Tim: Hello everybody, I'm Tim Clark. And I'm Travis Brelesent. You're listening to the Writing Session Podcast.

Travis: Alright, here we go. This is recording. I don't know how well it's going to pick everyone up.

Tim: I'll just talk really loud and strangely enunciate everything.

Travis: Yeah, we'll have a campfire and seedy hollow. Yeah, Wildcat I think is a good place to shoot for a morning destination. And we'll probably improvise an indirect route there. How are you, what are your thoughts on gravel, Tom?

Tom: I'm fine with it.

Travis: You're on the sportiest bike.

Tom: Don't want to spend the whole day in it, by the way.

Travis: I know, VFR. We spent most of the day in gravel today.

Tom: We spent a lot of the day. What? More than that. Yeah, we did. I went down the side of a, call it a, probably qualified as a mountain on a superhawk. Went a four-lane highway, became a two-lane highway, eventually a dirt path. Eventually a trail that went down the side of a mountain I didn't want to double back.

Tim: Yeah.

Tom: If I can do that, I can handle whatever gravel.

Tim: Oh yeah.

Travis: I think it was pretty good. There was a couple of really steep washouts.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: That were not narrowing, but challenging. We're on Dunstreet tires, like big bike tires.

Tim: Yeah, we got stuck behind this big tractor for more than a mile, mile and a half. Yeah. You know, and he popped out of his farm, and I was hoping he was just like popping into the next field down.

Tom: So do you like gravel? I do.

Tim: I do. Mostly I like the places it takes me.

Tom: So on Ride with GPS, where you can check gravel or paved roads, you only check paved, and you go right to the gravel?

Tim: I really don't even pay attention.

Tom: You go to the gravel or preferred off-road?

Tim: Yeah, I'm mostly looking for road names. Like, you know, especially Wisconsin, it's in descending order of sophistication of the roadway. It's interstate, numbered highways, lettered county highways, and then named roads. And if it's a named road that's a ridge or a hollow, I'm going for it. Or a coulee.

Tom: Oh, here it's coulee, yeah.

Tim: Yeah.

Tom: It's got a family name, something family coulees.

Tim: Yes, and it's usually either a really good road, or it's essentially someone's driveway that they convinced the city or the state to maintain.

Travis: Well, if it says lane, that's definitely someone's driveway.

Tim: Yeah, and some of them are still worth going down.

Travis: And a lot of the lanes are dead ends. Yes.

Tim: Well, I'm not opposed to chasing down a dead end if it's a fun little stretch.

Travis: Then you can do it again, because you have to get out. Yeah, and when you get... It's the second time. Yeah, you know it's over that crest.

Tom: There's actually a coulee around Viroqua. It totally looks like it's going to be a dead end. And then every time I go down it, there's a farm, and there's a dog that will chase you.

Tim: Yes.

Tom: Then you go around the bend, it opens up a big, huge pasture, and then a ridge, a big sweeper around a ridge, and then back out into Viroqua.

Travis: Yeah. Yeah.

Tom: I found it twice. I have not found it a third time. And I tried.

Tim: When you get to Iowa, they don't do as much secondary road maintenance. So you really do go from interstate to standard road straight to dirt for the next level down for county roads and others.

Travis: Well, they passed that grader, and he was grading it, at least.

Tim: Yes. Yes. Yeah, which I very much tried to stay away from the section he'd graded.

Travis: I popped over to it. It wasn't so loose as I thought it might be.

Tim: That's good. Yeah.

Travis: It was pretty hard packed.

Tim: Usually the really challenging roads in Iowa are what they call level B maintenance roads.

Travis: Is that like seasonal?

Tim: Seasonal, unmaintained, you know, maybe every couple years they'll throw a grader down it, but not usually. So those will be the ones that are rutted up.

Tom: Maybe for the washouts.

Travis: There's no road.

Tim: Yeah. There'll be water bars.

Travis: That's hard. That's what that grader was doing, because he wasn't grading the whole road. He was cleaning up the wash doors this week.

