Thursday, August 19, 2010

2010 ALLR day one

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Chris Krueger
CIO - CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.
620-793-8473 ext. 153
chris.krueger@cpiqpc.com

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The 2010 ALLR patch set!

Since I didn't have anything on the blog for this year, I thought this would
be appropriate.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Home again...

Here are a few photos from our last day out.

At the fishing lodge cabins in Van Buren, MO, getting ready to head out.


Check out this great shot Brenda took of the bikes heading out in the fog. And pointing backwards no less...


We broke off from our KS group at Carthage, MO as we wanted to make a couple of stops and didn't want to hold everybody else up.


Of course, we had to have our "The End" shot...


And away they went, into the sunset. Ok, it wasn't quite sunset yet, and they were heading North at this point, but you get the idea.

We spent the night in Andover on 8/25, and finally made it home the next day.

We got our coins in the mail a few days later:


And that's pretty much it for this year's Legacy Run. It was a great time again, and we look forward to Milwaukee in 2010. Only 11 months to go!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Heading Home...

Bummer. Gotta go home. Here we are lined up all ready to roll.


Wait, there's a Waffle House. Let's eat.


Gas stop somewhere in Southern Ill.

Damn, that's a great looking bike.

Took two-lane roads for a while - curvy.


Had to do a lttle maintenance on one of the Harleys.


Stopped briefly at the site of one of the Lincoln-Douglass debates.


We spent the night in Van Buren, Mo. No $60 steaks.

Day 3 in Louisville - The Legion Parade, and The Great Steak Adventure.

Rule #1 for today: Repeat after me. We are not having another party tonight. We are not having another party tonight.

Today is the Legion Parade in downtown Louisville. While we were out cleaning up the bikes, Brenda decided that we should actually do some type of sightseeing activity since we were in a place we hadn't ever been. So we decided to go across the river to the LST 325, the last operational LST (Landing Ship-Tank) remaining from WWII. She took part in the Normandy invasion.



The Legion Parade was a bit of a letdown, as it was utter chaos getting there and we were, um, less than uniform in our riding formation. More like a herd of, well, hogs. On top of that, there was no ceremony afterwards where we were presented with our "full route" coins by the Commander. I guess we were spoiled last year. I hear they'll be mailed to us.




So we got back to the hotel, and decided we wanted to go for steak, rather than have a party. (See Rule #1 above.) We asked the bartender at the hotel bar where a good, close steakhouse was. She gave us a list and recommended a place called Z's Steakhouse and Oyster Bar. Sounds good, right? We call the hotel front desk and arrange for a shuttle to take us over, so we don't have to worry about riding. We get there, walk in, and...uh oh. Nice place. REALLLY Nice Place. The hostess is in a white formal dress. No one else in the place is wearing jeans, let alone leathers. We go ahead and sit down, and take a look at the menu. Uh oh. The cheapest steak is $32.95. They have a Porterhouse for $60.95. Creamed Corn for $6.95. (It MUST have been really good, right?) After some discussion, we decided that wasn't the place for us and...left. I got out the gps that I had stuck in my vest and dialed up "Restaurants". Great, there's a Lone Star just 0.3 miles away.


Remember the "rain riding" exercise in the pool in Phoenix last year? Well, we decided that we needed more practice in keeping intervals this year, so...

So we head out - round the corner, we can see the place...and...it's...closed. Great. Wait, is that a Chili's across the very busy arterial street? Yup. Is it open? Check. Fantastic, let's head over there. Great food, great service, and it didn't cost $600. We finish dinner, and call the hotel for the shuttle back. Um, he's at the airport - it'll be 30 minutes. Ok, let's head to the parking lot and wait. Sure enough, 30 minutes later the driver and van show up. (He agreed that $32.95 for a steak ala carte' was ridiculous.) The rest of the evening was spent getting things packed for the trip home, and no party. Whew!

In Louisville - ALR Meeting Day (After the fact...)

Ok, ok, ok. So much for staying up on the blog. Mea Culpa.

So, Day 5 was a chance to sleep in (especially after the Kansas Party I), rest a bit, and have a little more leisurely day. After goofing around way too long, we went to the convention center and attended the annual Legion Riders national meeting.


We presented the $200 we collected at the Kansas Party I. (We told everyone we were recouping expenses for throwing the party, when in actuality we were extracting more $ from them for the Legacy Fund. Insert evil laugh here.)


Then it was off to Joe's Crab Shack on the river. Aren't the bibs cute?




Then Brenda had the bright idea to go for a ride in a horse drawn carriage. Of course, Brenda rode up front with the driver and his dog, while the six of us had to cram in the back. You can't say we're not a close bunch.


After that, we headed back to the hotel. We decided that since we still had some barley pop left, we should have another little gathering at the hotel. Of course, we were out of certain other liquid components, so we had to make another stop at the Liquor Barn. They had cigars too, so I was able to get some Excaliburs too (my new favorite cigar, thanks to Jeff).


We did NOT buy this:



Back to the hotel, where we found out the hotel was letting us use one of their meeting rooms for free, and Bob was getting his sound system set up again.


What's more, we had an overhead door that opened up on the parking lot, so we could have a indoor/outdoor party.


So the Kansas Party II was on, and it was bigger and better than the first night.


Ahab the Arab showed up!


A good time was had by all.

And that's all...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

ALLR Day 4 - Charleston WV to Louisville KY, and the Kansas Party Part I

Today was much shorter in terms of miles, but we had the usual stress of getting through a major city at rush hour. Other than one bike getting dropped - while stopped on the on the interstate no less, there were no incidents. We got into the Holiday Inn Hurstborne, and after getting settled into our rooms, set about making the preparations for the 2nd annual pool party. This year, we had a tremendous amount of help and support. Bob Couch brought his sound system and DJ'ed for us, and the staff of the Holiday Inn was great, especially Ron the maintenance guy. (He can also sing karaoke pretty well.) Bob always closes the night with the playing of taps and then Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA", and everyone stands in a circle and holds hands. Not a dry eye in the house.

Starting out in the rain...


Kentucky!


Looking back along the road somewhere in KY...


At a gas stop...


The parking lot at post 201 in Louisville - with 251 bikes...


Group J - Dennis McDonough from Mulvane was Road Captain, T from Wichita was ARC, and yours truly was the Tailgunner.


Here is the Kansas delegation presenting over $46,000 to National Commander Rehbein.


Sooner or later, you've gotta do some laundry...


Back to the hotel to host the Kansas party...




Even Elvis showed up!


A good time was had by all. Tomorrow night I'll post more pics from the ALR meeting on Saturday, Sunday's parade and our visit to the last operational WWII LST.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Louisville!

Well, I missed a day. My apologies.

Ok. Are you over it yet? Good. I am.

Had a good ride from Charleston - a little rain to start the day, but it ended quickly and the rest of the ride was great. Arrived at Post 253 in Louisville with 251 motorcycles. For some reason I'm having trouble getting pictures to post - will look at that later. Today is the ALR meeting at the convention center. and some sightseeing.

More later!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

ALLR Day 3 - Front Royal, VA to Charleston, WV

We had a great day Wednesday - the Flight 93 memorial being the high point of course. Today was a mixture of interstate and the kind of curvy, twisty, two lane that I and many others on the ride enjoy. We were treated to a fantastic breakfast at Post 53 in Front Royal, then Lynchburg Post 16 treated us to lunch at Glen Maury Park in VA. We then headed for Charleston via US 60. Had a great ride through the mtns, and after the usual stressful ide though town, got to the hotel about 6pm.

Early Thursday morning - Group J is ready to ride!


On the road...



That'll have to do it for today...see you tomorrow!