SOME BONUS END-OF-SEASON RIDES--HIP SURGERY AGAIN

Some of the hardiest of the Wednesday Night Riders don't have their bikes put away for the winter yet, and the weather this fall has offered us some bonus time to ride.  Here's some reports that flowed into the blog.

BOB'S 70th BIRTHDAY RIDE
On Tuesday, Nov. 3rd, Bob R left Casey's at 10 AM after having his favorite for breakfast (corned beef hash) at the Waukon Inn.  He traveled through Luana, Monona, PDC, Eastman, Steuben, Boscobel, Woodman, and on into Home A'Gin's in Mt. Hope for lunch (barbeques).  From Mt. Hope he traveled on CR K into Lancaster and then through Hurricane, Beetown, North Andover, Bagley, Bridgeport,and back into PDC for a stop at the Dairy Queen.  From there he crossed the bridge into Marquette and up HWY 76 through Waukon Junction, Harpers Ferry, Dalby, Elon, and back into Waukon.  It was right at 200 miles on a beautiful fall day.

TWO CLAIRS (CLARE) AND A CHUCKLES
On Wednesday the 4th of November, Chuckles invited Clare (sp) and Bob R on a ride.  Both Chuckles and Clare are EMT's at the hospital, so I guess since Bob R turned 70, Chuckles figured it wouldn't hurt to have a spare EMT along with us. Clare rides a Kawasaki KZ 440 and says she has been riding for about three years now.  It was her first ride with us, and she handled it very well.  We left Casey's at 12;35 (Clare was late.  Don't let that happen again!) and headed for Marquette where we were to meet up with Chuckles "other cousin" Clair (Riesberg from Dyersville).  With Chuckles in the lead we crossed into PDC, took Limery Rd to HWY 27 into Eastman and then HWY 179 on into Steuben (All Roads Lead to Steuben).  We then Picked up CR E and came out on HWY 60.  We took 60 on into Wauzeka for a stop at the BP station there.  Chuckles was doing good so far.  No gravel yet!
After our rest stop we continued on 60 into Bridgeport where we picked up CR C, then to CR X, CR P (newly finished), and on into Bagley.  Passing through Bagley on X we continued through Wyalusing, back to CR C and onto HWY 18 again.  HWY 18 took us back through PDC, over the bridge, and back to Casey's in Marquette again.  From there "cousin" Clair had to decide which way he was going back to Dyersville.  He picked HWY 52, so Chuckles said we could go back through Luana, and Clair could ride with us to the HWY 52 turn between Giard and Frolich.  However, upon leaving the station, Chuckles thought he was going the wrong way on a one-way street and had to back up from a close encounter with a dumpster!  We did make it out of Marquette and past Giard to say goodbye to Clair.  We continued on through Luana and back to Waukon just in time for Bob to make his Lions Club meeting.  I'd say we put on about 150 miles.  It was good to see "cousin" Clair again, and I'm sure we'll see the "other" Clare on some Wednesday night rides next summer.

LONE RIDER  (LOAN WOLF LOIS)
Lois filed this report with the blog on her ride on Wednesday.
Not wanting to miss what might be the last chance for a little cruise, I left Waukon about 4:15, meeting Wayne still dutifully driving his bus.  I headed down Forest Mills, where I met a couple of familiar bikes returning from an outing down south with Cousin Clair.  Took Cherry Valley over to Postville, then 51 to Yellow River Drive, where one lone deer waited for me to honk before slowly crossing from one lane and over the other up into the woods.  Next I turned onto Old Stage Rd and honked going past Fishville.  I still had some daylight, so I followed West Ridge to Liddiard Bottom where the pavement ended (Chuckles would have kept going), turned around and then took Prairie Dr. back into Waukon.  Was able to clock an additional 42 delightful miles on the Suzuki.  AHHHH!

ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE
Dennis had hip replacement surgery done a few weeks ago.  He was getting along fine, but the ball popped out of the joint and he had to go back and have it put back in again.  Apparently he was doing OK until Tuesday, when it popped back out again, and this time surgery was required.  Let's hope this time that everything stays in place, and Dennis has a speedy recovery.  I'm sure we all wish him well, since he and Marlene supplied the "support vehicle" for some of our rides this summer.  They had to miss the couples' trip this year because of the hip surgery, but hope to be back for trips next summer.