A Labor Day Adventure

Friday, August 31st, Kevin Pugh and I left Paducah bright and early. Our intention was to hunt for National Park Stamps along the Mississippi River, while traveling to St. Louis to attend The National Ironbutt Rally Finishers Banquet Friday evening.

Our first park was The Trail of Tears at Egypt Mills, MO, just north of Cape Girardeau. After collecting the stamp, we crossed back into Illinois to visit their Trail of Tears Park at Wolf Lake.

Leaving Wolf Lake we rode north on Hwy 3 to the town of Chester, home of Elzie Crisler Segar, creator of the cartoon character Popeye.

We arrived at The Double Tree Hotel in Chesterfield in the early afternoon. That allowed us plenty of time to talk to returning riders and check out their bikes. To an avid motorcyclist, this was truly the place to be. That evening, we attended the banquet and the award ceremonies. Suffice it to say, these fine folk are in a class by themselves, and were entitled to all the respect and honor they received. Kevin and I met many of the riders, and heard some amazing stories that evening.

Here are the top 11 rider average points per mile ridden, Jim Frens (eleventh) is included because he went to Homer, AK and fell just outside the top ten.

1. Martin Leir 27.618 BMW-R1200GSA
2. Jim Owen 29.942 ` BMW-R1200RT
3. Brett Donahue 28.069 Harley Davidson XLH1200R
4. Jeff Earls 29.002 BMW-K1200GT

5. Eric Jewell 28.014 BMW-R1150RT

6. Tom Melchild 29.898 Yamaha FJR 1300

7. Greg Marbach 28.915 Yamaha FJR 1300

8. Michael Evans 27.293 Yamaha FJR 1300

9. Alan Barbic 29.959 Yamaha FJR 1300

10. Peter Leap 26.819 Honda ST 1300

11. Jim Frens 22.824 Honda GL 1800 As an additional treat, The Blue Angels were performing nearby which gave the Doubletree parking lot a front row, ringside seat. Seeing them up close is nothing short of amazing.

Later, back in our room, Kevin and I kicked around the idea of stretching this weekend ride a bit to pick up more National Park Stamps in more distant locations.

Early the next morning, after calling home the night before (and to no one's surprise,) we headed west on I-70 to Independence, MO to visit the Harry S. Truman NHS. I had previously collected this stamp on my Alaska ride but Kevin did not have it at that point.

Our next stop was in Topeka, KS to visit the historic location where the landmark decision against segregation took place. (Brown Vs Board of Education)

Leaving Topeka, we angled north to Beatrice, NE to visit Homestead NP. This was another stamp already in my collection, but not in Kevin’s. We turned east from there and rode through Lincoln and Omaha, NE, stopping for the night in Adair, IA.

Sunday morning it was a short 180 miles or so to our next stop, The Herbert Hoover NHS.

I collected the obligatory Iowa State Sign picture for my collection, after failing to see it on the Council Bluff side of the state.

Our next destination was The Lincoln Home in Springfield, IL. This is a rare and valuable stamp because there are only two National Park Stamps in the entire state of Illinois. The second stamp is in the Chicago area.

After leaving Springfield, we returned to St. Louis via I-55 to the Jefferson Expansion Memorial near the Arch. I needed to replace this stamp in my collection due to an incorrect date on the first visit. The streets around the Arch were blocked off, and the heavy traffic prohibited us from collecting the Arch stamp.

Altogether, I added three new National Park Stamps, two new states, two bonus stamps, and corrected a previous stamp during this ride.

Three hours later we arrived back in Paducah after riding a total of 1630 miles. (Two hundred forty Friday, six hundred seventy Saturday and seven hundred twenty Sunday.)

"If you don't follow your dreams, you might as well be a vegetable." ~Burt Munro~