FOURTEEN TO LARRY'S

 After eating breakfast benefitting 4H clubs and donating to the Mags/Byrnes scholarship ride, we arrived at Casey's at 10:30 to greet 14 riders set to journey on an RTE to Larry's Lookout Bar near Arcadia, WI.  

Waiting there on bikes were Jim & Cathy, Roger, Dee, Al, and Marie and her son.  Trikes made up the rest of the participants.  We had Chuck (not Chuckles) and his son, Darrel, Gary & Gloria, and Bob & Julie on their respective rides.

GOOD GROUP FOR THE LARRY'S RTE

ROGER "ISOLATES" HIS HARLEY

DARREL & GLORIA COMPARE RIDES

DEE GETS THE "W" READY FOR THE TRIP

TWO "BARRISTERS" CONFER

MARIE & SON BESIDE JULIE

GETTING READY TO ROLL

Departing Casey's under sunny skies and temps in the mid 70's, we started our ride by heading east through Waukon on HWY 9.  We turned onto the Lycurgus Road after about 5 miles and followed it to Iowa River Drive, then to HWY 26, and on through New Albin.  HWY 26 took us to HWY 16 just south of LaCrescent.  We passed through LaCrescent and after a short trip on I 90 merged onto HWY 14/61 motoring towards Winona.  After reaching Winona, we turned onto Huff Street and then to the visitor center and stopped there for a break.  Shortly after we stopped at the tourist center, we passed through Winona and across the Mississippi River bridge into Wisconsin.  After crossing the bridge we turned to the north on HWY 35 and cruised along the Wisconsin side of the river.  Actually because of the nice day and Fathers' Day weekend, there was about as much traffic on the river as there was on the highways!

We kept on HWY 35 until just south of Fountain City when we took CR YY to the east.  Shortly thereafter YY joined CR M and then M ended at HWY 95.  HWY 95 offers some great scenic views and on a clear day we were able to really enjoy them.  We then arrived at Larry's (formerly Hanson's Holdup Bar)  where we discovered we were not the only motorcycle group to be attracted there today.

THE VIEW FROM THE "BURNOUT" RAMP

PARKING AMONG THE MANY HARLEYS IN THE LOT

JIM WITH HIS NEW JACKET

THE REST OF THE GELOS GET PARKED

ANOTHER BIKER EXAMINES AL & DEE'S RIDES

WE WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES HERE!

After placing our orders for burgers, pulled pork, a fat-ass reuben, and fish sandwich, we relaxed on the deck enjoying the view and the warm day.  Then the Harley group decided to leave with a burnout and enough exhaust noise to chase away any wildlife for miles!  After the "thunder" from the Harleys, we enjoyed our meals and took one last look at the view.

With Jim now in the lead we headed towards Arcadia on HWY 95.  We wanted to pay a visit to the Soldiers Walk park located in Arcadia, and since Jim & Cathy had been there before, they led the way.  Also this section of HWY 95 offers some nice sweeping curves and some more great views of the valleys below,

We arrived at the park and after viewing a video in the visitor center, we explored some of the statues that are placed along the walk.  Each war that the United States had soldiers has memorial statues placed in special spots along the way.

A BEAM FROM THE 9/11 ATTACK ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

This park is very impressive, particularly for a town the size of Arcadia.  We didn't have time to thoroughly explore the entire "walk", but I do plan to return there and spend more time admiring the work done on the statues.

Since Jim was having "dt's" from lack of coffee, he led us to the Kwik Trip where some of gassed up and waited for Darrel to mix up an iced coffee treat. We then departed Arcadia on HWY 93 south.  There are also some beautiful views on either side of this highway.  We then turned onto CR G, another of Bob's top ten scenic routes.  It didn't disappoint either.  The views were spectacular!  Continuing on G, we passed through the hamlet of Pine Creek where they were celebrating "Pine Creek Days".  We just missed the "massive" parade that was scheduled to begin shortly and continued on our journey down CR G.  Normally G would take a traveler all the way down to HWY 35, but because of a bridge being out, we had to detour onto CR P over through Dodge (no Boot Hill) and then Marshland (no marsh) and down to HWY 35. 

HWY 35 took us south to Centerville where we stopped at Toad's Cove BP Store for some ice cream.  All along the highways and stops, we met many, many motorcycle groups.  We were able to visit with some of them while we were at Toad's and they related their adventure up to Bucknuckles Bar.  Apparently there was quite a number of bikers there too.  It was time to make our trip back home, so we continued on 35 to HWY 54 and then onto HWY 53 south through Holmen and back to I 90.  We got off at the LaCrescent exit on 90 and back on HWY 14.  Passing again through LaCrescent and then Holmen, we reached Caledonia and HWY 76 south.  76 took us back into Waukon where I noticed we racked up 214 miles on a really neat trip to Larry's and back.

Right now the plan for the ride on Wednesday night is to Arlington (Iowa, not Virginia!)