Tim: Yeah. But yeah, as soon as we got clear of that tractor, I grabbed throttle. I'm like, let's go! And it was all downhill from there. Yeah, and I realize I am like 100 feet from a hard right-hand descending right-hander with like ruts on the inside. Right at the turn in point.

Travis: Yeah, the big washout hole right across.

Sam: Yeah.

Travis: Yeah, and it was all loose, and it was like, oh, the tractor doesn't go down into this hollow.

Sam: We're more agile than the tractor. Yeah. That's the answer.

Travis: They don't have power coming down into this hollow.

Tim: So yeah, I remember we popped out onto the highway, and I didn't immediately see another loop. So it seemed like almost as soon as I talked to Sam and Travis, saying like, hey, I don't see a, you know. It's like if we've got this big forest reserve on our left-hand side, and as soon as we go off into there, we have to go miles out of our way to come back to the highway. So I'm like, yeah, we're just going to go and run River Road. And of course, I'm like ADD on highways. Like I'm weaving, I'm bopping about and listening to my music, and I'm scrolling the map, looking, looking, looking, looking. And I'm looking for that road that'll pop out in parallel and then swing back and reconnect.

Tom: Yeah, the Great River Road's cool for like 15 minutes.

Travis: Yeah. It was crazy with some of the boat homes. Yeah. It was like literally just like building houses on a barge. And some of them weren't even like moored. They were like moored. They were like out in the water.

Sam: Yeah. They weren't just docked up against the shore.

Travis: On the shore, like on a dock. Yeah.

Tim: Yeah.

Tom: You had to take a boat to get here. Ooh.

Tim: Yeah.

Tom: You have to have that in the Chicago River.

Tim: Yeah. And I think they do it for the same reason. That it's like property tax avoidance.

Tom: No laws. Yeah. Yeah.

Tim: It's like whose jurisdiction are you in?

Travis: Your DNR. Yeah. As long as you're not illegally fishing, you're cool. As long as there's at least enough life vests for everyone. Uh-uh. In your house.

Sam: Yeah. I know the houseboats, they're really popular in England too, in the UK. You have canals and stuff. Yeah. Even in London, you see a bunch of them.

Tim: Yeah.

Sam: Yeah. Which I'm sure is significantly more affordable. Although I don't know what it costs to get a spot in a prime location.

Tim: Oh my God. Just a slip would probably cost more than most people's rents. Mm-hmm.

Travis: Oh, it's pretty expensive these days. Yeah. Well, especially in London. Her Majesty's United States. Mm-hmm.

Tim: Mm-hmm.

Travis: Yeah, we'll see if... Keep on calling Ben if Matt comes down. I know he invited us over to his fire, but his fire looked weak.

Tim: Well.

Travis: His house is blazing.

Tim: It burned. It looked like he was just getting started. That's very nice. It was funny. When Travis was looking for the campground, I don't remember if I mentioned beforehand or after that I had a graduation party to go to in Viroqua.

Tom: No, he said something today about he had something to do in Viroqua.

Tim: Yep. Yeah, it turns out it's...

Tom: We could walk there.

Tim: Yeah. We could walk there from here. Yeah. So when you came in, there was that sharp S-bend at Seedy Hollow and Lake?

Tom: I came in the main side.

Tim: Okay. Okay. So you probably came across Lake.

Tom: Yeah.

Travis: Yeah. So... Yeah, so you went past the main campground where the sign is.

Tom: I did. Then I went to the end and I saw a sign that said where I needed to be, but it didn't say where I was.

Travis: Yeah. Yeah, and there's that... You pull onto the road right in the middle of the little S-curve. Yeah.

Tim: So, yeah.

Travis: It's right there.

Tim: Yep.

Travis: It's a safe.

Tim: Yeah. Yep. So I got a chance to visit there.

Travis: That was... Because I got here Friday pretty early, like 1.30. I set up camp and went to town and then I come rolling back. I went down to the main office and got some firewood and I strapped on the back of the bike and I'm coming up back here to our site. I see someone setting up a camper with a big van and stuff. I'm like, I know that guy. Flip it, you turn. I was like, hey, Matt, what's going on? He's like, oh yeah, no, I'm here. We got this graduation party, like an ADV rider person. I was like, I think Kim's going to the same graduation party.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah. And Sylvia drove out. Nice. Oh, that's why you're worried. Yeah. So she is home safe and she said, say hello for her. So I will.

