In the Middle of the Mississippi - NAFO4

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yamafitter

Reigning NERDS Granite Lane Gold Medalist
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For a while it was looking like this trip was not going to happen. Ray had a back out and the last two dirt bike events I rode almost killed me. My back was feeling like somebody had been beating on me with a baseball bat and there was so much mud on the dirt bike from the last event I didn't even want to touch it but I needed to have the dirt bike ready for the next event when I get back from NAFO. After a couple of coffees at Timmy's I gridded up my loins and got to work. I poked at the bike with a big stick to knock off the worst of the mud on Monday and then washed the riding gear making sure I used the extra rinse cycle as per my friend's wife's instructions. He got in trouble after the Mid-Summer ride for not doing this and I don't want Helen yelling at me.

Plan A was to leave on Tuesday, stop at Bust's and then catch the ferry and do the Steel Toe Tour at the Harley plant Wednesday morning. As the sun was setting Tuesday evening I had still not packed so it was on to Plan B. I left Bowmanville at 5AM and did not even stop at a Tim Hortons until I had made it to the other side of Toronto. Plan B worked to perfection since I cruised through Toronto missing any rush hour nonsense and stop for gas and coffee at the Timmy's in Woodstock.

There was a quick mandatory pit stop at the Duty Free at the border in Sarnia to pick up supplies (ie Forty Creek) and I slabbed it across Michigan. Every time I see the Michigan White Trailer Trash Welcome Center on I69 outside of Port Huron I always feel sad that they could not even afford a double wide....

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There are two options when travelling in Michigan. You can slab it across on the interstate and get it over with as quickly as possible or you take some straight boring secondary roads and drag the pain out. I decided to minimize the boredom and slabbed it over to Muskegon where I am right now waiting on the high spped ferry for the ride over to Milwakee.

While fighting off the boredom I was trying to think of what riding across Michigan reminded me of and then it hit me. It's like riding in Manitoba only there are cars.

I took a couple of phots of the marina since I have a little bit of time before the crossing....

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There is a little bit of money sitting on this triailer....

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I think this boat is being decommisioned....

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Paln B is to get to the outskirts of Milwakee and grab a room and then it will be a nice fun ride to NAFO tomorrow.

later.....

 
So Billy Fitz, where is the next installment at eh? I'm out in the swimming pool with my laptop, but I am running out of Cerveza Negra Modelo and my pitcher of Margaritas is almost empty! Have Big Fun, ya Hoser! JSNS!

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So Billy Fitz, where is the next installment at eh? I'm out in the swimming pool with my laptop, but I am running out of Cerveza Negra Modelo and my pitcher of Margaritas is almost empty! Have Big Fun, ya Hoser! JSNS!
If I was at your place I would plug in a toaster and play catch with you while you were still in the pool.

A few shots of the ferry during its arrival in the harbour....

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We had to go slow in the harbour with all the sailboats about...

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We went past the Coast Guard in the channel leading out of the harhour....

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and then past a submarine museum...

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Once out into Lake Michigan it was time to spool up the turbines....

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Two & 1/2 hours later we docked in Milwalkee after a nice smooth crossing.

There was another rider that was making his way back to California after going up to Churchill, Manitoba to see Polar Bears but he was too early. The Polar Bear tours don't start till October when the bears come off the ice flows.

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Riding into the sun was very tough so I just made it into the suburbs before calling it a day....

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The rest of the ride....

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As you can see it was pretty direct.

- to be continued-

 
Why do you take a 2 hour ferry ride across? Is it that much faster than just slabbing it? I guess it depends on your end goal? Or did you just wanna ride the boat?

 
Why do you take a 2 hour ferry ride across? Is it that much faster than just slabbing it? I guess it depends on your end goal? Or did you just wanna ride the boat?
That 2 hour ride saves one from about 6-8 hours of Chicago traffic and craziness.

Best two hours one can spend in that part of the world.

The only better way is to take the SS Badger, the last coal fired vessel in the USA which runs a little further North from Manitowoc WI to Ludington MI. SS Badger is slower but has more character!

