Winter Beat Down Country Road Tour this Sunday Dec 10th

[tmhazen]

You are cordially invited to join us for the

Winter Beat Down Country Road Tour

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sunny and 40 degrees this coming Sunday. How can you NOT drive? We’re gonna kick Old Man Winter’s butt for one more week at least.

If you liked River Road and County S up by St. Croix Falls, you will LOVE the “driftless” area of western Wisconsin. These are truly some of the best and yet most deserted driving roads in the nation...no REALLY! We'll make a couple pit stops along the route, then have lunch at the Monarch Tavern on Main Street in Fountain City before winding and twisting our way back on equally amazing roads toward the Cities. If you stay with us for the whole tour, you will probably get back to 494 at about 6:00pm, and you will put about 350 lateral-G-filled miles on your car, so be ready to DRIVE! People who need to get back earlier are of course welcome to bail out as they see fit.

Photos from some recent drives:

http://thumb19.webshots.net/t/50/50/8/25/33/2447825330098025379wZSnUi_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/album/555515086jiMQYV)

http://thumb19.webshots.net/t/59/159/5/61/31/2510561310098025379plonud_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/album/555339891UofMKx)

http://thumb19.webshots.net/t/59/159/2/56/31/2794256310098025379ujiLdA_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2794256310098025379ujiLdA)

http://thumb19.webshots.net/t/50/150/0/3/43/2356003430098025379cFVboQ_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2356003430098025379cFVboQ)

http://thumb19.webshots.net/t/53/553/4/58/0/2920458000098025379UCGSQP_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/album/555018009aqmOCf)

Three meeting options:

1. 8:00am at Rainbow Foods, 7282 S. East Point Douglas Road in Cottage Grove, MN. Take Hwys 10 & 61 southeast past 494, exit on 80th Street and turn left, over the highway then right onto East Point Douglas Road. Rainbow will be on your left. The group will leave at 8:10am after radios are loaned out.

2. 9:15am at the Pickle Factory, 250 First St., Pepin, WI. From 494, it’s a scenic 60-minute drive to Pepin. Take Hwys 10 and 61 south and east out of the Twin Cities. Turn left to stay on 10 East, heading toward Prescott. Cross over the drawbridge in Prescott and turn right onto Wisconsin Hwy 35 South. Pass through Diamond Bluff, cross Hwy 63, go through Bay City, Maiden Rock, and Stockholm. In Pepin, turn right at the BP gas station (good time to fill your tank) onto Prairie Street, then over and down the hill, jog left on First Street over the tracks into the marina parking lot. We will NOT be having breakfast at the Pickle Factory (unless you get there at 8:30).

Please have a full tank of gas and an empty bladder, and be ready to leave the Pickle factory at 9:30am.

3. If you’re not a morning person, you can join us for lunch at the Monarch Tavern, probably about 1:00pm, just remember it’s at least 90 minutes from the southeast corner of 494. Take Hwys 10 and 61 south and east out of the Twin Cities. Turn left to stay on 10 East, heading toward Prescott. Cross over the drawbridge in Prescott and turn right onto Wisconsin Hwy 35 South. Pass through Diamond Bluff, cross Hwy 63, go through Bay City, Maiden Rock, Stockholm, Pepin, Nelson, Alma, and Cochrane. In Fountain City, turn left onto Hwy 95, then right one block up onto Main Street. The Monarch is just down the block on the right. If it’s 1:15 and you don’t see us yet, just wait. We’ll be there for sure!

It’s important to note that this is just an informal gathering among friends, not an official outing of any club. Everyone is required to drive responsibly at their own safe comfort level. No one will be pushed to go fast. We always drive SLOWLY by pedestrians, houses, and farmers. At intersections each driver will wait for the one car behind them so no one gets lost. Bring FRS/GMRS radios if you have them. We will have some to loan out also.

Feel free to forward this info to any talented drivers you know, and respond if you plan on joining us.

Call me (612-237-1883) with any questions.

See you in the twisties this Sunday!

[VendettaV6]

how many people actually go to these? and what kind of cars?

[phile]

how many people actually go to these? and what kind of cars?
Tom has posted reports on previous events which will answer all your questions.

[Thornton888]

how many people actually go to these? and what kind of cars?

They're a lot of fun. The first event I went to we had maybe 12 cars, the second one we had about 10 but many left for the second half (that part I participated in) and we were down to 4.

