What's Been Happening 03/28/04

Well, today for the first time in almost 4 months, I was able to go on a Sunday ride with the rough riders of chapter H. My pony was just itchin for some great exercise. As usual, we rendezvoused at Mickey D's. Due to the heavy overcast, and the threat of possible rain, only a few rough riders assembled.

The membership consisted of doctor Cary Levin riding "Flim-Flam", sergeant Russ Prichard riding "Red Devil", jumpin Joe Hughes riding his new BMW--LT1200, trusty Bruce Hirsch in his cage, thundering Mark & sweet Paulette Brenton riding "Bumble Bee", rovin Robert Sample riding "Old Timer" and of course yours truly.

As I took the lead, sergeant Russ did the sweep, and that I might add the skies did not look too good. There were peaks of sunshine which gave us all a glimmer of hope. But a ridin we shall go. The "Spring Grove" family restaurant was chosen for our fine dining cuisine located in Genoa, ILL. Naturally, only the back roads will do in getting us to our destination. But first, we all had to feed our ponies with some oats and hay and some mighty fine 93 octane boost for a chaser.

We started out west, and eventually headed in a northwesterly direction. One could tell that these roads were seldom used because of little or no road kill. Our ponies like that. We finally arrived at our destination about 1000hrs. We parked our ponies in the corral, were they lay in wait. By then, our tummies were growling for some much needed nourishment. We were promptly seated in the back room for some mighty good chit-chatting and great socializing. Somebody, please pass the coffee, which is a real eye opener for most of us. Our jubilant crew finally received good vittles and our tummies were happy. It was great to report, that none of our feisty members got our of hand, all behaved well. But alas, time's-a-waste'n, hi ho, hi ho and away we must go. Our ponies were itching for much more exercise and they were not to be denied. Everyone, except trusty Bruce decided that more back road riding was necessary. By now, the sun broke out, and it was looking mighty good outside. So it is off we go, ahoy matey, lets do some shucken 'n jiven, no more city dude living for us.

I took the lead and sergeant Russ did his usual fine job as the designated sweeper. Our direction took us northwest along some of the looniest roads out there. We headed for Belvidere and continued north towards our neighboring state of cheese land. Picking up one of the roads that took us through the small town of Clinton, Wis and eventually heading east. By now our ponies were screaming for more oats and hay with its usualy octane boost. At this time, our bladders had to be emptied as we pulled in the filling station. We demounted our ponies so this feat could be accomplished. Naturally, more kabitzing was in order as we all took a breather. The camaraderie with this group is the finest in the AGWA organization. Our direction took us southeast towards home, as the skies were not looking great. It became abundantly overcast with a slight chill in the air. We stayed in U.S. 14 east bound and turned of highway "O" in a northerly direction and circumvented Lake Delavan. Our direction took us through the small town of Lake Geneva, Wis. And it was homeward bound we headed, taking a few slight detours. I lead our crew to county road "B" which took us due east with some mighty great curves and plenty of dipsy-do's. Jumpin Joe with his BMW was smiling from ear to ear. He had the opportunity to put his pony to the real test in its handling ability. Thundering Mark with his new GL1800 was also smiling with swagger and was very satisfied with the handling characterizes of his "Bumble Bee".

All of us elected not to dawn our rain gear, but to try and out run the rain. We managed to stay just in front of the sky droppings. Eventually, we all made it back to our final destination--home, with the minimal of moisture clinging to our clothes. When I pulled into my garage, with in 3 minutes the skies opened up and the droppings came down in buckets---lucky, lucky, lucky. How sweet it is!! All in all, a great time was had by all. We managed to travel 160 miles of safe driving. It just does not get any better than this.