Rides

[glwilson]

KawaNOW member; gofs99 (John) and myself (and wife) met today and rode for a St Jude run benefiting a young local girl. Our trip took into Darien, WI before returning.

One of the local Kawasaki dealers sponsored the ride -- their first. I would say it was a success. There were 171 bikes entered of many different brands and models -- to include several Nomads.

All 171 bikes stayed together the entire trip north of here; thanks to roads blocks and police positioned at strategic intersections to allow all several miles of bikes through. Was a great site to see.

Tried to get with a few of the other Nomads; but was difficult to do due to the setup of the day. Plan on circling back with the dealer about KawaNOW. We'll see.

It was a great day to ride.

John took the photo below of our two bikes at the mid-point for the ride before heading back. (Mine is on the far left; John's the middle)

[scion0]

Nice!

[pirate]

Looks like a fun time!

[gofs99]

This was my third benefit ride this year. On May 18th, I rode in the littleangels charity ride to benefit the Little Angels home in Elgin, IL. This ride averages over 2000 bikes each year. In July, I rode in the Rockford Steel Pigs ride which raised money for the Kevin Rice Foundation to help Families of officers killed on duty. Kevin and his family lived in our neighborhood and was killed on a routine traffic stop several years ago.

It is great to enjoy something I love to do and help others at the same time.

[phenrichs]

Originally Posted by gofs99

It is great to enjoy something I love to do and help others at the same time.

I agree. i have a friend that passed away 4 years ago. He had been sick all his life and beat cancer when he was about 10 but the therapy messed up his lungs. He died 2 weeks before his wedding day. His family are all riders and they put on a memorial run every year and half of the proceeds go to a local children's hospital and the other half to a local family in need with sick kids. They pick a new family every year.

[glwilson]

My wife and I took off early Saturday (Labor Day Weekend) headed up through Wisconsin on nothing but "backroads" up through Spring Green on to LaCrosse, WI. We stopped several times at various interesting points and beautiful vistas along the way. Had lunch at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taleisen (one of my favorite architects).

We started back at 8am this morning headed across the river into Minnesota down along the Mississippi on into Iowa on the "Great River Road". That road is now one of my favorite new rides. We crossed the river back to Galena, IL and then back to the "home-area" of Rockford, IL.

If anyone is ever able to take a couple of the routes we took this weekend I would highly recommend it. The scenery is absolutely fantastic; the roads are "twisties"; and the topography is loaded with very high hills.

I am posting only two photos (which are not the best we took) because the camera mal-functioned; thus we have no other pics to share.

[roadman]

Sounds like you had a good time.I like the Great River Road,it's a great route to ride.

[stretch]

I agree, sounds like you had a good trip. I am anxious to try the Great River Road myself.

[glwilson]

Keep in mind that there are several "Great River Roads". One is on the Illinois side of the "Ole Miss" that continues on up through Wisconsin. A great road to ride on -- no doubt; particularly once you have made it to Savanna, IL and on up through Galena, IL on up to LaCrosse. (It gets better the further north you go.)

The other "Great River Road" is on the opposite side of the river (west side). To be frank; the Great River Road on the Minnesota/Iowa side is better -- far better in my opinion -- particularly when you get up to the north part of Iowa (somewhere around Balltown, IA [sp?]) on up to Minnesota. The hills I mentioned are actually small mountains. There are several small river towns to stop at that offer very unusual glimpses into the "past" -- quite interesting. McGregor, IA is a very interesting small river-town offering shopping (for the wife or significant other) if you wanted to stay there overnight or just "stop" for an hour.(Lodging is available there -- saw around 200 motorcycles parked at the local hotel.)

Speaking of motorcycles -- I never saw so many motorcycles before when riding like I did on the Minn/Iowa side -- and now I know why. There were so many that you couldn't possibly "wave" to all of them -- between the shear number of bikes and controlling the "twisties" -- you just couldn't do it. I believe most all realized this as well because many just gave-up waving after a while -- thus "nods" were the order of the day.

Anyway; I have obviously rambled enough -- but hope some of you guys get to do it sooner than later. Be sure to plan on staying overnight somewhere to make it a two-day tour. Let me know if you have questions if you plan on making the trip.

(Those from Iowa/Minnesota have got to make that ride someday.)

[stretch]

We were riding up I-39 yesterday and I bet we saw 150 bikes going south. Mostly Harley's coming back from the 105th deal in Milwaukee. Arm was tired of waving by the time we reached Starved Rock.

[glwilson]

Originally Posted by stretch

We were riding up I-39 yesterday and I bet we saw 150 bikes going south. Mostly Harley's coming back from the 105th deal in Milwaukee. Arm was tired of waving by the time we reached Starved Rock.

Stretch; glad to hear you were out riding. You almost made it half-way up here to the Rockford area. How long did it take you to get to Starved Rock? Did you take some of the backroads around the park to the east once you got there? (There are several good ones to ride on.)

Last Thursday through Friday here in Rockford we had several thousands of HD's pull through the area.

The local HD dealer is known as the oldest dealer of HD's, thus they had quite a celebration setup. They had a police escort on Thursday for several hundred bikes headed to Milwaukee. It was actually pretty "cool" to see that many bikes.

I met one group from Australial that made the trip. They flew into Alabama and rented bikes -- traveled the "Smokies" for several days and then came through Rockford. Quite interesting to meet them -- a nice group of people.

I did see some "savory" types though. More on that later. I have not heard of any trouble at the event though.

I met another small group at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen from New Hampshire that rode all the way to Milwaukee; and then to Taliesen in Spring Green, WI on there way on out west. They are taking 1 1/2 months to do the trip. Sounded like a lot of fun -- something I hope to do some day.

(Kids have to finish college first!!)

[stretch]

It takes about an hour from my house to get to Starved Rock. We road on the road that goes east from the lodge area that had a few good curves. You will have to clue me in on the other roads. We ride up there occasionally for the scenery, probably go back once the leaves start to turn.

[roadman]

Do you mean route six ? Did you go to the leather shop in Utica...it's called Stone Heads?

[stretch]

No it wasn't RT 6, I've road that. Looking at that map it evidently was RT 78 that just continued on to Ottawa. I just never have went that way. I have been to Stone Heads before, bought some leather gloves there and probably will buy some chaps there too. Any other roads I should try? How about around Peoria?

[roadman]

route 29 on the west side of the IL river and route 26 on the east side of the river.You could make a big loop RT.24 over towards Peoria get on RT26 go up to Starved Rock and back to Fairbury....that would be a good ride when the leaves turn colors.