Fall Color Run

[Dragon Tamer]

A few weeks ago we once again began to make the plans for the annual fall color run up into the wilds of northern Wisconsin. Due to input from past participants we moved the date forward from the last few years figuring that we would do with a bit less color to get a bit more temperature and a little more daylight. That last bit gets to be in short supply at these latitudes and the last couple of years we could hear the seals barking toward evening during the ride.

Mindwebbs wife Amy set the date and arranged the motel accomodations and then failed to show up for the ride!!!!!!!!!!! On all of the previous years except one we had tried to do this in one day and always came up short of our main goal which was to get to Lake Superior. I also had wanted to run a piece of road up in Bayfield County that I had been hearing about for several years but had not been able to get to. So this year it was decided to make it a two day run.

The original plan (no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy, the enemy in this case being us) was for those of us from central WI to meet up with those from western WI and MN somewhere northwest of here and run up from there. The meeting point was set to be Hayward, this again from the lady that did not show (citing some trivial thing like a birth in the near family or some such silly excuse like that). The plan was to meet at the Perkins in Hayward at roughly 12:30 (all of our plans are rough, see above). Poppa Smurf and I left here at about 9:30 AM and headed north, we opted not to run the main highway but go on the many winding back roads. Those of you who were along on the Lost Rally Run would recognize some of them. The color, as expected, was not peak as of yet but there was plenty of it to be seen. We made the meeting point and were the first ones there, shortly followed by Hayward Guy, a new participant. After a brief wait Mindwebbs, Strabo, and Tulip also showed up. Here we all are in the parking lot at Perkins.



It turned out that we were also waiting for two more participants, Mindwebbs uncle Doug and his daughter Theresa. A few phone calls located them several miles away and off course. This they explained later was due to a large detour relating to some sort of road destruction. Something about a missing bridge across the Mississipi River. Get real, who would steal a bridge??

After a brief lunch we all saddled up and headed north. I had a talk with Haywardguy about local roads and conditions due to the fact that he lives there and he figured my plan such as it was should work OK. Just a short distance out of Hayward I had a brief encounter with a bear that wanted the right of way, he didn't look fat and soft enough to hit comfortably so I let him go (see the post from Hayward guy also in ride reports). We worked our way along, again mostly on the byroads, until we came to Iron River and stopped for a break. Here we are in a small parking lot that we appropriated for a while.



This break was punctuated by Tulip complaining loudly that she was not having as much fun as had been promised due to the fact that we were not going near as fast as she wanted to go etc etc. We cheerfully ignored her until we continued on. After a few more miles I located the road I had been hearing about for several years now and we took it north. The road (FR236) was all it had been described and then some, to the tune of about 500% (more about this road later). Upon reaching the confluence of FR236 and highway "C" we stopped to regroup.



It was here that I was informed that Tulip was no longer unhappy, she was ecstatic about that road and wanted to run it again,,,,,,,,,,several times in fact. However, due to the impending lack of daylight mentioned above, we opted to move along so as to reach Washburn before the seals started barking. Highway C comes into Washburn from down a high ridge and as you top the ridge you can see the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior right on the edge of Washburn most of the way down.

After locating the motel (turned out not to be that hard, when we hit the stop sign on C at the intersection of that and highway 13 it was RIGHT there) we signed in and headed uptown for fuel, food, and something to drink. NOT quite in that order.

When the shopping lists were complete we returned to the motel. Discovering that Mindwebbs, Doug and Theresa had the biggest cabin the rest of us moved in on it to crash the party. Not finding one we started one, left and then came back and crashed it.

Poppa Smurf, Theresa, and Doug.



Tulip and Strabo.



And somewhat later, Mindwebbs explaining something to Theresa.



Or maybe it was the other way around.

To be continued:::::::::::::::::

[Dragon Tamer]

OK, now where was I??

Oh yes, when I last saw Webbs that evening he was explaining about multi-light speed quarks along his proposed new orbit of Jupiter and their possible resulting effect on his extended work in that field. He is a very high tech sort of guy but sometimes he likes to discuss the lighter aspects of some of the theories that he works with.

The next morning showed a distinct lack of movement on his part however, even after Strabo and I had depleted the entire coffe supply in that area of the state there still was not a lot of activity coming from his area. When he at last did appear he was moving somewhat slowly and complaining about some mysterious malady he had come down with. Theresa and I after listening to the symptoms diagnosed it as a possible case of West Nile Virus. This was more or less confirmed when it was discovered that the symptoms had appeared the night before. It turned out that he had spent an inordinate amount of time in the corner cubicle doing what has been described by various witnesses as either "driving the porcelin bus" or "doing the technicolor yawn" or possibly selling Buicks. Webbs explained that part of it by telling us that it was due to the fact that he had discovered a seagull nesting in his mouth and was trying to get rid of it. He also explained that he had not been entirely successful in that endeavor and was not disposed to participate in breakfast. He then dissapeared! A later expedition located him in the parking lot, still on top of his bike but considerably under the weather,



He then informed us that he was disinclined to do any riding that morning and would meet up with us later,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,much later.

