Vet on a Scoot June 21, 2007

You never have a camera when you need one. Today I drove the DAV van to the VA hospital in Topeka. One of the vets that I took from Salina had showed up on a 50cc scooter. I noticed after he climbed in the van that he had a cast on his right hand up to his elbow. He was a little hard to understand as he had some sort of throat problem but I gathered in listening to him talk to one of the other passengers that he was unable to operated the front brake and could only use the rear. What I saw when I dropped him off made me laugh. He had this big vice grip clamped to the throttle and was pulling on it with his casted right hand. When I last saw him he was happily tootling down the street pulling on his vice grip throttle.

Whatever works I guess.

Overbrook, KS 6-20-07

Picture: Unusual BMW chopper

Sometimes an unexpected incident can spoil your whole ride. Today was one of those rare Kansas days when the wind and the sun merge at exactly the right angle and you have great riding day.

Pat and I were just plodding along enjoying the sights, he on his Atlantic and me on the Dub. Council Grove is about half way to Overbrook so we thought a coffee break at the Hays House, the oldest continuously operated restaurant West of the Mississippi river. I was in front and signaling right, as was Pat. I pull into a block of empty angled spaces, executed a smart u-turn so I could back to the curb and got off the bike and started taking off my stuff. At this time a mini-van pulls into the space next to us and a well dressed middle aged lady gets out and starts reading me the riot act. "You never know what you motorcyclists are going to do!", she declared. She was smiling so I figured she was just being funny and was going to tell me she rode too. Such was not the case, she keep up the tirade finally saying, "oh I know it is just the bad ones that give you a bad reputation." All I could think to tell her as I pulled off my helmet and exposed my balding gray head was, "well we like to consider ourselves some of the good guys". She ended up my saying she rode bicycles and just didn't like motorcycles. Pat and I were dumbfounded to say the least. We never did find out what we did to upset her so much, it must have been our parking maneuver, maybe we took her favorite space or something. And to top it off the Hays House was closed so we had to drink convenience store coffee.

I must admit that I was more than a little upset at this woman. She was probably lucky she didn't go off on a "real biker" or she would have been in trouble. As usual I thought of several witty thing to say after the fact. I let this crazy lady ruin my ride.............for about 5 minutes.

There were already around 40 bikes parked in downtown Overbrook when we got there there at 11:30 but hardly anyone out kicking tires.

I think most of these old farts have to eat at 11am so they can get back home for their nap. We stayed outside and took pictures and looked at bikes while waiting for my ole Navy buddy, Wally, to show up from Lone Jack, MO. Wally and some friends were in Greensburg, KS the night of the big tornado so I knew he would have some stories to tell. He and his brother finally arrived close to noon and sure enough he came armed with pictures and tornado tales.

Ralph, Willy (me) and Wally

The little bar and grill was pretty overwhelmed, I guess there were close to 50 ROMEOs and only one waitress. We all managed to get feed and my hamburger was top notch. A bit more BSing with Wally and it was time to head back. We took a little long route back so we could ride the scenic area West of Eskridge. We stopped at the little connivance shop across from Late Wabaunsee looking forward to a cool drink and darned if it wasn't closed also.

Not having much luck with our rest stops today so we pushed on to Salina. About 283 miles of fun, fun, fun interrupted by one demented motorcycle hating bicycle rider.

Father's Day June 17, 2007

Picture: Sue gears up for her first ride in many years

My wife, Sue, decided that she would like for me to take her for a ride on Father's Day. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather! Maybe because none of our daughters were here she was filling in for them. Once she relaxed the death grip she had on my love handles we had nice little ride. Just around the neighborhood and then out to the airport area where there was little traffic. Never got over 40mph and she did just fine.

This was Sue's ride back in 1967, it is a Yamaha YDS-3, a wicked fast little 250cc two stroke. The bike is in the house because we had been on vacation and had no place else to put it. Below is me with my Honda CL-77. We rode together quite a lot and always had a good time. A woman riding back then was quite a novelity and little kids used to point a lot.

Moundridge, KS Ride Report June 14, 2007

Richard's accounts of our ROMEO lunches are so comprohensive and entertaining that I thought I would just publish the latest one here.

Guys - This seems to be the year of uncertainty when it comes to scheduling these rides. It's going to be even dicier when I have to do these several weeks out anticipating being gone on the wednesday being scheduled, but again, i'm sure we'll live through it.

The weather folks just add to the apprehension. They cry doom so often anymore they have become almost a laughing stock. But what would we do without 'em?

