FULL PLATES AT N A FIRE DEPT. PANCAKE BRUNCH

 Counting Mike & Joan (who worked there), we had a total of 13 WNR present at the New Albin Fire Department Pancake Fundraiser on Sunday.  Chuck & Dee, Dennis & Marlene, Wayne, Richard & Melodye, Bob & Julie, and Jim & Cathy were in attendance.  

Jim & Cathy left earlier than the rest of the group, since Jim was afraid they were going to run out of coffee.  The rest of the group departed Casey's at 10:15 in cages, since it was raining then.

As advertised, the semi-world famous pancake flipper was in action.  Notice the wrist action!

Along with pancakes, eggs (anyway you wanted them), sausage, milk, and coffee were served.  Everyone was well-fed and served very quickly.  Seconds on pancakes were offered, but we were already stuffed with the good food.

FULL PLATES FOR EVERYONE!

Obviously because of the rain, we were not going to continue our Ride To Eat, so everyone departed on their own to various destinations. However, on the way back, Bob & Julie passed through Lansing to get a view of the new  Lansing Bridge construction.

Here's a photo of the progress on the bridge.  Let's hope the two ends end up matching exactly with each other!

If the weather is decent Wednesday, we will try a trip to Wyalusing/Bagley.

UPCOMING EVENT

Next Monday, May 25th, is Memorial Day.  As has been our custom for a good number of years now, we will go on a ride starting from Casey's at 1 PM.  After the ride we will get-together for a cook out at Rotach's.  Grilled brats will be furnished, but you are responsible for bringing a dish to pass (salad, desert, ect.) and maybe a chair.

LOTS OF SMILES

One of the Wednesday Night Riders "good to do" events took place this last Thursday and Friday.  We gave our trike rides to the residents of Good Sam and North Gate Care Center in Waukon.  Needless to say the residents were thrilled to see us come again, and you can tell by the smiles that they really enjoyed the rides.

On Thursday, with sunny skies and temps in the mid 70's, Ron, Chuck, and Bob treated the residents of Good Sam to trike rides in Waukon.  We ended up with about 20 riders including a couple who wanted to go around again.  The weather was great, but we had to change our planned route at the last minute.  For some reason, the IDOT decided that the smoothest section of highway 9 coming into Waukon needed tar snakes!  Trying to find smooth streets for riding in Waukon was a real challenge, but we did come up with a new route that was about the same distance as the original route.

Here's a few photos featuring the trike drivers and their happy riders at Good Sam.

CHUCK WITH PASSENGER

RON READY TO ROLL

BOB WITH RIDER

Special thanks to Julie for taking photos and passing out souvenier pins.

The next day, Friday, turned out to be even warmer for our rides at North Gate.  However, our "friendly" tar stripers were still in town, so we had to find an alternate route today also. It did work out and we gave 8 rides.  Here's a couple of photos from North Gate.

RON WITH PASSENGER

 

BOB AND PASSENGER

Since there were only 8 riders at North Gate, only two of us, Ron and Bob gave the rides, but Chuck was good enough to come over with his dog, Rocket, and take photos and pass out the souvenier pins.

Both days were "feel good" times for our Wednesday Night Riders!

Our next rides are scheduled for June 23rd at Wellington Place in Decorah.

SUNDAY'S RIDE TO EAT

The weather forecast for tomorrow, Sunday, is still loaded with rain and possible thunderstorms. The plan is to still go to New Albin for the Pancake Brunch fundraiser for the New Albin Fire Department.  If you want to go with the group, bring your ride (car, truck, or motorcycle) to Casey's at 10:15 Sunday morning, and maybe we can car-pool up to New Albin.

ELEVEN TO WAUZEKA

We  had 11 riders show up Wednesday night for a scheduled trip to Wauzeka.  Trike riders were Mark (newbie), Wayne, Dave (a brand new one), and Bob.  Mounting bikes were Chuckles, Lois, Mike, Jim, and Bill.  Richard & Melodye arrived in their Slingshot.

