Off For The Winter

I'll be off the blog until next spring.  No new entries until it warms up!

Ride for Pie!

Seven of us rode today for pie!  We rode over to Rachel's Restaurant, at Alexandria,  for lunch.  It's a nice place to eat with good food and prices.  Merle took us on back roads to skirt around Anderson and to eventually get us down ond over to Winchester.  I had to stop once as all the farmers are getting the last of the corn and soybeans out of the fields and they are really raising a lot of dust.  I started sneezing and my nose started running so I had to stop and get it all under control (I just got over a rotten cold so that didn't help).  After I caught back up with Merle we rode some pretty roads toward Winchester.  Daryl stopped to buy gas without letting anyone know so we got separated for awhile.  We finally got back together and rode on into Mrs. Wicks Pie Shop in Winchester.  I had apple-walnut pie (warmed up) with a dip of ice cream on top and a drizzle of caramel syrup over it all.  Yum yum!  Some of the guys had peach pie while others had cherry-berry pie.  It was all good.  After pie, we rode to Portland, Hartford City, and then home.

A nice ride on a warm sunny day in the 60s and 70s.  I rode 162 miles.

Riding today (in order of riders): Merle Combs, Larry Davis, John Nave, Jerry Cole, Art Adrianson, Darrel Royal, and Billy Niverson.

Chism's Corner for Breakfast

We went to Chism's Corner for breakfast, Saturday.  Five of us rode over there--corner of US 35&22 and IN 13.  Saw my niece and her husband in there along with my Great Grand Niece that I'd not seen before.  David Simpson, who I went to high school with, came over and said "hello".  Seemed like "Old Home Week" at Chism's as I saw a couple other people I knew.  We rode from there over to Knox Chapel Cemetery (north east of Point Isabel) to check on my Grandmother's grave (I promised my Mother I'd check on it once in awhile and we were near the cemetery.)  It looked in great shape, so we headed north up around Mississnewa Reservoir and beyond.  Merle Combs and Larry Miller left us at Peru and rode back home as they had things to do.  John Nave, Billy Niverson, and I rode along the Wabash River to near Logansport where we crossed the river and went in to Logansport on Division Road and then High Street.  High Street has many older homes with great architecture.  I really enjoyed looking at the older homes along the way.  We headed north to Rochester and stopped in at The Twiddle Dee Cafe across from the Fulton County Airport.  Nice lunch and nice people run the place. After lunch we rode over to the airport as I wanted to check on a friend that's based there with Parkview Hospital's helicopter.  The helicopter was out on a run so no one was there.  Since the sky was getting dark, we decided to call it a day and head home.  It was a nice little ride.  I rode 155 miles.

Riding today were Larry Miller, John Nave, Billy Niverson, Merle Combs, and Larry Davis.

Ride to The U.S. Air Force Museum

The long awaited ride to The U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio was accomplished yesterday, Tuesday, 14th Sept., 2010.  Seven of us assembled at The Outpost Restaurant for our ride.  Phil Smith came out to see us off.  The seven riding were Larry Burke, Larry Miller, Larry Davis, Merle Combs, Billy Niverson, Jerry Cole, and John Nave:

Here's the route:

Pictures I took:

The guys looking at some of the exhibits.

P-40 Warhawk

British Spitfire

F-22 Raptor

Cockpit of F-117 Nighthawk

P-51 Mustang

We had a really nice ride.  I rode 285 miles and enjoyed every bit of it.  Great weather.  All the walking in the museum got us all tired but still very nice.

Rained out!

Once again we were rained out on Saturday.  Larry Miller and Daryl Royal rode to breakfast but the other four of us drove our cars.  It turned out that it started raining as we ate, so driving turned out to be a good choice.  Before we could eat our wait-person dropped our meals on the floor behind us and gave us a start.  It turned out O.K. as three of the six meals were saved and only three of us had to wait for our breakfast to be made over again.  Of course the three that had meals waited on we three who did not.  NOT! :)

Attending were John Nave, Daryl Royal, Larry Miller, Billy Niverson, Merle Combs, and me, Larry Davis.