I can appreciate their predicament, but like today, it looked nasty but it was really quite pleasant out. Some of us got the tips of our pantleg damp but that was about all. Me, I took the scoot with floorboards and was as dry as a new sponge. The roads were sloppy though and everyone that attended will be washing the usual crud off of their bike and reshining all the sparkly sections.

Evan led the procession from my house down to Moundridge by the backroads and we went by Gary Blake's new place for all the guys to see. Gary, for those of you in the area around here, had Victory Motorsports in Moundridge until the Co-op cancelled his lease to use the building for themselves. Gary has now set up shop in a Morton type building behind his house and it looks sharp. Clean as a whistle and ready to repair your bike or install your tire. Give Gary a call. His cell phone is 620-242-6851 and his home phone is 620-345-3107. Tell him the ROMEOs have recommended him.

I've used Gary for a number of different things and i've ALWAYS been pleased. I recommend him highly! (this has been an unsolicited advertisement).

Eighteen of us showed up to experience a bit of culture at this new place in Moundridge and we were all quite impressed with the place. You can never make everyone happy however and this time it was my wife. She thought I had 'sold out' the little ma and pa places we frequent to go here. In hindsight, maybe I did! It certainly didn't appear they needed our business and some of the policies I observed and attitude I experienced said maybe she was right. But, they were new and just getting started. So, they have 'bugs' (pardon the expression) to work out. I guess i'm just a bit jaded by the true affection felt by the little places rather than the arrogance of oppulance we were all exposed to here.

This is 'man on two legs' sandwich yesterday! Now, tell me, would you have eaten this? To me it looks like a dog pooped on the bun....or worse! Richard

I can pretty well live and put up with anything in a cafe or restaurant but paying at your table isn't one of them. To me, it's just a policy that condones customer theft..... pure stealing. When you are presented with your bill, is it unreasonable to expect the waiter or whomever to return with your change? Does it have to take fifteen minutes, or longer? I consider the motive for this type of system to be one of waiting out the customer 'till he finally leaves in disgust or too embarrased to ask for his change back. I'm just stubborn enough to wait for my six dollars back out of a twenty dollar bill. Did this type system endear me to return anytime soon? Not on your life, and this little place will find it out sooner rather than later, i'm sure. Pardon the rant!

As fifteen bikes were lined up at the curb 'prior to' on time we visited streetside all the while eyeballing the lovely outdoor patio of the cafe. Unfortunately, the dark rolling clouds made that area too tenuous so we elected to dine inside. One feature of immense delight was the Kansas designed tableware. The KNORK brand was used exclusively and was a source of great pride to everyone 'till someone noticed the word 'china' on the back in really small letters. Oh well, they were designed in Newton, Kansas i'm told. Square china (there's that country popping up again) coffee cups were also quite unusual. Real cloth table napkins wrapped the silverware and I provided all those present at my table with an oragami lesson using the napkin. Everyone was well impressed, i'm sure, with this table culture at such a fine facility and quickly disavowed any knowledge of me. Joyce got up and left having been embarrased by this trick before. I explain it only by saying I owe it all to Neil. Remember to have Neil tell you the whole story sometime about how it came to be to fully appreciate it.

Denny Sexon gets the (drumroll, please) 'BOW' (bike of the week) and photos of his ride are attached below. Lee Hunt on his BMW rode in from Olathe showing a fresh 193 miles on his odometer and only got wet for a little while he said.

A new rider, Scott Burns riding a 1200 Sportster from Lindsborg came today and wondered about us, i'm sure, but he offered me his email so I guess we didn't scare him off.

And, a brang spanking new bike rolled in with a paper tag and we couldn't figure out who it belonged to 'till he took off his helmet......Bob Lundquist on his 'just bought yesterday DR650 Suzuki in Black. Congrats, Bob. That makes......let me see......

Don Typer and his wife rode in on his Mercury saying it was raining when he left....only 8 miles away, how wet could you get. Don? And, the infamous, 'Man on Two Legs' replete with shorts and sandals rode all the way there in his Toyota pick-um-up-truck! Joyce captured his order on photo and although I wouldn't be caught eating it, he seemed well satisfied.

Most riders today were on what Is termed mid sized bikes. Out of pure curiosity I sorted the bikes over or under 1000cc's and here's what I found today. Out of fourteen bikes present,

11 were under 1000cc and only

3 were over that engine size.

Curious huh! Again, I ask the question, has the world has gone superficially nuts over size!

Here's what was parked on the street..(in alphabetical order)

Aprilia 2

BMW 2

Harley 1

Honda 1

Kawasaki 1

Royal Enfield 1

Yamaha 1

Suzuki 5

other.......Mercury 1

Toyota p/u 1

Following lunch and being as close as we were to the locally famous 'SCOOPS' in Hesston, of course we headed there to once again solve the mysteries of the universe and ponder the question 'why isn't anyone listening'?.............Richard

Moundridge, KS June 13, 2007

Picture: Richard shows off his latest riding gear.

