4/11/15 – Poplar Bluff MO to Winchester KY. The Journey’s end
In all the cheap motels and fleabag places where I’ve stayed on many, many trips here and abroad, I’ve never had a “security problem”….but at the somewhat upscale Comfort Inn, in Poplar Bluff Missouri, someone opened up the tonneau on the sidecar and rifled the inside, leaving the cover open for us to find the next morning. Nothing seems to have been taken, since I leave nothing of any value outside, but still it’s disturbing. The bikes were parked under a light, across the lot in a direct line of sight from the motel office, but the intrusion occurred. Maybe I was right all these years to pick cheap places. Perhaps thieves avoid them because they figure if I’m staying there, I haven’t got anything worth stealing !
Penny’s Diner in Dexter MO
Breakfast arrived at Penny’s Diner in Dexter, MO, one of those “dining car” places that seem to crop up occasionally. While some are real railroad cars, turned to this use (we have found those in the northeast) these like Penny’s are manufactured replicas, usually with a 60’s rock ‘n roll theme. Often they do have great breakfast food (and good milkshakes, but I’m a bit past having those for breakfast now) and an atmosphere of nostalgia, however faux, that is comforting. A waitress far too young to
Penny’s Diner in Dexter MO
remember any of the rock icons and other memorabilia on the walls took our order as early 60’s hits that she probably considered “retro” came over the speakers. We too are retro, for real, so we enjoyed the music.
It’s only a short jaunt on Rt 60 from Dexter to the Kentucky border, where the problem of getting across the river presents itself. The “old” bridge has been closed for years, requiring that we get on I-57 for a bit and follow confusing directions, into Illinois, to get across the river into Kentucky again. It’s awkward, but it works.
There is a rest stop on the highway, near Paducah, built into an impressive Civil War era mansion, “Whitehaven”. One can stand on the porch of the old plantation house and see that there must have been fields all around, now converted to Interstate highway and its accompanying clutter. One could see, back in the day, the old patriarch standing there with his family, waving his arm expansively into the distance and saying, ” Children, someday people from all over the country will come here into our house to pee”.
We picked Rt 62 for the return trip through Kentucky, a road both Jay and I are familiar with from previous journeys. It winds along in a more or less direct line to Lexington and has enough curves to keep it interesting but not to work me and the rig too hard. We made our last pie stop of the trip (pause for a small tear to make its way down into my beard…) near Dawson Springs at a roadside restaurant that just happened to specialize in made-on-the -premises coconut cream pie. Sometimes the stars do align for good fortune. From there it was a matter of getting home, since afternoon was fading and so were we. Once upon a time, 12 hours in the saddle was the norm and daylight till dark riding was just what we did as a matter of course. But those days are long behind me now and I was getting tired by the time we reached Elizabethtown. We stayed on the Parkway, once something we wouldn’t have considered, all the way to Versailles. Then just when Lexington was in sight, the Keeneland traffic had us at a halt. Though the last race was at 5-something, the track attendees were still making their way out in droves at 7. Jay peeled off at New Circle to head home and I proceeded on Rt. 60, out of a sense of closure, to Winchester.
Though I’d pushed it a bit harder on this last day, as the barn called, the rig was still running well, as if this had all been routine.
When first I threw a leg over the F650GS in Enumclaw, Washington, March 26th, it had 29,220 miles on its digital odometer, and when I parked it in Winchester, Ky 17 days later on April 11th, there were 33,161, for a total of 3,941 miles Google maps says I could have made it from there to here in 1 day, 11 hours and 2,431 miles. What do they know about traveling ?
I cleared several items off the proverbial bucket list on this trip, doing the fly-buy-ride thing I’d always wanted to do, riding the entire Pacific coastline from Oregon down to southern California, obtaining a sidecar rig, seeing Monterey Bay and Big Sur, staying at the Blue Swallow motel, and more I’m sure I’ll think of later. It was a grand adventure, with a glitch or two here and there for seasoning, but no drama worthy of nail-biting nor any heroics required. It won’t be made into a TV movie with Keneau Reeves playing me and a new waterboxer GS playing the rig. But it was wonderful for me, at my age and I thank whatever deities and lucky stars there may be that I could do it.
On Monday, one of the major reasons for the whole extravaganza was completed. I picked up grandson Ian at school with the rig.
Picked up Ian at school