A storm is a brewin' !

We went for a short ride, just up to Greenville, to have a bite to eat. I told Ed it looked like it might rain, but he didn't believe me. We ate at the Stoneyard and it was good. I had a Southwest bacon burger and Ed had a cheeseburger, and we both had yard chips which were delicious slices of home made potato chip heaven! We also had Point rootbeer, but I wasn't overly thrilled with that, I like Sprecher or A & W much better.

We were just finishing up our meal when a lady came in and asked someone if they saw the lightning and we looked out and it was pretty black, so we decided to pay and head straight back home. The storm was really impressive looking, the front was black clouds and they were curved, clearly defining the pending doom. The entire ride home my rear view mirrors only had the inky black clouds in them. We made it home and all we got in Oshkosh was some wind. I was so disappointed!

The ride was short and sweet and thankfully uneventful. I'm still hoping to never use my rain gear!

Dells bound

Today we rode down & around the Wisconsin Dells area. We left home, rode to Portage then down & around and through Baraboo, back to Portage and back home, about 250 miles all together. We didn't stop anywhere to eat, we just stopped for gas and Gatorade since it was so warm out.

The ride was amazing, there were places where we were up and down hills and around curves and the endless shades of green and grass tops were beautiful. There were some spots where we rode through canopies of trees that looked like they were reaching across the road to try and hug each other and their branches entwined forming an amazing canopy that let bits of sunlight in to dance around on the road. As the clouds cleared up, we seemed to be racing with the cloud shadows on the road as well. We were gone for about 8 hours but the time went by really fast.

We did stop at the A &W when we got back to town for some cold root beer and a little food before heading home to hang out in the AC.

Million Mile Monday 6/27/11

Today was Million Mile Monday, a day that Harley Davidson says get out and ride! We took off the day so we could go riding, but the weather wasn't looking so promising. It decided to clear up a bit so we rode around Lake Winnebago. There were a few times we thought we might get wet, but the weather held off and we made it home safe and sound and dry :)

On the way home, we stopped at H-D Appleton because I have been having problems with my gas cap vibrating ever since I got my bike, and it's driving me crazy! They got me a new gas cap since mine was loose, and the ride back home was nice and gas cap vibration/buzzing free. The guys in the service department there take great care of you!

We stopped at Maggie Moos for a little treat after the pit stop at Harley and managed to log 101 miles for our ride today.

Door County run 6/25/11

So, on Saturday we did the Door County run. I've been up there lots of times, but never on a bike. It was a perfect day - lots of sunshine, virtually no wind and not that much traffic - what more could you ask for! The day started out a little cool, but thanks to my new Rider Comfort System clothes, I was very comfortable and removing layers was really easy.

We left Oshkosh, went up through De Pere then to Fish Creek where we stopped at The Oilery. We got some sesame oil, garlic extra virgin olive oil and toasted almond oil. I can't wait to try them. We also got some sauces that could almost be used as jam, cherry, raspberry and strawberry pepper. Gonna have some tasty meals coming up real soon!

We ate at the Harbor Fish Market and Grille in Bailey's Harbor and I had the soup & sandwich special. It was a tuna melt, open face, on an english muffin with a cup of beer cheese soup. While it looked like I might be hungry when they brought the food, I was pleasantly surprised that I was was full - satisfied full, not stuffed full - when I was done. The amount of tuna salad on the muffin was generous and it was all toasted with cheese on top so it was a little crunchy on the outside but warm and chunky in the middle, very tasty stuff! Ed had a tuna sandwich with potato salad. His was a grilled tuna steak instead of chopped tuna and he said it was good. Both of our meals were $10.95 (each) so it was a little more than I would expect to pay around home for the same meal, but it was a kind of fancy restaurant inside (we ate outside) and it was in Bailey's Harbor so it was about normal for there.

292 miles and 10-1/2 hours later we were home. It was amazing. The butt pad I got from Alaska Leather helped out a lot, normally I can feel it after about 200 miles, but this time only my knees were sore by that time so that the only reason we had to stop was to stretch our legs, get gas, eat or take a potty break. I think I am really going to enjoy riding this year!

First "official" ride of 2011 is in!

We went riding with our friends Sunday. leaving from Oshkosh, then to Neenah to meet up with everyone, then off via the winding back roads to one of our favorite haunts, The Wheelhouse in Waupaca, and of course, that trip would not be complete without the trip across the parking lot to Scoopers for ice cream.

After stuffing ourselves, we took the back roads back toward Neenah again, winding through the booming metropolises of Poysippi, Borth and Winneconne.

We had pizza for the first time at The Wheelhouse, we had the Jeff's loaded special, but opted for ham instead of green olives, it was amazing with a great balance of toppings to crust and a crispy crust. We also had cheesy garlic bread, which was ok - definitely not one of my favorite versions of that. They had Sprecher root beer on tap which made me really happy since I love that stuff.

Scoopers is an experience all on it's own! If you are planning to have dessert, make sure you leave LOTS of room. They had so many flavors to choose from, and a kiddie scoop there is what some other places call a single scoop. The single scoop is huge, and 2 people could share it. They also let you split a single scoop if you just can't decide what flavor you want.

The weather wasn't the greatest, mid 60's, cloudy, a little breezy, but it was still a great ride. The fact that it was cooler made the travelling on the back roads around the resort areas a lot less congested so we could just take our time winding around the curves and up and down the hills. We had 8 bikes in our group and 3 were women riders!!

Hopefully this is the start to a great riding season - the weather hasn't been to cooperative so far but maybe that will change soon!!

Yay - got a ride in!!

Well, Memorial day turned out to be a nice day, although it was a bit windy. We took a short ride, up to Appleton to drop off something at a friends house, then over to New London and back home. Ed's replacement headset was working fine - it took a bit to get it paired up since the instructions that come with it are less than desirable, but luckily I found someone's blog online that had better instructions.

We made it back just in time to beat most of the Memorial Day traffic, but not all of it. Some jerk practically ran a stop sign so he wouldn't have to follow us, so he ended up right in front of us stuck in the same traffic we were in, but we were able to pass him so we got way ahead - it felt GREAT!

It was awesome to be on the road in the warm sun, wind in my hair, no bugs in my teeth (that I noticed anyway) and cruising along at highway speeds. It's what riding is all about!

We were going to go to a place in Appleton to eat called New York Deli, but we rode by and it was closed so we headed off to Tom's Drive In in Neenah. Can't go wrong with Tom's - love the cheese curds and I had a Black Raspberry shake. Yep, it was amazing!

Hopefully we will have good weather this weekend as well - looks like we will have company on Saturday, so I have to get the yard work done in the morning, and hopefully we can go riding on Sunday. Stay tuned for more adventures...

Am I ever going to get to ride???

Ok, so I have been able to take the bike to work a couple times, but sheesh!! It's May 24th and the high today is 55! I mean, really? I was hoping that I would get to try out my new butt pad this weekend, but it's supposed to be cold & rainy all weekend. I think I have put about 90 miles on my bike so far this season and that's pretty sad.

I do have to say that being in the southern states for a week made me really want to get out and ride, and it looks like they had warm weather back here while we were gone, so we missed it!

I am glad that we didn't take the bikes since it rained the first day and a half of our trip. It was much easier to take in the car that it would have been on the bike. I'm hoping I never have to use my rain gear, but I'm sure that won't be the case. Hopefully next week the temps will get back up and the skies will clear up too I can start cranking up some miles.

We are going to break the great river road trip into segments, and hopefully get some 3 or 4 day weekend trips in this summer too. I'm hoping to have lots of great adventures to blog about.