With a forecast of 50% chance of thunderstorms the Frog Togs get put in without much provacation. Anyway that's what I did as soon as Pat, Louie and I stopped at Richard's. It never did rain much on the way to lunch in Moundridge but we sure hit some wet roads so guess we just missed the big downpour. The FTs did a great job except for the bottom of my jeans. I really need to find something with a stirup.

Around 16 hardy souls showed up at the Block 32 Eatery & Pub, a newly opened establishment in downtown Moundridge, KS. Pretty fancy as far as ROMEO lunches go and it's a good thing the weather was poor or they would have been overwhelmed if 40-50 hungry old motorcyclists had descended on them. The food was OK but guess the place is so new the wait staff is still breaking in and they were friendly but slow.

Some of the troops made their was to Scoops in Hesston but Pat, Randy and I opted to head back to Salina. Nice ride back, no rain and the sun was peeking through when I turned off to go home.

Changed the oil in the REB since it was nice and hot. It's about time to change the Dubya too.........reminds me the Buick needs an oil change, lawn needs mowed too.....

Thanks to Pat for the pictures.

Photos on flickr 09, 2007

Haven't quite got the photo thing figured out. I believe Yahoo to be the problem so am going to try this. If you want to look at pictures from my ride to Georgia go to www.flickr.com/photos/wil6831 and look for the album "Ride to Georgia May '07".

Return Home June 06, 2007

After battling with Yahoo Photos for most of the morning I am still not able to upload additional photos of my trip.......oh well.

I made it home Monday (June 4th) afternoon, riding in from Pryor, OK in about seven hours. Got a late start Monday morning due to illness. I won't go into detail but suffice to say Imodium is my new best friend.

Backing up to last Friday when I left Georgia..........great ride to Birmingham where I visited the Barber Motorsports Museum. Had I felt better (sick Wed and Thur, same problem as above) it would have been much more enjoyable. What a place though! There were Motorcycles in there that I had never heard of and all in pristine condition. They looked like they would have started first kick and you could have ridden them around the track that was right beside the museum.

A Navy Harley?

They must have been having some kind of track day as there were several bikes making there way around the track at greatly varying rates of speed.

After fighting my way through Birmingham I got to Amory, MS and spent the night. I was only a few miles from the 2nd goal of the ride home to ride on the Natchez Trace Parkway. I jumped on just South of Tupelo for a short but enjoyable 35 miles ride down to pick up Hwy 82 to continue across Mississippi.

The Dub on the Natchez Trace

I could see the clouds building in the West as I rode Northerly toward Pine Bluff. My jeans got soaked and dried out once going through the aftermath of a heavy rain South of Pine Bluff so I was not hesitant to don the Frog Togs as I turned West into the blacking sky. Sure enough a couple of miles up the road and it was rain off and on all the way across Arkansas. As I approached Hot Springs it was apparent that I had made the right decision in canceling my visit with Robert in Benton, AR. Arkansas is a great bike riding State so hopefully I'll get to see Robert the next time down there.

The rain finally quit and the sky's cleared the closer I got to Mena, AR, my planned stop for the night. Mena was just finishing up their annual Lum and Abner festival so the town was full of hot rods and bikes from the show they had. My motel room was next door to an ole boy in a '67 Olds that had won the People's Choice award. We sat in front of our rooms and talked cars and bikes for a couple of hours.

The ribs I had for supper that evening were first rate but they were laying pretty heavy in my tummy Sunday morning as I made my way up the mountain to goal #3, the Talimena scenic drive out of Arkansas and into Oklahoma. I stopped at the Queen Wilamena lodge for breakfast and enjoy the scenic view. I must say the AR side of the trail was far superior to OK in that the road was better kept, the roadside underbrush as cut back and the scenic pull outs were maintained better. Sure would like to come back in the Fall.

At the Queen Wilimena lodge on the Talimena Parkway

Made it to Red Oak for the Eaves Family Reunion and had a nice visit with the relatives. Continued North out of Red Oak for more spectacular vistas over the short but impressive Sans Bois mountains. This is the area my mother was born and raised and where my grandfather ranched but it sure looked different than when I used to travel the dirt roads with them as a kid.

On to Pryor, OK and back to being sick..........

Good to be home, I think I got dehydrated and am still feeling a bit under the weather but already thinking about taking the REB to Minnesota for a Royal Enfield rally the end of the month.

Dubya performance: Ran like a top, no problems. Only problem was my two arse on an all day bike.