Anyway, by popular demand, we rode out of Galena Illinois, making the title a bit of a misnomer, though there were suggestions of calling it Wisconillinoisscoot.
Officially, we ride out Friday afternoon, this year 110 miles, riding over to Dubuque, looking at downtown murals, over to an overlook several hundred feet above one of the locks and dams on the Mississippi. Then staying on the Iowa side riding north to a small ferry across to Wisconsin, down past the Potosi brewery, stopping at an interesting if not a bit bizarre religious "grotto" created in the 1920s including a shrine to Cristopher Colombus and a shitload of petrified wood and exotic stone/minerals. Then back to the hotel.
It had a few glitsches...I decided to arrive a day early to hang out and relax with a few othr guys that usually do the same thing, and also to do a bit of pre-ride in Dubuque to sort out some downtown navigation. There was a stop that we'd explored the night before (an historic tower). Less than 12 hours later the road was closed. So much for planning. Things went well after that until the grotto. Starting the scooters to leave, gitder's turned over but wouldn't fire. We couldn't sort it out easily, and as we were only 20 miles from the hotel and JKJ had a trailer, we opted for a rescue, leaving gitder to cool his heels on a bench in front of the church.....more on this later. Due to the late hour and dinner reservations, we left the scooter cool off overnight.
Next morning,we dug into it. As I hate spark plugs on Vespas, I suggested we go for fuel first...pump sounded turning the key, and I lifted the injector to see if it was getting fuel. Yep. On to the electricals....removed the cap, then the plug. All seemed fine, and I was looking down when Derrick exclaimed, "I think we found the problem" while holding up the entire lead. Turns out an earlier installation hadn't secured it and it somehow worked loose. Got it reinstalled, started right up, and we all rode off together. Put in 140 miles mostly in Illinois (remarkably hilly and wooded considering what the center of the state looks like). No problems, and overall a pretty successful day and event.
Personally, riding there and back, put on close to 640 miles.
Pictures coming!
⚠️ Last edited by fledermaus on UTC; edited 1 time