What's Been Happening 09/21/03

I trust that everyone had a fine day on this gorgeous Sunday. Wasn't today a great weather day? It was a cool crisp 51 degrees this morning about 0800hrs. But, alas, perfect riding weather. The folks at chapter H will ride at any sign of great or even good weather, and our ponies are always willing to go. They need much exercise after being cooped up in their stables all week long.

Nonetheless, we all rendezvoused at Mickey D's this morning at our usual time. Wow--what a crowd we had today. It just does not get any better than this. The rough riders consisted of dancin Dick Sieple, General Tony Guptaitis, major Dan Harris, Captain Kirk Huot, Bob Jans, crusty Gregg French, fast Eddie Bowser, trusty Bruce Hirsch, sergeant Russ Prichard, Christine Irwin and daughter Kirsty, gentleman George Riebesehl, jumpin Joe Hughes, roven Robert Sample, Kurt Bonus, doctor Cary Levin, shifty Steve and sweet pea Cheryl Roberson, wild Bill LoBianco, little Jose DalValle and yours truly.

The family restaurant in Genoa, Ill was chosen for our fine dining cuisine. I took the lead, sergeant Russ did his usual fine job of sweeping and dancin Dick rode shot gun. Our direction took us west and eventually north, naturally only the seldom back roads would be used. The selection of roads did the usual zig and zagging, twisting, curving and bending every which way but straight up. By now everyone should know, that we had to feed our ponies some real good octane boost, so their romping could take us for the complete distance.

Folks, you will not believe this, but members of chapter H, actually gave their ponies names. Yup--names!! For example, trusty Bruce calls his BULLDOG, smiley John is PUT-PUT, lucky Larry is MONEY BAGS, General Tony is CAST-A-WAY, major Dan is BEATLE BOMB, jumpin Joe is ROSEBUD, sir Malcom is ITALIAN STALLION, Christine is JUBILANT PRINCESS, whispering Joe is PRANCER, sergeant Russ is RED DEVIL, gentleman George is SILVER STREAK, shifty Steve SILKY SMOOTH, roven Robert is OLD TIMER, professor Damien is GREEN BACKS, dancin Dick is BIG BERTHA, Kurt B. is SMALL FRY, fast Eddie is SHOT GUN, thundering Mark is BUMBLE BEE, Fritz is ORANGE PEEL, Captain Kirk is RANGE RIDER, Ole Joel is PURPLE MOUNTAIN, wild Bill is MIGHTY MO, doctor Cary is FLIM-FLAM. And there you have it folks, we have some real characters in this chapter, for your entertainment pleasure.

Anyway, we finally arrived about 1030hrs with our stomachs a howling and growling and on empty. We parked our ponies in a shaded area in the local corral so they would not get sun stroked.

It is then that we were seated promptly for some real fine socializing and the long lasting chit-chatting finally commenced. Someone, please pour the coffee!! Yes siree, this is the finest socializing club within the AGWA organization, nation wide.

At this point, after the vittles were served, the unthinkable happened. Yup--our two Harley members, major Dan and General Tony, did their thing. This is entertainment at its finest. The major was dancing all around doing his rendition of the "Herky-Jerky". Can he ever move. Major has more moves than 5 monkeys. Not to be out done, the general grabbed the microphone and started his singing craze. He definitely emmulates Frank Sinatra. Cause he is always doing it "His Way". What a great voice he has. All of the patrons at the restaurant were applauding these two Harley dudes. Great job, well done. It is a good thing that trusty Bruce, sergeant Russ and captain Kirk were around to maintain control. Security did not have to be called. It was all in good fun.

So be it, time's-a-waste'n, it is off we must go, hi ho, hi ho, and away we go. Most of our rough riders had to depart for home for some much needed chores. Only 7 of us decided to continue on riding on this great big beautiful day. The ones who joined me were general Tony, captain Kirk, fast Eddie, sergeant Russ, Christine and daughter Kirsty, shifty Steve and sweet pea Cheryl, wild Bill and yours truly.

Our destination took us way west and even further south and eventually coming around to the north and east. The route we took was as squirrelly as ever that circumvented several small towns such as, Kirkland, De Kalb, Malta, Rochelle, Hillcrest, Flagg Center, Daysville, Oregon, Byron, Stillman Valley and eventually working our way back home. We did stop over in Rochelle to visit a small antique train station where Christine did take some pictures of our gathering. Wild Bill introduced us to this place, he is big into trains.

Every good thing must come to and end, as it was past mid afternoon and our route took us east and homeward bound. The weatherman and the good Lord sure did cooperate with us today. For it was truly an outdoorsman's delight, a motorcyclist's dream, with 100% sunshine. How sweet it is!!