Little Grand Canyon

This trip is worth going on even if you have to cage it...

Pete and I took off on down the Bluff Road. I love Monday riding, no one on the road at all. I think we passed one car between Columbia and Ellis Grove.

The Bluff Road is in good condition even after some flooding along various points.

The bridge is still out on the turn to Prairie DuRocher but just follow the Bluff Road and all is good. The bridge is really more a scenic cut off than anything...

Always a welcome relief is the limestone holes cut into the wall of the bluffs along the road. The temperature drops like 50 degrees as you pass each one. With yesterday being the hottest day of the year, it was a welcome blast of cold air.

Once into Chester we found Rte 3 South was closed due to flooding. Ended up being alright as the detour took us to places we had never been before. Best part of riding in my opinion any ways.

Once in Murphysboro we headed for the 17th Bar and Grill. The reason for the trip south was as much to eat at this place as was the Little Grand Canyon. Last time we made the trip down here with the club it was closed The place lives up to it's reputation, some of the best BBQ I have ever eaten. The cucumber salad was to die for.

After lunch we headed to Little Grand Canyon, this place was everything I had been looking forward to! Great trails and views! Well worth the trip down to experience nature at it's finest.

The back roads to LCG make the experience even more fun!
Like last week's accomplishment of seeing Sandy Creek in all four seasons, we have now seen the scenic overlook in Bloomsdale in all four seasons. Hard to pick which has been my favorite as they all have had their own unique views. I am actually looking forward to this fall as we should have much more color with all the rain we had this spring/summer. As per our usual we found cats on our trip... OMG these were adorable.. sigh, I didn't get to bring any home.

Nice 254 mile day.. gas mileages were good on Max.. umm Pete actually had better mileage on Bella.


Perfect day for riding... with the perfect riding partner as always. I am sure we will plan a fall trip to Little Grand Canyon and hope a lot of you can join in.

Lincoln's Tomb Ride

Subtitle: Holy Crap there is a lot of farm land in Illinois!

Sub Subtitle: Holy SHIT Illinois has the highest taxes on gasoline for road repair, freaking use it!



What an OUTSTANDING Day for a ride. The right ingredients: great friends and perfect weather!

Jerry, Sandy, Steve, Jerry(Mo-JT), Pete and I headed north to the city to pick up Scot downtown. No issues except my Human GPS was wacked today, sorry guys for the missed turns. I think I was so into riding today I would say to Pete umm I think we should have turned there as we went buzzing by our turn.

Ride up to Springfield is actually nice but holy crap Batman we had to go through a ton of small towns and speed zones.

Once into Springfield we hit Lincolns Tomb and were greeted by Mark (Spanky here on the board) and Dave! Was greet to see Dave again and nice to meet Mark. Mark just got an 08 Burgman 400 in that beautiful blue black color!

We went into the tomb and walked around the grounds. Very nice, was my second time there but it has been 26 years. Yikes...

After the tomb tour we headed over to the WW II, Korean and Vietnam Illinois Memorials, all I can say is WOW. I really really loved the WW II memorial. But the Korean Memorial with the special memorial to the Chosin Reservoir was chilling. Then to have Steve recount a story of a friend of his that was one of the survivors was interesting to hear, thanks Steve!

Mark lead us to lead at Ryan's steak house. That place has some food!! Good Lord, I think I am still full!

After lunch we said our good byes to Mark! Thanks for coming out, Mark, it was great to meet you. Hope to see you again soon!

We headed back south with a pit stop in Litchfield to see Jim. To our great surprise Wade and Boots were waiting for us as well. We also got to meet Jim's wife, Linda. Was really good to see you up and about, Jim! Can;t wait till you are fully healed and we can make that Lake Ramsey trip!

At Litchfield we split into two groups home, Sandy and the two Jerry's headed back on 55 while Scot, Steve, Pete and I went the back roads. Once in the city we got to ride with a band of crotch rockets doing stoppies.. was cracking me up!

Again an outstanding day with great friends!!

Sharing a Dream

I am about a month behind on blogs to much riding not that it is a bad thing! I really needed to get this blog up!

Subtitle: You are NEVER to old to realize a dream!!

Gee I honestly don't know where to start. I suppose the beginning is the best place.

