North Central Regional Rally
July 9-11, 2010
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin

KawaNOW North Central Regional Rally Report
Rally Leader - Dave (BiscuitsNGravy)
Co-Rally Leader - Greg (glwilson)

North Central Rally Video

Attendees:
Glwilson and spouse
1600bluekaw and spouse
dmac and spouse
BiscuitsNGravy (NCR Leader) and spouse
Stretch
Mr. Gerber (guest of Stretch)
rayski271) (ARL NCR)
Ponch (Former NCR Leader)
Paul (Guest of Chuckster and Ivan)
Chuckster
Cal
Rusty1 and his wife
01Nomad

KawaNOW North Central Regional Rally Report
Rally Leader - Dave (BiscuitsNGravy)
Co-Rally Leader - Greg (glwilson)

Reported by: glwilson

The first rally for this region was held July 9th - 11th, 2010, and was based out of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin - which rests on the banks of the Mississippi River among towering river bluffs.

Home Base: Due to limited room availability, and a last-minute change to our home-base motel due to complications, we had people staying in up to four hotels: Country Inn, Super 8, Best Western, the Imperial Hotel, and a nearby private camp-ground facility.

Attendance Data:

- 13 Bikes total
- 11 Nomads of various years and color
- 18 Attendees
- 2 Guest Riders
- 11 KawaNOW members (10 from the NCR and 1 from NER)

Most everyone arrived on Thursday evening, July 8th and checked-in with Dave (BiscuitNGravy) and me (glwilson) at our hotel, the Country Inn. Cal and Rusty arrived late Friday afternoon. Good conversation and great camaraderie, along with a few adult-beverages were shared by everyone upon arrival.

It seems the arrival is always one of the highlights as you wait anxiously to see who will make it, so you can catch-up face-to-face on what has been happening since you last talked; and last but not least, to be able to meet those you haven't met in person before.

Day 1 (Friday, July 9th): The day commenced early with our pre-ride meeting at the Country Inn parking lot at 8AM. We departed for our first day's ride, the "Mississippi River Loop" at 8:45AM -- which is merely a loop-ride alongside the Mississippi River heading north on Rt. 35 (the Great River Road) toward La Crosse, WI., with an occasional stop along the way to stretch and enjoy the beautiful river bluff scenery. Once in La Crosse, WI, we crossed over the river into Minnesota for fuel and stretching before heading south along the river, hugging the shoreline as much as possible. Ripper had to separate from us and head back home in north Minnesota for a family obligation. We Eventually we crossed Iowa's border and made our way toward a short "side-trip" through a forest preserve which provided for a 8-mile stretch of twisted turns, hills, and valleys -- just to test the group's endurance and skills before our rides scheduled for the next two-days. Happily, everyone passed the test from all the smiles I could see on their faces.

Our lunch stop was in McGregor, IA at a bar-grill on the banks of the Mississippi River -- a favorite stop for the many bikers traveling through that area.

After lunch, a few of us (around 9 bikes) continued south to the Iowa Pikes Peak State Park, where we took a half-hour or so to enjoy what I believe to be one of the best views in the Midwest. This park has an overlook cantilevered over one of the tallest bluffs along the river towering 500 feet above where the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers meet -- the exact point where Lewis & Clark became confused as to the direction of the Mississippi.

Next up; 7 bikes rode down further south to Balltown, IA to the oldest restaurant/bar in Iowa (another huge favorite of bikers). But, before arriving there, we had to ride on continuous; wide-sweeping curves twisting in, around, and over what seemed to be endless river-bluffs. We stopped at a bluff overlook just 1/2 mile north of Balltown to stretch and enjoy the view before stopping for refreshments and returning back north on the same roads to Prairie du Chien to call it a day.

This day's ride was chosen for the first-ride based on its lower skill-level, allowing for everyone to get used to group-riding, to enjoy the scenery, and to get a "lay of the land". We traveled through several small 'river-towns' on this trip, with some appearing to have been "locked-in-time" from a different century.

This day concluded with everyone being on their own to eat and get an early night's rest.