CHUCKLES GREETS MARK, OUR NEWBIE

MORE EARLY ARRIVALS

PRE-RIDE CHATTER

BILL SNEAKS UP FROM BEHIND

We depart a crowded Casey's under mostly sunny skies and temps in the mid 60's with the everpresent wind.  Making our way south onto HWY 76, we soon turned onto Forest Mills Rd. (CR X16) and followed it past the Gelo plantation and avoiding "rush hour" in Hardin, we arrived in Luana.  Motoring through Luana took us to HWY 18 east and we cruised on past Monona, Froelich, Giard, Marquette, and into Prarie du Chien.

Once in PdC, we took N Main (CR K) north and onto HWY 35 north. After a short stint on 35, we arrived at CR N, and meandered along on one of the most scenic drives in the area until arriving in Wauzeka and our break at the BP convenience store there.

WAYNE & BILL DISMOUNT AT BP

JIM LOOKS PUZZLED WHILE LOIS JUST LOOKS

CHUCKLES & RICHARD TRY CALLING EACH OTHER

DAVE DISPLAYS HIS NEW RIDE

After our break, we made our way back to Prairie du Chien via HWY 60 & 18.  We then crossed the Mississippi River bridge again into Marquette.  But for some reason, we lost a rider in PdC.  Probably due to an empty coffee mug!  Dave also split for home on his new rig.  The rest of us continued the ride northward on HWY 76 and into Waukon, where most of us feasted at Uptown.  Arriving home, Bob had right at 100 miles on his trike.  A PLEASANT SPRING RIDE!

Welcome to Mark!  We look forward to seeing you again.

Today, Thursday, Ron, Chuck, and Bob will be giving trike rides to the residents of Good Sam in Waukon at 1 o'clock.  Julie will be taking photos and handing out our souvenier pins.  There looks to be about 25 riders.

Tomorrow, Friday, Ron and Bob will be giving trike rides to the residents of North Gate Manor in Waukon at a little after 1 o'clock.  Since Julie has another appointment, we are looking for someone to take photos and hand out pins for this ride.  There looks to be only 8 to 10 riders, so it shouldn't be very long timewise. So, if you can help out with this contact Bob.

Right now, the weather looks real "iffy" for the ride on Sunday to New Albin for the Fire Department Brunch.  It looks like those who want to go, will be doing it in cages (cars).  So, if you plan on going, bring your car to Casey's at 10:15 Sunday morning, and maybe we can car pool.  Stay tune for an update on the blog as the day gets closer.

Everybody should know this guy!

EVEN DOZEN to Wood Carving & Burgers

 Our first RTE (Ride To Eat) for the Wednesday Night Riders drew 12 participants on our ride Saturday.  The goal was to take in America's Largest Woodcarving Museum in Ridgeway, Iowa (of all places) and then continue our journey over to Cresco for burgers at Dan's Road House.

The lucky dozen included Jim, Mike & Joan, Bill, Chuckles, and Lois on 2 wheelers.  Terry, Dave M, and Bob made up the 3 wheeled gang. Dr. David & Suzanne completed the converible crowd, and Julie supplied the "support vehicle" with her Dakota.

WELCOME BACK TO TERRY FROM HIS UTAH TRIP

LOIS WELCOMES BILL BACK FROM FLORIDA

PRERIDE BS AS ALWAYS

CHUCKLES WELCOMES TWO DAVIDS

With temps in the low to mid 60's and a very brisk northwest wind howling, we departed Casey's via HWY 9 to take Bob's "shortcut" to Ridgeway.  His plan being to take as many backroads as possible to avoid being wind blown.  It worked at times and at times it didn't.