It was decided that the group would ride to The National Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio next Tuesday, the 14th of September.  We are going to leave The Outpost Restaurant (IN 26& IN 9 near Fairmount) at 8:00AM.  Anyone wanting to eat at The Outpost should be there at 7:00AM or sooner as "the train leaves the station" at 8:00AM sharp.

We'll ride down US 35 to Interstate 70 and then go east on Interstate 70 to Ohio 4&235 north of Dayton.  We'll then ride southwest on Ohio 4& 235 to Harshman Road.  Then southeast on Harshman Road to Springfield Street where we will turn northeast on Springfield Street to Bong Street then southwest on Bong Street to Spaatz Street.  Then southeast on Spaatz Street to the museum.

About 126 miles and about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

We'll try to stop near Richmond for a bathroom and fuel break.

It should be a "fun ride"!  Hope to see everyone there!

Decatur Hi-Way Airport

Seven of us rode to Nick's Restaurant in Roanoke, IN for lunch.  Nick's is becoming one of our favorite places to eat as they have good food, fast service, and good prices.  After lunch Merle led us over to I-469 around Ft. Wayne and over to roads along the Maumee River.  We had a nice ride along country roads and traveled through Woodburn, Monroeville, and down to Decatur.  I asked Merle to go over to the Hi-Way  Airport buildings at Decatur as I wanted the guys to know about the place.

The Hi-Way Airport, outside Decatur, was a very important airport as many of the famous pilots of the 1930s had landed there on their record-setting coast-to-coast flights.  The airport was owned by Josephine Richardson and her brother.  Josephine was a member of The Ninety-Nines, an association of female pilots.

Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-Nines

Leon Garrett and I flew our Challenger ultralight airplanes there in 2001 and landed.  The buildings are still there but the runway is now a cornfield.  Sad.

The "gang" in front of the old airport building:

Here's some information about the airport and Mrs. Richardson's obituary:

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Decatur Hi-Way Airport serves Decatur and Adams County and is owned by Josephine Richardson. The turf runway extends for 2562 feet. The facility is at an elevation of 842 feet at a distance of about 3 miles east of Decatur.



News-Banner Obituaries, July 1-7, 2003

July 1, 2003

Josephine M. Richardson, 88

Owner and operator of Decatur Hi-Way Airport, Josephine M. Richardson, 88, of rural Decatur, died at 8:15 p.m. Monday, June 30, at Adams County Memorial Hospital in Decatur.

Mrs. Richardson also was a scientific massage and physical therapist.

She was a member of Crossroads Church, Silver Wings, Three Rivers Ninety-Niners and past member of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association.

She was born in Chicago, Ill., to James and Helen Zivider Ivetich. Her marriage on Feb. 15, 1959 and was Alden Wesley Richardson, who died March 15, 1994.

Surviving are one niece and one nephew. A brother and a sister are deceased.

Services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Crossroads Church in Decatur with Rev. Anthony Stidam officiating. Interment will be in Covington Memorial Gardens at Fort Wayne.

Visitation times will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Zwick and Jahn Funeral Home in Decatur and Thursday at the church for one hour prior to services.

Memorials to the donor's choice.

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I told the guys she was in her nineties but she was 88 years old when she died.


After we left the airport we went to McDonald's in Decatur for ice cream.  We then rode home through Berne (saw the new clock tower but didn't get a picture) and then home through Montpelier.

I rode 166 miles.  It was hot (90 degrees) and windy.  Nice ride, thanks Merle.

Seven who rode were Merle Combs, Jerry Cole, Larry Miller, John Nave, Art Adrianson, Charlie Thomas, and myself, Larry Davis.

Columbia City Ride

Six of us rode to Huntington's Country Post Inn for breakfast Saturday morning.  After breakfast, Merle led five of us up to Columbia City.  We then road over to Warsaw and back down to North Manchester.  We had lunch at North Manchester and after riding downtown, we rode through the covered bridge on the south side of town.  After riding south awhile, we ran into a group of motorcycles riding north--maybe 25 to 50 bikes.  I don't know if they were coming out of Wabash or where.  We rode to Andrews and along the Wabash River for awhile, before heading home on IN105.



I rode 156 miles and had a nice but tiring time (I had to take a nap when I got home. :)

Riding today was Merle Combs, John Nave, Billy Niverson, David Payne, Jack McClain, and Larry Davis.

