A little Saturday jaunt....

[Putt]

The wife and I just took a little leisurely jaunt today, left Moline around 10 AM
and headed up through Iowa. Kinda hi-balled it up Rt. 61 to Dubuque where we
picked up U.S. 52 for a couple of miles till we hit a little town called
Sageville where we took off and followed The Great River Road up to Balltown
(oldest tavern in Iowa, did not even shut down during Prohibition, Feds could
not find Balltown).. From there, on up to Guttenberg Iowa, on up to a
place called "Pikes Peak" its a State Park in Iowa where ol' Zeb crossed the Mississippi River over into Iowa. Its about 800Ft from the bluffs to the
river. From there up to McGregor, and them Marquette Ia, where we crossed the river into Prairie du Chein Wi. Stopped at Cabelas to look around, then headed on back down the river on the Wisconsin side back to Illinois and home...

Up around Balltown, we saw a sidecar rig, stopped and talked to the
gentleman and his wife. When I first got a close look at the bike, it
looked like a old BMW R series, but it turns out it was a Russian
copy of the Beemer... Interesting...

1. The sidecar rig
2. View from Balltown
3. Lock and dam 10 Guttenberg, Ia
4. Overlook from Pikes peak, confluence of the Wisconsin and the Mississippi
5. One of the few things I would trade my 1300 for...

[AgSTreak]

Thanks for the excellent ride report. I'm with you on the P51 (maybe). I would also include the Corsair, the Spit and the P38 to my list just behind the Mustang.

[dannyk]

Nice pictures and ride report Putt, there sure is some nice riding along the river and some very senic views also. Sure do love that green color versus the brown and white of winter. :biker: Danny

[Putt]

Just as a side note... Lots of Harleys on the road... Generally, in this area,
pretty much everyone waves at each other... Yesterday, I would
have to say that less than 50% returned a wave... All the Sport
Tourers did though..... And one guy on a Vespa....


Putt..

[Putt]

Wow,
Just looked at my report... Note-to-self: Don't post when you are tired....
Not a lot of information in there.....

Putt...

[Horst]

That 'Russian' bike you saw was a Ural ... yes a BMW rip-off, but BMW apparently did not mind because it was clearly an ancient design. BMW was much more hostile to a recent Chinese rip-off ... haven't seen it here !

BTW - A fellow in WA state used to distribute the Ural w/sidecar !

[Carl_T]

Cool pictures Putt :) We had a Ural dealer in the area (he's probably still there). They started out at under 5 grand and are up over 10,000 now. 30's BMW design I think. I almost bought one for if I made it to 80 or 90 years old, I so should have done so at that original price. They come/came with dirt knobbies if you wanted also.

[mnst1300]

There is a Ural dealer in Spring Vally, MN which is probably where that one came from. I think they top out around 65mph. Both rear tires provide power.

[Gonzo]

Nice P-51. Judging from the markings, this was used in air races. They were very popular due to the inverted V-12 engine which was a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine built under license by Packard. Very powerful. More interesting, though are the black and white stripes. After D-Day, nearly all Allied aircraft carried these stripes.
thanx,
Gonzo