First Longer Distance Trip Chicago to St. Louis

[kbankovi]

This weekend I'm planning on taking the Fiance' on the GS from Chicago to St. Louis down old rt. 66.  I say longer trip because I've never ridden past 3-4 hours on my own and we'll be two-up.  Taking our good ol' time and if we don't make it to St. Louis no big deal.  Hoping to get some good photos & nice weather.  Anyone else ridden on this route before?  Should I expect a lot of traffic??  If it gets too congested I can always slide on the 55 which runs parrallel for a little ways.  Also not sure where we will stay at in St. Louis.  I don't want to make travel arrangements in case we turn around.

[Bluesmudge]

I hope she has had some seat time with you on the GS. Our bikes are not the most comfortable for a passenger.

[bombsquad83]

You will go right by my house in Normal!

[jestercinti]

I hope she has had some seat time with you on the GS. Our bikes are not the most comfortable for a passenger.

^^ What he said.  My wife went on the back of my bike, and after 20 minutes she said "Get me off of this thing...NOW!"  Also make sure you are comfortable with her on the back.  With my wife on it, her weight suddenly pushed me into the tank.  not comfortable at all.

[NesquikNinja]

be very cautious as you get closer to the city. I live in STL, and the drivers are idiots. They pay zero attention and speed like no other.  I'd avoid 55 as you approach STL.

I think it'd be best to go on a nice, long ride around your area. If for whatever reason your uncofrtable, your close to home. It'd be a good trial, and you don't have to go far to ride all day.

[Gunslinger]

I live in STL, and the drivers are idiots.

I'm in St. Chuck...and I agree.

[mimikeni]

I'm in Springfield and there are many tourist attractions here (as well as it being an affordable stopping point).  I'm traveling that route northbound in June when I ride up to Bloomington for the MSF advanced rider course.  It is not a heavily traveled road unless there is a Route 66 festival going on.  Much better than playing tag with 18 wheelers on I55. I agree with the others about the seat. I've read how a pair of padded bicycle shorts help and I bought an ATV seat pad to try out for longer rides.  Good luck.

[bombsquad83]

Nice.  Another person coming through/to Bloomington.

[TonyKZ1]

Sounds like a nice trip and a lot of fun, keep us updated on it. That also sounds like something I wouldn't mind doing myself, Rt. 66. On my riding list is the River Road, a road that goes along the Mississippi River. I'm about 30 miles from Cape Girardeau, MO on the river.
Tony

[kbankovi]

She's ridden about 2 hours tops so far and is pretty good at enjoying it.  Ridden plenty of times to get her used to how she should sit and pay attention in case I need to stop quickly and she has riding pants which should provide a little extra cushion.  Had a few close calls where she slid down and smashed my boys  .  Like I said I'm in no hurry to get to STL and even if we make it to Springfield I would be happy.  Thanks for the advice!  I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures along the way.

[kbankovi]

Well it was a great trip but we only made it to Springfield.  Seeing that we stopped so many times to take pics and breaks it took about 6 hours to get there, mostly on rt 66.  We took 55 a few times but freaking truckers were passin us at 70 like we were standing still!    If we are going to make another trip the seat is definitly getting modified.  We weren't tired from the wind blast just that our butts were killing us. It was 90 too but we weren't really bothered by it too much.  The bike ran great other than a minor breakdown.  I had original plugs at 15K miles and I think they just went on our trip back home.  I swapped them with 2 spares and it ran great after the change.  The old plugs had an ashy white look so they weren't black or anything to suggest they were fouling out.  Made it home about an hour sooner by taking 55 more than we did going down.  I'll try to post pics of the trip later.