What's
Been "H"appening 08/25/02
by Dick Scalpone, AGWA-Illinois Chapter H
Hi all,
What a great day it was today!! Last Sunday, I thought that
the weather was just beautiful, today was just as good, if not better.
Last week, I mentioned that I wish we could bottle up the beautiful day
that we just had, well guess what? It happened, a complete repeat
of last week. On this Sunday, 25 Aug. 02, was a complete match up
of last Sunday. Today was an outdoors man's delight and a motorcyclist
dream come true. It just does not get any better than this!!
Anyway, our rough riders met at Mickey D's about 0900hrs.
Our crew consisted of; slick Kenny Archibald, Paulette & Mark Brenton,
sergeant Russ Prichard, smiley John Francis, Kirk Hout, trusty Bruce Hirsch,
Cary Levin and his son Matt, jungle Jim Lamontagna, assist rep ole Joel
Gyurnek, professor Damien Shelton, Steve & Cheryl Roberson, and guest
Lee Pepin, who is John Francis's son, and of course, yours truly.
Wow, what a motley crew.
Well time's-a-waste'n, its get up and go, hi ho, hi ho, and away
we go. We had our ponies all dressed up and clean as a whistle for
our journey to the food kingdom. Our place of choice and fine cuisine
was the "Crystal Palace" in Crystal Lake, ILL. Once we arrived, they
seated us at the long rectangular table, a rendition of the "Last Supper".
So its socializing and coffee drinking we did, with the best of them.
'Cause, we at chapter H of AGWA, know how to eat and socialize.
After, filling our hungry tummies and departing the premises,
it's off we go, hi ho, hi ho!! Our big ole ponies were sitting in
the coral just waiting for us to mount them. Trusty Bruce was blowing
his "air horn", ole Joel was yellin' "getty-up" lets go!! For some odd
reason, ole Joel still thinks he is an ole cowpoke just a "shucken 'n jiven"
and doing his thing. One thing is for sure, ole Joel is really behaving
himself now a days.
Some of the rough riders had to get back home for some chores that
needed attending to. The rest of us just mounted our big "wings"
and took off like General Custer at his last stand.
The ridding group consisted of: smiley John and his son Lee,
Cary and his son Matt, jungle Jim, ole Joel, professor Damien, Steve &
Cheryl and of course yours truly. Incidentally, before we departed
the parking coral, ole Joel was demonstrating his famous "Gold Wing shuffle"
for the ones who never seen it before, and surprised they were that he
could swivel those hips like that. After they, and not to be out
done, smiley John showed everyone how to do the "Moon Walk". His
son Lee, had an astonishing look on his face, "wow dad you are great!!"
I took the lead and Joel had the sweep and we headed west on U.S.
14, soon there after the lonely back roads kick in. We zigged and
zagged through out the winding and twisting roads that were built especially
for us Gold Wing riders. After twisting and turning every which way but
lose, we found ourselves in southern Wisconsin. Alas, I took the
rough riders around Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. And a twisty road it was.
After that we headed for Powers Lake and circumvented it. Ole Joel
yelled out "over yonder" he wanted to go towards the Lake Geneva area.
It was over crowded, so we headed on the north side and eventually snaked
around all of the traffic. As we headed west bound on Wis. route
50, we took a side rustic road, which twisted and turned back and forth
which also contained a lot of "dipsy-do" roads. After that, we took
the southern route around Lake Geneva which went up and down like a roller
coaster ride. Alas, our route took us south on ILL route 47 were
we stopped in Hebron, ILL. Does anyone care to guess what we stopped
for? Yep, you are right again--ice cream at "Ellison's" ice cream
parlor. Naturally, Cheryl was confused as ever, she did not know
whether to eat ice cream or drink water, Steve set her straight.
The professor, Damien told us he has been doing too much "city dude
living" and he had to get back into longer week end rides. Awe yea,
the camaraderie amongst us Gold Wing riders is at its finest.
After our ice cream break, its off we go, hi ho, hi ho, lets roll.
The shenanigans of ole Joel and smiley John were at its best today.
Those two could dance up a storm.
So its south bound on route 47 into Woodstock, IL. were we took
more back roads that again were never straight. Only the twisty and
curly ones will do. Some how or other, after much zigging and zagging
we wound up on U.S. 20, near Hampshire, ILL. East bound, here we
come. I took the rough riders on a real "dipsy-do" road that traveled
like a roller coaster. Most of us lost our stomachs on that one.
As we headed into the stretch and final turn of our weekly outing, our
separation was soon imminent of each other.
No one wanted this day to end. It was perfect in every sense
of the word. What more could anyone ask for? I for one, would
like to bottle up this day and open it up again for next weekend.
Naturally, all good things must come to an end. The Good Lord
and the weatherman sure did us proud today.
We traveled on or about 190 glorious and safe miles -- what a day!!
Until next week, lets be very careful out there, especially of those
four wheelers.
Your unruly rep
Dick