UPDATE ON WAYNE F PLUS CHUCKLES & LOIS

 As many of you found out at our PMS get-together a week ago Wednesday,  that Wayne F was hospitalized that same day to undergo a series of 5 different operations.  I talked to Wayne tonight to see how he was doing.  He sounded kind of tired, but in good spirits.  Apparently the surgeries went well and he is now recovering.  Tomorrow will be the first day he will be given solid food.  He indicated that it should be somewhere around two days before he will be released to go back home.  After that he will be limited to lifting 10 pounds and will have six weeks of daily exams.  These he will be able to do in Waukon.  It sounded like he was very confident that he will recover well.  I indicated that quite a number of our Wednesday night riders were concerned about him, and he thanked me for calling.  I also indicated that we would keep him in our prayers until we could see his smiling face again. I indicated that I would visit him at home and drop off a dvd from our PMS meeting, because I know how much he and Sandy always enjoyed those get-togethers.  Get-well wishes can be sent to him at 1205 Acreage Lane, Waukon, IA 52172.

MEANWHILE

Chuckles and Lois ventured into Texas shortly after our PMS meeting.  They rented a Harley trike and did some riding on the Twisted Sisters.

GOOD TIMES ON THE TWISTED SISTERS

MOST OF US THINK THAT LOIS SHOULD BE DOING THE DRIVING!

Tomorrow is the omelet breakfast at Camp Courageous.  With the weather being totally crappy, we will be car pooling from Casey's at 9 AM.  Hope to see you there!

ME, MYSELF, AND I

 My premise is that if the temp is 50 or above and it's not raining, I ride.  Well, Wednesday nights temps were in the low 60's and we were under sunny skies, so I was ready to motor.  Particularly since the weather had not been cooperating since our first Wednesday ride, I was looking forward to being out on the road again.  However after gassing up at Casey's and waiting until 5, I was surprised to find that I was going to be the only Wednesday night rider tonight.

With all the road repair in our area and some road closures due to flooding, it took me a while to figure out a route that would work tonight.  So I cruised out of Casey's at 5 and headed out on HWY 9, then to HWY 76, and down Forest Mills Road.  After passing the Gelo plantation, I turned onto Cherry Valley Drive and motored into Postville.  There on the outskirts of Postville, I had to stop for a train roaring by.

I stayed a good distance away from the tracks after hearing about all the train derailments in the country lately!

After the train passed, I continued my solo journey through Postville and onto HWY 18 heading west.  I followed 18 on into Clermont, and then took the Great River Road all the way across to HWY 150 near Eldorado.  I crossed the Turkey River a number of times and was surprised to see that it was a little higher, but certainly not flood stage (at least yet).  I turned north onto HWY 150 and then turned onto CR B32 just past Festina and motored on into Ft. Atkinson.  I was warm enough yet that I hadn't needed the heated seat or grips on the Wing.

After arriving in Ft. Atkinson, I slipped onto HWY 24 and headed east into Calmar.  There I stopped at the newly remodeled Kwik Star for a break.

This is really a nice store now after all the remodeling.  Since I knew I probably wouldn't stop for eats when I got back to Waukon, I gobbled down a slice of pizza that was on sale.  BIG MISTAKE!  I could taste that pizza for the whole rest of the trip.

After several burps, I got going again on HWY 52 and made a beeline for Ossian.  To my surprise I saw the same train that I waited for in Postville parked along the tracks on the highway to Ossian.  Once I reached Ossian, I passed through town, turned left onto CR W42 for a short jog, and then onto Sand Road still heading east.  At the end of Sand Road I turned back north onto Centennial Road and would up at HWY 9.  I followed it back into Waukon where I parked the Wing after racking up about 90 miles.  With the way the weather has been, I was happy to get in another Wednesday night ride!

CAMP COURAGEOUS

Sunday is our "charity" ride to Camp Courageous for their omelet breakfast fund raiser.  The weather at the present time does not look too favorable for motorcycle riding, but we still plan to go by car-pooling.  So if you would like to go along, we still plan to meet at Casey's at 9 AM on Sunday morning.  Camp Courageous is a charity we strongly support because of all the work they do for folks (especially kids) with disabilities without any assistance from government agencies.  Besides their omelets are great eats!

