NICE TOASTY RIDE

 With temps hovering near 90 (88 actually) we still had 17 riders in or on 14 units show up at Casey's for our Wednesday night ride.  Bike riders were Tom (newbie), Chuckles, Lois, Jim G & Cathy (who?), Dee, Mike, and Jim D.  Trikes were operated by Roger, ChucK, Darrel, Dave M, and Bob R.  The Spyder had Richard & Melody aboard, and the "support" convertible was driven by Dale with Greg as passenger.

CHUCKLES & LOIS GREET TOM (NEWBIE)

ROGER HAS A DEPARTING DRINK

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?  MUST BE NEWBIES!

DEE & ChucK ARRIVE

MIKE CRUISES PAST DEE

DARREL WITH MATCHING YELLOW JACKET

DAVE SURVEYS THE SITUATION FROM THE SHADE

We depart Casey's at 5 and with Mt. Hope as our destination, we turn right at the stop light on Main and head east out on the Elon Road.  It had rained here earlier in the day, so we were expecting to see a lot of humidity in the air, but there was very little if any, so our views of the scenery were very clear.

At the end of the Elon Road, we turned south onto the Lansing/Harpers Road and made our way down the hills into Harpers Ferry.  Once in Harpers, we turned onto the Great River Road and continued along the edge of the Mississippi River up to HWY 76.  Some of us were able to see a real treat as we cruised along the river.  I pointed out to a bald eagle that dived into the river and came out with a fish in its beak.

Once reaching HWY 76, we turned south and made our way into Marquette, crossed the bridge into Prairie du Chien, and followed HWY 18 to CR C near Bridgeport.  We turned onto C which is a narrow stretch of blacktop that runs east along the south bank of the Wisconsin River.  This is a tree lined drive that offered us some cool shade.

CR C terminates at HWY 133 where we turned south and took in some sweeping curves until we arrived at HWY 18 again.  After a short jog east on 18 we rolled into the metropolis of Mt. Hope and stopped for cold drinks at Home A'gin pub.  I have been to this pub many times before, and it always seems to be busy.  That's probably because they serve good food at a very reasonable price.  Their Friday night fish fry is the best around.  They also serve breakfast, and have all-you-can-eat homemade pizza for $4 on Saturdays starting at 5.  Also on the first Saturday evening they have all-you-can-eat barbecue ribs.

After refreshing ourselves at Home A'gin's, we left Mt. Hope via CR JJ and arrived back on HWY 18.  We followed 18 back west to CR P near Patch Grove and turned west onto it.  CR P is kind of a roller coaster type of road, as you travel up and down some long hiils.  After our jaunt down P, we turned onto CR X for a short distance south and then onto CR C and back east to HWY 18 again.

HWY 18 took us back through PDC and across the bridge again into Marquette where some of us took the planned route back up HWY 76 while some continued on 18 back home. Because of the split, we lost a couple of riders who had to catch up to us later.  I guess that brings up a second important point to remember on our rides.  (IF YOU PLAN TO EXIT FROM THE RIDE EARLY BEFORE IT ENDS, THEN MOVE TO THE REAR, SO NO ONE ACCIDENTALLY FOLLOWS YOU.  Otherwise you may have an unexpected guest staying at your home for the night!

The group that followed HWY 76 back to Waukon was able to travel on a highway that is being resurfaced.  Since it was late, there were no workers present, so we did not have to stop for a pilot car.  The highway is much improved (it couldn't get much worse) and there are some more lifts of asphalt to be put down yet.  The plan was to return this way because HWY 18 is still closed at Froelich and you have to detour through Farmersburg to get past Monona.

The HWY 76 group made its way to the Uptown for eats where the conversation turned to "big ass" fish.  I had 117 miles on the trike after arriving home.  WELCOME TO TOM, AND HOPEFULLY HE WILL BE ABLE TO JOIN US AGAIN.

WHAT'S UPCOMING?

Bob R will be gone for the next two Wednesday nights and for the planned Mystery Ride on August 12th, so you will need a new leader(s) for these rides.  He will be gone on the ride to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan starting on Monday the 31st of July and ending on Saturday August 5th.  After returning home on the 5th, he will depart on the 7th for a family reunion in the Ozarks from the 8th through the 12th.  He will arrive back home on the 13th and participate in the trike ride for the Good Sam residents on Monday, the 14th.  WHEW!

