Ozarks trip day 3

Today was Jane MO to Harrison AR.

Daylight brought clouds this morning, some dark and ominous. But, we only got drizzled on a little early afternoon, not a problem. The clouds meant the sun was not so hot which was good. I think it might have gotten up to 90 today, but it was oppressive. Morning scripture reading was Isaiah 44 "I have formed you, you are My servant...I have wiped out your transgressions...."

Breakfast was what the motel offered, waffles and biscuits and gravy. Quite good, actually. From the motel we went into Belle Vista and found a friend of Lloyds and Keith's, a man named Art. Art has a house hear in Arkansas as well as a house in Minnesota. He travels back and forth a lot. Art was very friendly, offered us a tour of his property, coffee and water and some good advice on which roads to take. His first suggestion was a very good one to take State hwy 90 to Noel, MO. This was a great road, nicely paved and a lot of fun curves. Thanks Art!

From Noel we circled back around to Belle Vist and then headed into the Ozarks. Our first stop was at the Pea Ridge National Military Park. This is where the largest Civil War battle was in this area. The battle was primarily about keeping Missouri in the union. Over 3000 soldiers died in the battle. The park HQ was very well laid out and very interesting.

From Pea Ridge we headed east on US 62 to the Mountain Chapel. This is a very scenic small church overlooking a great vista of forest, hills, valley and lake. Also a very interesting place to stop at.

Our next destination was Eureka Springs, AR. But before we got there we headed up an interesting looking side road called State 187. At the top of this pass through the hills we found a fascinating little town called Beaver, AR. One thing really interesting is the one lane suspension bridge which has wood planks as a driving surface.

After taking many pictures of this bridge we headed back down the "mountain" (really just tall hills) to Eureka Springs where we found an interesting little restaurant in the historic downtown area called The Cat House. It was now quite late in the day and we hadn't had a real meal yet. So, we called it lunch/dinner and enjoyed the meal and fellowship. We met a man and wife biking duet and enjoyed talking to them about their and our adventures to date.

It was now 5:30 PM and time to head across to find our motel in Harrison. It was a busy road over to Harrison but we made it just find and settled into our rooms. I (Wayne) still wanted to hit some more twisty roads before dark but none of the others were interested so I headed off on my own adventure. I found a nice loop north of town up state hwys 7, 281 and 14. Again, nice roads, great scenery.

After my excursion we all headed over to the local Sonic for late night ice cream. After that, time for our bible study. Romans 12:4-9, we are all part of Christ's body and have unique giftings.

Tomorrow we zoom around on some more twisty roads and will find a different place to spend the night.

Ozarks trip day 2

Today we rode from Osceola Iowa to BellaVista Arkansas. The day broke nice and cool. Larry, Gordy and Keith had got in around midnight. We got Keith's bike off the trailer and gassed up. We were to meet some friends of Keith's in Kansas City at a BBQ joint so had a schedule to meet. Al had decided to head back home with Jim. They were going to stop at one of the famous covered bridges of Madison County. We were now three bikers strong plus Gordy and Larry in the pickup hauling Larry's bike. This morning's scripture was Isaiah 43 "I am the LORD, there is no savior besides Me."

Because of our tight schedule we were forced to jump on the interstate rather than a prefered two lane road which runs parrallel to the super slab. As the morning sun rose higher it became a hot, fast ride which frankly wasn't much fun.

We met about 8 friends of Keith's at Fiorelella's Jack Stack by noon. They were very glad to see him. It turns out that Keith was a youth pastor at one time there and this was their connection. We consumed mass quantities of barbeque meats and hit the road with many of these guys. Those with motorcycles rode show quality Harleys. We headed south and east of Kansas City on some nice county roads, these guys leading the way. We stopped at Stockton Missouri at a Sonic for our Dairy Queen substitute. There doesn't seem to be as many DQ's in Missouri as Minnesota. At one point I knew for sure we weren't in MN when there was a dead armadillo in the middle of the road.

