Athens, Georgia

Picture: On the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi

Well I made it, 1319 miles according to the GPS. I will have to trust it as I neglected to record my mileage before I left home Monday morning. I plan to update my epic ride in the next couple of days so check back for all the exciting details.

Monday May 21, 2007

The forecast strong wind was already making it's presence known when I pointed the Dubya South to meet my friend Richard in Lindsborg. Wonder of wonders, the normally late running Richard is packed up and ready to roll. As we were about ready to head out our ROMEO riding buddy Evan stopped by to tell us good bye so I had him take a picture.

Let the adventure begin! Two old men on 650 twins on the open road, it ain't exactly Wild Hogs but it ain't bad either. The plan is to make out way South to hwy 400 then drop South again to pick up Oklahoma 10 and 59 to Heavener, OK where we would spend the night. I will continue on to Georgia alone and Richard will head back North. Other than the wind blowing a gale the first few hours were delightful. The flint hills were spectacular as usual although it is hard to enjoy the scenery when you're on a high speed broad reach fighting to stay in the right lane and worrying about the semi playing tag with tail light.

It was nice to get off the super 2 and a more sedate pace. Lunch in Sedan, KS, home of Emmit Kelly the clown, then into Oklahoma. The first thing I noticed about OK roads is that no matter how small and rough the speed limit is 65. Since there is little traffic we proceed at a slower pace. Once we got a little further South in OK the roads and views were a treat. Winding through the mountains wind is no longer a factor and the road has enough curves to be entertaining but they aren't severe enough to scare to crap out of a flat lander. My riding buddy of course is an old had at this kind of riding and I can see him in the rear view just cruising along enjoying the cushy comfort of his newly acquired V-Star.

A couple of hours out of our planned overnight the rain started. Just enough to make me stop and through on the Frog Togs. Then it stopped, then it started, off and on all the way to Heavener. I guess my new Bridgestone BT45's were a good choice since I had no problems at all. Found a nice motel (one of two, the other on was nasty looking) with a unique restaurant across the street. Heavener is obviously a railroad town and the restaurant was an old rail car that had some very ornate decorations. Food was nothing to brag about but the staff was friendly so it was OK.

Tuesday May 22, 2007

I woke up around 4am to the sound of rain and when I rolled out at 0640 it was steadily coming down. I don't remember anything in Wild Hogs about this.........................It is May 29 as I continue editing and has been so long that I am forgetting stuff. Long story short, it rained, the wind blew and I made it to Athens on Wednesday May 23.

As far as entertaining details go about the only notable thing was my short ride on the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. I was just tooling down hwy 82 when I saw the sign so took the exit and found myself on a beautiful two lane. Richard had encouraged me to ride on it so I did.......for about 100 yards. Stopped, snapped some pics and got back on 82. I do plan to ride on it a little further on the trip home.

Upon arriving in Athens my daughter asked if I would like to go to Bike Night at a local bar/cafe so we went straight there for food and a well deserved beer. Mostly HDs but a few customs, some old stuff and one new MV.

While here in Athens my daughter, son-in-law and I have gone on a few rides, including a run to Madison, GA where we had ice cream at Scoops, a famous local spot. While in there the owner lady asked me about my Kansas Motorcycle Museum t-shirt and said her husband was talking about stopping my there on his way to Sturgis this summer.....small world. Also got together with a fellow Dubya rider that I met off the W650 Riders Yahoo Group. He was on a cherry 2000. Nice guy, maybe we will cross paths again one day.

I'm heading back Thursday with stops at the Barber Museum in Birmingham, AL, Benton, AR and a family reunion in Oklahoma. Should be home Sunday or Monday. There are unedited pics in the Ride to Georgia folder.

Thunder on the Smoky

Picture: Judges look over the REB....."what the hell is this thing Bubba?"

Alas and alack, no trophy for the REB at the Thunder on the Smoky bike show. There were sure lots of lookers and every time I was around the bike people would be asking me questions. There appeared to be only about 25 entries but some very nice bikes and a Moto Guzzi of some sort took the peoples choice award. The class winners were mostly Harleys. I have some pics to post and will get them up today.

