Head west young man,, To VEER - O - QWAH and beyond!!

[cowpuc]

Many years ago, probably before most of us were born, during the time that things like Gold Rush's and laying railroad track across America were popular, some ol prankster outlaw cowboy came up with a saying to try and trick unsuspecting easterners to ride their -3 Gen Ventures (aka horses) into unknown territories so he could horn swaggle them out of their belongings.. The expression that the old prankster had coined spread like wildfire and soon,, many people were taken in by the promises of wealth, fun and excitement hidden deep in the words of the statement. A number of years go by and, strange as it may sound, people like you and I are still responding to the lure of that arcane expression "Go west young man,, GO WEST" and we are still finding the lure intoxicating!! Thankfully, for the most part, following the lure now has more to do with fun and excitement and less to do with loosing all our earthly belongings to some quick drawing gun slinger..

 

Life has thrown some lemon's at the normal summer of straddling Tweeks saddle for weeks on end during the last year. That said, its understandable that when a small 4 day break came in the winds of recent medical adversity that we should seize the moment. The small break and the fact that my dear friend and cohort, FlyingFool, had finally gave up playing with his Wisconsin White Wash Machine's levers and knobs for the summer increased the lure all the more. The highway called and we would once again fall victim to heeding that archaic call..

 

As Tip, Tweeks and I pulled out of our driveway and headed west to make some lemonaid out of those lemons, I told them both that this would have to be a short one because a Urologist here at home was eagerly planning on knocking me out for some testing in just a few days. Tip laughed and Tweeks snickered as the words "don't worry - I am sure we can find plenty of adventure in 4 days" were spoken.. Being just as much a lover of the road as I - I KNEW the three of us were headed for both fun and excitement!

We hadn't traveled very far, about 100 miles, and the fun began. As we pulled out of South Haven Mi after feeding Tweeks at the exact same fuel station that a couple weeks before I had parted company with one of my Texas Hero's and very good friend of mine - Squidley from Cleveland TX - that the fun began.. I had actually instigated this fun game of playing cat and mouse with thunder clouds because I had checked the weather before heading south to head west (gotta do that because of Lake Michigan).. As it were, I figured I would give those pesky Meteorologist one more shot at me before surrendering to an even more challenging culprit found behind the mask of a Urologist.. Yep,, I fell for it again..

 

As we pulled out of that Meijer's Gas station, it started sprinkling and before we could get back on the main road it started coming down pretty good.. Feeling the water lubricating Tweeks throttle brought a smile to my face because I know Tweeks would rather roll a little faster and stay a little dryer in the pouring rain, just like myself. Tippy moved into her heavy rain mode of touring as she slid her pretty face down behind my back until Tweeks could get up to the speed where her ability to protect all us effeciently came into the cat and mouse game..

 

The three of us have played this particular game many times in the past. The only difference in this one was, unknown to us, that the 20% chance of the mouse coming out to play in the greater Chicago area clearly should have been forcasted as 100% but, what the heck,, a person only making 120k a year for forcasting weather around Lake Michigan has earned his keep even if he is only correct half the time - I mean its only water right? Besides, playing the game thru Chicago during rush hour on a motorcycle is probably one of the highest levels of the cat and mouse game that Tip, Tweeks and I have ever had the pleasure of playing.. Thank you Mr. Weatherman - that was invigorating..

As we crossed into Wisconsin later in the day, the mouse finally gave up and went to find some Wisconsin cheese. At least momentarily, the warm Wisconsin sun welcomed us and my sweatshirt started to dry out.. Tweeks sounded happy to finally be out of her most recent bathing experience (she takes no pleasure in having the dirt she has earned from far off excursions torn from her grasp) and her 300k mile motor sang the happy tune of dry roads passing under her feet as Tip asked me once again if I had any idea of where we were headed.

I had told her earlier about a place called Viroqua Wisconsin, which - at that time I smuggly pronounced "Vie - Rock" to show Tip that I finally knew how to pronounce a word that she didn't know how to pronounce - she is an English PHENOM and any time I get a chance to know something in the english language that she obviously doesn't I know I SEIZE THE MOMENT ..

I also explained to her again that since she had missed Freebirds Maintenance Day in Ohio earlier in the year that we were going to make a stop at another VentureRider.org MD being hosted by some folks by the name's of Sharon and Orlin,, people who I had never met but had always wanted to.

