What's Been Happening 08/03/03

Our crusty crew of rough riders meet at Mickey D's on this fine morning. Our membership consisted of; gentleman George Riebesehl, jumpin Joe Hughes, sergeant Russ Prichard, lucky Larry Greco, doctor Cary Levin and his son Matt, Kurt Bonus, trusty Bruce Hirsch, major Dan Harris, our guest Ken Kaya and Lorri, and of course yours truly.

So it off we go, hi ho, hi ho, and away we go! Our ponies were screaming for some exercise and much needed nourishment. Naturally, we had to feed our ponies first, with the finest of great oats, hay and real good 93 octane proof chaser. Our ponies were sure kicking up their hoofs.

I took the lead and lucky Larry did the sweep. Our choice of some fine dining cuisine was at the "Tempo" restaurant in Waterman, ILL at the corners of route 23 and U.S. 30. Subsequently, I took only the less used roads that were very squirrelly and had many dipsy-do's that were built right into them by our illustrious state of Illinois. After about 80 or so minutes later, we finally arrived at our destination. Our tummies were completely on empty with growling noises to boot. We parked our ponies in the local corral under the trees for some much needed shade. After obtaining our seating arrangement, then the socializing began. Pour the coffee, and let the shenanigans commence. Very soon, our three matriarchs, jumpin Joe, sergeant Russ, gentleman George stood up and yodeled "time's-a-waste'n", lets go ahoy matey--lets ride.

I took the lead, lucky Larry did the sweep and these feisty bunch of rough riders were on their way. Our direction took us straight west on U.S. 30 for several miles and turned north on Tower road, which eventually lead us into the squirrelly roads of Woodlawn and Kilbuck. As we headed north to Baxter road, our direction eventually turned us east. Let me tell you folks, these roads were not used at all, there was no "road kill". We were really in the boonies. I only managed to get misplaced a few times. It is a good thing that lucky Larry has his GPS, so I could figure out where the heck were we. Soon a break was needed, we demounted our ponies for some chit chatting and stretching under a nice shaded tree. As time passed, our jubilant crew just happen to look up to the northwestern skies, wow did it ever look nasty. Dark clouds were forming fast. No more huppen 'n hollarin, we mounted our ponies and headed in a south easterly direction, away from those clouds. After picking up Perryville road which took us to Grill road, we finally connected with route 72 and quickly headed east bound to beat the storm which was heading right for us. We stopped in Genoa, ILL just to feed our ponies, quickly saddled up and the blasted our of town, for the storm holds no furry.

I will say this much, the camaraderie amongst this group was at its finest. How sweet it is!! These ole cowpokes did not let any city dude living interfere with their weekly pony riding, as jumpin Joe yelled "getty-up", nothing rides like a wing, the real motorcycle.

Due to the nasty skies that were chasing us, we had to abandon our ice cream stop, for fearing we might get drenched. In our travels, we pass through or circumvented several small villages and towns and many roads, which took us in our travels about 150 safe miles, and a great time was had by all.