Oh, how I wish I could have spent more time in Hannibal!  Yes, it’s largely a one horse town, but Mark Twain deserves it.  What little I saw was fun.  For anyone nearby, they have an annual weekend celebration in May.

Had breakfast at the Mark Twain Diner.  Looking across the street at a Best Western I noticed a Rolls Royce!  Then I realized it was next to another Rolls.  And another.  Walking over, I counted over 15 Rolls or Bentleys, all in the Best Western.  Wow.  But I’ll keep my Goldwing.

I stopped once in a while along the way, in the rain.  Some things are worth the wet.  I crossed the Mississippi three times and visited four states.  I spied a large construction site in the back and beyond with multiple kinds of cranes.  But it was actually a training site for construction engineers.  Saw an exit sign for “Mexico Louisiana”.  Strange names for towns.  There are some gorgeous homes sitting next to barns.

Dubuque looked interesting, but I passed it by.  Staying in the town of Prairie du Chien, WI.  There is a lot of French connection along the Mississippi.

Probably too many pictures.

This is a very nice Best Western.

Called the Mark Twain Lighthouse. I don’t know why.

Wait. Tom Sawyer was a work of fiction, right?

Every town has a very nice building in the square. But their clocks don’t work!

In Illinois towns they have markers for anything Lincoln did in their town.

It’s called The Grotto.

Obviously, in Wisconsin.

War Memorial. Winnebago War?

In Pairie du Chien.

The town was a temporary capital of Missouri.  Excellent preservation and information!  I had planned to just stop by and then continue west, but the rains were out there and this place was fantastic.  So I just stayed until the raindrops began to fall.  I tasted some Missouri wine (not bad, not great).  Had lunch at an Irish pub (Llewelyn’s) that was inside an old bank.  You could eat in the vault.  The bar was beautiful and the selections of drinks outstanding.  Bangers and Mash.

St. Charles was the last civilized place visited by Lewis and Clark.  Lots of information about their travels.

Missouri has converted a rail line into a rail trail.  200 miles!  The Katy Trail.  It runs along the Missouri River, so it’s mostly flat.  I want to return with a bicycle.

The second floor of this building was used for state business.

Pretty post office

Posted in honor of my daughter.

Eat in a vault.

Mary Poppins would feel at home here.

The Katy Trail

Lewis and Clark, plus one. They really are looking northwest.

Upload issue fixed!

Tuesday, April 26.  Hot, humid.  Traffic!  The Arch grounds are being remodeled, seemingly all the grounds simultaneously.  No parking!  No signs for temp parking.  Signs on the way there direct drivers to the Arch, but not to parking.  Frustrating.

The Arch was built with federal funds. It’s managed of the National Parks Service.  I assumed it was built and owned by St. Louis or Missouri.  Must have been some powerful politician to get the feds to pay for it.

The ride up is odd and definitely not for anyone claustrophobic.  The view on top is okay, but not awesome.  Museum/video was closed (renovation).  I just picked a bad day.  There’s a tradeoff between doing all the renovations together and quickly or staggered and slowly.  They went with the former.

Six compartments with five seats each. The compartment wobbles as it moves.

The viewing area is not flat. Windows are very small.

Nice shadow over the construction.

I think this is a cool shot.

To beat the forecast rain, I planned for an early departure.  I got away at 5:38 AM.  Unfortunately, rain began to fall at 5:35.  I did beat the sun by 30 minutes, which meant I was driving in the rain in the dark.  A very bad combination.  Happily, the traffic was going in the opposite direction.

Strong winds and heavy rains were forecast, most notably in the northwest.  So I bent eastward to Davenport, then north to Dubuque.  Though I hit extremely strong winds, the rain was mostly drizzle. It also got cold, which I had noticed in the forecast but didn’t mentally process.  So at lunch I added clothing.  The wind was almost always 90 degrees off my course, so I was fighting it all day.

Since I reduce sightseeing and increase traveling during [drivable] bad weather, I made good about 400 miles.  But I’ve missed Missouri Wine Country, Jefferson City, most of Hannibal, Dubuque, and Galena.  Writeups of what I have seen will come after I fix my photo upload issue.

Before leaving St. George, Missouri, my Sirius weather map showed red ahead, indicating intense stormy weather, which was a first for me.  I put on my rain pants and boot covers and prepared my raincoat.  I immediately learned that the boot covers (which I hadn’t worn before) are slippery.  I stopped and took them off.  Better to have wet feet than dropped bike.  I drove further and saw lightning, so I again stopped and put on the raincoat.  I mention that the temp was over 80.  I felt I was in a sauna.

As soon as I entered the red zone I learned that Sirius isn’t joking around.  The road was unsafe for cars!!  I immediately pulled off the highway in search of shelter.  I very quickly (providence?) found an inexpensive hotel (with, of all things, an indoor pool!).  I was thinking to look for a bar or restaurant to wait it out (it was only 2PM), but the weather services had a storm warning in place until 7.  So I checked in.  Long day tomorrow.

I’m again having photo upload problems.  I’ll post my visitation stories when I get the upload issue hammered out.

