I did see a ton of Harley riders around LaCrosse. That explains it.
Got back last night. The first two legs were good - Rode 55 up to Iron river, then swung around to Lakewood for the evening. 289mi. After heavily denting the old fashioned supplies at the Waubee lodge, we retired for the evening
Hit the road round 930 Friday morning and started the river route near St Croix. Unfortunately hwy F had a section under construction that was packed dirt/gravel. And it had just rained. It was only a mile or so, but the bike is covered in mud. The tail chop definitely didn't help.
It was a scenic ride, and went well even tho the GPS was giving me lip. it kept telling me to take uturns and crap. That's the problem with using someone else's route I guess. Riding along the Mississippi I was trailing a storm so the roads were wet and it threatened rain, but never actually did. Got off the route in Arcadia as planned and headed to wildcat mountain. That's where the trouble began! The route starts in the state park. Which is a fee area. But no one was around. Got to the starting point and it told me which way to go. Then kept telling me to go offroad and recalculating. I tried it a couple times but it wouldn't find the route. So I tried changing the starting point, but that just gave me a 3 mile trip right back to the end point
I had no idea where to go so I kinda headed south and east - rain in the west again.
Long story short I missed out on that route, but did hit some nice country roads just by bumming around. Decided to head home since I didn't have any other route to run.
I hate driving at night, especially on unfamiliar country roads. motorcycle headlights suck. I kept my brights on, but still don't like it.
1025 total miles later I pulled into the driveway. Legs killing me and knees screaming. Stopping only for gas I was on the road for about 14 hours - 739 miles.
Next time I'll have a backup plan and maps.
But who knew Wisconsin had switchbacks?? Time to go clean the bike. That should take a couple hours [moto]
