Solstice Ride 2019

[emptysea]

0830

The "ride" portion of "Solstice Ride" begins

We continued our trek west along US20 after breakfast. Up until this point, the route was designed for speed. Now, we truly began our descent into the Mississippi River valley. 20 becomes a little more interesting at this point, more hills more curves, but it is still a little mundane. About 15 minutes west of Stockton is the little town of Elizabeth. Elizabeth is not much more than a fork in the road with short rows of old commercial buildings lining the tines, but it reminds me of a mountain town somehow; the type one might find in Colorado. I noticed a couple of antique shops. Maybe Cheryl and I will stop and walk around here sometime.


Welcome to Elizabeth, Illinois

Just past downtown Elizabeth, we turned right on Washignton Street in the direction of the town of Hanover and just before we arrived in Hanover, we took a very hard right turn onto arguably the coolest named road in Illinois --Blackjack Road.

Blackjack Road is more or less a farm road and it could use a repaving, but it serpentines its way beautifully down from Hanover into Galena. Blackjack's condition is probably due to a combination of record rainfalls in the area and fiscal irresponsibility statewide. I always have a problem with pavement that varies in color and texture from shiny, smooth, and black to dull, grainy, and gray. The latter sometimes looks gravel coated in contrast to the former. That combined with actual gravel, apparently used to fill cracks caused by the erratic winter and soaking wet spring, kept me alert and maybe a little tense as I lead the two of us down the road. All the same, I managed to maintain a reasonably quick pace on a road that deserves pavement worthy of its name.



A good shot of Tony and of contrasting pavement hues

15 miles of Blackjack and we found ourselves in Galena. Galena is a tourist and resort town with loads of great restaurants, antique stores, and other quaint shops that make a tourist town a tourist town. It can be crowded, especially in the fall when the trees finish their season in a blaze of color, but it's a beautiful town along the banks of the Mississippi.

Galena is named after a mineral that is (or was) abundant in the Mississippi valley and the Driftless Area of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The town was originally a mining town in the early 1800s and was at one time the largest steamboat port on the Mississippi north of St. Louis. Ulysses Grant, Civil War general and the 18th President of the United State, who was born down in The Ferret's neighborhood, moved to Galena in 1860 and was among nine Civil War generals who called Galena "home". Staying in Galena can be a bit pricey, but with great dining within walking distance and great riding within minutes, it's an ideal motorcycle destination.


Entering Galena from Blackjack Rd.


Galena street view.

We rejoined US20 in Galena to carry us across the Mississippi into Iowa, The Hawkeye State.


Crossing "The Big Muddy"



Welcome to Dubuque, Iowa. Nothing to see here. Move along.



Stopped for gas in Dubuque. Ran into a small group of riders from Minnesota doing a similar ride to ours but in the opposite direction.

After traversing the (so far as I can tell) uninteresting city of Dubuque, we hit the Iowa section of the Great River Road Scenic Byway. For the sticklers following along, we have been on the Great River Road through Dubuque and even on the Illinois portion in and around Galena, but the Dubuque portion of the road is far from scenic so this section of the byway doesn't really start until the right turn that takes you to Balltown


Fun fact: Last year, Cheryl and I rode from Dickeyville to Balltown. Make of that what you will

There are many local road making up this section of the Great River Road: Sherrill Rd., Balltown Rd., Ridge Rd., Buena Vista Rd., County Highways C63, X56, and C9Y, and more. it's one beautiful ribbon of road from just south of Sherrill to McGregor. Beautiful views of the Mississippi Valley and Iowa farmland abound. The road winds more than it twists which suits me and my CB1100 just fine.




Views from Buena Vista Road.
Mi Espanol es not so good, but I know a Buena Vista when I see it.

Speaking of Buena Vistas, when Tony sent me the route i suggested that our ride along the Iowa side of the the Mississippi deserved a stop at Pike's Peak State Park. He never responded to that particular email, but since he wanted me to lead, I can only assume that he concurred.

1045

Scenic overlook and a stretch of the legs.

