Episode 033 - Top 5 Motorcycle Roads of Minnesota - Best Motorcycle Roads - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ag1U-aBMBc

Transcript:

(00:00) why did the motorcycle ride to Minnesota to see if the Lakes were really great or just wheelie good oh really [Music] good hello and welcome to best motorcycle roads I'm Tom and I'm Todd we have over 65 years of combin motorcycling experience and 30 years of planning and riding motorcycle trips we're here to share with you everything we've learned over those years our goal at best motorcycle roads is simple make your next motorcycle trip the best it can be we'll dive into technology planning packing roots and everything in

(00:47) between from essential prep to Unforgettable Roots we've got you covered before we Kickstart today's Journey we ask you to sign up for our BMR Rider alerts it's our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest ride guides tips and stories we promise no spam only the essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures join the BMR crew today we'll put a link in the show notes this segment about motorcycle gear reviews and tips we call the toolkit in the toolkit a little bit something different um okay going a little off

(01:20) script I'm thinking because I was thinking about the trip um that we're planning in the future and just sometimes we don't remember everything so I'm suggesting a note notepad voice recorder something to just jot down notes once in a while on the trip great I'd really like to get into the habit of writing down like the miles not because I care about like that but it would be really nice to have like a well archived thing so I'm suggesting a notepad voice recorder at the end of the day maybe

(01:51) just hey it was a good day it was a bad day it was rainy it wasn't rainy I mean I don't know how many miles that day anything quirky that happened you know just those little things I like that and and if I saw something or did something along the way hey here's a place we want to come back to let's check this next time or hey we don't need to go see Paul bunan again you know I mean whatever no no I mean that's the good point yeah I mean like even little restaurants you know sometimes it's nice

(02:20) these places sometimes are remote they don't get a whole lot of traffic it's good to put a good review in to put a good note you know in if you see somebody going there tell them to go back but yeah I think it's just something to be a little bit better maybe we're recollecting more since we're doing this podcast but man some of the things that I wish I remembered you know we've been using Google timeline sometimes but it's not the same yeah I like that idea a lot yeah it's cool

(02:45) ridewise is the section we focus on planning and safety tips for today's ridewise uh our episode is about Minnesota road so I wanted to talk uh just briefly about deer safety sure and Wildlife but uh deer are major Hazard on on Minnesota roads especially Dusk and Dawn um stay alert uh and constantly scan the the ditches if you're not used to riding uh you know in places in the midwest like this you really got to watch the ditches yeah and uh and use your high beams like all the time unless there's oncoming cars sure uh watch for

(03:20) that cuz they they will not only jump out in front of you they'll run into the side of you and um and you know all about hitting a a deer with a motorcycle not good uh one other uh like a quick Hidden Gem Gem I want to talk about is the the calonia road okay uh known as County Road 362 I think it's Highway 44 if you go on uh Google Maps it goes from uh calonia which I like saying anyway to L Crescent uh so if I was coming from Iowa I'd go up Highway 52 from where I'm at and then Crossing to Minnesota then

(03:53) get on to 44 pass through Mabel and Spring Grove but the terrain on the calonia road it's it's only 23 miles or so to La Crescent but uh twists and turns and um it's you know Rolling Hills it's beautiful uh you get this you know a real glimpse of um a simpler life in Minnesota you know uh wooded areas and things like that uh the calonia road is actually pretty wellmaintained um it's an asphalt road of course but um because it's you know they get harsh Winters remember remember in the spring um watch

(04:33) for watch for potholes and any you know heaves in the pavement um and you know snow plows will throw some gravel up there so um just pay attention to that but uh yeah enjoy calonia road if you if you have a chance to ride there Southeast uh Minnesota the next segment is what we call the mile marker it's our story segment all right uh part six of the six pod series talking best roads in the Midwest uh we're touching the last of our states um top five motorcycle roads of Minnesota the Land of 10,000 lakes time

(05:08) I have counted some of them not all um let's start with number five so this one is Highway 38 um 47 mile drive through Chipawa National Forest so that's up in the kind of North Middle Grand Rapids Marcel Effy um big Fort state park is up there if you're in into kind of the Music Theater things Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids and then just kind of some great roads to get lost on a lot of lakes of course as we know you know the funny thing about Minnesota is there's not as many roads as other states just because

(05:43) there's so dang many lakes but but there are some places you can get lost around there um coming in at number four is the NorthShore scenic drive this is Highway 61 so this is really um like either Grand Portage to duth or duth to Grand port you know you're talking about lighthouses there's a state park Gooseberry fall State Park Grand morray is kind of at the top of this but really like stop at Split Rock Lighthouse that is quite the look we always like Betty's Pies and Two Harbors um you know it's

