Day 4 - St. Robert, MO - 378 miles

I now know that my bike can cruise at 90 - 95 mph without struggling.

Today was our first day of the Legacy Run! After an early morning breakfast at Post 64 in Indianapolis, our Advance Party of 6 bikes left at 0700. The main body of about 200 bikes followed at 0730.

Our job was to serve as part of the fuel team at the fuel stops. The process of fueling 200 motorcycles in less than 30 minutes is a science that has been developed over the past few years as the American Legion has done this ride.

The problem was that we had to complete the fueling, then rush to the next stop - usually about 100 - 120 miles away. At one point the lead truck left without us, and we had to rush to catch up with them - hence the 90 mph+ cruising. It was not all that fun, and we talked about it tonight so that we avoid that tomorrow.

Most of the ride was absolutely beautiful. We left before dawn and the full moon was still up. We rode West, with the moon in front of us and the sunrise to our backs. As the sun came up there were light blankets of fog just floating above the cornfields, which seemed to stretch to the horizon of southern Indiana.

The land was flat as a pancake, and there was nothing but farms and green fields. We cruised mostly at 75 to 80 mph, which was pretty much the standard Interstate speed. We had no motorcycle incidents.

One neat thing was approaching St. Louis. From far away we could see the Gateway Arch just over the horizon. Then we neared the city and actually drove through the Interstate across the Mississippi River and past the Arch. It was awe-inspring to see it up close.

Just after St. Louis the land became rolling hills, and by the time we entered Missouri there were low hills and steeper roads. We reached St. Robert, MO at about 4 pm. The American Legion Post 331 here was ready for us. They had a lot of people and children with flags for our arrival. There were already about a hundred bikes there waiting.

They had a nice ceremony, where the Missouri Legion Riders presented the National Commander with their donations for the Legacy Fund. Missouri gave over $17,000 to the fund. There was also a great dinner that they served us for no cost.

One of the speakers at the small ceremony was a lady whose husband was killed last year in Afghanistan. She had her three small daughters with her, and she thanked the American Legion and the AL Riders, in particular, for this charitable ride. She said that the Legacy Fund has provided her some measure of comfort that her children will be provided a good education. It was quite a simple and moving talk, and it reinforced for us the meaning of this effort.

We spend the night tonight in St. Robert, then we are off early tomorrow morning. We drive through the rest of Missouri and wind up tomorrow night in Oklahoma City, OK.




There are two pictures for this post. One shows the fuel stop at Eureka, MO, where the local American Legion posts did an outstanding job! They had all the fuel pumps already manned, and a large tent with sandwiches and fried chicken. They were wonderful people and fueled and fed almost 300 riders in about an hour.

The second picture is a shot of all the bikes at the Post 331 in St Robert, MO. They were also extremely well organized.


Mike