“Are you going to ride your bike today?” Those words were music to my ears. Then as she sat down with her tea to read the morning paper my wife followed with: “If you are, then maybe you can go help my Mom get her new cable box installed.”
Sudden thoughts of Halloween jokes that included, a mother-in-law and broomsticks quickly passed as I realized this was an opportunity to enjoy what might be one of my last chances this fall, try ouot my new heated grips and put some more miles on my ’09 Ultra before the snow started flying. After all, it was 120 miles each way if I took the shortest route and I could sure make the trip a bit longer on my Harley if I tried! So, after noticing the thermometer was still stuck on 45 degrees, I jumped into some extra warm layers, put on my leathers, kissed my tea drinking bride goodbye and headed out for a day of two wheel solitary road time.
“D” towns were first as I started out in Davenport after gassing up at the BP next to Wiebler’s Harley Dealership and headed up through Donahue and Dixon. From Dixon to Wheatland, the road is hilly with enough curves to keep your attention, especially during harvest season when it’s important to watch for farm equipment entering and exiting the county roads.
From Wheatland I worked my way west and then north to Oxford Junction where city hall is located in an old restored DX Gas Station building.
From there it was on north to Hwy 64 and in to Anamosa, home of the National Motorcycle Museum. http://www.nationalmcmuseum.org/ No time to stop there today so I continued on west via country road E28 past Stone City known for its limestone quarry and historic buildings and is also a favorite bike stop for great food in an old building by the Wapsipinicon River. In Central City a few miles farther north and west I stopped for a quick photo of the dam on the Wapsipinicon.
Not really sure what Central City is central to, or for that matter what Center Point, a little farther west, is the center of. What I do know is that I can attest to the claim of Jonesy’s Restaurant in Center Point that they do indeed have the biggest and best pork tenderloins you’ll ever sink your teeth into. They’re not open on Sunday’s but I’ve enjoyed the platter sized super thick sandwich many times before.
County road E2W to Urbana is a short, but very winding road that crosses of I-380 and the Cedar Valley Nature Trail http://www.trailsfromrails.com/cedar_valley_trail.htm , an old 52 mile inter-urban railroad Between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids that was abandoned and later converted into a bicycle/hiking trail that runs through the Cedar River Valley. From Urbana I worked my way west a bit on highway 150 and then up county road V71 to the little town of Brandon, home of the world’s largest frying pan. I stopped long enough for a quick photo and found two girls trying to get their own photo “in the pan”. I as happy to assist while I pondered why I was bundled up and the one girl was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt………
From Brandon it’s a fairly short ride through local farm grounds west and north to Gilbertville where I spent about 30 minutes installing the cable box, making some small talk, and changing a few clock batteries and then I was on my way home on another indirect route via a quick stop in La Porte City to see my parents. Nobody home there, so I was off again, this time through the small town of Mount Auburn on my way to Vinton.
Both the sun and temperature drop quickly after 3 PM on the last day of October so I wasted little time gassing up in Vinton while resisting the urge to grab a quick sandwich at Mickey D’s and worked my way out the back side of town on a route I vaguely remembered from years ago and found my way down the Cedar valley back roads to Shellsburg. The ambient engine temperature gage that had started around 40 degrees and slowly climbed to something short of 50 earlier was now creeping back down and a cloud bank was beginning to cover what was left of a late fall sun so I turned up the dial on my heated grips and wasted no time heading down to highway 30 and on through the south side of Cedar Rapids and on my way through Mt Vernon and Lisbon to Mechanicsville where I planned to drop south on X40. My four-year-old grandson had left a small electronic game in my car the day before and I remembered to bring it along with me so I could drop it off on my way back. After a quick stop to see him near Cedar Valley I headed back toward Tipton to pick up Highway 130 for the diagonal trip back to the Quad Cities and home in time for a dinner of baked Iowa pork chops.
Here’s a link to my ride on the Harley Ride Planner tm
http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/road.jsp?roadId=361748&locale=en_US
