Indiana Motorcycle Destinations -- Clifty Falls State Park

Trip To Madison, IN
My wife and I took a motorcycle trip to Madison, IN in early June. This blog post is part of a series which presents each step of our journey. If you missed the beginning, the story starts here.

We reached our destination by about 4 pm. We followed signs for Clifty Falls (Indiana) State Park, and entered by the north entrance.

The park is beautiful - one of Indiana's best.

We enjoy hiking this park's many rugged trails.

We stashed our belongings at the Clifty Inn 

I failed to take good photos of the Inn, but snagged a few from the TripAdvisor website, which also gives a good review of the Inn.

This photo of Clifty Inn is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This photo of Clifty Inn is courtesy of TripAdvisor

I took a nap when we arrived at the hotel!

Brownstown to Madison

Trip To Madison, IN
My wife and I took a motorcycle trip to Madison, IN in early June. This blog post is part of a series which presents each step of our journey. If you missed the beginning, the story starts here.

We left Story and rode on toward Brownstown.

IN-135 is a fine road, popular with the motorcyclists, which leads all the way to the south end of the state. We took IN-135 as far as Brownstown, IN.


View Larger Map

IN-135 featured sweepers and turns, and passed through small Indiana towns like Freetown. It emerged onto US-50, where we turned East and headed toward Brownstown. US-50 is more of a major highway -- and by that I mean boring. We stopped briefly to consult a map before continuing on.

Choosing a motorcycle road from a map is a bit of an art. Most of us motorcyclists don't like straight, boring, highways. We enjoy back roads, a little bit of scenery, and some twisting roads so that we can "get our lean on".

In choosing a route from Indianapolis to Madison, I knew the quickest way was also the most boring. A straight shot down I-65, then a short jaunt on US-31 south, followed by a long and straight shot down IN-7. Now IN-7 is a boring field-crosser for much of the way, but the last 30 miles into Madison it turns into sweepers and beautiful countryside, as the farm land gives way to rolling southern Indiana hills.

But I didn't want to be content to cross an hour of farmland; instead I plotted a course which I felt would maximize the backroad aspect of our trip. For this reason, we took IN-135 to Brownstown, and from there, travelled briefly on IN-39, followed by IN-256, east into Madison. I used google maps "terrain" view to try and separate the farmlands from the woodlands, and chose the more wooded route.


View Larger Map

I knew there was no way I could really go wrong coming into Madison. Get close enough to this river town and the roads would be picturesque and twisty.

However, I was a little disappointed in IN-256. It was a little too straight, and a bit of a mere field-crosser from Austin, IN until the Madison city limits.

All in all it was a good trip. We happily stretched what would have been boring, see-none-of-the-countryside interstate-bound two hour trip into something that took us about 6 hours - including stops. That's what I call a good ride.

Story Inn

Trip To Madison, IN
My wife and I took a motorcycle trip to Madison, IN in early June. This blog post is part of a series which presents each step of our journey. If you missed the beginning, the story starts here.

We left Gatesville and travelled south until we picked up IN-46.  We jogged east on IN-46 to IN-135, which we took south to Story, IN and the fabled Story Inn. 

Story Inn in Story, IN is a charming anachronistic place in the middle of nowhere. It wouldn't be in business were it not for the day trippers making a trek through and around Brown County State Park. The fact that it's situated on IN-135, one of the area's best motorcycle roads, doesn't hurt.

We stopped for lunch.


View Larger Map

We snapped a few photos of the Inn, including an antique gasoline pump on the front porch.

Here's a shot of the front of the Inn.

We've eaten there before and not been disappointed, but this time around we felt a little underwhelmed. Story Inn seemed long on image, and short on substance.

I ordered the BBQ pulled pork, and Mrs.Rat ordered the artichoke burger. Both of us got fries and a soda with our entree.

The BBQ pork was gristly and greasy ... Something I didn't even know was possible for pulled pork.

The artichoke burger was a fried patty made of artichoke dip. "Barely edible" was how Mrs. Rat described it.

The fries certainly looked great. Hand cut, with real bits of potato peel stuck on either end of the thick cut fry. The way they're supposed to look. However, they were slimy and cool on our plates.

After this meal, we considered taking Story Inn off our list of favorite eateries in Indiana.

We grabbed another photo of the front of the Inn, this time with our bikes in view.

We saddled up and rode south from Story on IN-135.

Waylaid In Gatesville

Trip To Madison, IN
My wife and I took a motorcycle trip to Madison, IN in early June. This blog post is part of a series which presents each step of our journey. If you missed the beginning, the story starts here.

From Apple Works we continued south along Sweetwater Trace and through the tiny town of Gatesville. By this time I had noticed something was going wrong for Mrs Rat. She was hanging back in the corners and not catching up in the straightaways.




View Larger Map

I stopped in the gravel parking lot of the township fire department . . . The only public building in the tiny town . . . And dismounted. Mrs. Rat pulled up and stopped, 'My bike won't downshift.'

