NO WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIDE YET

I had high hopes that for the very fist time we could actually have a Wednesday night ride in March, but no such luck.  Wednesday turned out to be a cold, rainy day especially towards evening.  So, it looks like it's going to be into April before we get a chance again.  I did get the trike out for a short ride on Monday, and on Tuesday I got out the two-wheeler for about 175 miles.  The only sand on the roads was up in this area.  I toured through Luana, Marquette, PDC, Eastman, Steuben (all roads lead to Steuben), Boscobel, Woodman, Mt. Hope, Bloomington, Bagley, and back through PDC, Monona, and home.  Kind of breezy, but all good roads except for 76 from Rossville.

As many of you know I have been somewhat critical of the DNR and the way they are handling the deer population in our part of the state.  Another Goldwinger sent me the following to show to the DNR and see if it helps!

Also, just as I thought the weather may be giving us a break---

A lot of people think is pretty.  I'm not one of them!

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS' DAY !

PMS MEETING DRAWS BIG CROWD

The eighth annual PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome) meeting of the Wednesday Night Riders was attended by a record crowd of 30!  Last Wednesday evening at the Old Rossville Store the WNR were first treated to a delicious meal  by Josh's crew.  After learning that postage stamps had gone down two cents, Carl got all excited and spilled his water.  He was promptly given a bib to prevent any further spills. Most of us got by without spilling anything.  We ended up sharing the dining room with the Wexford Gravediggers, who kept eyeballing our group for prospects.  After the meal we heard a good report on Dennis' hip replacement and gave Howard a well-deserved ovation.  Bob R then showed the group a dvd he made of some of the remarks uttered during the past riding season.  After being entertained all of the WNR left anxiously waiting for the first warm Wednesday night!

Here's some photos of the PMS meeting.

CARL WITH HIS BIB

WE EVEN NEEDED TWO TABLES

BUGSY SHOWING HIS BEST SIDE

WAITRESS KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON CARL

CHUCKLES TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO ORDER DONUTS

ONE OF THE WEXFORD GRAVEDIGGERS EYEBALLING US

MAKE SURE YOUR KICKSTAND IS UP

WE LANDED IN PARADISE!

I HAD TO CHEST-BUMP THAT TURKEY EVERY MORNING

THE WIFE WOULD BE HERE, BUT SHE'S HUNG OVER

IF SHE FALLS, SHE'S ON HER OWN

I NEED A NEW DIPSTICK

GOT YOUR MOUTHWASH AND LAXATIVES?

A NEW EAR WHILE GETTING CHICKEN S___ IN MY KNEE

FINAL FLORIDA REPORT

As our time in Florida started to wind down, a Gold Wing buddy (Big John from Erie, PA) and I took a ride from Panama City up to the Honda shop in Dothan, AL, about 90 miles.  I had ordered a new helmet up there, and it had arrived, so John accompanied me up there to pick it up.  While we were there we eyeballed the Polaris Slingshot that they had displayed in their showroom.  It's quite a machine!  It resembles the Bat Mobile and retails from about $22 to $27,000.  I was going to try and see how it felt behind the wheel, but with my bad knees, I decided not to.  Apparently it is a little hard to get in and out.  I had a heck of a time convincing the sales person that the Slingshot was made in Iowa!  Here's a couple of photos of the machine.

"Big John" eyeballing the Slingshot

Slingshot's power plant

On our return trip back to Iowa we cut up through Hartsville, South Carolina, to visit Julie's sister and husband.  Hartsville is only about 20 miles from Darlington where the Darlington Raceway is located.  It's the raceway for the NASCAR Southern 500 held over Labor Day weekend every year.  Because of it's unusual configuration and banking, it's called the "Track That's Too Tough To Tame".  It holds 59,000 fans on race day. We weren't able to tour the track that day, but we were able to take some photos from a platform located outside the fence.  We also toured the museum that's located there.
Here's some photos and hopefully a video of "The Stripe" and the museum.

LOCAL HERO--CALE GREW UP ONLY A SHORT DISTANCE
FROM DARLINGTON

AND FINALLY--A SUNSET OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO
                             AT THE END OF OUR JOURNEY

JIM & CATHY'S TRIP

Jim & Cathy made a trip to St. Louis recently and visited the transportation museum there.  Here's some photos Jim shared with us.  Looks like an interesting place!

THIS MACHINE IS USED TO MAINTAIN IOWA'S HIGHWAYS!!

CHUCKLES NEW RIDE!

WE'RE BACK!! MORE REPORTS

After close to 6,000 miles on the truck and 3,000 on the trike, we made it safely back to Iowa.  What a journey! There were no problems with the weather.  In fact, the only snow we saw was on the ground, and that wasn't until we reached Dubuque.  I guess the old Iowa weather axiom about north and south of highway 20 still holds true.
Since I didn't have access to the internet for the past few days, I am going to post a couple of our more interesting bike trips in Florida in the past tense.
The first of these was a GWRRA chapter meeting that we attended in Crestview, Florida, on a Saturday morning.  After stuffing ourselves at a breakfast buffet and meeting some very friendly riders from the chapter, we were able to join some of them for a ride after the meeting.  We were led by a couple of the chapter members on a really neat ride through some of the northern Florida back country (yes, we actually found a couple of curvy roads) to a park that is the highest point in Florida.  When you see the photos, you will note that it's really not very high, and in fact, is the lowest high point of all the states!  We were joined by a couple from Alabama.  The wife rode a Gold Wing trike, and the husband had a new Harley.  You don't have to have a Gold Wing to be members of GWRRA chapter.
Our second interesting journey started the following Saturday at an Italian restaurant in Panama City with the Panama City chapter joined by the Dothan, Alabama chapter.  After an incredible veal parmigiana lunch, we were led by the Panama City chapter director, Dick Smith, on a ride to Wewahitchka, Florida.  Besides Dick and us on trikes, the group included a retired police woman from Toronto on a trike, a retired lady school teacher from Atlanta on a two wheeler Gold Wing, and another chapter member on a Spyder.  Wewa, as the natives call it, is the home to Tupelo honey.  This is the only place where this honey can be produced by bees using the tupelo trees.  In fact, a movie was shot here called "Ulee's Gold" and starred Peter Fonda who played the role of a beekeeper.  We also rode to Gaskin Park that is right next to the Apalachicola river.  Florida does a great job with their state and county parks.  After leaving Wewa, we journeyed on down to the coast and had some ice cream in Port St. Joe, an old historic port town on  the Gulf of Mexico.  Actually, it got a little dark before we got back to the condo in Panama City Beach.  However, I did get to operate the CB on the trike for my first time.  Seemed to work well communicating with the leader.  I found out you can take in a lot more scenery when you're not leading!

Here's some photos and hopefully a video on the trike from the above two adventures.  The next and last report will be for NASCAR fans and a look at a Slingshot.  Stay tuned!

TWO WNR'S FEASTING IN CRESTVIEW, FLORIDA

THE CRESTVIEW PARKING LOT

A VERY SPECIAL GW CHAPTER MEMBER

THE CHAPTER BANNER

OUR "HIGHEST POINT" RIDE GROUP

A WHOLE 345 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL!

OUR WEWA TRIP GROUP