After our ice cream fix the KC guys needed to head home so it was back to us three bikers (Wayne, Keith, Lloyd) and two guys in a pickup truck (Gordy, Larry) to continue our ride south to Arkansas. We said our goodbyes and went our seperate ways. We were on State Highway 39 which turned into a very nice twisty and scenic drive as we got closer to the Ozark Hills. At State Highway 248 we turned west and this was an excellent road as well but now we were riding directly into the setting sun which caused some dicey moments. We made it to Cassville, MO and gased up and got ready for the final leg of our journey.

Our biggest concern now was the setting sun which might bring deer onto the roads and we had around 40 miles to go through the woods. The roads were great, nicely paved and twisty but the deer concern was always there. We made it through without seeing any animals though and it was fine.

We found a motel in Jane, MO at the outskirts of of Rogers Arkansas. It was quite late, 9:00 PM. After we unpacked, we walked over to McDonalds for a late supper. Then we did our bible study from Romans 12: "...be transformed by the renewing of your minds.."

Tomorrow we will finally be into the Arkansas Ozarks!

Ozarks trip day1

We have started on our trip to the Arkansas Ozarks. The northwest group meet in Maple Grove at around 8:00 AM. This group was Lloyd, Greg and Jim. These three met up with Wayne in Bloomington at 9:00. Then the four or us headed down the interstate to Al's house in Owatonna. Al was waiting for us and we said our hello's. From his house it was time for breakfast. We ate in a restaurant in the local HyVee... Nice pancakes for a grocery store.

After breakfast we bid adeu to Greg. This was all the time he had available for a ride this year. Now we were back to three fossils. We headed south on side roads staying off of the interstate as much as possible. It was a beautiful day, nice sunshine, temps in the 70's, a bit of a strong wind out of the west.

We finally found a Dairy Queen in Iowa Falls, IA. Al, being a somewhat of a new Fossil didn't know the rules and drove right on by. He knew something was wrong when he saw none of us in his mirrors. It didn't take too long and he backtracked and found us.

From Iowa Falls traffic got a bit heavier as we had to get around Des Moines. Our goal was Winterset IA, which is John Wayne's birthplace and a museum. Winterset also is in Madison County which boasts of the famous Madison County covered bridges. We made it around Des Moines and pulled up in front of John Wayne's house about 5:00 PM. Unfortunately, the museum closed at 4:30. It was still nice to walk around the grounds, though. We got some pictures taken and were ready for our last jaunt to our motel reservation in Osceola IA.

We found some nice twisty county roads after Winterset. Best roads of the day.

Found our motel @7:00 PM. Ate supper at a family restaurant next door.

We are now waiting for the next 3 fossils. Keith, Larry and Gordy were unable to leave as early as we did. They are trailering their bikes and should get in around 10 PM.

Breakfast meeting, trip plans

This morning we decided some things:

1. Wayne should turn his alarm clock on after setting it.

2. We will be leaving the cities in the morning Sunday the 15th. The northwest suburb guys will leave @ 8:00 AM. They will meet the southern guys at 9:00 at the SuperAmerica on 98th Street. We should be in Owatona @ 10:00 AM.

3. Three guys will be coming later in the afternoon and will meet us at Osceola IA at the America's Best Value Inn that Sunday night. (Keith, Gordy, Larry). They will be trailering their bikes. I will make the reservations at the Best Value Inn.

4. Once into Arkansas we will set up a base camp @ Harrison. Some will motel it (Lloyd will make reservations). Some will be camping.

5. At this time, there will be a total of 8 guys: Al, Lloyd, Keith, Gordy, Larry, Jim, Dick, Wayne. (We are still holding out hope that Bill will be able to make it). Half are campers, half not.

6. The itinerary remains the same:
Sunday night: Osceola IA (motel).
Monday night: Rogers, AR (motel)
Tuesday & Wednesday night: Harrison, AR (camping/moteling)
Thursday night: Branson, MO (maybe, or we can stay at Harrison, we can decide later)
Friday night: Hanibal, MO (motel)
Saturday night: Home.