(06:17) just a fun place not always fun to park your motorcycle there because there's like the elevation the parking lot is out of control yeah but uh yeah really a nice a nice spot on the NorthShore mhm complete opposite of that is Scenic byway number seven Root River Trail so that's really not too far from us here in Iowa on the south side of Minnesota um Southeast side lots of Rolling Hills river river valleys you may have heard of Lanesboro Harmony and then this is All Around The Root River yeah um a lot

(06:51) of bicycling trails around there too of late they've taken and converted some of the railroad uh railroad places to that so you'll see that there actually is a cave Niagara Cave In Harmony um again all the roads on The Root River and then Lanesboro has so a lot of kind of quirky little restaurants because of kind of it's a camping town it's a bicycling town and then there's a lot of roads to ride motorcycles as well so High Point Pub and pedal pushers Cafe two options I think pedal pushers Cafe is kind of the

(07:21) Day lunch spot and then the Highpoint Pub is the uh evening evening spot so you know we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about the great Great River Road that's number two in Minnesota so you can kind of take that Mississippi River from Twin Cities all the way back down to Iowa MH um Redwing Lake City uh Wabasha um so you have the national Eagle Center in Wabasha so all along the Mississippi River of course is like tons of eagles they've kind of been repopulating them for quite a few years now and really you see a lot of eagles

(07:54) now and it's it's pretty cool especially I don't know if you've ever seen an eagle take a fish out of like the lake or the river but man they just come just on videos seen it happen live go so we also have St James Hotel in Redwing have you seen been to that I've had drinks in it's a cool little place isn't it yeah I lived across the street from it in an apartment for for a year oh nice and it's kind of a historic historic yeah it's it's neat I um in fact my brother-in-law I think worked there for

(08:21) a while yeah wow that's awesome yeah um and then the Eagle View Bar is uh a mines Minnesota and then lastly this one's kind of a tough one I mean I think Great River Rod's really good but there's this 57 mile I byway way way up North they call the Gunflint Trail 57 it runs from gr marray all the way up to Boundary Waters and if you haven't heard of Boundary Waters just do some research on that it's a you boat out to the island um and tons of um Boy Scout camping that kind of uh thing happen say

(08:54) when you say boat out you canoe out right uh you actually boat I think I think they take you by boat oh oh got to the uh to the island then I think you boat from there like then you canoe canoe from there okay yeah yeah yeah it's um it's a little ways you wouldn't want to I don't think you because you you get out there I mean it's it's in Lake Michigan or Superior so you I don't think you'd want to be able to I don't think you could canoe to it oh I see okay yeah yeah yeah but uh chiwaka

(09:20) museum is up in that area there's a nature center and then also the blue waterer Cafe in Grand marray is quite a place but Minnesota wouldn't I don't know that these are actually other rides but I have kind of two bonuses that I want to throw in there and we've been to one of the two the Paul bunan Scenic byway is a 54 mile Loop through the Bernard uh Lakes area um Paul bunion land and then Brainard I think Brainard you said Bernard Brainard both places both no uh Brainard yes thank you um just tons of lakes up there to go see

(09:54) you can't not hit the big statue of Paul bunny and blue um and then just the Lakes area is just quite quite amazing once you get up there it's just it's kind of a different world really and then lastly um the bonus triple bonus maybe area here is Lake itasa that's that's the start of the Mississippi River MH um so what's kind of cool about that um is is there's a webcam up there so if you get up there um you can actually there it's just a rocky path that you can actually cross the

(10:29) Mississippi River um like walking over rocks yeah and then there's a webcam on all the time so you can see uh you know someone maybe could record you or something you should try taking your Gold Wing across it all right I think it'd be fun um I think you park in a parking lot and there's a small walk okay but that that's something that' be cool to do especially like if we were take I always thought it'd be cool to start there and then ride all the way down to New Orleans and then beyond

(11:00) kind of fall the Miss River from start to bottom that'd be a cool be a cool ride but yeah if you do find yourself in this area I would say take the time to uh to to walk AC or to you know maybe have somebody watch the webcam when you're up there yeah and uh up in Minnesota there's one place that you always have to go and eat right zorbas they're all over the place they are all over the place but fantastic great food um I know know my daughter used to tell me about zorbas all the time and um my

(11:34) wife's uh my wife's kids did and so we stopped at aoras on our yeah and I guess I would call zorbas um I don't know like a Margaritaville maybe I don't know like it's a fun bar restaurant right just unique atmosphere and yeah and I think a lot of them are built I mean in Minnesota around the water around the water right they have it seems like there always a dock yep there's always a dock indoor outdoor seating there's usually some volleyball and and then like big tables like sometimes Community

(12:06) style tables too if I'm understanding it correctly yeah yeah and then they're kind of a little bit of everything aren't they Pizza Pasta yeah no I remember it being a very large menu um and you know just a fun place music playing all the time like a Margaritaville like yeah it's kind of that outdoor beachy Vibe and yeah yeah I mean people were nice it was fun yeah yeah we had a good time yep yeah the podcast can be found on best motorcyc roads.

