CAMP COURAGEOUS

Eight Wednesday Night Riders made the journey Sunday morning to Monticello to support Camp Courageous at their omelet breakfast fundraiser.  Bikers were Jim & Cathy, Chuckes, and Lois.  Dave, Richard & Melodye, and Bob made up the three-wheeled gang.

CHUCKLES & LOIS FIRST TO ARRIVE

THE SLINGSHOT ROLLS IN

JIM ARRIVES, CATHY WALKS

TIME FOR PRERIDE B S

DAVID ARRIVES ON HIS "OLD" RIDE

JULIE SEES US OFF

THE LEADER GETS READY

CHUCKLES WOULD SOON BE STRUGGLING WITH HIS ZIPPER

When we departed Casey's it was just above 50 degrees and partly cloudy.  We traveled down through Rossville, into Monona, onto HWY 18 and then over to HWY 52 near Froelich. Following HWY 52 through Garnavillo, Guttenberg, Millville, Luxemberg, and New Vienna until we reached Dyersville where we took a short break at Casey's.

After a short break, we picked up HWY 136 just outside of Dyersville and passed through Worthington.  We then turned onto HWY 151 south at Cascade and sped along at 65 mph until we reached the turn for HWY 38 at Monticello.  HWY 38 south took us to the turn for Camp Courageous (190th St.) and we rolled into CC and found our usual parking spot on the basketball court.  By now the sun was out, and the temp was in the upper 60's.

PLENTY OF ROOM FOR PARKING

LET'S EAT!

While we were in line for the omelets, I met the new CEO for CC, Craig Stadtmueller.  He wanted to know more about our Wednesday Night Riders group.  I informed him about us as much as I could, and told him we have been coming down both spring and fall for the fundraising breakfasts for at least 25 years.  He was impressed and gave us a warm welcome.

Usually when we get there, around 11:15 or so, the dining area is about half empy.  Today, however, they were still streaming in at that time.  I asked the lady who made my omelet about the crowd, and she says they have been extremely busy the whole time.  She was actually from a group that came all the way from Waukee, Iowa, to volunteer.

We loaded up our plates with the omelet, toast, and sausage patties and found a place to sit.  There we were served juice, coffee, milk, or water if we wanted it. Our coffee connoisseur, Jim, said the coffee was just better than none, but I noticed he still had several cups.

EIGHT CHOW HOUNDS

We usually try to take a different, more scenic, way back, so we weaved our way through Monticello on HWY 38 and followed it up to CR A47 and turned north.  After arriving at HWY 20, we took it back through Dyersville and HWY 52 north.  Taking 52 north back through New Vienna, we turned west on HWY 3 and motored past Colesburg and into Edgewood where Bob and Dave needed gas.  After gassing up we made the mandatory ice cream stop at the Edgewood Country Club.

After our ice cream treats, we got onto CR X 21 (Littleport Rd) and headed north.  This stretch of road is one of my favorites.  It's been recently resurfaced and offers some outstanding scenery. After passing through Littleport we continued onto CR X3C (Grandview Road) and enjoyed some more great views until we reached HWY 13 north.  We then cruised through Elkader and stayed on 13 until we got to CR B65 and motored down the hill into St. Olaf and then took CR X28 (Fawn Hollow Road) into Farmersburg.  After passing by xxxhole's garage, we made our way to HWY 18 staying on X28.  After turning back west on 18, we turned off at Luana and followed CR X16 through Hardin and then passed the Gelo plantation where Jim & Cathy departed.  The rest of us motored on north to HWY 76 and into Waukon.

I had a little over 200 miles on the Wing when I arrived home.  GREAT RIDE FOR A GREAT CAUSE!

If it's fit to ride Wednesday night, Pikes Peak will be our goal.

Lois correctly identified the mystery rider in the last post.  It was Jack Nicholson.  He starred in many films, but I most remember him in the movie Easy Rider.

How about this guy?

GOOD SHOWING AT PMS

We had another good turn out for our 18th PMS (Parked Motorcycle/Motorcar Syndrome) get-together on Wednesday evening.  According to the unofficial count, we had 30 attendees.

After feeding our faces, Bob presented a recap of our 2025 year including comments on the special rides upcoming.  We also paid tribute to those members of our group that passed on including Sandy, Darrel, and Irv.

The final set of videos was meant to give some good-natured teasing to most of our members and drawing some humor and laughter.  Apparently that was successful.  So, I think everyone had an enjoyable evening, and are looking forward to another great riding season.  Special welcome to Karrie.  She and her husband, Don, plan on joining us for some rides this season.

Here are some photos of the folks in attendance.  Bernell & Kathy joined us later, and Ken K apparently got lost going home after his pills.

