EIGHT CATCH A NICE FALL RIDE

With the daylight growing shorter, the Wednesday night rides are going to be shorter.  So with a pleasant evening in store, we had eight riders show up for our weekly ride.  Six showed up at Casey's.  We had Mike, Bill, Chuckles, on bikes, along with Terry, Richard, and Bob on three wheels.

FIVE OF THE SIX

CHUCKLES & TERRY

RICHARD & MIKE CONVERSE WHILE BILL TEACHES CHUCKLES HOW TO COUNT

 Under sunny skies and temps in the high 60's we depart Casey's with a journey towards Calmar in mind.  After a short jog on HWY 76, we take Forest Mills Road south.  We were treated by some early leaf color along the east side of the road as the sun illuminated the trees.  

The road surface has been recently redone for some reason from HWY 76 to the Yellow River bridge, so we did not have any "stinking" yellow lines on this section of the road.  When we reached the Gelo plantation, we were joined by "sharecroppers", Jim & Cathy.

We continued down Forest Mills and then turned onto Cherry Valley Drive, and cruised on into Postville.  Cherry Valley Drive becomes Lebrand St. as you enter the town, and this part of the street is very rough.  However once we got into town we were pleasantly surprised with newly paved streets.  (Waukon and Decorah should take note!)  After rolling through town, we took HWY 18 for a short stretch and then turned onto HWY 52.  HWY 52 took us through Castalia and Ossian before we reached Calmar.  In Ossian some lady driver talking on her cell phone started to pull out in front of us and stopped about halfway into the intersection.  Instead of backing up, she just sat there, so we had to swing into the other lane to get past her.  I've always said, "Everyday there are more idiots driving."

Once we reached Calmar, we took HWY 24 into Ft. Atkinson.  The plan was to take CR W14 from Ft. Atkinson up to Spillville.  However, as we were about to make the turn onto W 14, we were greeted by a "Road Closed" sign.  So back to Calmar on HWY 24 we went.  I hope the closed road means that W14 is going to be improved.  It's a nice scenic ride into Spillville, but it has been rather rough.

We passed through Calmar again only from a different direction, and as we got to the north end of town, we turned onto newly paved 175th St.  We cruised by the PIVO Brewery and the South Winn Golf Course and ended up on CR B16 just east of Spillville.  We followed B 16 east to HWY 52 and followed 52 on into Decorah.  Then it was HWY 9 back into Waukon just at dusk.

JIM & CATHY AND MIKE AND BILL HEAD FOR HOME

  Four of us partake in the eats at Uptown.  There were 82 miles on the trike when she got parked at home.  Nice Wednesday night ride, but not many left!

NEXT WEDNESDAY LOOKS TO BE A COUPLE OF ALPHABETS AROUND PDC

IMPROMPTU RIDE

Since the weather looks much cooler for the weekend and I may have to be a "mentor for a day" on Saturday, I am going on a ride Friday.  My only plans right now are to leave Casey's at 10:30 that morning and ride up to Kickapoo Corners for one of their famous hot beef sandwiches.  From there I will be riding some of the backroads in that area that I haven't had the chance to for a while. I don't know how far I will be going, or how many stops I will take, but if anyone wants to ride along with me, you are welcome.  Again, Casey's at 10:30 Friday morning.

DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE DEE'S KAWASAKI!!