Day Two ~ Monday June 27, 2005
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Morning preparations, Lexington, KY |
Pitstop at the Carefree Food Court |
St Louis |
Thunderstorm in Missouri |
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Matt as art or emergency light fixture? |
Mike, Moe and Jeremy |
Dinner in Columbia, MO |
Zzzzzz ... Margaritas & jet lag |
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| Razz and Grits at the Great Arch of Zion |
Bridge to Grafton, UT |
Bikes near Grafton |
Grafton Ghost Town |
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| Grafton | Castle Valley, UT |
Porqua at Castle Valley |
Grits & Razz at the Rockville Cemetery |
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| Razz at Spotted Wolf Pass |
Porqua viewing Spotted Wolf Pass |
Porqua promoting the Red River Inn |
Debbie, Porqua & Razz at the Red River Inn |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CB Quotes of the Day: Rob: "What the hell is that guy doing cutting me off?" Scott: "That's the guy YOU cut off" Rob: "Oh" Scott: "What was that on the road?" Rob: "Oh that's OK, it's only a bullrush" Greg W: (1 hour later) "Did you guys see my CB antenna fall off on the road?" |
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Uncle Bill reports from the East:
We had a very good day. Clear skies, not too warm (relatively speaking) and no rain. We were thrilled to say the least. Christine Conn, Alice Neff and Michael Banvard did indeed join us last night, so this morning we were 10 bikes and a chase car as we pulled out of the hotel in Lexington, KY. Our destination was Columbia, MO. About 450 (ish) miles away.
It turned out that today was all about losing stuff. Mike lost his gloves and a towel when he forgot he left them on his saddlebags as we left the first gas station. Pat did pick up the towel but the gloves are history. In a spectacular bid for freedom, the bunny lept off Moe's bike taking a travel bag with him. Greg W., reprising a role he played last year with the monkey, picked up the bunny and brought him safely back to Moe. The bunny, looking ever so slightly dejected, is now back in his spot behind Moe.
Greg, meanwhile, lost one of his CB antennas. It was spotted by our chase car drivers but, unfortunately, it was slightly misidentified so a rescue was not attempted. But we took it all in stride. The name of our second pit stop joint says it all.
St. Louis was a bit harrowing. The traffic was the most serious we had encountered to date, but there were no problems. David is taking to driving here quite well. The rain we thought we were going to get never materialized, except for running into the edge of a thunder storm, about an hour out of Columbia. We caught just a glancing blow but that was plenty to remind us what a thunder storm out here can be like, Here's hoping that's all the bad weather we get.
Lunch today was at a Denny's. The manager, Lisa Hendricks gave us a 10% discount for the the ride. What a nice lady.
And when we got to Columbia we discovered, Oh joy, Oh rapture, the hotel has a pool. It didn't take us long to get off the bikes and jump in. After the heat of the afternoon ride it was heaven.
Dinner tonight was at an Outback Steakhouse in Columbia, MO. Nice people, good food and some "interesting" art on the walls. Matt did his best to get into the mood. Friends of Moe and Christine; Renee, Mark and their two kids, Jordan and Hannah joined us for dinner. Hannah and Jordan are 3 years and 18 months respectively. Blond hair and blue eyes, just like their mom. Mark is already talking about building a tower and a moat.
David, who has been doing extremely well, finally succumbed to the jet lag he's been fighting. A good meal, a couple of Margaritas and he was all done in. Did we leave him alone and not exploit the opportunity? Of course not. His picture is included.
And finally, it's been decided that whenever Mike or I throw something at each other, we have to call it out first. That gives the bystanders time to take the appropriate action. At dinner tonight it was "Salt Shaker" that had everyone taking cover.
Tomorrow it's off to Hays, KS with a stop in Lawrence to see my daughter Jordan, which I am really looking forward to. It will be really hot tomorrow (predicted 103 for Hays) but no rain. I'm told the hotel in Hays has a pool. That would be good.
Grits reports from the West:
So Razz, Porqua and I set out the next morning for Zion National Park. It just happened to be on the way and just happened to have the most exquisite natural architecture of the Southwest. And the roads just happened to be the bobbing and weaving kind that bikers love to ride. I could spend hundreds of paragraphs of superlatives on the ride to Rifle, Colorado that day, but here are the highlights. Photo ops at Rockville Cemetery; Grafton Ghost Town (where they filmed the bicycle scene from Butch Cassidy); the pastoral valleys on Route 89 out of Mount Carmel Junction; the tortured rock and canyons in southwestern Utah; and the red, fragrant pine covered crags of the Rockies as we climbed into the mountains. Porqua is a bit of a photo hog and muscled into most of the pictures, including a promotional shot for the Red River Inn at Rifle. And that was day two.