MSTA Forums
Events => Regional Rallies => TriSTAR => Topic started by: HawkGTRider on April 06, 2021, 05:16:23 PM
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TriSTAR 2021 in Sparta, NC IS happening over the Memorial Day weekend. I just spoke with the hotel management and rooms are available from around $70-$75/night depending on accommodations.
As a "just for fun" event, we won't be providing any meals (unless it's an impromptu thing), but I'm told Sparta is OPEN for business. Restaurants are open!
If you have continuing concerns about the pandemic, I'm told Alleghany County is one of the "green" counties...meaning their infection rate is among the lowest in the entire state.
For more info, go to
http://msta-se.com/tristar/
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Great news! I'm hopeful about going.
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Great news! I'm hopeful about going.
Excellent...help spread the word.
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I intend to be there!
Brick
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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TriSTAR 2021 in Sparta, NC IS happening over the Memorial Day weekend. I just spoke with the hotel management and rooms are available from around $70-$75/night depending on accommodations.
As a "just for fun" event, we won't be providing any meals (unless it's an impromptu thing), but I'm told Sparta is OPEN for business. Restaurants are open!
If you have continuing concerns about the pandemic, I'm told Alleghany County is one of the "green" counties...meaning their infection rate is among the lowest in the entire state.
For more info, go to
http://msta-se.com/tristar/
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Won't make it this year, but am planning to head down that way after STAR and stay at the Alleghany Inn a couple nights and ride some of those great roads.
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I've got other plans after STAR...maybe I need to take 10 days getting from Sparta to Davis. Hmmm. Are there any curvy roads between those two locations?
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I've got other plans after STAR...maybe I need to take 10 days getting from Sparta to Davis. Hmmm. Are there any curvy roads between those two locations?
You pulling my leg right? 10 days to get from Sparta to Davis, you could ride to the west coast and back in 10 days (though the roads are not the curviest). But sure there are plenty of good roads between those two areas, I have a route somewhere need to find it, but it included VA 311 near Paint Bank as well as parts of US33 and WV28/92 closer to Davis.
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I've got other plans after STAR...maybe I need to take 10 days getting from Sparta to Davis. Hmmm. Are there any curvy roads between those two locations?
You pulling my leg right? 10 days to get from Sparta to Davis, you could ride to the west coast and back in 10 days (though the roads are not the curviest). But sure there are plenty of good roads between those two areas, I have a route somewhere need to find it, but it included VA 311 near Paint Bank as well as parts of US33 and WV28/92 closer to Davis.
Me? Pull your leg? Surely not.
Let's see...from Sparta down to Cruso, NC (STAR 1987). Then up to Asheville, NC (STAR 2007). A short hop across the mountains to Johnson City, TN (STAR 2011). Then a really short hop up the road to Bristol, VA (STAR 2019). Then maybe over to Staunton, VA (STAR 2009) before stopping by Charleston, WV (STAR 2003). Then, I think, to Marietta, OH (STAR 1999) before finally arriving in Davis, WV (STAR 1996 and finally 2021).
Yeah, I could easily knock off 10 days doing that.
So...who's up for a tour of previous STAR locations? See attached screen shot of STAR locations since 1983. Most have been one-time locations, several two-fers, and Avon, CO is a 5-time winner.
Before you get too excited, I included Cape Girardeau on the map since we were scheduled there not once, but twice in 2020 even though we never actually made it at all.
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Hi Geoffrey,
I like your map. What is the location that is shown south of La Crosse on the Mississippi River? Looks like Iowa/ILL/WI border area. Also what city is that in northern MI near Lake Superior? We have been in that area from Duluth, MN several times and it is great riding. Not hilly, but scenic along the big lake.
Carl
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Galena, IL. I believe….am I right, G?
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Yeppers....Galena, IL in 1985.
See attached for complete list of STAR locations.
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Hi Geoffrey,
I like your map. What is the location that is shown south of La Crosse on the Mississippi River? Looks like Iowa/ILL/WI border area. Also what city is that in northern MI near Lake Superior? We have been in that area from Duluth, MN several times and it is great riding. Not hilly, but scenic along the big lake.
Carl
That would be Wakefield, MI where STAR was in 1989.
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I've been through Wakefield, but I've never spent any time there. I've made a couple of trips up the Keweenaw Pennisula. I camped one night at Emily Lake State Forest up there. It was during the week, so the place was deserted other than myself. It was delightfully and also a bit eerily quiet. I slept well. That area was big in the world of copper mining. Prior to being named Isle Royale NP, on this island out in the middle of Lake Superior, there have been a couple of attempts made to mine for copper in the last 100-150 years. Mining attempts on the island were all unsuccessful.
If you want to visit the NE end of Isle Royale NP (I understand they have a visitor center and an overnight lodge there), take a ferry from Houghton or Copper Harbor, MI. I don't know if they go to the SW island end visitor center or not. Grand Portage, MN has a ferry that goes first to the SW end and then on around to the NE end of the island where they spend the night. They also have a ferry that does a daily round trip to the SW visitor center.
