SAD DAY--MEMO FROM GRANDMA--LAST BURGER

Even though it's been a great fall, and even though we will be taking the trike to Florida, even though the Wednesday Night Riders had a lot of fun this summer, it's still a sad day when you have to tuck the "fun machines" away for the winter.

Here's hoping all of the Wednesday Night Riders have a great Thanksgiving.  We are heading for Denver, I know Meryle is heading to Texas, and others are headed out of town also.  Actually it's been a while since our whole family has gathered for the Thanksgiving day feast.  Families seem to be too spread out now.  However, I do know that Thanksgivings are still important to grandmas.  I was sent the following "Memo from Grandma" from one of my Gold Wing buddies.  Hopefully you can click on the link below and get it.  It's a classic!  Double click on the MEMO FROM GRANDMA below and then click on the link.

MEMO FROM GRANDMA


FINAL BURGER RIDE
Last Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day, and with the impending weather could be the last day to ride this year.  Since it was about noon and I was hungry, I couldn't resist riding on down to Steuben for one of their "almost world famous" burgers.  The place was jammed with hunters and of all things "canoeers"!  I couldn't handle the 1/2 pounder, but the smaller one was delicious!  This trip, "All Roads Lead to Steuben Burger Run", will definitely be on the ride agenda again for next year.  I also didn't try one of their "pink squirrels"--maybe next year.

Here's some of the ride down.  Click to start.

MORE VETS--REST OF RIDE

I found we have another vet in our group on Wednesday nights.  Dale R (along with his buddy Dave) drove the support convertible on many of our rides this summer.  Sorry I missed Dale the first time, and thanks for your service.

Also, on Veterans' Day I attended the programs at the high school and St. Pats that honored veterans by presenting them with Quilts of Valor.  At St. Pats, one of the veterans honored there was Vernis Haberichter.  Vernis served in Korea and is Tom's father and Nancy's father-in-law.

Finally, here's a  video of the ride Chuckles and I took last Tuesday.

You should be able to guess where this is.

CR 13 AND SALUTE TO VETERANS

Today is Veteran's Day and yesterday Chuckles & Bob R went on a late fall ride through SE Minnesota.  More specifically I wanted to see if CR 13 from HWY 43 down into Houston was open yet.  It had been closed all summer for repairs, so we had not had a chance to ride it yet.  (Although previously Chuckles took the group on part of it on gravel!)  Riding CR 13 down into Houston reminds me of the rides in the mountains, because the road switchbacks down a steep grade with scenic views of the land below.

As we were riding down CR 13 I began thinking how lucky we were to be riding this late in the season and the freedom that goes with being able to ride a motorcycle. And realizing that the "freedom" was made possible possible because of the sacrifices made by our service veterans past and present.  

On behalf of the Wednesday Night Riders, I am privileged to salute the veterans that are part of our group (at least the ones I know of).  Salutes to Meryle, Carl, Bob Z, and Gordy.  We all enjoy riding with you and THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE!!

As we wound our way down a newly paved CR 13 into Houston, the song "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood came through on my MP3.  Here's some lyrics that say it all:

 "And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'll gladly stand up next to you
and defend Her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the USA!"

CR 13
For those of you who didn't get a chance to ride CR-13 (the mountain) this year and are looking forward to it next year, click on the start button on the following video and enjoy!

SOME BONUS END-OF-SEASON RIDES--HIP SURGERY AGAIN

Some of the hardiest of the Wednesday Night Riders don't have their bikes put away for the winter yet, and the weather this fall has offered us some bonus time to ride.  Here's some reports that flowed into the blog.

