Beyond here.....there be dragons!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES!!!
Yesterday - record high temps - 95 deg - wind at about 20-30 mph all day long.  Long, boring flat roads -
Today - cool temps - high of 84, zero wind.  CURVY roads...
Bottom line - Monday night - was ready to pack it in.... Tuesday night - in it for the long haul.
Visited the steel Kaskaskia Dragon

Visited the Madonna of the Trail in Vandalia, Illinois

Visited the Spinach Can Museum

Took photos of Wimpy Statue, Olive Oyl, Swee' Pea and Jeep statue - as well as Popeye.

It's Tuesday - and you aren't paying me - so give me back that burger!

Jeep (small guy standing next to Olive) was my favorite.  There is discussion that Alice the Goon will get the next statue in town...

Crossed the Mississippi - 

Visited the "Liberty Bell of the West" in Kaskaskia, Illinois

Took curvy road through the Mark Twain National Forest
Put on another 255 miles. 


Now for the rest of the story....
Well, I didn't specifically address it - but yesterday was LONG and excruciating - with the heat and the wind - the wind was blowing the bike constantly - so it was hard to relax.  We both got sunburned and were beat by the time we got to the hotel.....
Last night, the rain came in and washed a lot of the heat away. 

It was supposed to rain today - but we only saw a few drops early in the morning. It was overcast until about 11am - then the sun broke out and it was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS.  There was no wind - it got up to about 84 degrees - but I digress.....
First thing this am - we got checked out early (the hotel has a breakfast - I focused on protein - eggs and sausage - Jeanette got cereal - but we were on the road by 7am local time. We went to the Kaskaskian Dragon - and found out that you had to buy tokens at the liquor store across the street....(there is a joke in there somewhere - about a drunk, fire breathing dragons and tokens...I will work on that and get back to you....). 

Sir Wade - the Dragonslayer....at least he would be if he had a dollar token.

What is all of this talk about "tail of the dragon?"  It doesn't look so tough to me..

Boy you got that right.....

But the liquor store didn't open until later - so we just went and took some photos of the dragon....It was still kind of impressive - but I am sorry we didn't get pix of it breathing fire.  It was still scary as you can see from the photo....

I fought the dragon.....and the dragon won...

We then headed to downtown Vandalia and took some photos of the Madonna of the Trail - apparently, these statues were setup across the National Hwy in the late 20s.  The statues are about 18 feet tall and pay homage to the women who went with their looney-bin husbands to "blaze new frontiers".....after driving across the paved roads for two days - I can't imagine how it was to march across - or take all of your belongings in a covered wagon - and fight famine, heat, lack of water, etc. etc. 

With the Madonna of the Trail Statue....these were some brave, tough women.

These women deserve more than a statue.  Sheesh.

We went about 100 miles on Hwy 51 in Illinois - mostly flat roads - but most of the times it was four lanes - so it was easy driving.  We took off on Hwy 150 and went to Chester, Illinois.  Chester is where the "bridge" that crosses the Mississippi is located.  

The Chester Bridge.....what a deal.

So we did have to deal with quite a few trucks - that apparently didn't want to go through St. Louis.  The bridge was built in the 30's for about $1.5M....which nowadays can't even buy the paint for the bridge ....
But Chester is also home to the creator of the Popeye cartoons - E C Segar - and the town is very proud of him - so they put up statues of the Popeye characters all across the town.....

The Sea Hag.....er...the statue of the Sea Hag...

The Vulture....and the statue of the Vulture

So Jeanette and I took turns posing in front of some of the various statues....

So what do Jeanette and Olive Oyl have in common? 

