14 - Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota & The Badlands

The morning of Sunday, July 15th, I left Chicagoland as the race fans filed in. I had slept like a log and got a late start on Sunday as the race crowd poured in. It was tempting to stay, but the price wasn’t right and I was anxious to get on the road. From Chicagoland, I took the advice of my race neighbors, and headed to West Bend, WI for the last day of a BMW rally.

In some little town near the speedway, I stopped for gas. As I was riding through town, I piece flew off my bike; a plastic piece or in "Honda speak," an expensive piece. I turned 180 and hoped to get it before someone ran over it. I had to hang another U-turn to get to the spot and there was a cop there directing race traffic. I pulled a U-turn right in front of the cop. As I pulled way, he screamed: "DUMBASS!" I couldn't argue with him. Had I known how prophetic his words would be, I'd have parked the bike and taken a day off. It's pretty embarrassing being called a dumbass by a cop. Even if there's no one around to hear it, it's still embarrassing.

I rode past The Motor Company and wanted a Harley more then ever… as I rode by on a Honda. I pulled into the fairgrounds at 4:00 and it was empty. Not a bike in site. I finally saw one guy on an old BMW off in a field next to a tent. He said it had been over for hours. Oh well. Back on the road.

I’d been on the road for six hours and decided to stop and eat. Being in Wisconsin, I had to eat cheese curds; delicious cheese curds. Riding through Fond du Lac county, I saw a bar and pulled in. From the looks of it, I wasn’t expecting much but once inside, I was glad I’d stopped. A big and informative sign on the front of the building would make a world of difference.

The entire place was made of pine and was bright and cheery. It was empty so the bartender put the NASCAR race on the big screen. He and I were the same age. Brian had bought the place from his parents earlier that year and had left his construction business to rebuild the restaurant into the greatest place around. He rides too and was quite interested in my trip. Hey Brian, pack the bike and take a few weeks to ride!

There are several people I’ve met who’ve indicated they’d like to take a trip. There are a few that I actually think will do it; Brian is one of those.

Back on the road and headed North. I went through Oshkosh and Appleton and decided to pull off the road around 8:00 to camp. The state park was a fee area; an $18 fee area. I took a National Forest road instead to find a free spot.

That’s when things took a turn for the worse, followed by a turn for the better. After riding a few miles on the National Forest Road, I turned right down a gravel side road. After a mile or so, it turned to dirt and then quickly to sand. I was in trouble and needed to get out of there, but there was nowhere to turn around. With so much weight over the rear wheel, the front end is especially light and not suited for plowing through deep sand. I tried to turn around by riding up an embankment and then rolling back down. The off-camber hill and my huge Goldwing made for an unpleasant combination. I dumped the bike about 10 miles from the nearest County road at dusk. The bike didn’t just go down, it went down and then down some more and both wheels were off the ground. It was so far over that there was no way I was going to get it back up by myself.

Thank goodness for cell phone reception. I called a bar I’d passed earlier and explained my situation. A half hour later, Dave and his friends showed up in a red Pontiac and gave me a hand. We got the bike up easily and I fired it up and rode white-knuckled with the front end all over the place until we got back on gravel. They offered to let me follow them to a great camping spot they knew of that was in the National Forest only a few miles away. The sun had faded away and visibility was nearly gone so I followed their tail lights.

We turned off a gravel road toward a lake and suddenly, sand, deep sand. It was even worse than before! I nearly lost it twice before the red car stopped and I frantically said: “Man, I’ve got to get out of here.” Dave felt bad for taking me down such a bad trail, but knew of a better place right off the gravel road. We got there as it was dark. I got off the bike and was happy to see it parked on grass. As my hands and legs still shook from the ordeal, I chatted with the folks who’d saved my day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's my, "I can't believe I did this" look. Ouch!

Here's a view of what the unsavory road conditions were like during this stretch of travel.

Here's a shot of the loose stuff that caused me so much difficulty.

Gravel is cool, it's the sand that's sign worthy.

I slept amid dreams of dropped bikes, but awoke to the following:

Evidently, someone had left this and it hung feet from my tent. All is good again.

A free campsite & facilities? God Bless the National Park Service.

 

 

 

 

Amidst all the hubbub, I'd not been able to enjoy the lake-view from my campsite. In the morning calm, it was quite tranquil.

The ride back to pavement in the morning gave me reason to reconsider my cavalier attitude toward taking my Goldwing off –road. I need to keep the bike on pavement or on gravel in controlled conditions. In other words, no gallivanting down gravel unless I know where the road leads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After returning to the pavement, I had to check out the watering hole where Dave and friends came from to help. The place is called the Cowboy Coral in Mountain, WI. Thanks Dave & Friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wisconsin countryside is amazing. After awhile, I pulled over to the Rawhide Bar & Grill for breakfast. It’s such a small world. The proprietor and her husband had just bought a piece of land near Hickory, NC and were selling the restaurant and moving to NC. We had a great time talking about NC. Their daughter lives in Mooresville and works for a well-known racing-related company. He rides a Harley and wears a helmet. That is really cool because no one in Wisconsin wears helmets. My earlier conversation with Brian confirmed that. It’s like no other state I’ve ridden through.

