Branson, MO.

Day 5 Wednesday, April 21, 2010



Six o'clock in the morning came awfully early. As a matter of fact, I was up ten minutes early. I got up and got dressed. I packed up my bags and got on the computer when Chuck woke up. He got dressed and packed. We went downstairs for breakfast and just before I walked into the breakfast room, Chuck stepped in front of me. I can't believe that Chuck was the first in our group to get to breakfast! That is a first! We were having breakfast when Bruce walked in. Ken walked in and then C.E. Jan came in last. He apologized for oversleeping. We didn't care about the apology, we still harassed him. That is part of the fun. We all finished our breakfast and packed our Motors. We were ready to continue our trip except for gas. We rode across the street to a gas station and gassed up. We left at 9:10 AM. We were headed to Branson.



Bruce led us south from Springfield on US 65. It was64 degrees and it felt good to ride. It was hard to concentrate on the ride because there were many billboards on both sides of the road advertising Branson and all of the shows going on there. The landscape was awesome. The road had plenty of hills. We rode 46.0 miles and arrived in Branson at 10:02 AM. None of us had ever been in Branson except for Jan. That was a no-brainer, Jan took over the lead and took us on a tour. We drove around and looked at the sights and eventually stopped in the parking lot of the Branson Mall. We talked about our game plan and as most were talking about the plan, I told the guys that a "pit stop" was in order. The others agreed and we rode across the street to McDonald's and used their facilities. We also took the opportunity to take a photo op with the group. We rode to "The Branson Star" and took our group picture in front of the sign. "The Branson Star" is a theatre. It has a large parking lot and Bruce rode down to the front of the building and parked his Motor. He wanted the group to line up and take a picture in front of the theatre. We all stayed at the sign. Chuck asked Ken to go down and tell Bruce to come back up to the sign so that we could take our group picture and leave. Bruce came up to us and positioned his Motor. He told us that he was already positioned at the bottom in front of the building. Jan told Bruce that we would go down with him. Bruce threw his arms up in despair and said, "Never mind." We took a few pictures and left at 10:59 AM. Chuck and Bruce talked about where we were going next. It was decided that we would ride south into Arkansas for a while and then back to Missouri.



We headed south on US 65 and crossed into Arkansas.to Bellefonte and then changed to US 62. The road was very winding and fun to ride. We saw what looked like a dead older bear cub laying by the side of the road. We have never seen anything like this before. After riding 71.8 miles, we arrived at Yellville, AK. We stopped at a Subway for lunch. Just before we left for our ride, my daughter, Jennifer, bought me a $100 Subway card with a picture of my grandson, Connor. For those who are interested, Jennifer ordered it online. When I gave it to the lady clerk, she looked at it and did all of that girlie stuff. You know what I'm talking about. OOOOHHHHH how cute! Who is he? Hey girls, look what this gentleman has on his Subway card! It a picture of his grandson. Aaaaaahhhhh...how cute! And it continued. I finally got my card back. While we were in Subway, it rained a little. We left at 1:05 PM.



Bruce continued leading the group on US 62. Our intent at this time was to head back towards Missouri. The road was still awesome to ride. There were many curves and also some of the residents along US 62 had mowed their lawns. Freshly mowed lawns smell to good! Someone ought to bottle the smell and sell it. They would make a lot of money. We rode for 59.3 miles and arrived at a Shell station with mini-mart at 2:11 PM. It was time for our after lunch break. While we were there, we all gassed up. It was warm enough and we took off and packed our jackets. We spoke to a fellow Motorcycle rider who was riding from Houston to St. Louis to go visit his Mom. Oh boo hoo hoo...how sweet! It just brings a tear to my eye. Seriously, he was a nice guy and I commend him for thinking of his mom. Ok, where was I...oh yea...we left at 2:51 PM with C.E. in the lead.



C.E. led us on SR 9 into Missouri. We then got on US 63 and then onto SR 142. So far, this has to be on of the best rides so far this ride. No only was there winding, twisty roads, but the road also seems like we were on a roller coaster. What a great road! We rode 67.2 miles and stopped in a small town named Doniphan. We arrived at 4:05 PM. We made a pit stop. This mini-mart had a lot of old, rusted cars on the side parking lot. We went looking at them. Chuck and I discussed where we were going to stop for the night. I checked the Best Western book and found that the only city that had a Best Western on US 60 between us and the boarder was a town called Sikeston. Where? That's right, Sikeston. C.E. put Sikeston on his navigation system and I was imputing the address of the Best Western in my navigation system. C.E. was asking me what I was doing and I told him that I was putting the address of the Best Western. I told him that as the leader, he should put the address also. He said, "no," that I had put the address and he would only put in the town. We left at 4:36 PM.



C.E. led us on US 160 towards US 60. This was also a good road and had fun with it. The good thing about it is that there was not much traffic. We finally reached US 60 and headed east. C.E. was leading, Chuck was next, then me, then Jan, then Ken and Bruce. We passed a huge billboard advertising the Best Western in Sikeston. It read, "Best Western, exit I-55, 2 miles north exit #67. There was an exit immediately following the sign and C.E. got off US 60. We all got off with C.E. and we stopped at the red light. My navigation system was indicating that I-55 was still 5 miles away. I was make motions to C.E. to continue east and get back on US 60. C.E. turned left and we followed. C.E. continued about 1/2 mile and turned into a shopping center. I rode up to Chuck and told him that I would take over the lead. I rode to C.E. and told him to follow me. I led the group back to US 60 and eastbound. We rode 5 miles and then onto I-55. We arrived at the Best Western at 6:01 PM. We had ridden 88.3 miles. Jan and I entered to "make the deal." They wanted far too much money for one night so we opted to go to the Holiday Inn Express just north. Off we go. I entered by myself into the Holiday Inn Express and the clerk told me that they were all booked up. Jan stated that there was a Comfort Inn west of us. Off we go again. When we arrived, Jan and I entered. The female clerk quoted us a good rate and now...we were in! We checked in and unloaded our Motors. We took or bags to our rooms and we prepared to ride to dinner. The clerk told us of "Lamberts" restaurant, which was about 1/2 mile east of us. We rode to Lamberts and had dinner. Lambers served good food and their "big thing" was a guy walking around the restaurant giving "throwed rolls." When someone in the restaurant, no matter where they were sitting, raised their hand, the server would get a roll and "throw" it to them with pin-point accuracy! No matter where or how far he had to throw the roll. At one point, I was getting a video of the guy throwing the rolls. He saw me with my hand up and threw it to me. He was about 30 yards away! If I had put my left had even with my head, I would have caught it. Instead, with Chuck sitting to my left, the roll flew between us and struck the guy sitting behind me in the back of the head. The victim had a good attitude about it. After dinner we returned to the Comfort Inn. We parked our Motors under the awning and tucked them in for the night.



Today we were on some awesome roads. We rode through Branson, which I think was a neat city with a lot of things to see and do. We rode for 338 miles. We are also keeping a good watch on the weather. There are storms headed our way. We hope to run away from the storms and hope that they don't catch up to us. Jan said that the day after we left Amarillo, TX. it was hit with a tornado. Lucky us! At this point, I know that we are going to head east on US 60 and go into Kentucky. I don't know much more that that. I don't think that any of us do. So, until tomorrow...