48 States - Leg 3

[RetiredJake]

Northern Loop - Thursday, Sep 17

I am amazed, I have now seen the sun two mornings in a row. In fact, this turned out to be the best weather day yet. Sunny all day, started at 40 degrees, got up to 75 degrees, and was not windy. YEA !!!

It was a nice easy ride to Tomahawk, to capture a picture of the HD factory. When I got there, there were at least a half dozen WI Motor Cops gathered around a mobile command post in the parking lot. Turns out there was a rally there this weekend, and they were planning how they would handle it. Grabbed my picture and boogied out of there.

Finally got a good shadow rider picture.

Saw a sign for a geological marker, piqued my interest. Took a short side trip to see what it was. Turns out, the center of the northern half of the western hemisphere (whew, did you get all of that ?) is smack dab in WI. Learn something new every day.

I rode through Colby, WI on my way to MN. Yep, it’s where Colby cheese was developed. They even have a historical marker to commemorate it.

Riding through another small town, I came upon this sign. You don’t see these in Tennessee !

Crossed over into MN, and then followed the west bank of the Mississippi River heading towards Iowa. It sure looks different up here than it does down south.

This area is a wildlife refuge area, and one of the things they are doing to help the wildlife, is building new islands in the shallows to protect them. In this picture, the dredge is piling up sand and mud, the backhoe is spreading it out to form the island.

Rode on into IA, got my picture and crossed back over the river into WI, and started the trek towards Milwaukee. Followed the river for a ways before heading east.

Had to try this one, don’t holler.

WI has their share of flat land too.

Stopped in Madison for the night. Tomorrow it is on to Milwaukee to capture pictures of the HD facilities and then to East Troy for the Buell factory. Getting close to heading for home.

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

Very nice Jake, really like your self portrait in the mirror...pretty tricky photography

 

[RetiredJake]

Northern Loop - Friday, Sep 18

I wasn’t so sure about the weather this morning. It was fairly warm, but overcast and not looking good.

I left Madison and headed for Milwaukee. First stop was the Capitol Drive factory. No intention of taking any tours, just capturing the pictures for ABC points.

Next stop was HD Headquarters on Juneau Ave.

Then swung by the museum on Canal St.

I left Milwaukee heading west to East Troy and the Buell Factory.

From there, I headed south and crossed into Illinois. The weather cleared out and it was a beautiful, warm day. Passed a windmill farm on the way.

I did not realize that IL raised so much corn. As I drove south, I seemed to be in a corn alley. There was corn on both sides, as far as I could see ahead and behind.

IL is another one of those places that has a lot of flat space.

I wound up in Effingham, IL for the night. Stopped at the Motel 6, and ran into another biker from TN, who had also been in Milwaukee this morning. It really is a small world.

I’m only 330 miles from getting home now. Grab Indiana in the morning, then to Union County, IL. After that, it will be a speed run home.

This will complete my plans for this year. 48 states, 6 Canadian provinces, both coasts, a couple of months on the road, lots of good people, etc. It has been a good summer.

Thanks to all who have read my posts and wished me well. Maybe we will meet somewhere on the road. Fair winds and following seas.

 

[STEVE07]

Jake I was through Espanola on the 16th delivering trailers. Too bad I didn't know you were around,would have liked to have met you.

 

[Trek]

Hey Jake,

Great pics, thanks. You're just about an hour and a half to two hours north east of me. Welcome to Illinois and the land of corn. I wish I was free in the morning I'd meet up with you and ride a while. Have a safe trip home. Thanks again for bringing us along.

 

[gs34]

Thanks for sharing your adventures with us Jake. I've sure enjoyed following your trip and reading your comments.
What's next?????

 

[bikemikewcr]

Hi Jake,
Thanks for making the 3rd leg as interesting as the others. I know you posted the picture of the Edison, NJ Post Office and that is about 15 minutes from my house. If you are ever in the area again you have a place to crash and some nice wine to drink. Hope you make the run home in good time and safe.
Mike

 

[RetiredJake]

Northern Loop - Saturday, Sep 19

I left Effingham headed east on I-70. Since I had not been able to find the county signs for ‘M’ counties in New Jersey, I needed to capture Morgan county in Indiana. The skies looked good for the ride, and the temperature started at about 50 degrees.

I stopped at the Indiana welcome center and captured my 48th and last state for the year.

The western boundary of Morgan county did not have a sign as far as I could tell. Went to the next exit with the intention of grabbing the map and seeing which direction was the shortest to get to the edge of the county. A couple miles before the exit, I crossed into the next county, so turned around at the exit, zipped back a couple of miles and captured the missing county. The temperatures by now were in the mid sixties, the sky was beautiful, all was right with the world.

There was a lot of wild mustard growing alongside the road. I liked the splash of color it provided.

Back to Effingham on I-70, then south on I-57. I still needed to capture Union county in Illinois before making the final run home. Heading south through IL, it was mostly flat for a while, but there was an occasional curve thrown in just to keep you awake.

Union county is located just four or five miles past the start of I-24. Got my picture, whipped around at the next exit and hurried back to I-24, heading towards TN. As I got into southern IL, a few hills started popping up to add to the variety. I needed variety as today was all interstate travel. Since I decided to add Morgan county in Indiana to the list, this was going to be a 500 mile day. As you can see, as I got further south, the clouds were building. So far, still pretty good weather.

Everyone knows where Superman lives, right? Metropolis of course. In this case, Metropolis, IL. I had to stop and get a picture of him in full dress. This thing is pretty big.

Before I got out of town, I passed by the Big John Supermarket. There is a statue of ‘Big John’ outside, holding a bag of groceries. Maybe Metropolis has a thing for big people.

As I crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky, the weather continued to deteriorate. Not raining yet, but not looking very hopeful.

On the south side of Paducah, KY, at exit 11, is Four Rivers HD. The building looks like a big side wheel steamboat. The two ribbed white towers on each side of the building are paddlewheels when viewed from the side.

A little ways past Paducah, it started to spit. I stopped and donned the rain suit for the last time this trip. Forty more miles and it is still dry, feeling like an idiot in the bright orange suit. Then it hit, twenty five miles from home, the sky opened up one last time. What a fitting ending to this trip. The rain lasted all of 5 miles at the most, then the clouds broke and the sun came out. As I was less than twenty miles from home at this point, I let people gawk at the idiot wearing the rain suit on a sunny day.

I pulled into the driveway at 1602 hours, tired and ready to put up a dirty bike for a wash on another day. The trip was a total of 4,513 miles, covered twenty states and two Canadian provinces. I got to tour the USS Constitution, climb Mt. Washington, ride in the dark without a low beam, sleep in some real fleabags, and just have a glorious time. If at anytime anyone tells you the area is boring, they are not looking. I saw magnificent scenery everywhere I went. This is a beautiful country, and our neighbor to the north is pretty darn good also. Get out there and enjoy it. Don’t wait until you retire, the older you get the greater the chance you won’t do it, and it will be more painful if you do. Believe me, age will catch up with you. Get out there and make that ride of a lifetime while and when you can.

Fair winds and following seas, and may I meet you on the road somewhere, someday.

 

[Trek]

Thanks Jake!

 

[pru7536]

Outstanding ride report Jake! Thanks for sharing it with us. Glad you made it home safely. I was a little concerned with your string of bad luck there for a while, but you improvised, adapted and overcame. It would be a pleasure to meet you on the road sometime. Best wishes!