As I handed my card to Hannalore to pay for breakfast, she handed it back and tore up my tab. How cool! She filled my four water bottles for me and sent me on my way.

Time to leave the National Forest and stick to pavement.

 

Hey little guy... stick to the forest and leave the roads to Goldwings!

 

 

A few hours later, I arrived in the Western UP of Michigan. Silver City is a cool little town on Lake Superior. After the fiasco the night before, I decided not to go backwoods looking for a free spot to camp. They’ll be plenty of those out West. The State Park was $25. No thanks.

 

I headed inland about 10 miles and got a room. The hotel is called the Konteka. It has a bar, restaurant, laundry and bowling alley. It was nice to get clean clothes, a hot meal and a cold beer. Though I only paid $40 for the room, by the time I left the Konteka had much more of my money. It was worth every nickel.

The lady from the front desk / restaurant / bar / bowling alley called me 4 times to tell me the bears were feeding. I sprinted from the shower to the lounge only to find them gone. The forth sprint was the charm; I saw bears!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up early on Tuesday, the 17th and rode 626 miles from the UP, across MN, across ND, and into Pollock SD. I took a freeway around Duluth for about 10 miles. The rest of the day was solely two lane roads. From the ND border, I rode state route 13 for nearly 300 miles. North Dakota is beautiful. The prairie is stunning and the crops never ending. I saw thousands of birds, possibly tens of thousands. They are everywhere. I even saw hundreds of pheasants. The beautiful birds run across the road. Stunning.

I rode by the Bobcat plant. Ingersoll Rand is headquartered in Charlotte and I’d interviewed there for an internship the year before. They talk about Bobcat, but it was cool to see the place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I rode the Lewis and Clark trail until dusk and then crossed into SD and came upon Pollock. Population 329, Pollock is the coolest little town. There is a park in town on the water where one can camp: free. I set up camp and headed into town for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Slick’s Place I met Arlo. Arlo went to 'Nam in 65. At 68, he still farms for 14 hours a day. He has over 1,000 acres and 100 head of cattle. As the youngest of 11, he had some neat stories. We talked for a couple of hours and then I went back to get some sleep. Before I left, I promised him I’d go to Pierre in the morning and see the Veterans memorial. It is a really nice memorial. While living in DC, I enjoyed the Ride to the Wall in which 500,000 motorcycle converge in the Pentagon parking lot and then ride to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a powerful event. People line the streets from Fairfax to Arlington to the District to wave as the bikers ride by. I think I convinced Arlo to take a trip to the Capitol when he retires and to see the monuments. If he makes it, he promised to go to Charlottesville to see Monticello. In Jefferson’s entry way, the décor is that of a museum with pieces brought back by Lewis & Clark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After buying the helmet in Asheville, NC, riding the plains had been awful. Today I stopped to pick up a care package in
SD containing my old standby helmet. Riding 100 degree weather in the Great Plains is not compatible with full motorcycle crash gear. Roads with few other automobiles don't require full gear. I packed my rain gear and full-face helmet and actually felt like a motorcyclist again. I could hear the wind and feel the sun. It was a great care package!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left Pierre and headed toward the Badlands. I stopped along the way and did some sightseeing, it wasn’t a high miles day. 300 miles later, I entered the Badlands in late afternoon. The best views are at dusk and dawn. I rode at dusk, camped, and left at dawn. The next couple of hours were some of the most amazing scenery I’ve every imagined. The pictures tell the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Beans for breakfast once again, it's hard to eat them from the can..." It's an old Johnny Cash tune. Actually, they were delicious and not difficult to eat at all. Check out the bunny

 

 

 

 

 

I met three couples on Goldwing Trikes, all pulling trailers. They were nice. I commented that they had found a sure-fire way to do away with bungee cords!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clearly, I'd caught this sign on the way out of the park!

I left the Badlands for the Black Hills. Those too, were impressive. I saw Mt. Rushmore and rode through the National Forests. I saw deer, antelope, rabbits, coyotes, and buffalo. Earlier that day at dawn, I’d met a guy in the Badlands. I asked him to take a picture of me. Jesse is a college student at Black Hills State in Spearfish. He scored an internship with the State Department of Tourism and his job is to cruise around and take pictures. His camera gear is top of the line, as is the natural scenery of the state.

I had no idea where Spearfish was, but 12 hours later at a bar in Sturgis when a guy recommended I go there, I got on the bike and went. It was the weekend of a Corvette rally in Spearfish and camping was hard to come by. A couple of cute girls who worked at the downtown park were able to find a spot for me in the supposedly sold-out campground. There was also a huge crafts festival that weekend so I got really lucky. Shower, dinner, sleep: a winning combination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next:  15  -  Spearfish, Sundance, Racing & Rodeo