BOB'S 70th BIRTHDAY RIDE
On Tuesday, Nov. 3rd, Bob R left Casey's at 10 AM after having his favorite for breakfast (corned beef hash) at the Waukon Inn.  He traveled through Luana, Monona, PDC, Eastman, Steuben, Boscobel, Woodman, and on into Home A'Gin's in Mt. Hope for lunch (barbeques).  From Mt. Hope he traveled on CR K into Lancaster and then through Hurricane, Beetown, North Andover, Bagley, Bridgeport,and back into PDC for a stop at the Dairy Queen.  From there he crossed the bridge into Marquette and up HWY 76 through Waukon Junction, Harpers Ferry, Dalby, Elon, and back into Waukon.  It was right at 200 miles on a beautiful fall day.

TWO CLAIRS (CLARE) AND A CHUCKLES
On Wednesday the 4th of November, Chuckles invited Clare (sp) and Bob R on a ride.  Both Chuckles and Clare are EMT's at the hospital, so I guess since Bob R turned 70, Chuckles figured it wouldn't hurt to have a spare EMT along with us. Clare rides a Kawasaki KZ 440 and says she has been riding for about three years now.  It was her first ride with us, and she handled it very well.  We left Casey's at 12;35 (Clare was late.  Don't let that happen again!) and headed for Marquette where we were to meet up with Chuckles "other cousin" Clair (Riesberg from Dyersville).  With Chuckles in the lead we crossed into PDC, took Limery Rd to HWY 27 into Eastman and then HWY 179 on into Steuben (All Roads Lead to Steuben).  We then Picked up CR E and came out on HWY 60.  We took 60 on into Wauzeka for a stop at the BP station there.  Chuckles was doing good so far.  No gravel yet!
After our rest stop we continued on 60 into Bridgeport where we picked up CR C, then to CR X, CR P (newly finished), and on into Bagley.  Passing through Bagley on X we continued through Wyalusing, back to CR C and onto HWY 18 again.  HWY 18 took us back through PDC, over the bridge, and back to Casey's in Marquette again.  From there "cousin" Clair had to decide which way he was going back to Dyersville.  He picked HWY 52, so Chuckles said we could go back through Luana, and Clair could ride with us to the HWY 52 turn between Giard and Frolich.  However, upon leaving the station, Chuckles thought he was going the wrong way on a one-way street and had to back up from a close encounter with a dumpster!  We did make it out of Marquette and past Giard to say goodbye to Clair.  We continued on through Luana and back to Waukon just in time for Bob to make his Lions Club meeting.  I'd say we put on about 150 miles.  It was good to see "cousin" Clair again, and I'm sure we'll see the "other" Clare on some Wednesday night rides next summer.

LONE RIDER  (LOAN WOLF LOIS)
Lois filed this report with the blog on her ride on Wednesday.
Not wanting to miss what might be the last chance for a little cruise, I left Waukon about 4:15, meeting Wayne still dutifully driving his bus.  I headed down Forest Mills, where I met a couple of familiar bikes returning from an outing down south with Cousin Clair.  Took Cherry Valley over to Postville, then 51 to Yellow River Drive, where one lone deer waited for me to honk before slowly crossing from one lane and over the other up into the woods.  Next I turned onto Old Stage Rd and honked going past Fishville.  I still had some daylight, so I followed West Ridge to Liddiard Bottom where the pavement ended (Chuckles would have kept going), turned around and then took Prairie Dr. back into Waukon.  Was able to clock an additional 42 delightful miles on the Suzuki.  AHHHH!

ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE
Dennis had hip replacement surgery done a few weeks ago.  He was getting along fine, but the ball popped out of the joint and he had to go back and have it put back in again.  Apparently he was doing OK until Tuesday, when it popped back out again, and this time surgery was required.  Let's hope this time that everything stays in place, and Dennis has a speedy recovery.  I'm sure we all wish him well, since he and Marlene supplied the "support vehicle" for some of our rides this summer.  They had to miss the couples' trip this year because of the hip surgery, but hope to be back for trips next summer.

WET, COLD, WINDY WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Our last Wednesday night was forfeited to the weather witch.  Looking at the skies, hearing the wind howl outside, and looking at the outside temperature of 35 degrees, I opted for a smart move and didn't try to ride tonight.  It's too bad, since this was out last Wednesday night for the year since daylight savings time starts next week and it will be dark already at 5:30.  That's really depressing, but overall we had very few Wednesdays this summer that we were not able to ride due to weather.  And if you don't have your bikes put away yet, it looks like there may be some days next week that will be warm enough to ride.

