"WE'RE IN THE JAILHOUSE NOW!"

 The classic country song "We're In the Jailhouse Now", sung by Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, and Johnny Cash among others was the theme song for the Wednesday Night Riders as they gathered at Casey's on Saturday morning for the RTE (Ride To Eat).  Our destination was the Jailhouse Tavern outside of Centerville, Wisconsin, known for its good eats.

Only seven riders showed up for this event, but it still turned out to be a good day to see some fantastic scenery and chow down on good food.  Chuckles, Lois, and Dee cruised in on bikes, while Gary & Gloria, Darrel, and Bob straddled trikes.

THE VOTSMIERS SHOW UP TO MAKE THE RIDE OFFICIAL

WE ALSO GOT OUR QUOTA OF GELOS ALONG WITH DARREL & DEE

DARREL & BOB GETTING READY FOR "IMPRISONMENT"

We departed Casey's under overcast skies and temps in the mid 70's.  Most of us were actually hoping we would get rained on, since it has been extremely dry here.  HWY 76 north would be the main route today and we followed it all the way to its end at CR 12 near Ridgeway, passing through or near Hanover, Dorchester, Eitzen, Caledonia, Houston, and Money Creek.  For the most part HWY 76 north of Waukon offers some challenging curves, but is in good shape and some of the views are fantastic.

Once we reached CR 12, we followed it through Witoka and then onto CR 17 and our cruise down the hill into Winona.  We stopped at one of the busiest Kwik Trips in the state for our break.

BREAK TIME

After our break, we wound our way through Winona, and crossed the bridge into Wisconsin.  We picked up HWY 35 south, and soon motored into the Jailhouse Tavern parking lot.

WE FIND AMPLE PARKING

THE JAILHOUSE PARKING LOT IS ALSO HOME TO A FREEDOM ROCK

Once inside, we found a table for seven and placed our orders.

THE DECOR IN THE JAILHOUSE MAKES IT INTERESTING

After finishing our eats, some of us wanted to check out the jail.

ANYBODY KNOW A GOOD LAWYER?!

BONNIE & CLYDE?!

After our meal and photo opps, we made our way to the parking lot and found out that the Jailhouse is a popular stop for bikers.

Watching out for fairly heavy traffic, we departed the Jailhouse parking lot back onto HWY 35 and headed south again.  However as we went past our usual stop for ice cream at Toad's Cove BP store, we discovered that it had been extremely damaged by fire.

Apparently the owner does plan on reopening again.

We continued on into Centerville on 35 and then stayed straight ahead onto HWY 93 which led us to CR K and we turned west.  After a few miles, we turned onto CR M and followed it back to HWY 35 south of Trempealeau.  CR K and M are smooth as silk stretches of asphalt that takes riders through some farm land.  We did notice that some irrigation was taking place and we saw some fields that had corn plants curling up.

We took 35 to CR XX and made our way through New Amsterdam.  I didn't know we were that close to Holland!  CR XX took us through Midway and onto CR OT.  A short jog on OT and we arrived back on HWY 35.  If I had to do it over again, we would have avoided XX and OT, as they are both in need of some repair.

Once on HWY 35 again, we made our way through Onalaska and onto I90 heading west into Minnesota.  We exited I90 onto HWY 14 and rolled through LaCrescent to HWY 16.  Shortly outside of LaCrescent we took HWY 26 south along the Mississippi into Lansing.  Along the way, a few raindrops hit the windshields, but that was it for the predicted 60% chance of rain.

In Lansing, Dee, Darrel, and Bob couldn't pass up the Skinny Dip, and feasted on desert.  I had 177 miles on trike when she rolled into the shed.

Nice ride, great company, excellent eats!

Wednesday Night 

Right now it looks like we will cruise to Guttenberg for next Wednesday's ride.

Who the hell is Bob?

CHUCKLES FOUND THIS SIGN OUSIDE THE MEN'S ROOM IN STEUBEN

WHO'S HARLEY?!

FIGURED IT OUT YET?

AND FINALLY!

THANKS TO TERRY!

ALL ROADS LEAD TO STEUBEN

 There are actually 5 roads that do lead into the small village of Steuben, Wisconsin, and we will use 3 of them for our Wednesday night ride.  To say we had a variety of vehicles gathered at Casey's for the ride would be an understatement!

First of all we had 5 bikers with Jim & Cathy, Lois, Chuckles, and Mike.  Then it gets interesting with the three-wheelers.  Ron & Helen arrived on their Harley trike, Bernell & Kathy rode in on their Can-AM, Richard (newbie) came with his Slingshot,  and Bob led with his Honda trike.  Our "support" convertibles also offered quite a variety.  Irv cruised in with his Vet, Greg & Dale arrived in Greg's Mercury Cougar, and David brought his Jeep.  All together 15 riders in 12 different vehicles!

