More road-trip sightings are the buildings and structures that are ridden past and stopped by. From the ecumenical to the agricultural, the retail to the residential. The bridge in the Duluth Harbor is one highlight for sure. A celebration of the mining and logging industry that created the Upper Midwest.
One of the great things when traveling around on the miles and miles of county routes, backroads, tracks, and byways is to see things along the way. I could stop every mile but then wouldn’t get anywhere! So many things are a fleeting vision as you speed past at between 30 and 60 mikes per hour. Neon restaurant lights in Galena; barns in Door County; a Red-spotted Blue in Duluth; breakfast cafe in Black River Falls; Muffler Man in Spooner; vintage Weiner cooker on Washington Island; goats (also W.I.); Dickeyville Grotto; Fresnel Lens, Split Rock. So many things to accessorize the adventure.
A Week on the road: 1560 miles, 35 hours in the saddle, two Great Lakes, many adventurous memories. And I’m tired!
We took the small car ferry over to Washington Island at the top end of the peninsula beyond Green Bay. 25 square miles of woodland, farming, vineyards, cabins. A harbor to the farther Rock Island, itself a nature reserve.
Interesting real variety of farm buildings, tools and cabin of the day. Bleating goats gave noise to the location.
No need to go fast. Perfectly paced for the go-slow feel of the place. Relax.
We had a full day riding from Duluth MN to Green Bay WI. Lake Superior to Lake Michigan. Along Highway 70, the old logging road that cuts across the top of Wisconsin. Lakes open up occasionally and the mixed woodland provides a verdant backdrop to the perfect roads.
Two Harbors – where the iron ore gets loaded onto the behemoth carriers. Also there, is this extraordinarily large locomotive. Used to haul the ore from the ranges inland to these ports. It could pull a mile of ore laden trucks with its 6,000 HP coal fed steam driven engines.
Got to the campsite right on the waters edge. Splendid sunset and campfire as the stars lit up. Super riding through the National Forests that speckle the area.
There were signs warning road users of Elk crossing, beautiful trout streams cross-crossing the way and the occasional bald Eagle soaring overhead.
We’re on a multi-day trip through the Dairlyland of America. From the historic lead mining center of Galena IL we headed north along the Mississippi through wooded dales and along barn scattered ridges. Back roads, gravel trails, reedbed carpeted bottomlands, and sprouting cornfield amidst oak woodland. A splendid part of the State.
An early morning sprint to the far South Side with a good friend. Destination was a loop of Lake Calumet, an older material port amidst a lost industrial area. Mostly marshes now attracting many birds and habitat for fish, amphibians and insects. Perfect weather too! David was riding his Aprilia Dorsoduro, the perfect urban tool.
What a voice and charismatic presence the indefatigable Ms Turner had. Stretching from the 50’s into the 21st Century her impact in the music industry was colossal. She was also a motorcycle rider. A favorite bike being an Electra Glide HD. Though here is a younger gal with a sixties BSA.
Tina Turner RIP (1939-2023)
Got the bike shifted to home for summer commuting and wider jaunts further afield. Lake looked splendid in the afternoon sun.
Zooming through the City here’s a white Triumph Tiger owner haring through South Rogers Park along Sheridan Road. I was heading home when I spied it.
First Post May 12th 2023
Known for making some really unconventional inventions, a US man named Ky Michaelson is back with yet another invention that is a beer-powered motorcycle. In a Fox9 report, Ky spoke about his latest creation stating that the motorcycle is “definitely different, and I like to be really creative.” Notably, the motorcycle includes a 14-gallon ket that a heating coil instead of a gas-powered engine. The coil helps to heat up the beer which further powers the motorcycle to start. As stated by the innovator, the beer-powered motorcycle was created in his garage in Bloomington.
Speaking about his creation, Ky noted that the gas prices are going up in Bloomington as a result of which he thought that it was nothing better to use it for fuel. Nicknmaed as ‘Rocketman’ for being the first civilian ever to launch a rocket into space, Michaelson said that the motorcycle has the capacity to reach speeds up to 150 miles per hour (240 km per hour) and he hopes to take it out to a drag strip to test its capabilities in the coming days.
When he pours beer into the keg, the liquid heats up to 300 degrees, and when it goes out the nozzles in the back, the beer turns into superheated steam, which provides enough thrust to move the bike forward,” he said as cited by Fox9. Michaelson also said that it could be any kind of liquid including Red Bull and Caribou Coffee.
A great day up to Lake Geneva through McHenry County on roads bordered by spring blooming trees and emerging leaves. We stopped in at Morries Place where we spied another workshop filled with project bikes. An interesting cove called Jim was working on a 1929 Henderson X. A splendid Triton parked outside near to where Ed Zender was working on a BSA.
Fella ridin’ his aped Hog along Lake Shore Drive. Patches covering his jacket and regulatory safety ponytail.
geordiebiker.com 