TRIKE RIDES FOR GOOD SAM 

After visiting with the activities director at Good Sam on Wednesday and going over the ground rules for the ride on August 14 at 10 AM, she informed me that there will be close to 23 riders that day.  Ron, ChucK, and Bob are giving the rides, but with that many potential riders, we may need some help.  So if any of the trike riders in our Wednesday Night Riders group would like to help, get in touch with Bob.

FINALLY

BIG BUNCH TO HAWKEYE

 On another great weather Wednesday night, we had 17 riders in 14 units in our convoy bound for Hawkeye.  Aboard bikes were Dee, Chuckles, Lois, Howard, Jim D, and Mike.  ChucK, Dave M, Ron & Helen, Darrel, Bernell & Kathy, Richard & Melody, and Bob comprised the three wheel contingent.  Dr. David supplied the "support" jeep.

SOME OF THE TRIKE GANG

MIKE PARKS BY THE TRIKERS

MORE UNITS

GOOD TO SEE DAVE M AGAIN

THAT'S A REAL HEAD SCRATCHER

JUST THE SUPPORT JEEP TONIGHT

FULL TANKS AND EMPTY BLADDERS

THE SPYDER SLIPS AWAY FROM THE WEB

"IT'S HARD TO HOLD THIS POLE UP STRAIGHT!"

In the famous words of another big guy, "And away we go!"  With Dr. David blocking traffic, we proceeded out from Casey's onto HWY 9 and headed west to Centennial Road.  There we turned south to Sand Road and cruised on into Ossian.  We passed though Ossian and took CR B32 over to Festina and HWY 150.  Motoring south on 150 we found CR B44 (aka Nature Road) and had a smooth scenic ride over to CR W14 (aka Rose Road).  Some of us had previously traveled on these two county roads while riding in the Hospice Ride.  However, at that time it was drizzling rain and we couldn't really appreciate the route.  Tonight it was great!

Rose Road took us on into our destination, the Gas & Goods Convenience Store in Hawkeye.  This little place was well stocked with grocery items also and may well serve as the only grocery outlet in Hawkeye.

DAVE "HOPS" OFF THE HARLEY

THE REST OF THE GANG ROLLS IN

GETTING READY TO ROLL ON AGAIN

Since the road I wanted to take out of town and over to Fayette looked like it had been recently tarred and chip sealed, I had to try to find HWY 18 as an alternate.  After making a u-turn and passing one another, we did make our way over to HWY 18 and headed east to West Union.  This did shorten up the mileage on the route I had planned.  We motored though West Union and then took CR B64 (aka Golden Road) over to Elgin.  Golden Road provides a smooth ride and some great views.  After arriving in Elgin, we took CR W51 (aka Canoe Road) back north to HWY 18 in Clermont.  We then followed HWY 18 through Postville where some of our riders split off for home.  HWY 51 took us north out of Postville and then onto HWY 9 again this time heading east back to Waukon.  The remainder of the convoy stopped at Uptown for eats.  There the conversation turned to rattlesnakes.  I had 110 miles on the trike in Waukon.

NEXT WEDNESDAY

The plan is to journey over to Mt. Hope.

AND FINALLY

PIZZA, PIZZA, AND SPECIAL GUEST

 Our RTE (Ride To Eat) this Sunday was our "You Gotta Love Summer" pizza run.  This ride drew 11 riders including a "special" guest all the way from Wellsburg.

Mike & Joan, Chuckles, Lois, Lee, and Dee arrived on bikes.  While Darrel, ChucK, and Bob & Julie rode trikes.  Our special guest, David R, joined us on a Spyder.  Bob & David have been in contact with one another since the article Bob wrote for the Gold Wing Road Riders magazine.  David also follows us on the blog, and said he would like to ride with us sometime.  He and his wife were staying in Ferryville this weekend, so our pizza ride worked out for him to join us.

