Ride Report from BMW
Hiawatha Rally
A little over a month ago, (wow time flies) I attended the MN BMW Owners rally at Money Creek campground. It was well organized and met some interesting people. Including a 70 year old man that looked like Santa Claus that went by the name "naked Jim". Can you guess what his second most favorite hobby is?
I headed out a day early and planned to make a trip down the River road from Redwing to La Crosse and then to the campground. I stopped at the Spam museum and ran across a bike powered by bacon...wonder with today's fuel prices if that would be cheaper to run? Yes, they did have samples and I did take one. I've probably have had more questionable meats from a gas station... It is a great museum and admission is free!
After having a great lunch at King's Place in the tiny town of Miesville (pop 136) I was following a klamped-out Minivan. I smelled the wonderful smell of burning brakes and figured it was the van. As the miles went by, I had the sinking feeling it was actually coming from me. I pulled off and gave a good sniff on the rear brakes. Yep, it was me.
Well, luckily, Yamaha has a great dealership network and I located a powersports dealer in Red Wing. They happened to have some pads on hand and I managed to switch them out in the parking lot. It was then I realized my jeans had ripped at the knee. In bopping through Red Wing, I happened upon a Duluth Trading Company Outlet Store. A wallet a bit lighter I now had a pair of replacement pants. There was road construction ahead of me so I thought I would head out of town running parallel to the river road and eventually I would cut back over. A dark sky seem to be following me as my sense of direction had me sort of zig zaging on gravel roads. I had an idea of what direction I wanted to head, the roads just weren't cooperating. At one point I ended up coming through a three house town going north south, and the gravel road I was on looped me around to going west east through the same town! Exploring can be fun. At one point on a gravel road the storm winds picked up and I was battling 35-40 mph winds. I recently got a comms unit and has talking with my mom about her recent flower purchases while battling high winds on fresh loose gravel... and she had the gall to say I didn't sound too interested in the deals she got on her plants!
I ended up going down the same road that I rode last year with the boot on with my broken leg. I stopped at the overlook and had a moment of reflection. It was a cool moment, as I had not planned to go down that road, and this time I was heading on an adventure, rather than heading home thinking it could very well be my last ride.
Thanks for all the well wishes from all of you, it really helped to counter the negative voices that told me it was a sign to hang up the hobby.
I arrived at the campground, and got unpacked. My brother and cousin that were coming arrived an hour later, having spent most of the day running around getting ready and trying to find a sissy bar for my brother's Harley. We had an excellent supper at Buzzard Billys in La Crosse. Fun town to ride on the bike, some college students hooted and hollered at us to rev bomb, and I was happy the Tenere got more thumbs up than the other two! The VTX my cousin was on was told it was too quiet!
The next day we went exploring around the area, great roads little traffic. I spent the bulk of the day riding new BMWs and new CF Moto's. I was quite surprised to find how much I liked the CF Moto's. I found the 700 to like a good tribute band to the Bonneville real deal. It was great getting to go 45-1 hour rides through the countryside. Rumor has it, it's a KTM engine...
The following morning there was drizzle out, perfect for the GS Ride! I snuck in with the BMWs, and found myself parked by a fellow Tenere! We both had the same year of bike, and found it great to be the Yamaha ambassadors. Nothing too technical, and the rain kept the dust down. Lovely scenery, I loved riding alongside creeks in tight forest roads.
The Lanesboro area is a lovely place to ride, I'd recommend it. Maybe next year some more Teneres can crash the BMW party! All the people I met were perhaps a bit quirky, but good people. Just be careful if you find yourself outside late and night and "Naked Jim" sees you. He's got some stories to share...