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Motorcycle Adventures (chronological order)
I cannot find where I documented my beginning miles for 2014, but I am most certain I put in at least 6,000 miles this season. The Mississippi River trip to St. Louis and back alone was 1,000 miles.
October 26, 2014 It was supposed to be in the fifties, sunny and not wind today so we had planned for a ride and Tom joined us. We grabbed all of our liners and my balaclava. We left our place around noon with my intentions of taking us south through part of the Northern Kettles and work our way to Holy Hill area, head west from there and then north back home. None of us had lunch so finding a place early on to eat was important, including gas for our bikes. The Hamburger Haus in Dundee was already closed for the season so we decided after gassing up in Dundee to find some place in Kewaskum. We always go by Brother's Family Restaurant on 45 in Kewaskum but never stop. Well today we can finally say we did. It is a typical family style restaurant with a full menu that you can order breakfast from any time of day as well and nothing fancy, but good food. From there we headed south and west past Holy Hill into Old Lebanon where we headed north through Hustisford and Mayville and then Lomira. We made it home just in time (3:30) for Kevin to pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. This was probably our last longer ride of the season. 122 miles and a map below.
October 19, 2014 Well here we are again just like last year. The last day above sixty degrees was the end of September and we're left scratching our heads in despair because we realize we probably won't be able to get in any more really long rides. However the colors were at 100% in our county and all counties south of us. Everything north was already past prime. So we decided to take the bikes to Kevin's parents to see his sister and nieces before they headed back to Chicago even though it was somewhat overcast, breezy and barely in the fifties, but we threw on our cooler riding gear. Except I forgot to put my liners in my gauntlet gloves and froze my fingers. Once we realized how cool it was we decided not to do much more riding after leaving his parents and took Hwy 33 into West Bend and then Hwy 45 back home. 80 miles and of course no pictures.
September 27, 2014 It was going to be what looked like one of our last really nice weekends for the season and with the fall colors starting to pop in certain areas across the state, we knew we would want to plan a ride. I used the Wisconsin Fall Color Report to see what other counties in the state besides ours had a good percentage of color and plan the route to those counties. At that time Juneau and Portage counties had close to 70% and weren't too far away to get there and back before dark since we had a bit of late start. Ironically too is that neither Juneau or Portage are located in those counties. I took us to Ripon on Hwy 23 then counties F & E all the way to Westfield. It was really pretty south of Lohrville on Cty E. From Westfield we took Cty Z all the way to Wisconsin Rapids and we stopped at a park in Port Edwards along the River. From there to Steven's Point along Hwy 66 and boy were the colors ever beautiful through there! From Steven's I eventually ended up on Cty J to Hwy 73 into Wautoma and since we hadn't eaten any lunch we agreed to stop at the Milty Wilty in Wautoma for ice-cream and it was really good, including the authentic decor. A must stop if you're passing through Wautoma, although they will be closing for the season soon. From there I took Hwy 73 to J into Princeton after that I took some county road, Butternut (I think) through the marsh just northeast of Princeton and back onto Cty J and then Hwy 23 from Ripon back to town. We put in 254 miles this trip. Map and pitures below...