Tom: Yeah, this is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Yeah.

Travis: Yeah. It's like there's no highway noise. Mm hmm. It's yeah. Like last night there was like owls hooting. Yeah. It was like a crazy hoot too. It was like hoot, hoot.

Tim: Nice trill.

Travis: Yeah.

Tim: The raccoons woke me up at about like 3 a.m. Oh, they didn't. They didn't bother me.

Travis: Something was digging up under our tent there too. Yeah. It looked like a chippy hole.

Tom: It's all part of the camping experience.

Travis: The nature experience.

Tom: The primitive experience.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah.

Tom: You don't want that. You can be on the other side where the grass. Yeah. Right. Which if I'm setting up a tent.

Travis: Actually, it wasn't so bad. I was worried because like this was so.

Sam: I was quite comfortable.

Travis: But it's like, yeah, it's not so bad. I was like, oh, next time I got to be over there with like the nice lawn instead of a tent. It's like camping in a park. Yeah. Well, there's um, and you might think maybe it's the group zone, but there's some, there is some sites over there where you have to ford the stream. Like there's no. Yeah. Like, like the creek runs through down to the lake. Okay. And to get to the campsite, like you have to cross the creek and there's a Ford. Oh, that's cool. And I mean, I mean, I don't know what they think about us riding. I mean, I'd ford that on my motorcycle. It was a couple inches deep.

Tim: Yeah. Oh yeah.

Travis: Just like it was. But I get mad about us having motor vehicles on that side of the camp. It's like, it's like 460 pounds. It's not that much.

Tom: Well, that's what I wasn't sure of. You said it's primitive and there's showers a half mile away.

Travis: Yeah. So you can, you can either bike back down double X and go to the shower room where there's a path.

Tom: I know some primitive camping, you'd have to park, carry your haul your stuff.

Travis: Yeah. No, this is the latest. This is a rustic site. Cause it doesn't have water. This is perfect. Like where Matt set up. Cause they got a camper. They got water and electric. Yeah. Yeah. No. What you found out is back to you. You found some loops there in Iowa. Let me get a couple.

Tim: Yes.

Travis: Yeah. Yeah. That was good. That, that last one turned off and it was paid. And I was like, Oh, Tim found a pit. And then let me turn off and don't grab a road. I was like, Oh yeah.

Tim: Oh yeah. Yeah. Charging up the hill. Boom, boom, boom. And then I see this. Yeah. I found a Newman road that was hooked back and then had a feeling that one was going to be gravel. And yeah, it was other than the dust.

Travis: It's, it was funny too, because it looked like they do calcium chloride, but only in front of the home. Yes. Yeah. They spray the roads with the dust retardant, but only for like the property line of like where there's a home. And then when it's field, it's just that's it.

Tim: Yup.

Travis: Yup.

Tim: Yeah. And the dust that light dust gets everywhere.

Travis: Oh yeah. It coats everything. Yeah. But it's good. Like practice. It took a little while. It's like get comfortable with like swinging the back end around. So you're in with the throttle, but yeah, do it. And it's fun. It's fun. Until you plan.

Tim: It's a little. Yeah. It's a little hard.

Travis: Heart skips a beat.

Tim: Yeah. I had, had the opposite problem where I, I was feeling saucy and past Sam and I grabbed a handful and I had more traction than I expected. And the front end started coming up. So quick, chop the throttle and dropped it down.

Travis: You got to work it a little bit.

Tim: Cause wheeling down a gravel road on street tires is a little bit spooky. Yeah. What we're saying, you had, you had half a tire on the ground. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, of course, you know, and like by within a few seconds, I'm doing 70 down the dirt road. Hoping it doesn't just screw it about. Drop or turn. Yeah. It was fun. It was fun. Get that tar bog going.

Travis: Yeah.