This coming Sunday is our first charity ride.  We will be heading to Camp Courageous for their omelet breakfast fund raiser.  We will depart Casey's at 9 AM Sunday morning.  After the breakfast, we will be taking a scenic ride back with a possible stop for ice cream on the way.  There should be a car ride available for those who do not want to ride motorcycles.  If you can't make the ride, you can still come to Casey's that morning and send along a donation to Camp Courageous with one of us.  LET'S HAVE A GOOD TURNOUT FOR THIS VERY WORTHWHILE CAUSE!

The mystery rider from the last post was Charlie Chaplan.  No one guessed right.  How about this guy?

 

PMS Tomorrow Evening

Don't forget about the PMS get-together at Uptown tomorow evening.  You can start ordering food at 5. It will be great to see everyone again!

The last mystery biker was Jackie Chan

 Jackie Chan, also known as Fang Shilong, is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, and martial artist. He's known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he usually performs himself. Chan's on-screen fighting style is based on traditional and Northern Kung Fu, and designed to be the opposite of Bruce Lee's fluid movements. 

How about this guy?

PMS TIME

I am assuming that no one was dumb enough to try to ride Wednesday night, so there is no report to view on that. In the mail today, I am sending out the invitations to our PMS (Parked Motorcyle/Motorcar Syndrome) get-together at Uptown on the 22nd of April.  Also included with the invite is the list of the Wednesday Night Riders tentative special rides for 2026.  If you have any questions about the rides, or any other matters concerning the Wednesday Night Riders, I will try to answer them at the get-together.

Now, if you did not get an invitation and still want to come to the PMS get-together, please come.  If you did not receive an invitation, it means that you have not been riding with us for a while, or I do not have your mailing address.  It's always great to see everyone again since last fall and we always seem to have a good time.

So, set aside the evening of  April 22nd at Uptown in Waukon.  Food orders taken starting at 5 and program to follow.  SEE EVERYONE THEN.

Did you figure out who the mystery person was in the last blog entry?  It was William Shatner, star of the popular tv show, Star Trek.  Apparently he was also a motorcycle rider in his spare time.

OK, how about this guy?

Tribute to Irv

Special thanks to all the Wednesday Night Riders that came to Irv's funeral, wake, reception, and the fellowship time.  I know everyone couldn't attend all the events, but I'm sure the family appreciated seeing us there.

As I mentioned to Chris at the funeral home, we are really going to miss Irv.  I think every ride he was on with us, he always added knowledge, humor, and friendship.

Special thanks to those who accompanied the funeral procession to the church cemetery outside of Ossian. We had 12 participants (counting Chuck, who was on duty) in 9 units.

Here's some photos that were taken, mostly by Chuckles.

  

I think all the planned events were very well done, which made it a special tribute to Irv.

IRV'S FUNERAL

 I have 15 Wednesday Night Riders signed up who plan to attend Irv's funeral tomorrow and sit with the group.  If you are one/or two of the 15, try to be at the church around 10:30.  Once we are all gathered, Craig will bring us up front to our seats.  If you cannot make it that early, just tell Craig or Chuckles, and they will bring you up to sit with us when you get there.

 After the funeral, there is a reception at the fairgrounds in Waukon. We will escourt the hearse to the cemetery outside of Ossian starting at 1:30 from the fairgrounds.  If you did not attend the funeral you can still be part of the escourt.  Just be ready to go at 1:30.

The weather prediction is for clouds with a possible morning shower and high temps around 60, so it is going to be cool, but hopefully not wet.

Any questions, just let Bob know.

7 UP FOR EARLY BIRD RIDE

Seven riders participated in an impromptu "early bird" Wednesday night ride last night.  The only notification was put on the blog yesterday morning.

Mike, Chuckles, Lois, Jim & Cathy showed up on bikes, while Dave M and Bob rode trikes.

We departed Casey's with 66 degrees showing on the Waukon State bank sign. We cruised through town and made our way onto HWY 76 north.  We were presently happy to see that they had finally finished the bridge over Bear Creek, so we didn't have to stop there anymore. We made our way up to Dorchester Drive and proceeded through the countryside all the way up to Spring Grove. With all the leaves off the trees, one could see alot more surroundings (some good, some not so good).  We were constantly looking for sand on the road surfaces, but so far it was only at intersections.

We cruised through Spring Grove and made our way along HWY 44 to CR 17 and followed this windy, hilly, but smooth asphalt all the way back to HWY 76.  We sped by Eitzen and continued on 76 until we turned onto CR A26 (Iowa River Drive) and followed it along the river to Lycurgus Road.  The only animals we spotted so far were turkeys and a couple of darting dogs.

Lycurgus Road is starting to show its age by being quite bumpy, but we made our way back to HWY 9 and observed a crowd filing into St. Mary's Church.  Hwy 9 took most of us back to Waukon and eats at Uptown.

After about 75 miles, we arrive back in town safely from a really nice "early bird" ride.  Richard joined us for eats at a very busy Uptown.

DON'T FORGET TO LET BOB KNOW IF YOU WANT TO ATTEND IRV'S FUNERAL WITH OUR GROUP.

Here's a sign that Lois spotted on one of her travels.  Enjoy!