My buddy Dan recently got a new motorcycle. We talked about getting together to go riding and finally got around to it. I got off work just after lunch and called him to see about riding. Dan didn’t answer, but I just had to ride. So I left him a voice mail and then took off on my motorcycle. I occasionally checked my phone to see if he would call.
Eventually I did hear from Dan. He wanted to ride and would be ready at 4 pm. I changed course and headed to Downtown St. Louis to meet him for our ride. We took off into Illinois until we found I-255. Our goal was to head up North along the Great River Road. We wrapped around the highway North of town. We got off onto a lesser Illinois highway. Eventually after a fuel stop, we ended up working our way to the Great River Road. We took it West past Grafton. A minor detour took us up into Pere Marquette park where we stopped to check out the amazing view. 
Following the road out of the park, we went back towards Grafton and stopped at “The Loading Dock” for dinner and a beer. Its a fantastic place, motorcycles get preferred parking inside. The patio sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. We watched several boats going out for the weekend.
Full of food and ready to ride again, we decided to take the ferry across the river to head back. Brussels Ferry to Golden Eagle Ferry
Between the Brussels Ferry [Illinois River — and Free] and Golden Eagle Ferry [Mississippi River] is some fantastic riding. The roads are not quite fully paved, so motorcycles have to take it a bit slow, but the scenery is fantastic. Ultimately, we ended up at Mid Rivers Mall drive. From there, Dan and I split up. The ride home was dark as we had been riding for a while, but worth it!
Hogan Haake