Wow. That was the word that came to mind as we pulled into Dave Mungenast Motorsports. We rode up to the dealership and found a large group of folks gathered and in the middle of the entranceway to the dealership was a CB77 Superhawk and a large sign welcoming us to St Louis. Also there were some folks from American Honda. Regional Sales Manager Rick Haney, District Sales Manager Michael Yu, as well as District Service Manager Steve MacMinn were there as we rolled in!

The night before, we were having trouble uploading information onto our website and had help from a Best Buy employee that had just purchased a new Honda V-twin Shadow from The dealership. If it were not for the help of Derek from the “Geek Squad”, we would not have been able to upload last night. Derek stopped in to say hi before he went to work.

We had the privilege to meet the owner of the store, Mr. Dave Mungenast. Mr. Mungenast has a long history with American Honda and had raced many Hondas over the years. He became a Honda dealer in 1965 (another 40 year dealer!). His dealerships have grown over the years and also include numerous businesses including Honda and Acura automobile dealerships. His businesses currently have over 400 employees. Not bad for a motorcycle guy!

We also met with Dave Larson who has been with Dave Mungenast Motorsports since the store opened in 1965. Dave was instrumental in working with me to set up our visit. Carl Mungenast, Dave’s brother was also at the dealership and spent time talking motorcycles with us too.

We met scores of folks at the store, all interested in our ride and the bikes that we chose to cross the United States on. One gentleman in particular brought some pictures of his Superhawk from years past. Rich Yenicek had a 1964 CB77 years ago and was very interested in our bikes. Mike started his bike for Rich as he had not heard one run for about 30 years. He smiled and said that’s exactly how he remembered his exhaust tone!

Before we went on to the next phase of our day, we got a group of the folks in attendance to strike a pose in front of the store, then we all got in parade mode and Dave Mungenast led us all to his museum. Mike and I had heard of the museum but had never seen it. Boy, were we in for a surprise!

Mr. Mungenast’s museum, Classic Motorcycles L.L.C. (www.classicmotorcyclesllc.com) is to say the least, spectacular. When we got there, I peeked inside and told Mike he should stay out of this place! He said he already took a quick look through one of the windows and didn’t know if he could take what we were about to see!  We went inside and saw a full display of Honda motorcycles from the earliest years. No need to talk Honda history here, It is all there for you to see. This place is full of a different kind of “eye candy” that we have been accustomed to over the past couple of weeks but it is a remarkable place indeed!

There is memorabilia placed all over and bikes are located everywhere. This is another time when words or pictures do not do complete justice, but we did our best with pictures. My suggestion: If you are ever within 1000 miles of St. Louis, make sure you take the time to make a stop here! Becky Lewis and Russ Narzinski do an absolutely fabulous job here and you just HAVE to see it.

We met Marty Tripes who was instrumental in the development of the CR models back in the 1970’s. Marty came by after hearing about this event and had never been at the museum either. He had plenty to talk about and noted that a bike there was one of only 4 ever built where he and two other factory riders were the only ones to ever ride them. He was amazed to see that Dave had one of them. Turns out, it is owned by an individual that is preparing to move to Florida and was looking for a place to store it until he left. What a treat for us!

Now came the part of the tour that hit me pretty hard. As I was getting involved in this industry, my mentor, George Decker (who passed away after a very long bout with cancer a few years back) started me working on motorcycles for a living and also put me on a Hodaka motorcycle which started my moto-cross career. This Museum has all of the models that I raced and the same model Rokon that George raced as well. I am not afraid to say that I got a bit emotional after looking at these bikes again. If was not for George Decker, I would not be where I am today. God Speed George.

We were also thrilled to meet Richard Willey who broke records traveling around Australia on Kawasaki motorcycles. He traveled 10,000 miles in 6 days, 17 hours in 1987 riding a 1986 Concourse! He tried 4 times and broke his leg during one attempt waking up to find himself under the care of some nuns. He also rode a KZ 650 in 10 days and change. Makes us feel like punks! It was truly a pleasure to meet such a man.

We were the last ones to leave the museum and we would have stayed longer if it were not for the need to get to our next stop. We got a last picture before everyone left and after chatting with Becky and Russ (thanks for the suggestions on places to stop Russ but I’m not sure if we’ll make it!) we suited up and headed out of town. I got a shot of the Largest monument in the United States: the St. Louis arch which made of stainless steel, as well as the sign crossing the boarder going into Illinois. We missed the ones for Kansas and Missouri but I promise we were there!

We rode to our next hotel and got there just in time as a storm was chasing us down. We got the bikes under cover and settled in the room.

We only rode 79 short miles today but had a full day to say the least.

This brings us to an accumulated total of 2545 miles.

Tomorrow we visit Brad Niehaus in Litchfield Illinois