4 SOME TO CAMP COURAGEOUS

Like most of the past month, the last day of April was brutal for motorcycling, but four WNR journeyed down to Monticello by Durango for the Camp Courageous omelet breakfast fund raiser.  Despite the weather, there appeared to be a good crowd, and hopefully a lot of money was raised to help fund the Camp that does not get any government funding.  Camp Courageous serves over 7,000 individuals with disabilities in a year round program.  WNR has now been helping support the Camp for the past 10 years.

This year Dennis, Marlene, Julie, and Bob R left Casey's at 9:15 on Sunday morning aboard the Rotach's Dodge Durango.  The temperature never did get above 45 degrees with mist and a 20 MPH wind.  Not a good day for bikes or convertibles!  But the breakfast was delicious.

NO BIKES IN THE LOT!!

WNR at CC
CAN YOU TELL BOB IS THRILLED WITH THE WEATHER?!!

HOPEFULLY THE WEATHER WITCH IS FINALLY SATISFIED WITH EVERYTHING SHE'S SPOILED, AND WE'LL BE ABLE TO RIDE NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

CRAP WEDNESDAY--CAGES TO C. COURAGEOUS

Another lousy weather Wednesday!  I'm assuming no one rode in the 44 degree and misty conditions.  Mother Nature took another crap on us.  Hopefully some of you took advantage of the nice weekend and did some riding.  We were in Seattle enjoying the rain and cool weather that is normal there this time of year.  It was nice seeing the kids and grand kids, but most of you know how I feel about flying.  That hasn't changed a bit!

It sounds as if Mother Nature doesn't care about Camp Courageous either.  The predicted weather for Sunday is a high of 45 and a possibility of some more rain, so let's fool her and take cages (cars) to Monticello on Sunday.  If you want to go to Camp Courageous for omelets on Sunday, bring your car to Casey's at 9:15 AM and we'll see how many cars we need and go from there.  We may even stop for ice cream on the way back!

Again, not to close on a sour note, here's a joke sent to me by some Gold Wingers.

SQUIRRELS
The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrels.  After much prayer and consideration, they determined the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's will.

At the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken an interest in the babtistery.  The Elders met and decided to put a water slide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves.  The squirrels liked the slide and unfortunately, they knew instinctively how to swim so twice as many squirrels showed up the next week.

The Episcopal Church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creatures.  So they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist Church.  Two weeks later the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down their water slide.

But the Catholic Church came up with a very creative strategy.  They baptized all the squirrels and consecrated them as members of the church.  Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.

Not much was heard from the Jewish Synagogue, but it's rumored that they took one squirrel and circumcised him.  They haven't seen a squirrel on their property since!

SEE YOU SUNDAY MORNING AT CASEY'S at 9:15

MOTHER NATURE IS NOT A BIKER--DANGEROUS STREET

After the weather that we had Wednesday, I am pretty well convinced that Mother Nature is not and never was a biker!  Another Wednesday night wash/freeze out and only 10 days left before the scheduled trip to Camp Courageous.  Let's hope She has her act together by then!

A WORD OF WARNING--If you plan to ride on the street that goes around the golf course, be extremely careful.  It has been chip sealed and, of course, there is lots of loose gravel in piles all along the route.  And in keeping with the typical no regard for bikers, there are no "Loose Gravel" warning signs.  Apparently the company that supplies signs to the state, counties, and cities in Iowa can't spell Loose Gravel!

As to not close on a sour note, I thought I would share a joke with you that was sent to me by one of my GW friends.

SENIOR TRYING TO RESET PASSWORD

WINDOWS:
Please enter your new password.

USER:
Cabbage

WINDOWS:
Sorry, the password must be more than eight characters.

USER:
boiled cabbage

WINDOWS:
Sorry, the password must contain 1 numerical character

USER:
1 boiled cabbage

WINDOWS:
Sorry, the password cannot have blank spaces.

USER:
50damnboiledcabbages

WINDOWS:
Sorry, the password must contain at least one upper case character.