You can see that Jeanette has always had a thing for the old short bald guy who mumbles a lot.  (that may explain a thing or two about why she married me....).
One interesting thing is that originally, the "comic" that EC was drawing was the "thimble theater" and it focused mainly on the Oyls - Nana and Cole (get it Coal oil), Castor and Olive.  Olive's boyfriend was Ham Gravy....so in 1929, Popeye was introduced as a "throwaway" character - and quickly became a hit.  Popeye and Olive Oyl were based on real people that lived in Chester at the time (Popeye is based on Rocky Fiegel....Olive is based on Dora Paskel)....but it was fun looking at the various statues and driving through the neat little town.  We also stopped at the Spinach Can Museum - there is a park right next to the museum (that's where Wimpy's statue is) - but you can see some interesting memorabilia as well as buy Popeye related items.
Just before leaving Chester, we also took a few minutes and paid homage to the Mighty Mississsippi.  I am going by memory here, but I remember reading that Sippey - was Indian for River - and Missey was Indian for muddy....so Missi Sippi - means muddy river.  And even if that is not true....it ought to be. What a brown river it is...
So we crossed the Chester Bridge into Missouri and after about ten miles - went back into Illinois.....you see there is a small sliver of land that technically belongs to Illinois - but it is west of the Mississippi - it is the historic sight of Kaskaskia, Illinois. Which is home to the Liberty Bell of the West.  

It is also where the Immaculate Conception church was built in 1675. 

I didn't catch all of the history, but what was interesting to me - was George Rogers Clark had a hand in liberating this land from the British....that is the same George Rogers Clark that has a park named in honor of him about ten minutes from our house in Springfield....This guy apparently got around quite a bit...(and again - without the benefit of paved roads or motorcycles)....but it was a fun side trip that took about a half hour....we also saw quite a few turtles crossing the road... (and a couple who didn't - yeech.)....
We headed onto Hwy 61 and went into the cool little town of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. It was lunch time - so we spotted this little "local place" off to the side called "Missy's Lil Kettle Tavern". We had an excellent lunch - Jeanette had the grilled chicken sandwich and I had the Jr. Kettleburger....both were superb!

Now that is what I call LUNCH!

Then - FINALLY, we got onto highway 37.  The first part was nice long, curving roads - where the bike could keep up the speed and then the road got narrower and curvier as we entered the Mark Twain National Forest....it was a gorgeous drive with some nice 35-40 mph turns (no real switchbacks or anything) - but it was a perfect drive for someone who had never ridden those roads before. I could feel Jeanette "leaning" into the curves in the back seat....she was getting into it pretty good. As I said before, she is a great passenger - she "actively" rides (and no - I don't mean she back-seat drives) - but she helps me with stop signs - by calling clear, by checking merging traffic, looking for road signs, etc.  I really do prefer to ride with her on the back than ride solo.  Plus, we both love to chat about things we see on the road.  To me, the intercom is the most important piece of equipment on the bike....
We also had a few "anxious" moments - we came across a truck that went off the side of the road - and the cab was overturned and smashed up pretty good (no - we did not take pix) - and a few miles down the road - we had a truck driver apparently not paying attention and he was driving full on in our lane.  I hit the brakes and was looking for a place to ditch the bike - when he pulled back into his own lane....btw - if he had hit us - it would have been curtains - whether we were in a car or on a motorcycle...
 So we arrived into Salem, Missouri around 5pm. We went and hit the swimming pool first thing (I hit the spa) and cooled down. It was an excellent drive today. Tonight, we are going to walk over and have Subway sandwiches and just relax....
One more thing - not as many bikers on the road today - vs Memorial Day....but I must say...yesterday, I saw WAY TOO MANY people riding motorcycles wearing sandals, t-shirts, shorts, no gloves and no helmet. I have one thing to say to those people.  YOU ARE IDIOTS!  And it wasn't single riders - it was couples as well. On top of that - most of those guys were the ones speeding. You are always at risk in any type of road trip you make - but why tempt fate???


Anyrate, it was a great day today.  I hope you are enjoying sharing our adventure!


Wade (& Jeanette "Sea Hag")


Now, GN Tiff, GTB LY <3