Thanks, guys, looking forward to it,

Wayne
612-729-5031 (home)
612-369-6699 (work cell phone)

Spring Ride, Saturday, June 5

The weather man promised only a "slight chance of hit or miss showers, nothing to worry about, not a wash out". The weather man was wrong....

As we met first at MGCC then IKEA there were some sprinkles around but not a big deal. As we grouped in the parking lot we noticed blue skies in the north, dark skies in the south. We were heading south to Red Wing, anticipating a wet ride. I mentioned to Keith; "You know, if we weren't meeting Gordy for brunch in Red Wing I'd suggest we change plans and head towards those blue skies to the north." Keith replied; "I'll give him a call, he'll understand he'll agree that we should try and stay dry".

Keith was right, Gordy suggested we head north. This is what we did and the plan worked for the most part, for a while. But then the rain caught up to us early afternoon when we each learned the effectiveness or lack thereof of our respective rain suits.

We started the day eight fossils strong: Jim L., Jim G., Lloyd, Greg, Keith, Larry, Eric and me (Wayne). The scripture reading for the day was Psalm 121. From our meeting place we headed up I494 and State 36 to Stillwater, MN where we stopped for breakfast at a nice friendly restaurant. We crowded around the counter and had a nice time talking and eating breakfast. After breakfast Larry decided to head home, we were now seven.

We headed through downtown Stillwater and north up State 95 and across the St Croix to Osceola Wisc. We stopped at the DQ in town and bid fair-thee-well to Jim L. who had to to work.

The rest of us headed north on Wisc 35 towards destination unknown. Since we had planned a ride in southern Wisconsin, we had no idea where to go in Northern Wisconsin. But, we were enjoying each others company and the opportunity to ride anywhere together. At St. Croix Falls, Keith ran us over some interesting side roads to hook back up the state 35.

It was beginning to drizzle more earnestly as we stopped for gas in Frederick, WI. A few of us had mentioned perhaps making it all the way to Jay Cooke state park near Duluth. As the clock wound down and the rain picked up we realized that this was probably not feasable today. So we decided to head a bit more north to Highway 70 and then cut back across to Minnesota to begin our return leg home. Now that I am home and have the privilige of looking at a Wisc map, I see that from that point there were some interesting roads to take which would have got us to MN in a more fun manner. But, since none of us planned on being in this part of the state, no one had a map so we just blindly keep heading north on Wisc 35 to Wisc 70 at Siren, WI.

We stopped at Siren to put our rain pants back on since it had been relatively dry since breakfast and some of us had shed the extra layers. Now it was becoming quite apparent that it was going to rain substantially and steadily. This prediction turned out to be true.

After getting west and back into MN we headed south on MN 361 and stopped at the Dennis Kirk warehouse store. On-line I had noticed a helmet on clearance that I wanted to try on. The helmet, though a good price was not the helmet for me so I passed on it. We continued south until Forest Lake, MN where we found the required DQ. It would not be an official Fossil Apostles' ride without a stop at a Dairy Queen.

After our fill of ice cream it was time for our last leg of the Spring Ride. We jumped across on MN97 and down to I35W in Lino Lakes, then home. Raining steadily the whole way.

Though the weather did not cooperate as we would have wished it was a good ride. It was good to get together with friends and have a chance to ride some motorcycle. Thanks guys, see you at our summer trip!

Breakfast Meeting Saturday April 17

We met today at the Applebee's in Rogers for a breakfast meeting. It was also a fund raiser for a pre-school so the price was right.

We had a great time re-acquanting and catching up. Everyone rode their bikes except one guy (me) who's bike is still in parts. One guy, (Bob) didn't quite make it because his bike broke down on the freeway. Larry rescued him in his fancy new Mustang so Bob still got some breakfast. Oh yes, that reminds me, Larry didn't ride his bike either. Gordy gets the prize for the longest ride since he came all the way from Red Wing in the chilly April weather.

We also spoke of our plans for the spring ride and summer trip. On Saturday, June 5 we plan to meet and head down to Pepin Wisconsin where we will zoom around on some county roads for the day.

The summer trip will be to the Ozarks of Arkansas, August 15-21.