WHO'D A THOUGHT IT--PMS

 Our 15th annual PMS (Parked Motorcycle (Motorcar) Syndrome) get-together for the Wednesday Night Riders drew an amazing crowd of 35 folks to the Uptown Grill in Waukon last night.  That is quite amazing since our first one back then only drew 10 people!  Quite a bunch!

LOIS WAS "WOUNDED", BUT STILL ABLE TO COME

DARREL, ROGER, CHUCKLES, DAVE, AND JULIE

HOWARD, RON, BERNELL, MARY, GLORIA, DOROTHY, LOIS, AND JULIE

HELEN, KATHY, CARL (DOZING OFF), JIM, CATHY, SUE, AND AL

KATHY, HELEN, JOYCE, CARL (AWAKE NOW), BOB Z, DAVID, DARRON, SUE, AND SUZANNE

ChucK, MIKE (NEWBIE), JENS, JANE, DENNIS, MARLENE, CHRIS, KARLA, IRV, AND TERRY

Now with sound effects!

We honored the USA and veterans...

Paid respect to those who passed...

MERYLE

WAYNE

BOB

KATHY

DOROTHY

Our "program" consisted of some "interpreted" reflections back on the 2022 riding season.  Here's a few of the photos from those.

PMS REMINDER

 With high temps only in the low 50's and a 70% chance of rain for Wednesday, it looks to be a good night to be indoors at the Uptown Grill for our PMS get-together.  You can place your food order around 6 and the "program" will follow around 7.  We had a nice crowd last year....

and look for a good bunch again this year.

Again, it's tomorrow night at the Uptown Grill in Waukon.  Eats around 6 and entertainment to follow in the party room.

I plan to honor those of our "family" who have passed away since our last get-together, our veterans, and our lady riders.  I will also give a brief synopsis of last year's (2022) rides and comment on the upcoming scheduled (2023) rides.  That will be followed by some hopefully good-natured, humorous reflections (heckling) of some of our group.  SEE YOU THEN AND BRING A GUEST!

UPDATE ON JIM D

 Jim D and I have been trying to contact each other for a while without much success.  As some of you may know that Jim and Honey have parted ways, and I have included a couple of clips of them in the video I plan to show at our PMS get-together on Wednesday.  So, I wanted to contact Jim to see if was still OK to use the clips.  Today, we finally made contact with each other, and here is the update of Jim.

Hi Bob,
It is very kind of you to ask.
It has been a very busy winter for me. I do not mind a bit you showing honey and me and on your presentation. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it as I am still in Florida. I will be heading north from here the end of this month but it will probably take me another month before I get back to Iowa. In the meantime, I left Waukon last September and went to the Black Hills I spent five days there riding. From there I went to Cody Wyoming and was there for two weeks and explored Yellowstone and the surrounding country. . I went from there to Green River Wyoming, and spent several days while I cruised through the flaming gorge. From there I went to Tucson Arizona and spent a month there, cruising all over southern and central Arizona. From there I went to Yuma Arizona and explored southern California and south west Arizona. I left there on Christmas day and headed for Dallas Texas
 and spent a week there with my younger brother and then headed on to Sebring Florida. I spent two months in Sebring and met a wonderful woman who I am now married to. She is a beautiful blond and has her own motorcycle ( a BMW 1250R) and toy hauler and is almost 6 foot tall and we hit it off right off the bat. So at this time I am not sure what my plans will be, except that we plan to continue RVing and Motorcycle riding around the country.
Feel free to share this with anyone you want to and I will send you some pictures.
Thank you Bob,

Jim Downing

On behalf of the Wednesday Night Riders, I sent congratulations to Jim and said we would be anxious to meet his new bride when he gets back to Waukon.

NEW SEASON AND NEW RIDES!

 The 2023 riding season for the Wednesday Night Riders has been officially "kicked off".  Nine riders showed up at Casey's on Wednesday night ready to roll into the new season including Jim & Cathy on a new Wing, Howard and Irv in the support Corvette, Dave on his Harley trike, Lissa on her Harley bike, Dr. David in the support Jeep, ChucK on his new Wing bagger trike and Bob R on his Wing trike.  Not only were we embarking on a new season, a couple of the group showed up with new rides!

