We left bright and early yesterday morning on the GoldWing along with 8 other motorcycles and 2 4-wheel vehicles in our group. Destination: St. Louis and The Shrine Children’s Hospital. I remember when it was built in 1963 since my dad was a member of Moolah Shrine but I’d never gotten a tour.
Our two guides gave us an excellent orientation to the wonderful work they do there for kids up to age 18 – I was fascinated by how they lengthen limbs and build prosthetics. They are following national trends of performing more outpatient services than inpatient and only a handful of patients were on-hand for the weekend to see the bikes. The guys rode them onto the patio and the patients were brought out in wheelchairs and in their beds to enjoy them – the grins on their faces were priceless. One young man was in a walker and he managed to sit on one bike and acted like he was riding while his parents took pictures – clearly a big day for him.
We left the hospital and rode to Clayton where our home for the night was the Crowne Plaza Hotel. As luck would have it, we were right next door to our friend and jeweler Dave Kodner so we paid him a visit and I got all my jewelry cleaned and put a couple of items on my “wish list” in case Burl needs a gift idea. Friends Sally and John picked us up for dinner and we headed for The Hill and a fabulous Italian dinner at Rigazzi’s, home of the Frozen Fishbowl margarita which we declined in favor of beer prior to dinner and a bottle of Chianti with our meal.
Sally and I met at Girl Scout Camp Pin Oak when we were just out of 6th grade and took an instant dislike to each other – however, since she arrived with a small piece of luggage holding her clothes for 2 weeks and a large suitcase with contraband food, I faked being her friend and played good Girl Scout since we were un-wanted cabin mates. Fast forward 6 years and we headed off to Drury College as best buddies, pledged the same sorority, roomed together, went on to stand beside each other in our first weddings, were godmothers to each others’ firstborns and have remained close friends. We don’t see each other often any more but when we do, we can pick right up where we left off and continue with the laughs and known-only-to-us jokes. Burl and John endured our endless stories and catching up on mutual friends which lasted after dinner with a drink at J. Buck’s next to our hotel.
This morning our group headed out of St. Louis planning on taking the scenic route along Highway 94 through Hermann to Jeff City and then south of 54 winding our way home. The problem with what was now 8 motorcycles and one truck is that not everyone had a CB making communication often non-existent which only intensified the delays when one party got lost. After a 30-minute delay for them to re-route and catch us we were off again – but then someone needed a potty stop (one unisex restroom with one john), then 20 miles later someone needed gas (why didn’t they get it at the prior potty stop? good question!) – and by now we had all decided we’d just head for Cuba on 1-44, get lunch and head home. We got to Cuba a little before 2:00 – at which time we’d ridden about 150 miles in almost 5 hours and still had 130 miles to go – yikes!
Needless to say, everyone was ready to go their own way which is exactly what we did – some stopped for lunch but we headed west and stopped in St. Robert for a late lunch/early dinner and were home by 4:15 – hot, tired but fortunately with only a few raindrops on us the last few miles after having rain clouds hover over us for an hour.
It’s fun to get away but more fun to come home to a dog with a wagging tail and a summer evening to enjoy on my own deck.