So the rest of the band of intrepid adventurers moved out, just in time to miss the arrival of a large amount of police cars and SWAT vans, called to investigate the spectacle of someone running up and down the shore of Lake Superior throwing rocks at the seagulls and yelling at them. I have been reading all of the papers and watching the internet to see if they ever found out who it was. It is a mystery to all of us. As Webbs was still in town at the time maybe he got to see it and can tell us more about it.

We continued north from Washburn to the small city of Bayfield, which is a very picturesque sort of place.





From there we continued further north to Red Cliff and from there westward across the main peninsula to the town of Cornucopia where we stopped at a small wayside.



We also located a natural artesian well there.



Strabo thought that perhaps the lake had been low and they were trying to refill it. We explained to him that it is the nature of artesian wells to run 24/7 and that any exess water would eventually run out into the atlantic ocean. There are a good many artesian well in the norther part of the state but this is the only one I have seen in a wayside.
Here Strabo also found a log across a small inlet of the lake and was trying to walk across it. When he noticed that EVERYONE had a camera cocked and ready to take the picture of him when he fell in he gave up on the idea. Here are Doug and Theresa taking in the other sights.



Shortly after that those two left us and continued west on their timeless quest to locate the bridge to somewhere. The rest of us then turned southward and after a brief sojurne came back to the north end of FR236 again. Well OK, we had to turn around and go back to the intersection after Poppa Smurf pointed out to me that we had gone past it. In my defense I would like to point out that I had already noticed that myself and that the only reason I had missed it was due to the fact that the sun was directly overhead and so obscured the sign.

On our run north up this road I had attempted to get a video of it but only succeeded in getting a few still photos due to a camera malfunction or two. By this time I had figured out what at least two more of the plethora of buttons and switchs on the camera did and was able to get a video.



The above video does not really do justice to the road as it was taken on one of the few straighter stretchs of it. This is due to the fact that the curves on this road are all hooked together tightly and I found it difficult to stay on course and push buttons at the same time. I believe that this is due to a curious birth defect that I suffer from. I was born without the soul of a circus acrobat trick rider and so cannot seem to catch on to the trick of riding with one hand and taking pictures with the other as Tod does so well. Of course Tod has also mastered another trick that he does at the termination of certain videos that certainly make watching the video worth while but it appears to be hard on certain portions of the motorcycle and so I will not perhaps attempt to learn more than I already have.

We spent another extremely great time on this road and with much regret finally left it and continued southward some more. South of Hayward once more we parted company with Tulip and Strabo who headed west toward MN on their own quest to find a bridge to somewhere and Poppa Smurf and myself headed for home. The weather was entirely cooperative the whole weekend and for that I suppose I shall have to give the credit to Amy as it was she who picked the weekend, too bad she didn't make it!!!!!!!!!!!

[mikubuilder]

great ride sounds like...I wished my bike was running, I probably could have made it, I got family in northern Illinois. I bet colors are showing now in full glory as the temps dipped into 30's...

[jjz28]

everything is still green here, looks like a good ride.

[natemoen]

No advertisements for this run!? I wouldn't have been able to last weekend anyways.

Looks like it was a good trip!

[Dragon Tamer]

Sorry Nate,
I have never posted this particular run, mostly because although we know we are going to do it we don't really know when until the last moment.

Had a bit more planning and notice this year but as I have not posted it before I did not think of it this year either. Even if I had it would have been darn short notice,,,,,,,,,,like two weeks.

On top of that this ride can be dissapointing to a lot of people. We don't for the most part have a real plan, just a general destination and we have a reputation for not making even that most of the time. Even if we get going on time without mechanical troubles and the weather stays good we have been known to just change the destination and/or the route (if we had one) at a seconds notice (or just no notice). Peter and I both have a reputation for a short attention span and a habit of noticing a new or fun looking road and just wandering off for several hours and then trying to find out where we are. No one has ever pre-run the route to see how or where it is because there is no hard route plan. For several years it was just called the "screwed up run". It always has been fun though and has created a lot of great memories.

Haywardguy did suggest a slightly different route and had I been smart enough to listen to him more we would have most likely missed the heavy traffic on part of the run. Of course then I would have missed the panic attack caused by nearly hitting the bear and how much fun would that have been?????