Unlike allot of the people at the Bonzai Rally this year we had fairly decent weather for the ride down, 40 miles of rain out of 420 mile trip. We decided to take the rather boring “slab” for about 1/2 the trip to Monroe and backroads to hit a few towns for the Hug a Tree Grand Tour. We made it to Oakdale, WI before seeing any other “Pie” riders. After talking to Pat and Larry briefly we where back on the road for Monroe.
Checked into the hotel and in at Ludlow’s, AKA Rally Headquarters. After some socializing and eating some HUGE Brats we received our Rally Packets at 8:30. Which was real nice of Bill to hand them out a little early. Off to the room to plan the big ride for tomorrow.
After looking the packets over and seeing where all the different locations where we started plugging them into the laptop. We learned from the Harvest Rally last year not to bite off more then we can chew. We had a small circle route planned with lot’s of stops and plenty of time factored in for the EXTRA bonuses we planed on encountering along the way. By 11:00 we had the route pretty much mapped out, time to try and sleep.
4:45 the blasted wake up call arrives. Time to pack up the Intruder and get the wife rolling. 6:00 we meet over at Ludlow’s to get checked in before leaving. Shortly there after 2 more pages of bonuses where handed out. 6:30 and we are off!!! First stop Monticello, WI. As we approach the road construction in Monticello and I try to slow down I notice my back brakes are starting to grind. Not a good way to start a 400 mile road trip. Thank god I put new front brakes in with that new tire earlier in the week. We
never did find Prima Kase, Bill said something about the sign being down with all the construction. We did find a couple other extra bonuses though to make up for it.
Next stop Mt. Horbe, WI upon arriving in town we had a good idea where these bonuses where. We had made a slight detour on the way down and explored this town already. Ran into Lunatic at the Blue Sky Cafe, then a block down to the Mustard Museum which happened to be closed so no bonuses there. There did happen to be a extra bonuses on the way out of town though.
Off to Black Earth, WI before hitting town we ran across a Historical Marker and probably our neatest bonuses of the day. The Tinman and Pegleg the Pirate. Once arriving in town the extra bouneses where all over the place, on the way to Shoebox and Rookies. Black Earth was a good little bonus town for us.
Next we swung by the Wollshien Winery. Didn’t see any signs in Sauk City about the Ferry Bluff crossing so continued on towards Badger Ammunition plant and the Forevertron statue. At this point we decided to skip Ho Chunk and take the other route to Madison hopping to stop by Ferry Bluff en route.
It wasn’t a very well marked gravel road. The sign at the bottom of the trail said exactly what our packets said 800 foot trail, personally I think they forgot to add the VERTICAL part to that 800 feet. It is really amazing the weird looks you get from people hiking in full leathers and helmets. A really nice view from up top but with the heat that day I think it should of been a point per foot.
Next stop University of Wisconsin Madison the wife being the Badger hater she is had to see there campus. We are on campus all of ten minutes and already giving people directions, we thought that was kind of humorous. The last stop we make at Camp Randel Stadium my clutch starts acting up. My Intruder is 2 years old this isn’t supposed to happen! I have no tension on my MAINTENANCE free hydraulic clutch. We decide to take a break there and let it cool down. The bike has been running pretty much the last 5
hours in 85 degree weather in stop and go situations from all our little bonuses. After 45 minutes of trying to decide what to do IF it works again and finding the quickest route to the freeway, we give it a whirl. The clutch is still feeling really soft but it has gotten better. Like Becky said our next stop is Milwaukee at least it will be a bigger city to be
broke down in.
Off we go for Milwaukee by the time we near town the clutch is almost back to normal. Then the bike does a loud backfire, hopping it has to do with being almost out of gas, we keep going. Once we pull off the freeway at Miller Park and get to the lights the bike dies completely. No lights or anything!!! We get it into the parking lot check all the fuses, the
battery terminals even pull the seat to make sure all those wires are hooked up. I call Bill and tell him our dilemma he said he doesn’t know anyone in Milwaukee but will call me back if he figures something out.
About the time I’m getting the bike back together one of Milwaukee’s finest stops by, ohh great. It’s 90 degrees out my bike is broke down 300+ miles from home and now I have to hear his Bullshit. As it turns out he happens to be the nicest police officer I have ever met. I explain our situation and what we got going on with the Rally. He gives me a
ride over to this car race deal going on not far away and we borrow a jumper pack from one of the guy’s. That gets the bike started but as soon as you pull the cables it dies. Then our friendly police officer gets a call and has to take off, he gives me the number for a towing place and says he will check back after this call.
I get a hold of the towing outfit ask him if he knows anyplace to find a motorcycle battery on a Sunday afternoon of this holiday weekend. He tells me to check Batteries Plus, that thought never crossed my mind in all the commotion. They have a battery for me in stock and CHARGED!!! Our friendly officer friend stops back in and gives me a ride there even though it is out of his jurisdiction, thank god he is a biker too. I call Bill and let him know we should make it back on time now. After screwing around for over 2
hours at Miller Park we finally get our picture and back on the road. The bad thing was with all that time lost we had to leave about 2000 points behind in Milwaukee to make sure we could make it back to Monroe in time.
Next stop Lake Geneva Pie, I was rally hopping this wasn’t in downtown. I was down there once on the weekend and I didn’t care to see what it was like on a holiday weekend. Luckily it was on the edge of town so we had time to grab it.
The last stop on our route was Edgewater Cafe in Albany, WI. We ran into Ron and Carrie Hanson there, the route sheet said by the waters edge and the bridge said no parking. We did like the Hansons and got our picture out front. We hit Monroe a little after 7:00 so had a little bit of time to try and find some of the close ones. Managed to get a gun bonus and got turned around in a residential area. Wish my damn GPS would of cooperated before leaving and let me download WI on it. After that we said hell with it
and went to Ludlows, I needed a BEER really BAD by this point!!!!
As it turned out we ended up with just shy of 10,000 points but with the events of the day we where just happy not to end with a DNF and stuck in Milwaukee. All in all it was a great day we had a blast wondering around WI. Can’t wait tell next year hopefully we will have a sport tourer by then. Our I’ll be running solo. Mrs. Cruzin refuse to ride that far on the back of the Intruder again
He He He!!!!!
I'll post the final version after I finsh making the web pages
Wherever I may Roam....I Wander....
Jayd
IBA #24179
TS #621
Cruzin down the road on my V-Twin Cruiser, lookin at the "cages" thinking ohh what losers...
Posted on Jun 1, 2006, 9:47 PM from IP address 71.10.108.4
