What's
Been "H"appening 08/12/01
by Dick Scalpone, AGWA-Illinois Chapter H
I am writing to you all to let everyone know what
a great ride we had this morning and afternoon after our weekly breakfast
run. I left my house about 8:30 am and arrived at McDonald's on County
Farm road about 8:45am. Alas, there was a fine group already waiting
for our early morning departure. Among the group was, Bruce Hirsch,
Joel Gyurnek, Jimbo Garner, Dean and Miriam Gillman, Kirk Huot, and yours
truly. Also Lloyd and Leona Tatman showed up in the corvette, however,
could not ride with us because L.T. IS having some problems with
his Gold Wing. Hopefully, he will soon get this corrected A.S.A.P.
Also to everyone's surprise, two of our former members showed up.
It was Rick and his lovely wife Deborah Williams. They moved out
to Las Vegas a few years ago. To much of everyone's surprise they
sold their two Gold Wings and opted to drive Harleys. They each own
their very own ultra classic, and it is a beautiful machine that
I may add. (It seems to me that they stepped down in quality).
Rick and Deborah drove their Harleys from Las Vegas to Sturgis and spend
about 3 or 4 days there. Then they drove their bikes back to see
us, Chapter H for our Sunday morning breakfast run. They where staying
with Deborah's mom who lives in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Needless
to say, we were all happy to see them. They will be heading back
to Las Vegas this Wednesday, taking the southern route.
Actually, if Mike Hanus showed up he would be writing
this instead of me. There by having pictures to go along with this
article. Shame on you Mike for not showing up. Mike is retired
now, his wife Sue, must have a list of "honey do" things for him.
See Mike, retirement is not as easy as you thought that it might be. Ha-Ha-Ha.
Anyway, Jimbo Garner let us all on the breakfast run
to a place in Wonder Lake, Ill. The name of the restaurant was "Busy
Bee". After we all ate and filled our tummies, our hunger satisfaction
was met.
Alas, Jimbo lead us on some of the finest back roads
in northern Illinois and south central Wisconsin. He took us to every
windy and curvy road possible. For a time there, I thought that we
were doing "Deals Gap" in the Smokey Mountains. Heck, most
of the time I was riding on the sides of my tires not in the middle as
one would expect. We went through every county road that Wisconsin
has to offer. If it was there, Jimbo found it. After we stopped
for fuel, somewhere in south central Wisconsin, Dean and Miriam Gillman
had to leave us. Miriam said that she had to be home by 6 pm to make
dinner for her children. (Some lame excuse that was. She could
at least invited all of us instead). Anyway, it was their loss for
not completing the ride. Our ultimate destination was to get to Merrimac,
Wis. That is where we took the ferry across the Wisconsin Lake, which
is connected to the Wisconsin River. We had to go through several
small towns to get there. Even though, Jimbo took a few wrong turns
(that is the fun of it) to get there, it was fun as the weather was perfect.
Sunny and cool, not like last week, when it was very warm and humid.
Anyway, we where able to turn our big ponies around on some of those small
rural roads, without a spill or scratch. Those big ole Gold Wings
like the rubber side down and the shinny plastic side up.
As we cross the Wisconsin River/lake on the ferry,
it is then we started to make our way home. This time Jimbo took
the fastest way home. We pick up U.S. 12 and made our way homeward
bound. Jimbo is usually Mr. 55 mph. This time he put the pedal
to the medal and became Mr. 75-80 mph. Surprise Folks.
We stopped for some fuel and a light snack before
getting home. After we arrived on the Illinois side of the
boarder, Jimbo, again found some back roads so we could avoid the heavy
traffic coming back from Wis. to Ill. As we finally neared our destination
of home, we each parted company and adjourned directly to our homes.
Total time that had elapsed from start to finish was
about 13 plus hours. Total mileage was on or about 415. Not
bad for just a Sunday morning breakfast run. As we parted, all of
us thanked Jimbo for a lovely ride. We also thanked the Good Lord
for a great weather day. Cool, low humidity and plenty of sunshine.
Hopefully, next Sunday will be even better, although
it just doesn't get any better than this day. Everyone had a great
day and a fabulous bike touring run. Our out of town guests on their
Harleys, where also pleased.
Photos that Rick Williams had taken on this day can
be viewed at:
http://24.234.48.10/sturgispic/index_8.htm
or go to http://2poets.com/
and click on Sturgis 2001 to view all of Rick's Vacation photos
The day's photos begin at the bottom row and carry
onto the following page.
Until next time, lets be very careful out there.
Remember, rubber side down and plastic shinny side
up.
Dick Scalpone
AGWA-IL Chapter H