Here's our original planned route. We'd modified our plans on every day so far this trip. Today was no exception...
It wasn’t a good night’s sleep. When the alarm went off at 6 AM I really wasn’t in the mood to get up. At the same time I was pretty excited about going to the Twins game in the evening and wanted to make sure we made it to Minneapolis in plenty of time, so that was the motivation I needed to crawl out of bed.
I began my day’s preparations and Jon got up and did the same. Because loading his bike is more involved, he started hauling his gear out to the bike while I was still getting ready. After making a couple trips he expressed frustration with the kid behind the front desk who would greet him with a, "Good morning! How are you?" each time Jon walked through the lobby, either on the way out the door or the way back in. Apparently the kid was unable to remember that he had previously greeted Jon.
I told Jon, "Let me handle this." He grabbed the last of his gear and I grabbed my luggage pack and walked out through the lobby. On our way out the kid was busy talking to someone else, but after we got the bikes loaded and walked back into the lobby, sure enough we were greeted with the same, "Good morning! How are you?"
I immediately responded, "Happy birthday!"
The kid looked puzzled, then after a few seconds looked at Jon and said, "Oh? Is it your birthday?"
I replied to the kid, "No, but I won’t be around when it’s YOUR birthday so I figured I’d tell you now. Happy birthday!"
The kid sat in stunned silence as we walked out of the lobby and Jon nearly fell over laughing.
The breakfast area was on the opposite side of the lobby, which was different compared to most hotels. However when we got down there I was very impressed with the spread. It was a great breakfast buffet with lots of options. I loaded several plates and Jon had a sweet roll and some juice.
One of the things many hotels feature is the waffle makers with the batter dispenser parked next to it. When it’s your turn you fill a small plastic cup with batter, then pour it in the waffle maker. After closing the lid and rotating the griddle 180 degrees a 2:40 countdown timer starts. These are pretty common, and most of the time the waffles are decent so I often utilize them when I stay in hotels. This hotel was no different.
After I made my waffle though, I did notice something different about this hotel. Usually the waffle topping options are limited so I just go for the old standby of maple syrup. Sometimes if I’m feeling really adventurous I’ll add some butter to the mix. Upon viewing the available toppings I noticed a bowl full of cherry sauce and a sign stating that this sauce was made locally and used real Door County cherries. I thought, "Why not? I might as well enjoy a local feature." I loaded my waffle with the cherry sauce. Then to top it off I sprayed some whipped cream on top.
I ate the rest of my breakfast first, saving the waffle as kind of a dessert. When I got to it I took a bite and discovered while it was very good, it also was very, very rich. The cherry sauce was pretty much the equivalent of pie filling and I had loaded my waffle with a lot of it. Not wanting to waste all of this delicious fruit I forced myself to finish the whole waffle. Then I kind of felt sick for doing so.
I figured the sick feeling would pass once I got moving. It usually does when I overeat. And unfortunately I have a lot of experience with overeating to know this.
It was now after seven, and we had hoped to be on the road and moving by this time. Once again we missed our goal. To make matters worse, we had forgotten to fill up our bikes the previous evening so we had to make a gas stop before we hit the road. Thankfully we were packed so we just had to swing by the room to make a last minute check that we had all of our belongings, then pop over to the front desk to check out. There was a different person manning the front desk so we didn't get our previous greeting re-run.
Out on our bikes we fired up and rolled out of the hotel parking lot. About six blocks north we pulled into a gas station and filled up, then got back on highway 57 heading southwest out of Sturgeon Bay.
The highway traffic wasn’t too bad. I was unsure how heavy the traffic would be as we approached Green Bay at rush hour. Traffic picked up the closer we got but it wasn’t enough to slow us down any. The day was sunny and humid. We had our jackets on because the temps were still in the upper 60s but it was supposed to hit the 90s later that day.