Orin and Sharon live in a region of Wisconsin that I had never Ventured into.. Tweeks and I have crossed into Minnesota from Wisconsin (and vice versa) in the La Crosse area many times while headed west and, from as far back as I can remember - have always been awed by how quickly the state of Wisconsin changes its terrain as we did so.. I have always wondered if there were not more to all that than met the eye and we were now on our way to find out - the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR CTFWing FUN!!

As the three of us got closer to where I thought Vie Rock should be located, I thought it best to stop and ask a local Cheesehead if they had ever heard of such a place.. The first couple people we talked to had no clue of such a town in Wisconsin.. For a while I thought this character named Orlin was playing a fast one on ol Puc - I have met a few Wisconsinite Venturerider.org members and they can be known for playing little tricks on fellow riders,,, at least that has been my experience.. Thankfully I can be pretty pugnacious at times (plus Tippy likes to know if she is lost and is not shy about asking for directions if needed) and the 3rd or 4th person we asked somewhere between Madison and the back road borders of Minnesota some nice lady Tippy was talking to corrected my pronunciation of the name of the town - it is pronounced VEER - O - QUAW (still havent lived that down).

Shortly after the kind lady got us straightened around in both the proper usage of our English Language and got us headed in the correct direction, Tippy spotted a historical looking sign in front of a Cemetery - tapped me on the shoulder so we pulled in.. All three of us LOVE Ghost Towning out west, even heard what we thought may have been ghost's and Tip never seemed at all afraid.. After reading the sign (see pic and video) I figured what the heck, the rain had stopped - we were never gonna find Orlin's place before dark anyway, may as well go Ghost hunting... Never did find one but the history found at Dover Cemetery was pretty neat..

 

 

It was dark as we pulled out of the Boot Hill of Dover and it sure felt like water was again filling the sky.. That feeling proved correct because just as we rounded a corner near a place called Richland Center - the sky opened up in buckets.. Unfortunately, the road we were riding did not allow for the speeds needed to stay dry so we pulled off at a Bar and sat under their overhang (poor Tweeks - there was no room for her at the inn) until the rain subsided a little.. (see pic)

It was well into darkness when we pulled into VEER-O-QUAW Wisconsin.. We stopped at a gas station, fed Tweeks and asked the attendant if she had ever heard of a place called "Orlin and Sharon's Campground".. She looked at us and then the bike and then shook her head in a side to side sway.. I looked out the window and said "this is Veer - O - Qwah isnt it?".. She was obviously impressed that I knew the correct pronunciation for the name of the town, then she asked if I knew what road the campground was suppose to be on. I said yea (I had memorized Orlin's address from a post he had made on VentureRider.org) - East 56 I told her.. She gave us instructions of how to cut across town, out thru a residential area, up a little hill and we would find 56.. We did and we did..

After following 56 a few miles I started looking for Orlins address that I had also memorized on the mailboxes.. We checked several mailboxes before it came to our attention that not one person had an address on their mailbox!! What kind of people are these Wisconsinites I asked Tip.. They are either super intelligent people with an amazing ability to remember addresses (cant imagine a postal worker being able to know where the mail has to go just by house colors or what kind of car you drive) or someone knew we were coming (we had told no one) and one of those lop eared varmints from the area had removed the addresses just to try and confuse us.. We did find a gorgeous farm setting with a house lit up and what appeared to be a house trailer setting out front, thought that may be it but I didnt see any motorcycles so we pulled back out and continued our search. A mile or so of riding what appeared to be an Appalachian mountain type setting (GORGEOUS - EVEN AT NIGHT) and I noticed a red sign with what appeared to be numbers on it set back from the road in front of someones driveway.. The three of turned around on that lonely roadway, went back and Tweeks shined her ever penetrating bright headlight on the sign.. Sure enough,,, those Wisconsinites had gotten away from putting addresses on mailboxes and gone ahead of the rest of the world and started making small red metal (assuming) free standing signs.. I also deduced from the friendly little red sign in front of us that we had actually ridden a smudge to far. We turned around, again, and headed back toward the driveway of the farm house that we had turned around in a few moments before.. As we approached that same farm house, the one with no motorcycles to be seen, we happened to notice a lop eared varmint dressed in farmer like clothing sitting on the foundation of an old barn not to far from the road.. We pulled back into that same driveway and had GREAT moonlit conversation with 2 of Wisconsin's finest people, PLUS - we also got to meet a couple of REAL lop eared varmints to boot!!!

