March Hare

Sun and Shadow

Temperatures were warmer than normal so we dusted off the bikes and headed out for a scoot north to get breakfast in Zion. Good start to the riding season.

Puncture Check

PSI

Enough air? No nails embedded in the rubber tread? Make sure the wheels are running smoothly for the weekend lest the route takes on a bit more of a rugged track. These army couriers are certainly making sure!

Slot View

Brief Encounter

Like some single frame of a zoetrope viewer I spotted a parked Bonneville in a basement garage on my walk from the office to my car.

Autumnal Hues

Let the good air flow

I needed to get the wheels spinning under me and clear fresh Fall air blow cobwebs away. Blue October sky like a bluebirds wing, trees painted with a fiery splash. It always livens the senses when the leaves last hurrah of the season flares.

Smiles for miles

I wore the open-face helmet to ensure the sensations were keenly enjoyed.

Eye-Spy

Roadside Attractions

One of the great things when traveling around on the miles and miles of county routes, backroads, tracks, and byways is to see things along the way. I could stop every mile but then wouldn’t get anywhere! So many things are a fleeting vision as you speed past at between 30 and 60 mikes per hour. Neon restaurant lights in Galena; barns in Door County; a Red-spotted Blue in Duluth; breakfast cafe in Black River Falls; Muffler Man in Spooner; vintage Weiner cooker on Washington Island; goats (also W.I.); Dickeyville Grotto; Fresnel Lens, Split Rock. So many things to accessorize the adventure.

Washington Island

The punctuation of Door Co.

We took the small car ferry over to Washington Island at the top end of the peninsula beyond Green Bay. 25 square miles of woodland, farming, vineyards, cabins. A harbor to the farther Rock Island, itself a nature reserve.

A farm museum

Interesting real variety of farm buildings, tools and cabin of the day. Bleating goats gave noise to the location.

Leafy Roads

No need to go fast. Perfectly paced for the go-slow feel of the place. Relax.

National Forest

From Lake to Lake

We had a full day riding from Duluth MN to Green Bay WI. Lake Superior to Lake Michigan. Along Highway 70, the old logging road that cuts across the top of Wisconsin. Lakes open up occasionally and the mixed woodland provides a verdant backdrop to the perfect roads.

Train

Yellowstone 2-8-8-4

Two Harbors – where the iron ore gets loaded onto the behemoth carriers. Also there, is this extraordinarily large locomotive. Used to haul the ore from the ranges inland to these ports. It could pull a mile of ore laden trucks with its 6,000 HP coal fed steam driven engines.

Gitche Gumee

Fresh water as far as the eye can see…

Got to the campsite right on the waters edge. Splendid sunset and campfire as the stars lit up. Super riding through the National Forests that speckle the area.

Of Pine & Aspen

There were signs warning road users of Elk crossing, beautiful trout streams cross-crossing the way and the occasional bald Eagle soaring overhead.

Via Wisconsin

The Road North

We’re on a multi-day trip through the Dairlyland of America. From the historic lead mining center of Galena IL we headed north along the Mississippi through wooded dales and along barn scattered ridges. Back roads, gravel trails, reedbed carpeted bottomlands, and sprouting cornfield amidst oak woodland. A splendid part of the State.

Tigers eyes: A couple of young mousers inspect the bikes.

“Angels Forever, Forever Angels”

“When we do right, nobody remembers. When we do wrong, nobody forgets.”

Gangs of the open road. One per centers wear their signature vests, oily blue jeans and mechanics boots. As well as the ubiquitous Harleys they also tore around on chopped Triumphs like the Pre-Unit shown here.

Muse

Glamor Gals

Most published illustrations are based on staged photographs. Norman Rockwell’s covers for The Saturday Evening Post we’re such examples. Here is a piece of work by one of his contemporaries Gil Elvgren, who was known for his pin-up girls as well as advertising illustrations for companies such as Brown & Bigelow. Many of his ladies ended up as nose art on WW2 bombers.

Bellezza Italiana

Beautiful but Dangerous

At 95 Gina Lollobrigita had a full and interesting life. As a sex symbol in post-war Europe she acted in several films opposite leading men such as Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, and , as seen on the lower right image, Rock Hudson. Later life saw her move to the other side of the camera, where, as a photojournalist, she managed to get an interview with Fidel Castro. (1927-2023)

Ninja Days

Gee Pee Zee

– organizing some photos I came across a couple of old photos from the SLR film era. My Kawasaki used to commute in London (top), and my 900 Ninja used in Chicago. Both terrific machines.

Lake horizon

Convergence

Rail crossing on a back road leading to Lake Michigan. Very pleasant riding conditions that I would hope to continue well into Fall.