Day 2 (Saturday, July 10th): This day began at 8:30 AM; with now 9 bikes (some wanted to visit the 'House on the Rock', while another was ill). Saturday's ride headed us along the southern region of the Wisconsin River headed east toward lunch at Frank Lloyd Wright's Visitor Center's cafe. The ride intention was to ride north and south toward and away from the river to take advantage of all the tight-twisty roads that wind through all bluffs leading up to the Wisconsin River. While some of the route had to be changed when we confronted road-construction; we were able to find plenty of alternative roads to ride providing continuous twisting up and down hills. We eventually made it to Rt. 23 north, where we made one quick stop to look at the House on the Rock's 'Infinity Room' overhang its valley from a high-bluff. Soon after this, we continued to the FLW Visitor Center's cafe for lunch. It appeared from the comments that the cafe was a 'hit' with the group as the food and atmosphere was great. The cafe is located in a FLW designed building overlooking the Wisconsin River and the bluffs where his home, Taliesin East, has been located since the early 1900's. Once lunch was done, Cal had to part with the group for a family gathering nearby as we headed across the Wisconsin River to Spring Green, WI, where we headed back west along the north shoreline of the river on our way back to Prairie du Chien, WI. This was a leisurely ride along most of this road as it meandered along the river. Eventually, however, we took a side road up and over a north-bluff of the river to continue on some tight, twisted, and hilly roads toward the Mississippi River. While we almost got separated at this point, several members of the group remembered to wait at specific points until everyone eventually caught up with each other. Kudo's to them for doing so!

Once arriving at the Mississippi, some were tired and went back to their hotel; while three of us (glwilson, stretch, and Mr. Gerber) continued north on the Great River Road to 'hit' a few more Mississippi River bluff 'twisties' before calling it a day.

Later that evening, almost everyone in the group joined us for a dinner at a typical Wisconsin Supper-Club steakhouse (Jones Angus Steakhouse). We were all in agreement the dinner, atmosphere, and camaraderie was priceless. The restaurant accommodated our large group very well. Everyone commented they had a great time and great food there. In other words... it hit-the-spot for what everyone was looking for.

Day 3 (Sunday, July 11th): This ride, starting at 8:45AM with 8-bikes, was designed to travel north along Rt. 35 (the Great River Road) while turning east into the river-bluff roads to the bluff-tops and then back east toward the Mississippi River to take advantage of all the miles and miles of twisted-hilly roads. This route was loaded with great roads requiring everyone to pay attention, and pull-out their best riding skills. We eventually came to the final road, prior to a few members departing the group, that provided the tightest turns in the entire area that tested the maximum skills of everyone in the group. This road had turns going downhill that came back almost 240 degrees in a tight radius; making it the most challenging strip of road we traveled the entire rally. This brought us to around 11AM where 4-bikes separated to begin to head back to the hotel for their ride back to their homes. The remainder 4-bikes (glwilson, rayski271, 1600bluekaw, and dmac) all continued on this 'weaving' pattern along the river bluffs all the way to La Crosse, WI where we had lunch at an old A&W Rootbeer stand - just in time to avoid a rain-shower. Food was great, and the time relaxing was much needed by then.

Once lunch was done we headed back south, taking some of the same roads into the bluffs, before finally arriving back in Prairie du Chien at around 4:30PM.

The remaining group met for dinner for our last evening at a Japanese restaurant. We had a great time at dinner, reminiscing about the previous three days and some of the new friends we met.

All too soon though, it was time to get some sleep and begin our individual departures the next morning -- calling an end to a great rally.

Comments and observations:

I would say that the area we chose for our rally was felt to be a great choice by those attending; and likely the next rally will be in the same area in a couple years. I, personally, would like to see this group (and any others that can join) get together annually if possible in this area for another 'mini-rally' (maybe just a couple days).

Personally, I hope those that attended had a good time, and enjoyed their experience. I met some individuals I would have never had the opportunity to meet if it were not for KawaNOW; and it was my pleasure to have done so. As a group, we had some really great people attend. One couldn't ask for a better group of individuals to get together with. To Cal... thanks for the 'koozie' (custom-made with the NCR Regional Rally KawaNOW logo - only one of two in the world!). It is keeping an adult beverage cold as I type this!!

To Don and Melody... thanks for the Guardian Bell. It means a lot to me, and is on my bike now. To Dave... thanks for all your help on this rally. Whew! We somehow made it happen! To Trip and the all the staff members of KawaNOW, thanks for making this opportunity possible with all that you do. Keep up the good-work!