During the week at home I replaced our TV, couch, and chair.  (Following intense consultation of course.)  Visited Disneyland to see friends. Attended the final Sharks-Kings hockey game, in a suite no less.  Reduced the quantity of wine in the house.  Drove a car!

On my return trip to St. Louis I left my No. 1 ball cap in Denver.  I think I’ll replace it with a Canada cap.

Returning to the St. Louis parking garage the driver pulled up to where he thought my card said the bike was at. Spot 408. Empty. I look left and right; no bike in sight.  Panic begins.  Then the driver says “Oh, 418!” He moves up, past a monster F-350.  There it is.  A bit of unwanted excitement.  I’ve got a half-cover, but it continues to appear useless.  The bike’s got a layer of dust under the cover.

Rams gear is going cheap at St. Louis’s airport (picture).

Not sure of my course tomorrow.  There are storms brewing in the midwest, but it’s a big area and the national weather media generalizes (sensationalizes) a lot. I want to visit the city, go west to Jefferson City, then north to Hannibal, MO.  But I might just go north if storms truly threaten.  The way that I wander is the way that I choose.

Fort Negley in Nashville is not much of a fort and was never attacked, but it does have excellent interpretive signs to describe its history.  Peaceful.  There were supposed to be homeless people occupying the grounds, but I didn’t see any.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is all one could expect.  Even some live performers.  I didn’t take pictures.  There were just too many things that were picture worthy.  I learned that “Country-Western” became the popular descriptive not for the music, but for the visual image.  When westerns hit the big screen, the singing cowboys of the times didn’t like it being described as “hillbilly” music.  I am in no way a country music aficionado, but even I spent 2 1/2 hours in the Museum.

Driving to Paducah I again took a turn off the highway and crossed the “Land Between the Lakes” Recreation Area.  They have elk and bison visiting ranges.  Motorcycles not allowed; I didn’t ask if it was the noise or concerns of safety.  In any case, what I did see of the park was quite pretty.  Interesting history (floods, dams, eminent domain removals, etc.).

On Monday I travel to St. Louis and catch a flight home for a week.  This blog will continue on Tuesday, April 26th.

Note the sign over the gate.

Land between the Lakes

Land between the Lakes

I’m suddenly having picture import problems.

Seen: Blue Ridge Parkway, folks whitewater rafting, Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, and Stone River Battlefield.  Missionary Ridge was interesting in that the Ridge now has upper class houses, historical markers, narrow road, NO PARKING OR STOPPING (“Video Surveilled”).  Weird.  Stone River was excellent, though I visited after hours and only saw a fraction of the displays.

Two part entry for today.

I learned about this mystical ride in the Appalachians many years ago and ever since wanted to do it.  Tail of the Dragon.  Cool name, cool pictures on the web site.  Today was the day!

The ride (from the south) begins at a store named Deal’s Gap.  There were dozens of motorcycles and not a few cars.  I parked and watched.  Every few minutes a car or bike would go screaming up the road.  With me all by my lonesome, it was more than a little intimidating.  I piddled around for a while, including a look-see in the store, where there were dozens of t-shirts styles.  I figured buying one now would be tempting fate, so it was an easy decision to wait until I reached the north end to buy anything.

I eventually summoned up the nerve to get going.  When it appeared that no one else was preparing to  begin, I took off.  Suffice to say I made it.  Even better, I never had to pull over and let someone pass me.  Indeed, I had one car had pull over!  I drove past the end for several miles looking for a store to purchase a memento, only to realize there were no stores.  So I turned around and did it again.  This time I needed two Harleys to pull over!  Heaven.  I bought a t-shirt (with a Goldwing image on it) and a sticker.

My evaluation of the ride is that it is everything they say it is.  It’s not extremely difficult, unless (of course) you want to go fast.  Any experienced rider can do it.  There are no side roads or driveways.  They are numerous turnouts for slower traffic.  It’s twisty in both dimensions: left and right AND up and down.  You’ve certainly got to pay attention to the road.  I’ve had short rides that were much more difficult and long rides that were more visually appealing.  But the Tail of the Dragon lives up to it’s name.

I recorded my ride on GoPro and it’s very nice.  I just can’t upload it yet. The store posts photographers along the way, but I haven’t bought one of their pictures.

The “Tree of Shame” or “Tree of Pain”. Take your pick.

Visited the North Carolina Transportation Museum.  Mostly trains, though there are small exhibits of bikes and cars.  It’s sort of a work in progress.  Some of the trains are in beautiful condition, others look like they just came from the junkyard.  There are a lot of people actually working on the trains, which is nice. It’s a wonderful place for train fans.  There is a real train ride offered, but in a bout of realism, today the train was late.  So I skipped it.

Though my route was on I40, several times I moved over to a parallel US70. Valdese and Black Mountain were nice towns.  Marion had lots of long traffic lights.  I’m staying in Maggie’s Valley, a one street resort area.  It’s probably much more beautiful after the leaves grow out.  It’s been an unusual spring; trees are still bare.

I’ve had uploading issues, so these aren’t all the pictures I wanted.

This absolutely does not look like a police car!

The recipe for coffee on the Mail car. I don’t think Starbucks offers this version.