Day 69, September 18...Villa Ridge, MO to Cloverdale, IN

I rode from Columbia, MO yesterday to visit my Aunt Gladys in Villa Ridge, MO.  Gladys is 81 years old and acts like she's 51...she's really a lot of fun.  My uncle Glen had died almost two years ago, and I know Gladys misses him terribly, be she is still a lot of fun.

I got up early this morning and headed east on I-44 toward St. Louis to pick up I-70 toward Indiana.  I purposely avoided downtown St. Louis because of the "demonstrations" going on down there, but I did get to see the Arch on the way around the city on the bypass. I'm in Cloverdale, Indiana tonight, but I decided to go on into Indianapolis to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy) Museum.  It was very nice.  

It's actually located within the track itself, and they have a nice collection of Indy race cars going back to the winner of the first race in 1911:

There were quite a few other cars on display, including this 1964 car, which was the last front-engine car to win the 500, driven by A.J. Foyt:

Here are a few more of the cars that I thought were interesting:

The 1914 winner:

The 1912 Winner:

This car won in 1947 and 1948:

And a couple more pictures of the collection:

And...this is the trophy you win (but apparently can't take home):

Pretty nice braggin' rights, though...

Tomorrow, I'm headed east through Indianapolis, Dayton, and Columbus to Mansfield, OH for the night.  Gettin' close to home!

Miles today:  356
To date:  15,001