SECOND REPORT FROM FLORIDA

 First of all, I am not going to comment on the weather we see Iowa getting.  The only thing I'm going to tell you is the weather here in Panama City Beach is cooler than normal, and there has been plenty of rain.  Despite that we have been able to get some miles on the trike.  We have also been welcomed by the Florida GWRRA chapters in Panama City and Fort Walton and the Alabama chapter in Dothan.  If the weather cooperates, the Fort Walton and Dothan chapters have meetings and rides left this month, so hopefully we can get together with them and ride some more with a group.

As for other activities, Julie has spent a considerable amount of time sewing.  As for Bob, he has spent some time pistol shooting at a new indoor range here in PCB.  It is called The Powder Room.  I did bring by 38 special revolver with me, but I forgot about the Covid and election implications on ammo.  It is almost impossible to get.  But thanks to Chuckles for retrieving it from my house, and Frank hauling it down here, I have plenty now.  We have also been able to dust off the golf clubs on a couple nice days.  We do use the outdoor (heated) pool just about every morning.

Because of Covid, there are not nearly as many folks down here this year. This area catered to a lot of Canadians, but there are none here now.  We miss some of our friends from Canada and I'm sure the merchants in  this area do too!

THE TRIKE & PICK UP IN THE CONDO LOT

THE CONDO LOT--USUALLY IT'S 3/4 FULL

Speaking of Covid, both of us have received our first vaccine and are scheduled for the second one on Feb. 11th.  The Bay County Health Department folks have really been good to us, especially since we are not even Florida residents.

Now for a couple of videos from our rides.  Hopefully these will come out ok.  The blog is really limited on the size it can take for videos.

We also came across this spot on one of our rides. You can get a "bang" here!!

Just to let you know that this is still a beautiful place...

THE GULF OF MEXICO FROM OUR BALCONY

KNOWN FOR BEAUTIFUL SUN SETS

EVERYONE STAY SAFE AND LET'S HAVE OUR PMS MEETING THIS SPRING!!

REPORT FROM FLORIDA--HISTORY STOP ON THE WAY DOWN

 We departed Waukon on Monday, the 28th, and stopped for our first night near Jackson, TN, the home of Casey Jones.  Since we visited Casey's park last year, we continued on to Shiloh, TN to visit the Civil War battlefield located there.  After visiting Shiloh, we stayed our second night just south of Birmingham, AL.  Continuing on the next day, we arrived in Panama City Beach and stayed overnight at the Sleep Inn there.  We checked into our condo on the 31st.  Right now in this part of Florida masks are optional, but we continue to wear ours when we have to go inside a store or restaurant.  Actually we are hoping to get our Covid vaccines here shortly.

OUR STOP AT SHILOH

Shiloh is the third of the Civil War battlefields I have had the pleasure of visiting.  The first one was Chattanooga, on a guys' motorcycle trip, and the second was Vicksburg last year.  At all three venues, the US Park Service has done a fantastic job preserving these treasured historic sites.

The battle of Shiloh, sometimes called the Battle of Pittsburg Landing was fought on April 6-7 in 1862.  The Conferderates under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnson planned to attack the Union forces under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant. and his army of the Tennessee before it could be reinforced by troops from the army of the Ohio coming from Nashville.  After an initial Confederate charge forced a retreat of Grants troops, the Union reinforcements from Nashville under the command of Maj. General Don Carlos Buell arrived and the Conferderates were forced to retreat.  There is a lot of controversy surrounding this battle and if you are interested you can google up the battle and read about it.  The facts remain that of the 66,000 Union troops, there were 13,000 casualties.  While the Confederates had 10,700 casualties from their 44,700 soldiers.  This was the bloodiest battle of the war up to this time.  Troops from Iowa were very much involved in this conflict, and there are various monuments honoring Iowa soldiers in the park.

Here's some photos I took.

WE ARRIVE AT THE PARK

AN IOWA CONNECTION

AN IOWA MONUMENT

CANNONS

ANOTHER IOWA MARKER

IOWA GENERAL GRAVE MARKER

So far we have put on about 400 miles on the trike.  So far we haven't ridden with the Panama City GWRRA chapter yet, but I did venture over to Ft. Walton for their chapter meeting last Saturday, and then Sunday we went on about a 250 mile ride with them mostly on backroads.  The chapter meeting for Panama City was cancelled for this month due to Covid, but we were greeted by some of their members for a supper on Tuesday.  This next Tuesday evening, we plan to venture up to Dothan, AL for a chapter meeting there.

That's all for now, and we hope everyone is having a happy new year and staying safe.  Also--HOW ABOUT THEM CYCLONES!!!

END OF YEAR THOUGHTS

 As I'm sure, like me, you are probably real happy to see 2020 come to its year end.  We can only hope that 2021 offers us the ability to gather with friends and family again and the vaccine works!  We did have some great rides in 2020 in spite of the foul weather and covid.  As near as I could count from last year's photos, we had right at 44 different folks participate on our rides either on bikes, trikes, or convertibles.  (NOT TOO BAD!!)  I will be in the planning stages for rides in the upcoming season, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to e-mail me or put them in the comments space on the blog.  Let's hope we are able to hold our annual PMS meeting again this spring. That was always a good time.

Tomorrow, Monday the 28th, Julie and I will be trekking south to Panama City Beach, FL with the trike in tow.  I'm real anxious to see all our biker friends in Florida and Alabama again.  We are leaving a day earlier than normal to avoid an upcoming storm that is supposed to bring snow and possible freezing rain to the area.  Hopefully we can get far enough south tomorrow to miss it.  We can check into the condo on the 31st, so we will probably take our time and do some sightseeing on the way down.  Right now I plan to stop in Shiloh, TN, to see the civil war battlefield there.  As before, I may use the blog while we're down there to keep you informed about some of our adventures.

