FIRST RIDE OF THE FALL WAS A TREAT

 On the second evening of the new fall season we had a baker's dozen WNR show up for our Wednesday night ride.  Irv, Darrel, and Chuck (not Chuckles) & Dee brought their trikes.  Mounting bikes were Howard, Beth, Al, Chuckles, Lois, Jim & Cathy, Roger, and Bob.

HOWARD & IRV CATCHING SOME RAYS

YEP, THAT'S BETH

I HOPE THAT'S NOT OUR SUPPORT VEHICLE!

CHUCK & DEE ARRIVE

With very pleasant fall temps and a sunny sky, we departed Casey's heading east on reconditioned, but not yet finished, HWY 9 east.  After about 5 miles, we turned west onto Lycurgus Road and followed it to Iowa River Drive again heading west.  Cruising along the Iowa River bottoms, we arrived at HWY 76 and took a short jog on it to Bear Creek Drive.  With the sun light ducking in and out from behind the bluffs, we continued west to Locust Road.  You could really tell the differences in temps when the ride went into a shady area of the road.  Locust Road took us north to HWY 44 east just outside of Spring Grove.  We entered Spring Grove and turned onto CR A16, or what I call Dorchester Drive heading back east.  There are some really scenic views on A16 coming down into Dorchester, but the distance of the views were blocked somewhat yet by the smoke haze from the fires out west.  Still there was some fine northeast Iowa scenery. We did spot a number of turkeys, but no deer.  After passing through Dorchester and avoiding rush hour, we hooked up with HWY 76 and headed south into Waukon. While the haze limited our distant views, it did make for a beautiful red sunset!  Some of us stopped at City Club for our after ride meal.

ARRIVING JUST AFTER SUNSET

After cleaning the bug splatters off my the windshield on the Wing, I looked at the speedometer to see that we put on about 80 miles on our first trip of fall 2020.  Let's hope this is not the last of our pleasant Wednesday night riding.

TIP--Speaking of bug splatters on the windshield, I have found that spraying hydrogen peroxide on the splatters makes them foam up and very easy to remove with a soft sponge and water.  Then wipe the water off with a good chamois cloth.  Do not use the windshield wipers at gas stations!  They will put scratches on your windshield.  Hydrogen peroxide is cheap, and it will not harm paint or plastic.  I buy it by the quart and put it into a spray bottle.

SUNDAY

This Sunday, the 27th, was supposed to be our semi-annual ride to Camp Courageous in Monticello for their pancake breakfast fund raiser.  However, due to COVID, Camp Courageous is temporarily closed, so we won't be riding down there on Sunday.  Julie and I will be sending in our donation to them by mail.  Without the fund raisers, the camp can use all the donations they can get!

I still plan to go on a RTE (Ride To Eat) on Sunday. It looks like the weather is still going to be nice that day, but turning colder the rest of the week.  One possibility is riding up to Larry's Lookout Bar (used to be Hanson's) now under new management.  That was a ride that was scheduled in July, but the Weather Witch didn't cooperate back then.  At any rate, if the weather still looks promising, I plan to leave Casey's at 11 AM on Sunday morning.  Everyone is welcome to ride along.