Day 17. The Gangs All Here! Boonville, MO

May 9th, Happy 35th Anniversary to Scott and Angela!

🎂

May we have 35 more happy and exciting years together!!

 

7am start to beat the rain for a short ride to Boonville with an 11:30 arrival. A humid morning but the temperature was mild with either fluffy clouds or the canopy of trees keeping us in filtered sunlight most of the morning. 

An old train signal, one of the few remnants of the old Kansas Missouri Texas line (Katy) located about 10 miles west of Boonville. 

And the group grows by two, John Garrett, far left and Mike (Buck) Bollinger, far right, had Mothers Day commitments on Sunday so they were dropped off east of us on the Katy and rode our way today, crossing paths at our 25 mile rest stop at the ever present Caseys, this one in Pilot Grove, MO. John is retired from GE and Buck has 35 years in at Ameren, an old friend of Steve's.  Both are from the St. Louis area. 

And the last to join us at Pilot Grove is Dan "the Man" Klenke on his 1948 Indian that used to belong to his father.  Restored by Dan, he rides it in a classic motorcycle club. Maybe some of you are familiar with a "suicide clutch"?  This Indian has a stick shift on the left side of the gas tank and a left foot operated clutch requiring you to remove your hand from the handlebar to shift gears and keep your left foot engaged on the clutch at stops. It's like a Three Ring Circus on a motorcycle, especially when stopped on a hill. At least Dan doesn't have to pedal his bike to make it go!!🏍

Jim tries on a different sized two wheeler while we watch and Dan captures the moment. We're now a total of 9 people; 8 bicyclists and one motorcyclist.  Look out world as we make our way east to St. Louis!!

I didn't notice at the time of the photo but "grabby" Bill Amos is groping my wife while I smile away. And why is Angela smiling? Hmmmm. I say "Good luck to you Bill Amos!"😀

The Katy crosses north over Interstate 70 just west of Boonville. We're almost done for the day and we still have sunshine which was to start disappearing soon after. 

A pose on the old Katy lift bridge over the Missouri River. The bridge has been out of commission for years and is positioned in the up position permanently so boats can pass under it. There is a movement to restore the bridge for Katy foot traffic which would allow us to stay off of the main highway crossing in downtown Boonville just to the east in the future. 

Tonight we're headed to the Casino just a block west of the historic Frederick Hotel where we are staying. The restaurant at the Frederick is closed on Mondays so we'll dine and gamble a bit instead. 

Ummmm, Salad bar. 🍤