Everyday Riding: Road Trip Day #10–Iowa, Minnesota, and Home

Friday, August 28, 2015

Road Trip Day #10–Iowa, Minnesota, and Home

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I woke up and checked out of the hotel early. I wanted to enjoy a day of riding twisty roads while everyone else was at work.

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My plan worked. The roads were remarkably empty on a Monday morning. I left Dubuque and started riding north towards home. The rolling hills and windy roads were very enjoyable. The farms looked so picturesque.

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I loosely followed the Great River Road through the driftless area. This area was supposedly not touched by glaciers and as such is more rugged with steep cliffs, bluffs, deep valleys. All of which mean twisty fun motorcycle roads.

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Then great views like this jump out at you. A shot of the Mississippi River looking north.

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Looking over at the Wisconsin side

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Getting closer to the MN border. A nice bridge over to WI and a river boat.

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Many of the roads in this area have neat names like CY9 and X56 (two of my faves). They sounds like names for fighter planes instead of roads, and you sure feel like one carving around the sweepers.

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I took some time to explore a bit and found myself on a stretch of gravel road. The beginning was nice, but by the end it was large marbles. Not fun. The scenery made it worth while winding through a wooded valley to the farms on top of the bluffs and back down the other side.

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Hello Minnesota! It was nice to see this welcome sign.

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One of the first overlooks on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi. Bald eagles like to nest in this area. I didn’t see any this time, but have seen them on previous trips.

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More twisty roads and great views of the river bluffs. SE MN is one of my favorite parts of the state. So beautiful.

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Yup, this kind of view for over 100 miles.

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I stopped at a park near Lake City, MN for a picnic lunch. It was nice to get off the bike and relax for a bit before taking the final 50 miles back into the metro area and heavy traffic. My last day of riding was just over 300 miles most of which were on beautiful, empty, two-lane roads.

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I really enjoyed my short 2800 mile motorcycle adventure to pick off my 49th state and watch some amazing riders at MotoGP. Now that I am home, I am eager to go on another trip!

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