Saw Les Baer Today

This week I went out on a short motorcycle trip with my dad. He and his brothers are retired and are going on a two week cross country trip together. I rode out with my dad to meet his brothers near Springfield, IL yesterday and made my way back home to Minnesota today.

I saw that my route along the Mississippi through Le Claire, IA was going to take me within about 2 blocks of Les Baer Customs. I thought it might be cool to check them out since I was going to be there anyway.

I am not a gun owner but I am very interested in 1911s. I spent a lot of time looking at them online during lockdown and saw the respect everyone has for Les Baer and his craftsmanship. Along the way, I started figuring they are unlikely to have a “welcome center” or a counter full of their custom pistols for visitors to look at. What was I going to find?

Let me just say, you are not going to have an easy time finding the shop even if you know where to look. I thought my GPS had led me down a dead end turn inadvertently and it was only later I realized how hidden away it is behind municipal buildings. Based on a few articles I read about their move to Iowa and the placement of the shop, I figured they are not in the habit of receiving unannounced visits from fans.

Just as was putting away my phone and pulling out of town, I saw Les Baer himself pull up to the stop sign in his pickup and turn towards the shop! His Tom Petty haircut makes him easy to recognize. Not wanting to bother them I figured that was enough.

tl;dr: I didn’t get to see Les Baer Customs but I did get to see Les Baer