In Green Bay we took I-43 south for a few miles, then branched off and took I-41 towards Appleton. The farther along we got the heavier traffic became. We rode by Lambeau Field. Well, at least the part that was visible from the highway. Both Jon and I are Minnesota Viking fans so we gave the field an obligatory sneer. I’m sure the Packers sensed that and it affected their training camp negatively.
The closer we got to Appleton the more and more traffic we experienced. Appleton is actually smaller than Green Bay with a population of roughly 75k. Riding through the interstate, though, and one would swear it’s a lot bigger. It must be very spread out.
Google maps had originally routed me straight west out of Appleton, cutting through various small towns and down lots of little highways. Upon the route re-examining I had done a couple nights previously, I realized that the route had a lot of junctions and road switches that looked like a recipe for missing a turn and getting lost. So in the same way I did for Monday's route, I also modified Tuesday's route to be simpler. This simpler route probably added a few miles to the trip, but it was much more straightforward to follow and minimized our chances of getting lost.
The waffle was really starting to get to me now. I rarely get sick to my stomach no matter what or how much I eat. Actually, it would probably benefit me if I got sick more often because it would discourage my over-consumption of food. In any event, the rare occasion was happening this morning as we rode. I really started feeling like I could hurl at any moment. I knew stopping wouldn’t change the way I felt, so I decided to feel sick while riding versus feeling sick while sitting on the shoulder of the road. I also thought it would make for a strangely amusing story if I suddenly blew chunks in heavy traffic at 70 mph. But alas, it didn’t happen anywhere but in my mind.
We stayed on I-41 south out of Appleton and rode into Oshkosh which also seemed a lot bigger than it is. Oshkosh has a population of about 66k. Oshkosh is known for the famous airshow it hosts every year. I’ve never attended it, but my grandfather frequently did back in the 1980s and 1990s, so I’d heard about it.
In Oshkosh we got off the freeway and headed west on highway 44. We seemed to be making pretty good time, which made me happy. And my stomach seemed to be starting to settle down, which made me happier.
In the town of Ripon (the "birthplace of the Republican Party") I knew that we wanted to take highway 23 west, and that 44 intersected with it. We followed the signs for highway 44 which took us south, then at the junction of 23 headed west. It seemed like the right way to go. Unfortunately this route took us through the heart of the town of Ripon, which wound and weaved through downtown. At one point I missed a sign and we went straight while 23 branched to the right. After a few blocks when we wound up in a residential area staring at the campus of Ripon College, I pulled over and told Jon that this didn’t look like the highway. He agreed, so we doubled-back and found where we had missed the turn.
While waiting at a stop sign I remarked that it seems like there should have been a lot easier way to get through this town. Later, upon reviewing the map I learned there was. Had we not taken the branch of highway 44 south and just stayed on the road (Oshkosh Street) we would have bypassed all of downtown and joined up with highway 23 on the west side. Live and learn.
Heading west on highway 23 we went by Green Lake. As I outlined in my 2010 Trip To Wisconsin, when I was young my family often came to the Central Baptist retreat center Green Lake. While passing by the entrance I stopped to snap a picture. We pulled off on the shoulder. While I took a photo Jon re-applied the balm to his forehead, still attempting to keep the cyclops at bay.
Several cars buzzed us. There was plenty of highway for them to move over to the left side of the lane, or even pull partially into the oncoming lane for the split second it took them to go by, but nobody budged an inch. In fact, I think a few cars purposefully moved closer to us. I had noticed aggressive drivers on this stretch of highway back in 2010 as well. Must be something in the water. Perhaps that's why the lake is green?
After I took my picture, we hit the road and went about 1/4 mile only to discover that I took a picture of the service entrance. Oops. I stopped and took another picture.
A few towns down the highway we stopped in Montello for gas. After topping off our tanks we moved our bikes out from the pumps as the station was quite busy and I didn’t want to make anyone wait while I went inside. After a restroom break I noticed the station had a house brand diet Root Beer on sale for $1. I was thirsty and decided that the soda would have to suck pretty bad to not be worth $1. Well, it was close to not being worth a dollar. I probably wouldn’t have paid $1.05 for it.
