2026 Heartland Rally 8/29-9/5, 2026 Official Thread

[SneakyFast]

I'll be using the "Red Taillight" method - I.e. just follow the guy or gal in front of me.  Less chance for a glitch in my navigation!

Uummm... That method failed us in Pennsylvania...
But the surprise detours make the best memories!

[emptysea]

Attention Rally Goers!! 
You have homework!!

First, read this article: Slimey Crud Run - Peter Egan.  Take your time; I’ll wait. 

Done reading?   Good.  Hope you enjoyed it.  

Author, Peter Egan, wrote it in 1998 when the subject event was four years old.   Thirty years later, the Slimey Crud Run (SCR) continues twice/year, from Pine Bluff to Leland (or vice versa) and back.  

The “Slimey Crud Motorcycle Gang”, who created the event, sounds a little like this forum —  A loosely-connected group of motorcyclists who hang out, talk about motorcycles and related nonsense, and who, every so often, might ride together.  

As it happens, Rally Field HQ is 28 miles from Pine Bluff and 17 miles from Leland  with roughly 36 miles between the two SCR termini.   Jake’s Bar & Grill is now The Red Mouse Bar & Grill and Sprecher’s Tap just recently became Junior’s Tavern, though the “Sprecher’s Bar” sign still hangs outside in tribute (or out of laziness).  Word has it that Junior’s has an attached general store that serves ice cream.  

If you’ve read this far, you probably know where I’m going with all this nostalgia… I propose that we do our own Slimey Crud Run. 

Here’s how it would work. 
We’d head out from the the hotel in groups of no more than four (and as small as one), meet up at the Red Mouse or at least stop there to document you group’s visit there, then ride to Junior’s for lunch (I think they have food) or at least ice cream, where we’d regroup and ride more or less together back to HQ.  Sound fun?   I think so too.  

So, what’s your homework? 

First, report back here if you would rather do this ride Sunday or Thursday since Junior’s appears to be closed M-W 

Second, figure out who you might want to pair up with for the run.   Some of the sub groups seem obvious to me, but y’all might want to switch things up, which is fine. 

Third, get a map, digital or “analog”, and figure a route from Round Barn lodge to The Red Mouse and from there to Junior’s.  

Planning Tips:
- Lettered and numbered roads (state and county highways) will be paved and usually striped.  Named roads that are not also lettered roads will mostly be paved, but many will be narrower, and likely not striped.  
- Plan your route to get to Junior’s in about 2 hours.  
- Merrimac Ferry is an excellent choice for crossing Lake Wisconsin.  It’s free and runs 24/7.  Note, unless they’ve changed signage, motorcycles pull up in the bicycle lane, which usually means you move to the front pretty quickly - just watch for instructions in case they’ve changed the protocol. 
- Unless you plan an insane route, you will never be more than 50 miles from HQ and unless you have a potato for a cell phone, you should almost always have a signal. Point here is that you needn’t worry about getting lost and, if you do and decide you’re heading back to HQ, please messsge the group so we’re not sending out search parties from Junior’s. 
- The return from Junior’s to HQ is short.  If you decide to make it longer, just let the rest of us know.  

So that’s the plan.  Let me know your thoughts.   

(Apologies for any typographical or grammar errors; typed this on my phone at dawn after a long night)

---

I'm able to view the route in Scenic on my phone, and I'm also able to view the dining options spreadsheet.  It appears that Sam's Airport Diner is closed, based on google maps and facebook.

Did you find Tri-State and Pie with the Scenic app on your phone using the search bar? Nothing was returned when I did that. Do I need more than the "free" Scenic trial?

Never mind. I searched routes on the map near Spring Green and found 2 with emptysea's name on them. One unnamed route, and one Lonesome Dove Lunch. I didn't find the Pie route, but maybe I can import it from the other files provided. This is all experimental.   I don't use navigation while riding.

There are 4 Rally Routes made “Public” by me in Scenic.
I have renamed all 4 with “CB1100 Rally 2026” as part of their name so they should be easier to find.

I don’t know much about the free version, but I don’t think it restricts access to “public” routes.  I’ll work on getting other routes into Scenic in the next couple of days.

[the Ferret]

Interesting idea. Sounds like it could be fun. If we do this, I suggest Thursday after people have gotten there, relaxed a bit from the travel from home (a few are traveling quite a piece) and learned the area a bit from the group rides.

Too bad Mr Egan had to cancel on us.

[emptysea]

Interesting idea. Sounds like it could be fun. If we do this, I suggest Thursday after people have gotten there, relaxed a bit from the travel from home (a few are traveling quite a piece) and learned the area a bit from the group rides.

Too bad Mr Egan had to cancel on us.

Thursday makes more sense so let’s go with that.    A few are leaving that day, but as many are either just arriving Sunday or not arriving until Monday or Tuesday.   
Yes, it is too bad about Mr Egan’s unavailability, but I will let him know about the CB-SCR in case he wants to meet us at Junior’s for ice cream.  Lol.

[Offroad]

Let’s see who can view this.

Beer Run

Nice ride that will include lunch in a historic town and a visit to one of the most famous local breweries in Wisconsin.

 Scenic is now available for Android.

How to you insert a picture on here without it being so big?

Even if I get the http link with .jpeg on the end from Imgur it's still huge!

[Cormanus]

There's no way I've found to reduce the size of a picture on this forum. Is it bigger than other pictures here.