As to what kinds of cars? - Anything from Miatas to Murcielagos.

[tmhazen]

In the five years I've been running "Country Road Tours" I've had anywhere from 2 to 48 cars show up. This fall we've been averaging about 8 or 10. The cool thing is when we go out of Pepin, the group is basically alone on the roads. In a typical three-hour drive we'll see maybe 20 other vehicles.

Now that the weather's colder it's mainly modern sports cars, but vintage are welcome also. In the summer we get tons of vintage, because I'm a member of the Minnesota Austin-Healey Club and run tours with them.

If you've never driven in the "driftless" area of western Wisconsin, you are in for a surprise. We drive mile after mile of roller coaster hills and snaking turns. Most Twin Citizens don't realize that there's a treasure trove of beautiful roads just an hour to the southeast. And they're all deserted!

Sometimes I wonder if I should be publicizing these drives so much. Part of me wants to keep these fabulous roads all to myself, but I also like to share the joy of driving, and this is one of the best places in the country to drive!

[Jrod13]

If someone were to do this this time of year what sort of tires would you want on the vehicle. Would my Azenis be ok? Or do you want something all season in case of snow?

[magicsammy]

I wish I was not on-call this weekend :x

[tmhazen]

If someone were to do this this time of year what sort of tires would you want on the vehicle. Would my Azenis be ok? Or do you want something all season in case of snow?

The weather on Sunday is supposed to be sunny and 42 degrees. There won't be any snow this weekend. I'm expecting the roads to be dry, with some residual sand in spots. Summer tires will be fine, winter tires okay too.

[SaturnRaycer]

Due to personal insecurity with the Miata, I will be bringing the new Saturn. They call it a sports sedan - we'll see.

[tmhazen]

Bring out your sports cars, gentlemen! It's gonna be a beautiful Sunday!

[SaturnRaycer]

What a blast! Gotta do this again when there isn't frost on some of the best parts, and sand & gravel in a lot of corners! Thanks Tom!

[tmhazen]

Another gorgeous day! Click on this photo for more:

http://thumb19.webshots.net/t/16/16/7/60/62/2684760620098025379yaIfiw_th.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2684760620098025379yaIfiw)

Frosty morning highways did not deter this group of skilled drivers, some still on summer-only tires! Six people and five cars met at Rainbow Foods in Cottage Grove at 8am and made their way carefully over icy and salty roads to the Pickle Factory in Pepin. We decided to let the sun melt the frost while we enjoyed a hearty breakfast served by Amber, our skinny waitress with a heart of gold. But even after lingering over the huge pancakes for as long as we could, we still encountered frosty and slippery roads upon heading out. Anywhere a shadow crossed the road, you could bet there would be frost. We kept up a decent pace in spite of the occasional ice rink under our tires. We had to go slow on the roads hugging the north-facing bluffs. At this time of year they don’t see the sun at all, so they were covered with frost, even in the middle of the afternoon!

One scary moment happened just as we were getting back into the twisties south of Durand. Unbeknownst to me, my Bushnell radar gun, stored in a pack behind the passenger seat, decided to power up all by itself and send out a signal, which of course put my Valentine One into an instant hissy fit, and sent me whipping up on the e-brake (instinct I’ll explain later) because I thought for sure a cop had just nailed me. Once I figured out it was just my own radar gun, I laughed at myself for the next 10 miles.

A bit further down the road, we rose to the challenge of THE BOLIVIAN HIGHWAY OF DEATH. As you can see by the photo, we all survived.

What I’m about to say next will shock and disappoint you, so please brace yourselves. Stephanie the hot waitress wasn’t working at the Monarch today. Yes...that’s right...we were stood up. Another girl who promises but doesn’t deliver. So typical. Luckily another driving friend of mine, Greg, arrived with his lovely girlfriend Ginger. Now you know I’m always concerned when a guy brings his significant other along on one of my tours. Usually the wife/girlfriend doesn’t have a good time because she doesn’t like the way her husband/boyfriend is driving. My “speed girlfriends” are the happy exception to this rule. But turns out Ginger loved it! Congratulations Ginger. You are now an official Speed Girlfriend. Greg, you’ve got a good one there. Bring her back next time!

After lunch we nailed several hundred more off-camber decreasing-radius frost-covered corners before calling it a day. We chased a beautiful sunset back to the Cities on Hwy 10. Didn’t catch it though.