Greetings East Iowa Ski Club members. I’m filling in for
Marty again this this month, as his recent treatments have been hard on him. We all wish him the best. We had a good Halloween themed October member meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall on October 18.
Amy Feight, from the
Salvation Army was our guest speaker and shared some of the missions and programs the Salvation Army support to help our community. Thanks to
Pat Boland for setting this up and to
Sarah Wittnebel for organizing the bell ringing schedule while Pat recovers from foot surgery.
Thanks to
Jim Wittnebel for the update on the
Ron Saboe Memorial Bike Ride on the
Trout Run Trail in Decorah. We all met for a toast at the
Toppling Goliath Brewery with Ron’s family and friends.
Rosanne Van Cura shared with us on the
Maquoketa Cave hiking challenges and the
Bluff Lake Catfish Farm dinner. Rosanne talked about the fun weekend bike ride to Solon and back. The e-bike riders seemed to handle the wind a little better than some others. It was a good time but we need more bike riders to join us.
The highlight of the meeting came while
Todd Eadie and
Tim Gull were reporting on their trip to the
Chicago Metropolitan Ski Council seminar. The meeting went well for our representatives who had fun & learned lots of things in Chicago. The surprise came when the prize for the best website of the CMSC’s 61 ski clubs went to our Webmaster
Kim Betts once again – Kim was a bit shocked. Kim does a great job on the website and it is nice she received recognition at a regional level.
The review of the club’s ski trips was positive. The
Steamboat trip trimmed their count to 22 spots and Trip Leaders
Chip and
Diane Scholl have two remaining. The
Stillwater Ski & Adventure Trip is still getting started and needs more members to sign up. The
Winter Park trip decided to cut back a room on that trip. Trip Leader
Kathy Takes reported she is taking sign-ups and still has four openings available.
The Adventure Trip committee has been busy. The Spring
Black Hills bus trip has a great itinerary and went on sale at the meeting. It was announced there will be three bicycle camping trips in 2026.
Dave and
Bev Brown will be leading the early springtime trip at Pine Lake on the Iowa River’s Edge Trail near Eldora. The second mid-summer trip is planned for the Sauk Rail Trail between two lakes & parks at Lake View and Carroll Iowa.
Kim Betts and the Camping committee will be coordinating things for the campers on all of the bicycle/camping trips. The third fall trip is being planned by Rosanne – she is looking at several different trail options.
Rosanne Van Cura detailed the proposed
Highlights of Ireland and Scotland trip for September of 2026. This is a Cosmos trip with an extensive itinerary. Rosanne detailed the costs and had maps of the route. There was some excitement for this type of trip at the Kickoff meeting. Rosanne has more details in the Skiddoo.
Thanks to all who came to the October Halloween meeting. The next meeting is the November Thanksgiving themed meeting on the 15th. Hope to see you all at the next EISC event.