ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL FALL RIDE

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!!

 

BRRRRRR!

With temps in the mid 40's and a fairly brisk wind blowing, I did not receive any kind of a ride report from any Wednesday Night Rider last night.  I am assuming that no one rode, or at least wanted to admit it!  

It seems winter may have set in on us a might early.  Hopefully there's some Indian summer left.  I am planning to ride on Sunday, since that seems to be the warmest day upcoming for a while.  My plan is to depart Casey's at 1 that afternoon and try another leaf looking cruise into Minnesota.  I always wanted to take a trip down Thumper in the fall, so hopefully there still will be some color left there.  

If you want to join me, be at Casey's at 1 on Sunday unless the weather takes a turn for the worst.  I plan to start by going through Lansing and New Albin, so you could meet me there.

In the meantime, I cruised around Waukon as I usually do check out some of the Halloween decorations.  Every year I am amazed at some of the sights.  I thought you might enjoy seeing some also.

SEE WHAT I MEAN!

BRIDGE TRIBUTE AND LEAF LOOKIN'

Bob planned a ride for Saturday that would take him across the Black Hawk bridge in Lansing for the final time and also get in some leaf looking while in Wisconsin.  Upon invitation, he and Julie were joined by Jim, Bill, and Bob P on bikes, with  Roger, Richard, Wayne, Dave, and Don & Kari (newbies), on their three-wheelers. 

WAYNE HEADS FOR A PARKING SPOT

DON & KARI FOLLOW "UNCLE" WAYNE

RICHARD IS ALWAYS READY TO GO

ROGER PULLS IN

BOB P ARRIVES FROM WISCONSIN

BILL ARRIVES FROM LANSING

DAVE INSPECTS HIS RIDE

JIM NEEDS GAS BESIDES COFFEE

Sensing that there may be a crowd trying to cross the bridge early in the afternoon, Bob decided to start the leaf looking first and cross the bridge on the way back.  This traffic across the bridge was confirmed by Bob P who came over from Wisconsin.  

So we started our journey by taking HWY 76 south into Marquette.  We were already starting to see some remarkable colors in the trees, and it was only going to get better.

We connected with HWY 18, crossed the bridge into Prairie Du Chien, and stayed on 18 until we came to HWY 133 just south of Mt. Hope.  Turning onto 133, we followed it, along with some more great colors, to CR K, and turned for a short distance south on it.  Once we arrived at CR T, our journey took us along a scenic and newly resurfaced stretch of asphalt all the way through Blue River and onto HWY 60 at Port Andrew.  We stopped at the Blue River Citgo for a break.

We departed Port Andrew, finishing our refreshments before being "eaten alive" by Japanese beetles.  After a short jog on HWY 60, we turned north onto CR F and avoided the "rush hour" in the metropolis of Excelsior.  Just outside of town we ventured onto CR S and headed west.  Again, CR S treated us to some fantastic views only made better by the color of the trees.  We made our scenic way over to HWY 61near Mt. Zion.  We turned back north on the "Blues Highway" (61) and cruised into Soldiers Grove where we picked up CR C at the edge of town.

CR C is a windy stretch of tarmac that runs along the Kickapoo River for a ways and again we had some great scenery.  C took us over to CR B and we made our way through the striving town of Towerville where the speed limit is 25 mph.  From stories I have heard, there used to be a dance hall in Towerville where in the "good old days"  there were more fist fights than dances at times.  We continued on the "twisties" on B through Rising Sun until we arrived at HWY 35 just north of Ferryville.

Not knowing what the traffic situation might be on the Black Hawk Bridge, once we reached HWY 81, I made the decision to cross the bridge and get my pizza in Lansing or Waukon.  The traffic across the bridge was very light, and Wayne, Don & Kari, and Bob & Julie stopped at the Safe House for some of their "mouth watering" thin crust pizza.

By the time we finished eating, it was dark, so we took our time and with our bright Gold Wing lights made it back to Waukon safely.  We racked up 146 miles on the Wing on this venture.  What a great ride!  We were able to cross "the old girl" for probably the last time and were treated to some of Mother Nature's handiwork with the beautiful tree colors.

NOTE

I have made several short videos of the crossings I have made before the Black Hawk Bridge closed.  Unfortuately they are still too long to put on this blog, so I am going to put them on a DVD for myself.  When I'm done, I could make copies of the DVD if you want one.  Let me know by next Wednesday.

UPCOMING

With colder weather coming, we will just have to wait and see for a ride on Wednesday.  If it's 50 or above and not raining, I will ride.  If not, some of you "tougher" hombres may have to lead.

EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW WHO THIS IS

LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT TO CROSS THE BRIDGE

On the last Wednesday night to cross the Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing,  four brave souls risked the wet, cold weather to make the trip.

Here's the report from Jim.

