Retired and Trippin

On Friday, May 11th, Chris and I took off at noon for southeast Iowa to visit Deb & Tim.  Deb is Chris’ cousin and Chris’ Aunt Myrt also lives nearby.  We rode north on I-35 to Bethany, MO, where we stopped for a cold treat at McDonalds. From Bethany we took off eastbound on Hwy 136 to Memphis, MO for gas.  At Wayland, MO we turned north on Hwy 27 and cruised into Iowa where we turned east on J62 and rode to Tim & Deb’s.  We logged 275 miles on the trip meter on a gorgeous day. On Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed visiting with relatives, fishing, eating, visiting cemeteries, having a weenie roast on Mother’s Day at a camp site at Lake Wilderness (near West Point, IA), and relaxing.  It was a great time with good friends who also happen to be relatives. On Monday, May 14th, we left Montrose, IA around 10:00 and retraced our route to Unionville, MO, where we stopped for gas.  From Unionville we rode south on Hwy 5 to Milan, MO.  We found a café on the town square and enjoyed th

Day 1; Friday, May 4, 2012 Time, again, for the annual Spring ride. Time for a bunch of guys to ride, eat, drink, and bullshit to their hearts’ content.  It is also called the Chicken Ride.  When anyone in the group does something wrong or makes some sort of mistake (like miss a turn, crash, drop a bike, allow a helmet to fall to the ground, etc.) they are given the chicken to wear or display until the next poor slob does something deemed deserving of the shame. One member of our group, Mel, is so enamored with the chicken that he brought his own big rubber clucker this year and it was with him the entire trip, lashed to his luggage rack. Rumor has it that Mel is undergoing radical gene therapy whereby he will become part human and part chicken. So far he’s just part human. The meeting and start time was Gail’s Harley Davidson at 8:00 am.  Fifteen bikes/riders were present; 1 Yamaha (Chuck), 1 BMW (Rob), 5 Harley Davidsons (Mel, Rod, Doug, Ed, and Chad), and 8 Goldwings (Gary, Ca