Braking in a new tank bag.

[CA200_imp]

We had 3 days of just wonderful weather 20 degrees above normal. The bikes were out everywhere. My wife had thought about not riding any
more but we went out on Sun. for a short Sunday ride about 70 miles. After we got back we sat down and she said, well guess I will keep the TU250 another year. She is 68.
Monday our weather held. Highs into the 80s. So I thought it would be good to get my riding legs ready for the long ride to Bland. I bought a new First Gear tank bag. I think it will work out well.
This loop is to ride to Prairie du Chien on Hwy. 18 and turn around back on Hwy. 60 to 14.
Filling up and leaving the city takes 30-40 min. . Fighting traffic .
It's 4 lane till Dodgeville and then 18 splits from Hwy.151 and
becomes two lane. Very smooth and strait for here. Looks a lot like
Iowa along here. Large farms, flat. Traffic is very light , with some
very large tractors running down the road with some Amish buggies
running the shoulders.
[url=http://s435.photobucket.com/user/MMSTORE1948/media/DSC01427.jpg.html]
The road is so smooth you really find the CB running sooo smooth.
Passing through small towns you come to Fennimore where the road turns a little ruff but the farms are smaller and it becomes a little more rolling. You see more beef and you can smell the pig farms.
When 18 joins Hwy. 35 it starts the decent to the river valley.
Prairie du Chien is a river town where the Wisconsin river meets the Mississippi river.
I stop for lunch and fuel .
[url=http://s435.photobucket.com/user/MMSTORE1948/media/DSC01429.jpg.html]
I start back on Hwy 60. This follows the river with some nice sweepers and very little or no traffic.
[url=http://s435.photobucket.com/user/MMSTORE1948/media/DSC01430.jpg.html]
The road is just great and I stop to take in the river and the solitude .
[url=http://s435.photobucket.com/user/MMSTORE1948/media/DSC01431.jpg.html]
[url=http://s435.photobucket.com/user/MMSTORE1948/media/DSC01437.jpg.html]
Gliding along it becomes more enjoyable and the corners become tighter . Then all of a sudden you take one last turn and you come into Gothem ,a small berg where it hits Hwy. 14. Kind of like waking
up from a good dream. Back to the real world. I make good time back to Madison and hit town before traffic is to bad.
All told a good ride, 225 miles and 58 mpg over all and still got home
for coffee and ice cream.

[the Ferret]

CA looks like ot was a great day.

Secondly good on your wife at 68.. amazing

Lastly, you are riding all the way to Bland by yourself?

[emptysea]

Love that loop, although I've never really rode these roads on the same day. Last year, we ran out on 33 and back on 60 one day and on another trip we crossed from Iowa at PdC and worked our way back west on 18. All these roads are wonderful in their own way. Nice pictures

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Nice ride. Happy with your tankbag? One thing that I like about posts from outside OZ is the way that foliage changes the look and feel of the landscape. Your photo by the river, if taken in a couple of months at the same spot, will look like another world, I'll wager. Not too much of that in our eucalyptus clad land.

Cheers and thanks for posting.

[Cormanus]

Thanks for posting CA200. Good to have you on the road again and to see your photos. I'm interested in the answer to the Ferret's question too: are you riding to Bland on your own?