September 7-9, 2014 We had planned a trip to Winona MN to spend a few days with Dad & Canders and to celebrate Dadders 78th birthday with him on September 9. I created a birthday page for Dad and it is located here. When we left Sunday morning it was cool as most nights have been but it was a beautiful day and we took some highways we have in the past and some we have not, but we also took some other county roads too we never have been on before either. We had I think Kevin said 222 miles in on the way there. When we left I decided to take us further north than ever before up through Black River State Forest. There were a lot of trees (mostly maples) that had already turned a brilliant red through there but there wasn't any good places to stop and take pictures. It was a pretty warm day but overcast and honestly it was so dark to the southwest we had to keep checking the radar because I was certain it would eventually catch up to us, but not... it was still in Iowa. It took us four and half hours to get home and we only stopped a couple of time briefly. We put in just one more mile on the trip home vs. the trip there and I couldn't have ever planned it that close if I had tried. Felt so good to get some really good miles in because we know our time will be limited soon for riding. Pictures and maps below:
September 1, 2014 Kevin and I waited out the rain earlier in the day before taking a little ride on our way to his folks for a cookout. Shortly after eating I noticed some rain on the radar headed our way so we geared up and left for home. Turns out by the time we got home most of it fizzled out or went south of here but south is where we were and we would have had to wait it out at some point if we had stayed. Only 84 miles:
August 29-31, 2014 Kevin wanted to go visit his former work buddy in Lafayette IN and planned to do a speed run so I told him to go ahead without me this weekend since my bike is not comfortable enough or equipped correctly for that type of riding. So he did and only ran into rain once near El Paso IL on Friday. Traffic was really light on his way home Sunday and he made it back in around six hours. Map of his trip below:
August 17, 2014 We had intentions of riding today but I had no good ideas of where to go so Kevin suggested we pick up the ST Group's last tag which was just outside of Wild Rose at a place called Roseville. So that was our destination. It is getting difficult to find roads to take which we haven't been on before; however, I managed to find some new ones after we were north of Eureka and after Pine River into Wild Rose around Nordic Mountain where they must have had a pedal bike race because there were tons of them on the roads. Why is it pedal bikers always ride two to three wide and have no regard to passing vehicles? I just don't get that. Anywho we stopped and had an ice-cream cone at Roseville and then we took Hwy 22 to 73 to Cty E & N and then I took some really nice back roads off of N and back onto N. We ended up on Hwy 23 into Princeton and then I took Cty J to A, then through Green Lake and for the rest of the way, you'll just check the map below. 190 miles this trip and it seemed to be a big bird day for me and I'm not talking the yellow one. Although I almost ran into a yellow finch at one point. I barely missed a turkey vulture that was taking off from the side of the road as I was coming around a curve. I ducked because I swore he was going to hit me. Kevin said he shot straight up to miss me... whew! Then there were five Jakes or hens that ran across the road in front of me coming out of Poy Sippi, and a red tail hawk that flew across the road twice in front me, but he was a ways off. We did get a couple of moles. I've never before seen so many moles on the run in one day. I had a hard time figuring out what they were until I noticed one of their tails. It was a fun day and the temps were nice but with the dew points so low we wore our liners and we were sure glad we did. We saw four maples that were already changing colors. So hard to believe summer is coming to an end pretty soon. We'll have to enjoy what time is left as much as we can!
August 9, 2014 We were invited to join Rick & Carol Mielke to attend Rick's employer's (Walter USA) inaugural Cruisin Classics car and motorcycle show in Waukesha. We met up with the group in town and then took Hwy 175 to Hwy 164 to get there. They had a pretty good turn out for their first year and their facility was very impressive. We didn't get to see the manufacturing facility but the guest lobby, showroom and main entrance... very impressive indeed! They also supplied burgers and brats for lunch and shortly after that we took off to get some riding in. We took Hwy 94, 83, 59 & 67 to Cty H through the very southwest branch of the Kettle Moraine and then Cty E all the way to Hustisford and then Kevin took over to get us to his parent's for a quick stop and visit. Then some back roads and back onto Hwy 175 back to town. I was surprised it was only 180 some miles this trip.
August 3, 2014 Today we were going to do the trip up north of Waupaca to Big Falls as planned when my bike went and had electrical gremlins. So we started out a bit earlier than usual and tried to keep a ways from Oshkosh but still ran into some of the EAA traffic while going near there. After we got to Berlin I hooked up onto Cty E off of F and we stayed on Cty E all the way through Waupaca County and into Big Falls where we stopped for a stretch and some pictures (below). From there we decided to take Cty J west and south into Iola where we stopped for some lunch at the Crystal Cafe. Very good sandwiches and apparently known for their homemade pies but we were too stuffed for dessert. While there Kevin checked the radar, hence they called for pop-up showers and storms for the afternoon but he said there was nothing out there. So onward we went going south on Hwy 49 to Cty A by Wild Rose. Shortly after leaving Iola I noticed some very tall thunder clouds with clams feet so I knew it was raining a few places around us and then I also felt a really cool blast of air at one point and finally we ran into rain covered roads. No clouds but totally soaked roads with steam coming up from the heat and sun. That was pretty cool to drive through on the bikes. So we stopped before Wild Rose to check the radar and sure enough we were following some storms that had popped up while we were in Iola. I tried to slow it down and stopped a couple of times because we kept gaining on the rain. We eventually hit some light rain just before North Fondy and I took us under the Hwy 41 overpass on Cty N to wait it out, but by the time we got into North Fondy it was raining and all the rest of the way home. A good excuse to wash and wax the bikes after we got home. This trip I spared a painter turtle, scared a doe who was going to cross the road by me and luckily she ran back into the cornfield and then I scared some wild turkeys out of the road. 225 miles today. Map & pics below....
