EIGHT ATE WAS GREAT

 For our first RTE (Ride To Eat) for the Wednesday Night Riders, we had six show up at Casey's Saturday afternoon.  The six-some consisted of Chuckles, Lois, and Dee on bikes, while ChucK and Bob & Julie were on trikes.

BOB & JULIE ARRIVE

CHUCKLES ROLLS IN

FOLLOWED BY LOIS

DEE MAKES SURE ChucK HAS EVERYTHING

FULL TANK, AND NOW EMPTY BLADDER

A WEDDING PROCESSION--HOPEFULLY RICHARD & MELODYE'S DAUGHTER

Our destination for the RTE is Little Miami Bar & Restaurant in Freeburg, Mn.
Under sunny skies and temps in the high 60's, we depart Casey's at 4:30, proceed through Waukon, and take HWY 76 north up to CR 17 north of Eitzen.  CR 17 is a smooth coast through the farm land in southern Houston County and a view of a nice-looking small Lutheran church.  17 ends at HWY 44 just east of Spring Grove, and we turn in an easterly direction on 44 and cruise into Caledonia.

While passing through Main St. in Caledonia, we spot a familiar looking Gold Wing parked in front of the "Ruptured" Rooster Coffee Shop.  So we pull over, and sure enough, out of the door pop Jim & Cathy with a load of coffee.  Apparently Cathy got a gift certificate to the Rooster for Mothers' Day, and they couldn't wait to spend it.  The rest of us continued on our journey to Freeburg.

We turned south for a short diatance on CR 5 before we came to CR 249.  This 8 mile ride into Freeburg is a real treat, especially on motorcycles.  It is a smooth stretch of tarmac with some fantastic scenery.  The paved portion of 249 ends in the metropolis of Freeburg, and we find our way to its suburbs and arrive at Little Miami.

PROBABLY NOT A TURKEY HUNTER!

Once inside, we arrange a table that seats eight, but then discover that there is an adjacent table that seats six, so we grab it instead.  Then to our amazement, Jim & Cathy show up, and we move back again to the table for eight.  We "threatened" the group sitting next to us, that we might grab their table too!

OUR RTE GANG

This ride was actually tabbed as a "burger run", but Bob was the only one to order a burger.  Chuckles got what you would call a "variety" plate.  It did seem to take quite a while to get served.  It looked like the place was pretty busy and could use more help.

After our meal, we loaded up to depart Freeburg and miss the "rush" hour.

LOOKING AT WARMER CLOTHES

GEARING UP, SINCE IT IS COOLER HERE IN THE VALLEY

THE "LEAD" MACHINE GETS READY

The last time I was in Freeburg, the only way back out that was paved was backtracking on 249 to avoid to avoid gravel.  But according to ChucK and Dee, CR 24 had since been chip sealed and was no longer gravel, so we decided to take it out of town.

DEE TELLS US THAT IF CR 24 IS NOT PASSABLE, DON'T BLAME HER!

We take our chances with 24, and find that it has been chip sealed.  Riding on it was way better than gravel, but not as good as regular pavement.  We took our time on the 5 mile stretch up to CR 3, and turned east again heading to Brownsville.  CR 3 ia a well-maintained county road that offers up some decent scenery of the driftless area of southern Minnesota.  After we arrived in Brownsville, we took HWY 26 back south along the river.  The temps were now in the low 60's as we rode in the shade of the river bluffs.  There was an amazing sunset view that was being crisscrossed by jet streams.

We continued on 26 through New Albin and then took Iowa River Drive (CR A26) over to Lycurgus Road (CR X20) and followed it to HWY 9.  There were cars parked by the Lycurgus Church that were maybe waiting to see the "northern lights" later.  HWY 9 took us back into Waukon, where I ended up with about 90 miles on the trike.  Our first RTE was a fun ride and eat!  Thanks to Dee and Chuckles for some of the photos.

NEXT WEDNESDAY

If the weather looks good next Wednesday, the plan will be to head for Wauzeka.

NEXT SUNDAY

We have another RTE (Ride To Eat).  This time we will head up to New Albin to feast at the New Albin Fire Department pancake brunch.  This is our chance to see one of our Wednesday Night Riders, an "almost world famous" pancake maker, in action! The menu includes pancakes, sausage, eggs, and beverage. The plan is to depart Casey's at 10 AM on Sunday morning, stop for the brunch in New Albin, and possibly continue with a ride afterwards.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME, AND IS ENCOURAGED TO SUPPORT A GREAT GROUP OF VOLUNTEERS!