1971 Triumph TR6C Trophy and 2007 Triumph Scrambler 900
(Page 2 of 3)
July/August 2008
By Landon Hall and Richard Backus
At Windsor, Route 2 becomes Route 52. Still heading east, we rode on through Cole Camp, past Versailles and on to Eldon, where we jumped onto four-lane U.S. Highway 54 and headed northeast for about 15 miles before exiting. We didn’t know it yet, but this is where the fun would really begin.
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Hitting the twisties
On our map, county Route E looked like it would skirt Missouri’s capital, Jefferson City, which was fast coming up on us. We knew we needed another B-road to make our escape, but little did we know it would also be the best road we’d ride all day. Heading up Route E the turns came sooner and more often, and Backus and the old Trophy came alive and quickly disappeared. The two-lane’s we’d been on so far were fine, but now we were really running some Grade A twisties. When we hit our first stop sign eight miles later, we both smiled and said the same thing: If we had time to spare, we’d turn around and run those eight miles a few more times! But with the end of the day coming fast, we had to move on.
After another 20 or so beautiful miles Route E led us to Taos, where we jumped on U.S. Highway 50 and headed east for Linn. There, we filled up again and discovered it was 6:30 p.m. We were supposed to be at our lodging for the night by 8 p.m. No problem, we figured.
From Linn we headed north on state Route 100 and into the hills, gaining elevation and getting ever-nearer to Hermann. Until we came across a "Bridge Closed Ahead" sign, that is. Rather than turn around and follow the marked detour (which we guessed would run us some 30 miles out of the way) we kept right on going. Hell, there’s gotta be another way, we figured, and besides, maybe the bridge wasn’t really closed. Sure enough, the bridge was closed. A dirt road running off across a nearby field looked as though it might lead us in the right direction, so we decided to see if it did. It did, and not only did we get to watch the sun begin its glorious descent over the hills as we worked our way across the river and back to Route 100 again, but we got to ride in the dirt just a bit. About 20 miles later we rolled into Hermann, just as it was getting good and dark. The Vinchester Inn was our home for the night. The small hotel was perfectly located, had off-street parking for the bikes, and at $69 for two queen-sized beds was nicely affordable compared to the many bed and breakfasts in town.
Bikes unpacked, we wandered down to a great little place called Sharp’s Corner Tavern for dinner and libations before heading back and calling it a night.
Heading home
Tuesday morning greeted us with rain. And thunder. And, naturally, we hadn’t packed rain suits, as the weather forecast didn’t suggest even a chance of the wet stuff. Luckily, by the time we wandered downtown, found some breakfast and returned to the Vinchester, the rain had not only stopped but the skies had cleared and the sun was out and shining.