I 've never worked on a Harley before, but started an inspection of clutch function and shift function. I couldn't spy the problem.






We started calculating alternate routes, with dismay. Instead of twisty roads en route to Madison, we'd have to back track via major roads to Edinburgh, IN, home of the nearest Harley dealer. Our well-laid plans were vanishing like smoke. After I paid a Harley dealer to fix her bike, assuming they could fix it in a timely manner, would I have enough funds to continue our trip, or would we have to cut it short?

One last time I inspected the shifting mechanism on her bike. Suddenly I saw it. A piece of gravel, nestled in the groove atop the transfer case. Wedged tightly,it prevented the shifting mechanism from travelling the full way down.



I snapped this photo, which is hopelessly blurry, but which shows the rock wedged in its place.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Though I hadn't removed the obstacle yet, I had solved the mystery. I knew I'd be able to repair the bike myself, with no cash outlayed. I imagined how ashamed I'd have been if we'd nursed the bike all the way to Edinburgh, only to have the dealer discover such an easy fix. Would they have charged me anyway?

I tried a stick, which was a fruitless effort. The stone was wedged tightly ... my wife had tried more than once to mash down the shift lever in order to downshift. Each such attempt only wedged the gravel tighter.

I thought of walking to the Gatesville General Store, the only other non-residential building in town, and borrowing or buying a pair of pliers. Then I thought to check my own ST1300's tool kit. Though it had no pliers, it had a regular screwdriver. Stout enough, and yet small enough to fit in the slot.  I was easily able to pry the rock from its sticking place.

Woo hoo! Our trip was back on track! We geared up and got ready to head to Story, IN.

Before we left I snapped a photo of the famous Gatesville sign. The town is so small, the "Welcome to Gatesville" sign and the "Now Leaving Gatesville" sign are combined into a single sign.

Trip to Apple Works

Trip To Madison, IN
My wife and I took a motorcycle trip to Madison, IN in early June. This blog post is part of a series which presents each step of our journey. The story starts here.

We slabbed it from home to Franklin, IN, so for all practical purposes our trip began there.

I've spent enough time riding the roads south of Indianapolis that I knew my way. We gassed up in Franklin, and set out for Apple Works in Trafalgar.


View Larger Map

 IN-44 is a good road for riding. Though it runs through farm fields rather than along the banks of rivers, it has its share of sweepers. For a field crosser, it's not a bad road.

South on IN-135 to Trafalgar is more of a traditional field crosser. From Trafalgar south to Apple Works is a wandering county road with uneven pavement, no lines, and lined with trees. It's a beautiful and technically challenging route of about four miles.

Apple Works itself is an orchard and store featuring locally grown produce. There's plenty of parking . . . But the parking lot isn't flat nor paved, and presents some technical challenges of its own. It's good practice for Mrs. Rat, who hasn't ridden on much gravel in her career.

Reflections On Life and Motorcycles

Trip To Madison, IN
My wife and I took a motorcycle trip to Madison, IN in early June. This blog post is part of a series which presents each step of our journey. If you missed the beginning, the story starts here.

Mrs. Rat and I stopped at the bank on our way out of town. While there, a gentleman pulled up next to us in a sedate sedan. He was in his mid fifties.

He was drawn immediately to our bikes. 'You guys heading out on the highway?' he asked.

'Yes,' we replied.

'Where are you going?' he asked.

'Madison,' we replied.

He drew closer to my bike and studied the dash for a minute. 'How many cylinders does it have?' he asked. 'Mine has four, hers has two,' I replied, gesturing at my wife's Harley.

He was uninterested in the Hog and his focus quickly returned to my ST.

'Is it liquid cooled?' he asked.

These weren't typical questions. This guy surely had some history, or at least a genuine fascination, with motorcycles.

'Do you ride?' I asked.

'No, he replied wistfully.

'You should do it!' I said, enthusiastically. This same advice was given me by a friend and coworker in 2003; the next year I finally did it.

'My parents said if I got a bike they'd take an axe to it first, and them turn it on me.'

I wanted to say, 'Man, don't go through life this way. You will end it filled with regrets. 

You're a grown up. I don't know what control your parents had over you when you were younger, but those old voices saying, "Don't do it!" are all just ghosts now. 

Do not listen to the folks who tell you they are unsafe, that you can't or shouldn't do it. 

Do it now while you still can.'

Suddenly I felt affirmed by my own life choices. I'm glad I took the risk, and threw my leg over a motorcycle. I'm happy riding is part of my life.

Don't let it pass you by.

Trip To Madison

Mrs. Rat and I had the chance to ride from Indianapolis to Madison, IN recently. This is our first real motorcycle trip together since 2006.

I took a number of pictures and will be posting this story in instalments over a period of days or weeks.

An open letter to every person I meet who finds out I ride a motorcycle

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2012/06/an-open-letter-to-every-person-i-meet-who-finds-out-i-ride-a-motorcycle/


I don't usually go for Heck For Leather's style, but this piece of theirs resonated with me, despite my prejudice against them.