Sunday, May 11, 2025

JUST BILL AND US

Our scheduled "burger run" to Cresco took place on Saturday afternoon.  With some great riding weather, we still had only three riders show up.  Bill arrived on his Gold Wing, and Bob & Julie showed up on their Gold Wing trike.

Our destination was Dan's Road House in Cresco.  They are well-known for their burgers that finished strong in a "Best Burger in Iowa" contest.  We departed Waukon under sunny skies and temps in the low 70's.  Taking Main St. west, after about 3 miles outside of town, we came upon a "Loose Gravel" sign, and turned north back to HWY 9.  HWY 9 also is lined with chip seal, but the non-caring Iowa DOT won't put up any of the "loose gravel" signsThanks to Allamakee County for thinking of motorcyclists!

We took HWY 9 into Decorah and entered HWY 52 north.  After a short scoot on 52, we turned onto the Pole Line Road heading west.  This is a neat motorcycling road since it is well-maintained and offers some sweeping curves and views of the Upper Iowa River.  Pole Line took us all the way over HWY 9, and we crossed it to continue our journey on into Cresco.  After a brief hunt, we did find Dan's Road House right on Main St. (He does need some better signage!)

WE MAKE IT TO DAN'S ON A BRIGHT, SUNNY DAY

Dan's does offer a very limited menu, so you had better like burgers or chicken strips.  Since we came for the burgers anyway, we placed our order for what they called "smash burgers".  After quizzing the folks at the table next to us, they assured us that the "smash burgers" were huge and really delicious.  They weren't wrong!  It was one big, tasty burger served with french fries.  If anyone is looking for a great burger for a meal, Dan's is the place!

THREE "WELL SATISFIED WNR'S


DAN'S ONLY SIGNAGE

After leaving Dan's, we took another "shortcut" home.  We turned onto the Dvorak Memorial Highway south at the next stop light.  This is another well-kept stretch of pavement but remains pretty straight.  Instead of following DMH into Protivin, we turned back east on CR A46 and headed towards Ridgeway.  I hadn't been on this tarmack in a long time, but it proved to be another well-kept stretch of pavement, and we cruised into Ridgeway.

In Ridgeway we picked up CR W14.  To our delight, this stretch of road was recently resurfaced, and we had a smooth ride into Spillville.  Once we reached Spillville, we again found the Dvorak Memorial Highway (this time CR B16), turned east for a short distance and turned onto 25th Avenue that becomes 175th St. as you close in on Calmar.  This is all newly resurfaced concrete that goes right by the South Winn golf course and ends at HWY 52 just north of Calmar.

We passed through Calmar and sped on into Ossian with the temps still in the 70's.  Once in Ossian, we exited town on Sand Road and took it east over to Centennial Road where we turned back north and arrived at HWY 9 just east of Decorah.  HWY 9 took us back into Waukon where we had just short of 100 miles on the trike.  Bill gave us the "thumbs up" and headed for home in Lansing.

GREAT WEATHER, GREAT FOOD, GREAT TRIP..but perhaps on a weekend that conflicted with Mothers' Day.

Tuesday we give our trike rides to the folks at Good Sam.  Wednesday our destination may be the apple blossoms around Gays Mills.  Friday is our trike rides for the residents at Northgate Manor.  No wonder May seems to be flying by!



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