August 2, 2014 We planned for a ride but not too long of one because we had things to do in the morning and plans to have Ray & Linda over for dinner later. Since it was going to be in the 80s and muggy we planned to head towards Lake Michigan. I took some of the same ole county roads east of Fondy and then some other ones and other back roads we've never been on and landed us in Cleveland just north of Sheboygan and it was over 10 degrees cooler near the Lake. We stopped at our usual in Cleveland, Hika Bay, to stretch and skip rocks. It was unbelievable how calm both Lake Michigan and Winnebago were. I'm sure that made for some very happy fishermen! From there we took Lakeshore Drive up to Manitowoc where we stopped near the Wisconsin Maritime Museum to take some pictures of the S.S. Badger Ferry. From there we headed west on JJ and then into Chilton where we stopped at Scoops for some ice-cream and then home. Only 150 miles this time. Map & pics below...
July 29, 2014 Finally received the call that my bike was fixed and ready to pick up. My cousin called me last Thursday to tell me that after replacing the voltage regulator he found that the stator was over charging and almost burning up so that too had to be replaced. He showed the old one and where it had burned itself up in a couple of spots. Maybe that is what was causing my gas gauge to also be inaccurate. We'll see, but I will never feel safe letting it get beyond two green bars probably EVER! Just over $300 later and he didn't even charge me for the labor, I have my baby back. Dirty and needs a cleaning, but I am so happy!!!
July 19, 2014 We were planning on taking the bikes up north of Waupaca and Weyauwega area just because there are some pretty good looking county roads we've never been on in that area, but when we went to leave my bike wouldn't start. We put the charger on it and it took the charge and started. I just bought that new battery too before our trip to MN & St. Louis so I figured it had to be something else electrical. I shut it down and went to start it again and same thing... wouldn't start. So we put the charger back on it. At this point I knew I wasn't going anywhere with it except my cousin's shop and that is where we went. Turns out the voltage regulator is shot and he didn't have the correct one so that was the end of our riding for the day/weekend. Last Friday I had a half day and thought something seemed wrong then because it wasn't getting enough power when I was giving it throttle. I guess this was probably what was causing that.
July 13, 2014 We planned on riding today after I went to church but I had no idea where to go, especially since we couldn't go too far with such a late start, including we ride so much it is getting hard to find new places to go. Kevin suggested that some weekend we should leave Friday night after work and head towards southwestern Wisconsin to spend the night to ride in that area the next day because there are so many really good roads in that part of the state we haven't been on yet. Anyway for now since we thought the gusty winds were coming out of the north I planned to take us south with still really no destination in mind but rather to take more county and back roads, which I did and I found some really good ones around the Kettle Moraine and ones that we had never been on before in that area. They weren't the popular roads but still part of the Kettle's so less traffic and very scenic. When we were heading on Hwy 167 towards Holly Hill there was clearly a rain shower off to the west and Kevin thought it looked like it was heading due east so I went south in an effort to avoid it and then west, but it was clear the shower was heading southeast and we got caught in it, so I then just headed back north towards Holly Hill and the traffic was very light through there so we did two drive-bys and stopped twice to take pictures before heading onward (north). I had a hankering for ice-cream but I wasn't sure where Mickey's was in Hartford. We stopped at the Hamburger Haus in Dundee but there was a huge line so then we proceeded to Kelley's and their line was even worse, so we headed home without ice-cream. Boo hoo for me! We only put in 165 miles this trip:
July 5, 2014 Kat and Dave decided they wanted to ride and somewhere new so they asked me to pick some place west or north of here. I chose the Wild Rose area. We met them around 11 a.m. at their place and then headed out on Cty Rd B out of Eden to Hwy 49 through Horicon Marsh and were detoured after that north onto Hwy 26 where I took us onto Cty Rd TC through Brandon and through Green Lake area before getting back onto Hwy 49 north to Cty Rd J into the north side of Princeton where we stopped to gas up and stretch. From there I took Cty Rd D through some marsh and then E east to N north to Hwy 73,21 to Hwy 22 into Wild Rose. The place we'd eaten at before was closed so we stopped at the Duck Blind bar but their restaurant was closed too. They suggested the Red Fox on Little Silver Lake which was the direction out of Wild Rose I had planned on taking anyways so that's where we