DAY 8

It's me again! This is the start of our second week. It sure doesn't seem like it has been that long. So, we are in Springfield, IL. at a Ramada Inn. We got up and had a continental breakfast. The Ramada Inn served biscuits and gravy. The guys were excited for something different. After having the biscuits and gravy, it was a general consensus of opinion that it wasn't that great! I'm glad that I didn't have it. We were done and so we went to go pack up our Motors. Everyone checked their rooms to make sure that nothing was left behind. As we were all on our Motors and ready to go, J.B. led us out. We left at 8:27 AM.

J.B. led us to the Old Route 66 and we followed it for 54 miles and stopped in Litchfield at 9:35 AM. We stopped at Niehaus Cycle Sales so that I could get an oil change for my Motor. Before we left Phoenix, I still had about 1,000 miles before my Motor was due. Of course this stop was approved by Chuck prior to leaving Phoenix. I took my Motor to the service department and checked my Motor in and was told that it probably would take about 1 1/2 hours. I told them to take my Motor and that I would be in the store "shopping." The place had a lot of Hondas, Honda clothing, Honda parts, coffee, pop, restrooms and everything. This was a giant play land! IT WASN'T A HARLEY DEALERSHIP!!!! :) Jan was also excited about being there. He is interested in the Honda ST 1300. What a sweet looking Motor! Jan asked and took one out for a test ride. Jan came back with stars in his eyes. He talked with J.B. and convinced him to take it on a test ride also. J.B. also liked it. While they were test riding the Motor, I was shopping and bought a few items. I just have to come back. I saw a Goldwing that I fell in love with. A salesman told me that he could have all of the paperwork drawn up in no time and that he would give me a great price for my Goldwing as a trade in. He also quoted me a great price for a new one. It was very tempting. I have to think about it. Maybe when we finish the ride and go back to Kansas City and take J.B. home I might do it. I still have to think about it. Right now, I just can't think of any reason NOT to get it. We ended up staying there for about 3 1/2 hours waiting for my Motor to be finished. All we took it in for was for an oil change. They were very busy with other Motors. They had 6 technicians working. Well, it was finally finished and we left at 1:01 PM in time to ride 1 mile away and get to a Subway for lunch. We left the Subway at 1:37 PM and continued on 66 with J.B. leading.

J.B. lead us through St. Louis, passing the Arch and Busch Stadium. That was the Arch...not the Golden Arches. We stopped in Eureka, MO. at 2:58 PM, after riding 82 miles and gassed up and took a break. While we were taking a break, there was a Eureka Police Officer there and we all struck up a conversation with him. I gave him a PPD patch and he gave me one of his. We then left at 3:37 PM.

It was now Jim's turn to lead. We followed 66 through small towns and 21 miles later at 4:10 PM, we stopped in Wild Wood...where? We were lost again. Missouri doesn't post as many Route 66 signs as Illinois does. We didn't see any signs. I asked an elderly gentleman, who looked as he was about 120 years old as to where we could get Route 66 again. We left at 4:22 PM. He gave me directions and they were good! We found 66 again.

We continued on with Jim leading, again, going through small towns. We stopped in Sullivan at 5:10 PM, after riding 39 miles. We checked the map and found where we needed to go. At 5:20 PM we continued on.

As we were riding 66, Jim was leading and Chuck radioed to Jim to stop ASAP. At 5:47 PM and after riding for only 18 miles, we stopped in Cuba. That is Cuba, MO., NOT Cuba Cuba! Bruce had a large bug hit him on his sunglasses and it splattered in his eye. We took a few minutes for Bruce to clean himself off and recover from the hit. The score is: Bruce 1, bug 0. We continued at 5:58 PM. While we were riding through Cuba, they have the world largest rocking chair. It is about 5 stories tall! It is huge. Anyway, we continued on.

Jim led us on 66 again and Chuck radioed to him telling him that if he wanted to, he could go onto the interstate (I-44) and go straight to St. Robert, MO. where there is a Best Western waiting for us to check in. Jim didn't hesitate one bit. Jim dipped his Motor for a turn and we were quickly on I-44 and off we go to the races! We continued for 46 miles and arrived at 6:48 PM. Bruce went in and found that the Best Western, along with the other 2 motels in the area, were full. There was a week long convention of Cops. You should have seen the faces of the 3 or 4 Cops standing on the balcony when we rode in on our Motors! They were "looking us over" as if they were thinking of us as, "Biker Trash!" How dare them think of us that way. They are right, but how dare them! Bruce was told that there was another Best Western about 35 miles south and a call was made. Bruce had them hold 4 rooms for us.

We all got back on our Motors and Jim led us south. We arrived in Lebanon, MO. NOT Lebanon the middle east country, at the Best Western 34 miles later and at 7:33 PM. Believe it or not, it was still daylight. We checked in and got our rooms. We were lucky and so was the motel. With the 4 rooms that we took, now there were now 6 rooms rented in the entire motel! The clerk at the desk told us that if we were to hear sirens blaring in the middle of the night, we should go into the bathrooms! She then told us that there is a possibility of a tornado hitting this town tonight. That doesn't sound good! She did, however, let us park our Motors on the sidewalk next to the doors of our rooms. At least the Motors are under the second floor walkway and under cover from the rain. We unloaded our Motors and rode to a nearby Applebee's restaurant. As we almost arrived, we passed a grocery store named, get this, "Smitty's." It had the same sign as our old Smitty's stores that used to be in Phoenix. that was a nice bit of nostalgia. We finished dinner and back to the motel. No tornado yet! We parked our Motors next to our doors, tucked them in for the night, talked for a while and then we all went into our rooms. We need to get ready for tomorrow.

This was a very nice day with great weather for riding. We saw beautiful countryside with nice homes. We ended up with 298 miles for the day. We didn't expect to put in that many miles. We will see what tomorrow brings. Soooo, until tomorrow...