Saint Louis Scooter Forum

[stl_stadtroller]

Greetings everyone,

I hope everyone who came, and especially those who rode made it home safely!

Well, our first ever Missouri Scooter Meetup - The Damn Ride! has concluded. THANK YOU to everyone who took the time out of their schedules, and braved the stormy, cold weather to RIDE to the event under such harsh conditions. My hat is off to you!

I'd also like to thank my fellow Knights, for all their assistance in the planning and implementation process. Everyone really pitched in and together, we really pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

Brittany - who designed the artwork used in our patch
Matthew and Ali - who silk screened the patches and then went above & beyond to finish them off a little better than we had even anticipated.
Jeff - who laid the groundwork for a great scenic ride and gave us the lay of the land down at the lake,
Bill - for his MASTERFUL BBQ grilling skills! I could NOT have pulled that off without you sir, WELL DONE!
Myke - for riding down there and salvaging at least SOME of our dignity and showing that we're not all trailer queens
And last but not least - my lovely wife Diane for putting up with all the crap, and my being so busy in the weeks leading up to the ride, and for driving the rescue van on the ride. Thankfully, it wasn't needed but I know it was reassuring to a lot of people there!

And again, a big thank you to all who came! We had such great people there and it was really all of you who made all the work worthwhile.
It is really great to finally put a face to so many people who post on this forum. We all hope to see you around some more!

There is SO much more to talk about, but I shall let other start filling you all in on what you missed out on!

There is a public Gallery open on our Gallery page (see link at top of Forum), and we should be getting a gallery put up on Scoot.net soon as well.

Hope too see you all again - and few more of you - next year at the Damn Ride '09!!

[matthew]

I got home safe. Had a great ride back on the Stella. Wonderful day to ride home. Hwy 42 has some great sections before you get onto 28.

Weekend was fun. Great to see everyone.

[new_wave1229]

Ride home was excellent..finally some nice weather! Had a great time this weekend..thanks to all of you organizer types. The investigation is still ongoing as to who put the "King Slow" plate on my scooter. For some reason Jeff & Shirley have been the most helpful in my quest to track down the culprits.

[jgr]

Great times had by all... Very nice to meet some new folks and wonderful to see some old...
jgr

[matthew]

When we gonna see the pictures?

[mommasscoot]

[HiTechRedneck]

Wow, what a weekend!!!

THANK YOU, KSLSC! Great routes, good food, good socializing, good locale. What a blast.

Glad to hear all arrived home safely. I, too, took Hwy 42 home...it's such a great road. And one of these days I'll check out the "Jail Museum" in Vienna.

I'm culling through pics tonight (hopefully, I have a paper due that I need to polish) and will post some stuff up wither then or tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a teaser:



Before leaving I cruised down to check out the dam.

[stl_stadtroller]

[rufusswan]

We didn't do the cool group photo cause you all were busy with management level jack-assery over checkout times Well, what can be expected from 'trailer queens' one might ask?

John and I toured the park, then took the park road (Hwy D) and headed home which let us skip the crappy part of Hwy 5. Super riding all the way down, as was the whole weekend. Special thx to Brian and the Knights for kickin' this together.

Loved the Sat night campfire chat with edreg, myke, percdude, hitechredneck. I needed that. I also give the CourageAward to Britt.

DamN good ride. I'm on for next year. Posted my pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rufusswan/ and can add them to the gallery here if you wish.

Curry Tractors Rule

[VespaMAX]

fun ride guys. cant wait for next years run.

[mommasscoot]

"We didn't do the cool group photo cause you all were busy with management level jack-assery over checkout times Well, what can be expected from 'trailer queens' one might ask?"


Hey....I resemble that remark!......but can I spell?
S.
WWSC

[stl_stadtroller]

OK, so here goes my proper report...

Starting Thursday night, a the Knights met up at ETS to load Bill and Brittany's bikes into the truck / Jeff's gigantic trailer. Lots of excitement all around in anticipation of the big weekend! And yes, we did pull hosts perogative and each picked the best of the patches for ourselves

From there, I headed home and hopped into the car to go grocery shopping, picking up a whole trunkfull of goodies for the BBQ, and then was up late into the night getting as much of a head start as I could in loading up the van with food, coolers, tools, etc. that may be needed.