Well over 9 months ago, Dick started planning his trip from Vancouver Island, across the northern section of the US to the Iron Range Rally and then onward south to fulfill a life long dream of riding along the Mississippi River. Dick had told me once in Missouri he wanted to cut across the State and go to Lamar, MO. Lamar is the birthplace of Harry Truman who Dick has always admired. I knew right away when Dick told me about his journey that I would ride with him across the State. Fast forward to today.

Pete and I left St. Louis about 6:30am and blazed up 61 to 54 and into Louisiana to meet Dick. Once in Louisiana it didn't take long to see those Majesty lights down a side street. We pulled over and greeted Dick with a HUG bear hug! He is looking remarkably well for a 69 year old man into his 2nd week of traveling already 3,000 miles.

After some chit chat we found a place in town and enjoyed a grand breakfast!


Afterwards we headed west on Hwy 54. Man the wind in the farmlands was brutal today! We made a quick stop in Mexico to refuel ourselves. Of course I had to get Dick with a Monster


Hwy 54 turns south at Mexico towards Jeff City. We stopped just outside Jeff city for gas and then headed to The Lake of the Ozarks. Pete and I decided to headed over to the dam and the scenic overlook. Glad we did, it was a beautiful detour!


We rode on south into Camdenton and had lunch at a Mexican place (no it was not my choice, was Dick's )!! At lunch Dick detailed his trip to date! Pete and I both were green with envy of Dick's trip! I know I can't wait to hear about the rest of his trip!



After lunch we headed west on Hwy 54 to Hwy 123 then onto Hwy 13/123 junction. Here is where we reluctantly said our good byes.

The 585 miles that Pete and I traveled was worth every bit to have meet Dick and share just a little portion of his 9,000 mile ride! It was a distinct honor to have meet Dick, my life is already richer given today's experience.

Update as of today:

Update on Dick...

Since leaving Missouri he has gone though Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. A couple of days he started heading back west through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and that is where his spot satellite signal went dead for over 24 hours.. we have all been concerned.. but today we get this note from Dick.


----------------------------------------------

Hi guys

Its me.

Yesterday I posted that I was going on a slight detour. It looks like the post never went through.

Yesterday i was heading along Hwy 84 to get to the Ft. Parker State Park. Got to the I-45 intersection, about 120 miles N of houston Tx and phoned my neice in Houston.

She is a flight attendant for Continental Airways and told me to get my butt down to Houston because she was flying down to Caracas Venezuela on the red eye special and was taking me with her. Flight, hotel, meals etc free of charge.

So, I had a sudden change of plans. Sorry Duster, I had no idea that you would be at Ft Parker SP waiting for me.

So.......... I´m sending this post from Caracas Venezuela, just about ready to see the sights with my niece and some other airline attendants.

Man. This is really starting to be some kind of trip.

I OK´d my position this morning from Caracas. I have to tell my family that old Dick wasn,t hijacked and ended up in South America. Laughing

Gotta go. Will resume the trip in a couple of days.

Thanks for your concern.

Dick

Max Turns 18 - Ride to CB Joes

Sunday we had a ride planned but mother Nature scared a few people off, so Pete and I were left to our own devices! We just rolled around the back roads west, then south then east to CB Joes in Bonne Terre.

Highlight of the day was Max turning 18! (18,000 miles)

Bella and Monster

Pete gearing up in Potosi

Pete at Meramec Bridge on HWY K

Bella in Potosi

Bella and Max @ CB Joes

Happy Birthday, Max!!

Friday the 13th - Satan's House

Satan's House, seriously this is where we rode to on Friday the 13th. The last standing building in St. Louis where the famous Exorcist happened!

What do you take Satan as a house warming gift??

Ed lead us off from Schlaflys up to Oak Grove Cemetery! Darn the gates were closed! Of course since this is a cemetery we were respectful and didn't break in.. maybe I did climb one little fence. Maybe....

After the cemetery we hit up a Walgreens for a bathroom break, I have a firm policy if I am going to meet Beelzebub I need an empty bladder!

