Wednesday is the final day of STAR and its highlight is an evening banquet where awards are given away and the yearly MSTA raffle winners are drawn. Many people, knowing that they will be hitting the road to home on Thursday, use the final day of STAR to rest up a little bit. Typically, they take shorter rides during the day and spend much of the day socializing and packing. With the heat that we had this year, an early morning ride of a shorter distance was the plan for the majority of attendees. In my case, I met up with Norn, Jerry, Luis, and Yash for another run of the Little Roads Route. With its 130-mile length it was just what the doctor ordered for the group of us.
Once again, we started out around 7:30 that morning. The temperature was right around 72 degrees at that point but was promising to reach the upper 90’s by mid-afternoon. No traffic, good roads, good company, a brisk pace, and nice weather all made for a very enjoyable morning. We stopped once again at Moore’s Grocery for a quick break but even with that we were back by 11:30.
In the course of this report, I’ve mostly been writing about what I did during this event, but don’t let that fool you. In addition to the road routes that I rode, there were additional ones that I never made it to. On such was the Bixby Store Route that was right at 300 miles in length.
Another one was the Eminence Route that was 324 miles in length.
Some people figured that since Wednesday was their final day at STAR that they should take advantage of the time and do one of those longer routes before they had to leave. I would have liked to join them, but unfortunately other duties took precedent, as you will see later in this report.
In addition to those routes, many people decided to create their own routes, or decided to ride some of the Dual Sport Routes that were provided by Fred Ziglar and others from the area. One of the popular attractions to ride to was Metropolis, Illinois and see the “home” of Superman!
Another one that was also close by was the home of E.C. Segar in Chester, Ilinois, the creator of Popeye the Sailor Man!
There’s a small park and a statue of Popeye there for all to visit.
There are also an abundance of state and national parks in the area, along with many historical sites and cool little towns to explore. Many people took time to stop and photograph them.
Dual Sport riders had been provided with about a half-dozen different routes to choose from, and they all seemed to be quite popular, and all seemed to enjoy them.
In the interest of expanding the club’s appeal, especially to younger riders, we are encouraging all rally coordinators to add dual sport riding as a part of all of our rallies. Many of us started out many years ago on small trail bikes or enduro bikes, as they were known back then. My first bike was a 1973 Yamaha 125 Enduro. It had lights, fenders, and all the things needed to make it street legal, but also had some ability to ride gravel roads. Many others in the club have a similar story. Dual Sport bikes have become very popular with the club membership over the last 5-6 years or so. While sport bikes were once the most popular ride of MSTA members, over time that has evolved into sport-touring bikes, and today we see many more adventure-touring bikes in the parking lots than almost anything else. Most of them aren’t real “dual sport” bikes, but it is not that rare to see dual sports parked right alongside the adventure bikes, sport bikes, and touring bikes that other members have ridden to an event. 
As I stated earlier, Wednesday is the last day of our STAR rallies, and it ends with a banquet in the evening. But prior to the banquet, we try to gather as many of the attendees as we can for a group picture. We ask that as many of the attendees as can to please were one of the Rally t-shirts that they had an opportunity to purchase. A few member-volunteers take the picture. As one might imagine, getting 200+ motorcyclists to all come together at the same time, to stand still, and to smile is a little bit like herding cats, but invariably it all works out and comes together.
After the group picture is taken it is time for the banquet, for some awards to be given out, and for the grand door prizes and the annual raffle winners to be drawn.
The banquet ends when we give away some Super Door Prizes and do the drawing for our annual MSTA Members Only Raffle. Anyone that attends the rally can win the door prizes, but the raffle is Members Only. It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year and normally is a NEW MOTORCYCLE. However, this year because of supply chain issues causing dealers to be very short in inventory, we gave away 3 Gift Certificates from MOTOQUEST instead.
The Super Door Prizes were sets of tires from Michelin and Bridgestone, and riding suits from Aerostitch and KLIM. All the winner had to do was be present in the room.
The Grand Raffle prizes were a 7-day motorcycle rental, a $2,000 dollar gift certificate, and a $4,500 gift certificate, good for any tour that Motoquest provides around the world and in the US. Not bad for a $10 donation!
After all the banquet activities end it’s time for the last little bit of evening socializing and saying goodbye to friends. But while standing out front with a few attendees, a local rider showed up, and what a bike he showed up on!
It’s not very often that you see someone on a Bimota, and it’s even less often when it’s a new one with a $91,000 price tag! But there it was and the rider (whose name I unfortunately didn’t get as I wasn’t there when he showed up and introduced himself) was a real interesting person himself. An ex-AMA racer, originally from the Bronx, NY and now living in Cape Girardeau. Wow, he had some stories!
The next morning it was time to finish packing and loading, and time to head for home. Breakfast time saw a room full of fully geared riders who ate hurriedly, said last goodbyes, and then mounted their bikes for the ride home. “See you next year” and “have a safe trip” seemed to be the phrases of the day. Handshakes, hugs, and waving were the actions most seen, and just like that another STAR was done and gone. Lots of great new memories and new friendships made, old friendships renewed, stories told, and laughs generated are all part of the deal. So please make plans to join us next year in Knoxville, Tennessee for our 40th Anniversary STAR! June 10th-14th, the Holiday Inn, Knoxville-West is the location. C’mon down!