EVEN DOZEN to Wood Carving & Burgers

 Our first RTE (Ride To Eat) for the Wednesday Night Riders drew 12 participants on our ride Saturday.  The goal was to take in America's Largest Woodcarving Museum in Ridgeway, Iowa (of all places) and then continue our journey over to Cresco for burgers at Dan's Road House.

The lucky dozen included Jim, Mike & Joan, Bill, Chuckles, and Lois on 2 wheelers.  Terry, Dave M, and Bob made up the 3 wheeled gang. Dr. David & Suzanne completed the converible crowd, and Julie supplied the "support vehicle" with her Dakota.

WELCOME BACK TO TERRY FROM HIS UTAH TRIP

LOIS WELCOMES BILL BACK FROM FLORIDA

PRERIDE BS AS ALWAYS

CHUCKLES WELCOMES TWO DAVIDS

With temps in the low to mid 60's and a very brisk northwest wind howling, we departed Casey's via HWY 9 to take Bob's "shortcut" to Ridgeway.  His plan being to take as many backroads as possible to avoid being wind blown.  It worked at times and at times it didn't.

After a short ride west on 9, we turned south onto CR W60 (West Ridge Road) and followed it to Yellow River Drive.  We turned west again on YRD for a short stint over to HWY 51 south.  With the wind still pounding us at times, we made our way into Postville where we picked up HWY 52 just outside of town and continued our journey passing through Castalia and Ossian before rolling into Calmar.

Just outside of Calmar we found 175th St. and made our way westward passing the PIVO Brewery (now for sale) and the South Winn Country Club. 175th took us over to CR B16 (Dvorak Memorial Hwy) and we took a short jog westward into Spillville.

On the edge of Spillville, we continued our quest and took a newly repaved CR W 14 on into Ridgeway and our stop at the Woodcarving Museum.  This building has an interesting history.  It was first a school, then a failed shrimp raising facility, and now a facility called the Turkey River Culteral Center that houses the woodcarving museum.

WE ARRIVE AT THE MUSEUM

DR. DAVID TELLS BILL THAT THE WIND DIDN'T BOTHER THEM.

JULIE ARRIVES EARLIER AND FINDS A SEAT
UNDER THE TOTEM POLE

We are soon invited on a tour of the museum with Slim Maroushek, the founder.  He informs us that we are going to see well over 6 thousand carvings, some done by him, and others from all over the world. The following are some photos and a video of just a few of the displays.

SLIM GIVES US SOME HISTORY AND BACKGROUND INFO

ONE OF THE MANY DISPLAYS THAT ARE MOBILE

ERTL TOYS EVEN HAD PROTOTYPES CARVED

JULIE GETS A CLOSEUP OF ONE OF THE MANY DISPLAYS
FEATURING ELVES

MOST OF THE DISPLAYS ARE THEMED
THIS ONE IS AMERICAN INDIANS

SOME OF THE CARVINGS ARE VERY RARE AND VALUABLE

ONE OF SLIM'S OWN CARVINGS

YEP, IT'S A CARVED SKELETON WITH ACCURATE BONE DIMENSIONS

YES, EVEN CARVED MOTORCYCLES

ONE OF SEVERAL TOTEM POLES SLIM CARVED

THE WORKS IN PROGRESS

I think all dozen of would agree that we were amazed and fascinated by Slim and his America's Largest Woodcarving Museum!  One could probably spend a whole day just viewing all of the carvings here in Ridgeway, Iowa.

After our amazing museum visit, we were all hungry for burgers, so we took another one of Bob's "shortcuts" heading for Cresco.  We left Ridgeway heading west on CR A46 (Schley Rd), and continued on this smooth asphalt over to another section of Dvorak Memorial Highway.  Only this time we followed it north on into Cresco where we stopped at Dan's Road House for our burgers. (After all, this ride was called a Burger Run).  Dan's was named one of the top burger places in Iowa last year when Bill, Julie and Bob ate there, and Dan's did not disappoint this year.  I think everyone had the "smash burgers" along with fries and they were fantastic along with the service!

THE BURGER GANG

SOME PEOPLE LOOK BETTER FROM THE BACK!

After our burgers, it was time to head back home.  The wind had not let up at all, so Bob decided to take Pole Line Road back to Decorah, instead of HWY 9.  We were able to dodge the wind in most places, but not until we descended the hill near Decorah were we completely out of it.  At least the temps still stayed in the 60's.  We completed our journey by taking a "ripped up" HWY 9 through Decorah and on into Waukon where everyone split for home.  The clock on the GW trike read just over 100 miles when she got parked in Bob's shed.

While we did have to battle the wind, I think everyone would agree that our first RTE was a success.  I think the Woodcarving Museum was fantastic and the burgers at Dan's were great.  It don't get any better than that!

UPCOMING EVENTS

This upcoming week is going to be a busy one for some of our WNR's.  A possible ride on Wednesday evening, and we are scheduled to do trike rides for the residents of Good Sam in Waukon on Thursday at 1 PM, and for the residents at Northgate Care Center on Friday with a time to be determined.  If you would like to see how we can create smiles on Thursday and Friday, you are invited to these two events.

Now, on Sunday, the 17th, you will have a chance to go on our second RTE, see a semi-world famous pancake maker in action, and take a scenic ride afterwards.  We will be leaving Casey's at 10:15 that morning (Notice the time change.  Bob may have to deliver the scripures at his church that morning), and head up to New Albin for the New Albin Fire Department Pancake Breakfast fund raiser.  After the breakfast the plan is to continue the ride and possibly go on Apple Blossom Drive up above LaCrescent.

We should also be excited to hear that one of our veterans, Terry, is going on the Veterans' Honor Flight to Washington, DC, on May 12th out of Cedar Rapids.  I really hope all the veterans in our WNR get to take that honor flight.

If Wednesday evening weather cooperates, Wauzeka will be our destination.