Searching for Great Pizza and Found Some!

I wanted to go for a ride tomorrow with Loraine but she had plans. My plans for today got blown up as I had the wrong part for the truck and the correct one wouldn’t be here until tomorrow. I couldn’t do the next project as I still couldn’t open the garage door because the garage was still set up for extracting honey. I had it open for 30 minutes while working on the truck. I was watching very closely to spot the first bee scouting out that honey smell. I was surprised that none were around. I went in the house for 10 minutes and came out! OOOPS, big mistake as there were probably anywhere from 50 to 100 bees in the garage and more hovering outside the door. I quickly closed the door. 20 minutes later most of them were trying to get out through the closed windows. While watching this I couldn’t help but think how frustrating that had to be for the bee’s. To them it must have been as an invisible force field. They could see outside but something wouldn’t let them fly out. After most were gathered on the glass I cranked a window out and those left. Went to the other window and finally got those out. About 15 more were around the garage door light. That went out and 5 minutes later I let those out the windows. Didn’t know what to do but Loraine suggested we go on a ride today. Sure!

We got on the road at 2:20 pm. It was 11 am when we first agreed but Loraine had a few things she wanted to get done before we left.

Heading down the road I decided it was to late to go up to Leland Wisconsin now. How about we cut it short and go to Monroe or New Glarus. She was fine with that. 10 minutes later I said… I know… let’s go to that place just south of Mt Horeb for pizza that we were told about months ago… She consented and now I had a destination. Stayed off the hwy and took her on some country roads the went up and down over the rolling countryside. Soybeans are being gathered in as fast as the farmers can do it as it has been dry. Corn will be next. Always makes me feel good to see the harvest coming in. Loraine commented that the smells of fall were in the air, it was warm, such visual delights too. All her senses were being stimulated even touch as the air flowed by her. Smell of soybean dust and fresh cut grass, the wetlands we had passed by, the different colors of the trees as they were now turning. She was happy!!!

I was telling her… oh, this road… if you take it this way you go to Freeport go the other way you go to Rockton and that went on for a few roads. She finally said… I am so turned around… I just know we are west of home! 8 miles later we hit 26 right by the Freeport Honda/Kawasaki shop. Know where you are now? Yes! We headed north and passed through Monroe then up 69 through New Glarus then north of New Glarus I hear Loraine… Hey, I thought we were cutting this short today? Monroe is a ways back there. Yes, but you agreed to get pizza just south of Mt Horeb… I thought the pizza was in Monroe.

Nope, but we are only 5 miles away from pizza right now. So on we went. I noticed dark clouds on the far NW horizon. No big worries. We got to Mt Vernon and went to the Mt Vernon Tap. I know it’s a very original name!

Mt Vernon is a tiny map dot of a hamlet. (A 30 yr old told me they had never heard of the word hamlet before. I was dumbstruck… if you don’t know, Google it!) If you blink while you drive through Mt Vernon you will miss it, as the saying goes.

I was shopping for shoes in Black Earth at the Shoe Box a year ago and I asked the employee where was a good place to eat going south. He said immediately. Pizza at the Mt Vernon Tap. We got there but it was getting dark and that’s heavy deer country and we were on the Goldwing so we kept going to get home. I never forgot though. Hence today’s destination! We were not disappointed. I love Alfano’s Stuffed Pizza. I would Place Mt Vernon tap as 2^nd best pizza now! But maybe 1st for a regular pizza. Want to know how good it was? Loraine had eaten her piece and was getting a 2^nd before I was done with my first piece. That never happens… and while she was taking a bite she looks at me with eyes that emoted mucho approval as she continued to chow it down. Before that we had fried shrimp which is their Tuesday special at 50 cents each. Loraine had two and I had four. Very crispy breading but soft and tender shrimp inside. They to were good

! For a place in the middle of nowhere they were busy and now I know why! We both had two pieces of pizza and we were full. We had the meat pizza and the sausage wasn’t those little bland rabbit food size pellets. They were almost ping pong ball size chunks. The sausage was slightly salty but it went perfectly with the rest of the pizza. Loraine doesn’t use salt on much but she said she liked the little bit of salt flavor.