JIM & CATHY TELLING IRV & HOWARD ABOUT THEIR NEW GOLDWING

ChucK's NEW PURCHASE, A GOLDWING BAGGER TRIKE

DAVE READY FOR THE NEW SEASON

DR. DAVID MOUNTING UP IN THE SUPPORT JEEP

LISSA CHECKING HER REAR SHOCKS

With Bob R leading the way again this year, we pulled out of Casey's at our new 5 o'clock time.  The temps were an unbelievable 85 degrees and there was a pretty strong SW wind blowing.  We passed through Waukon on Main St. and turned north to catch HWY 76 north.  Once on 76 we were blasted a few times by wind gusts, but passed through Eitzen and on into Caledonia safely.

Just outside of Caledonia we departed HWY 76 and turned westward onto CR 10.  Most of CR 10 passes through valleys, so it was a welcome relief from the wind gusts.  After a smooth and curvy ride on CR 10, we reconnected with HWY 76 just outside of Houston, and rolled into town for a break at the BP station.

THE "WINDBLOWN" CREW ARRIVES IN HOUSTON

I would almost bet that it was warmer in Houston, Minnesota, than in Houston, Texas, on this April evening!

After quenching our thirsts, we backtracked a short distance on HWY 76 until we reached CR 4.  We followed that stretch of blacktop on through Yucatan and Black Hammer and on into Spring Grove.  Heading in this direction seemed to give us some relief from the wind.  Once arriving in Spring Grove, we opted to take CR A16 southward out of town and cruised on it all the way into Dorchester.

Passing through the "suburbs" of Dorchester we arrived on HWY 76 again and turned south.  After a short jog, we picked up CR A26 (Iowa River Drive) and headed eastward.  IRD led us over to Lycurgus Road and followed it southward to HWY 9 at the Lycurgus church.  We then followed HWY 9 back into Waukon for eats at the newly remodeled Uptown Grill.  I had 110 miles on the clock on the trike when I pulled into the shed at home.

Despite the wind, it was great to get in our first (hopefully of many) Wednesday night rides.

REMINDER

Our fifteenth annual PMS get-together is next Wednesday at the Uptown Grill party room in Waukon.  Eats at 6 and "program" at 7.  Everyone is invited.

DRIVEL  

Terry sent me the following humorous take on group riding.

Also, we saw several squirrels on our ride Wednesday night, but I don't remember seeing this guy!

YOUR CHECK'S IN THE MAIL

 First of all, Easter blessings to all Wednesday Night Riders and their families and friends.

You probably don't have a check coming in the mail, but you will, or maybe already have, your invite to the PMS get-together on April 19th. at the Uptown Grill in Waukon starting at 6 PM.  This has proved to be a fun time, and hopefully everyone can make it.  If you did not receive an invitation in the mail, that means I do not have your mailing address.  However, you are still more than welcome to attend.  Consider this your invitation!

Along with the the invites, I enclosed a 2023 Rides Sheet.  I will have some of these available at the meeting if you didn't receive the mailing. At the time I sent these out, the Hospice Ride had not yet been finalized, but there's a good chance it will be on June 25th.  Information about this important ride will be forthcoming on the blog.

  Also in some of the mailings I enclosed a flyer pertaining to mentoring.  If this doesn't interest you, I would like to see you pass it on to someone you think might be a good prospect for being a mentor.  Allamakee County can really use some mentors for young people that are waiting!

POSSIBLE RIDE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT!

Unless the weather forecast changes drastically, this coming Wednesday evening looks to become our first Wednesday night for the year!  Right now temps are predicted to be in the 70's and practically no chance of rain.  How lucky can we get!  I did not get any negative feedback on changing our DEPARTURE time on Wednesday nights from 5:30 to 5:00, so let's plan on leaving Casey's at 5 next Wednesday and usher in the new riding season.

SCOTT VOTSMIER

Chuckles and Lois's son, Scott, was featured in a video promotion put on by his employers.  I thought it was really well-done, and have included the link for those of you who haven't seen it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCZ_-wnvC8

FINALLY .....