Sturgis Rally
Monday, Day 13
home
The Journey
Highlights of the day
Monday started out pretty much the same as Sunday. We got up between 4:30am and 5:30am, loaded our bikes by 6:00am , had the complmentary breakfast at the hotel and hit the road by 6:30am. Phil was going to sleep in a bit but promised us that we would catch up with him. Today we have to go 531 miles to our stopping destination. We made our first stop in Kansas City, MO and got Allen a new wireless card at a Staples store. So now he can use his own laptop later in the day.
Ricky's bike with the new shifter is running great. He says it rides best between 65 and 70 mph. Allen prefers to ride about 72 - 74. Dennis and I, well our bikes can move but we stick to what the group wants to do or is capable of. The scenery has not changed even though we are in Missouri, still nothing to look at but more CORN! At least today, it doesn't stink.
We're now heading for St Louis. At this rate, we're going to hit downtown at rush hour. There is no easy way to get through it, just carefully pick our way through and ride tight so that cars don't cut us off and split us up. We stopped at a diner just before Columbia, MO. The guys have given the waitress a really hard time but she held her own and even dished it back to them pretty well. By the time we got to Columbia, my bike was starting to tick. I checked the gauges and nothing was out of the ordinary. When we made our next stop we checked the oil. It was low. So we added 1.25 quarts and went on our way. The ticking stopped shortly thereafter. Dennis had given me the business about having to add oil. Ricky said it was still low on Rice. Yeah, yeah yeah...... He's just jealous.
I found that if we stopped for gas just before we entered a major city, we would be semi fresh for the complicated manuevering in traffic and I could let everyone know the route numbers we needed to watch for. It really worked out better than just having one person watch. Not that everyone could remember what to watch for but at least it was a heads up rather than having them just play follow the leader. So here we go, into rush hour traffic at about 4pm in St. Louis. We're on I70 looking for I64 East. Wouldn't you know there is a detour? Just great, that wasn't on the map. Here we are, all split up. Each one of us in our own lane. Dennis to the far left, me to the right, Allen to my right and Ricky running the far right. All of a sudden an orange sign for detour, EXIT NOW! All of us had to make a sharp cut across traffic with Dennis and I dodging cars to make it to the exit. It's a wonder we all made it. After we were all safely onto and alternate 64 East, Ricky passed Dennis and hollered, "Get in the back, Asshole"! To which Dennis went to the rear. The ramifications of this exit had yet to unfold. With traffic getting heavier and heavier, we had to begin the stop, start, coast, stop, start traveling that causes bikes to overheat. I'm thinking, the baggers are not going to like this. We managed to get to a slow crawl and then found that we needed to merge into the left lane. One car would not let Dennis and I in and Ricky and Allen were in front and one car ahead. We're all in the same lane now but separated and we passed a building and there to the left is the St Louis Arch. Dennis had to stop on the side of the road to get his camera a while back and was snaping off pictures while manuevering rush hour traffic. We passed the Cardinals Stadium and then started moving. By this time, the Bagger Boys were well in front, Dennis is practicing his photography and I look up and here are the Bagger Boys pointing to signs and you could just see the expression on their face, like the old cartoon "Which way do we go George, which way do we go?" I looked back and Dennis is GONE, not anywhere in sight. So I sped up thinking, OK Dennis, you're on your own, and knowing he would be fine, I pointed to the route but the guys had already made their decision so I whipped by them figuring that we still had the outerbelt on the East side. If we had gone the wrong way, we could at least correct the sutuation at that point. We managed to stay on the correct route but I realized at that point that it didn't matter how good you were as a navigator, it didn't work when you had more than one steering wheel. We crossed over into Illinois with much relief.
I have to liken the trip through St Louis to a Cattle Drive and I was wishing I had the whip that the Park Ranger was using on the buffalo back in Custer State Park to get these bikes moving in the right direction. As far as Phil, I associate him with being the guy they called "Cookie" driving the chuckwagon. He was always the last one to leave and the first one to arrive. He sure did cook a great breakfast though. The pot roast.... well that was another story.
I had forgotten to mentin to the guys what the main crop f Illinois was. But within 10 miles, they had figured it out. Yep, you guessed it MORE CORN! As we passed one corn field after another with a small scattering of soybeans, we came across a hand full of oil wells. There were not the usual wells though, they were mixed in with the corn fields so this must be where they grow CORN OIL! So now you know where that comes from. Illinois.
We found Mt Vernon, IL and were glad to get off the road. Mileage wise, this was probably our longest day yet. Time wise, that had to have been REPAIR DAY in Memphis. We saw the Days Inn in the distance and wouldn't you know that when we pulled in, there was that same BMW this time parked up on the sidewalk in front of the lobby. Phil had pulled in 30 minuets before and taken off walking to get something to eat. The girl at the front desk was slammed with customers and we ended up with rooms on the 3rd floor. While we were waiting at the front desk we got a call from Dion and he told us that he had just gotten home. He had another 2 hours after dropping Glenn off at his house. After the usual showers to rid ourselves of the road grime, we headed over to an Applebees to have our last evening meal together. Phil went too but he got his calories in liquid form.
We all went to our rooms knowing that tomorrow we would probably hit some rain and that we would be taking different paths for home in Nashville, TN. For the GA boys, they would be ending their Sturgis adventure and we would have yet another 500 miles to travel.
Today's best pictures
 |
 |
 |
| Ricky the "Bungee Man" |
Caution |
At the lodge |
More Photos from this trip
The Sturgis Journey of 2008
Copyright 2010
A Blonde Moment Marketing, LLC
PO Box 352034
Palm Coast, FL 32135-2034
Email: The Blonde
All information contained herein is deemed correct but is not warranted or guaranteed.
A Blonde Moment's marketing creations:
A Blonde Moment Marketing | Artistic Designs By Ricky, Inc
INTRELS - The International Real Estate Listing Service | Pinksters Ride Again
YardSalesz.com | Ride with us to Sturgis in 2011