Waiting for the group ride to begin
We left at about the advertised kickstand up time with Kopperhed in the lead. Brillo and Deb followed in their Audi and Flash brought up the rear in their 3/4 ton truck. The ride took us up Missouri 47 through Union and Washington and then across the Missouri River. The plan was to turn on Missouri 94 and follow it to Hermann, but there was a huge Road Closed sign at the intersection. After some discussion, most of us followed 47 a bit further and then took County Road N back to 94 on the other side of the blockage. This was a lucky change since N was a delightful road with moderate twists and elevation changes. 94 was similar until we got close to the Missouri River where it flattened out. Then we crossed back across the Missouri and entered the town of Hermann.
Following Kopperhed, Watchman and Liz out of St Clair
Crossing the Missouri River
Nice bridge
Oops!!
Discussing alternatives
County Road N
Corn ready to harvest
Little rural church
Missouri 94
Bridge repair - Sandy thought the flagman was cute
Back across the Missouri River
Welcome to Hermann
I averted my eyes
Bikes and an Audi
This was a restaurant
Main Street Hermann
The other way
Looks like a fun place
Another fun food place
Food and beer
Our objective was the Hermann Wurst Haus, billed as the wurst place in town to eat. They let us taste samples of their four favourite bratwurst and then gave us a menu. Sandy and I split a plate with two different flavours on a bed of sauerkraut with broccoli salad and coleslaw sides. Sandy did me a favour and ate my half of the cheesecake dessert.
It looks like they deliver
Flash and Deb are the last to enter (except me)
Self explanatory
Slicing the samples
Enjoying the food
The other table
I suggested this wall should have a pair of roller skates - almost no one got it
No comment
Stylish
This photo is for Bucky
Golden stags seem to be a theme
There's another one
Can't have that either
The next stop on the agenda was a wine cellar, but a few of us decided to head back to St Clair. For some reason, I ended up leading Liz, Watchman, Sherm and Lanny south on Missouri 19 and then east on US 50. It was a pleasant ride that was only slightly marred by strong gusting winds.
I had to stop at one point and change out a headset cord on Sandy's unit. I had replaced her headset last week but retained the lower cord from the old one. It was only working intermittently so I threw it out and gave her a new cord.
We arrived in Union and turned onto Missouri 47 for the last six miles, stopping to fuel up before we returned to the motel.
Gerald was one of the small towns we passed through
The view from the lead
Not sure what the colorful place was all about
Back at the motel, a roll back truck was just pulling into the lot. Sure enough, he was there to pick up the mid-60's Pontiac Bonneville convertible parked in front of our room. He needed to get it backed out where he could line up on it so Watchman and I helped push.
Watching the tow truck entertainment
Silver looks clean even when it isn't
This photo is for Tommy
A word about Budget Lodging. It is a nice place and the staff is friendly. Unlike most of our gathering places, it has pretty good WiFi too.
The blog was a day behind so I settled down to get caught up. True to my ADHD traits, I took Sherm's Zumo 550 GPS (a unit that used to be mine) and figured out how to install the latest maps on the SD card. This is necessary because the internal memory on North American 550's was not big enough for all the maps, and this model was not configured to put maps on the external card using Garmin Express. It was a challenge but I got it done. He now has the latest maps from Nunavut to Nicaragua.
There was a group supper planned at Tres Toritos, a local Mexican restaurant. Sandy doesn't like Mexican due to her acid reflux issues, so we eventually went down to Gibby's. This proved to be more bar than restaurant. Sandy had a chicken Caesar salad but found the meat tough and dry. I had a (yes again) mushroom/cheese burger with no bun. The cheese was Provel instead of Swiss and they used a special sauce that was mostly Teriyaki. Sandy's chicken meant we couldn't give this place a recommendation.
On the way out, we saw a full moon hanging in the sky. This would be a bad night to be a cop or an ER worker. I sorted today's photos and maps for the blog before going to bed.
Today's Route (111 motorcycle miles):
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