Short Trip to WI Day 2

Beloit, Wi, to Cambridge, Wi:  About 55 miles

Halloween woke early to a very rainy day.  After a fairly decent night's sleep, I got up early and watched TV while very slowly getting ready.  I wanted to go to Historic Auto Attractions and they did not open until 10:00.  I was also hoping that maybe the bulk of the rain would pass before I had to leave; it did not.

The hotel breakfast was at the same restaurant as dinner the night before.  While the choices for the free breakfast were limited, it was still good for an inexpensive hotel breakfast.

Shortly before 10:00, I checked out and headed a few miles south to the museum.  I got there a couple minutes before it opened, but there was a covered awning to stand under while I removed my already very wet motorcycle gloves and helmet.  More people showed up while I was there, but as I got there right at opening, I had the museum to myself for most of my time there.

The museum is in an industrial park and looks more like a warehouse than anything else.  What is inside is truly eclectic and fascinating.  Below are just a few of the many oddities and attractions I found noteworthy:

A Back to the Future car that was used for promos at theatres, etc.

Bonnie and Clyde's stuff including Bonnie's actual revolver (which was given to a relative of hers by the police - this seems preposterous by today's standards) and Clyde's hat worn at the scene of his death with a bullet hole in it.

Bridgestone "Rockford" Tora motorcycle still in its original shipping crate.  These were made in Northern Illinois, but this came from Michigan.

Bicentennial car covered completely in coins.  Why???

Colonel Sanders' open limo - I think it should be bright yellow or have a chicken on it somewhere.

John Dillinger's actual 1911 .45.  Nice enough gun even without the historic gangster attached to it.

The gun that fired the fatal bullet into Dillinger.  I guess this 1905 won the battle against the 1911 above.

 GhostBusters Ectomobile, unsure how or if the was used in the movie.

A pair of Elvis' glasses which he destroyed in a fit of rage.

Eva Peron's Limo, don't cry for me Roscoe, Illinois.

 A grizzly bear.  There were a few neat exhibits of taxidermy, including a huge bull elephant.

 Emperor Hirohito's Limo.  I guess he didn't hate everything about the United States.

Hitler's Mercedes G4.  The fact that they needed this sign in the area of the Axis WWII exhibit (in a museum) is a very sad commentary on political sensibilities.

Howard Hughes' Limo.  I'm surprised the recluse didn't have very darkly tinted windows.

Whips used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  Hey Short Round!

Not THE Kennedy convertible but a convertible that he did ride in.

A piece of the Grassy Knoll Fence.  Conspiracy Theorists take note, the truth must lie in this fence somewhere!

The actual flag draped over Kennedy's coffin.

The car that was following Kennedy's convertible when he was shot.  Maybe this is where Jackie was headed.

Manacle shackles worn by Booth conspirator after arrest and during trial.

A Naugahyde covered safari car.   What the...

I can't say I'm much into the stock car parts of the museum, but I was glad someone rescued this REAL stock car - from when stock cars were stock and kept race ready in barns and garages.

 Stalin's Limo, I guess he didn't hate everything about the United States either.

Notice the three inch thick glass in Stalin's limo.  I guess he liked safety.

One of the Family Truckster's used form the movie Vacation.  This was used for some shots in the movie, including a lot of scenes inside the car.

Since the Truckster was one of my personal favorites in the museum, another shot of it.

A mantle from the fireplace during the Truman era.  Do you think he really had a picture of an atomic bomb explosion hung above his mantel?

The list of artifacts at the museum goes on and on.  In addition to the cars and large pieces, all of the little nuggets were neat to be able to see.  Who thought to save the shoes Jack Ruby was wearing when he shot Lee Harvey Oswald?
There is always a voice in the back of my head wondering if some of these items are fakes, sold by shysters to make a buck.  But many of the items have letters explaining their history and even if a few fakes make it in, that makes the real ones that much more fascinating.

After the Historic Auto Attractions museum, I hit the very wet roads and headed up to Maria's.  While it may have made her room mates a tad unhappy, they let me park the Triumph in the garage, before I peeled of wet motorcycle layers.  I talked with Maria and Robin for a while.  Maria and I took Olive to walk in a very large multi-use area.  The rain had mostly stopped at this point, but it was still quite wet.

Take-out sushi from Fort Atkinson and stealing Trick-or-Treater's candy while watching back episodes of the TV show Fargo rounded out the night.