With a cool damp cloudy drizzly beautiful Wednesday night four diehards still wanted to ride. Bill, Mike, and Jim on two wheelers, and Richard in the Slingshot. Since Bob decided not to be a diehard we needed a route. Bill said he had a good one so off we went with Bill in the lead. We proceeded to Lansing to cross the big bridge and headed north on 35. We turned on old 35 before DeSoto and then right on Lawrence Hill Rd to 82. Right on 82 the left on Cr UU. Took a right on Missel Rd then left on Ladwig Hill Rd to Mundsack Rd. Right on Mundsach and across 56 to Romance Rd, Newton Rd, to Wire Hollow Rd through the organic farm valley. It's always interesting seeing what they are growing . We crossed O and followed K though Chaseburg then 162 to Kwik Trip in Stoddard. After a short break we headed back down 35, across the bridge with a brief stop at Mount Hosmer. Always a pretty view from the first lookout with a great view of the bridge. Mike and Bill peeled off in Lansing and Jim and Richard headed through light fog for Waukon. I had 95 miles on the wing as I passed through Waukon. All in all a nice ride.

GREAT VIEW FROM MT. HOSMER

I'm glad everyone made it back safely.  Actually I rode that same route by myself last Sunday, and enjoyed every minute of it.  Thanks to Bill for leading.

A WITCH ALREADY ON THE NEW BRIDGE

MY PLAN

Since I opted not to make the ride Wednesday night, I plan to make my last trip acoss the Black Hawk Bridge on Saturday.  I am leaving Casey's at 2 PM and crossing the bridge into Wisconsin and maybe some photo opps.  After a ride in Wisconsin, I plan to come back across the bridge back into Iowa.  Somewhere either in Wisconsin or Iowa, I plan to stop for pizza.  If you want to join me, be at Casey's at 2 on Saturday.  It will be kind of like saying good bye to an old friend!

LET'S SEE A PARADE!

 On a rather cool, but sunny evening, we had six Wednesday Night Riders show up at Casey's.  Lois came with the only two-wheeler, while Terry, Richard, Wayne, Dave, and Bob rolled in on three wheels.

RICHARD TELLS ABOUT HIS TRIP OUT WEST

HERE COMES LOIS

From now on our rides were to include a trip across the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing until it is no longer there.  Apparently now the destruction date or final closing date is October 20.

We departed Waukon via the Elon Road and followed it out to the Lansing/Harpers Road.  There we turned north for a short jog and pointed our wheels onto Lafayette Ridge Road.  All this time, with no humidity, you could see for miles and miles.

At the end of LRR we made our way onto the Great River Road and motored along the Mississippi River on into Lansing.  Across the bridge we went (hopefully not for the last time) and into Wisconsin.  We followed HWY 35 south through Ferryville and picked up CR C just outside of town.  While on C, Bob had to brake for a doe to cross in front and waited to see if a fawn might be following, so we proceeded with caution.  That was the last deer we saw, but Bob got buzzed by a stubborn buzzard that didn't want to leave a fresh road kill.

CR C took us over to HWY 27, and we turned back south passing through Fairview and Mt. Sterling before arriving in Seneca and stopping at Greener's Corner for a break.  Up until this stop, we were making good time and should have no trouble getting back before dark.  That was about to change!

We continued our journey south on 27, passing through Eastman.  With HWY 35 still closed, we could not turn back west on any of the alphabet roads, so we kept on 27 until we reached Limery Road and turned westward on it.  At this time of year, the sun is at a perfect angle to be right in your eyes as you motor west.  So taking our time on Limery was in order.  Limery took us across HWY 35 just south of Prairie du Chien and onto CR K.

We followed K on into PDC, and to our surprise, the longest homecoming parade we had ever seen was blocking our way onto HWY 18.  We kept thinking that the parade would end when we saw a fire engine approaching, but no luck.  There was pickup after pickup pulling trailer loads of kids along the parade route coming by and throwing lots of candy.  After about a 15 minute wait, we decided to try to work our way around the parade.  No luck yet.  At our next stop, the parade was still passing.  A traffic cop told Bob that it would be at least another 15 minutes before the rest of the parade passed.  She did offer an alternate route that we eventually tried and were able to get back to HWY 27 and cross the bridge into Marquette.  By this time, we were going to have to hustle to make it back to Waukon before darkness set in.

We motored up HWY 76 north with some sun still available, and arrived in Waukon right at dusk near 7 PM.  Four of us stopped at Uptown for eats.  I had exactly 100 miles on the Gold Wing parked on Main Street in Waukon.  On the way back, the temps got down to 50 degrees at times, but except for having to view a parade with every kid in PDC, it was a good ride.

WE WILL TRY TO CROSS THE BLACK HAWK BRIDGE AGAIN NEXT WEDNESDAY, WHICH COULD BE THE LAST TIME.

REAL H O G RIDERS!

CLUCK, CLUCK!

Each year the Wednesday Night Riders have tried to make the trip on an early October Sunday up to Rockton for their almost world famous barbeque chicken.  We went again this Sunday.