Watched the flat track races. Lots of different classes and the bigger bikes really get with it. That was the first racing I've seen in years, brought back lots of memories.

The tire on the Dub is holding so barring anything unforeseen I leave for Georgia in the morning. I still haven't packed, if I took everything I think I needed I'd have to pull a trailer.

Ride to Georgia, the Night Before

Picture: Packing for the trip.

Got everything packed up ready for an 0730 departure in the morning. I'll pick my friend Richard in Lindsborg and hopefully be far enough South in a couple of hours that we won't have to fight the strong winds that are predicted for Central Kansas tomorrow.

Unless I find a motel that will let me use their computer this will be the last entry until I arrive at Pam and Eric's Wednesday or Thursday. Your thoughts and prayers for a safe journey would be appreciated.

Flat Tire May 18, 2007

The last thing I expected this morning was a flat on my brand new Bridgestone BT45. Yet when I tried to move the Dub and couldn't roll the dang thing I knew something was wrong. Yep, there it was, rear tire flat as a pancake. I couldn't find anything stuck in it so called the Kawasaki dealer where I had purchased it expecting a hassle and the service manage said "bring it in, we'll figure something out".

Gave my good buddy Pat a call and we got his trailer hooked up and hauled the Dub to Outlaws. Since I could barely push the bike I didn't think I could load it onto the truck. Thinking back I should have used my AARP towing service but didn't want to take a chance of not getting it fixed today.

The dealership determined that the tube had been pinched on installation just as I suspected, and fixed it up for nothing. Good thing, had I had to pay for it, it would have been $106. Pretty damned expensive flat.

I got the REB all shined up for the bike show tomorrow. I'll post some pictures with the trophies tomorrow.

Colony, KS 5-16-07

I didn't make the ride to Colony but it looks like they had a good time. About 50 bikes turned out. Thanks to Mel, Jim, Joyce and Larry for the pics in the Colony, KS album.

Since I was there here is Richard's ride report for Colony:

Guys - Well, after three failed attempts due to rainouts, we finally made it to Colony. What a day it turned out to be too. Blue sky, small, puffy, non threatening cotton ball clouds and best yet....no wind. Even though we had a decent turnout, I was quite surprised we didn't have even more but the staff at the cafe were pleased to see as many of us as there were.

They seemed to have as much fun with mixing it up with our group as we did. Did you see them taking photos? I'll bet they will end up gracing the wall in there sometime soon. They were so happy we came and I enjoyed the photos Max took having fun with them. They were observed shortly after his photo shoot with the water gun so I'll bet he got back some of what he gave.

We must have made quite an impression with some of the cafes regular customers as well because a lady came up to my wife, Joyce, after they had eaten, and asked her how you go about getting into this group saying to her "it looks like so much fun". It is! Hey, did I mention....NO WIND!

So many folks had arrived early and had taken off before we got there I'm sure the sign up sheet doesn't reflect the true turnout. In fact, I know it doesn't because Avin is not recorded and I can distinctly recall him there and there were a few others as well. Someone near noon counted bikes and mentioned 43 but this didn't reflect those that took off early and the few who came in later. As best I can tell we had somewhere near 50 total. Not a record breaker, but a fine turnout to sample what I knew would be a great meal. And it was!

The chicken fried steak was near best I have ever had and the folks that ordered the ham special seemed satisfied if not overwhelmed. Paul Leddy sitting across the table from me was quit taken with the amount of meat on the ribs but it looked too messy and undignified to eat in public for me. To this guy, ribs and corn on the cob should be eaten at home in private......in the dark. It's not often I forego dessert but I had to pass on it wednesday. Just wasn't room.

I really thought I had long distance nailed this week. I came in with an odometer reading 170.5 miles. I could have taken a longer route but I would have been late again so I was happy with what I had when Bob Lundquist piped in that it wasn't good enough 'cause he had 171. He must have taken the outside lane all the way in from Hutch.

Paul Leddy with high mileage mentioned that he had once again taken the long way in and recorded 180 plus miles from Andover. I picked up his mileage from the sign in sheet but it was hard to read the sheet for all the greasy fingerprints. Must have been quite a few others who had the ribs as well!

I got a kick out of how Bill Chase from Overland Park indicated his mileage on the sheet.

