I’m taxing my recollector muscle here, but near as I can recall from more than half a century ago, we had all members of our sports teams dress-out for home games, but only the better jocks went to ‘away’ games… the so-called traveling squad… Well, when it comes to biker treks, there are those who ride to Dairy Queens, restaurants, or bars and those who ‘travel’… I’m in the company of some mighty fine travelers, most of whom would also qualify as all-stars!
True to form, I nearly didn’t make it! I made the show-up and started out with the group all right, but on the first two days, as the mid-afternoon temps climbed into the stratosphere, my enthusiasm, energy, and stamina declined proportionately… I was wilting like a week-old prom corsage! That has become common-place, even typical, for this vintage road warrior, and it was the major drawback to me even making a group ride out to Colorado. All that has changed now! But first…
We’d arranged for two meet-ups so our members from several states could all converge and become one unit… Good idea and it did work out. We did manage to mis-coordinate the timing on the very first meet-up, however, so the second was also an hour late, as the time from the first was never made up… No problem, though, at least nobody admitted to having a nerve jangled due to this…
Paul Mull (Wimp) escorted SmokinJoe, Lucky13, and yours truly to the first hook-up… He never admitted it, but I strongly suspect he had been deputized to make certain we actually exited the county and didn’t double back. Following breakfast after the link-up, he returned to Anderson County to deliver the happy news to one and all, while the now five of us continued on to the second meet-up. MitchO and Troutdude had just joined us…
Lucky13, SmokinJoe, and Wimp
The first hook-up where MitchO & Troutdude joined us
The second hook-up swelled our ranks to eight… and the traveling squad was complete (SmokinJoe took the picture).
We got seriously underway after a wee bit of glad-handing and back-slapping and a bit more chow (necessary ballast, you see) and the effects of nature began to work on this trekker in earnest. Both of those first two days, mid-day would see the start down the path that would leave me pooped and drained by journey’s end…
First night in Mount Vernon, Il.
Mitch led us both of the first two days… He made a big hit with me right-off, when he stopped for breakfast at a Huddle House in Illinois… and I had grits! I was mighty happy about that, too… it could be a while before I find another mess…
upload image website By the time we stopped at this roadside attraction on the second day, I was already too far gone to walk over and read the information on the sign, but I was told that it informed the reader that what was behind the sign is a hole in the rock wall… That more than satisfied any remaining curiosity I might have had left…
In keeping with our ‘let’s take the scenic route’ theme, we rode down a country road currently being repaved… After a couple of miles of loose gravel, we came upon the ‘tar truck’ doing its thing, so we did a U-turn and retraced our route back out…
pic host Mitch not only did a monster job of herding cats, selecting the best roads available, and making an otherwise rather boring ride into a very enjoyable one, he also really impressed me when he displayed superior leadership skills… He somehow got Joe to lead on the stretch where we encountered all the gravel and tar and eventually have to do a U-turn… so Joe got all the blame! Mitch just smiled and maintained his usual stoic pose…
So we could also claim a nautical aspect to our trip, we took a ferry across the Illinois River…
how to print screen on pc Then it was on to St. Joseph, MO, for the night at a motel where SmokinJoe had stayed previously… Nice place, the owner and his wife were most personable and friendly… and the owner also came out with a cold beer for each of us! Hard to not like hospitality like that!!! There was even some killer BBQ just across the road from our motel… All in all, things worked out well enough to make that hot, humid ride there seem very much worth the effort.
DDT
