The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes

And the Roads which Take You Around Them.


  You can try to predict how a riding season here in the north woods might go, but you really can't be sure.    The nation suffered an incredible stretch of heat this summer.  The kind of heat I won't ride in anymore.  But for some evening rides, I had to wait until the heat broke.  

I got to thinking about where I've been riding.  And where I've been meaning to ride.

There's an area I've been meaning to explore.  A motorcycle store is in a town right off the expressway.  You can see the building from the freeway.  The place sells Triumphs and BMWs among other brands.  They also carry a good selection of gear.

So I decided to take the back roads and wend my way to this motorcycle store.  Only I wasn't real attentive to the time.  Apparently I was having too much fun to notice I wasn't getting all that much closer for all the riding I was doing.  I arrived ten minutes after they closed.  And I wasn't the only one.  A few others rolled into the lot during my stretch-and-drink.  I chatted with one fellow restoring his father's KZ650 who'd done pretty much the same thing I had; got lost in the spirit of the ride.  On the way home, I stretched that ride even longer. Once or twice I was completely disoriented as clouds blotted away the sun.  At one point I rode better than two miles on a dirt road.  The lushest, densest, greenest overgrowth on a country lane I can remember.  If anyone saw me they had to know I was lost.  And they could probably tell I didn't care that I was lost either.

These roads around the lakes.  They're the slow way to get somewhere.  Only the locals and other riders seem to enjoy them.  They almost seem like a natural barrier to folks in a hurry.  Which is fine, because they're fantastic to ride at legal speeds.  And it isn't just these roads.  A curve can surprise you with an incredible view.  A lake with sailboats and fisherman for example.  Rolling hills of wheat and tassled corn.  tracts of woods such a dark shade of green they actually appear blue. 

It's a slightly different heading on the compass.  A new angle on the ride, so to speak (sorry-couldn't resist).

To the roads around the lakes.

Harv