Next to the gas station was a waterfall. Jon and I relaxed for a couple minutes while we enjoyed our snacks. It was getting warm so I removed my jacket and put on sun screen. I wasn’t sure if I would need it though, as the clouds were starting to look a bit questionable in the direction we were heading. I hoped that the day would continue to heat up and any threat of rain would disappear.
Continuing down the road our highway 23 turned into highway 82. I don’t know why. If you look at the map, on the east side of the I-39 junction the road is labeled 23 and on the west side it’s 82. Strange.
We cut west through the town of Oxford and continued until we hit interstate 90 at the town of Mauston. Our route had us riding interstate for about an hour to LaCrosse. As we turned onto the on-ramp for I-90 the clouds that we had seen were no longer just threatening; it started to rain. Thankfully at this time it was just a light drizzle. It wasn't enough to motivate me to stop and don my rain gear, but it was right on the edge where I kept wondering whether or not I should. Thankfully after a few miles the drizzle seemed to let up and I was hopeful we were through any rain we might encounter.
The bigger issue was the cold. The temperature was dropping, and now the sun was hiding behind the layer of cloud cover. Wherein I had removed my jacket about 30 miles before, now I was wishing I had it on again. I held off as long as I could until I finally had to surrender to the fact that I was too cold to continue. I took the off-ramp at the Camp Douglas exit, then pulled over on the shoulder once we were safely off the interstate.
Jon asked if I had stopped to put on rain gear and I replied that I had pulled over because I merely wanted a jacket. No sooner had I said that then it started to rain. So my hopes were dashed that we had made it through the precipitation. At least it was now raining hard enough that it became a no-brainer to put on the rain gear. And at least it happened while we were already stopped anyway.
With our rain gear on, we took off once again back on I-90 heading west. The rain wasn’t torrential, but it was steady. We were able to maintain the speed limit, but I didn’t push it any faster. No sense hydroplaning just to save a couple minutes.
Somewhere in the vicinity of Sparta we had our only real close call of the trip. There was a van in front of me moving a bit slower than the speed limit in the right lane, which in itself is not a problem. Meanwhile there was a car merging in from the right on-ramp. The two vehicles then converged at the end of the on-ramp. The van didn’t move into the left lane to let the car onto the interstate, and the car didn’t slow down or speed up to get around the van. The car just pulled right into the same lane as the van. Finally, the van just completely slammed on the brakes, but still didn’t move over. And by this time the car realized the van wasn’t moving and also slammed on the brakes, so they basically came to a near-stop directly in front of us.
I had started to slow a little bit when I first realized what was unfolding in front of me. By the time both cars began their panic stop there was traffic approaching pretty fast in the left lane who undoubtedly was oblivious to what was going on, so I didn’t dare pull to the left where Jon and I would have gotten run down from behind. So I had no choice but to try and stop as fast as I could, which given the rain wasn’t as fast as I normally would be able to stop.
Thankfully both Jon and I stopped in time, then when the cars passed us on the left we pulled over and passed the two morons playing merge chicken. Thankfully it wound up not being that close, but it was still enough to get the heart pumping.
After about an hour of riding down the interstate we reached LaCrosse. Our plan was to take highway 53 north, then head west and cross the Mississippi river into Winona, MN. There was a lot of road construction on I-90 in this area so the signs leading us to the proper exit were a bit confusing, but we figured it out.
By the time we were heading north on highway 53 the rain had let up. The clouds still looked threatening though, so I wasn’t convinced we were out of the rain. In fact, I started to worry that maybe the baseball game would get rained out, which would be a serious bummer.
