14 Hours, 820 Miles...I'm In Beloit, WI.

Monday morning, I awoke at 4 AM. Between walking my SR. Puppy...feeding him, feeding the cat...and gosh, you know...all the last minute stuff that has to be dealt with...I'm on the road by 5:30 AM.


View Larger Map

It's spitting...or misting this morning...by the time I had gotten to Nashville, I had been in rain for...what was it? Three hours???? I dunno anymore...rain, wet, and miserable....once over the mountains of Nashville...life got considerably better.

Photo by Mangtacio @ Flickr.com

The sun popped out...well it actually gradually climbed out of some misty, cloudy wet blanket...but when it came out...peeking it's shaggy but eye blinding blond rays out at the wet world...ahhh how nice...thank you for being here...thank you.

Riding up into Kentucky...up past Paducah. I like KY. but you can keep Paducah...I was glad to be out of KY (though I have discovered places to return to with my camera...). I'm in Illinois....and I'm making my way over to US 51. A road that runs straight up the middle of Illinois....it's a cool road, two lane...runs through a few small towns...absolutely no large towns or cities...US 52 has some great places to stop in...and spend some time. I didn't have that luxury this time...had to beat feet it up to Beloit IL. for an important date...made it in 14 hours...I arrived beat, tired, wind blown...and feeling really good...I love my life.

Made the appointed rounds on Tuesday morning...then the rest of the day was all mine. I checked in with a few locals...and found there are some really good points of local interest around here...Man I have so many places to hook up with...I don't know if I will hit them all...but I know I will hit the ones that are important.





My first stop this morning is in old downtown Beloit WI. There is a bridge that crosses over the Rock River...this is a walking bridge...and a family here in this area, decided to help beautify the area with this train...I think this is sooooo cool!










Now getting to this site...I have to walk about 1/4 mile...actually it was a good walk for my photo ops...I found a great place to get these pics of The Iron Works plant across the river...





this is an iron foundry...and they have beautified the outside of the building...so it don't blight the downtown area...now if any of you have ever seen most iron foundries...you know what I mean by blight...the iron dust coats everything...but not here...look for yourself....it's a bright spot on the river...and I love what I'm looking at.











Also, as I'm walking toward the walking bridge, I come across these guys fishing for catfish...I'm told the river is full of some monster Cats....I used to like fishing for cats....








Look at the Hydro-Electric building...don't you think this looks really nice? The reflections are amazing here....











After spending about 2 hours walking around in the part of town, I had the opportunity to notice a stone tower in the distance...I thought to go check it out. So riding up the road on WI 81 a couple of blocks...I come to this...walking up it's little hill...this is what I find. It's known as the Beloit Stone Water Tower...it was built in 1885. Most of the structure is no longer standing...the portion that held the water was made of Cypress...and it kept seven miles of pipes full of water and servicing the town. It was decommissioned in 1935.











Leaving the water tower...I head out of town for Beckman Mill. Wonderful, peaceful, beautiful...it's closest to being heaven...in pictures anyway....











I saw an old time saw mill on the site....








I'm sorry folks...it's getting late...I have a busy day tomorrow...and I'm heading off for bed...thanks for coming...I'm glad to have you here...





Be well...all who come here...

Sunday's ride...with Paul Cox....

My long time readers know...I don't ride well with others anymore...but a week or so ago...a guy I talked to up in Mountain City TN contacted me on my email...asked if I wanted to ride...he was headed to Cherokee Lake, I've never really spent any time in that area, so...yeah, I'll ride...I'll ride anywhere...



This is Paul...we were on a 2 lane country road, and I love getting shots of friends and riding buddies as we make our way down the road...here Paul and I were moving a clipping pace of about 55 to 60 MPH....Paul was a good rider to hang the day with...

This is a map of our ride...a good day of riding...and while I didn't stop to get all the pictures I would have if traveling alone, I did manage to get a few shots of interest.


View Larger Map

I've seen postcards with this barn, and my brother's train club has a scene with it as well....



