On Bob's invite, 10 riders joined him on Sunday afternoon for probably the last leaf looking ride and a fall trip down Thumper (Tschumper) Road near LaCrescent, MN. The day was predicted to be sunny (good for leaf looking) and close to 60 degrees.
Jim & Cathy skipped corn combining and came on their bike, and even though we were going through New Albin, Mike & Joan arrived on their bike to partake in the preride b s. Dave, Wayne, and Don & Karrie (no longer newbies) arrived on trikes. Richard never fails to show in his Slingshot.
| A LOT OF PRERIDE BS ALWAYS GOES ON |
| JIM & CATHY SAY THE CORN CAN WAIT |
| RICHARD PLANS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONVERSATIONS |
| THE TWO GALS SAY ITS WARM ENOUGH |
| DON & KARRIE COME AGAIN WITH UNCLE WAYNE |
We pulled out of Casey's at 1 under those sunny skies and a 59 degree temp. Cruising up HWY 9, we could already see that we should be in for some good tree color. Once we arrived in Lansing, Bill joined us on his Guzzi as we took HWY 26 north along the Mississippi River and were treated to some awesome tree color on the river bluffs. The timing couldn't have been any better for the sun to bring out the magnificent beauty Mother Nature created! By this time the temps moved into the 60's.
We rolled through New Albin on 26 and on into Minnesota we went. At the end of 26, we took HWY 16 into LaCrescent. We turned past Kwik Trip on CR 6 and found our way to CR 25. Up the hill we went, enjoying the scenery in the surrounding valleys until we reached Thumper and motoring along at the 25 mph speed limit, we sat back and enjoyed one of the best 5 mile stretch of stunning scenery in the tri-state area. Thumper came through again!
After our enjoyable trip down Thumper, we arrived at CR 21 at the bottom of the hill and took it over to HWY 16 and into Kwik Trip in Hokah we went for our break. Once everyone loaded up on coffee and donuts, we continued on HWY 16 to near Houston and took HWY 76 south for a short ways. Once we reached CR 4, we pointed our wheels west and cruised all the way into Spring Grove on the Yucatan expressway.
Just outside of Spring Grove, we jumped on CR 27 (aka Sylling Road) and weaved our way over to HWY 76 near Eitzen. Bob suddenly decided that the only way to top off a great ride was to have some ice cream, so he turned around and informed the group that we were going to stop at WW Dairy in Waukon. So down HWY 76 we cruised and into Waukon and were greeted by the friendly staff at WW Dairy. I had about 125 miles on the trike at WW Dairy. What a great ride to top off the leaf looking season!
THE REST OF THE WEEK LOOKS MUCH COOLER, BUT UNLESS IT'S RAINING, I PLAN TO MAKE OUR LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIDE FOR THE YEAR. IT WILL PROBABLY BE A SHORTER VERSION, BUT IT WILL BE A RIDE. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS THIS SUNDAY.
ALSO....HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!