After a short ride west on 9, we turned south onto CR W60 (West Ridge Road) and followed it to Yellow River Drive.  We turned west again on YRD for a short stint over to HWY 51 south.  With the wind still pounding us at times, we made our way into Postville where we picked up HWY 52 just outside of town and continued our journey passing through Castalia and Ossian before rolling into Calmar.

Just outside of Calmar we found 175th St. and made our way westward passing the PIVO Brewery (now for sale) and the South Winn Country Club. 175th took us over to CR B16 (Dvorak Memorial Hwy) and we took a short jog westward into Spillville.

On the edge of Spillville, we continued our quest and took a newly repaved CR W 14 on into Ridgeway and our stop at the Woodcarving Museum.  This building has an interesting history.  It was first a school, then a failed shrimp raising facility, and now a facility called the Turkey River Culteral Center that houses the woodcarving museum.

WE ARRIVE AT THE MUSEUM

DR. DAVID TELLS BILL THAT THE WIND DIDN'T BOTHER THEM.

JULIE ARRIVES EARLIER AND FINDS A SEAT
UNDER THE TOTEM POLE

We are soon invited on a tour of the museum with Slim Maroushek, the founder.  He informs us that we are going to see well over 6 thousand carvings, some done by him, and others from all over the world. The following are some photos and a video of just a few of the displays.

SLIM GIVES US SOME HISTORY AND BACKGROUND INFO

ONE OF THE MANY DISPLAYS THAT ARE MOBILE

ERTL TOYS EVEN HAD PROTOTYPES CARVED

JULIE GETS A CLOSEUP OF ONE OF THE MANY DISPLAYS
FEATURING ELVES

MOST OF THE DISPLAYS ARE THEMED
THIS ONE IS AMERICAN INDIANS

SOME OF THE CARVINGS ARE VERY RARE AND VALUABLE

ONE OF SLIM'S OWN CARVINGS

YEP, IT'S A CARVED SKELETON WITH ACCURATE BONE DIMENSIONS

YES, EVEN CARVED MOTORCYCLES

ONE OF SEVERAL TOTEM POLES SLIM CARVED

THE WORKS IN PROGRESS

I think all dozen of would agree that we were amazed and fascinated by Slim and his America's Largest Woodcarving Museum!  One could probably spend a whole day just viewing all of the carvings here in Ridgeway, Iowa.

After our amazing museum visit, we were all hungry for burgers, so we took another one of Bob's "shortcuts" heading for Cresco.  We left Ridgeway heading west on CR A46 (Schley Rd), and continued on this smooth asphalt over to another section of Dvorak Memorial Highway.  Only this time we followed it north on into Cresco where we stopped at Dan's Road House for our burgers. (After all, this ride was called a Burger Run).  Dan's was named one of the top burger places in Iowa last year when Bill, Julie and Bob ate there, and Dan's did not disappoint this year.  I think everyone had the "smash burgers" along with fries and they were fantastic along with the service!

THE BURGER GANG

SOME PEOPLE LOOK BETTER FROM THE BACK!

After our burgers, it was time to head back home.  The wind had not let up at all, so Bob decided to take Pole Line Road back to Decorah, instead of HWY 9.  We were able to dodge the wind in most places, but not until we descended the hill near Decorah were we completely out of it.  At least the temps still stayed in the 60's.  We completed our journey by taking a "ripped up" HWY 9 through Decorah and on into Waukon where everyone split for home.  The clock on the GW trike read just over 100 miles when she got parked in Bob's shed.

While we did have to battle the wind, I think everyone would agree that our first RTE was a success.  I think the Woodcarving Museum was fantastic and the burgers at Dan's were great.  It don't get any better than that!

UPCOMING EVENTS

This upcoming week is going to be a busy one for some of our WNR's.  A possible ride on Wednesday evening, and we are scheduled to do trike rides for the residents of Good Sam in Waukon on Thursday at 1 PM, and for the residents at Northgate Care Center on Friday with a time to be determined.  If you would like to see how we can create smiles on Thursday and Friday, you are invited to these two events.