THREE BIKES AND TWO TRIKES

CATHY INSPECTS THE COUGAR

DALE HEADS OVER TO "WELCOME" JIM

CHUCKLES & DAVID LOOK OVER RICHARD'S SLINGSHOT

MIKE ARRIVES FROM NEW ALBIN

PLENTY OF "HORSES" IN THE SLINGSHOT!

BERNELL & KATHY PARK THEIR CAN-AM

IRV WARMS UP HIS VET

Under sunny skies and temps in the high 70's, the convoy departs Casey's at 5 and turn right at the only stop light in Allamakee County and proceed onto Elon Road.  Once again we hit a great Wednesday night for viewing the spectacular scenery in God's country!  After a cruise east down Elon, we turned toward the south onto Waterville Road (CR X32) and down through Waterville we went.  The road turns sharply west in Waterville and we made a smooth, scenic cruise up the hill to HWY 76 and proceeded south.

After a very short distance, we hit the newly paved part of 76 and motored past Effigy Mounds and down into Marquette.  To me, it always seems a little "spooky" driving on 76 from Effigy Mounds into Marquette.  If you look up on the bluffs on the right side, you wonder when the next rock or tree might come tumbling down on the highway.

We did arrive in Marquette safely and followed HWY 18 east across the Mississippi bridge into Prarie du Chien.  I think as much time as it took them to resurface the bridge, they certainly should have been able to make it a lot smoother!

Once in Prairie, we turned north on Main St. and followed it until it became CR K.  A short distance on K and we then turned back east onto Limery Road.  Heading east, we crossed the railroad tracks just ahead of a stopped locomotive who tried out its horn on some of us anyway.  Limery takes us across HWY 35 and up the hill past Shihata's Orchards to HWY 27.  Turning north on 27 we passed through Eastman where a little league baseball game was in progress.  Once when I passed this direction several years ago, I had to duck a foul ball from a girl's softball game.  Luckily I was not the first person to be knocked off a motorcycle with a softball!

Just outside of Eastman we turned back southeast onto HWY 171.  This highway offers some sweeping curves along with some fantastic views, but it had just recently been "repaired" using "tar snakes", so we took it a little slower to prevent any of the bikes from slipping.  We soon arrived in Steuben and took a break at now the only "stop" in town, Lou's Railroad Street Station.

ALL THE ROADS DID LEAD US TO STEUBEN

AND WE DID DOUBLE THE POPULATION

SPECIAL PARKING FOR "SUPPORT" JEEPS

After using the bathroom and buying drinks and chips from Lou's, we doubled back for a short distance and headed west onto CR E.  While not as scenic as some, CR E still offers some excellent views along the way to HWY 27.  After a very short jog on 27, we pick up CR E again and head west down the mountain.  All of the "alphabet" roads in this area that head down to the river offer some great scenery, and E was no exception.  It's pretty easy to gawk at the panoramic views, but there are enough curves to make you pay attention to the road also.

Once we arrived at HWY 35 just outside of Lynxville, we turned north, passed through Ferryville, and turned onto HWY 82.  82 takes us across the Blackhawk Bridge into Lansing and onto HWY 9.  Following 9 into Waukon, we stopped at Uptown for eats.  There we were joined by Chris and her father.  On another great Wednesday night, I ended up with about 110 miles on the trike.

SATURDAY

This Saturday is another of our RTE's (Rides To Eat).  The destination is the Jailhouse Bar located between Bluff Siding and Trempealeau on HWY 35 in Wisconsin.  We will meet at Casey's at 10:30 that morning and take a scenic drive through Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Right now the weather prediction is for showers in the afternoon, but warm temps.  I will post on the blog Saturday morning if any changes need to be made.

EVERYONE IS INVITED

FOR HARLEY OFFICIANTOS 

Who's bike is this?  Save your answer for next Wednesday night, and we will see who's more observant.

TRIKE RIDES FOR NURSING HOME RESIDENTS

I have been able to make connections with Good Sam here in Waukon as to their interest in WNR offering trike rides to some of their residents.  They did get right back to me and definitely want to do this.  We have set August 14th as the date, with August 16th being the rainout date.  I am waiting to hear back from them regarding the number of residents that may want to ride and the requirements that their corporation and insurance company for us.  I will then meet with their activities director and go over our requirements.  More on this later.

KEEP JUNE 25th OPEN

This is the day for the Winneshiek Medical Hospice Ride. The WNR has always been a strong supporter of this very special fund raiser, so let's be there again this year.  More on this later also.