 

[Aussie Annie]

Thanks for the story

[videoarizona]

Love your travels!

 

I enjoy riding along...

[Flyinfool]

Nice write up. I really do wish I could have made it there.

 

And you rode almost right past my house and some free ICE CREAM and grilled hot dogs, and I didn't even see you wave.

Knobs, levers, switches and dials.

Did you duck last night?

[cowpuc]

After an in-depth moonlit conversation with this lop eared varmint named Moe, a really nice lady named Sharon and some farmer named Orlin, Tweeks - Tip and I conversed and decided we indeed had found the site of the official "Orlin and Sharon's Maintenance Day in Viroqua Wisconsin.

 

After the three Veer - o - quawinites - Moe,Orlin and Sharon had inspected us and at least 2 of the 3 of us ((Tweeks - Tip and I) had satisfied the requirements set forth in the official VR bylaws that state that 2/3rds of all attendees of any VR function must pass mental and emotional stability tests, Orlin instructed us in how to find the area that is known as Orlin's Camp Ground..

 

Although we don't carry a GPS, Map or compass - I was actually surprised as how well laid out Orlins directions were and how easy it was to find his hidden campground - even though it was located in a terrain that fully resembled some of the back hills of the Appalachian Mountains that Tweeks, Tip and I had ridden and camped in.. I say that tongue and cheek though because the ease of which we found the "camp ground" may also have been due to my own ability to find my way in total darkness with nothing more than my specialized training in mountain crisis management and being accustomed to looking for sticks on the side of the paved road way under such conditions..

 

Orlin's 12:30 a.m. instructions went something like this,, pointing down his unlit driveway towards an unlit canyon,,, go to the end of the driveway and turn left (got that down pat, I know my clutch lever is mounted on the left).. Go a little ways down the paved road and you will come to two white sticks pointing up out of the weeds on the right hand side of the road - (again easy to follow cause I know my front brake lever is on the right). Then turn onto the two track that leads wayyyyy back into that there valley - (this is the really easy part - I am a professional two track finder and have always found that even if I am on the wrong two track, excitement usually increases exponentially when two tracks are involved)..

 

The final step to Orlin's instructions is where I kind of winced.. He said that there were other people camping down there and that I would see tents/campers and motorcycle(s) in the area that I would want to camp in. He mentioned a couple names of fellow VR members who were already camping down there and it dawned on me that I had not met (or, more importantly - they had not met me and had no idea we were even thinking of showing up at Orlin's MD) any of these other folks. Experience has taught me that you gotta be somewhat sensitive to other folks sleeping habits - while some people don't mind you waking them from a sound sleep by motoring a couple feet from their dwelling - some folks can tend to get rather ornery.. Not knowing what type of varmints I was about to interrupt sort of made my hand itch.. After figuring out that the itch was actually from the skeeter bites I had received while chasing ghosts back at Dover, we thanked Moe, Sharon and Orlin for the wonderful early morning welcome and the direction's to their campground and headed out looking for a couple of white sticks located on the side of Hwy 56 not to far from the left turn we made out of Orlin and Sharon's driveway.. What a blast!!

 

Believe it or not, we found those white sticks on the 2nd try - that had to have been a first for us!! We rode down Orlin's Camp Ground Two Track like we owned the place - Tweeks felt right at home as she handled the slightly eroded, grass covered stones of VEEER - O - QAUW Wisconsin - it was a very special treat for ol Tweeks..

 

We rode right past another 1st Gen Yam Venture, a red one, with a tent all set up and what appeared to be a grizzly bear sleeping inside.. I whispered a whisper just a little louder then Tweeks exhaust to Tippy.. Something along the line of I thought we should go a little further into the darkness so we dont disturb the Grizzly.. We came to a spot where it looked like someone had unloaded a bunch of tree branches and stuff, bedded Tweeks down for the night, unrolled the tent and set it up in total darkness.. Tip crawled inside while I walked over and attempted to add life to one of Orlin's trees.. That's when I heard Tip mention something with a tender little whisper about our tent being wet from the severe down pour we had gotten ourselves involved in back in that place called Richland Center.. I finished giving growth additives to Orlin's tree, walked over to the tent, bent down and asked Tip how bad it was..

