CAST 2013

CAST was an excellent conference, by testers for testers. There was a great "esprit de corps" but for some feuds between thought leaders. There was some vocabulary and concepts that I was not up to, which I learned about on my laptop. Evenings were spent doing some photo processing, after understanding what the problem was on this particular laptop. So, no visit of the town, just an outing with a former colleague now working for an insurance company. I also discussed with one of the presenters and thought leaders, about his life as a consultant. It can be stressful but very rewarding. The building hosting the conference was an FLW, and was nice and up to date. It had been built 40 years after the death of Wright, and almost 50 years after the plans were drawn!
There is not much to say about the ride to Green Bay, except that once there I went to a micro-brewery where both beer and food were magnificent. I went to bed later than I should have; this is what happens when you have TV (I don't at home) and happen on some stupid show that you've heard about.  The next day, I left for Escanaba, and realized that I was going the direction opposite to all the Harleys, who were going to some HD event. How appropriate. On the way to Escanaba I stopped for snacks and parked the bike poorly and it ended up falling on the side opposite the stand, probably due to wind. Thanks to YouTube lessons, I used the correct technique to pick up the bike with all the luggage on. It was so easy I was surprised, and encouraged for my off-roading, where I expected to drop it quite a bit.

Water for horses at the old Indian trailhead.

Escanaba was not a very attractive city, so after taking a look at the lighthouse I left for my off-road adventure. The ride towards Munising, which was to be 95% off-road, started well and took me to an old Indian trailhead.

Setting up the bike for off-roading.

The GPS waypoints I had put in before leaving were doing the job. There were a couple of patches of shallow sand, just enough to make it fun but not scary. Anyway, the handlebars were not set for the standing position required for off-roading, and the GPS was in the wrong location so I stopped and made things right.
That's when the fun ended though, as the GPS decided to get to the next waypoint by taking a detour on paved roads. That's not why I was in the area, but I could not get the GPS to change its mind, and did not want to get the detailed maps out, I would get lost anyway with them. So I decided to wing it and "go north". Take a right on that road, and go. Now that was way different as this was deep sand. I "caught" the bike once as it was sliding but the next time I compensated and went off the track. This, over a length of 30 feet - and I had 100 miles to go. I did not want to spend my time picking up the 650 pound bike when it fell, or risk damage to the luggage, or get lost in a deserted area. So I reluctantly decided to obey the GPS and went back on the road. Why did I get this adventure bike? This was such a disappointment. After getting myself together while riding on the tarmac, I decided that I had enough gas to attempt offroading again. Made a right on a gravel road, but was stopped by a nice guy telling me a big truck was coming and anyway this was a deadend. I tried another road and ultimately learned from another couple of nice guys that I was about to reach "Rapid River Truck Trail" which where I should have been all along. I stopped later to play with the GPS setting and put it in "shortest possible distance" mode. Which was good for that day, but wait until the next day... Anyway I eventually got to my destination, a dead end which happened to be on the North Country Trail.Set things up, including a tarp over the bike since it was starting to rain and I had very limited storage space in the tent, and went to sleep. There were many noises and a lot of wind, and rain, and there was a period when I could not sleep as every strange noise made me think of an approaching bear. A tree in the forest came down crashing, and I thought that this could be the tree that I had suspended my food bag from (that's what you do in bear country. The other option is to keep it in the tent with you, and fight off the bear when it comes for it). Only after I tied my bad-ass fixed-blade knife to my wrist did I calm down and fell asleep, under the delusion that now I could stand a chance against a black furry opponent.

Obstacle passed!

