June 28th, 2018 began with cloudy and ominous skies after a rainy spell. However, as weather reports predicted, by evening the skies had cleared and Team Cycle Works had another perfect evening for a Wednesday Night Supper Ride. The destination was McFall’s Channel Cafe in Fish Lake, IN. Which Fish Lake, you ask? The one between Walkerton and Rolling Prairie. If you, like me, don’t frequent this bit of Indiana, it’s roughly an hour due west of Cycle Works on SR 4. Since it is just into La Porte County which is in the Central Time Zone, that means it takes no time to get there and two hours to get home. Can you say “A Wrinkle In Time”?
To keep the group from getting bored with a single-road trip, our fearless route-planner Matt took us across Elkhart County on County Road 36. County Road 36 turns into New Road in St. Joseph County. It was a perfect evening to look across the rural landscape where the views will soon be obstructed by the growing corn crop. Farm, field and woods were all a lush green in contrast with the blue sky.
New Road bounds the north edge of Potato Creek State Park. A fact that I realized while glancing at the GPS unit on my dash. You learn something new every day, or so they say. We learned that there is one stretch of New Rd. that doesn’t quite live up to its name. This section is narrow, bumpy and highly crowned. The group switched from the traditional staggered formation to single file and collectively hoped that oncoming traffic would give sufficient room. Thankfully, all did including one or two larger trucks pulling trailers. New Road turns into County Road E 300 S in La Porte County and promptly ends just short of Fish Lake. It was just a quick jog south on S 925 E to SR 4 and another couple of miles west on SR 4 to McFall’s on the south side of the road.
We lined our of bikes up out front in typical WNSR style and headed inside to see what was on the menu. As usual, we had the gamut of bike styles from dual-sport to super sport to cruiser, touring and adventure. Inside, the special board noted the Goulash with Garlic Toast was the offering of the day. While it seemed to me to be an interesting choice for a warm summer evening, several folks around the table ordered it and were pleased with their choice. Other items seen around the table were Fried Mushrooms, Jalapeño Poppers, a Patty Melt and a Pork Tenderloin and a Jack & Diet. No one voiced any displeasure with their food, beverages or checks. Brittany was our server and did an excellent job from the the time we arrived in the parking lot until we left. At least one of us scheduled a return trip with a different group. I would recommend that you stop in if you’re close or even that you make McFall’s a destination.
For the return trip, we decided to stick to the wider and smoother SR 4 with a quick stop in North Liberty so Matt & Al could talk with a welding wizard about some drag bike chassis work. With that done, we were on our way east again on Pierce Road (SR 4) along the south side of Potato Creek State Park this time. We jogged north on old 31 to New Road and continued east. The group broke up as individuals headed to their respective homes. Personally, I was home a touch after 9:00 pm and a bit before dark. Watching the sun make its daily decent this late in the day is one of the wonderful parts of the long days of summer.
We’re looking forward to another WNSR soon and hope to see you along!
Until next time,
- Team Cycle Works