Details for both trips are forth coming.

Meeting Report

(Click on pictures to enlarge)





We met on Saturday the 6th and set up some dates:

Next meeting: Saturday April 17th at the Old Country Buffet in Maple Grove.

Spring Ride: Saturday June 5.

Summer Trip to Arkansas: August 15-22.

We also reviewed the new business cards as designed by Greg and Wayne (see above). Greg is getting them printed and they will be available soon.

Afterwards some of us headed over to the Motorcycle Show and saw all the stuff there. At lunch we met again and enjoyed the over priced Convention Center food and drink. (I don't think I ever had a Coke for $4 before).

It was good to get together and see you fossils again. See you again in April.

Wisconsin Trip, Day 5 Monday, August 17

This, our final day of our Wisconsin Fossil's trip started sunny, but somewhat cool. Actually feeling pretty nice after the hot weather a couple of days ago.

After breakfast we needed to clean up the huntin' shack, pack the bikes and head out. Our plan is to take the "scenic route" home, heading east in the least direct route. Again, on alphabet roads whenever possible.

I had noticed an interesting road on the previous day's trip south that we decided to head for. It was called county O and ran east and west from the Bruce area to Rice Lake. To get there we headed down County C south to Exeland and then WI48 east to WI40 south (past the gazebo-on-silo farm) to County O west to Rice Lake. Then WI48 to Cumberland, onto two more Rustic Roads, East on US8 to some county roads into Osceola. Then across the river into Minnesota, south on MN95, west on county 4 to I35E to home.

County O was indeed a fun, twisty road. The finding of two more Rustic Roads with the needed picture taking was an added benefit. Bill had us stop in Marine, MN for some ice cream that turned out to be closed. So we headed on home. Bill came to my house in south Mpls where I served up some baloney sandwiches and watermelon. Bill was planning on heading over to his families house which is going on the market soon. We had waved goodbye to Jim at the 694/35E split as he headed on over to Maple Grove.

This was a very pleasant day for a ride but it was good to be home. We had a busy five days and I think all agreed it was great to get out for the ride, fellowship and "alphabet roads".

thanks guys,
God bless.
Wayne.

Day 4, Sunday, August 16

We woke to the sound of rain on the roof. This meant we were in no hurry to get out. I made breakfast and then took a morning nap.

Around 10:00 AM the rain stopped and we decided we'd head out on our ride. The plan is to head east and south and then loop around north and east on twisties. County C north to WI70 east to WI40 south to US8 west to County F north to WI70 west to County B and M south and looped around Long lake. Lloyd and Greg would head west from there back home while Jim, Bill and I would take more county roads around and around until we found our way back to my shack.

We were reading our bike side scripture out of a Psalm when the drizzle started. I finished reading quickly and slipped the bible into a plastic bag while Greg fished out his rain gear which he optimistically had hoped he wouldn't need. (the rest of us had already geared up). The rain kept picking up as we headed over to Radisson for a quick stop at the gas station. From there south on WI40 was a great, twisty road that we had to slow way down for because it was now pouring causing poor visibility and water on the road reducing traction. The rain was starting to let up a bit when we stopped at an unusual farmstead where the farmer had built a gazebo on top of his silo. A very unusual sight and a good photo op.

By the time we got to Bruce WI on Highway 8 the rain was done. But, of course, the roads were still slippery because of the wet. County F, north from Wayerhauser up to Birchwood is a great road which I had never taken before. I will definately get back on it someday when the roads are dry. By the time we got to Birchwood the sun was totally out and it was pretty obvious that the rain was done for the day. It was turning into a great day for a motorcycle ride. We hung out at the gas station for a bit, drying out and talking to other motorcyclists wo came by also out for a Sunday afternoon ride.

We then headed further north on County F up along Lake Chetek. The roads were now dry and we were able to fully appreciate the twisties on this great road. We then headed over to the town of Stone Lake for lunch in a bar and grill. The Hazeltine golf tournament was on the small TV with a NASCAR race on the big screen. We almost got into a fight with some large Wisconsin women over what to watch on the big screen (kidding). They won the argument when they pointed out that real bikers don't watch golf. (Plus, I think they could have taken us).

