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Published: October 12th 2010
Ready for Deparure
Cleared for takeoff, turn left heading 360, maintain dirty side down.Although the weather has been fantastic for the whole time, it's been gone-severe clear and in the 70's, the nights have been pretty chilly. Sunday night the low was in the mid 30's. So I figured I would hang around until the temperature warmed up a bit. Easy to do when you're comfortable, drinking coffee and eating sausage rolls.
Jim had a conference call for work, but he decided to ride with me for a ways when it was time to go. We rode back to the Rogers airport. As I was riding there, following Jim, I was thinking how great it would be to just keep on riding with him. It would be great to be able to just head west with no particular destination or time frame. Maybe we'll be able to do that some day.
After we split up, I headed back to Cassville and the Pit since Heather told me she would be working Monday afternoon. There were about 5 people there and I got into a good conversation with a nice guy named Jerry. Jerry was 69 yrs old and he has been an avid motorcycle guy for years, owning many bikes over the
Back of Jim's Bike
Let's hope those vets all vote in November, too. years. He told me some great stories about some of the big trips he and his friends made on old bikes. Very interesting, friendly guy. I shot the breeze with Jerry and Heather for an hour or so and then headed out.
I picked a couple different roads to make my way back to I-44. What a blast! The scenery was beautiful and the roads were in perfect condition, making for a lot of fun riding through the hilly Ozark area. I finally made it back to I-44 and rode northeast on that for a while. It was getting a bit late and I called Brett to tell him I wouldn't get in until 8 or 8:30, so I wouldn't be able to take them out to dinner. By the time I exited I-44 to ride two lane roads up to O'Fallon, it was getting quite dark and really cool. I plugged in my destination on the GPS and the route would have been great in daylight but it was pitch dark now. The route was several narrow, winding county roads through forests. I was pretty cautious, worrying about deer jumping out with the limited forward visibility on these
Bettie Gets a Break
At a gas stop in Missouri roads.
I finally arrived at about 8:30 and Brett came over to get a drink with me. Tomorrow is his birthday so we had to toast that. We didn't stay too late since Brett had to work the next day.
The next morning I waited until the temperature warmed again, left around 10:30 and headed north on Hwy 79 along the Mississippi again. I was just about to cross the river into Illinois when I spotted a restaurant out of the corner of my eye near the river. This was in the town of Louisiana. It was a place called the Daybreak Diner, a small bakery and cafe. I asked if I could still get breakfast since it was now after 11:00 and the cook/owner said he would make me some bacon and eggs. The owner's name was Sean and he had a lot of interesting stories. He told me that Louisiana was quite the wild river town back in the old days. He said the population 100 years ago was over 40,000 people. Today it is around 3,700. He said the town was loaded with bars and brothels to serve the river travelers and workers. It
World's Largest??
I don't know if it's Missouri or Tennessee that is the leader in corny tourist attractions. Jan's birthday IS coming up. is recognized as having the best preserved historic district in Missouri.
He also told me that they get a lot of interesting travelers in town even today, people following the Mississippi. Sean told me about a guy who stopped in late in the morning earlier this Spring, just like I did and he cooked him breakfast, too. This guy was riding a bicycle from Canada to Central America! And, this guy was in his mid 60's. About a week later, a couple stopped in for breakfast, telling him they had camped with a guy riding his bike to Central America and the guy recommended they stop at the Daybreak. A few weeks later, he had another couple stop in who said they were camping with the same guy in Oklahoma and told them about the place, too. Sean said he's waiting for someone to stop in from Guatemala one of these days with the same story.
I got back to IL Hwy 100 again and rode that up to the town of Havana, where I decided to head east on US Hwy 136 for about 50 miles to I-55. This is one of the "Cornfield Cannonball Runs" I've
made in Illinois, a super straight road through the farmlands and you can make some time. I wanted to head home along old Route 66, so I rode I-55 to the town of Towanda, just north of Normal, where I could exit and start riding down historic 66. One of these days I want to make a bike trip following Rte 66 to California. I ride down this way a couple times a year and in the past have stopped at a lot of the historic places along this famous highway. I particularly like to stop and check out the stretches of pavement that are still there intermittently between Lexington and Dwight. I can just imagine the old cars driving down the old narrow pavement heading out to the west.
I decided I wanted to stop at one of my favorite historic places in Gardner. It's an old roadhouse, the Riviera, that has been there since the early 20's. It has a really cool little basement bar and restaurant. It's reputed to have been one of the places frequented by Al Capone. The couple who have owned it for the last 40 years or so came from Chicago after
Daybreak Cafe
Right on the Mississippi owning a couple bars there. The old gentleman tended bar and had a million stories about the place. It is always a little hard to find, back in off the road a bit, and as I was looking and almost past it, I noticed a pile of burnt rubble back in behind the trees. I stopped at a bar in Braceville just north of there and asked about the Riviera. One of the customers told me that it had burned down in the Spring. He said that the old couple had sold it almost a year ago and that the new owner was getting a lot of grief from local government about bringing the place up to modern codes. They wanted an elevator installed, etc. Next thing you know.....a fire. What a shame. It should have been put on a list of historic places if you ask me.
After that disappointment, I jumped on I-55 and boogied for home, about 40 miles away. It was a great trip. I put on about 1,400 miles and had spectacular riding every day.
Oh, by the way, just in case you were wondering, "Bettie" is named after Bettie Page, a famous
and somewhat infamous pinup girl in the 50's. She was the January, 1955 Playboy Playmate of the Month and Playboy named her the queen of the pinups. She led a most interesting life. They made a pretty good movie of her life, starring Gretchen Mol, named; "The Notorious Bettie Page."
Check out her website:
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Jan
non-member comment
Where's the gift??
So, am I to assume you didn't stop in that store to find me something for my BDAY? But, of course I know only too well how much you LOVE to shop!! Glad you had such a great time, even if you had to make it alone. Happy to have you back home and safe! Missed you.