HE'S ON HIS WAY!!

It's going to take him a while, but Santa's on his way to your house if you've been good little girls and boys!

HERE'S WISHING ALL THE WEDNESDAY
NIGHT RIDERS AND THEIR FAMILIES....
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Keep Wednesday night, January 14th open.  That's when I'm planning the annual PMS meeting.  You will be receiving an official notice in the mail shortly after the new year.

A NOTE FROM SANTA

Apparently Santa and Chuckles are big buddies now.  Here's the story according to Chuckles.

Chuckles & Santa at the ER at VMH

Santa was taking the Gold Wing on a hot lap down one of Bob R's famous roads.  At one of the stop signs, Santa slipped and fell over.  Chuckles saw Santa and went right over to help him (he's that kind of guy).  Chuckles asked Santa if he was OK, and he replied, "My left elbow hurts."  Chuckles took him to the ER to have his elbow x-rayed.  Good news!  It was just a sprain, so Chuckles helped put a sling on him.

Santa looked at Chuckles and said, "Won't you ride my Gold Wing tonight?"  Chuckles was glad he could help (he's that kind of guy).  As Santa left to go back to the North Pole, we heard as he rode out of sight, "Merry Christmas WNR, and to all a goodnight!"



My only comment is:  If you want Chuckles (aka Santa) to bring you any gifts, you had better leave some free donuts for him!

WALKING WOUNDED

As some of you may not know, a couple of our WNR riders have had to go under the surgeon's knife this winter. 

Gary "Drag-A-Leg" Klein had knee surgery.  His doctor told him the bad knee was caused by years of shifting the Harley.  I saw him at the Waukon Wellness Center the other day, and he is recovering nicely.  Gary is a "tough old bird", but he did say he was going to have to make some changes to the Harley come spring.  He didn't say for sure what the changes are, but I'm going to make a guess.  See below:

THIS SHOULD DO THE TRICK!

Our second wounded warrior is Bugsy.  He's recovering from hernia surgery.  And I thought "heavy metal" was the name of a band!  Bugsy is a tough guy also, but he said he's going to have to make some changes on his Goldwing this spring also.  Since everyone knows that Bugsy has a lot of metal and a big imagination, I'm going to make a guess here also.  See below:

BUGSY MAKING A LANDING IN HIS NEW TRIKE

SANTA

We just got back from visiting the grand kids in Denver.  The weather there was somewhat cool, but on both Thursday and Friday the temperature got up into the low seventies, so I did see and got to talk to some bikers who were out (lucky devils!)

We took the four grand kids to Bass Pro Shop where they could have their picture taken with Santa.  The three girls had no problem, but our two-year old grand son wanted nothing to do with the bearded gentleman.  I told them that he was going to ask if they had been good kids this year.  Of course, I'm sure the girls claimed they were.  Then I got to wondering if Santa would come to my house this year.  I was pretty sure he would so I asked him.  He said he would, but he wanted to know if there was anyone in our Wednesday Night group that needed a special visit, so I gave him everyone's name and let him choose.  Today I got back his response--see below!

SANTA COMING TO BOB'S HOUSE

SANTA AT CHUCKLES' HOUSE

A NEAT BLESSING

I'm not going to go on about the crap weather, since you already know how much I hate winter, so I thought I would share a blessing with you.

First a little background.  As most of you know, Julie's mother passed away in October at the age of 99.  While I was at the wake at St. Boniface Church in Waukee, I happened by their announcement board, and low and behold, I found out that this church has a group of bikers that meet at the church every Monday for a ride together and a stop for food afterwards.  They also have special rides scheduled throughout the riding season.  They call themselves the Blessed Bikers.  Except for the day of the week and the blessed part, it reminds me of a group I know.

I did ask the pastor, Father Vince Resonke, if he rides along with them also.  He said the closest he comes is having his picture taken while sitting on one of the bikes.  However, he did write a blessing for them that I wanted to share with you.  By the way, the good Father grew up in New Hampton, so he knew about Waukon and extends the following blessing.  It's called "Onto the Open Road"

Onto the open road we ride---
Surrounded by the fresh air of nature.
         Side by side we travel
        Down the many roads---
  Each day a new adventure--
      Each time, new friends.
Bless our comings and goings;
      Bless our time together.
Keep us safe as we ride our paths;
      May we always notice
   The beauty of your creation.
       May we put our trust
      In the one next to us as 
Onto the open road we ride....

----Fr. Vince Rosonke

WINTER SHOWED UP!

I was able to get a ride in on Monday this week, then the bottom dropped out on the temps.  I went through Decorah to Ridgeway and then took the Madison Road back to Decorah and back to Waukon for about 60 miles. (Remember it has to be at least 50 miles to count as a ride.) The sixty miles put me at 50,000 on the Wing, so it was due for the oil change and Sea Foam treatment for the winter.  Hopefully I'm not done riding here in Iowa yet, but it doesn't look good in the upcoming forecasts. 

Things must be rough all over.  I see in the news that they shot a weather man out east!  
If you think you've got troubles, check this guy out.  He must be the one that taught Chuckles how to plan routes!

NOVEMBER RIDE

It was Wednesday afternoon instead of Wednesday night, but Chuckles and Bob R got a November ride in this year.  For the past several years, I was able to ride at least once every month of the year.  Last year I did miss December and the year before I did miss January.  There is some "cheating" going on there, because, as most of you know, we do take the Wing with us to Florida in February.  I did ride the first three days of this week and put on a little over 300 miles on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday, Chuckles and I put on about 135 miles by traveling on HWY 76 through Eitzen, Caledonia, and Houston.  We then took HWY 16 through Rushford, Peterson, Whalen, and Lanesboro.  Then onto HWY 52 through Harmony, Canton, Prosper, and Decorah and HWY 9 back to Waukon.  We did a couple of "warm-up" stops at Houston and Harmony.  The temperature got barely into the 50's with a few rain sprinkles, but the roads were really smooth and very little traffic.  I can't believe we didn't see another biker!  Actually it's kind of neat to be able to see some new things now with the leaves mostly off the trees.  Some things are nice to see, and some not so nice.  Hopefully the weather may warm up enough again for another chance for us to get out again.

On a sad note...Wayne Martin's brother, Harlan, passed away on Tuesday.  Condolences to Wayne and his family.

Here's a couple of photos from Wednesday afternoon.

WARM-UP STOP IN HARMONY

CHUCKLES SHOWING OFF HIS "NECKEE"

"MAN.... THAT NECKEE REALLY ITCHES!"