It's an interesting place. For decades, the island has been the home of a large number of moose and a pack of wolves. The wolves helped keep the moose population at a fairly sustainable population. But in recent years, the wolf population has dropped to a non-mating pair. It's feared that the moose will strip the vegetation from the island and eventually start dying off from starvation. Last I heard (several years ago), the NPS was trying to take a hands off approach, but things were not looking good. Again, at the time of my visit, the estimated moose population was over 1,500 on the island.
I spoke with a fellow up in MN last autumn that was retired from the NFS and had worked with the NPS on this wolf decline. They didn't exactly know when the wolves and/or moose came to the island, so they were hesitant to reduce the moose population or to increase the wolf population. Tough call.
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Here is another map with some additional details and group photos:
http://www.wfr-ridersclub.com/stars/stars.htm (http://www.wfr-ridersclub.com/stars/stars.htm)
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Geoffrey,
Regarding Isle Royale and the wolf population, it appears to have recovered as they show on their site 14 wolves in 2019, after 3 years holding at 2.
https://www.nps.gov/isro/learn/nature/wolf-moose-populations.htm
It sounds like a neat place. I know I enjoyed the 3 days I spent riding thru the UP with my brother after STAR in LaCrosse. Even with the torrential rains in Houghton and shortened times site seeing it was some fascinating scenery (without great twisty roads).
PS Sorry we got your Tri-STAR thread derailed...
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Geoffrey,
Regarding Isle Royale and the wolf population, it appears to have recovered as they show on their site 14 wolves in 2019, after 3 years holding at 2.
https://www.nps.gov/isro/learn/nature/wolf-moose-populations.htm
It sounds like a neat place. I know I enjoyed the 3 days I spent riding thru the UP with my brother after STAR in LaCrosse. Even with the torrential rains in Houghton and shortened times site seeing it was some fascinating scenery (without great twisty roads).
PS Sorry we got your Tri-STAR thread derailed...
No apology...I was jumping right into other topics myself. If we are reading and getting excited about STAR and other events and riding to interesting places to see cool stuff, I figure that's a good thing.
The retired NFS guy I talked with last year mentioned there had been discussions about introducing some new wolves to the island. (Thanks for the link you included above.) That either happened after he retired, or some wolves walked across the winter ice on the lake to the island. I suspect wolves are decent swimmers, but it was a two hour boat trip from Grand Portage...and it's significantly farther to the island from the Keweenaw Peninsula. I doubt any "basically" land animals, such as wolves or moose, would have the range to swim to the island. To jump into the lake and start swimming when you can't see a destination would be beyond a leap of faith. It certainly would be for me
I see the moose population on the island took a big jump up in 2019 as well. It may have been essential to reintroduce a new wolf population when that happened. Near the SW island visitor center, they fenced in an area to see what the vegetation might look like on the island if not for the moose grazing. The vegetation was so thick that you'd be hard pressed to walk through it. Everywhere else on the island, the vegetation from ground level to whatever a moose could reach has been stripped away. No new trees growing...they're eaten before they get a foothold. No low vegetation. You could walk in almost a straight line pretty easily around the island.
Interesting place. I'd like to go back and spend a night or two in the lodge on the NE end of the island.
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Those locations were both before I was a member. But, we have been to both of those places. We spent 5 days in Houghton, MI, about 100 miles north of Wakefield, MI in August, 2018. We watched the weather report for the week before, and when they said 4 out 5 days rain, we took Denise's Mustang GT instead of a bike.
A few miles north of Houghton on the Peninsula, as they call it the 'UP', there is a sign showing the snow level per year. It shows 25 feet of snow for 2018 snow season. I wonder what month it is all melted??
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That's an amazing amount of snow. But with the close proximity to all that water on 3 sides...I guess I'm not too surprised.
One of my riding friends has been to Montana many times. He's got a forestry background and worked a couple of summers in an environmental education center during the summers as a young guy (we're all old farts now). That center has a short season as they usually had to wait for the snow to melt to get to the center...and we're talking about snow that covered the entire building from ground to roof.
And my wife has told me about going to school at Bemidji State in MN. She said sometimes they dug tunnels in the snow for people to walk through to get around campus.
Here in the middle of the country, eastern Tennessee-half way between the Gulf and the Great Lakes and about half way between the Atlantic and Big Muddy, we get a few snows each year ranging from barely visible on the grass to a few inches. I'm less than 50 miles from the mountains where I can go to get a more plentiful snow fix if needed. I can ride about 50-51 weeks out of the year. I like that.
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Geoffery, ask your wife if she spent any time in mettler's bar in Mankato.
