Gloomy Go Pro Snake Road Run, Goldfish = Best fish and Burgers in Kenosha

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

Kris Kristofferson knew how to write a song.

I awoke slightly hungover in Harvard after the exciting Drinkstravaganza we call Milk Days and rather than stumble about town and retread Kris's song I decided to go exploring.

First stop was to head up to Lake Geneva and try out my gopro chest mount on Snake Road.  For those of you who have missed it, it's one of the best motorcycle roads within an hour of Chicago or Milwaukee.  Left and right sweepers, elevation changes it's like they took orders.  Next time you are in the area head out of lake Geneva to the west and pick either entrance to Snake road, it slithers around the hills and million dollar estates and loops back to 50.

Here's the video I got.



After walking around downtown Lake Geneva I decided to visit WOCRR in Paddock Lake so I shot over east on 50.  After a short pitstop I decided to head up to the Kenosha area and put the Gastro in MotoGastro.

First stop was the Pleasant Prairie Mall to get some expired goldfish.  Pepperidge Farms has an outlet store for product that is nearing expiration at super steep discounts.  Unfortunately I unleashed the inner fatty beast and bought way too much stuff.  I ended up with a cart full of weird goldfish flavors and colors, baked snack crackers and Milano cookies.

2013 Mods Vs. Rockers Bike and Scooter Show at the Aragon

A few weeks back I decided to head into Chicago for the Mods Vs. Rockers Motorcycle and Scooter show.

Being as it was a Saturday I figured traffic would be decent and I was wrong.  I got stuck a few times in deadlocked traffic and the Sportster was running very hot.  I was tempted to lanesplit but I never have the balls and always end up roasting in traffic wishing I was in California.  Luckily I only had about 5 miles of 90 when traffic got bad so I was only delayed about 20 minutes and once I got on the surface streets the bike would cool down right?  Wrong again, once I got off I had about 5 more miles on the surface street which was totally backed up and I was really wondering if hell could be much hotter.   After a bit a big BMW tourer flew by splitting in the Bicycle lane.  The bike was running rough and starting to ping so I decided to follow suit.  After I got behind the beamer I made great time and I was thankful I gathered the Cahones or I'd Still be waiting.

Once I got close to the show I fell in behind a hottie in a distressed leather jacket and a retro bell half helmet riding a beautiful triumph and suddenly the heat became the last thought on my mind.  We both pulled up and snagged 2 questionable spaces right on the lip of the drive heading into the show.  I started to gear down when the security guard came up and asked if I had just parked my bike.  I thought I was going to get yelled at and told to move but he said it was the same price to register the bike in the show or pay for admission and pointed to the 50 person line for spectators.  I walked up to the show entry and plunked down my $10.  Sadly Triumph Girl also entered the show and I lost track of her due to the bikes being sectioned by brand.  I headed to the very back corner where they stuck the Harleys and my get was off like a prom dress.

I present the show bike with the least votes, not pictured is the fat-assed spectator with the shortest walk.  I walked around aimlessly snapping pictures of bikes that caught my eye.  Sadly the british bikes and scooters were mostly sparkly clean fresh off the showroom deals.  The neatest bikes were the custom Harleys and Metrics that chose to attend.

An awesome BSA chopper

A neat sportster

Boger Bog and the Stickney Mansion

A few weeks back I took a quick sidetrip to Boger Bog, one of my favorie parks in Mchenry County.  It is a newer addition and worth a look if you are ever in the area.  Before the land was donated by the Boger Family it was used as a place that Frederic Boger stored random architectural components that he had scavenged from historic buildings in Chicago notably the Terra Cotta roofing which is from the 1933 World's Fair..  When it was converted to a park MCCD repurposed some of the materials to make the park structures but left most of them undisturbed which make for a neat park to explore and take photos.

Here are some pics from a previous trip.

Bike Night at Skeeter's in Carpentersville with Mews

Every wednesday skeeters in Carpentersville throws a nice bikenight.  The bartender makes a homecooked meal that is free until it runs out starting a 6pm and there are cheap buckets of longnecks.  The main bar is closed for remodeling so the tikibar in the parking lot is in full swing.

At the burger night in Lombard some of the Mewsers were interested in checking out Skeeters for their Wednesday Bike Night the following Week. I threw up an event on meetup and about 10 riders dropped in.  There was a bit of confusion on which way to pull into the bar but the comedy of all the regulars screaming wrong way to the guys who missed the sign was priceless.

Eating at Jt's Porch with MEWS

I'm a bit behind due to being caught up in other projects such as getting this beast back on the road.

The Mews Meetup group meets a few times a month for $4 burger tuesdays at JT's Porch in Lombard.  My schedule and the weather were cooperating a few weeks back and I made a run down there.

There was about 30 bikers in attendance and it was probably the best $4 burger I've had.  The 30+oz cup messes with the scale as the burger/plate/cup were all huge.

Slimey Crud Run Spring 2013

After seeing the Slimey Crud Run whispered about in dark corners of the internet I decided I would like to check it out.  An old friend whom I will refer to as Whiney Old Crotch Rocket Rider or WOCRR for short was also interested so we agreed to to leave our respective houses at 8:00am and meetup at a halfway point in Darien by the titty bar and ride up together.

I left about on time but realized I needed gas and had to grab cash for food and drinks in case I couldn't use plastic in cheeseland so I booked it on the way up and arrived at the gas station with 2 minutes to spare.

And then I waited and waited and waited.   After double checking the Vegas Club wasn't open I waited some more.  After 15 minutes I got a call from WOCRR who said he was lost or some such excuse and would be there in another 5 minutes.

After 20 minutes or 3 extended lapdances had the titty bar been open I heard a pitiful sound come whining up.  Sadly the bike sounded OK, it was the rider whining about his old age related problems such as not being able to tell time or drive the speed limit.

Shortly after taking this picture he complained that smiling hurt his cheeks.  We were now both gassed up and ready to go but 30 minutes behind schedule.  I realized there may not be many places to stop once we get out of Janesville so we grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonald's.  WOCRR complained it would give him gas, luckily I was the lead bike.   We hauled ass up to Pine Bluff and knew we were getting close as we kept seeing more and more motorcycles.  Once we got really close we started to see earlybirds tearing off to start their run.  Just before town a Hayabusa flew by in a full tuck and must have been doing 100+.

The $100 Burger at Pilot Pete's

With a free afternoon before my accounting final, the temps pushing 85F and a need for an early dinner I pulled up my handy list of places I want to check out and picked Pilot Pete's.

On my way south on 31 I got stuck in construction traffic around  Algonquin.  Idling an air cooled bike for 20 minutes on an 85 degree day left me seeking a way to cool down so I shot across the Fox and followed the river into East Dundee.

 

Oil temp was 225F when I stopped to snap this pic at a picnic area on the Fox.

40 minutes later I arrived at Pilot Pete's hot and hungry.