F&F Day 6: Some Family and a Friend

Just to prove, if proof be needed, that this F&F tour really is about F&F, here are a couple of pictures of some F&F.

This 14-year old cutie is granddaughter Lucy

This 48-year-old cutie is #1 daughter Heather.  48???  Holy crap!  That makes me………..old.

This purple-haired passion flower is 22-year old granddaughter Hanna.

This blast from the past is Ann S, a colleague from the dark days of the Jacksonville Parks Department.  In the background is the Wisconsin State Capitol.

As long as I’m posting pictures, I’ll add one more for readers who only follow the blog to see if I’m still eating pie.  Yes.   Yes I am.  For breakfast today I had big slice of delicious apple-berry made by the best pie maker in all of Lake Geneva.

In addition to saying goodbye and seeing F&F today, I routed this trip to be sure I went to Anamosa, Iowa, where I currently sit at my keyboard typing away with the aid of my buddy Jack.  Even as you read this I can see the skeptical raised eyebrows and the look of utter astonishment as you ask, “Anamosa?  What the hell is in Anamosa, Iowa.”  Well, Anamosa just happens to be the home of J&P Cycles, the “World’s Largest Aftermarket Motorcycle Parts and Accessories Superstore.”  Having been to their huge store in Ormond Beach, Florida, I just had to go to this one.  Quelle déception (How disappointing.)  Anamosa is the site of J&P’s first store, but clearly not the biggest.  They apparently have an enormous warehouse carefully camouflaged somewhere in an Iowa cornfield from which they sell most of their parts and accessories online.  I walked dejectedly around Anamosa’s disappointingly small establishment, exploring shiny chrome options, unnecessary leather things, and sparkly rhinestone jewelry, decided I needed none of these motorsickle geegaws to make my utilitarian bike any better and, with a long face, straddled my woefully unaccessorized ride and rode off.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to visit Anamosa’s “National Motorcycle Museum” which boldly promises more than 400 two-wheeled mechanized contraptions.  We’ll see.  I’m beginning to think Anamosa is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.  No, wait.  That’s something else.  Anyway, I’ll check the museum out tomorrow morning, but having been to the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee and the Wheels Through Time Musuem in Maggie Valley, I’m afraid my high expectations are about to be dashed on Anamosa’s cruel corn stubble.

I must, however, having slighted Anamosa’s motorcycle offerings, commend a hidden gustatory gem I found just a mere half block off Main Street, across from the local eight-lane bowling alley and next to the Ford Tractor dealership.  Daly’s Winery and Bistro, despite its unassuming façade, offered a weary traveler a tightly tannined Cabernet Sauvignon with a peppery blackberry flavor.  That lucisous dark wine paired nicely with a prodigious slice of spicy Tuscan meatloaf, slightly grilled after slicing, resting on a bed of garlic-and-thyme mashed potatoes, with freshly sautéed green beans added for color.  All of this in Anamosa, Iowa. Color me impressed.

I came for the motorcycles;  I stayed for the dinner.  Serendipitous surprises seem to be the norm on the road.