DAVID (AKA "PORKY") JOINS OUR GROUP

DAVID INTRODUCES HIMSELF

AND ENTERTAINS THE GROUP

APPARENTLY DARREL & DAVID HAVE MET BEFORE AS ChucK & DEE ARRIVE

With pizza on everyone's mind, we departed Casey's at 11 AM, cruised through the town and onto HWY 76 heading north.  After passing by Dorchester, Hanover, and Eitzen, we turned west onto CR 17.  This stretch of asphalt takes us by the scenic setting of the Wilmington Lutheran Church and over to HWY 44.  We take a short jog on 44 through Spring Grove, and arrive at CR 4 just outside of town and make the turn to the north.  We travel on CR 4 a number of times during the riding season.  It offers a smooth surface along with some sweeping curves and some great views along the valley formed by the south fork of the Root River.  CR 4 ends on HWY 76 just outside of Houston.

We continue on scenic 76 north of Houston and then turn back east on CR 26 at Money Creek.  We pass by the pool full of "bathing beauties" at the Money Creek Haven Campground and follow this well-maintained route blessed with some picturesque views.  We enjoy this eight mile journey, arrive in Rushford, and make our way to the Creamery Ice Cream and Pizza establishment.

Except for a couple of vegans, our group feasted on the pizza either by order or buffet.  This restaurant also offers a vast selection of hand-dipped ice cream and most of us took advantage.  After some good food and good service, we departed Rushford via HWY 16 heading southwest.

Hwy 16 is a popular route for motorcycles.  It traverses along the Root River and offers views of the river and bluffs.  In the warm summer, a lot of tubing goes on down the river rapids and there are several campgrounds located along the shores.  The road itself is very well maintained and offers up sweeping curves and some pleasant scenery.  This highway ends at the junction of HWY 52 just outside of Preston, and we take 52 south.  There were warning signs letting us know that road work was being done and oil and loose gravel may be present.  We saw none of that.  The resurfacing that was done made the highway a pleasure to ride.  The newly resurfacing ended at Harmony and there we took HWY 139 south.  The Minnesota section of 139 has been resurfaced, but the Iowa section is still in "stagecoach" condition.  We bumped our way down to Cresco for a short break.  If we had to do it over again, we would have probably stayed on 52.

HERE'S OUR GROUP IN CRESCO WITH A PHOTO FROM CHUCKLES

After our break, we continued on into Decorah on the Pole Line Road.  Again we were offered up some smooth pavement along with some curves and good views.  At the intersection with HWY 52 again, we took a short journey down the hill to HWY 9.  Following 9 through town, we made our way to Old Stage Road and on into Freeport.  That's where Darrel and Lee live, so that's where their ride ended.  Also, ChucK and Dee split off to head towards Postville.  The rest of us followed Old Stage into Waukon where Mike & Joan and David split off heading for New Albin and Ferryville.  Bob & Julie had about 160 miles on the trike when they got home.  Another good RTE!  Hopefully David can join us again on one of our rides.  He seemed to enjoy this one.

FINALLY

Here's a couple of contributions from Lois.

CHECK OUT THE PICNIC TABLE!

THIS SAYS IT ALL!

Still planning to head for Hawkeye next on Wednesday's ride using some of the route we took on the Hospice Ride.

RIDE AFTER THE RAIN

 After receiving a much needed rain in the area (anywhere from 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches), a surprising number of riders showed up a Casey's for our Wednesday night ride.  We had 17 riders in 14 units!

Bike riders were Howard, Jim Z (all the way from Knoxville,TN), Jim G & Bella (Bella goes from Houston,TX to Houston, MN), Lois, Chuckles, Mike, and Dee.  Rolling in on 3 wheelers were ChucK, Darrel, Richard, and Bob R.  We were supported by David & Bob Z in the Jeep and Irv & Terry in the Vet.  To everyone's surprise, Ken dropped by in his convertible.