Bill recorded 18,800 miles to lunch but i'm not buying it. My guess is that's his odometer reading.

On a positive note, it was good to see a couple of our old ROMEOS up and about again after recent surgery. Don Hall was looking good after hip replacement and his Scarabeo is as spotless as ever. He says the cane is temporary and it will be going soon. And it was great to see Dave Roby up and around and looking chipper. I think he now has bionic knees. Welcome back guys, good to see you again!

Oh, I need to mention that we're going to try adding something different to these reports. We're going to showcase someones bike each week. I'm leaving it up to Joyce to take the photos of a bike that, for some particular reason, rings her bell. It could be unusual. It could be colorful. It could be gaudy or......not. Whatever the reason, or for no reason at all, it will be the featured bike of the week.

Now, i'm going along with this because I like to trade bikes. Probably not as often as Jeff Blevins but frequently nevertheless. Shhhhhh......Joyce probably will not catch onto this so don't tell her but if I can uncover the reasoning in her choices, it just might help me in my next acquisition. After all, this is her hot button choice, right. I think this will work!

Now, ladies and gentlemen...........(drum roll, please) the hot bike of the week belongs to...............Jim Christison, a 1994 BMW R100GS (see photos below).

What Was I Thinking?

I opted not to go on the ROMEO ride to Colony, KS today, too much to do, too little time to do it, etc. Turns out to be a gorgeous day, low 70's, clear, no wind, damn fine day for a ride.

Oh well guess I'll spiff up the REB in preparation for the Thunder on the Smoky bike show in Marquette, KS on Saturday http://www.ksmm.us/thunder.htm. It is a ride-in show so thought I'd pay my $10 bucks and let them figure out what to do with the REB.

Flood in Salina, Tornado in Greensburg May 06, 2007

Six inches of rain last night, torandos a few miles North of us, you got to love Kansas in the Spring. Just got an e-mail from an old Navy buddy of mine that lives in Missouri he and some friends were on their way to Arizona and stopped in Greensburg, KS for the night. Yep, that's the same Greensburg that got wiped out by the tornado last Friday night. He and his friends are OK but lost their bikes. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

I misunderstood about the bikes, after talking to Wally I learned that they spent most of the night digging three of the bikes out from under rubble and all five of them rode back to Missouri the next morning. A Kansas City TV station interviewed them and I got to watch it on the news last night. I hope to have some pictures of the bikes posted soon. Good stuff, lucky guys.

Wally's bike under the wall.

After clearing off the debris.

This is the room that Wally and his friend rode out the storm. Their bikes are under the wall on the left.

For more photos look in the albums for "Greensburg, KS Tornado".

Lunch in Galva, KS (my hometown)

Yesterday's official ROMEO (Retired Old Motorcyclists Eating Out) lunch was canceled due to nasty weather in the Eastern part of Kansas. Not wanting to waste a perfectly good (no active tornadoes in area) riding day Neil, Richard and I meet up to try out the 56 & Main cafe in Galva, on his antique Honda XL, and I on the REB rode to Lindsborg to meet Richard who rode his Scarabeo. Joining us was Jim and his little dog. Jim had a bad crash a year or so ago and is sticking to four wheel for now. He followed in his truck.

56 & Main is in an old house but is fixed up pretty nice on the inside. With table cloths, tasteful wall paper and pictures it was not what ROMEOs have come to expect. Since there was only one other person there we had our choice of seating. Interestingly enough four other people came in while we were there and I knew them all. Menu was varied and tasty if a bit pricey. My hometown of Galva has five places that you can get food and no beer joint, go figure.

We had a nice lunch and visit with the highlight being Neil showing Richard a trick with a cloth napkin that I am sure will be repeated at many future lunches. Of course Richard may have to bring his own napkin giving the class of eating establishments that he usually selects.

The drizzle we hit just before arriving stuck around and we rode in the wet all the way home. The REB seems to like the cold and wet, never missing a beat and the valves clacking out a nice tune as I thumped along at 60mph (Royal Enfield indicated). Neil's straight piped XL doesn't thump, it barks. Sounds pretty cool when he is backing off on it to stop.

If the spelling and wording look screwed it is Yahoo, not me.