Send this Article to a Friend

Are hot air balloons good luck? Probably not, but that's what I'm going to think from now on. How can you not be excited about leaving for a trip when a hot air balloon silently drifts fifty feet above the garage as you're rolling a fully loaded Harley out?

My wife and I were planning to do this motorcycle trip riding two-up and camping as much as legally possible along the way. Needless to say, this meant that space was at a premium on the motorcycle. With one more adjustment of the luggage on the luggage rack, we aimed the motorcycle down the road and were off.

To avoid some of the more stoplight heavy portions of US 50 as it goes through Cincinnati, OH, we took the interstate and picked up US 50 in Indiana near the casino boats. Being that it was still early in the morning at this point, we decided it wasn't appropriate to stop in for a quick game of blackjack.

US 50 is fairly boring through Indiana, Illinois, and the eastern side of Missouri. Most of the road goes through rural/suburban areas with little to see and uninteresting road. The only interesting part of the day was after Bedford, Indiana where the road introduces some slight curves and goes through some rolling hills. My motorcycle growled happily as I pushed it a little more than I probably should have through this section.

We got to St. Louis in the late afternoon and the traffic had noticeably picked up. This is primarily because US 50 merges with some major interstates in St. Louis, most notably Interstate 44. Being on a motorcycle on a very busy interstate is not my idea of fun.

After driving on this for thirty minutes, I quickly realized that among all of our gear, we had forgotten one of the most important things for a motorcycle trip - ear plugs. My ears were buzzing! I made a mental note to swing into the nearest store tomorrow and pick some up.

The most difficult thing about trying to follow smaller highways through larger cities is that the signage is very difficult to follow. In addition to navigating through SUV's and eighteen wheelers, you need to make sure you are keeping an eagle eye out for small signs designating your highway of choice. Unfortunately, it seems our eye was not that keen as we found ourselves doing a lot of backtracking in St. Louis.

With our ears buzzing and the prospect of rush hour traffic, we decided to swing off and find a place to eat just west of St. Louis. Luckily, we found a pretty cool residential area that had a great pizza joint!

We ended the day at Robertsville State Park in Missouri, which offered a great campsite and facilities. After a long day of riding the motorcycle, nothing feels better than a campfire out in the woods!