(12:35) com podcast all the information you need will be there uh but you can subscribe on Spotify Amazon music apple pocketcast and YouTube this is the interactive segment we will be looking for input from you uh we want you to send us your questions and suggestions for roads topics and anything else you have on your mind today's roadside Q&A comes from Chris and about again I picked Chris's question because we're talking about Minnesota yeah so he was asking about hidden gems in Minnesota that offer you know unique writing

(13:08) experiences depending on the seasons uh Scenic overlooks anything like that and Fall Foliage so that got me thinking um best places probably between like Grand Rapids and elely okay um Highway 169 it that's a real thick forest um in that area so you'll you'll really see like the Blazing red orange yellow um and there's lots and lots of overlooks uh along that uh route as well and panoramic views it's about 105 or8 miles so um you know plan on you know almost 2 hours hour and 50 minutes something like that and you know take

(13:53) your time and you know have your camera with it's it's some great great riding in there and just um you know if you wanted if you want to do it uh you know check the the leaf um you know they always do that on the news they you can find websites to say when the the leaves are at their very best colors sure and check it and uh yeah Highway 169 Grand Rapids and and to elely it's it's amazing you know I know Brad used to go to Canada fishing a lot and he always wanted to write up to International

(14:24) Falls oh really so International Falls is pretty much the northernmost City in the U um you know Minnesota in the US okay um I think he looked at it a few times and changed his mind because so from Minneapolis yeah it's almost a 5H hour drive no kid North wow and I just don't think there's a lot there but some it would be cool if you were kind of thinking that to go all I mean it's just almost due north of Minneapolis but for five hours so yeah I mean I think it's a common place that people come and go

(15:02) from Canada I see it now yeah yeah yeah yeah so so that's kind of fun too I think um it's a different world when you get up there I mean you start to get out of the I think you get into Pine Tree Land up there yeah instead of leave trees so um yeah I mean I think uh yeah it could be interesting I don't know how exciting it would be um I think it's a pretty it would we'd have to have some music maybe so I could make us a yeah playlist need a playlist yeah for sure maybe a full-on DJ that sounds good I've

(15:37) never looked up there I'm looking at it now sure uh reineer yep yeah there's a Falls International Airport up there as well well I mean I guess we could fly in um that's an option Windy Point I want to go over to Sha Sha Resort is what I'm well you never know but yeah so just kind of interesting when you think about all the different places um that you can go it it's just a different part of Minnesota Minnesota has quite a vast when you think of the South the southeast corner to the northwest corner

(16:07) big and also um different yeah yeah yeah for sure and and like you said with all the Lakes oh gosh it it can be hard to get around like there's no I can see where I want to go but I can't get there from here I can't get there from here yeah oh yeah now it's time for The Last Mile it's where we recap today's episode and kind of share what we liked what are you thinking Todd well I'm thinking about you know Minnesota the the weather they have it shifts quickly um you know I'm thinking

(16:37) like like we talked about for Michigan you know make sure you've got your rain gear you know think of wind think of fog think of you know all kinds of stuff and uh and if if you know of other hidden gems you know roads to ride Minnesota let us know leave some notes in the comments uh we'd like to talk about it or you know share it on social media uh we'd like to talk about those but uh Minnesota is a is a great place to ride there's lots of views with the lakes and not as much cheese as Wisconsin not

(17:06) nearly as much cheese but but still good yeah wonderful riding up there yeah for me I would say you know honestly like that Gunflint Trail area and the 61 North of duth we just I think last year in 23 we rode through there and when we when you kind of come out and you you get from kind of what I would call Inner Minnesota to that lak's edge sometimes I'm just like this is wild man like I haven't been to the West Coast and seen the North Pacific Northwest and I know that Minnesota's not going to be big but it's shocking

(17:47) like the Bluffs and the like I mean you know there's a couple tunnel through the Rocks yeah like you're just like what like sometimes I'm I just the Midwest right right in yeah in the Midwest there's nobody farming corn by that area just I mean you're just going up and down these just Bluffs and I don't know if they even call those Bluffs but wow what I just remember we were coming in I think it was before Two Harbors north of Two Harbors just what a what a ride I mean um it's just crazy I love it I mean

(18:20) it surprises me every time we go there and I forget every time you know like you go back and you're like oh like how can I be surprised again but I know I even for get there's like tunnel through the rock you know and I'm just like oh yeah I forgot that's where this is I remember that ride sometimes and I always think it's in Colorado or something I've never rode a motorcycle in Colorado so I know that's that's got to be on our our bucket list to is ride Colorado yeah yeah if this episode

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