Friday 10/14/2016
Cameron MO to Decatur IN
~  572 miles

I’d been regularly checking the condition of the rear tire since we left Sedona. It was now going on 8000 miles, mostly highway, during the BMRx rally and this trip, so the wear pattern was centered and the side tread was starting to develop those little ridges that catch in the curves and start rapid wear-down. I’d been holding out hope that it might last the trip, but it weighed on my mind and I wanted to choose the time and place of having it changed rather than getting stuck somewhere. So I listed out the Honda dealers along our route for the day and decided to stop in at the first one – just 30 miles down US-36, Mautino’s Cycle Center in Chillicothe MO.

Bud was the friendly service tech we explained our predicament to, and he checked to see if they had a tire that would fit. He didn’t have the recommended size, but found a racing tire in stock that he thought would fit, slightly wider and with a lower cross section. He estimated we’d get another 400-500 miles out of the current tire, almost certainly not the 1500 or so to get home 2-up, and said he’d get’er done right away as they weren’t busy yet and he understood that we were on a trip. I did a quick online search with my phone and found confirmation on the trusty ST-Owners forum that other riders had used the tire size successfully on their bike and I agreed to the tire change.
They apparently don’t see many ST’s around those parts, catering mostly to the ATV and side-by-side farmland crowd. But Bud knew his way around with a wrench, and I’d just pulled my wheel off weeks before so I was able to save him some time as well. We chatted with the other staff members while we waited for the new tires to be mounted and folks were very friendly and curious about our trip. One of them had an ST1100 he’d been riding since new. We were packed back up, paid, and ready to hit the road again just over an hour after pulling up to the store. I can’t say enough good things about the great friendly service we received at Mautino’s – they really helped us out and made the whole process painless if not enjoyable.

The new off-brand tire had a slightly different feel but it was new and now I could relax, knowing it would last us til home. I think I determined then and there that I was going to try going darkside (installing a car tire on the rear for durability) once I got home, to help avoid such worries and delays on future trips. I’d started thinking about it before the trip after realizing how many miles I’d be putting in away from home, on the heels of a long rally just previous.

Anyway, our focus now was putting miles behind us, since this would be our longest mileage day of the trip and we already lost an hour standing around. We skipped seeing Walt Disney’s boyhood hometown in Marceline, both wanting to keep moving to make up for lost time. Before we knew it, we’d crossed Missouri to the great Mississippi River. We pulled in to the Riverview Park in Hannibal, to see a statue of Mark Twain on a bluff overlooking the river. We had a snack and stretch break, soaking in the views of the big river beneath us, watching a few barges being pushed to and fro by working boats.

We crossed the river into Illinois and jogged north on I-172 for 30 miles or so to re-join US-24 eastbound once again.

We passed by several caravan of hot rods as we traversed the area, so there must have been some sort of local meet-up or show going on in the area that day.

Downtown Havana

At Ripley IL, we bore right off of US-24 onto IL-103 to IL-100 on a scenic (if bumpy) ride northeast for 30 miles or so along the Illinois River. We emptied out onto US-136 and stopped for fuel in Havana. Feeling hungry and tired by now, we used Yelp to direct us to a local eatery/pub called Babes on Plum for a decent sit-down lunch to gather our strength.

The tire change had sapped a lot of our momentum in the morning, and we were both feeling beat from the long flat miles of farmland. We continued across Illinois and IL-54 provided some diversion in that it seems to be one of the only highways in the area that runs diagonally southwest to northeast rather than along one of the cardinal directions. Yes, we were easily amused at this point!

Re-joined US-24 yet again and crossed into Indiana to see …more flat farmland.

In Monticello IN, we kept our eyes open for a Roadside America “replica of Jefferson’s Monticello”, which turned out to be this bank. Yeah… I guess if you squint really hard…

Evening was coming on and the moon was starting to give us a nice show against the wide open landscapes. Char took several photos, but not many turned out due to the low light and motion of the bike.

Night came upon us as we carried on across Indiana, finally leaving US-24 for the final time in Huntington, for US-224. It was getting pretty darn cold out by then. We picked up sandwiches from Subway for a later dinner in the hotel and made the final 30 miles or so to our destination in Decatur without incident. We were pooped and glad to be off the bike for once, though I knew I’d be eager to be on the road again after a good night’s sleep.