Tim: I'm surprised Veroco has got so many fancy food options now. Yeah.

Travis: There's another one. There's one that's like out in the sticks and it's actually a friend of Laurel's and it's like a farm table place. I don't know. I looked it up and then I forgot what it was. It's a cool town. Yeah. It's a yuppie town for sure.

Tom: Is it yuppie? I feel like it's almost more hippie.

Travis: Yeah. Yeah.

Tom: Longstanding hippie. Yeah. Yeah. Did you see the farmer's market today?

Travis: Yeah. Yeah. We went and got some Amish goods. The cool coffee shop. I forget what it's called there. But like paid like eight bucks for like a breakfast bowl with like fresh greens and root veg and eggs and stuff on it. And it looked like art. Like I didn't even. Yeah. Like kind of shit that cost like 15 bucks in Madison was like eight dollars here. Yeah. Sweet.

Tim: Yeah. There were people everywhere around the farmer's market. Yeah. It was. They draw a lot of the Amish and I think it's all Amish around here. I don't think it's Mennonite.

Travis: Yeah. There was like there was like that group of girls and they. They had the hair. They had like a little bonnet. But they. But they had like prints on like they weren't. They had cell phones. True. They weren't like full on.

Tim: Okay. Yeah. That's probably Mennonite then. I think it's Mennonite.

Travis: What was that TV show? Outlaw. About like the rum springer or whatever. I don't know. I didn't watch it. Yeah. Yeah. No. We passed a couple carriages and stuff today. Yeah. Oh yeah. Sam and I went on our way back. There was that one that was like taking up the whole lane and we had to like really slow down passing from behind.

Tom: Oh.

Travis: Wait for a straight. So. Oh, I see a traffic.

Tom: In town this is the closest thing to a traffic kind of carriage.

Travis: Oh we got some coyotes. In a coyote town. Yeah. There was to. Where was that earlier today? Was it on our way back from Lacrosse? There was like we were on. It was paved and we're coming and it's like this big long right hander. And it might have just been you and me. And it was like it kept getting deeper and tighter and steeper and tighter and steeper. It's like we turned off on like you know off the main like letter road. Yeah. And it was paid, but it was like you're going to start going downhill and like you're banking, right? Oh, the right-hander gets tighter and you're going more and it's steeper downhill and tighter and steeper and tighter and steeper That's awesome.

Sam: You're just like riding the brake and downshifting like So that one yeah, that was like that was the end of our ride Yeah, and like I was really proud of myself because like on the downhill I like kept it really smooth like didn't grab brakes I just leaned it in more and I get to the bottom of that and it's like oh that that worked out great and right In front of me. It's like a lot. Yeah, then it's been like the exact same angle I don't like crap didn't like jackknife.

Travis: Yeah, it was crazy. They're perfect.

Tom: Where's this coming out of?

Travis: Close to here.

Tim: Yeah Yeah Yeah, yeah, I should look at the map too and like I took a fire fun route and I don't remember what road it was but like because I Wanted to be back here earlier for the graduation party. I split off from them in La Crosse.

Travis: Yeah, and Bodega There's a cool little record shop next next door. Well a few cities I'd move to it's a cool Me It's kind of thing like a cross between the walk where it's like it kind of has a Madison vibe But it's got that Milwaukee post-industrial.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: Yeah It's like a little grittier than Madison and not as like yuppie. Yeah, the medicine is pretty pretty cool. Most There's not like a whole lot of like like the property values are so good. Yeah.

Tim: Yeah, they can't remember I saw something like their Madison is adding like close to 3,000 residents a year And so there's just no house all to support that It's like all the mixed-use like condo apartment buildings are built like all the mid-rise that they're building.

Travis: Yeah It's crazy growth. No, it's like our house. You got a half million dollar house about now Like right at the end of the housing bubble recession I think it's kind of like a hundred thousand per year. Anyway, that is awesome We paid 180 when he's sick, I think our latest assessment was to a market value is high much higher Yeah, market value is probably Yeah, I guess you're a little further out but but the even Family home in a quiet neighborhood. Yeah, that's the but that's also like what cool we could sell it Then where the hell would we move? Exactly get out of town like we'd have to move that we have been cooking cities. We're not going to trade up in the area Oh, yes Where do you live again? No proper.

