TRIO OF GOLD WING TRIKES ON BONUS RUN

 It proved to be a very nice day for our "Bonus Run" on Sunday, but apparently other commitments limited our riders to 4, all on Gold Wing trikes.  We had Darrel on "Old Yeller", ChucK on "New Red", and Bob & Julie on "Old Red".  The route I picked, I call Scenic TWO, since it takes in two of the most scenic stretches of pavement in southeast Minnesota.

We departed Casey's at 1PM and headed north out of Waukon on HWY 76 under partly sunny skies and temps in the mid 70's.  We turned off of 76 just north of Eitzen and followed CR 17 past the Wilmington Church and over to HWY 44 just outside of Spring Grove.  HWY 44 took us over to HWY 76 again and we passed through Caledonia and picked up CR 10 heading east.  Passing through Sheldon, a newly resurfaced blacktop made a smooth ride back to HWY 76.  After a short jog on 76, we cruised into Houston for a break at our favorite BP convenience store where Darrel cleaned bug juice off his glasses.

POSING FOR A REST STOP

After our break and some glasses cleaning we started through Houston and found out the town is not only known for owls, but also dragons and other monsters!

WE DID "THE MONSTER MASH"

Still on 76 we passed through Houston on onto CR 9 heading east out of town.  CR 9 is another scenic and smooth stretch of pavement that takes us through Looney Valley and onto CR 11 heading north again.  We were able to see some color in the leaves along the limestone bluffs on CR 11.  From CR 11 we took CR 8 back east and breezed through New Hartford avoiding the "rush hour".  Turning back north when we came to CR 5, we made our way into Nodine to pay tribute to the Tin Man.  Legend has it that if you don't pay tribute to him when passing by, men will suffer severe consequences when they reach the bottom of the hill! 

TIN MAN!

Once by the Tin Man, we turned south onto CR 1, aka Apple Blossom Drive, and marveled at the sites along the way.  This is the first of the two of my most scenic drives.

THAT'S LAX AIRPORT

ANOTHER SHOT FROM APPLE BLOSSOM DRIVE

We got down the hill into LaCrescent without any consequences thanks to the Tin Man!  Passing through LaCrescent, we took a short jog onto CR 6 and then onto CR 25 and up the long hill to the WXOW towers and onto Teschemper (Thumper) Drive.  IMHO this is the most scenic five miles in the tri-state area.  I try to make this journey at least a couple of times during the riding season.

These photos don't really do justice to the beautiful views that "Thumper" offers, but there is really no good place to pull off to take photos.  As far as leaf color, we did notice some bright yellows mixed in with the greens and browns.  Since our resident agronomist, Dee, wasn't along, I had to assume these were birch trees.

At the bottom of "Thumper", we turned east onto CR 21 and motored east over to HWY 16 and on into Hokah.  There we left 16 for HWY 44 and beat a beeline for Caledonia for our "pledged" stop for ice cream.  We reached our destination in Caledonia at the Wired (Ruptured) Rooser.

We parked in front of a "highly recommended" bakery.  It was closed.

But the Rooster was open and ready to serve us their delicious hand dipped ice cream.  After polishing off our ice cream treats, we got ready to make for home.  As we were about to pull out, Jim & Cathy arrived after making their trip up to Red Wing.  Now that some Gelos joined us, we could call this an official trip!

We left Caledonia via the "infamous" CR 14.  It is a smooth blacktop road with some easy on the eye views of surrounding valleys.  At the end of CR 14 we took HWY 26 south through New Albin and Lansing and then jumped onto HWY 9 back to Waukon.  We had 159 miles on the trike clock when we arrived home.

Even though we were still a little early for the fall leaf colors, it proved to be a great ride with some very striking scenery.  Hopefully some of us can still get in some rides before the "weather witch" drags winter in with her.  This was the last of our Wednesday Night Riders special rides, but we will continue to try Wednesday nights for a while depending on weather and daylight.