Now very full we went out to the bike. I had been watching the clock and the amount of sunlight out the windows. Time was getting short. I wanted to be down in Monroe by dark as then I am out of the heavy deer country… well at least out of the valleys and ridges with woods all around.

I couldn’t go back the way we had come because that would be boring! I peeled off to the west to try and get over to county J or JG/G. The way to G was north after a bit and I took a gamble and went straight. Gamble??? Yeah, not much daylight left and remember me mentioning those dark clouds way down on the horizon? Well, they were very prominent now! By going straight I lucked out and found that I was on a road that had wonderful curves going up and over ridges and then down into the valleys and following along the valley edges. And best of all it was headed south! Until it hit a T intersection. Left to New Glarus…Nope, Right to uh somewhere west to J??? I hoped. Except it soon turned northwest right towards the storm clouds. Beautiful country but north was the wrong way. Roads in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin aren’t like Illinois… they don’t go straight because of the ridges and bluffs. After going north for a mile or two and looking at those clouds Loraine pipes up…. I CAN SMELL RAIN. Maybe we should turn around??? I can see J over there on the GPS map… it has to be close! In another Mile we come to a very small little used road heading west not north. I’ll try this way. It followed along a narrow valley (Hustad Valley Rd) and got us to G or J. I turned left and headed south. No problems now as I knew this ended up by Monroe on 81. Beautiful rolling country as we soon were out of the narrow valleys. Nice road, Loraine commented it was the perfect temperature. (78, no wind and no humidity) it was 85 but we were close to the storm and it dropped the temperature fast. Finally got up by 80 again. As we were going south I would exclaim… I gotta stop and take a pic of that sunset and the storm clouds. I did that 4 more times as it kept changing. I liked them all but one stands out above the rest. We got to Monroe and I had been on reserve for 10 miles. Perfect as I stopped and got non alcohol gas to put in the bike as it was late in the year and it’s cheaper in Wisconsin! 5.7 gallons and it was $31.

We had daylight still. Thought we had no worries with the storm either. Didn’t get dark until Freeport and then we were on 4 lane hwy. But as we were 8 miles north of Freeport it starts to sprinkle on us. Nothing bad, Loraine didn’t even notice as her helmet was lower than mine and I was the one hearing the little tink, tink, tink on my helmet and seeing it on my visor. I am always amazed by how fast a storm can expand and surround you. This storm didn’t catch up with us as we were heading south at 65 mph. Nothing ahead or east of us… then we get sprinkled on! Look up and yep, rain clouds. Get on the hwy and look east and it’s a very dark sky. How did that happen? Zip up to 75 mph set the cruise and get home.

I put the bike in the garage and asked Loraine to help me flip the sunfish sailboat I bought for $200 yesterday (an old 77 sunfish) she said… you should put the big trailer in the driveway and put all your bikes in it and put that in the garage. Hmmm, Excellent idea… except the Trans Am is already in it..I looked at my 14’ trailer which was in the drive… Hmmmm. 15 minutes later I had two Wings and a CBR stuffed in the 14’ trailer and the sunfish pushed into the garage…trailer and all. Pays to marry a smart woman! 10 minutes later I hear thunder rumbling. I went out on the front porch and invited Loraine to come watch the storm roll in. It came… slowly at first with just lightning lighting up the inside of the clouds then it rained lightly then the rain got harder and finallyit reallycame down. I was a bit disappointed that no bolts of lightning weren’t being thrown around that we could see. 35 minutes later the show was over and we went inside as I was now getting cold as the storm had dropped the temperature. A perfect day… and perfect timing all around. Got to the big hwy just as it got almost full dark, turned away from the storm just as we were smelling rain and it looked like it was right in front of us, got home and inside 15 minutes before the sky opened up and drenched the countryside. We were warm and dry watching it instead of cold and wet riding in it. That always makes things better!

I am starting to put together the last two days of the Nova Scotia Trip. I have some great videos going up and down Mt Washington and up and down hwy 113. I haven’t figured out how to get rid of the wind noise yet. I don’t want it to music as I want to try and isolated the muffler sound of the bike as most of it was higher rpm and lower gear.