WE WELCOME JIM Z ON OUR RIDE

MIKE CRUISES IN

CHUCKLES, DAVID, AND LOIS

JIM EXPLAINS TO HIS FATHER HOW TO RIDE A HARLEY

THE SLINGSHOT MAKES ITS APPEARANCE

OL' YELLER TAKES ON FUEL

MIKE OFFERS REVERSE PARKING

JIM G & BELLA (THE GRANDKIDS' NANNY)

IRV & TERRY HOP OUT OF THE VET

KEN (SHORT HAUL) SHOWS UP TO BLOCK TRAFFIC

With the "mountain ride" to Houston as our goal, we leave town under mostly cloudy skies and 72 degrees.  We motor through Waukon and turn onto HWY 76 heading north.  After a brief stop at a light monitoring bridge repair, we make our way to Bear Creek Dr. (CR A26) and head east.  Everything seems to be greener after the rain.  At the end of A26, we turn north again onto Locust Road (CR W38).  Compared to the rest of the county roads in Winneshiek County, this one is actually smooth.  We find CR A14 and take a teeth rattling drive into Hesper.  After avoiding the "rush hour" in Hesper, we turn north again onto CR W40 and bump our way into Mabel.

We pass through Mabel and after looking at some rather dark clouds, we keep heading north on newly resurfaced HWY 43.  I had heard that 43 had been resurfaced, and I was looking forward to riding it again.  It did not disappoint!  It turned out to be a ride that offered a smooth surface, some challenging curves, and some great views.

We continued our journey on 43 until we reached CR 10.  This county road changes to CR 13 when it crosses the county line.  From its start at HWY 43 it raises in elevation to what I refer to as "top of the mountain".  At its peak and just before it starts to descend, the view from there down into the valleys surrounding Houston below is breathtaking!

Going down the "mountain side" on 13 is kind of like skiing downhill.  Instead of going straight down, the road weaves back and forth with some fairly sharp curves.  Even though there are some great views, you have to pay attention to the road kind of like the Dragon.  Again, this road is in great shape and was fun to dive down into Houston where we stopped at River Valley Convenience Store for a break.

After our break, and noting that we have avoided any lingering rain, we continued our journey by taking HWY 76 south out of town.  There were several wet spots on some of the roads which indicted that some rain had fallen rather recently.  We could have taken 76 back to Caledonia, but my favorite route is through Sheldon on CR 10.  This is another smooth stretch of asphalt that offers up some nice curves and great scenery.  It's a little longer, but I think it's well worth it.  CR 10 terminates on HWY 76 just outside of Caledonia, and we motor though town and stay on 76 through Eitzen and back to Waukon for good eats and conversation at the Uptown.  I had 113 miles on the trike after one of my favorite rides.

SUNDAY

This Sunday, the 16th, is another of our RTEs (Rides To Eat).  This one is our "You Gotta Love Summer" Pizza Run.  We will leave from Casey's at 11 AM and ride until we find some pizza to eat.  Right now it looks like we may journey up to Fountain, MN, to check out the eatery there.  Like always, everyone is welcome!

HOW ABOUT THIS!!

CONGRATS!!

NEXT WEDNESDAY

Next Wednesday looks to be a trip to Hawkeye.

NINE TO DINE

 Another near perfect morning greeted the Wednesday night riders group as they gathered at Casey's Saturday morning for the first mystery ride-to-eat of the season.

Bringing bikes to the gathering were Jim D & his grand daughter Melena, Laurie, Chuckles, Lois, and Lee, Darrel's son.  On top of trikes were Darrel and Bob & Julie.

THE GROUP GATHERS ON A BEAUTIFUL MORNING

With Bob being the only one who knew the mystery stop, we departed Casey's at 10:30 and after a quick stop at the Rotach house, we continued our mystery journey onto HWY 9 and made our way into Lansing.  After crossing the Mississippi River bridge on HWY 82, we turned to the south on HWY 35 and then turned east onto CR B.  This county road offers some twisties along with some sweeping curves and some great views.

Because of the clear, sunny skies and the lack of humidity, we were able to view some spectacular scenery at great distances along all the routes we took.  After passing through the "megatropolis" cities of Rising Sun and Towerville on CR B, we jumped onto CR C still heading west.  A short jog on C and soon we were on CR J heading north.  If we kept on CR J long enough it would have taken us into Viroqua, which would offer us an alternative route to our mystery location.  Instead we turned back east on CR M and motored down the hill to catch HWY 14/61 and after a short ways south, we stopped at the Kickapoo KWKSTOP convenience store for a break.

