THREE PLUS THREE FISH RIDE ON WEDNESDAY

Six of us rode on Wednesday night--the three fish (Wayne, Joan & Dayton) along with three others (Gary, Carl, and Bob R).  We left Casey's at 5:30 with clear skies and a temperature of 69.  After leaving the station, we took Yellow River Drive past the Gelo ranch where they were putting on anhydrous.  Continuing on YRD to HWY 51 and onto Frankville Road.  We went through Frankville, on into Decorah, through Spillville, and on into Ridgeway for a break and some ice cream for Gary.  Carl wanted to hitch up to a camper there, but his new quiet bike couldn't tow it.

From there we went down Madison Road and into Decorah.  We then took Locust Road to Bear Creek Road and back to HWY 76 and into Waukon for eats at Gus & Tony's.  Bugsy joined us there.  Lots of dust due to the amount of field work going on right now, but it was still an enjoyable ride.  I had 101 miles on the Wing when I pulled into the garage.

Here's a couple of photos from Wednesday night.

CARL ARRIVES ON HIS NEW QUIET BIKE

HE'S TELLING EVERYONE THAT HE STUFFED MARSH MELLOWS IN HIS MUFFLERS

CARL WANTS TO TAKE THIS CAMPER HOME FROM RIDGEWAY

GARY LOOKS FOR A WARMER JACKET AFTER EATING THE ICE CREAM

EVEN DOZEN TO CAMP COURAGEOUS

Sunday started out cool, but turned warm, sunny and pleasant for our semi-annual journey to Camp Courageous for their omelet fund raiser.  Ten of us left Casey's at 10AM.  Jim G (tougher Jim), Wayne F (tougher Wayne), Gary, Meryle, Mary, Dennis, Marlene, Bob R, Julie, and guest Dale R started out with 5 bikes and 2 support vehicles for Monona where we met up with Carl and Joyce in a hard-starting Jeep.  The temp was about 45 with sunshine.  We continued on through Farmersburg, Elkader, Garber, Colesburg, Petersburg, and on into Monticello and Camp Courageous.  We were greeted there by the largest group of motorcyclists I've ever seen parked on the basketball court.  It's now close to 60 degrees.

After some outstanding omelets with toast, sausage, juice, and coffee we started back to Waukon.  Since the county roads we usually take were being resurfaced, we returned through Cascade, Worthington, Dyersville, New Vienna, Luxemburg, Holy Cross, Rickardsville, Durango, and then through Sherrill, Balltown, N. Buena Vista, Millville, and into Guttenberg where we stopped at Greaser's for ice cream.  (Yes, it had warmed up that much! And I'm pretty sure that won't be our last stop at Greaser's this riding season.)  From there we took the river road past Clayton and into McGregor.  Then we went by Monona, into Luana, and back to Waukon.  I had about 250 miles on the clock when I pulled into the garage.  Overall we saw nice scenery, rode on some nice roads, ate well, and had some good laughs all for a good cause.
This coming week looks to be good weather, so maybe we'll have a good turnout on Wednesday.

Here's some shots from the Camp Courageous run.

GARY ARRIVES WHILE JIM TRIES ON HIS RAIN PANTS

GARY SHOWS UP IN HIS NEW SPRING GARB

THE GROUP MAKES FUN OF JIM STILL TRYING ON HIS PANTS

MEANWHILE THE WOMEN TELL DIRTY JOKES

CARL TELLS US ABOUT HIS NEW RIDE WHILE JOYCE KICKS THE TIRES

CARL SAYS, "SHE"S HARD TO GET STARTED." (THE JEEP THAT IS!)

THE GROUP POLISHES OFF THE OMELETS

COLD WEDNESDAY--WARM OMELETS SUNDAY

No one rode on Wednesday night due to cold weather and a never ceasing wind.  The weather witch just doesn't want to let go, but someone told me they saw a barn swallow, so warmer weather should be on the way.

Sunday is our annual Camp Courageous Omelet Run starting from Casey's at 10 AM.  It sounds like the day is going to start off cool, but warm to about 60 (a heat wave) and be sunny.  I plan on riding the Wing down to Monticello if it's not raining.  If you don't want to bike down and still want to go, there will be car rides available.  Hopefully we can get some folks from our Wednesday Night group going.  It's for a good cause.

4 Riders and a Tree Rat

Wednesday night finally gave us some nice riding weather again, so four of us showed up at Casey's for a really nice ride.  Jim G, Gary, John Ellingson, and Bob R headed north on 76 through Hanover and Eitzen and on into Caledonia.  From there we took CR 3 to Brownsville where we had our rest stop and watched Jim and Gary polish off some ice cream.  They said, "Eat desert first.  You never know!"
We then followed the river on HWY 26 back towards New Albin.  On the way, I saw a dark object in my lane on the road ahead.  As I approached, it looked like a road kill squirrel, so I went to swerve around it.  Suddenly, the dumb tree rat jumped to life and started running in small circles.  I couldn't avoid him, and he jumped up and struck my left boot.  (A good reason to always wear a good pair of boots!)  He was last seen skidding on his back into the left hand ditch.  It could have been worse.  The little rat ass could have jumped up into my lap or run up my pants leg!
At any rate, all was well and we continued on into New Albin and then took CR A26 back to HWY 76 and back to Green Valley Resort in Waukon for supper.  John said he enjoyed the ride and I told him he was welcome any time.  We ended up logging about 98 miles.

Don't forget the last Sunday in April is the trip to Camp Courageous.

Here's a couple of photos from Wednesday night.

GARY TELLING THE GUYS HOW LONG THE SKID MARK WAS COMING INTO THE LOT

GARY ADMIRING JIM'S BOOTS

WE ARRIVE SAFELY AT GREEN VALLEY AFTER A GREAT RIDE

FIRST WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIDE FOR 2015

No, this is not an April Fool's joke!  The Wednesday night rides have officially started on April 1st.  I left Casey's at 5:30 sharp with Dennis there to see me off and a temperature near 70 degrees with a brisk south wind.  I traveled past Wayne & Sandy's to Yellow River Drive and then to HWY 51.  I then cut through Frankville and Decorah, and onto the Locust Road.  My intent was to stay on the Locust Road and on into Spring Grove, but our neighbors to the north don't have their portion of the Locust Road paved yet, so I had to back track to A26 (Bear Creek Road).  I took A26 all the way to the Lycurgus Road and then to HWY 9 and back to Green Valley where Dennis, Jens, and I met for supper at 7:30.  I put on a total of 95 miles and made it back before dark.  Actually the county roads I was on are in good shape as far as the sand is concerned.  Almost all of the sand is now at the intersections, so I had to be careful there.  It was a beautiful Wednesday night for a ride and hopefully they keep coming!  I got the Wing back from Dean's on Monday after having some warranty work done (tire pressure monitoring sensor).  So after getting the dt's from not being able to ride since we got back from Florida, I put about 500 miles on her Tuesday and Wednesday.

Here's some shots from Wednesday night.

GOOD RIDDANCE TO THE SNOW!

WING & DENNIS' PICK UP AT CASEY'S

AT 76 & BEAR CREEK RD

MOON OVER THE UPPER IOWA

JET TRAILS IN THE SUNSET

MOON OVER LYCURGUS