HANDFUL ON LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIDE

 Five riders showed up at Casey's for what was probably the last Wednesday night ride of the season.  Daylight savings time ends on Sunday, so the darkness is going to set in earlier.

Bill and Mike arrived from out of town on bikes.  Richard had the Slingshot warmed up, and Wayne and Bob were on trikes.

TIME TO BUNDLE UP

READY TO ROLL

With temps in the low 50's and darkness coming earlier, the ride would be shorter with no stops.  So we departed Casey's at 4 and headed east on the Elon Road.  Again it was a cool but clear night, but we could see for great distances and could tell that the trees were still full of color.

At the end of the Elon Road, we turned south onto Lansing/Harpers Road and rode the curves down to State Forest Road.  The ride through Yellow River Forest followed, and it was well worth taking our time with the 35 mph speed limit.  Again we were treated to some stunning scenery as we made our way through the forest and up to HWY 76.  Down 76 we went and on into Marquette where we wanted to take CR B45 (Pleasant Ridge Road) up to Monona.  We had heard the road was open and complete after resurfacing.  WRONG!  The hill out of Marquette was still rough, and when we reached the top of the hill, we discovered that only half of the road was resurfaced.  Fortunately it was our half.  However before we went too further, we had to stop for construction since only one lane was open.  We did luck out, because the pilot car arrived shortly and we were escourted to the next section of road where both sides were done.  We proceeded cautiously the rest of the way into Monona.  Please note that CR B45 is far from finished!

After arriving in Monona, we took the Volney Road all the way to Rossville and enjoyed some more great northeast Iowa scenery.  We then took HWY 76 back into Waukon.  The temp was right at 50 when we arrived in town.  Mike and Bill said their good-byes and continued on to Lansing and New Albin, while Wayne, Richard, and Bob stopped at Uptown for eats.  The sun was just about set, and we racked up a 70 mile ride.

AS OF NOW, ANY FUTURE RIDES WILL BE WEATHER DEPENDENT AND HAVE TO START EARLIER.  BOB WILL USE THE BLOG FOR ANY RIDE NOTICES THAT MAY COME UP.