FEARSOME FOURSOME RIDES SUNDAY

 On what may well be the last weekend ride for this year, we had four determined souls show up on Sunday, which looked to be the best for temps for the next 10 days.

Lois arrived on the only two-wheeler.  Richard had the Slingshot ready to roll, and Dave and Bob rode their trikes.

ALL BUNDLED UP

REFLECTION OF LOIS

There are four roads in northeast Iowa that I consider top rides.  They are Gunder Road, Grandview Road, Colesburg Road and Littleport Road.  They are well maintained, offer some sweeping curves, and have some great scenery.  So. the goal for what may be the final ride of the season was to ride at least part of these roads today.

With temps still in the 50's, and a stiff south wind blowing, we departed Casey's at noon, with the Gunder Road as our first route.  There are two ways to access the Gunder Road.  We could take it from the start just east of Postville.  However, the portion of this road to Gunder is a real teeth shaker. So instead, we progressed down HWY 76 to Rossville and took the Volney Road (CR X26) down into Monona after we pass by Carl's Used Car Lot.  After passing through Monona, we arrived at HWY 18 and took it for a short jog over to Golden Avenue (CR X28) and turned south heading for Farmersburg.

Golden Avenue isn't as pleasant as the name sounds with a lot of uneven pavement, but it is still a bit better than the Postville route.  The only downfall is that you miss a pretty good section of the Gunder Road coming this way.  After arriving in Farmersburg, we continue on X 28 (now called Fawn Hollow Road) into St. Olaf.  By the looks of the number of vcehicles parked in front of the St. Olaf Tavern, the tenderloins must still be in demand.

We turn back west on CR B65 in St. Olaf and take it for a short distance to our goal, the Gunder Road.  We turn south and again Gunder does not disappoint as we have a smooth scenic cruise into Elkader.  We make our way through the ouskirts of Elkader over to HWY 13 and take it north to our second goal, Grandview Road (CR X3C).  We get a "grandview" on this stretch of pavement all the way into Colesburg.  After passing through Elkport, Grandview Road changes to Colesburg Road, but still remains CR X3C.

After we arrive in Colesburg, we jump on HWY 3 and into Edgewood we go for a break at the Casey's store there.

PARKING ISN'T THAT EASY

BUT WE DO MAKE IT TO EDGEWOOD

After our break, our next goal is to find Littleport Road.  That's no problem since it is just a short distance out of Edgewood on HWY 3.  Again, this road does not disappoint.  There are some views from this road that are almost breathtaking, and the best way to get these views is to travel north as we are doing.  And now that "pesky" wind is at our backs.  We "gawk" our way along on into Littleport and arrive back on Grandview Road.  We backtrack on it and enjoy the views going the other way back to HWY 13.

Instead of going back through Elkader, we turn south on 13 and make our way on new pavement through Osborne and onto HWY 112 heading west into Volga.  HWY 112 offers up some great views also, and we make our way through Volga and onto Bush Road (CR C24) and head north again.  Bush Road parallels the Volga River over to CR W 51 (Cedar Road) and we take it north on into Wadena.  We stay on W51 all the way into Elgin.  This section of W51 could use some work, but there are still some great views.  After this many miles, we don't see much color in the trees along the routes, but in the towns we still see some beautiful color and some unique Halloween decorations!

In Elgin, we stay on W51 (now called Canoe Road) and on into Clermont we go.  We have passed several golf courses on this journey and have seen no players out on the courses.  WIMPS!!

Once in Clermont we turn onto HWY 18 and wind our way into Postville.  Dave heads home from here, while the threesome heads out on HWY 51 to Yellow River Drive and take it past the Gelo plantation and on to the freshly paved portion of Forest Mills Road.  A smooth ride north, and we are back on HWY 76 and into Waukon we go.

I had 148 miles on the Wing when I got her home.  It was a "cool" ride in more ways than one.  Hopefully it's not our last, but the next 10 day forecast looks like rain and cold temps.

RECOGNIZE THIS GUY...MY FAVORITE SINGER