Thursday morning I made contact by phone with Steve W. (The rescue truck driver). He had made it West of Dayton on his first day, and was on the move again. I did some quick figuring, and determined we'd end up meeting East of St. Louis, MO about noon.
This would put us about 45 miles East of St. Louis, at Exit 45and Rte 127. My calculations were off a little, as we arrived there about 10 minutes before Steve.
No shade at "High Noon", so we found a roomy parking lot adjacent to Mickey D's, and loaded the bikes on the trailer as soon as he arrived. After that we went inside for a quick lunch and more liquids ( 90's again).
Pretty uneventful riding the "big-roads" (Interstates). Did spot one neat place I would have liked to poke about at, Bobs Gasoline Alley,( http://www.route66pulse.com/pages/articledetailsarch.asp?cat=62&art=680&iss=14 )
Also a nice cruise in report from local Corvette club that went to Bob's, (http://www.vintagevettesoftheozarks.com/bobs_gasoline_alley_cuba_mo.htm ).
We made it back to Dayton, OH for the night, stopping at a Cracker Barrel along the way for dinner.
Friday AM we loaded ourselves into the rescue truck, and made it home by 4:30PM for Brooks, and I was home by 5:30PM.
Had a note from Jon's wife yesterday (she's our weekend mail carrier) that Jon made it okay, getting in about 10:30PM Fri. night.
Have a call into Rich to check his location and condition, so all will be accounted for.
SUNDAY:
Got a call about 3PM today (Sunday) from Rich. He got home late last (Sat) night, before all the rain hit. Turns out he played around on the back roads in WV, then started North. He put in a call for wife Carol to start South West with his truck and trailer, and they met Sat afternoon near State College, PA. Loaded up, and come on in to home last evening. His foot is still sore and tender. He will attempt to see the doctor this week for a real examination.
Rich sent me a picture. Guess this explains why he called for the rescue truck. Makes for a long slow ride home on one of these old Vespas.
Looks like this about wraps it up. Wish we were still riding Westward, but it will just have to wait till next season. We had a great time, met great and interesting people, saw some wonderful sights, experienced some very HOT weather, and we learned something new everyday. Never a dull day, always something new and different. Oh, almost forgot. We found and sampled some great little eateries along the way, sampling some great local catfish, hush puppies, okra, and Mexican food.
Thanks also to the "followers" of this little blog. We enjoyed having you along to share the "ride".
Sincerely,
Doug
Brooks
Rich
Jon
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| Rich on new found "bike" Maybe an audition for Wild Hogs? |
Chris:
ReplyDeleteWe were certainly looking forward to our Colorado section, but my ankle never would have recovered in time. It's been exactly a week now, and I'm still a pretty lame duck. Like "Arnold" says.."I'll be back". Next year to finish it up, and hopefully do the North-South route on the Divide also.
Doug
Very nice report. I just finished the CDR and the TAT is my next years trip. I really enjoyed riding along with you guys. I'll make sure and miss CB's motel.
ReplyDeleteDave Bell
Wills Point Texas