Loveland to Mueller State Park

I finished packing this morning and swung by Dalton’s work. He was getting off early. From there we headed south on 285. Traffic was heavy, but once we turned south on 126 it was pretty much smooth sailing for most of the trip to the park. We rode 126 to 67, both of these road are very fun motorcycle roads. A few hours later we arrived at Mueller State Park. We had a reservation for a camping site and once we checked in the ranger told us that he would be right up to deliver a bear box for us since we were on motorcycles.

Taking a break in a parking lot near highway 126

A neat looking bug crossing the parking lot

Highways 126 and 67

I set up my tent and took a short walk to check out Mueller State Park. The rain clouds were rolling in so there would be no sun set tonight, but from the bathroom and showers building I was able to see Pikes Peak and other nearby mountains. After the walk it was time to break out some dinner. We just got done eating when the first cracks of thunder sounded overhead. Mueller State Park sits at 9,500 feet in elevation, so the clouds were hanging low just above our camp site and the lightening was frequent and very loud. Then the rain started, so we had to go and hide inside the tents.

The twisty road through Mueller State Park

The road through Mueller State Park

That's the bear box the ranger brought over for us to the left of the VFR

Our campsite at Mueller State Park

Dinner is served

A couple of hours later the rain stopped, the clouds moved off and the moon came out. There was a chill in the air, but the air was so fresh. Unfortunately it was to go to bed.

My 150 mile route from Loveland to Mueller State Park

285 to 126 to 67 to 24 to 67

Riding South This Week: New Mexico & Arizona

The Ride

I’m going to back up and start my ride report from the beginning since I‘m back home now. I posted two days of this trip from the from the road but blogging from the road is hard. I only had internet two days of the trip and I didn‘t have very much time to spend in front of the computer, so not all the pictures were included in those two posts.

I brought two cameras on this trip and ended up shooting 693 pictures with my Pentax Optio W10 that was mounted to my bike and 740 pictures with my Nikon D40. Needless to say, I will be spending a few days processing pictures from this trip.

This being my first multi-day trip of the season I had plenty of time to get ready for it. I had started working on the route even before I picked the ST3 from the dealer. I have been through New Mexico a few times in my life and I have ridden the ST3 once through New Mexico briefly in 2006. There was so many roads I wanted to ride and so many things I wanted to see. First I created “the route” I wanted to do, riding all the roads and seeing all the places. The trip ended up being 16 days long and even though I’m unemployed and have the time to ride, I could not afford so many days on the road and I couldn’t justify being away from the computer and doing the daily job search.

In the end I cut my route down to a few days but I left it flexible enough, where I could change my mind and come back early or stay another day or two. I could never to that while I was working, my vacation days were few and my trips were always planned to the minute and pretty much set in stone. The only thing was set in stone for this trip was a sport-touring event that I was attending in Silver City, NM. This was actually the reason why I was riding out there.

The Plan

I was planning on leaving today - Wednesday, even though I woke up on Monday to this white stuff all over the ground. This being Colorado and it being Spring now, by Tuesday it had all melted and everything was starting to look very green outside. The temps were supposed to get warmer by Wednesday and even though there were a few days of rain forecasted for the Front Range while I was gone, where I was going, it was looking very nice, dry and warm.



Two days before I leave - I wake up to snow

By Monday I was in full packing mode. Thinking by Tuesday I’d be done and ready to go Wednesday morning. I needed extra time to pack for this trip for two reasons.



The day before I leave - snow melts and Spring is back

#1 - I have not toured on the ST3 since May 2008. The first multi-day trip of the season is usually rough getting ready for. Getting back in to touring requires remembering all the things that one needs to take and how to pack it on to the bike. It usually helps having done some longer days rides, but I haven’t done any yet this year. Even my motorcycle gear that I use for touring was still put away.

#2 - Something I usually don’t even have to worry about. And that is finding everything I wanted to bring on this trip. Since I have not toured on any bike since moving to Colorado, I would have to go through a bunch a boxes and find some of the stuff that I wanted to bring.

I’m glad I created a “packing list” a few years ago, that allowed me to just go down the list and automatically gather up the stuff instead of having to sit down and think about what I wanted to bring. But now I had additional items that I was bringing that weren’t on the old packing list, stuff for camping and hiking. I didn’t think thing much of it until I started to load the bike up on Tuesday. All the stuff I wanted to bring just wasn’t fitting.

The Plan "B"

I didn’t need to leave early on Wednesday, because I was only riding 280 miles. So I still had time to finish packing the bike on Wednesday. Tuesday came and went, and Wednesday morning I decided to unload everything again, go through all the stuff and re-pack the bike. But mother nature had a different plan for me, she showed up on my door step Wednesday morning with a gift. The ladies will understand what I‘m taking about. For the guys, well, if you watch enough commercials you’ll get it too. I won’t go in to details about it here but it is something that can really screw up a ride.

