Southeast Iowa

Chris has a cousin, Deb, who lives in Montrose, IA. Deb, besides being a relative, is a very good friend and she is battling breast cancer. Friends and family planned a fund raising benefit for Deb on Sunday, November 8, 2009 at the River Valley Lodge and Campground in Farmington, IA. Chris and Deb are pictured below:

Saturday; November 7, 2009

Chris' brother Gary has a new Harley Davidson Road King with about 3,000 miles on it. When we found out the family was going to make a trip to Deb's benefit in southeast Iowa we decided to ride our motorcycles and Chris decided to ride with me. The rest of the family rode in Gary and Allison's Suburban.

We were very fortunate that the weather cooperated. It was sunny and in the mid-60's when left home at 10:00 AM. We rode north on I-35 to Bethany, MO, east on Hwy 136 to Wayland, MO, north on Hwy 27 to county road J-62 and then east to Deb and Tim's house near Montrose, IA. We gassed up in Bethany, MO and Wayland, MO. We had lunch at a cafe in Unionville, MO near the junction of highways 136 and 5. The high temperature for the day was 75.

From Deb and Tim's we all piled into vehicles with four wheels and drove to the Parthenon Restaurant in Ft. Madison, IA. A sizable group of family partook in the meal and the family bonding. (Some family, apparently, did not appreciate having their picture taken.)

After dinner we traveled to Keokuk, IA where we spent the night in the Marriott Fairfield Inn (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/eokfi-fairfield-inn-keokuk/). Our motorcycles stayed in Deb and Tim's garage.

We rode 263 miles today on the motorcycles.

Sunday; November 8, 2009

We left the hotel around 8:15 AM and traveled to Deb and Tim's to pick up the motorcycles. We then rode to the River Valley Lodge and Campground just south of Farmington, IA (http://www.rivervalleylodgeandcampground.com/index.html). Here we helped set up for the benefit that afternoon.

The benefit was well attended and it appeared that everybody who attended had a good time. There was a meal, a silent auction, a live auction, several raffle ticket drawings, and a 50/50 drawing.

Gary and I left at 3:15 to head home. We hoped to be off the two lane roads before dark or close to it. As it worked out, we rode about a half hour in the dark before we reached I-35. As it was getting dark I saw one deer near the highway and a group of deer some distance from the road. We rode west on Hwy 2, south on Hwy 63, and west on Hwy 136 to I-35 where rode south on home. We stopped only once and that was for gas in Bethany, MO. We arrived home at about 8:00 PM, maybe a little earlier. It was 75 degrees under partly sunny skies when we left and it was 64 when we arrived home.

We rode 22 miles from Deb and Tim’s to the River Valley Lodge and then 247 miles on home.

It was a great weekend of riding – a total of 532 miles.