A STOP AT KICKAPOO, AND MAYBE A DONUT OR TWO

LAURIE DEMONSTRATES THE ONE LEGGED GAS FILL

After Jim & Melena satisfied their growing hunger with donuts, we continued our mystery journey through Readstown and onto HWY 131 heading north.  This highway has always offered the most variety of riding conditions of any road in Wisconsin.  You can go for "pool table top" smooth stretches to patched up tar sections to fantastic straight-aways to sharp curves all while enjoying some fantastic scenery.  HWY 131 took us through Kickapoo Center, Viola, LaFarge, and Rockton.  After passing through Rockton, we turned onto CR F, and after passing through a valley of trees, we arrived at HWY 33.  We turned west onto 33 heading for Ontario.

This section of HWY 33 a is like 131 in that it offers up some of the most "interesting" riding conditions around.  This section is definitely not designed for speeding!  There are some sharp downhill turns that will keep you on your toes.  After negotiating 33 we shuffled into Ontario and discovered our mystery location.  It was the Riversedge Bar and Grill.

IT'S COSIDERABLY WARMER IN ONTARIO

AND  WE ALL GET PARKED ACROSS FROM RIVERSEDGE

Once inside, we all begin to place our orders, but there seems to be some confusion over the number of chickens available.  Finally enough of them get caught, and we fulfilled our orders.

THE MYSTERY IS OVER, WE'RE READY TO EAT!

After our fill at Riversedge, we continued our journey on HWY 33 heading west.  We passed through Cashton and turned onto HWY 27 south.  Shortly after passing through Newry, Jim & Melena and Laurie split off and headed for Decorah, while the rest of us took CR P for an interesting journey through the valleys and past the Snowflake ski jump.  The first miles of CR P are as smooth as glass, but once you enter LaCrosse County, the road begins to deteriorate.  Fortunately the rough road is for only about 5 miles, and we bump our way into Coon Valley.

Just outside of Coon Valley we connect with some of the best state road pavement in this part of Wisconsin.  It's HWY 162 that gives us a really smooth and scenic journey into Chaseburg.  After we passed through Chaseburg, we took CR K south all the way to HWY 56 just outside of Genoa.  We made the short trip through Genoa and then onto HWY 35 heading south.  Our journey on 35 took us to DeSoto where Chuckles, Lois, Julie, and Bob stopped for some ice cream, while Darrel and Lee continued home.  The foursome then wrapped up the journey by crossing into Lansing again and taking HWY 9 back to Waukon.  We put 148 miles on the trike for the day.

It was a day filled with an interesting and scenic ride along with good company and plenty of good food.  I would say if you're looking for that type of trip, then a journey up to Ontario and the Riversedge would fill the bill!

NEXT RTE

Our next Ride To Eat is the "You Gotta Love Summer" Pizza Run on Sunday, the 16th.  We will depart Casey's at 11 AM that day.  Destination hasn't been decided yet.

GUYS' TRIP

Our "Guys" Trip has a special guest this year.  Along with David, Bob Z, Mike, Chuckles, ChucK, and Bob R, we have Dee going along to keep us on the "straight and narrow".  From now on, due to the lack of interest seemingly with just guys, we will open this trip to anyone (not just guys) starting with this trip and continue that way.

NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Right now the forecast calls for rain, but if it's the same rain that was supposed to come last Wednesday, we will take the "mountain" ride into Houston.

FINALLY.....

GREAT RIDE, JIM D RETURNS WITH LAURIE

 On a near perfect night for riding, we had 18 riders aboard 14 units partake in our Wednesday night ride.  We were excited to have Jim D back with us and we all welcomed Jim's new wife, Laurie, who was on her own bike.  Jim's grand daughter, Mariah, rode with Jim.  The rest of the bike contingent was made up of Chuckles, Lois, Mike, and Larry.  Ron, Richard, Bernell & Kathy, Darrel, Roger, and Bob were on three wheelers.  We had two support convertibles with Irv & Terry in the Vet and Dale & Greg in Dale's newly repaired Chrysler.

