What's Been Happening 08/22/04

The hail and hardy crew that assembled this morning were willing and able to ride their ponies a far piece. How sweet it is!! Those that gather for our prolific chow run were; Christine & daughter Kirsty Irwin riding her new three wheeler PRINCESS SAFIRE, trusty Bruce Hirsch riding BULLDOG, gentleman George Riebesehl riding SILVER STREAK, major Dan Harris riding BEATLE BOMB, ole country Joel Gyurnek riding PURPLE MOUNTAIN (GL1500), dancing Dick Sieple riding his new mount RED MAJESTIC (GL1800), doctor Cary Levin riding SEXY RED, thundering Mark & sweet Paulette Brenton riding BUMBLE BEE, jumpin Joe Hughes riding ROSEBUD (GL1500), sergeant Russ Prichard riding RED DEVIL, fast Eddie Bowser riding SHOT GUN (GL1500), professor Damien Shelton and daughter Becky riding GREEN BACKS, and yours truly riding HUMPTY-DUMPTY.

I took the lead and ole country Joel did his usual fine job of sweeper. Our group is now called the sweet 16 in attendance. This time, however, I chose a more direct route, for at least part of the way, due to the distance of travel time. After arriving in Belvidere via U.S. 20, we promenaded off to route 76 north bound to route 173, then turned west to Belvidere road which took us in a northwesterly direction and connected up with route 251, turned north and presto, we were there in a few short minutes. We parked our ponies in the corral were the shade was a plentiful. Once seated, the coffee poured, then the shenanigans commenced. Our group of "sweet 16" had lots to say and the jibber-jabbering was at its finest. Alas, the vittles finally arrived, and our tummies were very happy, indeed. Nonetheless, the kibitzing never stopped.

Soon after, our departure was soon imminent, and it's away we go, hi ho, hi ho. Our ponies were absolutely thrilled because we were about to give them more exercise. After all, they were cooped up in their corrals all week with nothing to do and no place to gallop. Today would be no disappointment to them, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Most had to depart for home for other things to accomplish, but the few who joined me would not be disappointed. They were; gentleman George, ole country Joel, jumpin Joe, sergeant Russ, fast Eddie and yours truly. But first, I have to say this much, while still in the parking lot, waiting for everyone to mount their ponies, ole country Joel decided to entertain us all by demonstrating to us some very fancy steps to the "Goldwing shuffle", right in the parking lot, imagine that. Folks, ole Joel is very good at what he does. Why, he even had us all clapping along with some huppen 'n hollarin and doing some shucken 'n jiven. Even the patrons who were entering and departing the restaurant stopped to admire his fancy foot work.

But alas, it time to go, forward ho, tally-ho and away we go. Lets mount those ponies and feed them some mighty good octane boost. The direction I embarked on was due north on route 251 and turned east on McCurry road, eventually picking up Manchester road while continuing east bound. Eventually finding our way to the state line road heading into cheese land. Picking up highway "C" and turning north, slithering onto route 67 and continued in a northeasterly direction. Picking up U.S.14 into Wadsworth, Wis. We traversed back and forth and entered highway 'O'. Our direction was due north into Delavan and snaked our way around to Elkhorn and picked up highway 11. Actually, by this time, I managed to get lost only two times. Not bad, it is usually 3 or 4 times. So, I am improving in finding a very scenic tour route. The roads that I accidentally road on were mostly free of 'road kill'. Our ponies sure did appreciate that. Their hoofs do not track well on sloppy trails. After departing Elkhorn, our direction took us due south into the Lake Geneva area. This town was absolutely packed, with wall to wall people. So now is a good time to take a break and get some refreshments. Now what does everyone think we stopped for??

That is right!! ICE CREAM of course. Culver's was just around the corner. Besides that, our ponies were huffin and puffin and need a breather. So it is slurpy time, yum, yum, that white creamy stuff sure tastes good. This group, amongst us are absolutely the finest riders in the world and really fun to ride with. We always have a great time with our stupid slap stick comedy of words.

I managed to fine a few roads that were off beat and seldom used, just so we could make it more memorable as this fine day was coming to a close. After snaking and slithering our way through those winding, curving and hilly roads, we managed to fine U.S. 20 and turned east bound. The decision was unanimous, this excellent day finally had to come to an end, much to our dismay. Oh well, there is always next week. And should it be equal to today, only the good Lord knows what might happen. With this crew, anything goes. And so it goes, we managed to log about 200 very safe miles.