Ride Report: ALR Director’s Challenge April 2023

Points go up while ranking goes down

Southeast Missouri was blessed with some beautiful weather in April. After getting off to a good start in the American Legion Riders Director’s Challenge in March, I got even more riding in this month. Unfortunately for my ranking, so did everyone else. Even though my point total went up, 87 total, I was bumped from second place by very active riders in other parts of the state.

Although I was no longer quite so near the top of the standings, the Director’s Challenge continued to provide the perfect incentive to get out and explore areas that I thought I knew fairly well. My wife and I have and worked in the Dexter for over a decade, but I never truly paid attention to how many military related monuments there are in the community. Fully half of the points for this month were gained right in the town, including a small American Legion monument that I would not have found if one of my fellow Post 59 members had not pointed out.

The Director’s Challenge has also gotten me to take side streets in other communities as well. Even though I drive through Advance a couple times a week on my way to hospital visits, I never realized there was a memorial in the main city park.

Poplar Bluff was the second largest source of points for this month. Riders get points for visiting VA hospitals as well as monuments and static displays. Because my work regularly takes me to Poplar Bluff for visits and meetings with colleagues, I was even able to pick up some points while commuting.

April 2023 Stops:

1. Sikeston: VA Medical Clinic
2. Morehouse: Armed Forces Flag Display
3. Cape Girardeau: VA Medical Clinic
4. Advance: Veterans Wall
5. Bloomfield: Stars and Stripes static display
6. Bloomfield: 1221 National Guard Regiment memorial
7. Bloomfield: Missouri State Veterans Cemetery
8. Bloomfield: Stoddard County Veterans Monument
9. Dexter: American Legion Post 59
10. Dexter: Ken Silser Memorial
11. Dexter: Veterans Wall
12. Dexter: Vietnam War Memorial
13. Dexter: American Legion Park monument
14. Poplar Bluff: VA Hospital
15. Poplar Bluff: Veterans Wall
16. Poplar Bluff: American Legion static display

One stop that was particularly significant to me personally was the monument to Medal of Honor recipient Ken Sisler in front of the Dexter Library. He was a local resident who grew up with several members of the church I serve. He was killed in Vietnam and has local reputation as being one of the kindest individuals people can remember. Even though I never had the honor of meeting him, I am grateful that there are people like him in the world.