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Mettlers!! That got both Denise and I laughing. Now the real questions is, did she just visit, or work there?? We lived in Mankato for about 10 years, and know Mettlers. To let everyone in on the the funny, in the 70-80's all of the waitresses took their turns as strippers all night long on a stage in the middle of the place.
Then at noon, they had the best noon lunches, but no dancing waitresses. Just a smoke filled room, and beer smelling air.
No, Denise did not have the opportunity to work there.
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Those locations were both before I was a member. But, we have been to both of those places. We spent 5 days in Houghton, MI, about 100 miles north of Wakefield, MI in August, 2018. We watched the weather report for the week before, and when they said 4 out 5 days rain, we took Denise's Mustang GT instead of a bike.
A few miles north of Houghton on the Peninsula, as they call it the 'UP', there is a sign showing the snow level per year. It shows 25 feet of snow for 2018 snow season. I wonder what month it is all melted??
When were there after STAR18 in LaCrosse Jim & Diane Parks from FL were also in Houghton, and their hotel (downtown area) got flooded so bad they had to relocate to a different room. My brother and I waited until about noon to leave the hotel and head out to Copper Harbor, had some lunch then boogied on to Marquette for the night skipping some of the planned sight seeing in between since time and daylight were limited. Yes I can imagine they get a lot of snow there.
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Mettlers!! That got both Denise and I laughing. Now the real questions is, did she just visit, or work there?? We lived in Mankato for about 10 years, and know Mettlers. To let everyone in on the the funny, in the 70-80's all of the waitresses took their turns as strippers all night long on a stage in the middle of the place.
Then at noon, they had the best noon lunches, but no dancing waitresses. Just a smoke filled room, and beer smelling air.
No, Denise did not have the opportunity to work there.
Before it was a strip club my ex wife's grandparents owned it. I guess back in the day it was a big Mankato State hangout. never knew the granddad but I understand he passed away at the bar late one night with a heart attack. That was many many moons ago. I remember how it just killed my X's grandmother when it became a strip club with her last name on it.
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Mettlers!! That got both Denise and I laughing. Now the real questions is, did she just visit, or work there?? We lived in Mankato for about 10 years, and know Mettlers. To let everyone in on the the funny, in the 70-80's all of the waitresses took their turns as strippers all night long on a stage in the middle of the place.
Then at noon, they had the best noon lunches, but no dancing waitresses. Just a smoke filled room, and beer smelling air.
No, Denise did not have the opportunity to work there.
Before it was a strip club my ex wife's grandparents owned it. I guess back in the day it was a big Mankato State hangout. never knew the granddad but I understand he passed away at the bar late one night with a heart attack. That was many many moons ago. I remember how it just killed my X's grandmother when it became a strip club with her last name on it.
Was looking at their web site and it has a page with history, appears they started down this path with Go-Go dancers (before my time but believe they were fully clothed) back in the mid 60s. But its pretty clear that the strippers are a big part of their current package including one plastered across the home page and links to submit your inquiry to join the team, complete with request for a photo, measurements and other details. Sex still sells.
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Geoffery, ask your wife if she spent any time in mettler's bar in Mankato.
Cindy says she recognized the town name of Mankato, but hadn't been there. It's nearly 270 miles from Bemidji and is SSW of Minneapolis.
That's a pretty amazing connection with Bill's ex wife's grandparents owning the place. And yeah, I'll bet the grandmother WAS mortified to see what the place became.
So...who's up for a trip to Sparta later this month?
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In Aug, 2018 in Houghton, MI when we were there, you could see what the heavy rains did to the streets. Many on the hills were tore up so bad you could not drive on them. The pavement was heaved in spots as high as a few feet, for a long stretch. We were told that they opened the doors on many buildings on the upside of the hill as well as the downside and let the water run through them.
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Geoffery, Mullins, Campbell and i will see you at Tri Star. One of my favorite places to ride.
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Geoffery, Mullins, Campbell and i will see you at Tri Star. One of my favorite places to ride.
I'm looking forward to seeing you all...or is that "all y'all"?
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I'm looking forward to seeing you all...or is that "all y'all"?
"All y'all" is the correct plural. (https://www.st-owners.com/forums/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/FromVB/thumb.gif)
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Geoffery, Mullins, Campbell and i will see you at Tri Star. One of my favorite places to ride.
I'm looking forward to seeing you all...or is that "all y'all"?
Geoffrey, you're the one south of the line ;) I'd love to join y'all but I'll be driving to the beach for an anniversary vacation. We'll be passing through the general area but the Inn doesn't allow pets. So we'll be lodging Saturday night elsewhere. Y'all ride safe. TM
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http://msta-se.com/tristar/
There are still rooms available at the Alleghany Inn, so no excuses. You can still come enjoy some of the finest riding around. Sparta, NC, up in the NW corner of the state, is just a short hop up to southwest Virginia or over to eastern Tennessee. Definitely good stuff all around.
Get there. Have fun.