Episode 038: Fall Leaf Ride - Top Ride in Each State
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[00:00:00] A Potosi, Chester, Metropolis, and Old Shawneytown have in common? Don't know. Besides sounding like fictional towns, they've actually got some of the best fall leaves in the Midwest. Ah.
Bottom Line
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All right, Todd, the bottom line is get out on the Great River Road and get to riding. It's October. Absolutely. Absolutely. So many of these roads, we actually have never ridden in the fall. ~Um, ~so what we did was we kind of cross referenced the great roads we knew about, dug into some of the, uh, internet favorite fall leaf areas.
And so what we've done is we've come up, you know, we cover Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri on our podcast, just to kind of focus in. So what we've done is we've taken those and we found the best road. ~Um, ~in [00:01:00] each one of those places.
Best Motorcycle Leaf Ride in Michigan
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So let's start with Michigan. And again, we've rode the tunnel of trees a number of times, but never in the fall.
And Oh my gosh, I saw some of the pictures and they are amazing. So tunnel of trees just has to be amazing in person. 22 miles of M 119, which I am just imagining to be quite beautiful. ~Um, ~you know, we just rode this not too long ago. And boy, when you were riding along that,~ um,~ overpass of where the lake, you know, it's, we were riding from north, excuse me, from south to north and wow, it was just, it was one of the coolest things and I've just forgotten it so many times and when you don't go there and you go back and I can only imagine how many colors of leaves there might be in that area.
Yeah. Yeah, it would be fantastic. And it's, it's a narrow road, so, yeah, it's so narrow. I mean, it can't be more than 17, 18 feet wide, right? ~Um, ~I remember passing it [00:02:00] before we, we, this last trip was almost no vehicles on it when we were on it, which was amazing. ~Um, ~but I remember meeting like a suburban on the motorcycle and you were like, this isn't, this is too small, you know?
And so people must just have to completely pull over when it's car to car. But yeah. Yeah. So that's Michigan. Fill them with trees.
Best Motorcycle Leaf Road in Minnisota
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Minnesota and uh, you know the highway 61 which starts in Duluth and runs on the north side of superior there It's amazing. I again I was all the way to the canadian border ~Um, ~I checked out the pictures.
Oh my gosh Uh, what a view and then kind of the super tip and this is uh, something they were talking about ~Um ~on there was there's a ski resort up there and they call it the lustin mountains. Yeah You can take the, at certain days you'd have to make sure that you can do it, but they take the ski lift up to the top.
Oh, they have gondolas there. The gondola, yeah. Yeah, that's right. So you take the gondola up. [00:03:00] And the picture was just absolutely breathtaking. Wow. Yeah, that would be great. It was huge. So, so yeah, so get there. You might want to check on the days of the week. I think that might be a little tricky. I'm assuming it's not every day.
I couldn't, it didn't, it just had ranges when I looked. Beforehand. So you might have to give them a call. Yeah. I would, I would hope the weekends, because that's when people drive and looking at the leaves, check the website.
Best Motorcycle Leaf Ride in Illinois
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So if we moved to Illinois, you know, the easy answer is great river road. And I kind of knew we were going to talk about that with other ones.
So, ~um, ~I dug in a little deeper and actually on the other side of Illinois, there's the Ohio river scenic byway. So basically it runs along the river over there. Mm hmm. Wow,~ um,~ what a, what a beautiful looking,~ um,~ area. So kind of, if you think about in the four o'clock position of Illinois. There's a town called Old Shawnee Town, Old Shawnee Town, Illinois.
Yeah, [00:04:00] and that's kind of a good spot. It's kind of where the river starts to For Illinois and if you kind of just follow all the way down and around in the tip and then back up So that would include What I checked out there was Old Shawnee Town, Elizabeth Town, Bay City, Illinois New Liberty is way down there and then there's a state park Fort Massick State Park, and then Metropolis, Illinois, and Chester, Illinois, which we know is where Popeye, where Popeye's from.
It kind of just traces the bottom of Illinois. And wow, I was looking at some of the foilage from down there, and it is pretty, pretty cool. That makes sense. And we've never rode, again, we haven't rode there in the fall for sure. Every time we've rode that area down there, it's been raining. I don't know if you remember that or not.
I do remember, yeah. Every time we've been there, it's been raining in that area. So we really haven't seen that Ohio river valley. ~Um, ~there's a, I don't know if it's a state park, but it's a cave in the rock that we were always going to go see. It was, I [00:05:00] think we're probably Jesse James was a hideout. It's only accessible from the Illinois side.
