Wisconsin Dells Bar

Day #1: Twin Cities to Dells: Headed out of Twin Cities on sunny Wednesday morning and wound our way down to Durand, Wisc and got lost on windy roads on the way to Independence and Whitehall, and a lot of other small towns…Ended up staying at the Dells…a good 300 mile day.

Costal Road along Lake Michigan

Day #2: Dells to Sturgeon Bay: Have to admit we didn’t find many good roads as we worked our way to Lake Michigan, or maybe we were just hungover…if anyone has good suggestions, let us know. We ended up popping out to the Lake around Sheboygan, and road all the way up to Sturgeon Bay…Once again, not great roads…we need suggestions, as the Driftless Riders were out of the Driftless Region.

Safari Motel

Day #3: Door County to Wabeno: Well, well, well…let’s just say the Driftless Riders were somewhat unimpressed with Door County, but we did happen to find a cool old lighthouse to climb. Ended up on a death march through Green Bay and into the Great Woods on northern Wisconsin and stumbled on a gem of a town that goes by the name of Wabeno. I can best some it up as a small town, with many bars, a motel by the name of the Safari, and pole shed party with dollar beers sponsored by the local EMS, illegal fireworks, and regrets for drinking Absinthe.

Kick ass road through the woods

Day #4: Wabeno to Hurley: If we didn’t defile ourselves enough in the small town of Wabeno, the granddaddy of them all lie ahead..that’s right, Little Vegas…you might know it has Hurley. If you don’t know what Hurley is, you shouldn’t be able to call yourself a ramblin man.

After a night out in Hurley, you’ll feel like this too…

Day #5: Hurley to Twin Cities: Licked the wounds, got the bikes up over 100 MPH on GG, and flew oursleves back home to the cruel reality of the year of our Lord of 2008.

I love the Flood Run. Here’s the quick 101: There’s two Flood Run’s. One in the spring and one in the fall. It starts at the Beach Club Bar right outside Afton, MN. From there it meanders down the river road, on the Wisconsin side between Prescott and Nelson, then on the Minnesota side from Wabasha down to Minnieska. It’s one of the largest local motorcycle rallies. Its thousands of bikers. Its kick-ass.

Here’s how the Driftless Riders do it:

Well, well, well…what can I say but…. my guts hurt, my ass is sore, I did throw up once, and my head is still ringing, but what the hell…it was all worth it! All hail the Flood Run. http://www.floodrun.org/ Guess there’s no where to start except the beginning:

7:00 a.m. Awake to overcast and 45 degrees (Its going to be a rough day)…Place Egg Bake in oven.

8:30 a.m. Driftless Riders arrive at St. Paul Headquarters, weather still shitty and cold, after some counsel we all decide to put on chaps and long underwear for the day.

9:15 a.m. After some good egg bake, links, toast and bloodies, bust out of town on I-94 to St. Croix Trail to The Beach Club, the official start of the Flood Run.

Beach Club Line Up

9:45 a.m. Arrive at the Beach Club just in time for the line-up…check out the pics. Now the actual run was scheduled to leave at 10:30 a.m. but the Driftless Riders got a little antsy and decided to get ahead of the group. This usually wouldn’t be the case, but we had a little wrinkle this year. It seems that one of the Driftless Riders, who will remain unamed (Chopper) has a wedding coming up shortly, and he agreed to his lovely fiancee to be back in Minneapolis by 1:30 p.m for the wedding shower…while he took some good natured ribbing about this, we all thought it best that we ride south to Prescott to take in the No Name Saloon… gotta love the Monkey Bar (it’s open air annex).

Streets of Prescott

10:00 a.m. I think it actually got colder and wetter riding to Prescott, and we all were pretty happy to roll into town, things were just starting to build-up…check out the pics.

The Nauti Hawg Bar and Grill

10:45 a.m. Roll-out to Diamond Bluff… Now this is where things started getting a little bit interesting, because unlike other years, there was a mechanical bull present. After a whiskey coke, low and behold, the bachelor of the day rode that mutha.

High Noon: On to an unsanctioned stop at the Boder Lounge in Hager City, Wisc… You all can fill in the blanks, but the highlights are the pork fat sandwiches and the scenery.