Our after lunch ride was around Long Lake south and west of town. Greg was most familiar with this ride in that his family vacations on Long Lake every year. We stopped at the resort where he stays and had a quicky tour. The place is very nice as well as the ride around the lake.

AFter the trip around the lake it was time to split up again. Lloyd and Greg needed to get back to the cities to go to work the next day. This left Bill, Jim and myself up to our own devices.

Us three headed back up towards Stone Lake where I had noticed a "Rustic Road". Rustic Roads are so designated by the state of Wisconsin as roads of some beauty, historic value and, as mentioned, rustic. The state has developed a program to encourage motorcyclists by giving them a patch and a certificate. All a biker needs to do is send in a certain number of pictures of him and the respective signage on each Rustic Road. I decided this was a perfect time to start the process. I had Bill take the appropriate picture and we headed on down the road. It was not terrible long in that it just wound around a small lake north of town. It wasn't very rustic either in that it reminded me of a typical suburban cull-de-sac with all the fancy lake houses. But, it was a start, one road down on my list.

From the Rustic Roads we started back onto our alphabet quest, taking various county roads east from Stone Lake and around the south side of the Chippewa Flowage. Then back south into Couderay and then back to my place.

Supper that night was hot dogs on the grill. We invited my neighbors over, Charlie and Rachel, my brother and sister-in-laws. Discussion that evening was reminiscing of motorcycle rides gone by that Charlie and I took up to 30 years ago. A fun evening, a fun day.

Day 3 Saturday August 15

Woke up @ sunrise to another beautiful, sunny day. Revenge would have us rev our collective engines in front of the camp site of the revelers' who kept us up until 3 in the morning. We resisted temptation, however, broke camp and packed our bikes. Breakfast was to be at 8:00 back at Grandpa Tonies in town. We prayed with our new found friend, Ed before heading out. This is another instance where I wish we had something to give the people we meet so they can know who we are and, more importantly, who our Lord is.

After breakfast we had a bible study on Acts 28, Paul on the island of Malta. This took place in a shady lot next to the restaurant. After the study we hung out waiting for Mark from Siren, WI who was coming to join us.

Once he showed up we gased up the bikes and headed up to Jamie's house. Jamie's house is an old log cabin that is un-habitable at the moment. He lives in a camper on his property for now. The plan is to sell the logs from the house and someday build a new one. For now he is quite happy in his simple summer abode. He only summers here and spends the winters in Montana going to college.

After looking around Jamie led us on a tour of the island on his old Honda Rebel. The roads were busy with tourists on rented bicycles and scooters. Up at the end of the island on an indian reservation was a beautiful beach with delicious wild blueberries. The breeze of the lake was very refreshing as the day was turning hot.

We then headed back to town and decided to split up. Some of the guys wanted to visit the local museum, Larry and Jamie were going to spend some time together and Greg needed a nap. I hung out at the park where Greg napped and read and rested. Our plan was to meet up at the dock to get back on the ferry at 1:30. This worked well but Larry was almost too late but he did not miss the boat.

By now it was getting quite hot, up to around 90. We hadn't eaten lunch yet and voted on whether we would eat back outside of Ashland or head further inland and eat later at Hayward. The winning vote went to Hayward and a late meal. Our route would be WI13 south to US 63 south. Not a bad ride but direct as we had no time at this point to spend any time on alphabet roads. Fortunatly, it clouded over so it cooled down a bit. Even a couple of rain drops out of one dark cloud.

Supper (late lunch) was at Coops in Hayward. A nice restaurant with good food. I have been there before with hunters and Mark had been there before as well.

After supper we bid adieu to a few of the fossils who needed to get home. Keith, Larry and Mark headed west on WI 70 while the rest of us headed south and east on WI 27 and County C to my place. We were now 5 fossils strong: Lloyd, Greg, Jim, Bill and myself.

