Today was one of the shorter runs on the Cannonball, only 199 miles. They rode from Clarksville, TN to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. However, when Steven went to warm up his bike, twenty minutes before his scheduled start, Rose WOULD NOT START!!! So….it had to be the rotor button, not. Alright, then the distributor cap needs replaced, still didn’t fix it.
Well, then the coil must have gone bad, not that either. Ok, so let’s take a shot and say the condensor needs to be replaced, FIXED IT! YES!!!!! All that in less than twenty minutes and he still made to start line in time, oh yeah!
The bikes as a whole today ran very well, with very few breakdowns. The ride took them around Lake Kentucky and several state and national forests with some super scenery. However, they encountered the groupie rider that been tagging along the route with the Cannonball riders. Steve & Ziggy passed him at an intersection and when they looked in their rearview mirrors they saw that he had wrecked his bike pulling out behind them. They stopped and turned around. His bike is way overloaded, but they got it back up for him.
Then EMT “Spitfire” came along and stopped to make sure he was alright. He went to take off and then ran into her on her bike. She took a spill, hurt her knee and hit her head (which thankfully, had a helmet on it today). Some more Cannonball riders stopped to help, got the bikes up and the guy wrecks his bike again. Steve said 4 times this guy took a spill, and they finally convinced him that he had something bad wrong with his bike, along with being overloaded and that he shouldn’t be riding it until he got it checked out for everyone’s safety.
They arrived in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and enjoyed the hosted dinner by Spanish Street. Thanks to those fine folks! Following the Parc Ferme’, the Cannonball riders participated in a parade down Broadway street in town.
This gentleman was looking at Steve’s bike from his wheelchair. He and his wife became very emotional when they helped him up on the bike for this photo op. He used to ride and hadn’t been able to for many years. Landon and Nolan, this one’s for you! You guys made his day!
FYI….Dick is still working on maps. Tomorrow’s ride is 291 miles from Cape Girardeau, Missouri to Sedalia, Missouri. As of this evening, they have ridden 1050 miles – 1/4 of the trip. There are 51 riders that have ridden the whole way so far, included in this count are both Steve and Ziggy. They serviced their bikes and helped Dottie check out hers before calling it a night. They are gonna enjoy the next couple days of nice weather as they hear the temperatures are dropping to freezing in the mountains. Instead of stay dry, it will soon be stay warm Cannonballers!
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