Now, on Sunday, the 17th, you will have a chance to go on our second RTE, see a semi-world famous pancake maker in action, and take a scenic ride afterwards.  We will be leaving Casey's at 10:15 that morning (Notice the time change.  Bob may have to deliver the scripures at his church that morning), and head up to New Albin for the New Albin Fire Department Pancake Breakfast fund raiser.  After the breakfast the plan is to continue the ride and possibly go on Apple Blossom Drive up above LaCrescent.

We should also be excited to hear that one of our veterans, Terry, is going on the Veterans' Honor Flight to Washington, DC, on May 12th out of Cedar Rapids.  I really hope all the veterans in our WNR get to take that honor flight.

If Wednesday evening weather cooperates, Wauzeka will be our destination.

BRRR!

With temps below the 50 mark, only two riders ventured out Wednesday evening.  Mike rode his bike, and Richard was in his Slingshot.  Their wives were smart enough to stay home!

Here's Mike's ride report.

 Richard and I headed out it was 48. Took 76 to Eitzen, Caledonia. 46 for a high on the ridge. Fueled up in Caledonia. Casey's in waukon was swarming. Took 5, 14 out of Caledonia on Jefferson ridge. Took 26 south back to New Albin. Stopped by my shop and showed Richard my inventory. Richard headed back home. I had around 80 miles round trip.

Glad they arrived back home safely!

Don't forget the RTE on Saturday.  Leaving Casey's at 1 that afternoon to see some wood carvings and gobble up some burgers.

TOO DAMN COLD

 Just to let anyone who may attempt a ride tonight know, Bob will NOT be joining you.  Gas prices are just too high! 

That's true, but the real reason is the Weather Witch is going to keep the temp below 50 and toss in a brisk north wind.

However, it does look like right now she is going to give us a break for our RTE on Saturday with temps in the 70's.  So until then, be safe and stay warm.

In the meantime, there is a new club being formed.  They call themselves.... HELL'S ANGLES

Ride To Eat on Saturday and update on blossoms

Just to keep you informed, our first RTE (Ride To Eat) for the season is scheduled for this Saturday, May 9th.  It's our Burger Run.

This year we are going to combine the burgers with a museum visit.  The plan is to depart Casey's at 1 PM Saturday afternoon and ride over to Ridgeway and take a tour of America's largest woodcarving museum.  And yes, it's in Ridgeway, Iowa!  I rode over there last Saturday and told them we would be over there around 2:30.  They close at 4, so we would have time for a tour (cost is $10) and to look around some afterwards.  I visited there last year when I was a mentor for a day with human services.  I really enjoyed it, and it's an interesting place, to say the least!

After our museum visit, the plan is to continue the ride over to Cresco for burgers (or whatever you want) at Dan's Road House.  Bill, Julie, and I ate over there last year, and the burgers were great.  Dan's finished in the top 5 best burger places in Iowa last year.

After our meal, and depending on daylight, we will continue the ride back using a different route.  Looks to be a great time!  If you have already visited the museum, or for some reason can't, you could still catch us to eat at Dan's around 5.

BLOSSOMS

I was hoping to be able to ride over to Gays Mills on an upcoming Wednesday night to cruise through the orchards and take in the sights and smells of the blooming apple trees.  I ventured over there yesterday (Sunday) and discovered that the trees were beautiful and in full bloom.  However, the highway that runs right down through the orchards (HWY 171) is going to be closed starting Wednesday.  Hopefully they are going to resurfacing 171, because it really needs it.  So, if you want to see the blossoms, you are going to have to go over today or tomorrow.

I have another appointment at Gundersen in LaCrosse tomorrow, so I may see if the apple trees on Apple Blossom Drive above LaCrescent are in bloom, and maybe shoot for that Wednesday night if the weather cooperates.  If not, see you Saturday.