ANOTHER GREAT NIGHT!

 I would have to say, for the most part, Mother Nature has been very good to our Wednesday Night Riders group this year.  There have been very few Wednesday nights that we were not able to ride, and these last few Wednesdays have been fantastic!  We all know the "weather witch" is lurking, so let's get our riding in while we still can.

This Wednesday evening offered up some great riding weather.  With temps in the mid 70's and under mostly sunny skies, we had 10 riders on 9 units show up at Casey's.  We only had two bikers, Mike and Jim S.  The rest of the gang, Irv, Terry, Roger, Dave, Ron, Richard, Bernell & Kathy, and Bob, rode in on 3 wheelers.

IRV, MIKE, TERRY, AND ROGER ARE EARLY ARRIVALS

DAVE ROLLS IN

GOOD TO SEE JIM S AGAIN

HERE COMES RON

THE SLINGSHOT ARRIVES

BERNELL & KATHY ARRIVE

Our "road guide" planned to ride up into the Spring Grove area, so we departed Waukon via HWY 76 north.  The plan was soon changed somewhat when we discovered that HWY 76 was being grated for a new layer of asphalt and was open to only one lane.  After waiting about 15 minutes for a pilot car, we were able to resume our journey northward.  I would advise not journeying up 76 for a while since the new asphalt layer is going to run from just outside of Waukon all the way up to the Minnesota line.  I have yet to figure out why HWY 76 needed this now.  I could name some other stretches of highways in this area that need it worse.  HWY 9 from Waukon to Decorah comes to mind.

After our delay, we rode on some more grating until we got to the turn onto Dorchester Road (CR A16).  I think this intersection is one of the most dangerous in our area.  You must be really careful and watch carefully making this left turn off of HWY 76, since you can't see very far north to see if another vehicle is coming around the turn on the highway.  It would be very easy to turn left right in front of an oncoming vehicle.  We all made the turn safely and continued up the hill towards Spring Grove.

Since the county in Minnesota repaved their portion of A 16 (actually Division Avenue in Minnesota) this made this stretch of blacktop a pleasure to ride.  It's now smooth and offers some great views along the way.

We soon arrive in Spring Grove and pass by the nice park they have there.  I'm always amazed at the amount of activities that are going on at that park.  Tonight was no exception, since there were already a lot of folks occupying the park.  I would bet that some type of concert was going to take place that evening.

We departed Spring Grove on HWY 44 heading east, until we reached the turn for CR 17 and made our way onto it heading back south.  CR 17 is another treat to ride.  It has some nice gradual hills, some sweeping curves, and some great scenery.  This road takes us back to HWY 76, just outside of Eitzen.  The plan was to stop in Eitzen for a break, but with the delay at the start of the ride, time might not allow us to get back home before dark.  So we continued on 76 until we got to Iowa River Drive (CR A 26) and turned east again.  As it's name suggests, this neat road meanders along side the Upper Iowa river all the way to HWY 26 just outside of New Albin.  We made the turn onto 26 and motored along side of the Missisppi River on into Lansing.  There we picked up HWY 9 and into the sun we went heading to Waukon.  Just four of us stopped at Uptown for eats, and I had 93 miles on the Wing when I parked her at home.  GREAT NIGHT, GREAT RIDE!

OTHER NEWS

Some of our group are joining ChucK and Dee on their trip this Thursday and Friday.  Have fun, and be safe!!  Can't wait for the report on this one.

CAMP COURAGEOUS RIDE IS SUNDAY

As most of you now know, supporting Camp Courageous in Monticello is one of our Wednesday Night Riders "doing good for others" events.  We support the Camp by attending their breakfast fund raisers in April (omelets) and September (pancakes--this year waffles).  

Camp Courageous Mission:

Camp Courageous provides exceptional year-round recreational, respite, and travel opportunities for individuals with disabilities and their families. The camp is run primarily on donations, giving all individuals the opportunity to give through gifts of time, materials, financial, and other means that support the camp.

The plan is to ride to the waffle breakfast to support the camp on this Sunday.  We will depart Casey's at 9 AM that morning and journey on down to Monticello and feast at the breakfast.  Afterwards we will take a scenic ride back through Balltown, and possibly stop in Guttenberg for ice cream.

If you cannot make the trip down to Monticello and would still like to make a donation, we will be glad to take your check with us on Sunday.  Right now the weather looks good for Sunday, so let's get a good number of our Wednesday Night Riders going!

RIDING DOUBLE!!