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Wednesday morning, August 13th I'm leaving KC and riding to Dubuque, Iowa to meet a brother in law. From Dubuque we are going to ride the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail (The TWAT) to Lake Superior. The trail is a combination of gravel, dirt and ATV trails. It is about 550 miles long. It is my understanding no large adventure bike is attempted the entire trail so wish me luck. I'm not worried about the gravel and dirt (unless real muddy) but I am a little concerned about the sand. I have never ridden in sand and my bike will be fully loaded.

After arriving a Lake Superior we will ride to Duluth. At Duluth my in-law will be heading home to St. Paul, MN leaving me to explore the big woods. I am thinking of circling around the Lake however that could change if I come across a better idea.

I'll be back around August 24 + of - depending on what I do (and if I have to be someone at work ).

I will be using my SPOT if anyone is interested. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl ... 0t3lpSo4ho

Wednesday is taking forever to get here!

Rock Chalk Eddie!

But are you sure you want to take a "fully loaded" GS 1100 on ATV trails We will need photos when you return, good luck!

Pack light.

Now throw out half of the stuff you have packed. Send it to your family in Duluth to pick up after your TWAT ride.
(Is that language allowed on this board?)

Be careful with those hard side cases of yours. Don't get a leg caught.

In sand: go fast, stand up, weight back. "When in doubt, power out" to quote Hayden.
And before XR-Nut makes any comments: I ride sand a lot better than I ride mud!

safiri wrote:Pack light.

Now throw out half of the stuff you have packed. Send it to your family in Duluth to pick up after your TWAT ride.
(Is that language allowed on this board?)

Be careful with those hard side cases of yours. Don't get a leg caught.

In sand: go fast, stand up, weight back. "When in doubt, power out" to quote Hayden.
And before XR-Nut makes any comments: I ride sand a lot better than I ride mud!

I know I packed more clothes then needed but I hate doing wash. I also have more tools then I need. I only carry them because I hope someone else know what is wrong. I probably could also ditch the tent and sleeping bag and stay in motels but I would hate to limit myself that way.

I like to travel with a tent and sleeping bag. That way I know I can find a place to sleep that is dry.

Take care, rubber side down, enjoy.

safiri wrote:I like to travel with a tent and sleeping bag. That way I know I can find a place to sleep that is dry.

Take care, rubber side down, enjoy.

Thank you. I'm looking forward to the ride. That is why I am bring the tent and bag.

Today is my birthday, and now that I have my V-Strom, I have the right bike to join you, Eddie. That would be a wonderful birthday present--to be loaded up and heading out for an adventure on 2 wheels. Doh! That work thing keeps getting in the way.

I'll check in on you via SPOT. Have a great time!

troy wrote:Today is my birthday, and now that I have my V-Strom, I have the right bike to join you, Eddie. That would be a wonderful birthday present--to be loaded up and heading out for an adventure on 2 wheels. Doh! That work thing keeps getting in the way.

I'll check in on you via SPOT. Have a great time!

You better be checking in case we need to make a bike trade.

I pounded the TWAT or maybe the TWAT pounded me. Either way it was a great time and I took my pig where a pig should ever go.

I am now in Canada and have been given another reason not to sleep at night:

ajayhawkfan wrote:I pounded the TWAT...

Nice, Eddie. Real mature.

Your forgot the "or" part Troy!

Eddie must have read the book "Antlers in the trees", by WhoGoosedTheMoose.

troy wrote:

ajayhawkfan wrote:I pounded the TWAT...

Nice, Eddie. Real mature.

LOL!!!! Oh crap I about fell out of my chair. Eddie will for ever be known as the TWAT Pounder have I gone too far???