Friday finally came, and so did an Earthquake, and the rains!! the drive down via I-44 to St. James took us through some wicked storms and wind, and dramatically falling temperatures, and Diane and I both worried for those riding in from afar.

We arrived at the Shoreland first, right around 3:30 and started to unload. Not long after checking in, I recieved almost simultaneously a text from Myke that they are heading out, and a VM from Ed saying that he was choosing discretion as the better part of valor, and would try to ride down again on Saturday.
Just a little while later, we heard the rumble of a POC'ed Bajaj rolling in, along with an unknown make of Chinese bike. It was Rufussswan and his friend (John I think?) riding up from south of Branson!

They were soon followed by Craig, Misty, and Matt from Columbia, and finally the trailer queens themselves arrived around 4:30 (Jeff, Bill, Shirley and Matthew). We all took a merciless beating for having hauled/trailered down there, and deservedly so!


The evening continued in a theme of occasional drizzle & misting, and falling temps. By the time we were ready to roll out for dinner, no one was really in the mood for Chinese buffet and we broke into 2 groups - with the Trailer Queens headed for some fancy-pants steak house, and those of us of more meager means headed to a Mexican place a few miles away reccomended by Matt. We met up with Carla there, but she and Matt took off to go unload the dogs and her scooter.
It was one cold ass ride to dinner and back!

By the time we returned, a very cold and wet Myke and Brittany had arrived, having ridden there 2-up on Mykes Scarebo, and helping to salvage a tiny bit of St. Louis's dignity. Also arriving was Darin Crace from Springfield, with his very nice trapeziod-headlight SS180.

Despite the cold & wet, many of us hung out outside of our hotel rooms (mostly Bill's) and BS'ed and drank well into the night.

That good weather that was suposed to come? They were now saying it would arrive SATURDAY mid-day...

The next day I awoke to find my SS had been "Pimped by the SLSC" with a set of very pretty handlebar tassles and a flowered basket on the front. Thanks guys!


Throughout the AM, people wandered across the street to Stewart's for a good rib-stickin' hot breakfast. Many of us had something called the "Southern Style" which was kind of a breakfast-slinger, and completely awesome.

Still cold, still wet.

After breakfast, everyone was to be gathering & getting ready for the big ride. With the weather the way it was, and some other shenanigans it was a bit before all the cats were herded together and the ride finally started a little after 12, only to stop a couple minutes later as some folks had not gassed up beforehand... (ahEM... lol)

Finally underway headed north on Route W.. it was... well... really damned cold! And still no sign of it clearing up as predicted. 20 miles later, we pulled into Versailles (I'm pronouncing it vehr-SIGH damnit, and there isn't a @#$% thing you can do about it! no matter what you Missou-rah hicks call it! ) for a quick gas stop, adjustments, warming up, etc.


From Versailles, instead of taking the 65mph Highway 5, we rode down Old Five Rd., where certain speed demons missed a turn and lost the rest of the group. (who's been pimped NOW, mofo!) Shady Rd turned out to be gravel, so instead of turning there, we made a sharp right onto TT and over to 5 for a short ways, before picking up another smaller, slower road making our way to lunch, with me now in the lead.


Cup Tree road down to Bick Dicks Halfway Inn was pretty amazing, and probably the best road on the whole route. Nice and swoopy and clean, with lots of great contry views.

Around 2-2:30, group "B" finally arrived at Big Dicks, right on the waterfront. We were just about the only people there! After about 10 minutes of BS'ing, the Fast Ones finally made it in from their "short cut" as they called it.


Lunch was a lot of fun, and we were introduced to the culinary wonder that is sweet potato fries, and onion staws.


The weather was STILL not improving, and it was unanimously decided to take the "cut off route" and cut the ride short by heading back to the strip via the toll bridge, instead of looping around down at Camdenton.

As we were leaving Big Dicks, the "Fast Ones" were again pulling away, with myself, Matt, and Carla a way back, and the rest a bit farther back. In one of the turns, a couple SUV's came around the bend - giving plenty of room, but still surprising to see on this very deserted road. I wondered to myself even at that point what may happen at the rear...
As Matt, Carla and I rode on, I noticed that despite holding back on the throttle, I still wasn't seeing anyone catch up. Well, it is very twisty road... I continued at a slower pace.. and before we knew it, we were rolling up to the 1st group at the junction with the main road, and still no one was in sight... We tried calling.. but no one back thre had known cell phone #'s...

