Passes & Canyons Blog

The route from Jefferson City to St. Charles. Highly recommended!

We left McPherson, Kansas, very early with a lot more miles to cover this second day of the Great River Road Ride. Riding in early morning is frequently magical and it was this day. Plus, eastern Kansas is a lot prettier than the western portion. Winding through emerald green hills broken by the jagged red clay banks of little streams it was absolutely beautiful.

Crossing into Missouri we followed smaller roads all the way across the state. From Jefferson City we followed MO 94, which follows the Missouri River. Judy and I drove this road the other direction just last year and I knew it was a nice road. I did not remember that there were considerable stretches that were hilly and twisty and perfectly designed for motorcycles.

I was riding second behind Dave and we got into the good stuff and he cranked it up, as he typically will do. I am not an aggressive rider normally but in this case I did not want to hold up everyone behind me, plus, I figured my V-Strom has to be more agile than his big honking Beemer so if he can take this road at a rapid clip I can, too. And I did. I kept tightly with him every mile of the way and you know what? It was fun. It was a lot of fun. That evening on our way to dinner he told me “You did some fine riding today.” I knew that, and I know that I’m probably a better rider than a lot of folks, but it feels good to have that competence recognized by someone who is himself an excellent rider.

At one point Dave made a wrong turn and I’m guessing his GPS told him we could get back on track if we just took this one small road a few miles. We turned off and paused. Initially at least it was gravel. I was on the V-Strom so no problem for me but I wondered about the others. We continued and so did they and we reached pavement in just a few miles and all was well. Then we were back into the twisties. And who knew these Missouri hills were so full of wineries?

By this time we had come a long way and I know I was long past wishing for a stop. We came by several places I felt were perfect to pull over for a while and I was praying Dave would take them but no, he kept cruising. And then we were into the mess of suburban St. Louis afternoon commuter traffic. A couple more navigational glitches slowed us down more and even put us a bit at hazard but we finally worked our way into St. Charles, our stop for the night. Oh man, another 455 miles on top of the 470 the day before. Let me off this bike!

Biker Quote for Today

You can’t ride all day if you don’t start in the morning.

Saddling up to leave after breakfast at Patty Ann’s.

Eight riders from the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC), including me, headed out on this approximately 3,150-mile ride. Gathering very early on a cold Monday morning at Patty Ann’s in Kiowa, we set out to reach the Mississippi River at Alton, Illinois, and follow the river upstream to its headwaters at Lake Itasca in Itasca State Park in Minnesota. The series of roads from New Orleans to the headwaters is known collectively as the Great River Road.

My own journey to departure was anything but smooth. I planned to ride the Concours and the day before was performing standard pre-trip maintenance. Checking tire pressure I found that the valve stem on my rear tire was totally rotted out. Somehow the tire still holds air, though low, but when I tried putting air in it took a bit and then started blowing back just as much as was going in. This was Sunday and I needed to be rolling by about 6 a.m. the following day–no way to get it fixed.

Fortunately that’s not my only motorcycle. I moved all my gear from the Kawi bags and loaded the V-Strom bags. Now I was ready to go. I thought.

Monday morning I went to load the bags on the bike and found that two mounting bolts for my left bag were absent. One had already fallen off some time before but things still worked fine with the other and the latch in the middle on top that held it securely in place. But there was no way I was going to trust that latch all by itself with no lower support.

Of course I’m a certified holder of a man card so I have various containers of random nuts and bolts. I fished around and found four that fit. I screwed two in and put the other two in my pocket in case I needed them. Now I was ready to go.

The temperature at this point was about 40 degrees so I was fully dressed in my warmest gear, with the exception of my heated gloves. I had those but figured I could get to Kiowa without them even if it was very cold. And if it was all that cold I could then put them on before we left Kiowa. And yes, my hands did turn to ice but it was warm enough when we left that I didn’t put on the heated gloves and never did need them after that.

The ride down to Kiowa was very interesting. About the time I reached the Pinery there was fog down in the low-lying area to the west of the road. Very unusual for Colorado. And then as I continued the fog enveloped the road and I rode through it all the way to Franktown. It cleared at Franktown but then there was more on the way east on CO 86 to Kiowa. Very cool, very odd.

We had breakfast and headed out. The route was 86 to I-70 just west of Limon and then southeast on US 287. On that southeasterly stretch we encountered fierce winds out of the southwest, which is to say, at 90 degrees to us. I leaned that bike over so far that my left hand was directly in front of me and all I could see in my left mirror was my shoulder and chest. That wind never let up all day but at least once we turned due east it was not bad, mostly at our back. That is, until we got near McPherson, at which point the wind shifted to the south and so we were blasted again.

Turning south at Kit Carson, we then headed east on CO 96, which becomes KS 96 across the state line. None of us had ever been on this road before and it annoyed me to be with the group because I’ve been trying for years to get photos at all the state line crossing around the state. But I blew right through this one without stopping. That’s one reason I really prefer to travel alone.

KS 96 goes straight across Kansas to McPherson, our first night’s stop. The temperature rose, a lot. By the time we reached McPherson I was sweating profusely and had been drinking Gatorade to stay hydrated. Along the way we stopped once for gas and again for gas and lunch. That’s 421 miles with two stops, another reason I prefer to travel alone. One of those legs was 180 miles and I was dying. I’m sorry, I just don’t like that kind of riding. And I was not the only one unhappy with this; this would become an issue as the trip progressed. But the two main leaders on this ride, Bob and Dave, are both Iron Butt types and they don’t like to stop any more than necessary. I’d say stretching your legs and getting your butt off the bike for a while is necessary.

Nobody is right or wrong here, it’s just different preferences. I think in future rides I’m going to do what I can to make sure less aggressive riders like me have options. We had intended to ride in two groups but after several others dropped out the decision was made to go in one group. I suspect two groups, even if small, would have been better with one consisting of those of us who don’t care if we reach the day’s destination half an hour or an hour later. It’s not like we have a deadline.

So that was Day 1. I’ll pick back up with Day 2.

Biker Quote for Today

Any day is a good day to leave some miles behind.