-- in and around. You won't find some of the spectacular scenery I (enviously) see in many of the ride reports here. No Alps in Iowa, or, FTM, much of anything between here and the Rockies to the west and the Appalachian chain to the east -- I'll leave the polar regions to the north, and the tropics to the south out of this
-- except bucolic rural America. I love it. There are, however, more challenging roads than you might expect, especially in that region known as the "Driftless Area," a large tract that touches the four corners of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. This the place where the glaciers missed when they visited and retreated long ago. More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driftless_Area.
I left on Friday morning -- Veterans, nee Armistice, Day -- and got back at dusk on Saturday. Rode the Norge on this trip, then on Sunday morning, took the Griso over to Starved Rock State Park for the monthly Guzzi gathering local riders have. See http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/.
This "driftless trip" was almost 650 miles, and the SRSP, about 250, meaning it was a 1000-mile weekend on motorcycles. Hardly Ironbutt level of riding, but the only time on the slab was to cross under them.
Here's the shorter slideshow of the solo Sunday ride on the Griso:
http://tinyurl.com/13-Nov-2011-Starved-Rock
The two-dayer was with James, a fellow Quad Cities transplant and Italomotophile, tho James was on an Aprilia Futura, not a Guzzi. As with the SRSP slides, the captions and pix tell the tale.
http://tinyurl.com/Driftless-Guzzi-November-2011
Not sure many more miles left this season here. Thankfully, I will be in Atlanta several times over the winter, and the EV sits in the garageMahalo there, hooked to a battery tender and dreaming, as do I, of the mountains. I'll dust her off and romp a bit every chance I can.
Regards from "the other Milan,"
Bill
