South by southwest ... maybe

Wednesday, Oct. 7, came, and along with it, frost.  No matter, I could delay a bit, but I still had to pack all my stuff on my bike and get on the road today.  Sometimes I wonder how I get it all on there.  But I do.  We went to breakfast and in that time the frost was gone, and then we had to go our separate ways.  It’s always sad but it has to be done.

The colors have gotten brighter as I head back to the barn.  Maybe next time I'll see them at their peak.

I rode through some places we’d been through two years ago, and remembered that trip.  It’s always fun … especially when I saw the place we’d stopped that had a lot of wood cut outs in the yard.  This was the place Biker Bill got me the Beagle cut outs … two big ones and two little ones … a whole Beagle family that doesn’t pee, poop or throw up on the carpet.  They also don’t eat much or require a sitter when I’m not there.  Or get up on the table and steal food.

The ride was awesome, although I was still cold.  The mornings have had cloud cover and then it dissipates and warms up in the afternoon and I can remove several layers. 

Spooky place.

 

The best part of the day was going through Fall Creek, Wisconsin … I passed a house that was the most-decorated one I’ve ever seen when it comes to Halloween.  I had to turn around and go back to take some pictures. 

This photo doesn't do this place justice ... for a spooky house, that is.

It’s the Bates Dead and Breakfast, and it had it all … stuff on the roof, in the yard, a hearse, a graveyard.  There was a lady on the porch and I spoke with her.  She told me to come on in the yard and look around.  There was even a guest book to sign. 

This is the entrance to the graveyard.

Ghouls, ghosts, skeletons.  This place has it all.

 

The hearse was my favorite.

It was a great ride, except I was enjoying it so much I never turned onto the road I was supposed to follow and ended up in Menomonie.  I was supposed to be going southwest not northwest.  And that, folks, is how I get my miles.  Hahaha. 

So, it was time to really turn south and I ended up following a part of 35, which is the Great River Road along the Mississippi River.  Jaz and I had taken a part of this when we rode down here earlier this year, so it wasn’t all bad.  I actually followed it a bit further, ending up in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, for the night at a not-so-great motel.  But it was getting close to dark and I’d not seen anything else. 

The best part of staying here was that it was right across the street from the railroad tracks so there were trains going through.  I only heard the first two, but it made me think of the movie, “My Cousin Vinny.”  His sleep had been disturbed during the night because of the trains going through.  So the next morning he asks the front desk clerk if the train always goes through at that time of night and the desk clerk says, “no.”  The train comes again the next night.  He’s irritated, and goes back to the desk clerk.  I thought you told me the train doesn’t go through here at that time of night all the time.  The clerk says, “It doesn’t.  It was late that day.”  I thought it was funny and enjoyed my trains.