Saturday, November 20, 2010

Old Lemay Ferry Road

Sometime ago I was looking at the map and noticed Old Lemay Ferry Road. I made a note to one day check it out, and today was the day. But first there were some things that needed be done.  I wanted to lube Billie's chain. Also, there were some errands that had to be taken care of. One of the errands took me to Maplewood Scooter Company. When I walked in Ed asked me if I was there to wish him Happy Birthday. Of course, even though I hadn't known it was his birthday, I said, "Yes." We chatted for a while and I mentioned I was headed out to see where Old Lemay Ferry Road went. He told me he knew where it went.

It seems there is a covered bridge at the end of Old Lemay Ferry Road. Ed thought there might even be a thread on the St. Louis Scooter Club Forum dedicated to pictures of scooters taken in front of this Bridge. I don't know if there is such a thread or not. I didn't look it up. Before I left the Shop he made me promise to post a photo on the Company's Facebook Page of Billie in front of the bridge. I promised I would.

I left Maplewood Scooter Company and ran the other errands. They took longer than I thought they would. They always seem to. And, I was beginning to get nervous. Ed had mentioned that Sandy Creek was quite a ways out. I wasn't at all sure what that meant especially since he runs a much bigger scooter than my Billie.

It was drawing close to 2:30pm when I finally headed out. With sunset at 4:30pm I wondered if  there was going to be enough  time for me to reach the Bridge, but I decided I'd go ahead and ride out as far as I could. If I wasn't there by 3:30pm I'd turn around and head for home whether I made it or not.

The first part of the ride was out Lemay Ferry Road, which is the new road that made the road I was headed for the "Old Road". (New) Lemay Ferry Road is four lanes and rather busy. Of course, it seemed that I was stopping at every stoplight. At one of the stoplights I took a picture of a Go-Scooter.
Check out the top case.

I finally made it to Old Lemay Ferry Road. It turned out to be a fun road. There were lots of nice views but no where to pull off to take a picture. It was 3:15pm and I was beginning to think I was going to have to tell Ed, I'd squandered a great Autumn riding day doing errands. But at 3:20 I arrived at Sandy Creek Covered Bridge Historical Site. It was just that sudden. I'm riding along and there it was: The end of the road.
I parked Billie where I could get a photo of her and the Bridge. I'm told that some people have ridden their scooters up close to the Bridge to take their picture. I heard that a few have even rode over the Bridge and had their pictures taken on the other side. But, that's not my style. I'm a pathological rule follower.
I did walk up to the Bridge to get a closer view.
I glanced at the display but didn't really read very much of it. I was thinking I should get going. I wasn't excited about being in deer country at dusk.


I was walking back to Billie after making a pit-stop when a dog demanded I take her picture. 
When I mounted Billie to leave I looked down at the odometer. It read 6001 miles. Another milestone.

I headed back toward St. Louis. This time I was able to get at least one photo of the road.
This was in a valley. I went through a couple of these. There were hills, too. Some of the hills were steep enough that I had to shift all the way down to second gear. That said, I only pulled off the road twice to let cars pass.
I went through the little town of Antonia. About all there was, was a sign.

Bulltown?
I made it back to St. Louis as the Sun was setting.

 Life is good.

4 comments:

  1. Glad you found the end of the road. Not quite what one hopes for as at the end of the rainbow...but definitely not bad. "Pathological Rule Follower", I like that. Me too. Though I am slowly learning to break few of them. :) Looks like it was a good ride.

    -Lori

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  2. Keith:

    regardless of how good weather we have, I always do my errands first before going for ride too. It's hard to enjoy yourself when you are racing the clock before the store closes.

    It's always nice to find new roads and explore

    bob
    Wet Coast Scootin

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  3. Lori,
    Wow, end of the road sounds so final :)

    It was a good ride. When Heather read the post she said, "It's sort of boring." You know what? I like boring.

    Thanks again for stopping by and commenting.

    ~Keith

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  4. Bob,

    It is good to have roads to explore. I was a little sad that Ed had told me about the covered bridge. It would have been a nice surprise.

    I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who does the errands first. That way when I get to the ride I can just ride.

    Thanks for the comment.

    ~Keith

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