 
Why do you take a 2 hour ferry ride across? Is it that much faster than just slabbing it? I guess it depends on your end goal? Or did you just wanna ride the boat?
That 2 hour ride saves one from about 6-8 hours of Chicago traffic and craziness.

Best two hours one can spend in that part of the world.

The only better way is to take the SS Badger, the last coal fired vessel in the USA which runs a little further North from Manitowoc WI to Ludington MI. SS Badger is slower but has more character!
Cool, thanks! I've never been up there. I need to remedy that one of these days. Hell, it's only money and time.

Oh well, for now I'll live vicariously through Billy Fitz. Carry on...

 
Like bigjohnsd said it keeps you out of the Chicago madness. I did consider earlier doing the YP (Upper Peninsula) but I've done that before and never took the ferry before. This time of year the ferry is a great deal because the motorcycle goes for free so money wise it was a wash to go either way. With the time saved I had time to stop for a nice Alaskian Amber Ale at Bullwinkles....

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The only thing I missed out by not getting away earlier was I was thinking about spending an extra day in Milwalkee and doing the Harley Davidson Steel Toe Tour. Maybe next year.

 
The morning was overcast, cool with some fog and mostly slab until I got over to the west side of Wisconsin so there are no photos until the lunch stop....

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Just after lunch I started getting into Amish country and came across this old steam farm tractor sitting by the road....

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I'm not sure is this photo means STOP, don't drink the Blatz beer or STOP and have a Blatz beer....

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We made it to LaCrosse and have checked in. I have cracked open the Forty Creek and now it is time to socialize.

....later.....

 
Billy Fitz what kind of a loyal Canadian are you eh, that we can't get one lousy photo of even a single donut? JSNS!

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I think I found the only dirt road in all of Wisconsin....

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Everybody else's bike was nice and clean in the parking lot even TripperMike's ugly yellow beast....

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All the usual suspects were milling about telling lies....

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BikerGeek and Sooze made their arrival to add a little class to this shindig....

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The sign-in crew were hard at work getting everyone registered.....

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There was even a vintage Yamaha in the parking lot....

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Just one of a couple in his collection as noted on his licence plate....

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In Wisconsin the first part of the licence number stays the same and they just change the last letter for each bike in the collection.

Dinner tonight was in downtown LaCrosse at a restaurant called Diggers. My serloin steak was excellent.

Some are still at the parking lot social but I still need to put on a few touches for my route for the Rallye Rally so I'm calling it a night.

to be continued....

 
Moving back to the nautical theme for a moment our group was not the only ones at the Days Inn at LaCrosse. There is a bass tournament happening this weekend and a number of the pros were using the NAFO headquarters as their base. The money in just a couple of these boats could probably buy the entire NAFO fleet of FJRs or at least a nice down payment on KJ's Beemer....

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KJ and crew finally arrived on site minus Stanley Steamer. KJ's Beemer's autopilot is programmed to stop at every gentlemen's club in route and they managed to lose Stanley at one of the clubs along the way. We have started a betting pool on whether Stanley ever arrives in LaCrosse.

Stanley is also the new owner of an ST Beemer of exploding final drive fame. KJ tried to talk Stanley into an FJR but Stanley had already drunk the koolaid.

 
Wow! Tripper Mike, that's one great looking FJR; I don't care what Billy Fitz says, our King of the Hosers eh! JSNS! PS: yamafitter, not even a kielbasa pic eh!

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I just finished out of the money in the Rallye Rally because Rick did not consider this a rustic road...

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When I got to this point it looked pretty rustic to me....

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That was the first of three water crossings on this particular road. The so called rustic roads were like the interstate compared to this.

 
I forgot to add the screen shot of the route I took for the Rallye Rally....

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Griff took the win with over 30,000 points while I scored a shade over 19,000. Bob (Intech) lost 500 points for making the same mistake as he did last year and forgot to mark down his mileage on his answer sheet again. I guess it is true that you can't teach an old dog a new trick.

 
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PS: yamafitter, not even a kielbasa pic eh!
I got no time for a cheesehead like you. I got Alphabet roads to ride.
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I have a little more time today for a relaxing ride so I'll stop in at a cheese shop just for you.

 
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