 

Tip thought it best for me to actually climb inside and test her tent water content theory for myself so I did so.. It wasn't so bad,, only the center of our double person sleeping bag was soaked enough to actually be mistaken for a swimming pool or a wet hot dog bun.. The outside 2 inches on my side were actually fairly dry.. I walked out and pulled the bike cover back off Tweeks, dragged it into the tent and gave it to Tip to roll up into and to use as a sleeping bag.. I calmly walked back out to Tweeks, felt another twinge to assist Orlin's tree with a natually aspired growth spurt, walked back over to Tweeks to remove a tarp that I also carry in her Maintenance Department to roll myself into to keep the chill off.. After digging around in Tweeks saddle bag in the dark for a half hour or so it finally occurred to me that I had actually removed the tarp from her Maintenance Department when I got home from Freebirds MD a few days before we left for Orlins.. It had gotten wet during that ride and I had removed it to dry out so it wouldn't rust my needle nose pliers back solid like had happened before.. Their is nothing worse than needing your needle noses and having them unusable because they are rusted shut...

 

I meandered back to the tent, Tip was sawing logs pretty well and doing so all rolled up in Tweeks old bike cover right in the middle of our 1 1/2 person sized Menards Tent (sized to typical Chinese adult peoples).. I crawled into the tent, closed the screens, gathered as much of the 2 inches of dry fabric on the sleeping bag edges that I could gather in my hands,, curled up and,, heard Orlin's tree calling for more growth additive..

 

After finally getting my body adjusted to just the perfect spot on Orlin's Camp Ground's PERFECT sleeping lawn (THANK YOU ORLIN FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK IN CREATING SUCH A BEAUTIFUL CAMPING SPOT), I closed my eyes in the VEER-O-QUAW darkness, opened them a second later and it was daylight!!

 

I noticed my bike cover had crawled into our tent during the night and it wasn't long before I noticed it had actually taken on a human form as well - kind of like a mummy!! Just about the time my morning fog had cleared it and it dawned on me what had happened the night before, the mummy spoke to me.. Something about needing to go potty..

 

I told the mummy that Orlin had mentioned there being an actual first class rest room down at his "Camp Ground",, something he called an out house.. We decided to go exploring..

 

Shortly after we started our morning CTWRB's (Chasing Those Wet Riding Boot's), we came across the sleeping Grizzly that we had passed on way in earlier that morning.. Come to find out, what Tweeks had bolted from and what we thought was a sleeping Grizz was actually no Red 1st Gen Riding Grizz at all..

 

We discovered this by silently walking past the Grizz's Den with total regard for our sleeping neighbors. I was in the process of quietly video tapping what I thought may very well be the only 1st Gen Venture owned by an actual Grizzly bear vwhen I heard a commotion within the den.. Unkown to me, my camera was still recording as Tip and I casually attempted to stride past the sleeping bear.. Following is what my camera picked up..

 

[OrlinEngh]

I have use of my computer again, I have been just kinda looking at posts with my phone and I see this one and think where is Puc off to now and I read it again I know where that is.

I guess that I will have to put something up at the end of the drive so them there night time travelers can find the place I will have to think on that:think:

Glad that you found your way here, and that the directions down to the campground wasnt to hard to follow maybe some of the reflectors on those little posts may help but if everyone could find it to easy we wouldnt have fun seeing those Venture Riders go by a couple of times untill they figure out that this is the place.

And Puc we are a friendly group here in Wisconsin even the Gizzly Bears.

[cowpuc]

I have use of my computer again, I have been just kinda looking at posts with my phone and I see this one and think where is Puc off to now and I read it again I know where that is.

I guess that I will have to put something up at the end of the drive so them there night time travelers can find the place I will have to think on that:think:

Glad that you found your way here, and that the directions down to the campground wasnt to hard to follow maybe some of the reflectors on those little posts may help but if everyone could find it to easy we wouldnt have fun seeing those Venture Riders go by a couple of times untill they figure out that this is the place.

And Puc we are a friendly group here in Wisconsin even the Gizzly Bears.

 

You touch those poles or make any changes and it will ruin all our fun too Or!!! Besides,, what else could I write about if you made it to easy - for some reason your campground had NO skeeters, the grass was so soft that it felt like a Posterpedic mattress under the tent AND - like you just said - even the dog gone Grizzly bears are friendly!!!!!

[Flyinfool]

Puc

You are not the first one that was watched going back and forth in the dark.

[Morev4]

Poor video camera it survived me.