Springfield, IL to St. Louis, MO

It seems my riding partners will continue to be Jerry and Bob.  We all seem to get along pretty good – all of equally can lost at any time and enjoy giving each other a hard time.  At the end of the day I found out that Bob actually has a GPS – well I just about busted a gut laughing – like what the hell – why hasn’t he pulled the damn thing out!  WOW is all I can say.  We are definitely having fun!

Before we left Springfield we headed to the Lincoln Museum and took in the holograph presentation.  I was impressed with the museum and the staff there.  Everywhere we go people are amazed at our trip and want to know where we are going and where we are heading. 

From Springfield we headed to Auburn, Thayer, Virden, Girard and Nilwood.  From Nilwood we headed to Gillespie where there is a town square which is surrounded by a cobble stone roadway that is one way (basically a rotary).  All the store fronts face the town square and it seems like a very quaint town.  Heading to Staunton, Litchfield, Mt. Olive we took all the old Route 66 roads off of the main Route 66 and it took us down a very narrow roadway and it is hard to imagine two cars meeting as it seems that there is only enough room for one!  Route 66 has been moved, realigned and adjusted over the years – something similar to what is happening to our Hwy 17 – which will soon disappear as well with all the four lane highways going through.  Makes you think that perhaps HOG should do a ride from Coast to Coast on the Trans Canada Highway!!  You never know – as you all know me and you know I am going to suggest it!!

After heading onward to Mitchell the Harley Owner Group arranged to have the ``Chain of Rocks Bridge`` open just for our group.  The bridge is only available for bicycles and pedestrian traffic so it was a highlight of the trip to be able to ride our Harley`s across this bridge.  The staff were very generous allowing us to take pictures and take advantage of our time that the bridge was open. 

Arriving in St. Louis, Missouri we headed downtown to the ``Arch``.  Picture opportunity and of course I had to make sure I rode the tram to the top!!  A spectacular view and well worth the $10 entry fee.  At the entrance to the Arch there is a museum that is well worth taking in – all for free.  As we were travelling downtown and then to the `headquarter hotel` we went through what was obviously the wrong end of town!  Well let me say that we rolled all those stop signs making sure we got to a safer area.  It would have been worth it to stop and take a picture of the homes in that area – but I think Jerry and Bob would have left me behind. 

Once at the hotel I headed for the laundry mat as it was time.  Amazing how you can do everything that you need to do while riding a bike – I now have clean clothes and I am ready to go for another 6 or 7 days!

Tomorrow we are off to Springfield, Missouri.  I hope before we leave St. Louis that we head to `Ted Drewes Frozen Custard` shop as it is a major tourist attraction selling their thick `concretes`.

I will update the mileage tomorrow night as I forgot to write it down before I came to my room.  I now very much have a t-shirt tan and I am getting darker by the minute!  Weather has been beautiful but I won`t hold my breath as I know that there will be some bad weather before my adventure is over.

Mileage to Date (as promised) - Today 245.3 km and 2230.5 km overall.