12-01-2025, 04:50 PM
Exciting News!!!
Shortly after the Driftless Area was selected as the 2026 rally point, I began planning the event. As you have read in posts above, we settled on Spring Green, WI for its relatively easy access from riders' homes and for its relatively easy access to some great Wisconsin riding. I also posted a few "sample" routes to demonstrate that Wisconsin is a wonderful place to ride. One of the sample routes would take us through Leland which is a tiny town to the northeast of Spring Green that is known for nothing much except as one of the two ends of the Slimey Crud Run, a biannual meet up, generally populated with vintage motorcycles, vintage riders, and which was created by writer Peter Egan and his oddball motorcycling friends, though "oddball" and "motorcycling friends seems redundant somehow. Another route could bring us out west, across the Mississippi to Pike's Peak State Park, which, while also named for explorer Zebulon Pike, bears no discernible resemblance to the Colorado Pike's Peak. I didn't know of Pike's Peak in Iowa until I read a story by Peter Egan in which he rides a motorcycle and his friend rides a bicycle from roughly Madison, WI to Pike's Peak State Park. I was unable to think of riding in the Driftless without think of Peter Egan's writings on the subject.
I got to thinking that it would pretty neat if Peter Egan somehow happened to ride past us on our way to Leland or to Pike's Peak; maybe he would turn around and follow the line of retro UJMs out WI33. I shared this bit of fancy, which had now grown into "what if he came to the rally an hung out with us", with The Ferret and Offroad in a group text and they encouraged me to contact him. I said I would try to find an email address for his publicist or him directly, but that I doubt I will be able to find anything. The Ferret, as he does, cut through the red tape and came up with the elegantly simple solution, "How about writing him a letter" after which he posted a screenshot that had Egan's address. Google is a marvelously scary world, but I was glad to have an address.
So I wrote Peter Egan:
![[Image: r4aFQCe.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/r4aFQCe.jpg)
And Peter Egan wrote to me:
![[Image: 9PZkDT6.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/9PZkDT6.jpg)
There's a lot of time between now and then, but if the stars align, we might have another old rider hanging out with us in Spring Green.
Shortly after the Driftless Area was selected as the 2026 rally point, I began planning the event. As you have read in posts above, we settled on Spring Green, WI for its relatively easy access from riders' homes and for its relatively easy access to some great Wisconsin riding. I also posted a few "sample" routes to demonstrate that Wisconsin is a wonderful place to ride. One of the sample routes would take us through Leland which is a tiny town to the northeast of Spring Green that is known for nothing much except as one of the two ends of the Slimey Crud Run, a biannual meet up, generally populated with vintage motorcycles, vintage riders, and which was created by writer Peter Egan and his oddball motorcycling friends, though "oddball" and "motorcycling friends seems redundant somehow. Another route could bring us out west, across the Mississippi to Pike's Peak State Park, which, while also named for explorer Zebulon Pike, bears no discernible resemblance to the Colorado Pike's Peak. I didn't know of Pike's Peak in Iowa until I read a story by Peter Egan in which he rides a motorcycle and his friend rides a bicycle from roughly Madison, WI to Pike's Peak State Park. I was unable to think of riding in the Driftless without think of Peter Egan's writings on the subject.
I got to thinking that it would pretty neat if Peter Egan somehow happened to ride past us on our way to Leland or to Pike's Peak; maybe he would turn around and follow the line of retro UJMs out WI33. I shared this bit of fancy, which had now grown into "what if he came to the rally an hung out with us", with The Ferret and Offroad in a group text and they encouraged me to contact him. I said I would try to find an email address for his publicist or him directly, but that I doubt I will be able to find anything. The Ferret, as he does, cut through the red tape and came up with the elegantly simple solution, "How about writing him a letter" after which he posted a screenshot that had Egan's address. Google is a marvelously scary world, but I was glad to have an address.
So I wrote Peter Egan:
And Peter Egan wrote to me:
There's a lot of time between now and then, but if the stars align, we might have another old rider hanging out with us in Spring Green.