 We had 16 riders gather at Casey's this Sunday in anticipation of a scenic ride up to Rockton and a chance to devour some tasty barbeque chicken.  Bikers were Mike & Joan, Jim & Cathy, Chuckles, Lois, and Bill.  The three-wheelers were Roger, Wayne, Dave, and Bob.  Dennis & Marlene supplied the "support" pickup with Julie aboard, and we were also joined by Danny & Cindy.

BOB SURVEYS THE CHICKEN EATING CROWD

EARLY ARRIVALS

THE GROUP GETS BIGGER

THE "SUPPORT" PICKUP ROLLS IN

CHUCKLES TRIES TO CONVINCE DANNY & CINDY THAT THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE A GOOD TIME

JIM WELCOMES THE "SUPPORT" GROUP

GETTING READY TO ROLL

WHO HAS THE BEST TRIKE?

After Bob called in the final chicken orders, we left Waukon at 10:15 and took off up HWY 9 into Lansing.  There were a lot of people gathered on Main Street in Lansing for a celebration, so the town was pretty crowded.  Crowding would come into play later.

We made our way across the Black Hawk Bridge, which is going to continue to be part of our rides until it is dismantled.  After arriving in Wisconsin, we followed HWY 35 north into DeSoto and then turned eastward onto HWY 82.  The temps were very warm, but you had to be aware of wind gusts particularly on hilltops.

We followed HWY 82 passing through Red Mound, West Prairie, Fargo, and Liberty Pole.  We also took a quick look at Monument Rock as we passed by.  We took CR J on into Viroqua where we had planned to stop at Kwik Trip for a break.  Unfortuanately everyone in the county decided to come to Kwik Trip, so we departed since they were extremely busy and crowded, and there wasn't any parking in their lot.

So, we backtracked a little and got on our planned route by taking CR SS eastward out of town.  Things got interesting on this route also, as we were passed by emergency vehicles.  About halfway along the route we saw the accident.  A car was flipped over on its top and was lying in someone's fron yard.  Hopefully no one was seriously hurt.

CR SS was a scenic drive (color on trees began to appear) offering a smooth surface and some sweeping curves.  Once we reached HWY 56, we took a short jog to the juction of 56 and CR S, where Liberty Bar was located.  Since Bob had been there before, he decided this would be a good place for our break.

LOOKS LIKE A GOOD PLACE TO STOP

BARBEQUE PORK LOOKS GOOD, BUT WE'LL WAIT FOR CHICKEN

IT WAS WARM ENOUGH NOW TO SHED SOME JACKETS

WAYNE IS READY TO KEEP MOVING

After thanking the folks in the Liberty Bar for their hospitality, Bob led the group northward on CR S.  This is another well maintained county road that offers up some great views of rivers, valleys, and bluffs.  We make our way through Avalanche (By the looks of some of the dwellings, it looks like this berg was hit by an avalanche!) and Bloomingdale before we dropped onto CR P which took us on a scenic ride eastward to HWY 131.  Taking 131 northward for a few miles, we soon arrived at the Rockton Bar, where another huge crowd had gathered.

LOTS OF CHICKEN EATERS

Since we had made reservations, we were able to get right in and find a table inside, out of the relentless wind.

GULP AND GLUG!

ALMOST GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT!

ROGER SAYS, "I'M NOT SHARING!"

BOB LOOKS FULL

THAT SAYS IT ALL!

We departed Rockton, with the next scheduled stop being the orchards near Gays Mills.  However, on the way, a "handy-dandy" Harley helmet couldn't take the wind gusts.

ANYBODY GOT A PIPE WRENCH?!

We continued along HWY 131 through LaFarge and Viola and into Readstown where we joined HWY 61 continuing south.  When we reached HWY 171, we turned back west and made our bumpy way to the Sunrise Orchards.  HWY 171 from Rolling Ground down to Sunrise Orchards has always been and continues to be a "piece of crap".  The view of the valley below just before you get to Sunrise is breathtaking, and Sunrise has set aside a part of their paved parking lot for motorcycles.

After everyone who stopped at Sunrise had sampled the cider and cider donuts and purchased other eats, we continued our journey down 171 into Gays Mills.  After stuffing ourselves with chicken, donuts, and other apple goodies, we still stopped for ice cream at the Arco Store in Ferryville.  Bob said this was the last stop for him and headed for Waukon after passing over the Black Hawk Bridge again.  It has been rumored that some of our party still hadn't had enough eats and drinks and succumbed to the call of the Ruptured Rooster.

Bob had 157 miles on the trike when he parked her.  Our final scheduled RTE was fun.  Good roads, good scenery, and good company!

NEXT WEDNESDAY

We will cross the Black Hawk Bridge again, and maybe for the last time.  From there on it's anybody's guess where we go.

RUN, CHICKENS, RUN!!