Mrs. Wick's Ride

Ten of us rode over to Gaston for lunch.  After lunch we decided to burn off some of the calories we'd picked up by pushing Art Adrianson's Harley through the streets of Gaston.  Actually, Art's Harley wouldn't start and after a few attempts at push starting, Art took the battery connections off and scraped the corrosion off the terminals.  His bike started right up after that.  Good thing, as we old men were running out of "gas" during the push starting attempts! :)

We were joined today by Derrill Royal and his Honda Night Hawk:

 Derrill, at 83 years young, is our oldest rider. 

(Edit-I'm sad to say that Derrill pasted away this spring.  It was a privilege to have known him.)

Also joining us today was Jack McClain and his Honda Goldwing:

We were especially happy to see Jack as he's been going through some health issues and is doing better.  We hope he can join us more often.

Here's a picture of our vehicles parked outside the Gaston Restaurant:

Three riders went home after lunch and seven of us continued onward to the east side of Indiana on IN 28.  We rode through Albany and Ridgeville to US 27 where we turned south to Winchester and Mrs. Wick's Pie Shop.  After pie and coffee, we headed west back around Muncie and home.

131 miles today.  Beautiful, sunshiny, day!

Riding today were:  Charley Thomas, Larry Davis, Larry Burke, Larry Miller, Derrill Royal, John Nave, Jack McClain, Merle Combs, Art Adrianson, and Billy Niverson.

Milford and Syracuse Ride

Merle Combs called and wanted to ride so he and Billy Niverson came over to my house and we rode up IN 15 to Milford and then over on County Road 1300 to Syracuse.  We stopped at McDonald's in Syracuse for coffee and then rode on back home.  It was a nice little ride on a sunny day.

Geist Reservoir Ride

Nine of us met today for our ride to Geist Reservoir.  We rode south from Marion to Rachael's Cafe on the south side of Alexandria, Indiana for lunch.  Nice meal and good service.

Merle Combs rode his new Harley Ultra Limited:

and Charlie Thomas rode a new Suzuki M50 Boulevard cruiser motorcycle instead of his scooter:

Three riders left for home and six of us rode on down to Frankton where we ran into road construction.  We then had to ride on new chip-seal for about a mile.  Not too bad.  We went south through Lapel and Fortville on our way to Geist Reservoir.  I have all the McDonald's restaurants in my GPS database so I asked my GPS for the nearest one.  It then guided us through two housing additions and said the McDonald's was in the middle of the second addition.  Of course, it wasn't.  So I entered "Fast Food" and the nearest McDonald's came up two miles away in Lawrence, IN.  We went there and guess what?  There really was a McDonald's at that location!  It's a "crap shoot" with my GPS, if things are located where it says they are.  We then traveled across Geist Reservoir and west along 96th Street to I-69.  We went south on I-69 for a couple of miles and turned off to go around Metropolitan Airport.  I'd never been in that part of Indianapolis so I got to see the airport and several golf courses that were new to me.  We traveled over to IN 37 and north to Elwood were we bought gas.  Then on home.

Riding today were Larry Burke, Larry Miller, Larry Davis, Merle Combs, Jerry Cole, John Nave, Art Adrianson, Charles Thomas, and Kenneth Royal.

Nice, warm, day with blue skies.  I rode 144 miles.

(Click to Enlarge)

Ride With The Governor....Well, Not Really!

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and a few of his friends (over 500 motorcyclist) rode north from Indianapolis to Brookston, Indiana where they stopped for lunch.  The group later rode to Plymouth, Indiana. 

Above:  Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels rides his Harley Davidson Fat Boy into the parking lot of Pioneer Middle School parking lot at Brookston, Indiana.

Above: The Governor (green hat, blue shirt) getting his picture taken (with the lady in the white top and black vest).

Above: The parking lot at Pioneer Middle School in Brookston, Indiana was overflowing with over 500 motorcycles.

John Nave, Billy Niverson, and myself, Larry Davis, joined the group of riders at Brookston where I shot this video.  The three of us rode on to Fowler and  Kentland, Indiana, before returning home.












