St. Louis and the Ride to Duck River, Tennessee

  My time with Ben and Erika was wonderful and quiet.  Time for laundry, a little shopping, a little blogging, and Ben's excellent ribs.  It was also the first day I had not been on the motorcycle since I started riding.  We also had lunch at Gringo's, a newish place with what I will term nuveaux TexMex, as in "we'll throw some toasted pumpkin seeds on this taco for a good-lookin' garnish."  We also drove through some of the neighborhoods in St. Louis, which I love to do.  Wonderful houses on tree lined streets.  Mid-America as it was five decades ago.

  The cat, Mirtillo, is an important part of the family.  Ben is working hard to jailbreak an old iPhone for use in my trip to Europe next year.

  I loved my time in St. Louis, and the time with Ben and Erika.  However, I had to get back on the road to Duck River, Tennessee, to see a former officer for whom I had worked in Civic Action in Viet Nam.  He gave me excellent directions, most of which I followed.  It was high-speed flat-slab most of the way.  The only exciting thing was when an eighteen-wheeler in front of me had a blowout.  I heard the bang, and then I was doing high-speed maneuvers as the tire shredded parts and they flew all over the roadway.  Exciting times, indeed.

  The last 40 - 60 miles were on highways 412 and 100, and they were nice two-lane roads that were shady and cooler.  Tennessee is beautiful, and very neat.  Almost all the lawns were mowed and neat, and most people had all their stuff and equipment in sheds with the doors closed.  As I said, very neat.

But when I turned onto Bratton Lane in Duck River, I knew I was approaching a special place.