GOOD SHOWING FOR PMS

We had 24 WNR show up for our annual PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome) meeting at the Old Rossville Store on Wednesday night.  We all signed a quilt that Julie made to be given to Henry Wayne Palmer (Lars & Jen's son, Chuckles & Lois's grandson,  Wayne & Sandy's great grand son, and WNR's unofficial God son)  We did miss Wayne & Sandy who were apparently "under the weather".  Hopefully they recover soon!

  After a delicious meal (most had the Wednesday night special--chicken), Bob R presented a DVD on Camp Courageous that told what they did and thanked us for our support.  Then another DVD was shown with quotes and matching photos from the 2017 riding year that caused numerous laughs.  Here's a few photos that didn't make the cut due to time restraints.

"I DON' BELIEVE A WORD HE'S SAYING."

"I JUST ORDERED A SUB THIS LONG!"

"THEY LOOK A LOT BETTER FROM BEHIND."

"I'LL BET HE"S GOING TO CHECK CHUCKLES FOR DOPE."

"A TANK OF THAT MONSTER ENERGY SHOULD GET THAT HARLEY GOING."

"NOT AS COMFORTABLE AS A GOLD WING SEAT."

"IF ALL THE RIDERS LOOKED LIKE THAT, I'D RIDE A LOT MORE!"

SIGN SEEN ON THE COUPLES' TRIP

Here's to many warm Wednesday nights!

FINISHING THE CRUISE

After leaving the island of St. Lucia, we sailed into the port on Barbados.  There we toured some of the island and visited their number one attraction, Harrison's Cave.

THERE ARE STILL PIRATES ON THE ISLAND

IN THE CAVE

LOTS OF BEAUTIFUL FAUNA

SHIP MAINTENANCE

Barbados was our last island before returning to our starting port in San Juan.  Since we were to sail into San Juan at 8:00 in the morning, and our flight wasn't until 3:30, we decided to take a tour of old San Juan and the Bacardi Rum distillery there.  At one time San Juan was a Spanish military fort surrounded by a massive stone wall.

INSIDE THE DISTILLERY

WHILE WE WERE GONE, A MONKEY SNEAKED INTO OUR CABIN

After our San Juan tour, we boarded the "flying sardine can" and flew back to Charlotte where the pick-up and trailer were left.  We headed for home from there.  While we had a great time on the cruise with some old and new Gold Wing friends, it was nice to get back into the USA.

SEE YOU WEDNESDAY NIGHT IN ROSSVILLE

WE'RE BAAACK!

We arrived back in Waukon on Monday.  The first snow we saw on the trip back from Charlotte, NC, was at Dyersville.  We put a little over 5,000 miles on the pick-up on our land part of our journey.

THE CRUISE
We flew from Charlotte, NC, to San Juan, PR, on the 10th where we boarded our cruise ship, "Adventure of the Seas".

OUR SHIP IS ON THE LEFT.  IT'S POWERED BY TWO HONDA GOLD WING ENGINES!

From San Juan we sailed to the island country of St. Maarten.  This island is owned by two countries, Holland and France.  We were not able to visit the French side since it was still heavily damaged by the hurricane.  We were still able to see some beautiful scenery,

HURRICANE DAMAGE IN THE HARBOR

and tour a local rum maker where we purchased a bottle (samples will be available at the cookout on Memorial Day)

but St. Maarten is probably best known for its airport.  The runway is short and narrow and the planes are very low when they come over the beach, which makes it a tourist attraction.

Click and see for yourself.

Our next stop was to the island of St. Kitts and Nevis. We toured on an enclosed van around the island and visited a 300 year-old plantation that once had many slaves.

TREE OVER 300 YEARS OLD

Our next island stop was Antigua.  Where we toured an old Spanish fort and Nelson's dockyard.

THE DOCKYARD

THE CAPTAIN'S HOUSE

THE OLD FORT

St. Lucia was our next island stop.  We toured part of the island scenery, visited a tropical garden, and went into a city that's inside an old volcano.

SUGAR CANE

THE VOLCANO IS STILL BUBBLING

That's all the room I have on this blog.  Next time I'll show Barbados and San Juan.

Don't forget the PMS meeting next Wednesday night at 7 in Rossville.  Meryle is back, so he should add to the festivities!

MORE 2018 RIDING

n addition to Jim & Cathy's ride in Texas and Chuck & Lois' ride in Arizona during the month of January, Chuck & Jim rode February 27th up 76 over to New Albin then down to Lansing to watch a little ice fishing and stop for coffee.  Made it back to town in time to give the bikes a bath.  

Instead of staying in Waukon to watch the St. Patty's parade, Chuck & Jim made their own parade with a ride.  They left the Gelo ranch, headed through Postville, Gunder, Elkader, Garber, Guttenberg then over to Prairie for donuts (of course, Chuckles was there) & coffee.  Took a county road up to 27 then C down to Ferryville then across to Lansing and Elon back home.  This time the bikes stayed clean and were able to put on over 150 miles.

Looking forward to the WNR banquet in a couple of weeks!  Chuck is hoping Bob makes it back as he doesn't have a program put together.  He can't sing or dance!  

Safe travels back, Bob & Julie!​

GOIN' CRUISIN'

We left Florida and arrived safely in Hartsville, SC, where Julie's sister and husband live.  On the way to Hartsville, we stopped in Savanna, GA, where we took the trike to the old part of town and took a walking tour of the historic squares.  On one of the squares we saw the house that William Tecumseh Sherman used as a headquarters on his march to the sea in the civil war.  It is also known for all of its beautiful churches.  Savanna is a beautiful old southern city!  Near Savanna we toured the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum.  The Mighty Eighth is famously known as the flyers who never turned back on a mission in WWII due to enemy fire.  After Savanna we took a short drive up to Charleston, SC, where we rode the trike out to Patriots' Point.  From there we took a tour boat over to Fort Sumpter where the first shots of the civil war were fired.  When we returned to port, we went aboard the USS Yorktown carrier that is docked there as a museum.  This ship is a rebuild of the original Yorktown carrier that was sunk at the battle of Midway in 1942.

After a few days here in Hartsville touring and golfing, we will be heading up to the Charlotte, SC, airport and board a plane (flying sardine can) and fly into San Juan to start our cruise with the Goldwingers.  Our stops include St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados.  If everything goes as scheduled (good luck there!), we should be back in the States on Saturday, March 17th and home on Monday.  DON'T FORGET THE PMS MEETING ON THE 28th!!  Here's hoping everything is going well with our little new member, and please get the weather straightened out before we get back!

Here's a few photos of our latest adventures.

SAVANNA

POPULAR MODE OF TRANSPORTATION

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

FOUNTAIN IN THE PARK SQUARE

WILLIAM T SHERMAN'S HEADQUARTERS

CATHOLIC CHURCH

MIGHTY 8TH

NOSE CANNON ON B-17

JULIE SHOOTING DOWN GERMAN PLANES

BOB WITH JIMMY DOLITTLE

BALL TURRET ON A B-17

FORT SUMPTER

CANNON BALL & SHELL FIRED INTO FT. SUMPTER

ORIGINAL FLAG FLOWN OVER THE FORT

YORKTOWN CARRIER CV-10

THE GOLDWING AND ANOTHER CARRIER

USS LAFFEY WWII SHIP ALSO IN HARBOR

YORKTOWN HANGAR DECK WITH WWII AIRCRAFT

BOB SHOOTING DOWN JAP PLANES

YORKTOWN FLIGHT DECK

ADMIRAL ROTACH