At New Amsterdam we turned east on highway 35. My map was buried in my vest pocket under my rain gear, so it wasn’t easily accessible while riding. I pulled over to check my map. Jon asked if I was going to take off my rain gear and I thought the clouds still looked like they could unleash on us, so I said I was opting to leave mine on for a while longer.
Jon also expressed dire need for a bathroom. I thought there was one about seven miles or so down the road. He said he wasn’t sure he could wait that long, and I pointed out some brush nearby. I think he seriously thought about it for a few seconds, but then decided he could hold on a little longer. Then he proceeded to take a few minutes to change helmets, jackets, etc. while I joked that we could have been at the restroom by now.
At the town of Trempealeau we pulled into a gas station. Jon ran in to use the bathroom first. I spent a minute looking at the map and throwing away some trash that had collected in my bags. Then I used the restroom as well.
We debated eating some lunch while we were stopped. The gas station had some pizzas that actually looked pretty good. I was still full from breakfast so I told Jon it was up to him. He opted to wait until the next gas stop. This turned out to be farther away than I had anticipated, but we didn’t know that at the time.
Back outside it was starting to get pretty steamy. There were still clouds, but the temp was rising and with the humidity it made things pretty warm. Especially since I was still wearing my rain gear that breathes as well as a cheap tarp. Once we were on the bike moving the temp was tolerable, but I couldn’t have kept the rain gear on any longer if we were going to remain stationary. I still wasn't convinced we were out of the rain yet, so I opted to leave my rainsuit on until at least our next stop.
We followed highway 35 for a ways, and then crossed the bridge into Winona, MN. From there we headed north on highway 61. This was a four-lane highway, and for several miles there was a car in the left lane pacing us with a tire that sounded like it was going to let loose at any moment. I’d slow down and the car would get ahead of us, then the car would slow down and I’d find myself next to the wheel singing its death song. So I’d speed up and try to get ahead of the car, and sure enough a minute later the car had sped up as well. Thankfully after about 10 miles the car made a right turn.
Highway 61 was a very pretty road. I regret not snapping any pictures on this stretch and I apologize to you, dear reader. On the left side of the road were tall hills. On the right side was the Mississippi river. The road would wind and weave the whole way. We were making good time and I didn’t feel like stopping, even for a quick photo.
We were getting very hungry and were going to need gas soon. I had it my head that we could stop for gas in Red Wing and grab something to eat there. We arrived in the town of Lake City, which touted itself as "the birthplace of water skiing." There were quite a few places to eat and gas stations right along the road. I toyed with the idea of stopping, but sometimes you get fixated on a goal (in this case getting gas in Red Wing) regardless of whether or not that goal has any justification. In our case, it was a completely arbitrary goal that we had just created with no real reason. We did ride by an ice cream shop and I slowed down and suggested to Jon that we could stop and get our ice cream. He wanted to continue and just make one stop for gas and food, so we pressed on.
Red Wing was a decent sized city, so there would be plenty of gas stations from which to choose. This was good, because my low fuel light had been on for a while. Our route had us crossing the river in Red Wing and heading back into Wisconsin. I figured we’d stop for gas right before we crossed the river.
We reached the edge of Red Wing and I started looking for gas stations. Suddenly I saw a sign pointing to the road to take us over the bridge. This junction was a lot closer to the south edge of town than it had looked on the map, so it kind of surprised me. "Oh well," I thought. "We’ll just cross the river and stop at a gas station on the other side."
On the other side of the bridge I expected to see more city, or at least a gas station at the highway 35 intersection. There was none. So we started heading north on highway 35. I figured there had to be a gas station somewhere not too far down the road. By this time my main tank had run dry and I had flipped the reserve lever.
We went through Hager City, which was not accurately named as there wasn’t anything there but a few houses. Pretty soon I was starting to get nervous. Over on his bike, Jon was feeling the same way.