There's a lot of history in Pike's Peak State Park, but by far the most interesting to me is that Peter Egan rode here from Madison, WI on a 1964 Honda C100 with a bicyclist as his riding partner.

It is a beautiful park with miles of hiking trails and a triple-deck observation platform from which you can see north and south along the Mississippi and East along the Wisconsin River. After stopping here I am even more convinced that any motorcyclist traveling the Great River Road needs to stop here for at least a few minutes. Oh, and they have motorcycle parking.


Yes, we're blocking the view


There. That's a little better. (panorama view)


Cloudy day, but we've stayed ahead of the rain so far.


Lucky shot - Pike's Peak State Park

MC parking. Pretty Cool

[Cormanus]

Great report, EmptySea. Either Tony’s tall or he carries a soap box for photo opportunities.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Wonderful shared write-up and images. Very nice capture of the hummingbird.

[emptysea]

Great report, EmptySea. Either Tony’s tall or he carries a soap box for photo opportunities.

He’s 6’5” and I’m the one that’s usually on my soapbox; he’s pretty quiet.

Wonderful shared write-up and images. Very nice capture of the hummingbird.

Thanks. And we’ve still got 9.5 hours until sundown. More to come !!

[the Ferret]

Geez Sea that dude makes you look, like you make me look lol. I'd hate for him to stand next to me.

[emptysea]

Hmmm.... I never finished this report. I'm getting old and lazy, I guess. I'll wrap this one up and then post another report of a ride Cheryl and I took a few weeks ago. I'll get caught up soon!

[emptysea]

1105

From The Great River Road....

Tony and I turned right out of Pike's Peak State Park and back on to the Great River Road which is Clayton County Route X56 at this point. It winds down very nicely for about three miles into the town of McGregor, IA. Tony and I would have enjoyed this short trip just a bit more had the nice lady in her 2007 Chrysler minivan not been compelled to drive the straight sections at 5 mph below the speed limit and even more cautiously around the turns.

McGregor is a cute little town, although its relative proximity to the banks of the Mississippi to its east and steep hills and bluffs to its west make it an ideal vessel into which the Ol' Man can pour his spring surplus.


Flood waters have come up as high as the second story windows here. Last year, Cheryl and I stayed in what was once the local jail, now converted into an adorable little Airbnb.


Tony on the northern outskirts of McGregor heading north


Separated from Big Muddy by two thin steel bands; our bridge back to Wisconsin in the distance.

1125
...to a great river road


Our traverse of the Mississippi for the second time this morning went very smoothly. Now we were in Wisconsin for the first time this trip and about to take a left turn off of The Great River Road and on to a great river road.



Motorcycles and bridges make for easier crossings than a log raft and a pole.

Grant County in Wisconsin has a bunch of wonderful roads on which to ride, but County Trunk C from a little west of US18 running north to State Rte 133 is probably my favorite. It's not particularly curvy although there are curves. I love it because there are seldom other cars on it, it runs along (and I mean like right along) the Wisconsin River, and there are almost no crossing roads. And they repaved it this year! C would take us east by northeast away from Iowa and would be the first leg of our return to Chicagoland.



Imagine my elation upon turning onto smooth, new pavement


C runs very close to the river for about 3/4 of its length. It takes on a more "curvy farm road" personality for the last 1/4


Did I mention that C runs very close to the river? Pretty exhilarating to cruise along at highway speeds just a few feet from the water

WI133 is a connecting road. Not much to it, really. It runs along the river, but rarely close enough for one to see it from the road. It does run through the towns of Boscobel and Muscoda which makes it a little more entertaining in as much as it's kind of fun to say "Boscobel" and "Muscoda".


Downtown Muscoda traffic

We had gassed up on 133 in a tiny little nearly ghost town called Woodman and discussed lunch. We were in agreement that Mt. Horeb and The Grumpy Troll should be our next stop. So we went.

________

[GoldOxide_imp]

Riding along rivers is very therapeutic. MTC.

That downtown Muscode "traffic" snap could have easily been lifted from the 1960's.