Avid rider and motorcycle journalist (for BMW Owner’s group), Ron Davis, is hard at work on his second book. He shared chapter seven with Twisted Road—two glorious pages about riding in Wisconsin. Take a read, then book a bike and explore what the Midwest has to offer.
Recently I took what has come to be an annual jaunt down through the Driftless Area in southwestern Wisconsin. It’s a trip I always look forward to, especially in late May, when the steep ridges and coulees carved out by countless spring creeks are carpeted in luscious shades of green, punctuated by the pink, white and purple blossoms of apple, crab apple and lilac.
After zigzagging in my own pokey way up and down Wildcat Mountain (now referred to as “The Tail of the Cow” by local riders), I stopped for an afternoon to visit with Brandy Vuich, who, with her husband Dan, has been operating the Blue Highway Motorcycle Lodge near Hillsboro, Wisconsin, since 2004. Sadly, I found out that Dan had passed in 2018 and that Brandy, realizing maintaining the lodge was too much work for one person, was in the process of selling this unique destination for riders.
Starting probably in the 30’s, road maps color-coded those less-trafficked, more-twisted roads that motorcyclists covet in dark blue, hence the title of William Least Heat Moon’s well-known book and the name the Vuiches gave to their lodge. Prior to moving to Wisconsin, Dan and Brandy had been avid riders, touring all over the Midwest and points beyond. Though both had good jobs, they had become disenchanted with suburban Chicago, and had decided to seek a new life in the country.
“What we had was, we had a white board, and we wrote all the things we could do, living in the country—options—you could have a trout farm, or you could do this or that, and motorcycle B & B was one of those ideas,” Brandy told me.
In their travels, they had stayed at motels and were often dissatisfied with the welcome they received and the accommodations. “Not to disparage little motels, but there were some that, well, we said, ‘Let’s prop the chair against the door knob ‘cause this place is creepy.’” Brandy said that when they stayed at more upscale hotels, Dan would look out the window and laugh. “He’d say, “Yeah, stay on the fourth floor and you can watch them load up your bike into the back of their van and you can yell, ‘Hey, stop stealing my bike, I’ll be down there in a minute!’ We wanted a place where motorcyclists wouldn’t feel out of place, and you’re never going to be walking into a place where parents are going to be pulling their children closer ‘cause there’s a mo-tor-cy-clist walking in.”
“We knew we didn’t want to do food, so the idea evolved into having the cottages, and we began looking for land to do that. Neither one of us had any background with the hotel industry, never had worked in it at all,” Brandy remembered. “We gave up everything, we sold everything…cashed in the 401Ks…the whole nine yards… We threw it all into this business. I’ll tell you, we had no idea if it would make it. Our parents, were like, a motorcycle lodge? Really? Dan’s brother said we’d have better luck with a bikini bike wash!”
Since it’s such a mecca for riders, Dan and Brandy searched southwestern Wisconsin for a year and finally found a 40 acre plot on a ridgetop. Construction of the six cabins began in 2003, and though Dan did all the electric and plumbing, Amish craftsmen who lived on adjacent properties helped them build the six cabins and a shelter for groups. Despite the backwoods setting, Dan and Brandy were determined to make their cabins as welcoming and as mindful of the needs of road-weary riders as possible.
All the cabins feature a screen porches, galley kitchens, cycle ports, gas fireplaces, whirlpool baths, gas grills and campfire rings. Special touches like boot dryers, motorcycle art on the walls, and the sound of a bike revving when you first turn on the lights make the cabins truly “rider-friendly.” A network of paved paths almost too narrow for a four-wheeler and inaccessible to cars except in an emergency snakes into the woods and connects the cabins; in fact, a prominent sign at the office says, “No cars beyond this point.”
Ever since I first heard of Blue Highway I’ve searched and never found another destination for riders quite like it. True, there are more “Welcome Motorcyclists” signs on motel message billboards and there are a few campgrounds, some with cabins, that principally serve riders, but I know of no other lodgings that only take guests traveling on two wheels.
Over the years, though Blue Highway became popular with all sorts of riders, Brandy says she and Dan never had any problems with guests. In fact, since many of the couples and groups staying at Blue Highway returned every summer, the lodge guest list came to be more a list of old friends. “People calling to make reservations now, it’s hard to get off the phone with them, like talking to a relative…we’ve built a family.”
Blue Highway remains open this summer, but only on weekends. Next year, the new owners plan to keep the lodge the same, and it will be open every day, May through October. (For more information, visit bluehighwaymotorcyclelodge.net).
In a world of declining rider numbers, and the continuing, sometimes negative stigmas associated with motorcyclists, it’s nice to know that places like Blue Highway Motor Lodge are still around. Riders are a special breed, and they deserve a few special places of their own.
Twisted Road Tip: If you're thinking of traveling to the WI area to ride (or just want a fun read), check out our earlier article on the Twisted Road team's own offsite to the Driftless Area and our resulting Trip Report. Twisted Road has plenty of motorcycles for rent in Wisconsin so you can explore the Driftless area on two wheels.
