9th Annual Secrets of Jo Daviess Tour
June 3-4, 2014

This Jo Daviess Tour had better legs than Betty Grable!

Great roads! Fast driving! Perfect weather! Great stops! Bucolic splendor! Cloud-dappled sky over bovine-dappled rolling pastureland! This was the driving tour for Bs! Once again, pure B driving ecstasy!

We missed Dan, and wish him to get well soon and return. No one plans routes and leads the pace like Dan Herman! The group called him on a speakerphone once from the drivers’ meeting and again from trail’s end (Baumgartner’s) to give him greetings in his absence.

Weather was great throughout, sunny and not too hot, except for our first morning which was typical British driving weather for the first day out -- drizzly. At least we avoided the heavy thunderstorms, high winds, severe flooding, and tornadoes that were forecast and raked much of the area south, west, and into Minnesota. The wines seemed better this year at Massbach Ridge Winery, our first stop, and it became finally top-down weather about mid-day.

We started out with eight cars this year, five MGBs and three Vintage members in their own cars. This is a reduction from last year of people who should be sorry they didn’t go, because it all worked out and the weather was great. For me, it is the high point of the driving season. Arriving at tour’s end at Baumgartner’s in Monroe remained two MGs and two Vintage couples. Two of us stayed over in Monroe, and one couple went on to Spring Green to see Taliesin.

We only had one car with breakdowns, and that was a little overheating on Ray Hansen’s B, when the thermostatic valve at the top of the radiator popped out and had to be blocked in until he got the right sealant in Guttenberg. After Ray and Sue departed the tour at Mineral Point, they had a flat tire on the way home, but reported they got home alright. That was it for car issues.

The backcountry driving segments were usually pretty fast-paced, but I think this tour was also marked by great “touristic” stops and good eats. There is certainly no shortage of great beer and cheese on this tour!

We mostly adhered to Dan’s routing from last year. The Cassville Ferry was still out. But Wisconsin C was open, and that is the best! With Dan’s basic routing but some variations and changes in the legs and stops, we ended up just fine on a great tour, and wish Dan to return to plot more of his backcountry driving routes, and then lead us on them at his famous Herman clip.

Here’s looking forward to the 10th Annual Secrets Tour in 2015!

John Kearns
'80 MGB LE
Safety Fast!