It wasn’t the same kind of nervous I felt when I nearly ran out of gas on my trip back in 2012. On that trip I had a real concern that because of the location I was in, if I ran out of gas and left the bike to go find fuel, there wouldn’t be much of anything left when I returned. In this case, it was more inconvenience. I figured if one of us ran out of gas the other would keep riding to a gas station, then return with a gas can. Surely the chances of both of us running out of gas before we reached a station had to be quite low. So in this case the nervous was more because of the inconvenience and the fear that we would wind up missing part of the baseball game. I was really looking forward to the ball game.
About 25 miles down the road we reached the town of Prescott, WI. That was a long 25 miles. We pulled into the station and got some much needed fuel. As it turned out, I had nearly .5 gallons left so I could have gone another 20 miles or so if we hadn’t found this station. But we did find the station so both Jon and I could breathe a big sigh of relief.
Once our bikes were fueled up I had to take care of two pressing needs. First, the chance of more rain was long behind us and the temps had risen. I needed to get out of my rain gear because I was very uncomfortable in the heat.
Second, we were pretty hungry. I can only imagine Jon was more so, as he hardly ate any breakfast. I went inside and bought a couple hot dogs, a cookie and an iced tea. Jon wanted to get a hot dog at the game, so he bought something different to eat (although a month later as I write this I don’t remember exactly what he did wind up eating for lunch.) We relaxed outside using a garbage can as a makeshift table as we ate. There were no chairs so we stood, but seeing as we’d been sitting on the bikes all day standing really wasn’t that bad.
I started looking at my map and directions I had written down. I realized that my original planned route unintentionally would have taken us much farther east than we wanted to go. I also realized that the bridge over the river that would take us back to Minnesota on highway 61 was right at the intersection where the gas station was located. Had the station not been here I probably wouldn’t have figured this out and we would have wound up going all the way up to I-94 and then would have had to ride straight through downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis to get to our hotel. So that was quite fortuitous.
Actually, in retrospect we probably should have just stayed on highway 61 at Red Wing. Had we done that, we would have avoided the whole stress of running low on gas, gotten food sooner and been happier in general. Originally when planning the route it looked like that section of highway 35 was a bit more scenic, but once we rode it I’m not convinced that it was. So now I know for next time, I guess.
Back on our bikes we crossed back over the river into Minnesota and took highway 61 up to I-494. We were in the suburbs of St. Paul now, and it was about 3 PM. Rush hour hadn’t yet arrived, but traffic was certainly getting thicker. On I-494 we headed west.
I’ve driven my car on I-494 but this was the first time I’d ridden my motorcycle. It seems like this stretch of freeway is always packed full of cars no matter what time of day. Today was no exception. Jon and I tried to stay tight to each other to keep other traffic from squeezing between us. We got separated by an aggressive car or two a few times, but quickly got back in formation.
At highway 100 in Eden Prairie we headed north. I hadn’t realized that there was some major construction happening on this stretch of road, so for a large portion of it we were sitting still or barely creeping forward. Thankfully we had made good time earlier in the day, so we were still on track to reach our hotel a little after 4 PM. The game wasn’t until 7 PM so we had some cushion.
After riding hard all day and then sitting in gridlock I noticed quite a bit of heat coming off my engine. Thankfully it never became an issue
We reached I-394 and headed west one exit and then got off. Our hotel was about a mile down a service road. We checked in, unloaded our bikes and got into our room. It was surprisingly nice for a Super 8. I had stayed at this hotel previously, but didn’t remember the rooms being as fancy as this one was.
I sent my wife a text to let her know we had arrived. We were going to be late getting back from the game, and my wife had things going on in the afternoon so we’d decided I wouldn’t call today, but I did want to let her know that all was well. I also inquired about the golf tournament my son participated in on this day. As it turned out he came in 3rd, so he did pretty well. He’s a much better golfer than I am. The only way I could come in 3rd is if there were only two of us competing.
