We left St. Louis, MO in sunshine! I didn’t get my frozen custard as we were on the road by 8:30 a.m. I never realized how nice rolling luggage is until you have to cart two bags that seem to weigh a tonne out to the parking lot and then lift it onto the bike! By the time that is done my workout is complete and I am usually very hot. So I left today again in a t-shirt with my leather vest. The weather has been wonderful and my tan line on my face from my helmet is getting more pronounced every day! I will soon need some makeup to cover it up.
Heading out of St. Louis we drove through Eureka, Allenton, St. Clair and Stanton. Just past Stanton everyone seemed to head towards the “Meramec Caves”. These are the caves that Jess James had his hideout. The caves are huge but due to the fact that the tour would have taken an hour and a half and we had a few miles to go we did not take the tour but definitely we looked in as far as we could. The “Jesse James Wax Museum" and the “Antique Toy Museum” were closed much to everyone’s disappointment. Lots of bikes stopped for pictures and a quick chat before heading off again on the road. Today’s road was nice and curvy. A fun ride on a bike!
From Stanton the next town was Bourbon where the discussion took place as to whether or not the water tower actually had Bourbon in it rather than on it! Leaving Bourbon behind we headed to Cuba where, like Pembroke, they have wonderful murals painted on businesses. Everyone was in awe of all the murals and a stop was made to take pictures of as many as we could.
On our way again we headed through Fanning where the “World’s Largest Rocking Chair” is located at a very nice trading post (gift store). I found my Christmas ornament I like to buy on every vacation I take so that I could have a reminder each Christmas as I decorate the tree. Leaving Fanning the road took us through Rolla, where it started to rain a bit and we decided to put our rain gear on – just in time as within minutes it came raining down. Next Buckhorn, Laquey, Hazelgreen, and into Lebanon where we stopped to take our rain gear off as it was getting very hot again. The famous “Munger Moss Motel” from 1946 is still in business and is one of the Willis’s favourite motels. Off to Phillipsburg, Conway, Marshfield and then to Strafford and finally Springfield. We were about five miles before our hotel and the weather was changing rapidly. We had tried to out ride the storm but I felt we were pushing our luck and again we stopped to put rain gear on. Just in time, I might add, as a few minutes down the road and the flood gates opened up! An empty office building with an overhang sheltered us during a thunder and lightning storm with high winds which apparently blew some trees over as the news reports. Once the weather subsided we called the hotel for directions and arrived in sunshine.
The dealer party provided supper and pop before heading back to the hotel. As yesterday was the first incident of a bike theft (yes can you believe it) – I have parked my bike right out front of the hotel under the overhang right at the front door along with about 50 other bikes. I am not taking the risk that my bike will be the next to go. Interestingly enough it was a HOG employee’s bike that was stolen – makes you wonder about who might have done such a thing?
Tomorrow we head to Tulsa, OK and the weather tonight is supposed to be nasty. I am sitting here and I can hear the rain and thunder outside already! Tomorrow it is supposed to beautiful again so here is hoping!
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