Ok now, I am a GRADE A chicken! I hate to be scared.. So as we are headed to the house I do start to feel a few butterflies in my stomach! The house is in a very very nice old section of Bel Noir. So riding in was I was like wow this is nice. We park out front and stand around and talk about the Exorcist. I honestly never got past the bedroom scene in the movie.. and we are standing in front of the house that contains said bedroom! Ok butterflies back. But I do feel safe standing across the street looking over. Plus my scooter was #1 in line and I think I left it running ;)

Oh I failed to mention one of my fellow scooterists, Tyler, knows the dude that owns the house. The owner knew we were coming by and he was cool with us gawking at the house. Up walks Nick the owner (super cool dude) and says you all want to come in! WHAT?? GO IN?? GOOD LORD or something like that I said. I am sure my mind was saying fuck no... Ed looks and me and pulls on my jacket and off we all go into the Exorcist house!!!!!!

Normal looking house, Nick is in the process of remodeling the dining room. Nick has a great sense of humor! He says as we walk through the dining room, want some of Satan's lead paint, LOL! Even better, Nick has a Hellraiser poster hanging in the living room!

Personally I think this is why Satan no longer lives in the house:


Seriously who can compete against an Elvis clock? Not even Lucifer me thinks!

So we get back to the front of the house, I am ready to go, Thanks Nick! I hear Nick say you want to see the bed room? Now I am sure I no longer thought fuck no, I said it.. Again Ed pulls my jacket and up the stairs we go.

Now every one remembers the famous bedroom scene right? Bleeding walls, head spinning, cold as hell or something like that... GUESS WHAT THE BED ROOM IS NOW!!

It is an exercise room! LOL, get it?? Say it slow an EX ER CISE room! I am now about to pee my pants from laughing.

Ed in THE room

Seriously, Nick has reported no weird or strange things in the house, he loves it especially since he got it enormously under market value. Now one strange thing did happen as we were leaving, my phone would not display, nor would Teri's or Ed's. I am not saying.. well I am just saying it was probably not nice to laugh at Satan's remodeled room.

Mega thanks to Nick!! Thanks Tyler for setting up the visit! I do love STL history and this is part of history regardless of how creepy it is!

HAMS 08

This weekend saw the birth of HAMS! What is HAMS you ask?? Heart of America Maxi Scooter Meet Up




People from all over the WORLD showed up! Here is a copy and paste of my ride report from the club forum.

HAMS Report

Ride up for the SLSC

Someone was smiling on us. Rain removed from the forecast and it was a marvelous morning to ride! We meet and rolled out to Francis Howell to pick up Charlie. Thanks to Shelia for coming out and providing breakfast!! After a brief riders meeting conducted by Pete, Kevin, Charlie and myself we were ready to roll!

We split off into two groups with me leading Group A and Pete sweeping. Group B was lead by Kevin and Charlie was sweeping. 94 to the Crossroads is some sweet riding. This weekend we saw a lot of gravel in some places not normally found and turtles, yes turtles! If I saw one, I saw 30!

After a brief stop at the Cross Roads we headed back out to 94. Now this is the part of the road I was excited about. The ride from the Cross Road to Fulton is some of the finest riding in the state and I was very excited to share it with the group since I constantly talk about my much loved SR –O. When we stopped in Fulton I was quite please that the group liked O (this means I get to drag them out there with me more!)

From Fulton it was a short skip over to Columbia. We pulled up at Days Inn and met up with Steve from Jeff City and Dennis from Kansas City. I gave JC a call and found the KC group was at lunch. So we headed over to Chevys for lunch. Now anyone that knows Kevin knows he is the picture of perfect health and umm how do I say this… put together quite well. So imagine our surpise when his lunch came out! HUGS Kevin for taking our ribbing!!

After lunch we rolled back to the Days Inn and meet up with the rest of the folks. WOW! Thanks to all that came out. We had people from several clubs:

St. Louis Scooter Club
Columbia Scooter Club
KC Maxi Riders
Mad Totos
Between TWO Rivers Scooter Club (Iowa)
Burgman USA Independent Riders (Randy was from Arkansas!)
Boondock Scooter Club
30 Day Scooter Gang
Knights of St. Louis
Wan from Total Ruckus via Korea

There was even a lady from Columbia that googled scooters in Columbia and found our Meet Up! She came out and picked our brains about the differing scooters. Seems Misty has her sold on a Ruckus! WTG, Misty!