Short Trip to WI Day 1

Home to Beloit, WI:  407.8 Miles

I was very indecisive about this trip.  I really didn't think I'd go and, as late as Thursday afternoon, I was talking myself out of going and just spending a long weekend around the house.
I have several vacation days I have to use before the end of the year.  With several scheduled for deer hunting and a few scheduled for no reason in December, I decided that since the weather doesn't look too heinous this weekend, I should not waste the vacation time.  Life is short, and I wouldn't want to be sitting in front of the TV wishing I had gone somewhere.

So at nearly the last minute, I decided to go and see Maria in Wisconsin.  The weather for the trip North on Friday and South on Sunday look very good for late October/early November.  Saturday looks wet, but hopefully it won't be too bad without many miles planned.  Before leaving, I did a quick scouting on the deer hunting land since that was on the agenda for the weekend and packed up what was needed for the trip.

I waited to leave Friday morning until it was light out.  Forecast was for decent weather, but leaving around 9:00, the sky was socked in with clouds.  Temperatures were tolerable in the mid 40's.  Waiting to leave also allowed me to have coffee and eat cornbread pecan waffles.

Once out of the house, I took 2-lane roads for a while, jumping on the interstate to go around Indianapolis.  As I was nearing Indy, a white car came zooming up behind me and tailgated terribly.  Looking in the rear view mirror, it looked a little like a law enforcement vehicle and had a spotlight, but no light bar, so I continued passing the two cars I was overtaking.  A second glance in my rear view mirrors showed blue and red lights flashing - the lights were inside the car.
I got over and was ready to be pulled over, but the cop pulled up beside me and pointed at his eyes, then the road, then zoomed on away.  I'm not entirely sure what the mime meant, but I can only guess it meant a) Pay attention motorcycle guy*  b) I've got my eyes on you motorcycle guy c) I'm late for my optomitrist appointment.
*If I would have known for sure the car was law enforcement, I probably would have gotten over.  But given that there is no reason to automatically move over for law enforcement without lights on, the situation was quite ambiguous and it was just as likely that had a sped up and gotten over, he would have pulled me over for speeding.  Oh well, it is best not to overthink these things.
Later in the day with another state trooper behind me, I did greatly speed up to get around a guy going very slow in the left lane, with trucks merging just ahead.  That Illinois state trooper just ignored me.

Shortly after getting around Indianapolis, I got off the interstate again back onto 2-lane roads.  Around this time, the clouds cleared and the weather got very nice for late fall.  Temperatures warmed into the 50's, and with the sun and slower speeds, it was very pleasant.

At one point, I got behind a large truck, carrying a power windmill blade, with an escort police vehicle.  The truck was going VERY slow through a small town and I figured that was going to push me onto the interstate again, but the blade stopped at a truck stop, freeing traffic to resume normal pace.

I stayed on 2-lane roads as long as I could and set the GPS to avoid tolls.  This put me through Rockford, before crossing into Beloit, Wisconsin for the night.  Not being required to pay the BS toll at the Wisconsin border was worth going through Rockford.
Dinner that night was a double bacon burger at a restaurant next to the hotel.

Given that temperatures this time of year can be very temperamental, it was a great late fall day on the bike.

The Keys Day 10

Caryville, Tennessee to Home:  259.7 Miles

We woke up to evidence of rain, but it was still mostly dry.  After a couple final hotel waffles, we were on the road before daybreak.
It lightly rained off and on for the first couple hours.  Driving north through the foothills of the Appalachians was nice, but we were in go-home mode.

We had a gas stop just south of Lexington before making the final stretch home.  The rain stopped after Lexington and clouds dissipated.  A short day on the road means getting home with enough time to do some laundry and attend to anything else that needs to be done.
Before noon, we pull into the driveway.  Thankfully, little rain at home during our trip to The Keys means the lawn does not need to be mowed - which is good as the lawnmower is still broken.

After being gone ten days and riding the Goldwing over 2750 miles, it is good to be back home on a beautiful early fall day.

The Keys Day 9

Valdosta, Georgia to Caryville, Tennessee:  470.5 Miles

After a couple hotel waffles, we were on the road while it was almost still too dark - the clear lens motorcycle glasses were in the saddle bag.  It got light soon enough.
Temperatures were moderate, in the low 70's, compared to the last week and much lower humidity as well.

Once on the road, we made very good time.  I-75 through Georgia is mostly three lanes so for only the second time I can remember, I set my cruise control and never took it off until a fuel stop 170-some miles later.  The only other time I can remember doing this was in Wyoming.