Finally, here's wishing all of our Wednesday Night Riders and their families and friends a HAPPY AND JOYOUS NEW YEAR!!

JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING......

 

AND HE WAS!!

ARRIVING ON A GOLD WING!!

EARLY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIDERS, FAMILIES, AND FRIENDS!

DONUT RUN

 With temps in the high sixties on this November Sunday, four Wednesday night riders took advantage of the unusually warm weather for a late season ride.  Gathering at Casey's were Lois on her bike, and Irv and Bob & Julie on trikes.

Lois with a "selfie" with Bob & Julie

IRV JOINS THE GROUP

After departing Casey's, we headed out east on the Elon Road with a brisk south wind keeping us leaning a little to the south.  We then turned south on the Lansing/Harpers Road and down into Harpers Ferry.  Turning back south along the river, we actually saw a water skier on the water, so riding bikes actually seemed a better way to take advantage of the warm weather.  We arrived at HWY 76 and followed it into Marquette where we crossed the bridge and arrived in Prairie du Chien.  We took CR K over to Limery Drive, crossed HWY 35 and continued up the hill to HWY 27.  We turned north on 27, and with the wind now at our backs made good time through Eastman and  to arrive at CR S just outside of Seneca.  Turning east on S for about 10 miles, we arrived at HWY 131 and followed it into Gays Mills and onto HWY 171.  Up the long winding hill 171 took us to our destination at Sunrise Orchards.

NOT NEAR AS BUSY AS LAST TIME

As Irv said, "Coffee and donut weather will be here shortly." So we all grabbed up a supply of the apple cider donuts that this place made famous.  After donning masks and making our purchases, we waited for Lois to find her keys.  Fortunately she recovered them from her saddlebag, so we were able to continue our journey east on HWY 171.  At the junction of 171 and 61 at Rolling Ground, we turned north on 61 and on into Soldiers Grove.  Just outside of Soldiers Grove we found CR C and followed it west all the way to Towerville and CR B.  We cruised down B with the sun now coming out and onto HWY 35 just outside of Ferryville.  #5 took us to HWY 81 and across the bridge into Lansing and onto HWY 9.  A refurbished HWY 9 brought us back into Waukon after seeing a good number of other bikers .  We had about 130 miles on the trike when we parked her and unloaded our prize.

OUR PRIZE, AND WE AIN'T SHARING!

I'll have to admit that the "weather witch" has been really good to us this past week by letting us squeeze in a few more rides before the snow flies.
 

IT'S SUNDAY

 It looks like our last group ride for the year will be this Sunday.  Leaving Casey's at 11 AM.  Stop at the orchards to replenish apple donut supply.  Everyone welcome to ride along.  Looks like winter is going to arrive on Tuesday!

BIRTHDAY RIDE AND OTHER DRIVEL

 Yesterday (Wednesday) I took my annual (if the weather cooperates) birthday ride.  This one was a day after my birthday, but it still worked out because the "weather witch" was in a good mood.  I first had to stop at the hospital to get ready for my annual medicare physical.  While there I had Lois (dressed in a hazmat suit) take my temp, and then Marie tapped me for a blood sample at the lab.  I guess it was nice to be treated by  Wednesday Night Rider members!

I put on about 150 miles on the bike, and I will put her away for the winter this weekend (always a sad day).  However, I do plan on getting the trike out for her last Iowa run sometime this weekend (either Saturday or Sunday around 11 AM) with a possible stop at the orchards for a refill on the donuts.  If you haven't put your ride away yet and want to ride along, let me know.  We can meet at Casey's.

Yesterday I rode to Luana and got onto HWY 18 there.  I soon discovered that the state decided to put tar snakes on 18 all the way from Luana to just outside of Marquette.  I'm assuming they are going to go all the way to Postville with this.  The strips didn't seem to be slick, but on the way to Monona, I saw more tar than actual highway in some places.  I passed through Monona, then across the bridge at Marquette (now finished), through PDC, and onto HWY 80 heading for Wauzeka.  I passed through Wauzeka and continued my trek into Boscobel for a break at the Kwik Trip there.  I ate a small lunch at the picnic table outside there.

Not a lot of colorful scenery, but really a nice sunshiny day!  After Boscobel, I took HWY 61 north to Soldiers Grove and found CR C heading west.  I followed C to CR B just outside of Towerville and took it down to the river just north of Ferryville.  I headed north on HWY 35 and then took Hwy 81 across the bridge to HWY 9 in Lansing.  Hwy 9 isn't quite done yet, and I had to wait for a pilot car near Chuchtown.  They are apparently putting in all those divots in the center lanes and shoulders to warn drivers who may fall asleep.  While this seems like a good idea at the time, it seems these divots fill with water and then freeze in the winter causing the pavement to break up.  Wait and see, because I'm sure in a couple of years you will see them filling in the divots they were making today.

IT WAS A GREAT RIDE, but it looks as if these next few days are going to be the last of our Indian summer, so ride yet if you can!

SOME OTHER DRIVEL

While Jim and Darron were on their adventure this summer, Jim sent me this photo from a sign he saw along the way.

Also, Jim sent me the following link.  It is a You tube documentary on the Cannonball Run.  This is a coast-to-coast ride for antique motorcycles of all brands.  It is really a neat account of the trials and tribulations these riders go though keeping the antiques on the road. It is about an hour long, so you may want to save the link and view it when you have time.

https://youtu.be/q3nBn-wYpJA