Finally, a guy in a pickup rolled up, and confirmed my worst fears.. someone had taken a spill. We high-tailed it back post-haste, to find that Brittany had gone wide in a turn and laid down the Mod Stella in the mud!!

Thankfully, she was unharmed both in body and spirit, and actually continued on the ride, riding Myke's Scarebo!
HARD. CORE.
We hope you're doing well B, and that you weren't beat up too much later / the next day!

Back on the road again, I led the "slow" group back down to Hwy 5 and to the Tol bridge, with the Warp Drive Gang ahead and waiting at the turns for us. Diane did her duties well as the tail-gaurd, blocking out Mulleted Lake Dudes in bitchin' Camaro's wanting to mow everyone down.

We finally arrived back at the Shoreland just a little before 5PM I think, where everyone rested up, warmed up, and raided the beer stash. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that Ed had decided to ride down on the Burgman, and Max was there as well after huling his Bajaj down in his van!

From Misty's trip-odo, we learned that the "short" loop ride was a clean 80 miles around! Hell of a trip at 50 degrees and wet!

Around 6, we left again for the Mini-Golf challenge, which was followed by some mad Go-Kart racing action.



Back to the Shoreland again around 7:30, and it was finally time to start the BBQ and bonfire! With expert help from BBQ master Bill Wessels, and redneck extroidonaire Misty we had both raging in no-time! Brats, dogs, burgers, 'tater salad, chips, and guacamole were served up until everyone had had their fill. Desert was graciously provided by Matt and Carla, who came through with a spread of cookies for everyone to enjoy. (thanks guys!!).

The sun & warm temps never did come, but it did start to clear off at night to where we could see the full moon and some stars.. and at least never seemed to get any COLDER. People were up very late once again, enjoying fine company and the fire.


Sunday morning came, with a strange, bright orange ball in the sky that hurt our eyes and made it too warm to wear every single peice of clothing we'd brought all at once!
Originally we'd planned on having breakfast at a well-known diner in the area that serves all you can eat, but that seemed to fall flat as well, as everyone was fine with just walking across the street again to Stewart's (Farmer's Omlet - 2 forks up!).

Seems the hooligans from the night before had struck again as well, as several folks awoke to find their scooters pimped out with new vanity plates. No guilty parties ever came forward though.. so I guess it will just be a mystery for the ages! Thanks for my pretty basket though - I'll be sure to get some use out of it at the next rally!

Diane and I had to get going early, though, so we departed while a group was forming to start a Sunday parting ride over to HaHaTonka State Park.
I'll leave it to those who remained late to fill you in on the rest!

How about the rest of you? Let's hear those tales of your ride out to the lake and getting home!

[HiTechRedneck]

Guess I'll toss in my $.02.

I had to detour up to Columbia for an appointment Friday morning. A few weeks ago Matt graciously suggested I ride down with he and whomever else showed from the CoMo area.

Friday dawned grey and damp, but the temp seemed decent. I took off for CoMo anticipating rain (rain gear rocks!) and met the sprinkles in Linn. West of Linn I ran into the full-blown downpour. Fogging issues resulted in a slight gear modification in Loose Creek and then it was on to the big town.

Once I realized the "oh, shit! I'm riding on glass" feeling was really the wind and not my tires losing traction, the ride got better. Fortunately everyone else on Hwy 63 was driving uber-cautiously, so despite barely maintaing 55 mph, it ended up being an uneventful ride.

I arrived late to my appointment in sopping wet rain gear and still wearing my helmet. Apparently it was as much an apology as necessary and they took me right on in. Thank God.

Appointment over Matt cruised over to pick me up. We had an awesome lunch (LIMA BEAN SOUP!! I owe ya for that one, Matt, magnifique!). Fortunately by the time we were through eating the rain had finally stopped. We headed out and met up with Craig and cruised a very cold, damp, and grey afternoon down through Boonville, Versailles (Verrrrr-SAILS, Brian! ), and on to Bagnell. The wind was horrific. We were all cruising WFO and just barely maintaining 55 mph.

We arrived at the Shoreland having cruised a wonderfully twisty Hwy W and met up with the Magic Bus folks and the trailer queens. It was great putting screen names to faces and actual names. And such cool machines! I'm secretly in love with the Chetaks...