Saturday Ride

After we meet and mingled we assembled for a ride out to the Grand Oak Tree and Devil’s Ice Box. Many many thanks to Craig from the Columbia Scooter Club for leading and Jason and Bob from the Mad Totos for running traffic interference. Much appreciated guys!

Ready to Roll!



At the Grand Oak Tree I believe the count to circle the tree hand to hand was 10 people! After the Grand Oak we headed over to the Devil’s Ice Box. Some brave souls headed back in the heat and humidity to take a peek! On the ride back we started to hit some sprinkles which turn into a deluge by the time we were back.

Upon returning A call to Matty re the BBQ. We decided switch gears on the BBQ. We BBQ’d at the Days Inn (shout out to Days Inn for accommodating us)

BBQ and Hanging Out

Matt, THANKS so much for you and your club’s hospitality! The Columbia Scooter club rocks!

We hung out in the parking lot ate drank and all we were all merry!






Pete, Carolyn, Sandy, Scot and I ended out night at the pool. The 6’10” Scoman entertain the kids! Was so cool to watch, Pete and I were cracking up!

Night Ride

There was a jackassery Columbia night ride, Ed will have to report on that, I had way to many beers to be on a scooter! I heard they had lots of fun, sorry I missed it!

Sunday Breakfast and Rocheport Ride

After a well deserved night’s rest, we got up and those remaining headed into downtown to eat at Ernie’s. Then we took at ride out to Rocheport via Hwy J. We have all decided to call J, the Roller Coaster! Damn I have always loved this road and Sunday was no exception!


From Rocheport we said our good byes to our new friends.

Thanks to All!!

Thanks so much to those that came out. On behalf of the SLSC we thank you and hope you had as good a time as we did!


My personal thanks to the SLSC members that helped to make this a great event! The input and help from all the members that made this event go off without a hitch!

Here are a few moew couple of 100 pictures if you are inclined :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stlscooterclub/sets/72157605377855828/


Video of the ride down!



Video of the Meet Up!

Why I own 3 Corazzo jackets and will always buy from them...

Last fall I had an accident and was wearing a 5.0 Corazzo jacket. The jacket took the brunt of the hit on my left arm but I had some damage from the liner burning into my skin.

Corazzo reads a forum I post at and was concerned about the burning of my skin. They asked if they could have the jacket back and they would replace it with a new one. I was hesitant as this was a special color that at the time they had only made as a prototype and had given to Moto Italia. They replaced the jacket with the same color and I gave them back the jacket I had the accident with.

Today I get this from Corazzo... this is why I will own more Corazzo items in the future.

From: corazzo chad
To: Maggie302
Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:19 pm
Subject: Re: your black and pink 5.0 Quote message
Call Me!!!!!

chad@corazzo.net
503.236.xxxx

Just so you know

because of the your jacket and your crash we were able to find an internal lining for the jackets that is more heat resistant so the melting doesn't happen like it did to you

chad

The week that was...

I finally caught up on our videos form Alto Pass and Louisville!

Louisville Slugger Trip

After we left the group Sunday evening, Pete and I made our way to Evansville. The roads over were nice roads, mileage was only 107 but we hit a lot of little towns, made the trip very interesting. The winds were harsh but manageable.

I was surprised how big Evansville is. However they really need Steve Patterson, Urban Planner. The streets are poorly marked! Did I get us lost? Of course not I do not get lost! But we did make some interesting turns!

Up bright and early Monday and we fueled up the bikes and ourselves and headed down the road to Louisville.


We hit a rest stop about ½ ways and I decided to break out the new yellow Frog Toggs jacket just to deflect the wind a bit... As I am zipping up this way to big for me jacket, I hear, that is not very sexy looking... LOL Thanks, Pete! PS: the yellow Frog Toggs will find a new home ASAP!

Ok here is the TIP OF THE DAY! DO NOT place anything small on the Burgman dash that you don’t wish to fall under the steering casing. Sigh, my iPod and glasses slipped under. So here we are pulling off the steering cover to retrieve. Even in my pissed off state I didn’t pop any clips! I am sure the that isn’t sexy looking comment made me do such a moronic thing! *sigh*

We got to Louisville with no more drama or comment! Very nice town from what I saw. The area where the Louisville Slugger Museum is, reminds me of Washington Ave. Lots of great old buildings being redone into great shops and restaurants. Don’t ask me why the red penguins are on the building, I have no idea but they were cool looking.