USER:
50DAMNEDboiledcabbages

WINDOWS:
Sorry, the password cannot use more than one upper case character consecutively.

USER:
50DamnBoiledCabbagesShovedUpYourButtIfYouDon'tGiveMeAccessNow!

WINDOWS:
Sorry, the password cannot contain punctuation.

USER:
50DamnBoiledCabbagesShovedUpYourButtIfYouDontGiveMeAccessNow

WINDOWS:
Sorry, that password is already in use.


HOPEFULLY WE'LL RIDE NEXT WEDNESDAY!

THREE WNR KICK OFF THE SEASON

The official Wednesday night riding season has been officially kicked off.  Three of us, Jim & Cathy and Bob R departed Casey's Wednesday on an overcast evening with a temperature of the drive-in bank clock at 57 degrees.  However as we turned the corner to head out on West Main, the temperature had warmed up to 59 degrees on the main bank clock!

We headed north on HWY 76 to Caledonia, where we turned east on CR 3 and journeyed down into Brownsville.  There we stopped at the convenience store for a hot chocolate.  We then continued on south on HWY 26 to New Albin where we picked up Iowa River Drive and headed west to Lycurgus Road and onto HWY 9 west.  We followed 9 on into Waukon and Gus & Tony's. I had about 85 miles on the clock when I got home.  It just started to sprinkle as we were leaving G & T's.  Those of you who didn't show up for the official WNR opening not only missed out on a nice ride, you missed out on Bob paying for supper!!

Here's a couple of photos from the first Wednesday, and a happy Easter to everyone!

CATHY WITH HER NEW BIKE
AND JIM BEGGING TO DRIVE IT

IN BROWNSVILLE

JIM POSED FOR AN EASTER PHOTO!

JIM & CATHY ATTEND MOONSHINE LUNCH RUN

I just received some photos that Jim took while he and Cathy went to the Moonshine Lunch Run in Moonshine, Ill. (pop. 2).  This event has an interesting history, and you can read about it  at https:// www.moonshine-run.com.

Jim says, "It turned out to be a worthwhile event to go to.  Started by a farmer St 1300 rider that wanted to get together with other bikers before he went into the fields.  The first year four guys showed up.  It has grown quite a little since then.  He passed away from a heart attack a few years back, but the event is still going strong.  We saw people from all over the US.  It's kind of an iron butt type of rider or people that like to cover distance and maybe have to tough out some adverse conditions.  We stayed in Casey, Ill.  Neat little town with some interesting rather large items in town.  The one with the mailbox is an ice cream joint just in case the WNR get out that way.  By the way, I think Greasers might be closed.  Everything is gone from there.

There was a 4 way right at the Moonshine store.  When we left bikes were parked out of sight going three different directions.  We left around 11AM and it was a steady stream coming in yet.

It's something to keep in mind for next year."

MAYBE NEXT WEDNESDAY!!?? SOME UNIQUE BIKES

The wicked witch of winter still won't let go, and another cold and windy Wednesday night has passed us by with no riding.  

I did get the 2 wheeler out on Saturday afternoon.  Since it had been over 5 months since I'd been on the 2 wheeler, I took her up to the high school parking lot for some pre-ride practice.  After I started to get comfortable with her again, I cruised through Fishville and past the Gelo ranch.  I continued on into Luana where I picked up HWY 18 and on through Monona and into Marquette.  By this time the temperature was a comfortable 62 degrees.  At Marquette I headed north on HWY 76, and without any leaves on the trees yet, that bluff between Marquette and Effigy Mounds looks pretty scary.  You can now see that there's a lot of trees just barely clinging to the rocks that could fall down on top of you at any time, particularly after all the rain we've had.  Actually I was kind of relieved to get to Effigy Mounds.

I then headed up the hill and turned towards Harpers Ferry.  In Harpers I took the Lansing/Harpers road to the Elon road and then back to Waukon.  About 75 miles, and it felt good to be able to lean into the curves again....maybe next Wednesday.

In the meantime, I thought you might like to take a look at some unusual bike pictures that were sent to me.  Enjoy.....