Needless to say, at this point I didn’t feel like riding, or packing the bike and I definitely wasn’t excited about camping tonight. But I didn’t want mother nature to run my life, so I gave it go to re-pack the bike but it just wasn’t happening and at some point I realized that even if I left late, I’d be arriving at the park toward the end of the day and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the place. Having never been to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, I really wanted to spend some time at the park hiking and seeing everything.



My route goes from 3 easy days to 2 longer days - riding from Fort Collins, CO to Silver City, NM (marked by the star)

So unfortunately I decided to leave tomorrow instead of today and leave the Great Sand Dunes National Park for another time. I took my time packing up the bike, re-did the route down to Silver City, NM now riding there in two days instead of three days, and relaxed the rest of the day.

Following the River to Superman in Metropolis

Ready to tear down camp and go riding

We packed up the tent and geared up and before 11AM we were on the road. We continued on Karbers Ridge Road toward the east and turned south on Hwy 1. Highway 1 is hilly but not particularly twisty. From there we turned west on 146. Both these roads are designated as Ohio River National Scenic Byways. 146 is also the Trails of Tears Auto Route. 146 follows the original trail the Cherokee Indians took through Illinois when they were forced to leave their land and march west toward they new territory in Oklahoma. They crossed the Ohio River in Golconda, IL in Winter of 1838.





Karbers Ridge Road



Karbers Ridge Road to 1 to 146

When we arrived in Golconda we continued on another road called 1 or Bay City Road, I think this is county 1 where the previous road is state 1. This county 1 was my favorite road of the trip. This road had plenty of curves on it but nothing really tight, and not much traffic at all. The Ohio River was still flooded so usually you would only see water form a couple of places on this road, but with all the fields being flooded, there was water all around us.



1 to 4 which turns to 6 to 45

I also had my scariest moment of this trip on this road. I came around one of the curves and saw a huge bird flying low above the road heading away from the road. Just as I straitened the bike from being leaned over I noticed another one of those birds coming toward me from the left. Then I noticed the dead turtle in the middle of the road and the first bird making a u-turn and starting to head towards me also. As I approached the dead turtle laying in the middle of the road I slowed down and waited for the collision of birds, human and motorcycle. All I could do was duck and hope that the two birds would miss me. With wing spans of approximately 4 feet, if I hit one of them, it wouldn’t be pretty. At the last minute the birds noticed me and avoided the collision. Mike was behind me and said they missed me by mere 5 feet. They were magnificent birds, light brown in color. When rounding a corner you typically don’t think that there will be something huge flying just above the roadway.

We contined west on 4 which turns in to 6, which is also called Unionville Road. Then took 45 in to Metropolis arriving around 12:30PM. I wanted to check out the giant superman statue located on 5th Avenue and State Street. A few blocks away on 3rd Avenue and Ferry Street was a kryptonite rock. The superman statue located in downtown Metropolis was pretty neat to see. The kryptonite rock was disappointing. It was a rock that was spray-painted green. I could have done better than that. They should have at least used some glitter green paint, although kryptonite would have looked even better if it was made out of green translucent plastic or glass.



Superman statue in downtown Metropolis, Illinois



There are many other smaller supermen in Metropolis





We stopped at a Subway to grab some quick lunch. We used up some of our riding time hiking this morning so after lunch we needed to jump on the interstate and head home since it was almost 2PM already.



A green kryptonite rock



On Ferry Street in Metropolis, facing Harrah's Casino

Interstate riding is pretty boring and since this was the first long ride of the season I was getting pretty sore and needed to take an Aleve. We look I-24 to I-57, but at some point I wanted to get on I-55 since I-57 is kind of far form the house and we would have to get on the toll way to get home.

Near Champaign I had designed an “interstate break” in to our route and also a way to link up to I-55. We took I-74 west and took the exit for 47 North. 47 is not an exciting road by any means although it did have a few huge fun sweepers on it. There was no traffic and unlike the interstate, at least on 47 there were views of farms, bars and houses and a few towns we had to pass through. It was a welcome break from slab.

At the corner of 47 and 116 they had built a brand new gas station. By then we needed gas, we needed food and shortly I needed to change my tinted helmet shield for the clear one. The sun was going to set around 7 PM. The day today was absolutely terriffic for riding. The temperature was in the mid 60’s which is my favorite riding temperate. Now it was in the 50’s and I had the heated grips on and the Gerbing liner on as well.



Dinner at the Marathon station on 47 and 116 in Saunemin, IL

We grabbed some dinner at the gas station, one corn dog each and we split some potato wedges and an Arizona green tea. The corn dogs were delicious, potato wedges dry and possibly burnt.

After dinner we continued on 47 arriving at I-55 a few miles later and arriving home around 9PM.