Matt cruised with me over to Camp Bagnell were we set up my accommodations for the weekend...a tent. THANK YOU, Matt, for the help! And actually, the spot was great. RIGHT on the river and close to the bathroom. The campground restaurant/bar was a dive of the highest order. Truly a redneck haven.






Saturday's ride was chilly, lunch was good, the only bad part of the day was Brit's spill. She is a true trooper, saddling back up and finishing the ride. Hats off to Miss Brittany, she gets the Steel Magnolia Award in my book.

BBQ Saturday was spot on groovy. Something about beer, fire, and cooking. Staying up late with Ed, Max, Rufus, and Myke and pondering the whys of the Universe and Scooterdom was truly awesome. And an especial thanks to Max, my Knight in Shining Mini-Van, for schlepping a slightly hammered HiTechRedneck back to her tent at 2 in the morning.



Sunday was incredibly beautiful. One of those days that 2 wheeled machines were made for. Apparently a PokerRun was on tap for the area and we saw shizz-loads of bikes on our way to and from HaHa Tonka SP. It's spring, and apparently everyone is feeling good about riding. My left arm is sore from all the waving at other machines! We parted ways with John and Rufus at the SP. Gentlemen, it was great meeting the both of you. I hope to get a chance to ride down to ya'll's neck o' the woods this summer!

Apparently there was some issue with checkout times and I was getting anxious about packing up my gear and heading home. So en masse we all headed back to Bagnell, and then I cruised on out to get my stuff. The BR got many appreciative and disgusted glances from the hundred odd bikers assembled at the Camp bar. But I waved and hollered "Ride Safe, kids!" as the BR and I rolled off with an unspectacular display of Japanese muffler noise.

I checked out the Dam (very cool) and the overlook, then gassed up and headed to the house.

A big hug and kiss for all those who participated...and bigger hugs and a slight slip of some tongue for those of you who organized, led, cooked, designed, and scouted. It was a great weekend despite cold temps and torrential downpours. And there is nothing more fun, in my book, than cruising around and getting to bullshit with a bunch of scoots. And the DamnRide08 Patch ROCKS!

THANK YOU, ALL!

More pics later, I gotta write my paper!

[stl_stadtroller]

Just uploaded an assload of pictures to the gallery... enjoy!

[britkamo]

[MPA]

great pics, looks like fun was had

Who had the Genuine Rattler?

[diane]

[matty_x]

Thanks to all for the rip roaring good time. Hope to see you in KC.

[HiTechRedneck]

Okley doke, MAS FOTOS!



Matty-X's RedHot Chetak, NewWave's smooth Vespa, and the Apocalyptic Assault Vehicle...a brief warm-up stop on our way to the Damn Ride. And yeah, we're in Verrrrrrr-SAILS



SCOOTERS INVADE BAGNELL, MO!



This pic just screams ADORABLE doesn't it? Makes me think of icing for some reason



Rufusswan and his trusty Curry Tractor. Sorry John! I didn't get a pic of your Dailin Wonder



Brian doing his best to herd cats:



Warm-up stop and map-check....that cat herding thing again. In Verrr-SAILS, Mo, no less:



"Hey Bubba, whut in the hell is them thangs at the Stop and Rob?"



Diane showing us the way:



John and his cool Restaurant Shenanigans:



Big Dick's Halfway Inn....the name says it all:



Brian, "Working It" :



Rasta Jeff Reddington and StlPercussionDude Max diggin' into the grub:



Rufus and Shirley trying to stay thawed:



MYYYYYYYYYKE!



Ed and his PimpRide Burg:



At HaHaTonka SP....two wheels rule!



Bagnell Dam Scenic Overlook:



A turbine fan, I'm assuming used in the Dam. I added myself for scale. Wicked Big!



Damn, it was a great weekend hanging and riding with everyone!

[mommasscoot]

Thanks for all the photos, Misty. Fine job! It was fun.

BTW....how do you like that Paolo Nuttini. I know he's been all the rage for awhile now (not here of course)....listened to some samples, but I don't know....haven't given him a chance yet.

S.
OESC

[HiTechRedneck]

[mommasscoot]

[Maggie]

Great pictures! Looks like you all had an outstanding time. Sorry to hear about your spill, Brit! I hope you heal well!

[edreggi]

Well I finally dumped all my photos and here are some of the highlights.

[mommasscoot]