And again, every time we try to go there, it's been raining. So sometime I'd like to get there, but the views and the, and what they're
Just seems stunning from the pictures that I saw. Mm hmm. Is there any other places in Illinois that you know of? Off the top of your head? Not off the top of my head. I, I, I highly recommend that. I mean, that, that would be great. I would also have to say, you, you guys have been there. We've never been there together, but, uh, that Bald Knob Cross.
Oh, right. Yeah. ~Um, ~I believe they say you can see for many states. There's like, it's a, it's like three to five states, I think you can see from there. Yeah, that's. And that's really looking over the Mississippi. It's where the Ohio River and the Mississippi River meet, I think. Cause I think the Ohio River comes and puts in the Mississippi there.
And wow, would that be something. I mean, we've seen that in it's like spring states. And it's pretty awesome. ~Um, ~and [00:06:00] you know, you get way, it's way up there and that cross is I think, is it 40 feet tall? Oh gosh, it's taller than that. It's way taller. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It's much taller. We'll have to go back to the one that We have an episode where we actually talked about that.
It's a great, it's a great thing. Yeah. And, you know, Great River Road, you can always ride the west side of course. Of course. Yeah.
Best Leaf Road for Motorcycles in Missouri
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So when I looked at Missouri again, I looked at, you know, we talked about, you know, Highway 19 and Missouri is one of our favorites. That thing runs through all kinds of forests.
it would be amazing. ~Um, ~but I look for one specifically around Lake of the Ozarks. Oh, yeah. Just because we haven't talked a lot about that area of Missouri before. ~Um, ~so if there's,~ um,~ a really, really interesting ride, probably the most unique ride of any of the rides that we're talking about today. And this is Table Rock Lake to Kimberling City, Highway 265 to 13.
The interesting thing about it is tons of trees. But then of course it has [00:07:00] the lakes and then it's actually it's it was like mountains So you're talking about leaves lakes and mountains? It sounds like this is traverses quite the up, you know, up some elevation down and elevation Hill and down the dale, but uh, it's got to be stunning.
~Um ~The pictures that I saw overlooking, like, Lake of the Ozarks area, was just, it was so neat, and then the one, it was probably some, a picture I could never take, but, like, it was reflecting just right off the lake, so you're just seeing this, like, Massive, like, colors. Postcard. A postcard photo, right? Right.
Yeah. Kind of honorable mention in Missouri is talking about Route 66. I mean, Route 66 pretty much runs right on the north side of the Mark Twain Forest and all that area down there is just it's really nice. ~Um, ~but, uh, yeah, this is the this was kind of up there as a ride for the [00:08:00] Ozarks.
The Great River Road is the Best Leaf Ride for Motorcyles in Wisconsin
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The longest road or longest leaf ride that we've tracked for today is Wisconsin. ~Um, ~I'm going to throw a bonus one out there is Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive is actually not too far from Milwaukee. It's the Kettle Moraine State Park and there's like a, it's like an eight mile drive and there's a lot of walking trails in this area by Milwaukee that you can go to.
Really, really great leaf ride. But I mean, this one probably is the best section of the Great River Road, as far as it comes to,~ um,~ to leaves. So this one is 181 miles.~ Um, ~I kind of got it briefly jumping into Minnesota, uh, just because I actually think the drive and the leaf view would be better. ~Um, ~but it really, that part of it keeps you right on the river.
You know, and one of the things I think I love about fall Wisconsin leaf ride is then double bonus, it's apple season in Wisconsin. Oh, right. So you can stop [00:09:00] and there are places everywhere. Even the last time we were up there in Wisconsin, which was August, we got apples from a, just a local farmer who was hand picking them.
~Um, ~and it was cheap too, by the way, I was like, I think we got five pounds of Honeycrisp for seven bucks. So, I mean, it's a bargain too.~ Um, ~so what I've got on this one, So it actually starts in Prescott, Wisconsin, which is essentially the Twin Cities. I mean, it is all the way up there. That's 35 coming down to Stockholm.
~Um, ~so Stockholm is where we just recently went with Stockholm pie and general store. So these guys won the best pie of the year, 2024 from the USA Today. It's unbelievable pie. I mean, I, I've ate a lot of pie in my life and it is. I don't know that I could say I had a better piece of pie. Yeah, it is so good.
It's busy there though. Like it's almost, I kind of feel bad for them almost. Like I think, it'd be interesting to see what it looks like in a year. When like, if it's that busy. This town [00:10:00] is probably 300 people at best. No kidding. It was so many people there. We were so lucky when we pulled in because we pulled in right in front of the store then there was a park, we could park the motorcycles.