Tom: Yeah, my name is barely I live actually in the only zip code in Chicago that straddles a subwoofer Okay, like Harlem between heart of diversity between Harlem and Oak Park Avenue. Okay, you're all parked Yeah, I wasn't sure where it's not where I was looking Look, you know, I'm friends more toward the lake It's hard to find any condo with a garage and this has a brick two-car garage.

Travis: Oh, yeah.

Tom: Yeah No, you're gonna get a garage Yeah, and I looked at it like six months earlier and they didn't have a key for the garage I'm like, of course, you don't have the garage. It's the one thing you really want the garage Slot next to it. Oh, yeah, and there was nothing about the place. It was all painted culturally doesn't have great if you liked Well, that's Chicago I Live there. It's quiet.

Travis: I've got my big two-car garage and I go visit my friends by the lakefront contribute to their congestion Yes, I was like when I rob Robin Rogers Park I forget what friend of Robin said this but who live in Rogers Park Park? No They go. It's oddly hard to get to even though it's like on the lake and off the red line. Yeah And yeah, I was coming from like old Irving It was like you had to like all the way to get there in any reason long time with like zigzag the neighborhoods like game This traffic system.

Tim: Yeah Chicago's got a lot of pockets in the suburbs like that.

Tom: You would just get stuck Yeah, Peterson is good like off hours, but they're like Devon is a nightmare anything I've been a Work downtown and you on the red line.

Travis: Yeah Like Evan send you up Yeah, no, I'm located fun eight minutes to work and ten minutes for the highway, yeah, that's nice There was an accident Was all back up there on 14 had heading north my guess was that Pirate ship kept that.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah, it's yeah There's a lot of a lot of them that get over and over their heads out here Oh, we saw a fair amount of squids too.

Travis: Yeah guys on sport bikes No helmet backpack and sneakers and shorts fluttering this morning commuting through town and cycle That's fine. If you're just cutting across town, I guess I mean, you know a car pulls up front Yeah, that's even more dangerous. Yeah, let's see. How many near misses have we had among all of us? I'm here on the way here I mean, I got crossed up a couple of times on the gravel, but it was I don't think it was going down

Tim: I was over enthusiastic on one of those downhills I kind of started running away from you a little bit on one of those you're like, oh that ditch is getting real close Yeah, and the ABS is kicking in and so the back ends not I'm not slowing at all Yeah, I'm like, all right, we're just gonna have to steer through this corner. Yeah some way, you know So yeah, I didn't want to throttle because it was it was a decreasing You know, it was the it was in the middle of one of those long descents down into one of those gullies and I I think I charged into it at 45 or something, you know, I'm just like, oh, oh I need to reel this in Oh, I need to really reel it in and you had the brakes go. Yeah We like ABS on XS I Know there's at least two or three other guys that abuse their XS ours like I do but yeah I think the one of the other guys is in Australia Yes Yep, it's a recording.

Travis: We got 26 minutes 26 minutes My My not boot.

Tim: Yeah That was a high priority for me Boots do not breathe.

Travis: Well, they they were waterproof at one time and now they're just sweaty Yes, yeah water resistant from the inside exactly yes, so but man they're broken in they're super comfy That's I got a new my um, I've had a set of Alpine stars like, you know standard For touring fair for a long time. Yeah, and you know, they're getting worn a little bit the vortex Oh, no, that's good. It's nice and I keep them like I keep the leather like Australian leather seal. Okay coil or whatever I could do it. So it's like Unless I'm spending all day in the rain. No waters even touching the vortex. That's cool.

Tim: Um, I Should do that. These have not been receiving the care.