Hayden

I had a great trip. I road over 3300 miles. If anyone interested you can check out my pictures here. http://picasaweb.google.com/ajayhawkfan ... erior82008

The Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail was wonderful. It started of extremely beautiful with big sweeping curves and lot of elevation changes. That was mostly well maintained gravel and some blacktop. The middle section became much more technical. There were more ATV trails and roads. Some were very sandy but nothing like that last part. The land was flatter then in the beginning and there were a number of lakes. A lot of the riding was in the big woods. It was different from the first but still very pretty. The last section was tough! Very sandy ATV trails and forest roads through a pine forest. It had lots of hills and low spots. I think it was pretty as well but I had to concentrate so hard on keeping my pig on it rubber. Knobbies are a good thing.

The TWAT was 560 miles and took 2 and a half days. It is very well done and a lot of fun. I would recommend the ride to anyone!

After the TWAT I road around Lake Superior. It is a beautiful ride although most was on black top I did hit some nice gravel. At place I was on a single gravel road, no stop signs for over 70 miles while in Canada.

Once back in The US. I road around the UP of Michigan. WOW I need to go back with others. There is so much to explore and ride. Everywhere I looked there were ATV trails open to bikes.

The Keweenaw Peninsula should be a destination for any rider. It has trails of all levels with beautiful scenery, nice people, resorts, motels, history, national forests, national parks and good restaurants and bars. If someone was looking for a place to go with the family where you could get some riding in, keep this area in mind. I will go back.

Welcome back! The photos were won-der-ful! Be sure and post a link to all of this on Backroads. Bob

What a fantastic ride, Eddie! I finished looking at all the photos--thanks for sharing. (I like on Picasa as you click a photo, you can see on the map where the photo was taken.)

Thanks for not sharing any photos from your time at the Gay Bar. What you do on your own time.... When you told me you prefer to take the dirt road, I thought you meant literally.


I've never been to the UP, but there is an annual "6 days of Michigan" dualsport ride up there that is supposed to be fantastic. Too far for me to drive until I'm ready to do a big trip like you just did.

There are a lot of pictures on that link so here are some of my favorites;

I road gravel most of the way through Iowa to WI. This is a typical road.


Day 1 on the TWAT
The Dickeyville Grotto is one of those places you need to see to believe (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2242):


From the beginning the trail was scenic and the roads showed the best of SW WI.





Towards the end of the first day we started hitting sand. That was my first taste of what was to come:


Day 2 on the TWAT
The trail started out in the sand but then it became pretty solid ATV. They were all wonderful:


Not far from the below picture of the Yellow River, I was coming around a curve and there was a dead porcupine in the road. I hit it, it popped and porcupine poo blew all over my leg, bike and hard bags. I worked on a ranch, I have been around stinky poo- cow, horse, hog, dog, chicken and many wild animals. I have NEVER smelled anything as horrible as porcupine poo and then it started cooking on my exhaust and I could not believe it, it got worse.


Later in the day the trail started getting sandy however we did find an abandoned RR bed that was a lot of fun to ride:


We ended day 2 at the Plywood Bar. I have been to some unique places before in this county as well as Mexico. I have never been in a bar anything like this. BTW there is no heat or AC in the bar, or windows. You drink along with the birds the fly in...As I said, unique. I'm sitting still and can smell the porcupine poo but no one seems to notice. Maybe they eat porcupines. I left my riding pants outside, no one would steal something that stinks that bad.


Day 3 on the TWAT was the toughest. It was almost all deep sand along the forest roads.


This might look like a solid road but it is all sand.


Bear running season was on. There were trucks full of hunters and dogs chasing bears.


End of the TWAT!!


The views were worth it.






But not the end of the poo smell.

troy wrote:What a fantastic ride, Eddie! I finished looking at all the photos--thanks for sharing. (I like on Picasa as you click a photo, you can see on the map where the photo was taken.)

Thanks for not sharing any photos from your time at the Gay Bar. What you do on your own time.... When you told me you prefer to take the dirt road, I thought you meant literally.


I've never been to the UP, but there is an annual "6 days of Michigan" dualsport ride up there that is supposed to be fantastic. Too far for me to drive until I'm ready to do a big trip like you just did.

I was going to get to that picture.

That Picasa feature is my favorite as well. When I ride and take a photo I mark it on my GPSr so I can put the location on the map.