DARTing 2024 (Photos from Attendees Solicited)

[Mike]

Some of our merry band rolled into HQ (Borah Borah) yesterday, with more slated to arrive today. The weather is perfect-mid 70s and sunny. Today will be a day of mostly riding, followed by dinner at Jones’ Black Angus for those who are so inclined.

For anyone rolling in today, the plan is to get together for breakfast at Huckleberry’s in Prairie du Chien, then move out from there. I plan to be in Viroqua around noon for lunch at the Driftless Cafe. If you arrive and no one is here, go ahead and set up camp and see if you can hook up with us somewhere…as I mentioned, at least some of us will be in Viroqua at noon. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the group dinner at HQ, 13040 Borah Ridge Rd., Prairie du Chien. We always have plenty of food, so feel free to ride in and join us even if you haven’t registered. 

[Mike]

Some great rides today. Most headed north from Borah Borah and rendezvoused at the famous Driftless Cafe in Viroqua. Later in the afternoon, Alan (9Mary7) gave us a demo on low speed maneuvering, followed by an exercise in changing tires on the NoMar, and culminating with an epic dinner at Jones’ Black Angus. 

So far the weather has been pretty cooperative, hovering in the mid-70s during the day and dropping into the 50s at night. Sophie (the golden retriever puppy) has been ecstatic to have so many visitors, and Steve the Cat, after some early exhibitions of hostility, settled into Jeff FIsher’s lap for a long nap. Today, Saturday, brings the promise of more twisty roads beneath azure skies, and a celebratory dinner at Borah Borah tonight. 

A call out to my tolerant wife Victoria, for putting up with all of this. She’s a champ!

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

A giant tin turkey: 

 

An eagle made of some hay bales, a tire, and an oil drum:

 

 

And some cows:

 

The road in the following pics was officially closed because of flood damage, but when I came through on the way to DART on Thursday, I managed to get past it without any major trouble. When I was leading a group ride yesterday and rode right past the "road closed" sign, I'm betting at least a few of the riders behind me thought I was nuts. A car might have had some trouble getting through, but it wasn't a big deal for bikes (although the part of the pavement that was still intact was awfully lumpy). 

 

 

 

 

A panorama from the dinner table at the Angus:

 

[duckhawk64]

Steuben, WI.

[Dave_in_TX]

Mitch, that "eagle" looks more like a turkey to me.

[Hank in WV]

Or a road runner past its prime.

[duckhawk64]

Mt Hosmer Park. Lansing IA.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Breakfast this morning  at the Blue Moon restaurant in Onalaska,  just waiting on my "Green eggs and Ham".  Nice river view out the window, including the giant Onalaska sunfish on the left:

 

 

[IndyRob]

Had a great time meeting everyone and riding some awesome roads!  Thanks Mitch for planning the routes and leading our rides (except for the chip & seal.... uggh!).  :-)

 

And a HUGE thank you to Mike and Victoria for going Above and Beyond to host us this weekend.  Your place is exceptional!  

My ride home maintained my 100% record so far of "rain on the way back" which I get EVERY SINGLE TIME I go on an extended road trip.  I mean EVERY one!  But was not too bad this time and things cleared up shortly past Lancaster WI.  

 

Cheers all.  Hope everyone made it back safe and sound.

[scout6]

It was great meeting and riding with you all.  Thanks Mike and Victoria for having us, and taking such great care of us.  

[steveknapp]

Ferry closed due to high water: 

[duckhawk64]

1 hour ago, scout6 said:

It was great meeting and riding with you all.  Thanks Mike and Victoria for having us, and taking such great care of us.  

Ditto that. Wonderful hosts, thank you.!! Fantastic area, camping venue was top notch. I had a blast. Meeting everybody was the best part. Jeff Fisher

[9Mary7]

Thanks again Mike & Victoria for the hospitality.

Agreed we could have done without the chip seal, but only a couple Garmin turns this time. Mitch's routes were great again!!

Lastly, still can't believe how easily I got "Tom Sawyer'd" into the tire change......

[duckhawk64]

Lau

8 hours ago, 9Mary7 said:

 

Lastly, still can't believe how easily I got "Tom Sawyer'd" into the tire change......

9Mary7, laughing my head off. You definitely knew what you were doing. I sweat a lot more when a friend and I do my tires on his home-built changer. 

[Mike]

2 hours ago, duckhawk64 said:

Lau

9Mary7, laughing my head off. You definitely knew what you were doing. I sweat a lot more when a friend and I do my tires on his home-built changer. 

A giant “thanks” to Alan (9Mary7), who did the tire change as well as the low-speed maneuvering demo. Alan, a former motorcycle officer, is the epitome of poetry in motion on his mighty Honda.

[steveknapp]

Home, the entomology study has been washed from the bike, and the last cookie from Ma's has been consumed. 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Made it home last night.  Will post more pics later this week.  

