More apparatus in the sap/syrup collection process, these 'pipeline' systems can be extensive.




County S....

Back in Minnesota where we label County Roads with numbers, this one County 10.  Wisconsin uses alpha names.



Alongside and above US Hwy 61 and Lake Pepin...almost home.

A great ride and day for riding, 201 miles worth.  The 42 year old bike is just fun, easy and Pleasant with a capital P.