After stopping for fuel between Macon and Atlanta, we continued through Atlanta.  Timing was good, with the bulk of rush hour over, but traffic was still heavy.  The HOV lanes through Atlanta helped immensely.  Even though traffic was tolerable, there was less harassment in the HOV lanes.  I was surprised at the level of abuse of the lanes though - especially given that traffic wasn't at capacity.  Most drivers respect the treatment of HOV as a "separate" roadway, but many cars and even a truck crossed the double while lines.  I don't know about Atlanta's enforcement of HOV lanes, but police in other areas of the country I've driven through have very little humor for this.
Once through Atlanta, we got off the interstate for a while.  It was a nice break and allowed us to get an extremely good and quick lunch at Wes-Man's on US411.  Wes-Man's is a small restaurant and I questioned why they have bags of water with pennies in them in front.  The waitress said it was to keep flies away.  I asked if it worked?  Her answer, "No..."

After lunch we continued north on US411 for about an hour before making our way back to I-75.  US411 was much more fun than the interstate, even if only for a short time.

Going through Knoxville was almost worse than Atlanta, but we made it through unscathed before stopping for the night in Caryville.  If we hadn't made reservations, we may have continued on since the rain forecast was calling for the rain we would have ridden through if we had gone home by the coastal route to come west.  I'm glad we didn't take the coastal route, and I hope we get out before it gets too wet.  If not, tomorrow should be short enough.

We had to evict a couple stinkbugs from our hotel room, but it is that time of year.  Dinner that night was about a mile walk down the road at a BBQ joint inside a nearby state park.  The walk there included entertainment of the police giving a sobriety check to a man who looked doomed to failure.

The BBQ restaurant was fairly quiet when we got there, but filled very quickly with pensioners.  They all seemed to know each other as well.  We were on the extreme lower end of the age scale.  The food and service were excellent.

The Keys Day 8

Islamorada, Florida to Valdosta, Georgia:  511.9 Miles

We were glad to be back in the cottage early the previous evening as there was torrential rain for several hours into the night.  We then woke on the first day of spring to a final muggy Florida Keys morning.
We walked out to the dock to watch the sunrise, but the clouds to the east prevented seeing the sun.  More dramatic was the lightning flashing to the southeast as the day started to get brighter.

We headed out after checking out of the Pines and Palms.  Traffic was light as we said goodbye to The Keys, going north on US1.

We wanted to take the same basic route home as we took south, but a weather system off the coast was bringing the threat of heavy rain and wind into the Atlantic states.  While weather is a part of motorcycle travel, a more inland route seemed prudent.

Once back on the mainland of Florida, the nonsensical Garmin GPS put us on some local roads before steering us through construction traffic (in fairness to Garmin, they don't know about that).  Once through the construction on FL997 we got onto US27.
The first couple hours on US27 were wonderful.  High speeds, absolutely no traffic.  Florida is not known for great roads, and this was monotonously flat and straight, but it was pretty in its own way.
Initially, we traveled through swampy backwater glade-type topography.  Then there were miles and miles of sugar cane fields.

After the sugar cane, came miles of citrus trees.

Temperature and humidity dropped throughout the afternoon, making the ride become much more comfortable.
Around Sebring, we should have stopped listening to the GPS and headed over to I-75, but we continued on US27 through many miles of traffic lights.  There were places where it wasn't too bad, and the road was wide, with many lanes.  But the traffic lights, starting somewhere north of Sebring and continuing for some 50 miles got very annoying.
Eventually we made it to the Florida Turnpike and rode interstates for the rest of the day.

I was actually kind of glad that Garmin took a somewhat moronic route through Florida as I wanted to see the interior of the state.  I was also glad not to have to deal with Florida interstate traffic for the entire day.  Taking a route that didn't require the relatively high toll rates was a bonus.
I also decided that Florida is a very, very long state, when starting from The Keys.

Eventually we crossed the state line and decided to stop shortly thereafter in Valdosta, Georgia.  We made reservations from a gas stop and got a great room for the night.
Dinner that night was at a Japanese restaurant and it was surprisingly good - I wouldn't have picked Southern Georgia for sushi, but I'll take it.

The Keys Day 7

No miles on the ... Goldwing

It was another spectacular sunrise after some overnight rain.  The sunrise was even more serene as there are less people here than when we got here on the weekend.

Today was bike day - not motorcycle day - bike day.  We rented beach bomber bicycles to do a little exploring.