We did 476 miles today

This so far was our most economical trip in terms of food and lodging. The entire two days we spent only $5 on lodging and $30 on food for the both of us. But unfortunately because gas is so expensive now, and we rode 875 miles each, we ended up spending about $85 each on gas. Ouch!

Preparing for the first tour of the season

Our first nice weekend was upon us. The forecast was telling us both days would be sunny. Mid 50’s for Saturday and low 60’s for Sunday. It seemed like Spring fooled us all this year. She showed her face for a day or two and went and hid for another month. It has snowed here two more times since our last trip two weeks ago to Southern Illinois. And that's not counting the weekend we were gone, where we had a significant snow fall in Chicagoland.

Even though it looked like the weather was nice enough locally for riding this weekend, we were itching to do some touring and camping. The overnight lows were still a bit chilly here up north so we wanted to head south for the weekend. We actually wanted to go back to Southern Illinois. We really enjoyed ourselves down state two weeks ago and we were excited to take the street bikes there this time. It was definitely going to be a bit warmer down south.

Packing for the first sport-touring trip of the season is a huge project for me since most of my street riding stuff is put away for winter and the rest of my stuff somehow disappears when it’s not being regularly used.

This being a busy week and us having only decided on Wednesday that we’d be touring this weekend, I tried but couldn’t get to packing any earlier then Friday evening, the night before the trip. So Friday evening I attempted to washed some of the dust and cobwebs off the ST3. Went to the basement to find the top case and my riding gear. Went upstairs to find my motorcycle camping stuff and pack some clothes and sport touring essentials, emergency stuff, and plenty of warm layers. And finally loaded the maps on the GPS. By the time all that was done it was already too late for an early departure tomorrow. At least 80% of the stuff was loaded on the bike, so I went to bed.

Finishing the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive

It looked like a gloomy and foggy morning through the motel’s window. The temperature this morning was in the mid 40’s and it wasn’t until I went outside to start the bike, that I realized, it was kind of drizzling as well.



Maple Leaf Inn, Plymouth, WI

We packed up, checked out and at 8:45AM took off to another place I saw on the Plymouth’s website. After another short ride in to downtown Plymouth, located near last nights restaurant, was the Exchange Bank Coffeehouse, a historic bank building from 1906 that has been converted to a coffee house. http://www.exchangebankcoffeehouse.com/





Door to the safe that is now an office

The place was pretty cool and the coffee was good, I was expecting more pastries and things to choose from, but muffins were OK too.



Inside the Exchange Bank Coffee House



Breakfast



The white building across the street is 52 Stafford, where we ate dinner last night



Corner of Mill and Stafford





Some guy walking a big cat downtown Plymouth





Antoinette the cow

This huge cow statute was erected during Plymouth's centennial celebration in 1977. Antoinette is a 100% pure, FDA approved fiberglass Holstein cow. She stands 20 feet high and weighs over 1,000 pounds. Antoinette commemorates Plymouth's ties to the cheese making industry.

We took off from Plymouth heading north to finish the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive. The roads were a bit wet at times and there was a bit of fog but it wasn't raining.










A bit of natural scenery







Road America Race Track in Elkhart Lake, WI

We stopped in at Road America and then got on 67 to head home. As we passed through Plymouth again, the rain just started falling. First very light, so I didn’t think it would last, but soon it stared coming down harder. We had just left town and it was going to be another 30 minutes before arriving at the next town that had a gas station where we could get out of the rain and put our rain gear on.



Ready for more of the wet stuff

With our rain gear on we continued, but it was now noticeably colder. I kept checking the temperature displays on banks, I never saw anything above 53 degrees. It was past 2PM and we were overdue for lunch again. By the time we got to Williams Bay, WI and Skip’s on route 67, we were thoroughly chilled. OK, I was just chilled with my Widder electric vest and Mike was freezing his butt off having no heated gear. And the rain was still coming down.



A warm lunch for a cold day at Skip's in Williams Bay, WI

We were the only customers at Skip’s. Lunch consisted of a cheeseburger and chili for Mike and I had some white bean chicken chili soup and we split some cheese curds. We hung out at Skip’s for a while, warming up and watching the rain drops fall outside.



The rain had finally started to slow down and by the time we came out to the bikes it wasn’t raining anymore. We kept our rain gear on until we reached Marengo, IL. By then the sun was peaking out of the clouds and it didn’t seem as cold as before but it was still in the mid 50’s.



Skip's

We talked about finding some pumpkins to take pictures with on this trip, I mean, what would a fall colors ride be with out pumpkins. What we found was way better than just pumpkins, we found a pumpkin farm.







Pumpkin farm near Marengo, IL



Then we took off again, the sun was setting already, though the suburbs, the temps were only in the upper 50’s but with no rain it was a pleasant ride. And to think that the forecast yesterday said that today would be a high of 68 and 40% of rain.



Yesterdays and todays GPS tracks, close to 500 miles total