I quickly set up an impromptu shooting range in my back yard with a card table, targets and pop cans. We then broke out the hardware. I had a .22 rifle and handgun on site while Lloyd was packing some more powerfull handguns. Some quick lessons and we all took turns shooting holes into the targets and making the pop cans jump.

We did this until sundown and then talked around the great room before hitting the sack.

August Trip, day 2

Friday, August 14, 2009.

A beautiful sunny morning. Breakfast of french toast and bacon.
Bike side scripture: Psalm 138.

County C north to WI70 east to County CC north to County B east to County S north (best road of the day) to WI77 east (all road construction) County M west, County D north, US63 north to county B&C east to WI13 north to Ashland on Lake Superior. All the "alphabet" roads were great. Nice weather, nice scenery, nice twisty roads.

We found a city park in Ashland on the lake which was a cool relief from the 88degree heat of the day we had gotten up to. We ended up eating at Arby's after Lloyd's GPS sent us to a hardware store where a restaurant was suppose to be.

After lunch we headed up to Bayfield on US2 and WI13. We got into the town just in time to buy a ticket for the ferry crossing. It was a short wait dock side until we were able to motor up onto the boat for the ride across to Madeline Island.

Docked at LaPointe then headed up county H to the Town Park Campground. Larry's son, Jamie, had saved two sites for us, 27 & 30. The rest of the campground was totally full. Site 27 was small and rocky with barely enough flat land for a small tent. Site 30, however, was large so 5 of us went unto that site and we left 27 vacant. Larry and Lloyd went to stay at Jamie's place. Shaun decide to go visit his father in Bemidji so got back on the ferry and headed back across the bay.

After a walk to the beach and a swim, we all met at "Grandpa Tonies" for pizza and ice cream. After supper we headed back to the campground and started a campfire. We met a lone biker named Ed who had no place to spend the night. We invited Ed to join us at our large site since we still had room. Ed was from the Lacrosse area and seemed to spend a lot of time on his bike since was just back from Sturgis.

We had a nice evening around the campfire. It was hard to sleep, though, because of a loud party nearby in the campground.

August 2009 Trip day 1

Thursday August 13, 2009.

We meet at the Mill's Fleet Farm parking lot in Blaine, MN @ 5:30 PM. The plan is to head up to Wayne's huntin' shack in NW Wisc, hopefully before dark.

We were eight Fossils strong: Wayne, Greg, Lloyd, Larry, Jim, Bill, Keith and Shaun. The weather was somewhat hot with threatening storms in the SE. Fortunately we were heading NE and stayed dry though we saw a rainbow at St Croix Falls, WI.

From the northern metro we took county 23 north to MN 97 west to MN 95 north and east across the river to Osceola WI. WI 35 north to St Croix Falls then US hwy 8 east to Turtle Falls for gas and DQ.

The stop at DQ took us up to 8:00 Pm which meant our hope of not riding in deer country after dark would not be realized. Not a pleasant anticipation. From Turtle Lake we headed north on US63 to Cumberland and then WI48 east to Rice Lake, US 53 north to Haugen, then county V east to WI48 north to County C north.

It was dark by the time we got to Birchwood and we still had a dozen miles to go through deer country. I (Wayne) was leading and seeing deer occasionally. Honking my horn at them would turn them and they'd run back into the woods. So good so far... until on County C almost to my place a deer appeared from my left and began running along side of me as I braked. He then cut in front of me and I thought for sure I was going to hit him and probably go down. I did hit him but amazingly and thankfully was able to keep control of my bike. Greg told me the deer somersaulted head over tail more than a few times before running into the woods.

My front tire had clipped his rear leg. At impact I had instictively pushed my left foot down which seemed to have hlep stabilize the bike (but hurt like crazy). I would have been under 30 MPH by then. I put the bike in neutral and rolled along as I tried to assimilate all that just happened and verify that all was right with me and my bike. Realizing that all was well, I put it back in gear and kept going the last couple of miles to my hunting shack. I pulled up the hill to my walkway and was still so shaken I dropped the bike on it's side! But, we got our gear off and picked our respective beds.

Bible study this evening was about Paul on an island. Acts 13.