DARREL GASSES UP OL' YELLER

WELCOME BACK JIM AND SAY HELLO TO LAURIE

JIM, LAURIE, AND MARIAH

COMING OVER TO GREET JIM & LAURIE

THE CHRYSLER WITH A NEW FUEL PUMP

MIKE ARRIVES FROM NEW ALBIN

IRV & TERRY IN THE VET

ROGER DOFFS HIS HELMET

LARRY GETS THE USUAL FRIENDLY GREETING FROM DALE

THE GROUP KEEPS GROWING

The convoy proceeded out of town and onto the Elon Road heading east.  Once we reached the end of the Elon Road, we turned south onto the Lansing/Harpers Road and scooted down the hill into Harpers Ferry.  There was still some haze in the air from the humidity, but we still had some great views.

Once in Harpers, we turned onto CR X52, the Great River Road, and made our way up to HWY 76.  By going this route, we were able to avoid the rough part of 76.  Down the hill past Effigy Mounds we went on 76 and rolled into Marquette.  From there we circled onto the entrance of HWY 18 east and took it across the Mississippi River bridge into Prairie du Chien.

Taking the HWY 18 bypass around PDC, we reconnected again with 18 on the south side of PDC and continued on it up to CR C outside of Bridgeport.  Amazingly we were still able to stay pretty much together even passing though all the stop lights.  We took C up to CX and finally CR X where we motored along the edge of the backwaters of the Mississippi and through scenic areas of Wyalusing Park.  We did pass through Wyalusing and avoiding the "rush hour", we made our way into Bagley.  This route also offers some great scenery.  Maybe this is the reason they made the speed limit only 45 mph.

Once in Bagley, we found CR A and headed east out of town. CR A runs pretty straight and we cruise along up to CR VV and turn south.  VV is also a straight stretch of asphalt that passes by a large number of farm fields that showed some good growing crops.  After our short run on VV, we arrived at CR V, turned east again and arrived shortly at our destination, the I Don't Care Pub & Grub in North Andover.

WE START TO DISMOUNT AND GET PARKED

TIME FOR REST AND CONVERSATION

OOPS, YOU CAN'T PARK THERE

After our break and parking lot shuffle, we took a short jog on HWY 133 and turned east again onto CR V.  I call this strip of blacktop a "roller coaster" because of all the rather steep hills along the way to CR U.  Turning north now, we took U down to HWY 35 still heading north back to PDC.  HWY 35 passes through Bloomington, and then becomes rather rough (It's been this way for a long time.)_until we get back to HWY 18 just outside of Patch Grove.

We motor along on 18 again back through Prairie du Chien and end up back on HWY 76 heading north out of Marquette.  We had to play "catch up" in Marquette, since the stop lights in PDC did catch some of our entourage.  We kept going north on 76 and passed by our previous turn from Harpers Ferry.  This part of 76 has been resurfaced, so it makes for a smooth ride up to the Waterville turn.  We did have to break for some deer crossings on 76.  

Instead of continuing on the "yet to be resurfaced" section of 76, we made a turn on CR X32, Waterville Road.  I think this short four mile section of X32 from 76 into Waterville offers some of the best scenery in the area, and the surface is much smoother than 76.  On through Waterville we went and arrived back on the Elon Road and backtracked on it back into Waukon.  Besides slowing down twice for some deer making their way across the road, we had some idiot on a crotch rocket pass the group at a high rate of speed and through double yellow lines.  If the dummy would have been one minute earlier, he would have hit a large deer head on, so I guess he will live for another day (maybe)!

A good number of us stopped at the Uptown Grill for eats and Chuckles had Kylee take a photo of the group.

LOOKS LIKE A ROWDY BUNCH!

I had 136 miles on the trike when I parked her outside of the Uptown.  Great ride, and it was good to see Jim & Mariah again, and a warm welcome to Laurie!

NEXT WEDNESDAY

Right now the plans are to take the "mountain" route into Houston.

MYSTERY RTE IS SATURDAY

This Saturday, we will gather at Casey's at 10:30 AM for our Mystery (I'd tell 'ya, but I'd have to kill ya') Ride To Eat.  Should be good weather, a good ride, and good eats.  EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

And finally...