(This video was taken with a HD camcorder so you can watch in HD by clicking on 720p or 1080p once the video starts.  Click on the "up arrow" below the "YOU" in You Tube.)


Footnote: I say in the video that "about one forth of the riders are women".  Actually, it's about one in ten.

The riders continued coming in, but I quit taping after six minutes as I was tired of holding the camera.  I should have bought a tripod with me.

The ride was a little "spur of the moment" so I wasn't fully prepared.  I should have invited more of our riders, and done so sooner, but I wasn't sure if I was going to ride over there.  I apologize to those I forgot to ask or asked too late.

Here's the route we rode. It's a good one to see all the wind turbines.  West on IN 18 to Brookston (where the wind turbines start) to Fowler, then up to Kentland.  Back east on US 24 to Wolcott and then south on US 231 back to IN 18. 


(Click on the picture below to see a larger picture of the route)

We use to ride all the way to Fowler to see the wind turbines/windmills.  Then, as they built more of them, we rode to I-65 and saw them.  Now, you can see them before you get to Brookston.  Nearly 900 are planned.  That would make it one of the largest wind farms in the world.

August 13th, 2010.  (Friday the 13th) Temperature was 96 degrees.  I rode 226 miles on this ride.

Ride to Clear Lake

I saw Clear Lake on a map and decided to set up a ride to include a visit.  Clear Lake is in the extreme NE section of Indiana and I had never been up there.  We rode to The Outpost Restaurant near Fairmount for breakfast.  After breakfast, six of us headed north.  We rode up IN 3 to I-469 around Ft. Wayne and exited on IN 37 north to Harlan, Indiana.  Not knowing that Harlan was having a parade, Saturday, we rode right into another parade.  I say "another" as this was our third parade we "involuntarily" rode in.  Actually, the parade had not started yet, but it felt like a parade as traffic was moving slowly and hundreds of people were lining the streets as we crept though town.  The horses and buggies had already ridden through so there were many "deposits" to dodge as we made our way through town.  For such a small town, they had many more people lining the streets than I would have thought possible.  Larry Miller had told me he was going to just ride a few hours with us and when he saw the "parade", he turned and headed home.  We rode on over into Ohio to Hicksville for a coffee break:

Hicksville McDonald's

Hicksville was preparing for a parade but it had not started yet:

Main Street Hicksville, Ohio

I'd planned on going due north into Michigan but a couple of riders didn't have their helmets with them so I decided to head for Angola for "gas and gas".  Lunch and fuel.  We rode to Angola, Indiana to McDonald's, of course.  After buying fuel I decided to head west, but then changed my mind, and decided to ride northeast to Clear Lake.  Clear Lake is a very pretty lake with many sailboats and water skiers:

Close up:

The guys parked while I took pictures:

After we rode half way around Clear Lake, we headed west.  We rode on some very nice roads all the way to Orland, Indiana.  We stopped in Orland and I programmed my GPS for the quickest was to Columbia City as I wanted to head south and go home.  For some reason, my GPS took us south and then east to I-69 and south on I-69.  We got off I-69 at the US 6 exit (they were doing rode construction on I-69) and rode to Garrett for ice cream.  We then rode south to Columbia City, Huntington, and home.  I think the reason my GPS took us off secondary roads (the ones we like to ride) and onto the Interstate was the mode was set on "Motorcycle" and not "Scooter" where I usually have it set.  In "Scooter" mode it won't take you on Interstate Highways.

We had a nice time and ride.  I rode 291 miles

Riders today were: Larry Burke, Larry Miller, John Nave, Billy Niverson, Art Adrianson, and myself.

Close up map:

 

Overall map:

Short Ride In The Rain

We started out on our ride with great trepidation as we all thought it would rain.  We stopped after a short ride out of the Mall parking lot and put on our rain gear.  All but John, who didn't have his gear with him.  Off to Ugalde's Family Restaurant at Warren for breakfast we rode.  I wanted to go someplace different, for breakfast, and the place at Warren sounded like it would fill the bill.  We had a nice breakfast and it started to sprinkle just as we left the building.

