Winds

Day 13 Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ken and I woke up at 6:30 AM. We got dressed, packed and went for breakfast. We were the first ones there from our group. As we were eating, we saw Chuck walk past us with his bag and computer. He went out to his Motor, took off the cover and packed his Motor. Ken and I thought that was very strange. We thought that he was thrown out of his room by his roomy, Bruce. While Chuck was outside, Bruce walked by with his bags. He followed Chuck and did the same thing. Something is wrong here! Chuck never gets up that early and packs his Motor. Chuck then joined us for breakfast. Soon, C.E. and Jan walked by us with their bags and headed to their Motors. I guess Ken and I didn't get the memo. We were all having breakfast and when Ken and I finished, we packed our Motors to catch up with the others. We left at 9:08 AM with Jan in the lead. Bruce was supposed to lead, however, Jan had a mission and was going to an auto parts store and he knew where it was. We arrived at a O'Reilly Auto Parts Store at 9:13 AM after riding just 1.9 miles. Jan bought some stuff to fix his Motor horn. We left at 9:18 AM, this time Bruce was leading.

Bruce led us back on US 50. We rode for 37.3 miles and at 9:59 AM, we stopped in Bedford, IN for gas. While we were gassing up our Motors and going in the mini-mart to buy stuff, Ken fixed his Harley horn. It was working! We left at 10:26 AM with C.E. in the lead.

C.E. led the Group through the town of Bedford. We were in the outskirts and 6 miles from the gas station when we saw a large sign which read, "US 50 1 Mile Right Turn (arrow)." We continued and 1/2 mile later, we saw another large sign which read, "US 50 1/2 Mile Right Turn (arrow)." When we arrived at the intersection, there was a smaller sign which read, "US 50 Right Turn (arrow)." C.E. stopped for the red light in the straight thru lane while the rest of us had ridden into the right turn lane and stopped. Ken honked, I honked, Ken honked and I honked. C.E. looked back as us and then changed lanes into the right turn lane and made the right turn. We all followed. C.E. continued leading us and when we reached a small town of Loogootee, IN, the wind starting blowing at us from left to right. We continued and occasionally had strong gusts of wind making us to dip our Motors to the left side. We continued on fighting the wind and C.E. stopped at a Subway 86.9 miles later and at 11:06 AM at Bridgeport, ILL. We had gained an hour between Bedford, IN and Bridgeport, ILL. After we ate, we sat around outside for a while. It was warmer. It was 70 degrees when we arrived in Bridgeport. Some of us took our jackets off and packed them away. Just as we were all mounted on our Motors, Chuck asked us all if we were all ready to leave. We all told him that we were and then he said that since we were all ready to leave, he was going to check Bruce's saddlebag and make sure that it was secured. We left at 12:09 PM.

C.E. took us west on US 50. In this area of Illinois, it is flat and the road is pretty much straight. C.E. rode for 69.2 miles. Most of us were dying! We were tired, sleepy, needed to pee and sore. C.E. finally stopped at a gas station in Salem, ILL at 1:21 PM. Those of us that needed it went quickly to the restroom. We were tired and sleepy. We finally rested and felt like riding again and we left at 1:47 PM.

We felt a little better after the break and went back to fighting the wind. The wind was still beating us since Loogootee, IN. We travel most of the state of Indiana with the wind hitting us. Now, we were in the state of Illinois and it continued. C.E. stopped at 2:18 PM after riding 23.8 miles in Carlyle, ILL at a gas station. We all gassed up and took a little break. We checked the map to see how far St. Louis would be for us. We were planning to stop and tour the Arch. I put it in the navigation system and we left at 2:37 PM with Chuck in the lead.

I was behind Chuck. I made sure Chuck had his CB on. We had seen the Arch before but didn't know how to get there. We stayed on US 50 and when we got closer to St. Louis, we got onto I-64. The navigation system led us to the steps of the Gateway Arch. We arrived at 3;34 PM after riding 51.6 miles. We all parked across the street in a "No Parking, Tow Away Zone." I'm sure that it was OK to park there. The entire curb had many cars parked there. I know, I know...Two wrongs don't make a right. It was right for us. We didn't get ticketed or towed. C.E. chose to stay with the Motors while the rest of us went to the Arch. We had to go through a security check point and x-ray machine. We went in and there were a lot of people there. There was also a ticket counter, gift shop, museum and a snack shop. We saw that the price was $10 to go into the Arch and ride the little tram to the top. We also saw that it took between 45 minutes to an hour to complete the tour. We opted not to do it because we didn't want to leave C.E. at the Motors alone for that long of a time. We returned to the Motors. I checked the Best Western book to see where the next stop would be. Chuck and I looked at our options and saw that we would go a little out of our way and stop in Cuba, MO. We left at 4:42 PM.

Chuck led us, with the help of my navigation system and CB, out of St. Louis and onto I-44. We were luck that the afternoon rush hour wasn't stop and go traffic. We move along at about 70 mph. We continued on until Chuck stopped at a roadside Rest Stop in Stanton, MO. We had ridden for 59.2 and arrived at 5:39 PM. We made a pit stop and woke up. We left at 6:04 PM.

We arrived in Cuba, MO. at 6:28 PM after riding 29.3 miles. We stopped at the Best Western and saw that there was a Holiday Inn Express across the freeway. Chuck asked Jan and Bruce to ride over and see what their rates were. I went into the Best Western to "make the deal." I spoke with the lady clerk and got the price down to $59.99. The Best Western was a little run down. There was no jacuzzi and the pool was outside and not open yet. There were no other cars in the parking lot. I would be surprised if one room was rented. Bruce called me and told me the rate for the Holiday Inn Express. It was $10 more, however, it was a newer complex and it looked cleaner. We decided that Holiday Inn Express it was! As we were getting on our Motors, the lady clerk came out and asked if we were going to take the rooms. I told her that we were going to the Holiday Inn Express. She countered with a lower offer. She lowered the price by $5.00. I told her. "Thank you, but no. We were going to the Holiday Inn Express." We left. We checked into our rooms, unloaded our Motors and got the directions for a place to eat. We went to Frisco's Grill and Pub. We had dinner and then returned to the hotel. When we returned, we tucked our Motors in for the night.

We rode more miles today than we have in several days. We rode 360 miles. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was great to see and be at. One of these days, we will go inside and go to the top. Tomorrow, we will head to Gladstone, MO. where our good friends, J.B. and Suzy Henderson live. J.B., as I told you earlier in the blog, is doing time in Iraq. Sorry J.B., I couldn't resist! J.B. is assisting the Iraqi Police as a K-9 Instructor to the Supervisors, who can teach their subordinates. Suzy, we are coming to see you!