2011 Minnesota Jeep road trip
|
October 9
 Because I got in late last night I was in no hurry to get up early. It was 9:30 (Central time now) when I hauled stuff out to the Jeep. After I checked out I noticed they were still serving breakfast. They had scrambled eggs so I got a plate.
Breakfast on the trailer. I drove to the Love's truck stop next door to fuel up. They had biodiesel. Cool. I've always wanted to try some. There was also a nice 120' tower nearby. Be nice to find one of those for $1.25.
 At 9:58 I pulled onto the interstate with my little tractor/trailer setup. There were plenty of bikes out. This Goldwing was one of the first ones I saw on the trip. It was 99% Harleys to that point. The plan for today is to take I-74 to Davenport, Iowa, then follow the Mississippi River.
 Something I remembered from our South Dakota trip were the windmills, and it didn't take long to see some today. I need one of these and start a Eureka electrical cooperative.
 35 miles down the road I came to a rest stop and my bladder suggested we stop. I found out this is part of the Blue Star Highway. 
 At ~12:30 I left the interstate and began the river journey on US67. I immediately came to LeClaire. This town was clean and had lots of shops. It was set up for tourists and I could see the girls enjoying it here. There are great river views. Update: This is where American Pickers have their shop.
 The next town, Princeton, was a more normal looking town. There were railroad tracks paralleling the highway and I was hoping to see a train.
Up ahead I saw something moving. Yes! A train. Soon afterwards something common happened. You could no longer see the river from the 'river road'. Soon the road veered inland and I spent the next 15 miles on rough road and nothing interesting to look at. I was also following some slow traffic.
 When I got to Clinton I fueled the Jeep with soy diesel (it was yellow). I went next door to the Burger King and got lunch. I sat in the Jeep eating and rethinking my route. At the rate I'm going now it would be past midnight by the time I got to my destination. I also don't want to drive river roads that don't have a river view. I sat looking at my map, eating my Whopper Jr., and drinking my Coke (they didn't have sweet tea...what's up with that?). Judging by the map it looked like the good river roads started at Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin. After some ponderance I decided to take US30 west to US61 north to Dubuque. The map showed it to be 4-lane all the way. I would continue on US61 to La Crosse. From La Crosse US61 appeared to be a good river road. I could see some river views and make good time to my destination of Hudson, Wisconsin. Something else I needed to mess with was my GPS. At home I had made a route of the trip in Microsoft Streets & Trips. I had imported it into Mapsource and loaded it into the GPS. Today, at every interchange, it wanted me to turn around. Don't know why, but it was annoying. I don't do much programming with the GPS itself, but I played around with it and programmed in a route to La Crosse that followed the roads I wanted to. I was set now. The GPS is my travel companion on this trip. It breaks up the monotony to have something to look at. The 'miles to next turn' and 'ETA to destination' are nice bits of information to have. 
 Traffic was light on the plains of Iowa. Combines were harvesting the corn and wheat and the grain trucks were out and about. Something else that is plentiful...bugs. Every time I stop I clean the windshield. It doesn't take any time at all before the windshield starts getting covered. It messes with the camera's autofocus.
 Coming into Dubuque there was a nice looking bridge in full view. I saw lots of railroad cars setting around but no trains. Crossing into Wisconsin the scenery became very southern Indiana'ish...rolling hills and trees. 
 I stopped in Boscobel for a restroom break and to clean the windshield. When I had my Kawasaki Nomad I used to visit the Vulcan forums a lot. Every year they'd have a get together here in Boscobel. I can see how there'd be great riding in the area. I went to the convenience store across the street and got a Coke. I noticed lots of bikes coming and going from the road to Prairie du Chien. It must be a scenic road. 
 It took about an hour and a half to reach La Crosse. The 2-lane road was relaxing. Mostly good quality surface...inviting views of the country...rolling hills...lots of lakes...large barns with their own architecture...and lots of bikes. I've noticed a big increase in Goldwings. I stopped in La Crosse to clean the windshield again and to stretch. I've put down quite a few miles and I have still have a ways to go. I'm hoping the upcoming river road will be nice. 
 US61 winds through the country for a few miles before reaching La Crescent. Once you leave La Crescent you merge with I-90 for several miles and have nice views of the river, and the views continue when you exit back onto US61. There are railroad tracks running between the road and the river. Across the river you can see the other river road and another set of railroad tracks.
I was rewarded with another train. 
 This road is what a 'river road' should be...constant views of the river. There were bluffs on the other side of the river that looked cool. There is also WI35 and another set of railroad tracks there, too. There were large yachts and small boats and barges and locks and small islands and marshy wetlands. In some places the river is actually part of a lake system. It would be nice to have the time to pull over and watch the water flow for awhile. The dusky skies made it even more pretty. Between Wabasha and Lake City traffic was backed up by a land yacht pulling a large racing trailer. A lot of cars passed it in Lake City. By the time we reached Red Wing it was quite a few cars behind. US63 makes a big loop in Red Wing and then heads north across the river. He must have been familiar with the area because in Red Wing he took a side street and was suddenly ahead of traffic again as we crossed the bridge over the river. We had to follow this guy for several miles. We came to a long incline where slow traffic is supposed to move to the right. He didn't...jerk. He got passed on the right. Why are people that way? By now it was dark with nothing to see and I wanted to get to the hotel. I was behind a Crown Victoria who seemed to be going the same way as me and he was moving fast so I followed him. US63 to US10 to WI65 to River Falls to WI35. This last road was 4-lane most of the way to I-94. I got on I-94 then got off one exit later at Hudson, Wisconsin. I had about 1/8 tank of fuel so I stopped at a couple stations but none had diesel. I went back to the hotel and checked in. The area is pretty city'ish and there were no large areas in the hotel lot to park the trailer. I ended up backing into a corner space and jack-knifing the Jeep a little. That way I got everything parked in only three spaces. I hate to be a space hog. My room was 224. The same as the previous night. This room was fancier, but not as nice as the room I had the last night. There was no refrigerator or microwave, but it did have one of those artsy fartsy bowl sinks. I didn't like it. It was close to 8pm so I went next door to Denny's. I ended up having chopped steak with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and corn. It was good! They didn't have sweet tea either. I got back to the room just in time to watch 'Stormchasers'. I had plenty of time to watch a little TV and diddle around on the laptop before calling it a night. Tomorrow will be the long haul...
487 miles. Click here for the next day's adventure. |
E-mail me
