PERFECT TIMING!

 With the goal of traveling up to the Gays Mills area and hopefully seeing the apple trees in full bloom, we had 14 Wednesday night riders gather at Casey's this Wednesday.

The two wheel crowd was made up of Mike, Chuckles, Lois, Dee, Bill, Nancy, and Jim & Cathy.  David & Bob Z arrived in the "support" Jeep, along with Irv and Terry in the "support" Vette.  Richard came early in his "lit up" Slingshot, and Bob R had the only trike.

DAVID, BOB Z, MIKE, AND RICHARD ARRIVE EARLY

IRV ARRIVES IN THE APPROPRIATE DRESS FOR A VETTE RIDE

CHUCKLES "HUNTS" FOR HIS KICKSTAND WHILE LOIS ARRIVES

DEE JOINS THE GATHERING

BILL IS BACK FROM FLORIDA

DEE HUSTLES OVER FOR SOME IMPORTANT SOCIALIZING

MIKE AND BILL GET REAQUAINTED

Under partly sunny skies and the temp at 67 degrees, the group departed Casey's and headed out of Waukon on HWY 9.  Some riders got caught at the only stop light in Allamakee County, so we progressed slowly out of town until everyone caught up.

Highway 9 took us through Lansing and across the recently repaired Black Hawk Bridge into Wisconsin.  This is where Jim & Cathy caught up with the rest of the entourage.  We then took HWY 35 south to CR B just outside of Ferryville.  We continued on B all the way to HWY 131 just north of Gays Mills.  CR B offers about every possible maneuver you can make in a motorized vehicle.  There are tight turns, straightaways, sweeping curves along with some fantastic views of the surrounding countryside.  On our way we passed through the "booming" metropolis of Rising Sun, and missed "rush hour" in Towerville, where the speed limit is 25 mph for the two blocks through town.  I always wondered how "pissed off" you would be for getting a speeding ticket in Towerville!

After arriving at HWY 131 after traversing CR B, we became more encouraged about being able to see the apple blossoms, because we saw many trees in full bloom along the way.  Just outside of Gays Mills, we stopped for a break at the well-stocked CenexMarket Place where I indulged in a Girl Scout hot chocolate.

NANCY, A NEWLY APPOINTED "RIDE CAPTAIN", GETS PARKED

CHUCKLES GETS UNBUNDLED

WE GET TO GREET JIM & CATHY

IRV SAYS THE TOP STAYS UP

After our break and just as we were mounting up, we were hit by some rain drops.  Not raining too hard, but a little concerning, we backtracked a short jog on HWY 131 and turned east onto Del La Mater Rd.  It was nice of the county to put down some new blacktop for our arrival making for a nice smooth journey up the hill.  Once we got to the top of the hill and got a view of some of the surrounding orchard areas, we knew we were going to be in for a real visual and sensory treat.  The apple trees were in full, majestic bloom!  We even passed a group of trees surrounded by a fence (deer prevention) that had a sign that read "Cortland" attached.  We assumed that was the type of apples being grown there.  The rain was still very light.

DLM Road led us up to HWY 171 and we turned back west to pass through the main orchards, Kickapoo and Sunrise.  We weren't disappointed here either, because even the small trees were full of blooms.  If the blooms are any indication, Gays Mills is in for a bumper crop of apples.  We wound our way down the steep slope on 171 and into Gays Mills.  We stayed on 171 through town and passing through Mt. Sterling and all the way to HWY 35 again.  It wasn't really raining, but the sky looked kind of threatening as we took HWY 35 back north through Ferryville and crossed the bridge again into Lansing.  I made a decision to go around Lansing instead of taking HWY 9 back, so we took the Lansing/Harpers Road to the Elon Road and arrived back in Waukon dry.  Some of us made our way to the Uptown for eats where the conversation turned to ridding our properties of rabbits and squirrels.  We also learned that Nancy is going to be the Ride Captain for the Goodfellows Motorcycle Club.  I think they made an excellent choice!

I had right at 100 miles when I got home after being able to view another one of Mother Nature's great spectacles, apple blossom time!