This Wednesday was the last one before classes resume at the University, so Laura wanted to schedule the ride to Trail of Tears State Park. She’s been pushing for this most of the summer, so this was the last chance. Trail of Tears is about 15 miles from Burritoville in Cape Girardeau, where the Wednesday Night bunch (aka, for reasons that are best left obscure, the David Hassellhof 5) meet at 10 PM for beer and biking.
After the obligatory stop for beer,
we headed north out of town. There’s something visually impressive about a group of a dozen bikes, adorned with assorted lighting, out on a country road at night. My photo doesn’t really do it justice.
We were a very strange sight indeed to the few motorists who passed us. One of the nice things about riding on Wednesday nights is that a) there’s not much traffic and b) most of it is sober.
We made it to Trail of Tears, where we sat around in the road and had a beer.
Fortunately, the park was closed, so no traffic there. We made it back to Cape about 1 AM, stopped in a parking lot to drink another beer, and headed back to Burritoville in a rapidly diminishing pack as various participants peeled off to go home.
All in all, a fun evening. Most of the DH5 gang don’t get out on the road for long rides very much, being more townie types, so it was a nice challenge out in hilly Cape county for them. I don’t ride much in groups, so that was a nice change for me — and of course, I get a bit loopy when I’m out that long after my bedtime. There were a few long-haul types there for a change, too. Tim drove up from Sikeston, outfitted with a set of headlights that I kept thinking was an overtaking car. And Rick brought his touring bike and his grey hairs to join the kids, too:
A good time had by all as usual. I was in bed by 3 AM, and up by 7:30. I am probably too old for this s**t.
