A rider could spend a week in La Crosse and never be bored by the view. The city lies on a flat strip of land between the Mississippi River and a line of steep, wooded bluffs, at the point where the Black and La Crosse rivers join the big river, and it feels like the middle of the Midwest folded into a valley. Grandad Bluff, a rocky headland rising almost two hundred metres above the town, gives the best look at the whole scene, with the river, the islands and Minnesota on the far side.
The surrounding country is called the Driftless Area, because the glaciers of the last ice age passed it by, leaving no layer of drift behind. Instead of flat plains, the land is cut by deep, winding valleys, known locally as coulees, with steep ridges and spring-fed streams. The result is some of the best motorcycle riding in the upper Midwest, with narrow roads that twist along creeks and climb onto the ridgetops, past dairy farms, red barns and, in the south-east, the horse-drawn buggies of Amish families. Surfaces are mostly good, though gravel appears at farm entrances and manure on the road is a fact of life.
The river road, Highway 35, is part of the Great River Road, and runs along the Mississippi past lock and dam structures, backwaters thick with herons and egrets, and small towns with brick main streets. In autumn, the bluffs light up with maple red and oak gold, and bald eagles gather along the open water in winter. The name La Crosse comes from French traders who saw the Native game played with a stick that looked like a bishop's crozier.
The city has fuel, food, motels and a lively brewing tradition, and La Crescent, across the river in Minnesota, is known for apples. Summer is humid and thunderstorms roll in quickly, while May and September are ideal. Deer are a major hazard on the back roads at dusk.