Everyone Loves a Parade / Iowa Ride - June, 2013

Finally, some good weather here.  Closed on Friday’s in June so I headed out to the Mississippi for one night camping to ride all day long on some great roads.  It was all good riding, but once in the groove, found that transcendent feeling we know as motorcyclists but don’t always find.

Something kinda odd happened on the way.  In the town of Oregon I came up behind a long train of Harley’s in parade formation – at least 50 bikes.  For about 15 miles!

As we were leaving town, I pass the last pick up between us, and the tail gunner with his day glow green gloves waives me on to join the group.  My headlight must have looked round in his vibrating mirrors, cause I sure didn’t fit in with all those individualists riding in a pack.

There was no way I was passing a parade this long, so I just fell into formation going 50 on wide open roads.  Hmmm...  Well Rt64 zig zags through a few rural stop signs / turns.  So I just followed the train and at least we didn’t stop at any of them.  Since I had to call home anyway, I pulled off at a road side park, waived to the tail gunner as he passed and fell out of line.  Weird. 

Going from Savanna to Galena I usually take Black Jack Road.  Over the winter I saw Irish Hollow and wanted to try it.  Most of it looked like this.

Some of it like this.

Either way, turns were a little too tight to be fun and a little too much gravel on the road to go at high speeds, but I am sure all this technical shifting in tight quarters prepared me for what the day was to bring.

So north of Dubuque on rt 3 is the turn off for Sherril and Balltown – the hill towns on County Rd 9Y.  Always ride this road.  Always love it.  It is about a 30mi run to Guttenburg where the roads become just as good but lower in elevation, amongst timber, and paved.   County Rt 9 is elevated, hilly, grooved, flawless concrete, wide open site lines with the crops this low early in the season.  And the 70 deg temp is just pouring through my jacket’s open vents keeping me cool.

I’ll leave it at this – I heard no wind noise – only the revs.  Only looked at the speedo in one turn - don't ask.  Didn’t think about riding gear, tires, valve lash, the next better bike, or work.  Every curve was exactly where it should be, every shift was right on, every 40mph posted sweeper was perfect in 5th gear at high rpm.  Every straight away was a 6th gear duck and pour it on, and no law enforcement was present.  The whole stretch, I think I had to pass 3 pick ups who politely moved over.  If I or someone else was watching me, I am sure they would have said, “too fast.” Sitting inside my helmet, it all was effortless and perfectly on pace.  We’ve all been there.  It is why we ride.  And this particular stretch is why I don’t ride a cruiser.

Set up tent at Pike’s Peak and kept riding up the river to La Crescent, MN.  Countless perfect turns and so little traffic.  Coming back, still cool in the jacket, clear head in the helmet, and the ride felt like it was going to go on forever.

But, alas, it’s a physical world we live in as witnessed by bug splatter and the sun eventually going down.

Cherry Mine Disaster - Day Ride

Finally, it might be Spring.  By this time last year, I had ridden 1,000 miles.  Not so lucky this year, but did get a chance to go out today and rev the engine a bit while checking out something I had read about over the winter.  Headed out to some twisties at Starved Rock.  Took a few passes, little traffic, and the gears wound out perfectly.

Started heading to the the town of Cherry, but stopped off in Troy grove for a few pics.

Too cool.

Stopped off at the Wild Bill Hickok memorial.  Pretty cool story - especially focusing on his efforts for equality.

And a cool statue.

So I headed out to Cherry, IL to see the Cherry Mine Disaster memorial.  I was surprised at how large the slag piles were.  On these open plains, I could see them several miles away.  They look small in the pic, but they are quite large in person.

In the end, 259 men and boys died here including 12 rescue workers.   Tragedy for sure, though the event did lead to safer mining regulations by the state. 

From Wikipedia:
"On Saturday, November 13, 1909, like most days, nearly 500 men and boys, and three dozen mules, were working in the mine. Unlike most days, an electrical outage earlier that week had forced the workers to light kerosene lanterns and torches, some portable, some set into the mine walls.
Shortly after noon, a coal car filled with hay for the mules caught fire from one of the wall lanterns. Initially unnoticed and, by some accounts, ignored by the workers, efforts to move the fire only spread the blaze to the timbers supporting the mine.

The two shafts were then closed off to smother the fire, but this also had the effect of cutting off oxygen to the miners, and allowing the “black damp,” a suffocating mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, to build up in the mine."

There is more at Wikipedia if you would like to read it.