headed. We noticed firemen and trucks at the intersections in Wild Rose and I figured it must have been some peddle bike ride since I saw some peddle bikers. When we got to the Red Fox there were people setting up a water and lemonade stand out front and they told us they were expecting around 300 motorcycles and that they weren't serving food or starting up the grills because they couldn't handle making food for that many people so off to Red Granite we went looking for some food. Grrr! We stopped at Kat's favorite Elmer's Bar known for their homemade pizza's. After that I took Cty Rd E into Berlin and then F into Ripon where I took Olden Road to Cty Rd M to Hwy 23. We went back to Kat & Dave's and then Kevin and I headed home but we took Hwy 45 to Cty K to Hwy 151 to Winnebago Drive before heading home on Park Ave just so I could make it a 200 mile ride and I did. Map and some pictures below:
July 3, 2014 Kevin and I decided to ride today because it rained yesterday and we spent so much time on Tuesday cleaning our bikes from our River trip, we were ready to ride again. Kevin wanted to pick up the tag someone from his ST Group left at High Cliff so that was at least one destination and then to pick out another location for the new tag. After picking it up at High Cliff Kevin decided to put the new one at 1,000 Islands in Kaukauna. After getting us twisted around on the other side of the Fox River I eventually got us over there and we stopped to take some pictures. From there I headed up the east side of the River to Wrightstown and by then there were some threatening rain clouds popping up so I started to head west when Kevin said he'd like to hit Omro for the O-city tag for his ST Group's alphabet game, and so that is where I was going to take us going north and west around Lake Poygan. We hit a few sprinkles but that was it for the rain. When we got home we found out someone else from the ST Group had already picked up the tag at High Cliff in the morning and they put it a couple of blocks away from where we were when I got us twisted up on the north side of the Fox River. Unbelievable! Only 175 miles this trip. Map and pictures below:
June 23-29, 2014 Kevin and I took the bikes to see Dad & Canders in MN and then onto St. Louis. I created a web page with a blog and pictures located here if you care to view it.
June 22, 2014 We planned to attend the Ruedinger Farm's Breakfast today and then go for a bit of a ride and Tom Bartelme joined us. We ran into some people we knew at the Farm and my most favorite... goats and baby goats! I even got to feed and pet them. After that we headed towards Lake Poygan and then to Wautoma. After that we headed a little bit more west then south to Montello where we pretty much started heading back east towards home. We only put in 170 miles on this trip. Pictures of goats below.
June 8, 2014 Today's Breakfast on the Farm was at D&D Jerseys in Newton, in Manitowoc County. Although this farm had the same headcount of cows milked as the farm we were at the day prior it was on a much larger scale had more attractions, including they were expected to feed 5,000+ people. Breakfast was really good and after that we walked around to see the animals and get some ice-cream before heading back on the bikes. Our next destination was Port Washington to see my Aunt and Great Aunt. After a quick visit with them we headed mostly northwest, around parts of the Kettles, and then around Wolf Lake because I was trying to reach 200 miles and we were one 25 miles away from that. Shortly after going around Wolf Lake I noticed that I was starting to lose power, and I ran out of gas. Yes AGAIN! This happened to me last year or the year before in Winona MN, so I now know for sure that my gas gauge is no longer accurate. Luckily we were close to my cousin Steve's (who is where I bought and service my bike from Dave's Engine Service) so he brought us some gas and viola it started right away and off we went. Today was much cooler with good winds out of the northeast and no humidity, and being close to Lake Michigan a good chunk of the time made it pretty chilly. We did manage 201 miles =). Below are pictures and the map.
June 7, 2014 After doing the walk & run for Walleye Weekend we had plans to make our first Breakfast on the Farm which was outside of Oshkosh. Since it was a pretty late start to make the Breakfast I took us on mostly main our county highways to get there. Not too many people there once we arrived and not a whole lot to see either so we didn't stay too long after eating and got back onto the bikes. It was a hot and humid day so staying cool with the gear on was a bit of a challenge. We eventually ended up in Portage and stopped at a park along the Wisconsin River but not much of a chance to cool of there so we started to head home, going through Pardeeville, Randolph, Cambria, Fox Lake, Brandon and Rosendale. When we were going through Brandon we saw Kevin's friends Wes and Amy outside in their yard with their girls so we stopped for a brief visit. Below are a few pics and the map. Right around 200 miles this trip.