The next day, I got up at 8, although I was hoping to get up earlier. This time it took me a couple of hours before departing, as there was much to pack. I headed for Munising's "falling rock cafe" via the shortest path, per GPS directions. That was as planned at the beginning, and I reached the highway. However the GPS wanted me to take an extremely narrow path through the forest, the "pipeline trail" and I obliged. Since it had rained all night the sand was compacted. There were many roots and the branches were so low I had to constantly dodge them. And all of a sudden there was a challenge, the biggest I'd ever been confronted to on a motorcycle (besides impassable mud). I walked the whole way to scout it, wondering whether to go. In the end the question is, can I turn around if I can't make it. The answer was yes, and I had learned how to deal with that particular soil I was on - don't go too slow. If you go too slow, the wheels sink into the wet sand. Also, the steering becomes extremely difficult, heavy. After much breathing I got on the bike and got it to go through the challenge. I was surprised to be on the other end at first try, and very happy so took a couple of trophy pictures.
The rest of the trail was fun as it was wet sand, making it great practice. However I came to what first appeared to be a vertical wall of sand. This was scary; the slope was increasing and the whole way was still sand, the bike was losing speed even though I was starting to gas it; the coming slope would have been a challenge even on tarmac as it seemed to be a 100 foot, 35% slope. While starting the ascent I thought "I know how to turn around on a slope in theory but have never practiced. Also, I've never been up such a slope." An additional issue was the tires, which were the original, road-biased. So I decided to give up even though that meant taking the challenge in the other direction... Getting the bike around took me 30 minutes of effort, but it worked once I took the luggage off. The challenging portion of the trail was OK in that direction, so I returned to the road and got to charming Munising where I started this blog entry, sipping coffee in the local hippie cafe.

Turned around, with the impassable grade in the background.

It's all Wright

On Friday, the plan is to hit 2 important Wright buildings: the Johnson family residence in the morning and the Johnson Wax campus in the afternoon. But first, a visit to the still operating lighthouse just north of Racine. It is a nice one as can be seen here.

The lake is so large I can not see the other side, and the beach looks just like it would be for an ocean. The major difference is the smell, and the absence of salt. The weather, even in the morning, is nice. I take a couple of pictures then get back on the bike in time to get to the Johnson residence. When I get on the parking lot no one is there, which is cool - I'm going to get  a private visit. This does happen actually at this place. A dude comes towards me and at my great disappointment tells me that the visit is cancelled - they eventually got an event scheduled and called me to cancel, but could never reach me. So... go back to the lighthouse, take a few pictures including a pano with the panoramic head. I have not made a pano in a couple of months now so I forget a couple of the steps, however since there is not object in close proximity I don't get parallax issues.

The Lighthouse. To the right: the fog horn - an entire building!

Now I have time so I take advantage and take a tour of downtown Racine. I expected a larger town. Park the bike by the brewery I am hitting for lunch, then go take a few pics.

A little disappointed: it is a nice small downtown, but it's like anywhere else. So, take a couple of shots, including a well prepared pano of the harbor which reminds me of San Francisco, and go back to the parking lot.

Time for lunch. I like to prepare my vacation as much as possible, and I have decided that every time I can I would support the local micro breweries. So here we go, this is the local Racine brewery.

Local beer, and great lakes Perch sandwich

Super nice view and once again on this trip I am blessed with - so far - sunny, rain-free days.

Visitor center to Johnson Wax campus

The afternoon goes as planned, almost. I do get to visit the Johnson campus which was designed by FLW, and it shows. Unfortunately the iconic R&D tower is closed (since 1981 I think) and the exterior is fully wrapped in scaffolding for renovations. However, I get to enter the admin part of the campus and I am shocked and awed at how cool and neat it is inside. The best photographs of this building do not do it justice. You have to experience that in person. The rest of the visit is also very interesting. Makes you want to purchase Johnson products, which are plenty.

Oriental Theater, Milwaukee

When I hit Milwaukee I am amazed by its size, just like I was with Racine. The latter was much smaller that I imagined. Milwaukee is so much larger than I thought it would be. This is truly an American-size city, complete with older and newer sky-scrapers. There obviously is more to it than Harley-Davidson and beer. Well, I get one of them beers at one of the many micro-breweries and head for the local, early-20th century movie theater. I reluctantly purchase a movie ticket since I want the whole experience; I'm not expecting much from the movie. The lobby is super-nice, sort of Egyptian I would guess. No time - and no light - for pictures. The theater itself is however quite bland. To date, nothing beats Anderson's paramount. The movie is actually really good, by "the short New York Jew". The acting is superb, the theme is good, and the jokes are witty. I head to the hotel, which turns out to be superb.

Much slope for the tent!

Saturday - 2 houses to visit today. One is the Pabst mansion, of which I take no pictures. I recommend it. Not a FLW house at all, but incredibly nice inside and out. The afternoon is an FLW house for the masses. It is a very small house, with little decoration, in order to contain costs. Still it is a distinctly FLW design. I'd like to see an FLW the size of my house just to compare. No pictures here either; I don't like to be pressed when I take pics. Then I head to the campground of the state park close to Taliesin.