I will still try to post whenever I can during the off-season trying to keep you informed and maybe entertained with some biking drivel.

We do plan to do another cruise in January with the Gold Wing group and also plan to take the trike with us to Florida to ride during February.

Julie & I went for a final leaf looking ride Monday afternoon.  The temperature was in the 60's with plenty of sun, so the leaves were showing their colors along the river between New Albin and Lansing.  I tried to do a video again from the trike.  Hopefully you will be able to click on the link and see it.  Don't be too critical since it was only my second try on the trike and I should get better. Also as you will notice, the bugs were still out.

FINAL Four??

Four of us including Chuckles, Lois, Gary, and Bob R departed Casey's Wednesday night under sunny skies and 67 degrees on what may have been the FINAL Wednesday night ride of the season.  With daylight savings time coming in two weeks and a predicted high temperature into the low 40's for next Wednesday, our rides on Wednesday night might be over for the season.  
However, even though our ride was short, it was a beauty.  We took HWY 9 to Iron Mine Road, where we dodged Gordy with a wagon load of corn, and over to HWY76 north.  76 took us up to Iowa River Drive (A26) and we headed east along the river.  At the end of A26 near New Albin we got on HWY 26 and headed south towards Lansing.  Between New Albin and Lansing the scenery was spectacular!  The merciless winds that we have been having lately must not have effected the trees on the bluffs along the west side of 26, because the leaves were just beautiful and made the ride well worthwhile.  If you have the time, I would recommend taking this drive between New Albin and Lansing to see the leaves.  I don't think they're going to be there much longer.
We continued on 26 past the detour and on into Lansing where we got on HWY 9 and on into Waukon.  Since the Wednesday Night Riders are a community minded group, we stopped at the St. Pat's School soup supper to eat.  Good chili, good hot dogs, good ride!

BECAUSE OF SOME CRUISE ARRANGEMENTS, WE MAY NEED TO MOVE OUR ANNUAL PMS MEETING INTO MARCH.  MORE ON THAT LATER.

Here's some photos of the FINAL Four.

STOPPED AT A26 AND HWY 26

THE MOON WAS OUT WHEN WE GOT TO ST. PAT'S

LOIS & CHUCKLES IN THE MISTY MOONLIGHT

TWO SPOOKS IN THE SCHOOL PARKING LOT

ONE MORE TIME!

Yes, we had one more Wednesday night ride.  With temperature readings in the sixties and under sunny skies, Lois, Chuckles, and Bob R headed out on what we hope is not the last Wednesday night.  We took HWY 9 west past Meryle's to CR W 60 where we turned south and went past Fishville.  I didn't realize that W60 was called Old Stage Road until I saw it on Google maps.  I always thought the Old Stage Road went from Decorah to Waukon (A52).  At the end of W60 we turned back west on Yellow River Drive to HWY 51 north.  After a short mile or so, we turned back west on the Frankville Road.  We passed through Frankville just in time to avoid the rush hour.  The Frankville Road took us back to HWY 9 again where we turned west heading for Decorah.  After a short way on 9 we turned back south on Centennial Road and picked up CR W46 heading back west.  Another short trip on W46 brought us to CRW42 heading back south to HWY 9 again.  Heading west on 9 we stopped at the light to turn onto CR A52 (OLD STAGE ROAD?).  We had to wait for all the Wall Martians turning in front of us before we finally got onto A52!  We then followed Old Stage Road (A52?) back to Waukon and Gus & Tony's.  It was about a 60 mile trip and back before dark. It looks like there will only be two Wednesday nights left for us before Daylight Savings Time kicks in.

Here's a couple of photos from Wednesday.

WE STARTED AT 5:30 AND.........

WE WERE BACK BEFORE DARK.