NEWS ARTICLE ON NH RIDES

 For those of you who do not take or subscribe to the Waukon Standard newspaper, I am going to attempt to show you the article about our trike rides for North Gate residents.  Hopefully it will come out readable here on the blog.  It does give the Wednesday Night Riders some good PR, but I wish they would have included photos of Chuck and Ron also.  As I mentioned before, there is an article and more photos on the North Gate Care Center facebook page.

In the near future, I will contact Good Sam here in Waukon to see if they are still interested in the rides.  I also think Ron is going to check with some folks in Decorah to see if there is any interest.

I also forgot to mention in the last post that Wednesday night our destination will be "all roads lead to Steuben".

WE CHECK OUT THE CZECHS

 On another great night to ride, the Wednesday Night Riders had 14 eager riders show up for a planned ride over to Protivin.

Bikers were Jim & Cathy, Dee, Chuckles, Lois, and Mike.  The only triker present was Bob R, but Darrel and Roger met up with us later on the route.  The support convertibles had Irv & Terry in the Vet and David & ChucK in the Jeep.  Dale also appeared, but apparently his ride did not.

DAVID SHOWS DEE WHERE ChucK WILL BE RIDING

JIM & CATHY FRESH BACK FROM ST. LOUIS

CHUCKLES ROLLS IN

FOLLOWED BY LOIS

AND THEN MIKE

IRV & TERRY ARRIVE IN THE VET

DALE'S RIDE HASN'T APPEARED YET

The temp was 88 degrees as we departed Casey's for Bob's "short cut" to Protivin.  We passed through Waukon and our convoy turned north onto HWY 76.  A couple of deer were spotted along the way before we took Bear Creek Drive west over to Locust Road.  Darrel and Roger were waiting for us on their three-wheelers at the church on the corner.  Cruising down Locust, we arrived in Decorah and turned onto College Drive.  Passing by Luther College and the very busy Decorah swimming pool, we made our way onto Pole Line Road.

Continuing on Pole Line, we crossed HWY 52 and still heading west, our route took us into Cresco.  Pole Line is in good shape and offers some scenery and a few curves that keep your attention. After entering Cresco, we discovered that HWY 9 was detoured onto the same road we were going to take south to Protivin (Dvorak Memorial Highway).  I guess I don't know who Dvorak was, but his highway made up a lot of our route to and from Protivin.

Once we arrived in Protivin, we found we arrived in time for "rush hour".  Main Street was lined with convertibles and other passenger vehicles.  We made our way to the convenience store on the south end of town for our break.

TIME TO SHED THE JACKETS AND COOL DOWN

NOT A LOT OF PARKING, BUT WE MADE IT

MIKE'S FIRST TIME IN PROTIVIN

THE CONVOY GATHERS IN THE SHADE

NICE SHIRT, Chuck!

After some cold drinks and ice cream treats, we departed our Czech friends in Protivin and headed east to Spillville still on the Dvorak Memorial Highway.  Apparently the county graveled the shoulders of DMH and some of the gravel spilled out onto the road surface, so we had to be careful especially rounding corners.  We motored on into Spillville where in MHO is the most beautiful church in Iowa.  We continued on through Spillville passing by the famous Bily Clock Museum and we were still on the Dvorak Highway all the way over to HWY 52.

We then reached the intersection of HWY 9 and followed it through Decorah.  The stop lights caught some of the group, but we all made it back together outside of town.  HWY 9 took us back to Waukon and some of us munched down on the eats at the Uptown Grill.  110 miles showed on the speedo on the trike when I got her home.

NEWS ARTICLE

In this week's Waukon newspaper there is an article about the trike rides we gave to the North Gate Care Center residents.  The article gave Wednesday Night Riders a lot of good PR, but I wish they would have included Chuck and Ron in the write up along with a couple more photos.  On North Gate Care Center's Facebook page, there is a better account of the rides and more photos.

UPCOMING EVENTS

  Saturday, June 10th, will be another of our RTE's (Rides To Eat).  We will depart Casey's at 10:30 and wind our way over to the Jailhouse Bar near Trempealeau, WI.  They are known for their great sandwiches and the decor is neat.

Also, the Winneshiek Medical Hospice ride will be on Sunday, June 25th.  This is an event that the Wednesday Night Riders have always supported.  More on this ride as the time grows closer.

WE HONOR OUR VETS AND HAVE A GREAT RIDE!

 Memorial Day for The Wednesday Night Riders usually means paying tribute to our fallen veterans and then a ride followed by a cookout.  This year we did all of the above, but had fewer participants.

First of all we had great participation from our WNR members by paying tribute to veterans at the Memorial Day event in Waukon.