The Museum was lots of fun! The tour was great; we saw how they make bats for the MLB players. They passed around lots of bats to see, I refused to touch any Yankee bat. *puke* If you are in Louisville, I would recommend the tour, it’s very interesting.

After the tour, Pete and I took turns in the baseball cages. The 50mph cages... Pete bats left handed and was a .500 hitter. I bat right handed and was a .250 hitter. Must be my golf swing, LOL! I can’t even imagine hitting a ball thrown 90mph!

The parking folks put us in a special spot. One of these things is not like the other, can you spot it?

After some Derby lunch, we headed home via I-64. Was basically uneventful, a couple of rainy spots but not bad at all. One stretch I was ready to pull over... I felt like I was ready to doze off. We have named Monster Java Mean Bean as the official drink of the SLSC! Yum they it is good and wow woke me up! Wind held off until we got to Mt Vernon, not bad but noticeable for sure!

We seem to have a knack for finding cats, here is a cute 3 legged cat!



I still prefer country road riding to the super slab, but I-64 got us from point A to point B with no issues for either Max or Bella.

Just a great trip and with my favorite riding partner, just doesn’t get any better. Next for us is an Iron Butt ride *smile*

Alto Pass, Illinois

What a great ride!!

I think our new ride saying in St. Louis is, if it ain't raining it's windy!

I am so sick of this weather, Auntie Em! Other than some wind the day was perfect.

Pete lead us over to meet Jim in Columbia, after picking Jim up we headed down the Bluff Road where the winds were not bad at all. Once in Mayestown we headed up to Rte 3 then south. Our first stop was Chester, put lots of miles under us and was time to stop.

After some refueling of our cells we were back on the bikes south towards Murphysboro.

Did anyone see the mailbox on Rte 3 south of Chester that had the pulley system to the house? Pete saw it.. I missed it. He said it was an entire 75-100 foot walk from the house to the mailbox. Perhaps the people are disabled or very lazy either way it was ingenious!

We were all looking forward to the BEST BBQ restaurant in the State of Illinois.

Here is what we found!



I thought Ed was going to get off the bike and beat me up! LOL! I said, umm there is Dairy Queen right over there.. LOL, I wish I had a picture of his face.. well that was a no go so...

I told the group to hang tight and I made two right turns and found us Tippy's! Wasn't bad, home style cooking. The rolls were sweet! As was the breaded okra and the cucumbers and onions I had! The highlight of Tippy's was Sandy walking into the rest room while occupied by Ed2. LOL her beloved Uncle says to her, no one is in there go ahead, LOL!!

Once out in the parking lot we said our good byes to Jim, he had a long way back to Litchfield! Was great to see you again, Jim! We are all looking forward to that Ramsey Lake tour very soon!

Ed2 headed over to Carbondale to see his son who just graduated!

The rest of the pack headed down Rte 127 south to Alto Pass after consuming a bottle of wine each on the terrace we were ready to camp out.. ok we really didn't drink a bottle each *sigh* made the story sound better We hung out on the open air terrace and watched the wind blow across the vineyards.



Rte 127 south of Murphysboro is very very nice. For years I have wanted to go to Little Grand Canyon Park as well as the Pomona Natural Bridge. Both of these are off 127. I am looking forward to a ride back down to this area.

After a bit of relaxing we set off back north on 127 to meet Ed2 After filling up, Pete and I said our good byes to every one and watched the gang head back to St. Louis.

Was an OUTSTANDING day!! As always was full of great fun and MUCH laughter!

Good Day Sunshine

What an absolutely perfect day for a ride. Finally I think we have turned the corner on the cool weather... well it sounds nice when I type it but St. Louis is St. Louis and it could be snowing this week!

Meeting at the Diamonds to go West

Meramec River

I rode Flutter today.. first long ride on her since I got the big bike. I love how she rides the twisties.. obviously not the huge power of the 650 but nonetheless I loved the ride today!

Flutter

Swim At Your Own Risk
Photo Courtesy of Scot


Turtles Sunbathing on the Meramec
Photo Courtesy of Pete