[Krid]

That really looks like a great area and a fun get together,  I'm gonna try next time! By the way, motor officers are typically some of the .most highly skilled riders I know, I used to ride with a couple of MSP (Maryland state) and local officers and these guys are phenomenal riders!

[Brodiepunker18]

On 7/21/2024 at 9:34 PM, 9Mary7 said:

Thanks again Mike & Victoria for the hospitality.

Agreed we could have done without the chip seal, but only a couple Garmin turns this time. Mitch's routes were great again!!

Lastly, still can't believe how easily I got "Tom Sawyer'd" into the tire change......

I appreciate the help and showing me how it’s done. 
 

thanks @Mike and Victoria for the hospitality. As always, it was delightful and so much fun.

 

i can definitely do without the chip seal but, it definitely makes a good lesson on how to approach and handle it. 
 

My last year on two wheels and it was pretty perfect and spectacular!

 

Onwards to the sidecar! The next great adventure awaits!

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

A few more pics from me. 

 

When the Lake Express ferry lands in Muskegon, they tie up with the bow at ramp; the cars/bikes from Milwaukee drive off, then we all drive on and park facing the stern.  I was among the first to drive on, so I got to tie down at the stern of the ferry:

 

 

 

This seemed like good news, because it meant I would be among the first off when we got to Milwaukee (if you're at the other end of the ferry, it can take ten minutes or more get get out).  But check the pics: see the whitecaps on the water?  This was on Muskegon lake, which is relatively small and sheltered from the wind.  Out in the open on Lake Michigan, the wind was howling pretty good, meaning a wild ride and lots of spray.  I got to watch as my bike got slathered with lake water for a couple of hours:

 

 

 

Watch the shadows, and you can get a sense of how much the boat was rocking.  People who were not prone to motion sickness (like me) were laughing at each other as we stumbled around and tried not to smash into things.  OTOH, people who were prone to motion sickness were definitely not laughing.  The video zooms in at about 0:33, and you can see the water splashing all over my bike.  I figured my bike would be pretty dirty with bugs by the end of the trip, but this boat ride left it heavily crusted with lake minerals from the get-go.  Sheesh.

 

Speaking of bugs, there were, um, a few.  I took a trip through the Driftless in August 2019, and after 2.5 days, my bike was still really clean:

 

 

Here's a closeup of the windscreen from that day:

 

 

It turns out if you visit the Driftless six weeks earlier in the season - like we did last week - you get a lot more bugs.  Like all of them.  Here's my windscreen from this trip, also after 2.5 days storming the Driftless:

 

 

Yes, those are feathers near the bottom.  That's where a bird hit, and I can confirm they behave a lot like bugs when that happens.  

 

I also got a bird with my boot on the same day:

 

 

Check the toe:

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure I got another one later in the trip: he disappeared in front of the bike, there was a mild "thump", and then he didn't come out the other side.   Bad weekend to be a bird, I guess.

 

Heroes of the Driftless at the Huckleberry in PDC:

 

 

Getting diesel (not really) in Boscobel:

 

 

Alan preparing to tackle the World's Biggest Walleye Filet at the Driftless Cafe in Viroqua:

 

 

 

 

In the midst of a Garmin U-turn:

 

 

 

Sophie caught off-guard:

 

 

 

Here's a quote from my report on last year's DART:

 

Quote

When the riding is good, I like the flow so much that it can be hard to stop unless I need a break.  Over the years I've found that I often regret the pictures that I didn't stop to take, and I rarely regret the pics I did stop to take.  Somewhere near Sparta I whizzed by a house that had some really funny motorcycle/motorcyclist sculptures in the yard.  Dammit, I shoulda stopped!! 

 

This year, I stopped:

 

 

 

 

 

I remember the Hardly rider being in better shape last year.  Looks like he needs a bit of upkeep.

 

I got a new phone shortly before this trip, and I wasn't quite used to the camera behavior.  I took some countryside shots, and a frustrating number of them focused on my windscreen instead of the distant scenery.   This was almost a cool shot:

 

 

 

You can only see one dip because of the blurring, but there's actually like three or four, quite the roller coaster.  Whatever, at least the bike is in focus.  

 

Some shots turned out better:

 

 

 

If you stop on a "back road" at START, you'll probably see a few cars go by while you're parked.  If you stop on a back road at DART, there's a good chance you won't see anyone before you get back on your bike:

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, the "Green Eggs and Ham" I mentioned at the Blue Moon restaurant in Onalaska:

 

 

The visual appeal is limited, but man, it's tasty.  It's basically Eggs Benedict, but with spinach and tomato under the eggs, and basil pesto in the Hollandaise.  Highly recommended.  

 

Thanks again to Mike and Victoria for hosting.  See you all next year.  

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

OK, one more nice shot from early morning after leaving Madison on the way to PDC:

 

 

click to view full width in your browser window.  The valley in the distance was filled with dense fog - and yep, that's exactly where my road took me.