Took the Sportster on a little weekender by myself. Headed up from the far SW suburbs of Chicago to Richland Center, WI. Took all two lane and back roads to get there. About 240 miles for Day 1. Headed West across the SW Wisconsin region known as The Driftless Area toward the Mississippi River. Crossed the Wisconsin River a couple of times in there too. After following the Mississippi down a bit, I lined up at the ferry crossing in Cassville. Had a big group of bikes pull in behind me shortly after. Chatted with several of them before we got on and the ride leader invited me to join them for lunch. Followed them down to Balltown, IA and had pie at Breitbach's. Split ways with them and headed South along the Mississippi on the Iowa side. Crossed over at Sabula into Savanna, eventually stopping in Fulton, IL for a night to visit with my parents. Total of about 220 miles on the day. High tailed it home from there for another 120 miles or so before the heat got any worse. As it was it was 90° by 11am, felt like 99°. Such a good ride and good to get some helmet time to think. Sportster did great and got around 45mpg for the trip.





















Purple Heart Memorial in Richland Center, WI












Overlooking the Wisconsin River as the weather starts to turn a bit.









The group I tagged along with from the ferry to lunch (pie). What a great group!



Lock and Dam #13 on the Mississippi River





De Immigrant celebrating the 25th anniversary in Fulton, IL

 

Wow, great pictures. I’m surprised by the windmill. Cool stuff.

Thanks for sharing.

 

My Dad is a miller there. They grind corn, wheat, rye, and buckwheat, most of which is locally grown. Got to see way up into the inner workings.

 

@kvanderploeg Nice PICs man.

 

Thank you. Makes it worth it to take a real camera along.

 

Great pics - good eye!

 

I love this area. Wisconsin is a great state and all up and down the Mississippi. Best part for me it's only around 5 hours to get there for me.

 

Nice ride and nice pics! Living north of Chicago I appreciate the detail of the route for my future travel.