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If anyone is going up early you might consider staying the night in Stillwater, MN. It is a neat, historic town.

On Aug. 22 the MN group is having a Meet and Greet in Stillwater, MN http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=309666

Ozarksrider and I will be staying at the Water Street Inn. It is regularly over $180 a night and we got rooms for about $80. The Inn is about a block from the Meet and Greet. There are other places to stay that way be cheaper but not as centrally located. If interested in Staying at the Inn let me know. I'll send you my conformation code to get the same rate.

ajayhawkfan wrote:For those interested in going to the VBR.

On Thursday, August 22, Chris Smith and I plan on being in Stillwater, MN. I made reservation for the two of us at the Water Street Inn. Normally it is quite pricy ($189 and up). http://waterstreetinn.us/ I got 2 rooms for $77 each, Gov. Rate. I mentioned others might call. They said they would give you the same Government rate.

The ADVrider.com group may have a meet and greet in Stillwater that night for us. Even if they don't it is a very neat town.

I made a reservation at the Water Street Inn as well.

bonanzasteve wrote:

ajayhawkfan wrote:For those interested in going to the VBR.

On Thursday, August 22, Chris Smith and I plan on being in Stillwater, MN. I made reservation for the two of us at the Water Street Inn. Normally it is quite pricy ($189 and up). http://waterstreetinn.us/ I got 2 rooms for $77 each, Gov. Rate. I mentioned others might call. They said they would give you the same Government rate.

The ADVrider.com group may have a meet and greet in Stillwater that night for us. Even if they don't it is a very neat town.

I made a reservation at the Water Street Inn as well.

That will be fun.

Ozarksrider and I will be leaving tomorrow for Duluth and the Rally. On Sunday Chris is heading home and I'm heading somewhere. I'm leaning towards heading west towards Wyoming but could end up going around the Great Lakes.

If anyone is interested here is a link to my Spot. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... jE7BvI9uVB

Ride safe, and have a good time.

Bob Morgan wrote:Ride safe, and have a good time.

Thanks. We will have a ball.

If you happen to be heading south sometime between next Wednesday and Sunday, a detour towards Blakesburg IA may be worth a stop if you are interested in vintage aircraft. I'm thinking of flying up, if everything works out just right.

More info here:
http://www.antiqueairfield.com/flyins/2 ... ation.html

Ryan

This trip was a lot of fun with sand, gravel, and pie! I'll post up some pics this evening.

ozarksrider wrote:This trip was a lot of fun with sand, gravel, and pie! I'll post up some pics this evening.

Cool, Chris! Looking forward to hearing more! If you have pics of you and Eddie sharing a hotel room, that would be much appreciated.

Ha! No room sharing, but here are a few pics from the ride/rally.

This was on a bridge crossing from MN to Iowa on a dirt/sand/gravel road.


Parked for a break on the Mississippi.


Yep, it rained. Just for a day....


The Giant.


Cool yard art.


The rally looking down the ski slope.


We rode up on the north side of Lake Superior, stopping here for lunch.


The last night they had a band.



I didn't take any pictures of the 10 hours on I35 coming home.

Other highlights on my list, but no pics, include...

Stockholm Pie Company in Stockholm Wisconsin has a really great chocolate peanut butter pie.

Franconia Sculpture Park outside Franconia MN has some really cool projects.

The house featured in Grant Wood's "American Gothic" is well worth the stop.

The Great River Road has some great views of the Mississippi.

The Freight House Restaurant In Stillwater MN was perfect for a few beers with some local dual sport riders.

Lake Superior Maritime Visitors Center if you like anything about ships, and the lake.

The Moto Guzzi guys I had dinner with the last night at the rally were pretty typical of who I met. That is guys who like to ride, and talk about bikes.

I just got back from my 4200 mile trip that included the rally. I road in the following states;
MO
IA
IL
WI
MN
ND
SD
MT
WY
ID
UT
CO
NE
KS

I'll post some pictures soon.

It was a great trip.

Here are a few pictures from my trip.

One correction on Chris' pictures. The bridge was from Wisconsin into Minnesota across the St. Croix River.

Bald Eagles views while crossing the Mississippi River:



Rail to Trail in MN south of Duluth:



Riding during the VBR:



Sitting Bull's Grave in SD.



While Crossing SD a sever thunderstorm came up. I found shelter in an open barn:



Graves at the Little Big Horn:



Fetterman Massacre-Crazy Horse baited Fetterman to chase him over a ridge into the hands of 100's of Indians. Worst loss of US Soldiers during the Indian Wars until Little Big Horn.



Great road in WY called Red Grade Road:





Beartooth Pass:



Yellowstone:



I was disappointed in Yellowstone not because of the sights but the crowds.



Mesa Falls, Idaho:



Tetons in the distance:





Flaming Gorge Dam, Utah:



Echa Park Road in Colorado. Has an 18% grade that was over a mile long and wash-boarded.









Petroglyphs:





Total trip over 4250 miles. Most blacktop but did quite a bit of dual sport riding in most every state.

It was a great trip.

If anyone is interested here is a link to all my pictures; https://plus.google.com/photos/11381840 ... 7745416033

Chris, there are some pictures of you that you might want to download.

Very cool. I'm jealous.
Jim

Awesome! Wife and I were in awe of nature's beauty as we drove through Flaming Gorge during winter several years ago. I have a photo where I got out and just stood with my arms out as the huge snowflakes covered me. It was near rabbit ears pass where we rescued some folks in a Jeep Cherokee that had gotten stuck in the deep snow off the road. Boy were they glad to see me and my tow rope!

When I get some time, I'll definitely view your photos, Eddie.

I had a great time on this trip, though the weather was not always the best with some rain then record high temps. Rode over to Hannibal and took the Great River Road up the West side of the Mississippi to Stillwater MN and some other scenic back roads to Duluth. My new GS only has about 300 miles on it so I took the Concours for the trip and was restricted to nice paved roads, but most of them were very scenic and some very fun roads to ride. Met up with Eddie and Chris in Stillwater and Duluth and ran into Chris (the trials rider) out on the trials course. One of the highlights of the trip was watching the trials competition all day on Saturday. I had never seen one before and it was fascinating to watch the expert and pro level riders! I rode most of the circle tour of the south side of Lake Superior when I left before turning back to the southwest, taking some incredible roads through Wisconsin to join up with the Great River Road on the east side for the way back down. The east side Great River Road is even better then the West side. Here is a link to some pictures and trials videos if anybody is interested.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1146212127 ... directlink

stimmer6253472 wrote:Very cool. I'm jealous.
Jim

+1 Great pics and story Eddie!

ajayhawkfan wrote:
Total trip over 4250 miles. Most blacktop but did quite a bit of dual sport riding in most every state.

It was a great trip.

Okay, some quick math....you left on a Wednesday and are posting these on a Tuesday so you must have been gone for 6 days max. Without any non riding days at Very Boring, you averaged 700 miles per day and some of this was gravel?

If I tried to do that I'd be standing at my work desk for the next two weeks.

allkidd wrote:

ajayhawkfan wrote:
Total trip over 4250 miles. Most blacktop but did quite a bit of dual sport riding in most every state.

It was a great trip.

Okay, some quick math....you left on a Wednesday and are posting these on a Tuesday so you must have been gone for 6 days max. Without any non riding days at Very Boring, you averaged 700 miles per day and some of this was gravel?

If I tried to do that I'd be standing at my work desk for the next two weeks.

Randy, your math is a little off (or at least your calendar) and don't you teach it?





























I was gone over two Wednesdays.