I finally was able to take a route I had planned for the past two weekends, but for various reasons wasn’t able to go until now.
Kevin met me at my place around 10 and we headed to Fox Lake going through Oakfield, taking Break Neck Road, through the Horicon Marsh and Waupun. This time I took a different way there than usual, which I stumbled on last year (Black Hawk Road) when Hwy 68 was closed. Although we took Hwy 68 southwest out of Waupun, we then took Cty F west to Black Hawk Road which winds around the north side of the lake.
After fueling up at the Kwik Trip in Fox Lake we stopped for lunch at Karen’s Hip Hop Diner. As usual it was very good, but no ice-cream since I had planned taking back roads from there to Pardeeville with an intended stop for ice-cream at Carol’s Cones.
On our way to Pardeeville we noticed it appeared that there was rain off to the west the direction we were headed. Forecast originally only called for potential evening showers, but hey this isn’t the first time the forecast was incorrect, nor the last.
When we arrived at Carol’s we took a look at the radar and sure enough, the rain was almost on us. We were going to stay there to wait it out, but based on the radar, it looked as though we could avoid it by heading south before heading back home. So, off we went on Hwy 22 south until we came upon a road closed ahead sign and the only road to take from there headed west, directly into the rain. We stopped at a gas station in Poynette for Kevin to fuel up just before the rain it started. While we were there another couple on a Harley who were up from Schaumburg staying in the Madison area also waited it out under the canopy at the gas station. Luckily it was only a small band of rain. When it stopped we headed south from there on Hwy 51 and eventually took roads heading east and north through Fall River and Beaver Dam when we had caught back up to the rain, but it was pretty light. However, once we left Beaver Dam on Hwy 33 heading east the rain got heavier and I tried avoiding it by heading south to no avail… big heavy drops. From there we took Cty W into Juneau and it had subsided by then.
From there we took back roads and ended up going through Kekoskee and back through Oakfield.
My first somewhat substational ride o f the season and I could feel it in my right wrist and elbow by the time I got home. Although I got pretty irritated by the rain at one point, it was a very fun ride with my favorite wingman. And, I also think I shook off the skittishness I still had from my last ride of the season last year, when I was having issues taking off, which although has been fixed, I was still a bit edgy over it.
