Road trip to Galena

Packed the bike Saturday morning and headed North West up country roads to Galena Illinois with Mrs. Bluej for a overnighter , about 150 miles to get there.

Stopped in Savanna to eat then rode across the steel bridge into Iowa so my wife could put a foot down in that state for the first time in her life .

Next we headed up to the over look in Mississippi Palisades State park and had a good look at the big muddy.

After that we took a road just South of the bridge call Clay that turned into a scenic ridge road that ran into Elizabeth.

Then we just started riding around looking for a decent hotel far enough out side of Galena so we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg, I've said it before, " I'm a cheap bastard " :blush:
Galena is a historical tourist trap in a very beautiful part of Illinois .

Found a Country Inn Suites in Stockton IL that was very nice and about $ 110.00 ,50 bucks cheaper then a flea bag in Galena , with a pool and a real good complementary breakfast

After we checked in and rested a little it was time to explore .

Jo Daviess County is a great place to get lost so that's what we did, winding around ,up and down until it was getting close to dark .
Beautiful farm country saw a lot of turkey and deer even a big fox.

The next morning after checkout we did it again , this time I decided to risk riding some gravel roads and were glad we did, you would swear that you were driving on a private road but there were mail boxes and road names.

This one named Apple River road went down to one lane but we never passed anyone then we came up on this rusty bridge with rotten boards that was crossable :woohoo: photo opp.

Finally we got on the old stage coach road that took us into Galena, neat place, good food ,lots of stores and tons of history. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena,_Illinois

After a while we decided we'd had enough and headed home the fast way.

Had hoped to swing up into Wisconsin for a bag of cheese curds at the Decatur Dairy but no time, oh well.

The wife had a great time and the bike ran well for 430 miles so I had a great time too :lol:





Looking down river at the bridge from Mississippi Palisades state park in Savanna Il



View from Ridge road

Apple river road






Cindy took this picture while I laid on the tank going across a steel grate bridge with 2' guard rails, ever been on one of these on a bike before ?
It feels like your driving on banana peels :woohoo:

Galena Illinois

thanks for sharing but i like the last two pictures very cool indeed.

thats what i'm talking about...how bout that one with the rays of light coming through the bridge and the bike

or the downtown with the building tops

great!!!!!!

THANK YOU.........

I suppose it helps to have an official photographer along to document the ride! At least you didn't have to stop to take those pics.

Looks like nice riding.

Beauty

I love the pics. Those are definitely some great roads/places to ride. If you go again sometime, you should let me know. Especially in the fall when the leaves around Galena start to turn colors.

Was it Poopies in Savanna where you ate? Great biker joint.

That bridge between Savanna and Sebula, IA was always kinda weird to ride on cuz of the grated bridge. Wheels don't like to go in a straight line on that bridge. Plus the fact that you can see straight down through the grates into the water below you as you ride over it.

Clay Road is awesome isn't it. It is twisty and then opens up to some great views behind the park.

That 3 story white building in one of your pics in Galena...the top floor is my sister's Galena home. Her and her husband bought it and stay there from time to time. I just stayed there for a weekend in July with my wife for our anniversary. We were married at the Cloran Mansion in Galena back in 2006.

So you ever feel like taking that ride again sometime, let me know. I'll be heading up that way probably late October.

Thanks everyone,
The shadows were cool around sun set, we'll have to try more of them.
I would have like to get more pictures along the road but the Mrs. drop my sons inexpensive camera a couple times at the Palisades almost losing it off a 150 ft drop, she was wearing gloves, so she didn't want to chance it .
But she risked the shadow shot with her I phone :whistle:

We had crested a hill and our shadow stretched out at least twice as far as the one I took a pic of , wish I had that shot.

Galena's roof lines are all cut up like that, sorry I didn't take more pics, next time.

gwolever, no not Poopies, macdonalds big mistake :sick:
First time through, lesson learned.

I'm waiting to see what happens with the flag, Tom W is hopefully going to receive it around Oct. 10 in Houston and I am planning on hooking up with him some where around Quincy IL and riding North.
Don't know where he's planning to ride , that's up to him but I suspect it will be up in that area somewhere.

Maybe you could join us for a stretch, if not there's always next year

Mrs. Bluej had such a good time , we will be doing it again , that's for sure.

JD

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