FEARSOM FOURSOME CHILLS OUT

This Wednesday night looked to be somewhat cool, and it was.  However four riders bundled up and challenged the elements to a duel.

We had Jim and Mike on GW bikes while Richard drove his Slingshot and Bob led on his GW trike.  Apparently only Gold Wings and Slingshots are built to take the cold! 

A SMALL, BUT TOUGH GROUP

When we pulled out of Casey's the temps were in the low 50's with a better than brisk northwest wind and partly sunny skies.  The original destination was Pikes Peak, so we started off heading east on the Elon Road.  The wind pounded us pretty good until we made the turn onto Waterville Road.  We cruised through Waterville and once again hit the strong breezes as we made our way up to HWY 76.  We took 76 south, and it felt great to cruise down the hill past Effigy Mounds and into Marquette.

We made our way on into McGregor and took CR X56 (Great River Road) up the hill past the old Barnum & Bailey Circus wintering grounds and up to the turn for Pikes Peak.  Since we only had a few riders, waiting to see Pikes Peak at a later time seemed to be the thing to do, so we continued our journey on GRR.  Once we reached the turn to Garnavillo, we took Clayton Road on into Garnavillo.  Clayton Road proved to be a wildlife sanctuary, since we had to slow for a deer and passed a turkey on the roadside who paid us no attention.  Maybe he couldn't believe anyone would be out on a motorcycle today.

The plan was to stop in Garnavillo for a break at the newly remodeled Quick Stop there, but it wasn't ready to open yet. So we turned around and went back to the Garnavillo Mini-Mart on the southside of town.  None of us had ever been there before, but we decided to go in and try it out.  We were surprised to find they had a lot of goodies packed into a small space.  We were able to warm up with some coffee while we watched the friendly help make pizzas and sandwhiches.  I plan on stopping there again sometime.

OUTSIDE OF THE MINI-MART

We continued our journey under warmer temps and less wind as we made our way north on HWY 52.  Once we reached HWY 18, we turned east and rolled into Marquette again.  Only this time we took CR B45 (Pleasant Ridge Road) toward Monona.  The uphill portion of this road is still rough, but the rest of it has been recently been resurfaced, so we had a nice smooth ride ahead of us. We missed the "rush hour" in Watson and rolled into Monona.  The streets in Monona could use some work also.

We turned north again onto CR X26 (Volney Road) and made our may up to Rossville and onto HWY 76.  HWY 76 took us back into Waukon, where Jim & Mike split for home.  Richard & Bob stopped for eats at Uptown.  Bob had a welcome bowl of hot French onion soup.  Upon returning home he had just at 100 miles for the trip.  As he as always said, "If it's a 50 or above and not raining, I'm riding."  But that's when he was a lot younger.  Actually it was a cool, but enjoyable ride, and I'm glad we went.

However, when I got home, I noticed this...

FULL MOON

The saying is "That all the crazies come out when there's a full moon!"

Hopefully it will be a little warmer and dryer next Wednesday and we'll head for Houston.

Jim and I are thinking about heading down to Tama or Belle Plain on Monday, June 1st to see Big Boy, the world's largest operating steam  locomotive as it passes from Wyoming to Omaha.  We would go down and come back the same day. More on this later.

Bill correctly identified the mystery rider on our last blog entry.  It was one of my favorite singers, Roy Orbison.  He sang "Crying", "Only the Lonely", "Blue Bayou", and the still popular "Oh, Pretty Woman" among others.

If anyone who was unable to make the PMS get-together last week and would like a copy of the video presentation used there, I can give to a DVD copy.  Just let me know.

Everyone should know this guy...