SwollenRaccoon
Well-known member
I had this idea almost twenty years ago, and finally acted it out last Friday, the 13th of August. (Oh no! Friday the 13th! Big deal. It's just a number). A personal mission, done in the interest of having a fun, mostly twisty riding day. For those not knowledgeable about Wisconsin, their county roads are all lettered, not numbered. As in, County Road A, or T, or so on. Let's call them primary county roads, for the purpose of this rally. Some roads have double letters, as in XX, (let's call them doubles), and some even have triple letters, but let's ignore those for now. Some have what I will call hybrid names, like XV, or NL.
The idea was to see if I could come up with a reasonably-distanced route where I would ride on roads to complete the alphabet (though not in order). So, 26 county roads that span, in some form, from A to Z. Where feasible, I tried to hit primary roads, but took whatever time and the map gave me. I tried to avoid state and national highways as much as possible, but had to use them in a few spots. The first part was laying out the route, so I mixed a big cocktail in my bubba mug, and sat down on the patio with my (3rd) Delorme Wisconsin atlas. I don't have a gps, and for most of my riding, don't really need one. I live in Rochester, Minnesota, and rode to Wabasha to cross the Mississippi River to get the first unofficial Alphabet Soup Road Rally started. I considered stopping at every road to take a picture of the signs, but realized that would add literally hours to my ride, so I just took a few photos. This is not an epic trip, nor an epic ride report. We all know that Mr. HPPants has set the gold standard for ride reports, and I am neither the consummate story teller nor professional-grade photographer that Pants is. So here goes.
I left home at 7:15 AM, and rode the 45 miles to Wabasha. The first 90 minutes or so of the ride were a little nerve-wracking. I was riding directly into a low sun, which caused a two-fold problem...1) the sun was shining right straight into my face, causing glare, and b), The low sun created many shaded areas, which, when combined with the sun glare, created areas that could have hidden an over-turned mining truck, for all I knew. So the first portion of the ride was at a semi-sane pace. This is the turnout on highway 60. In the distant background is the Mississippi bridge in Wabasha.
I crossed the river, went through Nelson, and headed east on County D to start the letter check-off. Notice low sun.
Here's where I do a little preaching, in the interest of public health. If you choose to do business with one of these...(Look at road signs)
You may catch one of these...
I encountered two road closings, so had to alter my route slightly, and in two cases, needed to do a little 5 or 10 mile loop to get the letters I needed, and still stay close to my planned route.
Here is the Chippewa River, source of Leinenkugel Beer, a Wisconsin legend. This is the crossing on County H, at Caryville, or about 10 miles southwest of Eau Claire.
Since I was in the vicinity, on the last leg of my ride, I stopped to get some of the best parmesan cheese that Wisconsin has to offer. If you are ever in the area, this stop is worth your time.
Another place I found is off County Y, east of Downsville, or about ten miles south of Menomonie. A place called the Jeremiah Bullfrog Fish Farm. I met Jeremiah, and he is a very friendly guy. His business is called Eat My Fish. He raises rainbow trout, and he sells them, fresh or smoked. I grabbed a half pound package of smoked rainbow trout, and can tell you that it was as good a smoked fish as I have ever had. I will definitely be making day trips to get fish there in the future.
So it was a pretty fun day, with a lot of twisty pavement. I had 338 miles on when I got home, at about 2:15 PM, and turned over 77,000 on the FJR during the ride. I had a couple hard stops for deer (gotta love ABS on motorcycles), and a wild turkey that appeared to be confused by a 1,297 cc Japanese missile. The following night, I once again sat down on the patio with an adult beverage, and looked at my route and the map. I had backtracked and changed a couple things due to road closures/bridge work, and found a couple spots where I could pick up certain letters while eliminating a few miles. I think I could complete an alphabet day from Rochester, through Wabasha, in something like 315 miles or so. To reiterate, this day was intended to be fun, and hit as many curves as I could, along with a few roads that were new to me. Mission accomplished, I think, and I will probably do it again. I won't bore you with the route, but if you want to see it, let me know. Thanks for reading.
The idea was to see if I could come up with a reasonably-distanced route where I would ride on roads to complete the alphabet (though not in order). So, 26 county roads that span, in some form, from A to Z. Where feasible, I tried to hit primary roads, but took whatever time and the map gave me. I tried to avoid state and national highways as much as possible, but had to use them in a few spots. The first part was laying out the route, so I mixed a big cocktail in my bubba mug, and sat down on the patio with my (3rd) Delorme Wisconsin atlas. I don't have a gps, and for most of my riding, don't really need one. I live in Rochester, Minnesota, and rode to Wabasha to cross the Mississippi River to get the first unofficial Alphabet Soup Road Rally started. I considered stopping at every road to take a picture of the signs, but realized that would add literally hours to my ride, so I just took a few photos. This is not an epic trip, nor an epic ride report. We all know that Mr. HPPants has set the gold standard for ride reports, and I am neither the consummate story teller nor professional-grade photographer that Pants is. So here goes.
I left home at 7:15 AM, and rode the 45 miles to Wabasha. The first 90 minutes or so of the ride were a little nerve-wracking. I was riding directly into a low sun, which caused a two-fold problem...1) the sun was shining right straight into my face, causing glare, and b), The low sun created many shaded areas, which, when combined with the sun glare, created areas that could have hidden an over-turned mining truck, for all I knew. So the first portion of the ride was at a semi-sane pace. This is the turnout on highway 60. In the distant background is the Mississippi bridge in Wabasha.
I crossed the river, went through Nelson, and headed east on County D to start the letter check-off. Notice low sun.
Here's where I do a little preaching, in the interest of public health. If you choose to do business with one of these...(Look at road signs)
You may catch one of these...
I encountered two road closings, so had to alter my route slightly, and in two cases, needed to do a little 5 or 10 mile loop to get the letters I needed, and still stay close to my planned route.
Here is the Chippewa River, source of Leinenkugel Beer, a Wisconsin legend. This is the crossing on County H, at Caryville, or about 10 miles southwest of Eau Claire.
Since I was in the vicinity, on the last leg of my ride, I stopped to get some of the best parmesan cheese that Wisconsin has to offer. If you are ever in the area, this stop is worth your time.
Another place I found is off County Y, east of Downsville, or about ten miles south of Menomonie. A place called the Jeremiah Bullfrog Fish Farm. I met Jeremiah, and he is a very friendly guy. His business is called Eat My Fish. He raises rainbow trout, and he sells them, fresh or smoked. I grabbed a half pound package of smoked rainbow trout, and can tell you that it was as good a smoked fish as I have ever had. I will definitely be making day trips to get fish there in the future.
So it was a pretty fun day, with a lot of twisty pavement. I had 338 miles on when I got home, at about 2:15 PM, and turned over 77,000 on the FJR during the ride. I had a couple hard stops for deer (gotta love ABS on motorcycles), and a wild turkey that appeared to be confused by a 1,297 cc Japanese missile. The following night, I once again sat down on the patio with an adult beverage, and looked at my route and the map. I had backtracked and changed a couple things due to road closures/bridge work, and found a couple spots where I could pick up certain letters while eliminating a few miles. I think I could complete an alphabet day from Rochester, through Wabasha, in something like 315 miles or so. To reiterate, this day was intended to be fun, and hit as many curves as I could, along with a few roads that were new to me. Mission accomplished, I think, and I will probably do it again. I won't bore you with the route, but if you want to see it, let me know. Thanks for reading.
