[ride reports] [photo album this trip]
Ely, MN & Lake Superior
IL-IA-MN-WI Tour
May 24-26,2003Highlights
Saturday Day 1
Memorial Day Weekend we were planning to ride down to Arkansas, but as the weekend got closer the weather was looking pretty wet for the south. We woke up Saturday morning to find out that there was rain forecasted for the whole weekend in the MO/AR area. I got the map of the US out as I was watching the weather channel, to stay dry we had to go north. With no time to plan an actual route and already being late, we headed West then North using the same route as my IL-IA-MN-WI Tour. Temperatures were in the upper 60’s to low 70’s and there was no rain in the forecast for the upper Midwest.
We crossed Illinois without any problems and stopped for lunch at the Arby’s in Dubuque. It was a lot later in the day then we would have wanted it to be so we increased the pace and continued to zip along our favorite river road in Iowa. We were too late to notice a squad car approaching from the other direction. We slowed down substantially but it was obvious that were speeding, since we got on our brakes a bit to slow down. As we were about to pass him he flipped his light on. My heart shot up and got wedged in my throat as I slowly looked in my mirrors. I was so sure he would turn around and come after us, but all I saw in the mirrors was him speeding away from us. He probably just wanted to scare us. It worked. It was memorial day weekend, we had to be more careful.
We gassed up in Winona, MN and put warmer clothes on. The sun was hanging low in the horizon and the temperatures were falling already. We only had another hour of sunlight. By 9PM we pulled over one more time to change out the tinted shields for clear ones and to put on the last of our warm layers. It was pretty chilly now, low 50’s maybe high 40’s. Pretty soon we were going to need to find a room. The next town had no available rooms, so we kept on riding. We finally got one of the last rooms available in Red Wing, MN. It was 11PM by now and freezing. We ordered a pizza and ate in our room.
Sunday Day 2
Sunday By 9am we were on our way heading North, the plan was to stop by Stillwater, MN a place I visited many years ago, from what I remembered, it was a neat little town. The morning started out brisk but by the time we pulled over for brunch in Stilwater, it was nice and getting warmer. We ate our meal outside along the main strip. After lunch, we climbed the steep stairs next to the restaurant. The waiter told us the view from the top would allow us to see the whole town below and the Mississippi River. The climb was tough right after a big meal and it was already getting pretty warm, way too warm in my leathers. I arrived at the top drenched in sweat but the view was worth it.
These were a few good roads past Stillwater, but also a lot of small towns. By the early afternoon we decided to hit the highway for about an hour or two. The backroads in the are were getting straight and the pavement was getting bumpy. It wasn’t even all that scenic, except for a brief moment or two. Time to take a break from the backroads and make up some time.
We took the exit for Northeast 23 from I-35 and rode all the way into Duluth, MN. I really like this town. You can see the lake and the skyline from the elevated highway and bridges. The day wasn’t all that warm to begin with today, just about mid 60’s but it seemed like it was 20 degrees colder near the lake. The cool temps stayed with us all the way as we followed the lake via route 61. This road wasn’t very twisty and it was very crowded on this holiday weekend, with tons of cages driving extra slow. The view of the lake from this road was very beautiful.
We finally made it to highway 1 [see map] and headed West. By now it was about 6 PM and I was getting hungry, the sun was getting ready to set in a couple of hours was making it harder to navigate through the many twisties on highway 1, shining directly at our faces. Highway 1 is a very twisty road, as a matter of a fact, when you turn onto 1 there is a warning sign that warns you of the many tight curves and the many motorcycles that ride this road. There really wasn’t too much traffic on this road, cars or motorcycles. With the sun low on the horizon we arrived in Ely. For the last few hours I was watching for a place to stop and eat but didn’t see anything we could grab quickly and go. I was starved and now I had a headache. Stopped for gas and took two exedrin.
It was a few past 7PM and we just realized that we were still in Ely, MN… a hop and a skip away from the Canadian border. We had to be back home tomorrow, and to ride home all the way from Ely was nuts. We jumped on our bikes and decided we had to get to Duluth by tonight. We took 169 back to Duluth, it had awesome sweepers, but after about 30-40 minutes, the road straightened out. By the time we reached Duluth, it was pretty cold and dark. We checked into a Super 8 on 53l, unloaded the bikes. By the time we were ready for dinner, everything around us was closed so Taco Bell would just have to do.
Monday Day 3
We woke knowing that we had to make it home tonight. It was going to be a long day in the saddle. From Duluth we rode towards Superior, WI. The view from the road was phenomenal, we could see the Lake Superior below us and the whole city of Duluth from the top of the hill. The roads were empty as it was early in the morning. The police was out patrolling in full force today on this memorial day. Once we started to get closer to Eau Claire on 53 there was a lot of traffic on the roads we got detoured for construction. Once back on the road we finally ended up exiting at Black River Falls where we had a quick lunch then followed 54 to 108 where we continued the route that we take on the IL-IA-MN-WI Tour. The surprise was that 108 was also a nice and twisty road North of Mindoro, we only ride it south of Mindoro on my IL-IA-MN-WI Tour.
By the time we reached Wild Cat Mountain, it was already late in the afternoon. At this rate, riding the backroads, we were not going to make it home tonight. Avery fiber of my being was screaming “no” but we decided to attempt taking I-90 home, so we could get there before midnight. That was a bad mistake. Number one, it was a holiday weekend so traffic was probably even worst than usual, number two, there was construction up ahead, only one lane was open. We rode about one or two miles and then the traffic stopped and we were sitting in the middle of a parking lot. The next exit was miles away. We inched along with the rest of the cars as our radiator fans kicked in. This was going to suck. After about 20 minutes of slowly creeping my clutch and started to cramp up. I couldn’t take it. It was already a long day riding and this was just not going to work. We pulled off to the shoulder. I looked around and all I could see was a sea of cars hardly moving. It was going to be an hour before we would make it to the next exit. There is no way my clutch hand could take that kind of abuse.
I didn’t want to do it but saw no other alternative but to ride the shoulder illegally. We could see squad cars positioned every mile or two pulled over in the grass on the left side of the two lane highway, so the trick was to merge in to the traffic right as we were about to pass them. We were traveling like 6mph not to piss anyone off, but still 5mph faster than all the carson the highway. Some would honk and yell not so nice things to us, but no one did anything mean like opened their door or cut us off. Some cruisers joined us for a bit. Some cagers were actually cheering us on. As we approached the next exit we realized that the construction was over and the highway was almost empty beyond that point. We continued home on I-90, pulled over to grab some dinner near the IL-WI border. Got home before midnight.