Sunday - I get up not so early, break fast on some healthy snacks I got for the trip, and pack. It takes me all of 1 hour - great; I was afraid it could take more time. I have 4 boxes to pack everything into, which makes organizing quite easy. As a matter of fact, my right side case is so huge, I have not filled it up to date. And the top box is full for now, however since I'm going to be shedding clothes during the trip, it will be only 2/3 full when the trip ends. On this trip again, and even more so than usually, the plan is to leave with old decrepit clothes, and dump them rather than wash them.

I get to Taliesin's parking lot, and park the bike mostly in the shade of some trees.  The visitor center is actually a building designed by FLW for a restaurant. The visit is well commented by the older volunteer docent.

FLW's very first building - Unity Chapel.

I am delighted to learn that this is the Wright family farm, land purchased from the Winnebago Indians, where FLW grew up getting along just fine with them Injuns. Did not go so well for them in the end :( Wright was of Welch ancestry, his family immigrated just a few decades earlier.

Part of the studio

I was disappointed by the studio part of the compound. Which the architecture is nice, the building is not in good shape. It's a recurring theme for me that a nice building in bad shape does not elicit a lot of awe from me.

The terrace

However, the Wright house is, although built early in his career, very pleasant and prairie style. This is another Wright masterpiece.

The house from the top of the hill

A nice statue designed by FLW himself

Back to the bike I put the boots and the rest of the gear back on. The boots are way too big to put in the luggage so I'm just leaving them beside the bike. The jacket however, I leave on the bike, inside out to prevent the sun from fading the fluorescence, and with the long cable lock going through one of the sleeves for theft protection.

Hop back on, start the beast, and head towards the Bluffs, where I'm supposed to be able to do some good off-road, with no one to look at me fall. In reality, there is no off road - just a parking spot at the end of the gravel road followed by a climb to a nice viewpoint over the Wisconsin river.

At this point I have the choice of going straight to the hotel or go to the Madison state university campus and visit a museum. I decide to go process some pics at the hotel. Once there I continue struggling with the Roche computer and try and stitch together HDR pics, to no avail.

Inception

Last blog was a year ago, since then some things have changed. As hinted in the last post of my eastern trip blog, I did not feel that the BMW F800ST was appropriate for long distance travel, because of the riding position. In all other respects, it was adequate, although the reliability was questionable. My quest on the internet and the dealerships led me to the purchase of a Yamaha Super Tenere. This is a very different bike, as it is designed for "adventure" which means that it can take paved roads of course, but also can handle a reasonable amount of off-road travel. I had looked at the adventure version of the BMW, as well as the Triumph. No Japanese brands offer a mid-weight adventure bike in the US. So I had a choice of the Suzuki V-Strom 650 which is a large bike with a smaller engine, or "the beast". I fell for it. Sure it's very heavy, but as long as I don't go crazy off-road on it it should be fine.
I have spent a total of probably 60 hours preparing this trip: researching what would be a good trip then refining down to the level of what to see in each town, where the micro-breweries are, and putting into the GPS the different coordinates of the off-road waypoints. Also added a couple of extra lights on the bike, for conspicuity.
Work has been insanely busy in the last 2 months, but I've still forced myself to exercise to prepare for this trip. I took up weight lifting for the last 3 weeks again, which I had not done in a long time. That was worth it, as it's much easier now to handle the bike on parking lots - "manhandle" it. I even went online to check out (Youtube is your friend) how to ride off-road and on-road. For the latter there is plenty of crap videos, but in the end I found one good one made by... the Gendarmerie! They explain their way of handling road curves, which makes sense, so that's what I'm trying to apply now.

3 weeks of more-intensive exercise, and appropriate nutrition

I departed right on time yesterday, at 5 pm. I was a bit apprehensive about Chicago traffic, but it was absolutely fine given that I was there a little after 7 pm. I did not feel unsafe at any time. The bike, also, handles luggage very well - it is harder to steer, but it accelerates and brakes just as hard, and is still extremely stable. That's better than the previous bike, although I'm much more loaded this time since i have all my camping gear.

Gear: protection first!

The roads were fine, and so was the weather.
This morning in the hotel breakfast room, Fox News was on. I could not believe how nasty that propaganda medium is. No wonder more Louisiana republicans blame Obama for the botched Katrina response than then do Bush.
Today, lots of things to visit including a couple of Wright buildings. I'll try and post tomorrow morning. There is a time diff with Indiana so I get up "earlier", relatively speaking.