Coop's Corner: Iowa Moto Guzzi Rally

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Iowa Moto Guzzi Rally - 2023/07/09

I'll cut to the quick here....our weather was uncharacteristically perfect this year. Cooler, more temperate and....dry. I can't remember any of the years that I attended where all of the above were present. It was appreciated and made our great Iowa event just that much better. A visit to the Anamosa Motorcycle Museum was a major part of our weekend, the dozens and dozens of images that follow bear that out.

Back to the rally in a minute but first, I had just barely set my tent up in the Elkader City Park, it wasn't even loaded yet. I reached in with my mattress, sleeping bag and noticed there was a parcel.

Thanks Mike, our chickens ALL know that you care!

I went down early this year, left Thursday after work. That squiggle-do when I left home..... the evil Road Construction.

Steve kindly made reservations for us in St. Olaf for their famous pork tenderloin sandwich.

Afterwards, there was time for discussion and review.

Mike's 350 Condor, rally and battle ready!

A better look...Swiss Army bike built around a Spanish-built Ducati 350 engine.

Early Friday morning....too early for 6am coffee and no coffee crowd.

We rode east to downtown Garnivillo to enjoy breakfast at the Thoma Cafe.

After breakfast we saw this hay grinding machine across the street and Steve's world (and day) were forever changed. Apparently he ran an older version of this machine upon his return from the Service at home in SD.

The conversation....Steve changed plans, decided to follow the machine and watch it work at a local feedlot for the day.

Some of us made a CW loop to Balltown for lunch, later Guttenberg for desert.

Breitbach's, Balltown, Iowa for lunch.

Strawberry Hibiscus at Joe's, our favorite Guttenberg ice cream shop.

Our loop complete, a few drops and back to Elkader.

Richard was there with his Party Pacific Coast....

Earl's California for sale, I wish I needed one!

Guzzi quilt to be raffled off....yes, I got another T shirt.

Registering Friday afternoon....

Jim K's bike I'm quite sure...

Waiting for a new tire...

Lemonade, water and Ice Tea...coffee too.

Close-ups of Rod's pretty '34 Guzzi.

Early line for the catered Roast Beef Dinner....

Once again, a fine meal from Johnson's!

Roast Beef and trimmings...

Cherry slices to support the Depot restoration...

For selfish reasons, we hope the fund-raising goes on for years and years.

Saturday morning (early!) Denny finishing up the coffee brewing

A former RE Classic 500 owner, lamenting the fact that he sold it.

Saturday pancakes, egg bake and sausage...

Iowa Tom making the seal sure...

Steve bringing his Zumo over so that we could share Routes. The group was splitting up, heading different directions.

Saturday's trip to Anamosa's Motorcycle Museum. After years of operation, September is the date for the museum to close and auction of bikes and contents.

Lots and lots of photos, not necessarily in order but I did the best I could.

A water break in Edgewood....

A beautiful and lovely Saturday afternoon back in Elkader.

Bob's excited to get in the pork chop line....

Again, the Pork Princess was handing out the Chops...

My pork chop meal....

Sunday morning at 5:00, a quiet start, too early for coffee but a great time for birdsong and a couple more chapters in the audiobook.

Denny dropping off the doughnuts and finishing the coffee.

Packing up, ready for our trips home.....

The grounds are emptying...

Decided to not go home along the river this time, mostly but not completely followed my trip down.

Stopped for a breakfast sandwich and coffee in Plainview.

A great weekend with friends, the already mentioned perfect weather and much appreciation from us all to Denny and his volunteers that continue to make the group's time together so special. My Royal Enfield Classic 500 Stealth ran like the charm that it is, a perfect choice for the 628 mile trip.

4 comments:

motormikeJuly 12, 2023 at 1:45 PM
Great rally..... you're not going to starve..... wonderful weather.... fun roads... shame the parade was cancelled due to the bridge work.... one fellow lost a wheel bearing on his older Guzzi 850 but he scored a new one at the local Farm and Fleet store ! It was great to just sit in the shade and read my book...
ReplyDelete
Replies
Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayJuly 13, 2023 at 11:50 AM
It was a great blend of friends, weather and bikes. Sorry that both of you couldn't make it, she was missed!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousJuly 14, 2023 at 8:59 PM
Great to see you again this year, Doug. -JD
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)