3rd Annual Driftless Ride: Day 1 - 10/07/11 - 280 Miles

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This year, we decided we were going to take as much time off as we needed to get a chance to hit some really scenic roads. I started my morning off with a quick trip up I90 to Rockford, and then a little taste of my favorite road, IL2 along the Rock River. I met my buddy Jim at the corner of IL64 and IL2 in Oregon, IL. We followed 64 all the way to Savanna, IL. This was another scenic road. Really easy on the turns, but beautiful nonetheless.

We stopped in Savanna off of IL84 to have lunch at the famous Poopie's Bar and Grill/Tattoo Parlor/Garage. The portions were huge, and the prices were reasonable. After filling our bellies with some good food, we were back on the road to cross into Iowa. We jumped on US52, which follows the Mississippi all the way to Dubuque. This ride had mostly sweeping turns, and some small elevation changes. The first 20-30 miles or so had some real colorful tree cover, but that also brought a lot of leaves down on us. I have to say taking leaves to the face at 55mph can get annoying really quick!


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We stopped in Dubuque for gas, and hightailed the hell outta there. It always amazes me to find little ghettos in the middle of what seems like nowhere. We followed 52 just outside of Dubuque, and followed this to IA C9Y, which is their Great River Road. This portion of the ride definitely lived up to it's name. There were some very good sweepers, with elevation changes equaling hundreds of feet.


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As we made our way into a small town named Balltown, there were cars seemingly everywhere. As we made our way up C9Y, the road appeared rise and end, shooting straight into the sky. We stopped here for some pictures, and took advantage of their scenic overlook. These can be seen just below:





The ride out of Balltown continued to be great, continuing the sweeping curves and hills. Then we were in the middle of cornfields for what seemed like forever. We finally found route 18, which took us towards Prairie Du Chien, WI, and allowed us to follow WI 35 just west to Lancaster.

We stayed at the Best Western in Lancaster, WI, which was a very small town. However, food and drink were only 2 blocks away, and a Piggly Wiggly kiddie corner from the hotel. We stopped in at a little place called Doolittles, and pounded a few Blue Moons while waiting a considerably long time for mediocre food. This just so happened to be the same night the Brewers beat the Diamondbacks to make it to the NLCS. So the few locals (may have been half the town) were in the bar screaming at the TVs. We made it back to the hotel around 8:30PM and were both out before 10PM.

(I should mention we did not have to wear our jackets after lunch, since the rest of the day was in the high 70s and sunny!)

3rd Annual Driftless Ride: Day 2 - 10/08/11 - 295 miles

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After enjoying my free breakfast of a bagel and a couple of cups of coffee, we headed out of Lancaster around 10am Saturday morning. Once again, it was sunny and warm for an early October morning. We headed straight north up US61 towards Viroqua, WI, with intentions of taking a little detour around Eureka Maple Woods State Natural Area just north of there. On the way up, we stopped at a gas station around Readstown, and had a nice conversation with a biker from Viroqua, who was just out for a morning ride before spending the rest of the day with his grandkids. The highlight of this stop was the opportunity of taking this picture:



Yes, that's an Amish buggy at the diesel pump.

Unfortunately, our routes were planned in the spur of the moment, and we somehow missed our intended stop off in Eureka, and wound up in Sparta. Luckily, WI16 runs along 90 into La Crosse, which is where we planned to have lunch and hop the river into Minnesota for a bit. We made it into La Crosse just after 12pm, and parked the bikes downtown. We walked around for about 15 minutes, and came across a restaurant called Fayze's Restaurant & Bakery. When we got to the hostess booth, we were told the wait will be a half hour, unless we wanted to sit at the counter. The counter consisted of 8 chairs, and 6 were empty! We sat right down, and had a great lunch. We started off with some fried cheese curds (heaven!), and the sandwiches were offered on fresh bread made in the bakery. Our waitress was very attentive, and extremely sweet.

We headed over the Mississippi on I90, and made our way north on the Minnesota side up US61. I've been this way now 3 years straight, and Jim got to experience it for the first time last year. This route is Mississippi Valley at it's finest! Very tall bluffs along the west side of the road, and a speed limit of 70 MPH! Needless to say, we were in Winona, MN fairly quickly.


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We passed through Winona and jumped back over to the Wisconsin side of the river. We rode us WI35 a bit, and this seemed to be where everyone was. We passed numerous classic cars, as well as many, many bikes. We stopped off in Alma, WI to check our location, and to plan another hop over the river. Last year, Jim wanted to check out Lake Pepin, but we simply didn't have the time. I've been up this way once before on the Wisconsin side, but wanted to check it out from Minnesota. We crossed the Mississippi from Nelson, WI, and proceeded up MN61 once again. Once again, we were not let down! Plenty of sweeping curves, and beautiful scenery.


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We stopped off in Lake City, MN, passing an accident that we missed by a few minutes. The decision was made by me (I'm sure without Jim's knowledge), that it would be pointless to check if we could help. There were already 20-30 people on the scene, so we rubber necked it, and got the hell outta the way.