I planned on riding along the river from Andrews west to Wabash and if it didn't rain, I thought we could ride the Wabash river to Peru.  I thought perhaps riding slow along the river, in the rain, would be better than out on the highway, especially under the trees.  As we rode along west on IN 124 it started raining harder and harder.  As we went North on IN 9 toward Huntington, it got even worse.  I asked John how he was doing when we stopped at the stoplight at Huntington and he said he was ready to go home.

Unknown to me, Billy had "abandon ship" when we got to IN 9 and went home.  I can't imagine riding in the T-Rex in a heavy rain is much fun.  It's pretty open and the rain would come right into the cockpit.  John and Art Adrianson turned and went home while Art Heer, Larry Miller, and I contiuned on down US 24 to turn off at Andrews.  The three of us "rode the river" until the rain became so heavy I couldn't see anymore (my glasses were wet on the back and front plus fogging up) and I decided to call it a day.  I followed my new GPS (Gamin Zumo 660) trough the countryside back to IN 105, and then south to IN 9, and on home.  Thanks to the GPS I never get lost and can see which roads to follow to get back home, even in heavy rain.

The sad part of the story was that I was only home for about and hour, the skies cleared, and we had clear skies the rest of the day.  I had looked forward to a full day of riding, as I'm sure some of the other guys had, also.  Oh well, there's always next time.

Riding today were Art Adrianson, Art Heer, Larry Miller, John Nave, Billy Niverson, and myself.

P.S.  Thanks for the breakfast, John!

I only rode 76 miles and it was miserable.

Adam's Mill Revisted

We rode over to Burlington to "The Dinner Bell" for lunch.  There were six of us including Art Heer:

Art is on the left and Charley Thomas on the right.

It springled rain a little while we were eating, not much, just enough to "spot" the bikes.  We rode over to Adam's Mill after eating.  We were surprised to see the dam had washed away sometime over the winter or spring.

It looked like they had poured concrete over earth to form the dam and the earth had washed away under the concrete.  Without support from the earth, the concrete collapsed and washed away.

Billy Niverson walked out on the dam and "inspected" it:

 
Art Heer gave it a look, also:

We rode through the covered bridge, that is there, and then on home.  It was very hot--the thermometer at The Via Credit Union said 95 degrees so it was just as well we made a short ride.

Riding today: John Nave, Billy Niverson, Art Heer, Charley Thomas, Larry Burke, and myself.

I rode 135 miles and had a nice time.

P.S. The food at the Dinner Bell sure was good, especially since Larry Burke paid for my meal! :)

Ride to Roanoke

Seven of us rode to Roanoke to eat:

and rode up to my son's house, in Ft.Wayne, to surprise him with a picture of us sitting in front of his house:

My son, my daughter-in-law, and my granddaughter are vacationing at their place at Long Lake so I thought I'd surprise them.  After finding our way out of their subdivision, we rode home.

Riding today were John Nave, Jerry, Cole, Larry Burke, Charley Thomas, Larry Miller, Billy Niverson, and myself.

Hagerstown

Larry Burke led six of us down to The Sunshine Cafe, in Muncie, Indiana.

After a great breakfast, we rode down south to Prairie Creek Reservoir and rode about 2/3rds the way around the reservoir.  I led the group down south to Hagerstown (Dave Payne "peeled off" after about an hour to go home).  I knew there was to be an "Off To Oshkosh Fly-In" at Hagerstown next Tuesday, July 20, 2010, and thought there might already be some airplanes at the Hagerstown Airport.  There was one.  An N3 Pup with a VW four cylinder engine.  A very nice, light, aircraft.

  He took-off while we were there:

After we left the airport we went south to Interstate 70 and stopped at McDonald's for a senior coffee and an apple pie.

We then rode back up north to Farmland and Redkey on Indiana 1 to Indiana 26 where we turned west to Hartford City and on west to Upland.  We stopped at Ivanhoe's at Upland for ice cream.

It was near 90 degrees and all of us drank several glasses of ice water besides the ice cream.  We split-up at Ivanhoe's and rode home.

Riding today were:  Billy Niverson, Larry Miller, Larry Burke, David Payne, John Nave, and Larry Davis.

We rode about 177 miles and it was very nice.