After renting our bikes, we headed south on US1 to to Robbie's.  The bike ride down wasn't too bad except the Indian Channel Bridge had only a narrow bike shoulder which required a little more concentration than most other areas.
Robbie's was still opening up when we got there, but we watched two men cleaning squid and feeding the remnants to some moderate sized tarpon on the shallows.

I had read about Robbie's and feeding the tarpon before coming down.  But first on the agenda was an excellent breakfast/lunch.We saw other people feeding the tarpon while we were eating and I thought it looked a little hokey.  I was wrong - it was fun hand feeding them.  Some of the fish were extremely large; a few were well over 100 pounds.

There was a sign on the dock warning visitors not to put their hands in the water and I could see why the admonition was given.

We looked around Robbie's a little more before heading back north.  We took our time and did some exploring as we pedaled back to the cottage.

After a few minutes in the cottage, I went out on the bike to the north of Islamorada.  I do a lot of biking at home and while the single speed beach bomber was easy to pedal, it felt very different from my Trek at home.  It was a fun way to see a bit of the island at island speed.

Most of the rest of the day was spent goofing around the cottage before pedaling out for an early dinner.  Our time in The Keys is coming to a close.

The Keys Day 6

Fishing Day!  No miles on the bike.

It was forecast to be a clear morning so we got up early to watch the sunrise.  Despite torrential rain sometime overnight, the forecasts were correct, with clouds seen in the distance making the sunrise more dramatic.  We watched the world wake up from the dock.  It was a very pretty sunrise.

After the sunrise, we got ready for a day of fishing.  I had booked a charter several weeks ago.  As I watched the forecast before coming down to The Keys, I wasn't sure if the fishing trip would actually happen since the weather the week before and forecasts were not  positive.  But we hit the weather lottery with beautiful blue skies and very calm seas.

We got to the marina and met our captain Keith.  We talked for a few minutes while he got the boat ready and we headed out to buy bait.  After purchasing bait, it was about a 45 minute boat ride to get to the spot we were to fish at.  We boated through the Everglades National Park, nearly all the way to the Florida mainland.  On the way there, we saw a couple pods of dolphins and at least one large sea turtle.

Keith anchored the boat in "the bomb hole" which was an area that was over 20 feet deep surrounded by 12 foot water.  On putting our shrimp bait in the water, we immediately had hits and fish on.  Most of what we were catching were mangrove snapper and schoolmaster snapper.  They weren't huge, but fought pretty good and the constant action was a lot of fun.

Keith had put a line out the back of the boat with a larger bait on it and at some point it starting taking line.  I took the pole and with great difficulty reeled in a large sawfish.  It was only at the boat for a few seconds before its rostrum, which was wrapped around the line cut the dinosaur fish free.

It was still exciting to catch a fish that big.  We continued fishing and caught more snapper and had several line breaks from other fish, many fighting for a considerable time suggesting good size fish.
While we were fishing, we saw many sea turtles, rays, birds, etc.  There was never a dull moment.

For a second time, the larger rod starting losing line and I took the pole again.  This time the fight was on.  After 15 or so minutes, Keith gave me a fighting belt which helped immensely, but it was still a lot of work - fun work.  After fighting with the fish for nearly an hour, we finally got it by the boat a few times.  It may have been the same sawfish, but there was no other line/leader visible.
This fight tired out myself and the fish, but we were able to see it well and get a few pictures.

Sawfish are critically endangered and it isn't legal to bring them in the boat, even if it would have been possible.  This specimen was between 16-18 feet (the boat was a 24 foot).  Her rostrum slightly damaged the exterior of the boat while observing and freeing her.  She fought the good fight, and we eventually broke the leader, sending her back to where sawfish go.  I found reference to a 16 foot sawfish that was weighed at 700 pounds.  It is unlikely I'll ever catch another fish that large.

We took a cooling ride on the boat before going back to fish for a short time.  We caught several more snapper, and had some much larger fish on pinfish bait - likely grouper since at one point a grouper followed the bait back to the boat.

Eventually the fun must end so we headed back toward Islamorada.  The day had warmed, but was still comfortable and the sea was very calm.

We told a few lies and had a celebratory drink at the marina before heading back to the cottage.

Having been gone from home now for several days with only what we could pack on the motorcycle, it was time to do laundry.  This was a bit of a letdown after such a fun day fishing, but it needed to be done.

Dinner that night was a walk down the highway to Lazy Days which was excellent food, inside away from the humid heat, but with a view of the water.