CHUCKLES WITH THE KC'S

SUZANNE ESCOURTS THE GRAND MARSHAL

DALE ESCOURTS THE POPPY LADIES

JENS AND JANE ESCOURT THE WREATH LAYERS

BOB Z WITH THE VETS CLUB

JULIE PRESENTS QUILTS OF VALOR RECIPIENTS

JIM DOWNING'S SON (ALSO NAMED JIM) RECEIVES A QUILT

JIM'S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW IS ALSO HONORED

After our tribute, our group gathered at Casey's for our annual ride.  Surprisingly we only had nine riders show up on what proved to be a beautiful day and probably the most scenic ride we will take all year.

The two-wheeler contingent included Howard, Lois, and Chuckles.  With three wheels being their choice were Gary & Gloria and Bob & Julie.  In our four wheel convertible were David & Suzanne.

DAVID GETS TO DRIVE THE SUPPORT MUSTANG, BUT NOT IN PARADES

HOWARD GETS READY FOR OUR SCENIC JOURNEY

AL & MARK SEE US OFF

THE GELOS MAKE THE RIDE OFFICIAL

With clear skies and temps in the low 80's we depart Casey's at 1 PM.

TODAY WE RIDE FREE THANKS TO THOSE WHO MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

My original intention was to include Tschumper (aka Thumper) Road in our ride,  Thumper is probably the most scenic drive in the tri-state area, but when I journeyed up there earlier, I discovered that the downhill portion of the road had been rerocked.  There was still a fair amount of loose rock still present.  It probably would have been fine for cars and trikes, but maybe not so good for two-wheelers, so we by-passed it, but the alternative turned out to be great.

After a brief detour to the Rotach house, we journeyed out of town on HWY 76 passing on the outskirts of Hanover, Dorchester, and Eitzen.  It was already clear that this was going to be a scenic trip, because you could see in the distance forever.

Just north of Eitzen, we turned west onto CR 17 and wound our way across some peaks and valleys over to HWY 44 just outside of Spring Grove.  However, we turned back east and made our way back to HWY 76 and cruised on into Caledonia.

We kept on 76 through Caledonia and found CR 10 to our liking.  Cr 10 is another smooth stretch of asphalt with some twists and turns that keeps things interesting along with some great views.  Continuing on 10, we avoided the "rush hour" in Sheldon and arrived back on HWY 76.  We motored on it into Houston for our first break.

TIME FOR SOME COLD DRINKS

GARY FIGURES HE NEEDS HIS WALLET

THE MUSTANG IS BACKED IN FOR A QUICK ESCAPE

After our refreshments, we continued our journey by picking up CR 9 just outside of town.  CR 9 east offers smooth blacktop on through Looney Valley and up to CR 11 where we turn a little north.  We pass by two decorated cemeteries and turn onto CR 8.  CR 8 takes us some south to CR 5 and 6 at New Hartford.  CR 5 goes for a short ways and becomes CR 6 and we take that on into LaCrescent.  Those five county roads all make for smooth riding and great scenery.

In LaCrescent we find CR 25 and head back southward again.  We pass by the turn that goes to "Thumper" and continue on what is probably the next best route for some spectacular scenery.  Here's a couple of photos I took the other day, but they really don't do justice to the incredible views we got today.

Continuing on CR 25 and down a long scenic hill, we cross the Root River and end up on HWY 16.  Turning east on 16, we take it into Hokah for our second break at Kwik Trip.

After the break in Hokah, we passed through town and turn onto CR 18 and motored down the hill into Brownsville and onto HWY 26 heading south.  Just outside of New Albin, we turned onto Iowa River Drive (CR A26) and then turned onto Lycurgus Road.  This was by far the roughest road we had been on the whole day.  When we arrived at HWY 9 we headed south back into Waukon for our cookout.  We had about 145 miles on the trike when we pulled her into the shed.  What a day!  What a ride!

 

At the cookout we were joined by Jens & Jane, Dennis & Marlene, and Wayne & Sandy.  It was especially great to have Wayne & Sandy join us.  We were treated with delicious Jet's brats and some scrumptious salads and deserts to top off a great day.

Right now the plan for Wednesday night's ride is over to Protivin.

REMINDER

 Just a note to remind everyone of our Memorial Day ride and cook out at Rotach's afterwards.

After paying tribute to our veterans that gave their lives in defense of our freedom, we will gather at Casey's for our ride at 1:00. After scenic cruising through northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota, we will be returning to Waukon between 5 and 5:30 for the cook out.

Brats will be furnished at the cook out, but you should bring snacks, deserts, or salads to pass and your own drinks.

If you don't want to or can't make the ride, you are still invited to the cook out for good food and friendly visiting.

EVERYONE IS INVITED !