But, like, it was blocks and blocks and blocks of people. There was probably 5, 000 people in the town when we were there. What? Unreal. Not all to get pie. Well, I mean, there was probably a third of them probably had pie. No kidding. Oh my gosh. We waited probably five minutes just to get in line, you know. But it was worth it.
Totally worth it. So if you keep coming down Fountain City,~ um,~ And right in that area, right between Fountain City, you get to La Crosse, jump over, uh, excuse me, north of there, jump over to Winona, Minnesota, because the actual, the river road doesn't stay on the river, on the Wisconsin side right there, it cuts like a little bit east, so if you jump over to Winona and go down to La Crosse, you can come back to the road, and then you'll, you'll stay with the, with the kind of like, uh, river view, [00:11:00] which is definitely what you want to do there.
~Um, ~but then what I would do at the very end is Dubuque has a really great, uh, Dubuque, Iowa has a really great park called Pikes Peak State Park, and it is tall. And if you go up there, then you get a, you're looking again over the river valley there. It's unbelievable. And I think that might give you one of the best fall views that you could, they could get maybe the, especially you're really looking at Wisconsin when you're there at that Pikes Peak park.
Yeah. Have you ever been there? I have. Yeah. It's been a while, but it's crazy. And there's a special like scenic overlook. I think that's a little bit off that you can go to and you know You'll see tons of pictures about it, but yeah, there's We rode this section. This is a little bit further north starting and coming down this section of the great river road And again, it's just it's stunning.
I mean, it's so good. ~Um, ~You know, we've talked about this before but the locks and the dams and all that with [00:12:00] the with the leaves Yeah I don't know. I don't know if this might be the best one that we've talked about. Yeah, for sure.~ Um, ~and
Iowa's Best Motorcycle Leaf Ride
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then the last one is the Iowa one. And again, we could easily pick the Great River Rub.
I'm like, yeah, let's, And actually,~ um,~ my wife and I wrote, rode in a car this road, not too long ago. We were up in, uh, Dyersville and I wanted to come down to Bellevue. So we did. And,~ um,~ again, another great lock in Bellevue. It's a cool one. The town of Bellevue is really cool. It's been, they're really trying very hard to continue to, uh, Maintain the historical value of a lot of the buildings there.
So even the ones that are on the river There's a brewery there and some stuff they put some money into them And so you can really there's a nice like river walk on that side ~um, ~but and that has a beautiful view of the wisconsin side when you're looking across ~um, ~Or I guess that would be illinois by the time we got to billboard.
Yeah, but [00:13:00] wow, it's it's it's a pretty wide section of area You But no, but starting from Bellevue, if you actually go back to the West,~ um,~ it's 75 miles of what they call the Grantwood scenic byway. And that goes from Bellevue to stone city, which is really close to Anamosa. So what you do is you come down to Makoketa and then you cut across and you go over there.
We took this and it was. Unbelievable. Now we were driving the car, but, but this was, I can't even believe how this would be with the, with the bikes, because you're going up and down. And then there's a nice valley. They're kind of like, ~um, ~you know, where these, these hills are meeting, you're driving down along the base of the hill.
It is stunning. And that was not even on the bikes. I was just in the car. And I was thinking about writing this down. And then when I saw this, Grantwood Scenic Byway, again haven't been there in the fall, but I think I think this is one that we might We might have to figure out how to get to this thing this year ~Um, ~it's not too bad.
That would [00:14:00] be a day a day trip. It'd be an easy day trip I think I think Bellevue's about maybe what hour and a half from us. This is another 75 miles and gosh It it reminded me a lot of ~um ~of some of the Wisconsin The valleys when you're coming through some of those farms that are down in the bottom That's what it reminded me of but I think this would be a stunning Uh fall trip.
Yeah, I agree. I think i've only rode Motorcycles in the fall maybe I think we did like, uh, like, uh, kind of a little loop around Sibula, Savannah, that area in the fall before, but I don't think I've ever hit it right in the money. Is this, do they call it the Grantwood Scenic Byway? Did Grantwood paint images of this?
~Um, ~a couple things it has to do. I don't know that specifically he did, but there is a Grantwood,~ um,~ like, school Inspired in Makoketa. Mm hmm. And then Stone City. There's also another [00:15:00] There's another thing from Grant Wood there and it's like this educational Area that that foundation puts money into so I think that's pretty cool That's probably why,~ um,~ that it's, it's named that it's kind of a couple, uh, points along the way that, uh, yeah, that it is so.