Travis: They deserve their leather But I can't recommend Australian leather seal enough. Yeah There's original Australian leather seal, it's it's basically just beeswax and eucalyptus oil Okay, but it works really good and like you see and you rub it in and it makes your hands really nice and soft and smell nice There's no petroleum distillates or anything in it like it's really nice. That's awesome. It's like nice understand Yeah Might actually do a note on that. What was the name of it original Australian leather seal? One of those things where I was at the IMS a bunch of years ago and you know Australian guy Maybe he was baking the accent. I don't know but he's like, hey, mate I see it. Let me see your boot and said put my boot up on the yellow, you know little tool I was just wearing my regular like hiking work boot And he like rubbed and rub some on and then got a pitcher of water and dumped it and it just all went Like yeah two for one or those in two for one, but it was like 20 bucks can or two for 30 I don't know if I got enough for and then there's nothing I was like Well, if you guys buy it together some and no guy next to me is like guys pony up 15 each I can give you the deal, you know, I was like, okay make another sale there Yeah, so I bought it put on all my leather stuff. I got a new set of um, yeah The Alpinestars are ran out. I got a set of Remember but like more like adventure style boot Not really it's like a mid cap I feel like the buckle instead of a zipper which I like And more about like the Alpinestars just have like a real smooth tread on the bottom Mm-hmm And they have a heel and these have more of like a lug Treads like when you're actually walking around or like if you put your foot down in gravel But when you're doing what you're doing today, yeah, like when you put your foot down in gravel or mud Like it's not just a smooth go on it. Yeah, but they're they're real stiff and the toes a lot taller So I like if I'm gonna run them I have to move my shifter open up the first time I wrote them. I was doing the like the stanky leg, you know Oh, yeah I'm hustling on the back So yeah, I've got a pair of sweaties Yeah Australian leather seal

Tom: Nick wax, I like that because they have different products for you know, yeah, I found it on eBay Gore-Tex

Tim: $65 for a kilo Yeah, I I just did a Google search and that's what came up I mean if you got a lot of leathers Yeah, I don't You know, I feel like I'm writing in these old CD discovery kind of Adventure boot and I like them they're they're just kind of the right weight for street riding You know where there's still some fairly good protection good solid soul to them.

Travis: Yeah, that was the thing with I've got these Joe rocket I don't even know what these are called But they look like you know, like a work boot or a hiking boot like a Timberland kind of thing

Tim: Yeah

Travis: But they got you know arm rents of protection and I'm gonna buckle and stuff and they're great because it's warm and these are warmer Or cooler than my Gore-Tex But like standing up on the pegs a lot today.

Tim: Yep.

Travis: They just like this Yeah, and I was like, oh my shifting my feet around like heel-toe like Standing on pegs like adventure.

Tim: Yeah, I didn't I don't stand much when I'm riding in gravel And I've got the same problem where it's like the street foot pegs aren't wide enough So you end up with a lot of pressure in the middle of your foot?

Travis: It depends like if it's like kind of rough the rough like red stuff I stand up or yeah Yeah, once I kind of figured out getting the back end around again Oh, yeah, and I started to sit down and kind of tuck the bike under you and yeah use the throttle. So No, that's out back. I mean from maybe similar. It's called original Australian left.

Tim: Yeah, I want to found was in yellow tins Oh Yeah, this stuff it's $70 or $20 through sites I've never heard of oh, yeah the one I'm looking at has got to be on it Do yeah, my phone's recording.

Travis: There's the audio right now Your original Australian leather seal, but maybe they rebranded.

Tom: No, here we go Yeah, I just barely have got a connection This is just an older one, it's gotta be Oh, yeah, that is. Yeah, that is just right.

Travis: Okay. Yes. It does have like a little B on it Yeah, that's a big right. You lose me a Sam in the hammock soon. Yeah

Tim: It's gonna be too cold to spend the night in that

Travis: There's Wi-Fi it's free Wi-Fi if you can get the signal the Wi-Fi top we're at we're at the farthest away campsite

Tim: So yeah, I didn't even see I didn't even look for that like

Travis: It's like if you go up, you know by the toilet, that's where the Wi-Fi

Tim: Well, that makes you know reading while taking care of business easier

Travis: That's you kids are calling it these days. Yeah, what do we got we got 35 minute that's probably enough to yeah We'll have more motorcycle and talk tomorrow. Yeah, sounds like a good night You