May 26, 2014 Kevin came back from turkey hunting so we could ride on Memorial Day. Kind of a late start so we didn't go too far and I wanted to cook out on the grill later for dinner. We stopped by both my grandparents grave sights in Dotyville and Armstrong, then we headed for Dundee and ran through the northern branch of the Kettles into Glenbeulah, then through Elkhart and into Kiel where we stopped at a Subway for some lunch. We found a pretty cool road east out of Kiel (Rockville Road) and eventually ended up on Hwy 42 for a ways. While we were riding the wind was pretty breezy out of the west and as soon as we came within a mile or so of Hwy 42 the temps dropped 10 degrees and the wind changed directly out of the east blowing in the cool air off of Lake Michigan. It felt refreshing though since it was in the high 80s. We pretty much took back roads all the way home until Hwy 151 just north of town. I was going to stop by my mom's tree at the park but it had just rained in Fondy before we came back to town and I didn't want to get my boots wet so we just did a drive by. Only 150 miles this trip. Map below...
May 18, 2014 We planned a ride and Tom joined us. We weren't able to get going until around 1 p.m. so it wasn't going to be a very long ride this time. Our plan was to hit either Juneau, Johnson Creek or Jefferson because Kevin's ST Group was still on "J" from last year for their city alphabet game. Although it was a similar route as last weekend, I was able to keep us on mostly different roads with only a few of the same ones. After leaving Juneau we noticed a large fire and we were heading right past it so we pulled down a dead end road to get real close and check it out. It was a large field burn. Not sure if someone was attempting a control burn on a day that was so windy and it got away on them or what, but the volunteer fire crews were out there. I didn't take any still shots because I was taping it on our new video cam mounted on my bike. I will have to figure out how to edit and get those uploaded onto here sometime, hopefully soon. Other than that we took mostly county roads until Hwy 19 into Sun Prairie and then some more county roads when I ended up taking us in circles looking for Cty A so I finally gave up. We were looking to grab a bite to eat in Randolph but nothing really to choose from so we headed for Markesan and the cafe/diner there was closed so we ended up at their gas station with an A&W in it. After that we took Hwy 44 into Brandon and county roads back to town. We put in 210 miles this trip. Pics and map below.
May 11, 2014 We planned a trip southwest to hit either Atwater or Astico for Kevin's ST Group's alphabet city challenge. Well we bypassed Atwater so Astico it was. We were going to head into Columbus for a burger somewhere after taking the pic of Kevin by the Astico sign and right after we left we came up on the The Old Rock tavern and restaurant so we hit there for burgers and they were okay. From there we decided to head northwest to Wyocena and we did, shot right through Wyocena and hit Pardeeville by mistake so we back-tracked to Wyocena to get on Cty Tk G to start heading east and back home. From there we took mostly county roads home and through Horicon Marsh again. We only put in 170 miles this trip.
May 4, 2014 Finally went for our first ride together beyond the city. We were going to head south but it was cloudy that direction and it wasn't terribly warm... 50s and winds out of the north. So we opted for heading north and going around Lake Winnebago. We stopped in Menasha at the Heckrodt Wetland Gardens to warm up our fingers, stretch and check out some wildlife and not so wildlife. From there we got a little detoured through Neenah and I notice the damn near downtown looked extremely high so we stopped by there to take some pictures before heading home the west side of the lake, and we stopped at Gilles for sundaes when we got back. Mmmm, mmm good! 84 miles only.
April 17, 2014 Finally picked up the bike since it was only in the thirties on Monday and not too much better after that until today. Valves adjusted, chain tightened, fluids topped off. Now just needs a good cleaning from sitting out every day the shop by the construction. Ready for another fun adventurous season! =)
April 8, 2014 Took the bike to the shop for the valve adjustment and doesn't sound like it will be done for a couple of days. Need it back by Thursday so I can be first to have my bike to work (at least first in my parking lot). Well it turned out they couldn't get it done until perhaps Friday so I had to leave it since I was heading for MN that day. Supposed to pick it up Monday.
April 6, 2014 It finally happened. I needed to get the bike going so I could get it into the shop this week for the valve adjustment which never happened last season. So it was nice enough and Kevin already had his bike running when I got home from running around. So we put in 10 miles just around town. Still need some more really good rain to clean up the roads though!
April 1, 2014 It was such a beautiful day today so I put in 150 miles on the bike... NOT, April Fools. For those checking, no not yet. We need much more rain to wash the salt, sand and grime from the roads before I'll take my baby out. Hopefully soon!
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