Great Ride
The rain went away just in time for the Chicago riders in 5th Annual Mother Road Ride/Rally® to get on their way to California via Historic Route 66. It was a personal pleasure for me to be able to ride along with them as far as Amarillo, Texas. They were a great group! Everything you want when you ride in a group: Friendly, cooperative and more than willing to help each other out.
Taking a Break
The Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore,
OK sits atop a hill with a commanding view
of the city and the surrounding countryside.
It is a good
place to learn
about a truly
legendary
American.
Several riders told me
they had no
idea Rogers
had such a broadly based talent: Movies,
radio, Broadway, syndicated newspaper
columnist . . . he did it all.
The Brazilians
Luiz Monchelatto Neto and Wlander Peron
Barbi from Sao Paulo, Brazil rode with the
Chicago starters. They brought a whole
new perspective to our favorite road with
their interests and questions. To say nothing
of the money they spread over motels, restaurant, t-shirt shops and motorcycle dealerships we visited on the ride. Luiz apologized for the quality of his English, but it
was FAR better than anyone's Portuguese.
Wlander had "Thank You," down cold in
Chicago and, under David Baugh's tutelage,
was practically a native by the time we got
to Texas.
New Join Up Point
Pat Delucia of San Diego introduced us to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. A really beautiful building, easy to get to from the Interstate, it features the stupendous "End of the Trail" statue. There is an admission charge if you want to stroll through the galleries, but many of us just wanted lunch and you can go to the beautiful (everything air-conditioned is beautiful on the Mother Road) restaurant without charge. We're adding the Hall to our join-up points as of next year. In the past, we've always stopped at the Murrah Memorial downtown. That will become a roll by in the future.
Other pictures from 5th Annual Mother Road Ride/Rally® are on the Internet at:
Super Bridge
Last year I saw a television special on the
"Super Bridge"
across the
Mississippi
River at
Alton, IL. It
broke with
the 'traditional' suspension
bridge design by using
central towers rather than pairs on either side of the
roadway. The effect is startling . . . from a
distance it looks like two enormous Christmas trees. We'll roll over and back on the
bridge next year before going on to see the
contrast with a Route 66 bridge, Chain of
Rocks at St. Louis.