HELLO FROM IOWA
Submitted by Chuck Mincks.
Iowa Chapter L Assistant Area Rep
August 25, 2004: Hello, AGWA, from your newly formed Iowa Chapter "L," in the Cedar Rapids/Marion/East Central Iowa area. Other than some single members in the AGWA directory, we are currently the only active chapter in Iowa. On July 22nd a group of 16 met at the home of Gary and Carolyn Williams in Marion. We discussed the formation of Chapter L and most of us decided to join. The rest is history. Gary Williams is our Chapter's first Area Rep, and I accepted the nomination for Asst. Area Rep. Of course, all this occurred after the latest "Red Book" was sent out, so our contact information is not in there yet. See our email addresses below for contact with Iowa Chapter "L" in the meantime. We invite all members from Iowa and surrounding states to contact us about getting together or possible support activities if you are in our area. Anyone else just passing through is always welcome, as well.
Chapter "L" has a scheduled meeting on the second Thursday of each month. Locations change and will be announced in our monthly newsletter. If you want to receive our newsletter, please contact the current editor, Mary Fox, at the below address to add yours to our list. Anyone in Iowa or other nearby locales that would like to ride over and join us are welcome. You might want to email myself and/or Gary to ensure the meeting location did not change at the last minute for unexpected reasons.
Gary and Carolyn led the first organized ride for chapter "L" on August 7. We took a scenic route from Cedar Rapids eastward over several ridgelines, with the Mississippi river in between, that resulted in some expansive views of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Lots of twisty, winding roads -- some covered twice by accident--but a fun day of riding in all. We met Wayne Aten, AGWA membership director who is from Union, Illinois, in a small southwestern Wisconsin town called "New Diggings." The only two buildings there of any consequence were both biker bar/restaurants. Unfortunately, I did not get to visit with Wayne and his associates as much as Gary, due to a minor medical problem experienced by one of our riders. My wife is a paramedic, and I used to be, so we attended until the local experts arrived. We are happy to report that all turned out well and we made it home that night with the same number of riders we left with! Hope to talk with you again soon Wayne.
Our second organized ride was August 22 and hosted by Dan and Denise Benson. This time we went west toward Ames and home of the Iowa State University "Cyclones." Not sure why they adopted that name -- cyclones occur in the Asia/Pacific area, while we have tornadoes in Iowa. Oh, well ... We put on about 275 miles worth of two lane, county blacktops that revealed some of the prettiest flat farm land in the Midwest, with just enough gentle hills on the route to keep it interesting. Quite a change from the last ride but beautiful in its own right. We made it through plenty of curves in Benton County -- both of them (inside joke, as Dan is a deputy there) -- and plenty of others as well. Had a great lunch at the Hickory House in Ames, and plodded back in the afternoon.
We have at least two organized rides scheduled each month for the next three months. We are looking forward to the friendships, the camaraderie of fellow cyclists and more of the open road. Of particular interest this monthn--AGWA Vice President Joe Lopez is passing through our area on August 27 & 28 on his way to the west coast. Joe contacted us and we have made arrangements to meet him and visit about AGWA and other matters. Our plan is to feed him a good breakfast on Saturday morning the 28th, in the Amana Colonies, and then see him off on his continuing journey. I look forward to meeting him and hearing about the rest of his trip eventually.
We hope the rest of AGWA is enjoying their year as much as we are. We look forward to seeing as many of the other members as possible throughout the coming years. Some of us are already making plans for the Gold Classic in 2005. Hope to see you there.
Yours truly,
Chuck Mincks