AK Trip - Day One - Saturday, June 16th,

Saturday, June 16th finally arrived!

Ted Randles and I agreed to leave the BP station across from Paducah Community College at 7:00 am. True to form, we both showed up 45 minutes early. After gassing up and resetting the trip meters we were off at 6:30 am, 30 minutes early.

Ted's riding an 05 GL1800 Gold Wing.

I'm riding an 06 Suzuki DL 1000 V Strom.

Our route took us from Paducah, KY, Cairo, IL, Cape Girardeau, MO and on to St Louis, MO. Our first National Park stamp was the Ulysses S. Grant Historic Site. From there it was on to The Jefferson Expansion Historic Site and the Gateway Arch.


Neither of us was too happy about running I-70 but time was short and we needed to cover some miles. From the Gateway Arch we jumped on I-70 and headed for Independence, MO, home of the Harry S Truman National Site and The National Frontier Trails Center. After a nice Italian dinner we were off to Cameron MO and the Super 8 Motel.

All told we drove 491 miles and picked up 8 National Park Stamps. It should also be noted that Ted's Gold Wing air temp meter held steady most of the day at 93 degrees. Final analysis proved Ted’s butt held up well and so did my recovering knee. What more could a man ask for?

"My knees are on fire, my right wrist feels like it's full of broken
glass, and God help me, I can't feel my ass. Are we having fun yet?" ~Jerry Smith~