Ride to Warsaw - By Way Of Rochester

I arrived at the mall parking lot early (forgot we left at 11:30AM, not 11:00AM) so I sit in the parking lot for 30 minutes waiting for someone to show up.  Memory is going, going, gone!  I wasn't as bad as a couple guys, who shall remain nameless, that came to the 11:30AM ride at 8:00AM, thinking it was Saturday, not Wednesday!  After saddling-up, we rode down south on the by-pass to meet Charlie, but for some reason, never got together.  Five of us rode north to lunch at Wabash Gardens in Wabash, Indiana:

We rode up to North Manchester from Wabash and turned west on Indiana 114 to ride up to Rochester.  We turned north in Rochester, on Indiana 25, and went north to Warsaw.  On the way to Warsaw we went through Mentone, Indiana.  "The Egg Breadbasket of the Midwest".  They have a large egg downtown to prove it:

Merle was back riding with us.  He can only see out of one eye and he thought I stopped to take a picture of the Dollar General Store, not seeing the egg:

We rode over to Warsaw and around the south edge of town, as I didn't want to try to ride through all the stoplights.  We rode east over to Indiana 13 and then south to North Manchester.  At North Manchester we stopped at "our home away from home", McDonald's, for ice cream:

After ice cream, it was on home.

Riding today were:  John Nave, Larry Miller, Merle Combs, Billy Niverson, and myself.

I rode 152 miles.  The temperature was in the high 80s and humid.

Ride to Bridgeton, Indiana

Six of us rode down to Richard's restaurant, at Elwood, Indiana, this morning.  We ate breakfast before starting out on our ride to Bridgeton, Indiana.  Larry Miller had places to go so he went home from Richard's.

At Richard's in Elwood, Indiana.

 David Payne joined us today on his Honda Shadow


The five of us headed south to Bridgeton.

When we started riding I noticed that my GPS wasn't on and it is suppose to boot-up when the bike starts.  I had to do a reset as we rode along (push the "Plus" button and the "Power" button at the same time).  After the unit reset, all seemed well until we got to Lebanon where the "lady in the GPS" told me "when possible, make a U turn".  That's always a bad sign and it means "she's" lost.  I got it straightened out, but not before losing Billy and David.  I rode back and found them in the middle of Lebanon and we resumed our ride.

All was well until we got down near Raccoon Lake State Recreational Area.  When my GPS unit reset, it went to "factory settings", which is "Shortest Distance" on calculations.  We needed "Fastest Time", on calculations.  So, the next thing I knew, we were on gravel roads!  It may have been shortest distance, but in southern Indiana, that means going down roads that humans haven't traveled in a long time.  In all, we rode about 12 miles on loose gravel, but we eventually made it to Bridgeton.

I heard about the gravel roads, as I knew I would!  My theory is, motorcycles are meant to be ridden almost anywhere, gravel roads included.  In the early days all roads were dirt and gravel.  So there! :)

We ate lunch at The General Store before walking over to the covered bridge.

 We walked through the bridge and it's a beauty.

Here's the dam and water flowing below the bridge.

Here's a link to the Bridgeton website:

http://www.bridgetonindiana.com/

Be sure to click on "History" at the top of the web page.

Here's from the Wikipedia article on Bridgeton:
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The first Bridgeton Covered Bridge was a 245-foot (75 m) long double span Burr Arch bridge built in 1868 by a crew led by J.J. Daniels. The bridge was closed to traffic in 1968. The first Bridgeton Covered Bridge was burned by an arsonist on April 28, 2005.

The second Bridgeton Covered Bridge was built in 2006 by local citizens and the state of Indiana.
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We left Bridgeton and rode to Rockville where we bought gas.  Then on to Frankfort for ice cream, and home.

Before we left Bridgetown I gave my "we have to stay close together to get through all the stoplights" speech.  I was so happy, and gave a fist pump, when we rode all the way through Crawfordsville, with all of us making it through town, without losing anyone.  Crawfordsville is a hard town to ride through, together, as there's so many stoplights and turns.  We always get separated there, but not today!  To be honest, there were only five of us and with any more riders, it would have probably been a different story.

Rode today:

Billy Niverson
Larry Miller
John Nave
Art Adrianson
David Payne
Larry Davis

I rode 292 miles and had a nice time.  It was a little warm, 84 degrees, but nice weather.

Gravel roads ridden.

Total trip ridden.