So I'm thinking that one's going to have to be a must, a must do this year. Yeah, that sounds good. What did the, and, and you've found too, like if you go to the local, like, ~um, ~like the DNR website for each state, they kind of start to help you. So, I mean. They don't know yet when the best times are. If you keep watching, they kind of start to get it figured out.
Yeah. I know the Iowa DNR has, uh, what they call their fall color maps. And then I think they start to update those on October 1st and it'll be, and then they'll just tell you week by week, kind of what the optimum, yeah. What the optimum where to be Northeast Iowa, Southeast Iowa, central Iowa, all that [00:16:00] kind of stuff.
So, uh, yeah, I'm sure each state has something like that. So take a look at the, you know, the DNR sites. Yeah. Yeah. So if you go there, then you can kind of see, because it'll start from the north and work its way south, so, yeah. And it's usually done by the end of October, probably. Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, depending on how far south, but yeah.
Yeah, depending on temperature, I suppose. I suppose, frost, temperature, wind. Yeah, yeah.
Toolkit
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Alright, for the tool kit, kind of as you think about riding when it gets a little cooler,~ Um,~ I thought maybe a TPMS, uh, Tire Pressure Monitoring System is good. No. The newer bikes are starting to come with these. ~Um, ~but they're pretty reasonably priced.
I mean, you can go as low as, I don't know if I would or not, but I mean, I think you can technically get one for like 30 bucks. Up into the couple of hundred bucks based on features. ~Um, ~off like a, a RevZilla, Amazon, one of these places. [00:17:00] Now you've not run one. Not yet. I really need to, I get kind of tired of trying to get down on the ground and get underneath there.
But,~ um,~ I know that I've read a few reviews, you the cheap ones and they don't last more than about a year. So I don't want to do that. And I've also read where,~ um,~ If they're heavy, because they screw onto the cap, like you take the cap off, screw them on, if they're too heavy, you actually need to replace the valve with a metal valve, because it'll, it'll, it'll break off your valve, because they're, they put a lot of pressure on.
I think if you have a straight valve, I don't think it's so, Problematic because generally the valve stem is in the middle of the rim I think when it gets a slight bit problematic, it's some of the motorcycles have a 90 Yeah, I do think you have to be careful then. Yeah, and I think I have at least one 98 camera But sometimes the 90s are metal too.
So I'm not sure if it matters I will say a couple other things that are important. Ask me how I know ~um ~You want to put a little [00:18:00] anti seize on the threads before you do it because generally speaking your valve stems are steel and generally speaking there's an aluminum nut that goes on. Yeah. And those two will bind.
Yep. And you will, very difficult to get off. Yeah, they start to share molecules and they weld themselves together. Yeah, it's great. ~Um, ~so there's that. ~Um, ~the other one is, is, you know, even, so I have the newer Goldwing that has a TPMS. Yeah. And when, uh, we recently rolled that road out west in the morning, I was shocked.
I mean, I was a little concerned that I had a punctured tire, but both tires had dropped similarly in pressure. So it was just a atmospheric thing, but it was weird. I mean, I was like, Oh man, like I was getting a little worried, but then when they were both, so I had to put air in both tires,~ um,~ during the trip.
Yeah. So, you know, it's, it's one of those things where. The day before I was fine the next day. I wasn't I mean it really truly you really have [00:19:00] to pay attention I mean, it's really important. Yeah, and you know, especially at the expense of some of these tires are not cheap, right? They're more expensive even to get on And it will wear your tires out quickly if you don't have the pressure proper.
Exactly. And then especially when you're,~ um,~ kind of got to do a visual though, because like you might have the right pressure, but then you're loaded up with a bunch of weight and you might need to get a little firmer, uh, when you're loaded up, loaded for bear. Yeah. That's a great point. Yeah. Do you know, are the ones that connect, uh, to a phone app, are they not quite as nice as the ones that have their own little.
Gauge that you can mount on the handlebars. I know a lot of people would prefer not to have, I mean, what's nice about the ones on your phone is I think that'll give you an alert. It's like, like Bluetooth. Cause I think it's Bluetooth. Oh, okay. So like they will alert you. So generally you'd probably be a little more apt to do it.
I've had the other kind before and it worked fine and I never really needed them. But,~ um,~ I know that like, that's kind of the, [00:20:00] The reasoning is they can do a notification. Oh, okay. And I think that's the, that makes sense. That's why. Yeah. Plus sometimes it's not easy to mount that thing. And I mean, not everybody has a spot for the TPS, like, uh, yeah.
Yeah. Monitor monitor. Yeah.
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