As we made our way through Lake City, we passed a marina that was full of sail boats. This is the most mind blowing fact about this portion of the river: there are sailboats EVERYWHERE on Lake Pepin! Here are a few pictures we took, with the Wisconsin bluffs peaking up over the water across from where we were:





After we left Lake City, my intentions were to stop off in Frontenac State Park. As we were entering the park, a Hawk swooped down to the side of the road about 25 yards ahead of us. We pulled up quickly, and got to see this glorious raptor from about 5 feet away! This was one of the biggest Hawks I've ever seen! Unfortunately, we did not enter the park, since it was $5 per vehicle, and we were already an hour or so behind schedule.

We continued up 61 to Red Wing, MN, where we made our way back to the Wisconsin side of the trip. We stopped in Pepin to put on our jackets (I forgot how early the sun sets this time of year), and switched our sunglasses for our clear lenses. We still had another hour to go, and darkness was creeping in. I have a feeling we missed some good scenery heading through Durand, but made it to the hotel in Eau Claire just after 7pm. I had about 5 hotels to choose from while making the reservations, and chose one that advertised a hot tub. Lucky for us, THEY FILLED IN THE F*%CKING HOT TUB! I even paid an extra $10 for a poolside room!

We ended the night by marching a whole 75 feet across the hotel parking lot to Broadway Pizza and enjoyed the unseasonal weather eating and drinking on the patio. Perfect end to 9 hours of riding.

3rd Annual Driftless Ride: Day 3 - 10/09/11 - 210 miles

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Sunday morning we ran into a few Chicagolandians in the parking lot of our hotel. It was interesting to see how many had decided later in the week to make the trip up to take advantage of the weather and view some beautiful foliage. We rode out of the hotel parking lot around 10am, and headed south on US53. I used the hotel computer to plan a route, and was hoping we'd find some good twisties. We were not disappointed!

Most of the way down 53 was straight farmland. At one point we passed a Llama farm, which put Napoleon Dynamite in my thoughts for about an hour afterwards. "GOSH!" Per motorcycleroads.us, we headed east on county road D, which wasn't all that impressive. However, the magic was not far ahead.

We turned onto Wisconsin Trunk 108 in a small town called Melrose. As we rode through the town, we noticed a shitload of cars parked along the one road in town. As it turns out, there was a farm auction taking place this beautiful morning. There were probably twice as many people in town as the population, which was an interesting sight. Soon out of Melrose, the twisties did come!


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108 was definitely made for great riding! All of the curves were clearly marked with suggested speeds, and we were graced with plenty of S-curves, and even a few switchbacks. I got so into the ride, I wound up losing Jim about a mile behind me. I slowed down on a straight to let him catch up, only to have some douche on a Street Glide blow past me at about 70mph, scaring the living daylights out of me! Jim caught up just in time to make it to the highest point of the road, which I stole a picture of off of Google streetview:


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After this great find, we stopped in at Augie's Bar and Grill in Bangor, WI. It was fun walking into an establishment in such a tiny town, and having the whole bar (8 guys) turn and stare at you. Their curiosity quickly wore off when we ordered a couple of beers and some sandwiches. We walked out of Augie's with a warm belly and only down $15 for the complete meal! Too bad we didn't stay for the Packer's game, since the town was having a potluck, in the bar!

Right out of Bangor we stayed on WI162, which was another surprising ride. The road runs midway up the bluffs, and took us through some beautiful farmland and sweeping curves, overlooking the valley below. About 15 minutes later we jumped on WI33, which we rode last year from La Crosse to Wisconsin Dells. This is another elevated sweeping road, running through plenty of small towns. Another bonus of WI33 is all the nice Amish folks we passed along the way. Next stop, Wildcat Mountain State Park!

This year we actually pulled off to check out the scenic overlook. It was $5 a vehicle for an hour in the park, but well worth it. We met a nice, older couple who were out driving their old MGB around, and the gentleman pointed out that we were 1500 ft above sea level. The view from the overlook was truly amazing. Directly beneath us was WI33, which you could hardly make out through the tree tops. We could see for miles and miles, and were lucky to have such an array of colors in the trees below.






Riding out of Wildcat, we came across a large group of Amish kids walking along the side of the road. In their true Christian fashion, they all waved and smiled at us. We continued on 33 towards Wisconsin Dells, where we were staying the night in Jim's camper. Since this day's ride was 100 miles shorter than the previous two, I planned out a route that would take us through some of the County routes not far from the Dells. As you can see by the map, we were in no hurry to get home:


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After our hour long jaunt through these backroads, we headed to Jim's camper near Mirror Lake. We stopped in to turn on all the utilities, then headed out to get some food. Just around the corner from his camper is a quaint restaurant called The Green Owl. According to Jim, this building has had numerous owners in the past, so we'll see how long they last. We were able to sit outside and enjoy the unseasonable warmness, along with a few pints of Fat Tire. The food was delicious, though the service was slightly lacking. However, I do not believe the owner's were anticipating a rush, as it should have been a lot more chilly this time of year. After eating, we fired up the bikes and made a nice ruckus for the remaining patrons as we flew out of the parking lot on our 2 minute ride back to the camper.

3rd Annual Driftless Ride: Day 4 - 10/10/11 - 160 miles

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We left Jim's camper around 10am Monday morning. I let Jim lead us out of the Dells and onto 90. He lead the way all the way to the I90/I39 split just north of Rockford, and we parted ways. I was home by 2pm. All in all, this was the best ride of the 3 years! I'm hoping for many, many more to come. Let me know if you'd be interested in joining us on our 4th Annual Driftless ride! (coming in Fall of 2012!)