I knew that by the time we got back from the game it would be late and I wouldn’t be motivated to shower, so I went ahead and took one now. I changed into my vintage Twins Kirby Pucket #34 jersey. I brought another jersey (Justin Morneau) for Jon to wear. Then I laid on the bed and vegged out for a while. I almost fell asleep, but never went over the edge into full-on nap mode.
About 5:45 we decided to head to the stadium. With clear traffic the hotel was only about 10 minutes away, but with it still being rush hour we weren’t going to bank on having clear traffic. One thing that looked a little concerning was some ominous looking clouds rolling in from the west. We hoped that rain wouldn't spoil our evening.
Traffic wasn’t too bad. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the stadium. I pulled off of I-394 into the entrance to the parking ramp. We were waiting in a line of cars when I noticed that there was a sign on the ramp gate stating "no motorcycles." Well, at this point I wasn’t about to turn around and ride against traffic to get back on the freeway. I figured if they put up a fuss they would have to provide an alternate way for us to get out of the situation. As it turned out, the lady taking money couldn’t care less that we were on motorcycles. We paid our parking fee and rode up the circular ramp to the 4th level. We found a spot and wedged both of our bikes into the single space.
Across the skywalk we entered the stadium. Our seats were up at the top level off the left field line. We decided to visit the team store prior to heading up to our section as it was near the entrance where we came in, and our seats were on the opposite side of the field. Jon thought it would be nice to have a Twins hat for the game. I was wearing my Twins 2014 All Star cap I had received as a promo when I attended a game the previous summer.
We looked around the store for a bit, but didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without. Jon found a couple hats he liked, but decided he didn’t like them enough to pay $40 for one. I don’t blame him. The team store is certainly not somewhere you go to seek out bargains.
We made our way up to our seats, which was a few sections higher than where Bob Uecker sits (only us old guys would understand this reference.) We were in the topmost section, but had seats in the front row. As it turned out the 2nd or 3rd rows would have been better because there was a metal railing right at eye level in front of us which meant we either had to slouch down to see under it, or lean forward to see over it. Also a little bit of rain was falling. Still, a bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day most anywhere else.
We ran down and got some food before the game started. I began with a deluxe nachos. Later on during the game I ran down and grabbed a mini pizza and a Diet Pepsi. Interestingly enough, I spent $25 on food which was the same amount I spent the previous night on my full rack of rib dinner, including tip.
Once the game got started the rain let up and it turned out to be a beautiful night. The Twins played the Pirates. At this time the Twins were in the middle of a post all-star break slump, while the Pirates had become one of the hottest teams since the break.
My current favorite player on the Twins is Brian Dozier. He's an exciting player to watch. Huge defensive 2nd base player who can make some incredible stops. He's a pretty good hitter although his bat tends to go cold in the 2nd half of seasons. He's a very aggressive base runner. Probably too aggressive, but that's part of the reason he's so fun to watch. I jokingly tell my wife that if I ever cheat on her, it will be with Brian Dozier.
Unfortunately, the Twins wound up losing 7-8 which put a little bit of a damper on the evening. But it was still fun.
After the game we headed back to the ramp and got on our bikes. Traffic in the parking ramp after an event often gets pretty thick. Sometimes after games I wind up sitting in the car for quite a while before I can even back out of the parking space. We fired up our bikes and Jon saw a little gap, so we backed right out. One definite advantage to riding a motorcycle is that you fit into much smaller spaces.
We waited in line until we got to the end of the level where there was a circular ramp going down several stories until it emptied out onto I-394. Jon was a bit leery of the ramp because it was kind of steep and traffic was backed up and moving slow, so we were often sitting still while balancing the bikes at a steep angle. There were no incidents though, and eventually we made it out of the parking garage and onto the interstate heading west.
Back at the hotel there wasn’t a whole lot to do as I had already showered and shaved before the game. We pretty much brushed our teeth and got into our beds. It was late so the TV didn’t stay on very long before we turned out the lights and hit the sack.
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This page last updated on 06/28/2018