The last second trip

So, I am sitting home this past Saturday (8/21) when Uncle Roadtripper stops by to see how life is going at this end of the world. We get talking and he says "Too bad we don't have a place to go." I told him to come in and we'd see if we could come up with something, figuring that if we did we would leave a day or two later. I mention Cincinnati, and he goes "Let's go." I'm like "What, now?" "Sure." Give me 45 minutes I say. So, at noon we took off towards the Nati. Getting on 136 East in Heyowrth IL, we headed towards Indiana. Somewhere wight near the border we somehow got a smidge screwed up. We missed a turn, which isn't a biggie. We followed State Line Road back up to our right road and into IN on 28. Now, we've done this stretch of 136IL/28IN before on the border. You go through Williamsport and Attica IN. We headed south on 231 to 46 and went through Bloomington IN and Columbus IN to I74 into the Nati. We went the 8 hour route. Oy. It's 5.5 if done by interstate. Needless to say we didn't get to hook up with the brothers. One it turned out one was out of state; the other was at the movies and didn't get the message until the following day.
So we woke up next morning, and I tried to get ahold of the brothers one more time. We gave them a half hour cuz Uncle Roadtripper was getting antsy about sitting about sitting around. I finally heard from them about two hours later. Uncle decided he wanted to see Kentucky so I took us the long way into KY. I'm not familiar enough with the Nati to take us through downtown on 75 without boogering it up so we went on 275. We got off 275 on 237 and started south. We then jogged east to 27 and continued south to Cynthiana. There we headed back west on 62, through Georgetown and Versailles. We headed north on 60 in Versailles through Frankfurt to 127. We headed to the River at Warsaw and followed the river via 42 and 36 through Ghent, Carrolton, and Milton. At Milton, we crossed over into IN. Had I paid better attention to the map, I would have gotten us on 42 when we originally got into KY. Needless to say, by the time we got home, we had spent about 13 hours on the road that day. Too much road time in a day. Stay tuned.

Number 2

A bit over a week later, the uncle comes by. "You know," he says, "I've never really been thru Northern Iowa. Let's go that way. We'll go into Minnesota from there." Suuuure. Why not? We had to wait a few days as I had something coming that I had to wait for. So, about 5 days after he had initially came over, we took off. We started this trip where we had started the last, I-80. This time tho, we stayed away from the river, taking 61. We followed that north to Maquoketa and took 64 west. We followed that to outside Anamosa, Hwy 151. We followed that north thru Monticello til we got to 38. We followed that to 3 and headed west. After a little more wrangling, we passed thru Charles City. Just outside the city we started seeing a bunch of bicyclists. Had I done my research beforehand, I would have realized RAGBRAI was happening. Look it up. We stopped in Mason City, IA for the night. Nice city, nice hotel. There was a small lake/large pond right behind the Holiday Inn. The bar was a pretty good time as well. Pretty good conversation and whatnot.
Next morning, we headed north on 69 into MN. We got on 13 in the town of Albert Lea. We followed that to 14, and west on that to 15N in New Ulm. New Ulm is a gorgeous city. Well worth a couple night stay. We, however, kept rolling along. We stayed on 15 to 55W to 71N. We stayed on 71 to Bemidji. Benidji is near the headwaters of Ole Miss. It is also a beautiful city. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express there. About half a mile from the hotel is a restaurant called Peppercorns. Awesome. It is a bit pricey, like $15 minimum for an entree. But it is awesome food and well worth the price.
Next day we headed out. We followed 2 out Bemidji til we hit 65S. We stayed on that to 23E. We followed that to where it turns into 48 and into WI where the Hwy turns into 77. We jumped from there to 53S into Eau Claire. The hotel bar was pretty good that night. It was definitely busy. There was a wedding party going to happen the next day and the people were starting to show up. The bar was good sized, with like a dozen beers on draft. It was a pretty good time. It was also the uncle's birthday. He is now officially 87. The next day we headed home, with no 13 hour saddle time this trip. It was only like 8. We sort of meandered our way back into IL and home.
There may be another trip soon. Keep looking and enjoying the ride.

The first 2010 trip

This was a short one; two nights, three days. "I want to drive by the river." he says. So, towards Ole Miss we went by way of I-80. Now, to follow the river, you get on Hwy 67 in Iowa. It's pretty much a right turn before you're even totally off the bridge. Now, during this trip and the one we did two weeks later, I've now seen about 2/3 of the Great River Road. Here is a link on it: http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2279/. There are better ones out there, but this will give you an idea of what's on the way. Also, you can pick up the book Road Trip USA. It lists everything you need to know and see along the way. It is by far one of my favorite stretches of road I have ever been on. But, I digress. We headed north on 67. For the most part, you can look out the passenger side window and see the river the whole way. Le Claire is a pretty little town, as are the others you hit along the way. We headed back into IL on 64, going thru Sabula and entering IL north of Savanna on 84. Savanna is a pretty city; I've been thru it on a previous trip with the uncle. We followed 84 thru Galena and into WI. 84 turns into 80 when you enter WI. Hwy 80 is another road I've seen quite a bit of. Rolling hills in the south and slightly rolling in spots in the north. Some decent scenery. We followed it into Cuba City. As mentioned in another post, Cuba City has profiles of all the presidents along the main drag. It's worth checking out. In Cuba City, we jumped on County Road H, heading west. We merged into CR HH into 61/151/35. We passed thru Dickeyville and up to Potosi and Tennyson. Nice towns, nice area. We got on 133 and that took us back toward the river. We followed it thru Cassville and north and east til we hit CR V. We turned onto CR VV to CR A. A heads back to the river. There are times you are on the GRR in WI but not near the river. Kind of weird. A turns to X in Bagley. We followed that til we hit CR C and from that onto 35. We followed 35 all the way to La Crosse where we spent the night at the Holiday Inn downtown. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but at this hotel, you are 2 blocks from the river. Bring your camera. Downtown La Crosse is pretty and you're at Ole Miss.
We head out the next morning and got on CR XX just outside La Crosse. Takes you thru New Amsterdam. We connected again with 35 towards Trempeleau. We stayed on 35 til we hit CR F, at the north end of Prescott. We stayed on that to Hudson where we picked up 35 again. We stayed on that thru St Croix Falls and north to Hwy 70. From there we went to Minocqua. Now, you may be wondering why we were off and on 35 the whole day. It was all about staying near the river. And while I could go on and on about Minocqua, I won't. I'm sure I've given enough about it to interest you.
Next morning we decided to head home. Uncle Roadtripper's leg has been bothering him since last October, some days worse than others. So we started south on 51 on what was supposed to be about 6.5 hours in the saddle. We get to Hwy 8 and he goes "Let's go east to the Lake." So we got over to the lake, and CR LS. Followed that thru Two Rivers and Manitowoc. I think in an older post I commented Two Rivers is "a nice little town." It's a little town of almost 13,000. I never realized it was quite that large. We spent a little time on 43 til we hit 60. We decided to stop for some lunch. It was 3:15. We had left at like 6:30 that morning. We headed west again to 51 and took that home. We pull into town at 7:10 that night and the uncle is like "Wanna get something to eat?" LOL No, I wanna get un-braindead. But, I didn't say that. And thus ends the first trip of 2010.