Let’s not forget Maiden Rock… we did stop here, too.

1:30 p.m. After the bachelor peeled off, the two remaining cowboys were left to plot the rest of the day’s devilish dealings… we did not fail… Usually our route would have us making a stop in Nelson, Wisc. This time, we decided to forgo this stoppage and head straight to Buck’s Bar in Minneska, Minn.

The view from Bucks Bar

2:30 p.m. We’ve reached the last official stop on the run. Buck’s (Bar) patio offers a great view of the river valley. This (with a cold beer) was a perfect cap to the Spring 08 Flood Run. We were ahead of the crowd, so we grabbed a picinic table, relaxed and watched the waves of bikes roll in. In the midst of all of this a unique event unfolded: There was some negotiating and I think that a hat was exchanged… long story short… we now have a photo of the Driftless Riders stickers being used as pasties. All in the name of advertising.

Driftless Riders stickers being used as pasties.

4:00 p.m. After the fun at Buck’s, we cruised down to Winona, fueled up, and headed across the river to the infamous Four Mile…This is a great place, good drinks, and a great place to layover, especially on a shitty weather day as this one.

????? p.m. Headed out of Four Mile to the Jailhouse Saloon… Full of bikers, cold beer and good burgers. www.jailhousesaloon.com/

Super-human Strength

9-ish Started getting dark, so we needed to hang our spurs up in the river town of Trempealeau, Wisc. There’s alot I can say but here are the highlights:

1. stopped at the historic and haunted Trempeauleau Hotel Bar (you can stay here, even though it used to be a hospital, or you can get a room down by the Marina…we chose the later)
2. got lost trying to find our over-night accomidations, talked to drunken fisherman who hadn’t ever heard of the lodging we were looking for,
3. found the Kingfisher (our room) less than 100 yards from the drunken fisherman;
4. walked a mile back to town to take in the two local bars;
5. witnessed a bad heavy metal band, talked to crazy local girls, and witnessed a hometown barfight;
6. went to Vet’s and met local girls who were gracious enough to take pictures of their cleavage;
7. ate a twice warmed pizza;
8. walked a mile drunk off my ass through a marina;
9. somehow made it back and fell asleep;
10. woke up at sometime in the morning and expelled the twice warmed pizza.

Trempealeau Cleavage

The Next Day: We felt shitty as expected, but what the hell, take a shower, suck it up, and get back on the horse and put her into the wind.

We managed to get our groggy selves to Centerville and Beedles Bar for brunch…Great place, good food, biker friendly, and nice folk. http://www.beedlesbar.com/

After eating we pretty much pointed ourselves home…we headed up Highway 35 to Nelson, jumped across the river to Highway 61 and then onto Highway 52 back into St. Paul.

Another awesome and memorable Flood Run.

Cheers!

Late last year (2007) I got a chance to ride a Big Dog Chopper in a new TV commercial that they were filming.Even though I didn’t get to crack the throttle on some long twisting road, I still got a feel for what it was like to strap on a Big Dog. I was surprised how comfortable the riding position was. I spent a whole day sitting on the bike, revving the throttle and taking 1 block laps around the set. Finally in the last scene, the storyboard has me driving off into the sunset, which was much appreciated movement after playing the graduation photo game for so long – “Tilt the bike out, shoulders back, chin up – but be natural…”

Whatever…

So here’s the skinny on the Dog:
I love my ride. It’s a 2006 Harley Street Glide. On a scale of one to bad-ass, in my opinion, it ranks pretty high. But the Big Dog…. yeah…. on a scale of one to bad-ass, it’s going to need a bigger scale. It doesn’t matter how much custom chrome I add to my Harley, I’ll never get it to the Big Dog “bad-ass” status without doing some extreme body modification. So I’ve reached a “can’t live with it, can’t live without it” predicament.

I’ve gotta have the bagger to take long trips. I need the stereo to serve up cruise’n tunes. What about a passenger? I don’t think she’ll appreciate a seat that’s the size of a SOS pad.

Son of a bitch…. The only solution is 2 bikes.

Start saving $$$.