Here is a great photo of Cherokee Lake...many people will recognize where this view is at...RT. 25 South, coming out of the mountains to the north...I really like this view...



We crossed over a bridge, as I was looking off to my left, I noticed a dam...



I turned off to get shots of the dam...and was kinda side tracked by this...an old time Baptist baptism....





When the dunkin was over....out came the accordion.... Now we gather at the riiiiiver.....



I was wondering...would the water rise suddenly? Of course nothing of the sort happened....

There was so much more to the ride...but I just couldn't stop everywhere I would have if I were riding alone...I'm going back on this route again...you will love some of the stuff I didn't get...I want to show you what I saw...
But for now...this is what we have...I hope you enjoy the photos...

Where Is Your Horn Button?

The D/FW traffic reputation has been notoriously bad, and probably for good reasons. There is one intersection in Grapevine Texas that I go through at least once a day Monday through Friday and sometimes on Saturday. It is the first intersection I go through on my way home from work. It is the intersection at Grapevine Main Street and State Highway 114 on the north side of SH114. Even when driving a cage through this intersection I have had too many close encounters and near misses to count.

Traveling west bound on the SH114 access road you come the intersection at Grapevine Main Street. There are three lanes to choose from. The far right lane is for right turn only onto Main Street headed north. The far left lane is to turn left on Main Street headed south or continue straight west bound on the SH114 access road. The center lane is to continue straight west bound on the SH114 access road.

Map Link

Street View
　
The problems start when vehicles in the center lane attempt to turn left onto Main Street headed south. They turn left in front of the vehicles that have opted to go straight through the light. That is the most common traffic mistake that you see at this intersection. However, I have also experienced people in the far right turn only lane going straight causing three vehicles to attempt to fit into the two lanes available on the other side of the stoplight. There is no telling how many traffic accidents have happened at this intersection. I have almost been hit three to four times in various vehicles, all when going straight from the far left lane.

There are several reasons that I feel that this happens. First is that people do not pay attention to the traffic signs. Unless a larger vehicle blocks your view, you can clearly see the sign on the left showing that the far left lane can turn left or go straight. I you scroll closer to the stoplight you can see it is also clearly marked with a large sign that the center lane is to go straight only, the far right is to go right only. On top of that, the arrows, although worn, are also painted on the road itself indicating which lanes can go which direction. I feel they need to add a solid line across the intersection for the drivers in the center lane to follow in an attempt to keep them from turning left. When will people learn that if you are in the wrong lane there is always another intersection ahead you can turn around at?

The second issue is that the coming from the opposite direction at the stoplight on the other side of the bridge, it is different. Going the other direction the far left lane is left turn only. The center lane can turn left or go straight. The far right lane is still right turn only. I feel that making it different on each side of the bridge makes it confusing for the sheep, I mean, drivers.

So, there I was nine months later since making my Fiamm Freeway Blaster Low Note horn upgrade to my V-Star 1100. I had just gotten off work and I was setting at the stoplight at SH114 East bound at the Grapevine Main Street intersection. I was in the far left lane; a few vehicles back, waiting for the light to turn green. I was going to go straight through the light and hop on State Highway 121 Southbound for home.

The light turned green and I twisted the throttle on Mistress and started to go. As soon as I started to enter the intersection, a large dark pickup truck of unknown make, in the center lane besides and ahead of me, turned left cutting me off. I slammed on both brakes at the same time almost coming to a stop. When I could see the truck was going to pass by with out me becoming a fender molding, my left thumb went for the horn button. My thumb, instead of hitting the horn button hit the headlamp high beam switch instead. By now the encroaching truck was long gone. I twisted the throttle, hoped on S.H.121 and was gone.

The good news was, I was able to slow down quickly and gracefully and had avoided an accident. Hitting the high beam switch instead of the horn was embarrassing. I’m writing this to remind all the motorcycle riders out there to be familiar with all the controls on their bike of choice. I knew where the horn button was. I panicked and hit the wrong one. Practice, practice, practice, until you can get them all with your eyes closed. Where is your horn button?

Ride on,
Torch