Rat Bike No More

A few months ago (4-22-09) I posted an entry about our lunch ride to Hesston, KS and included a picture of Neil's Kawasaki Voyager that someone gave him.  He has been ridding it all stripped down, without the fairing and it had a distinct, Ratbike look. 
Another of the ROMEOs, Louie has been experimenting with air brush painting and has gotten pretty good.  To the point, Neil and Louie decided to tackle the rat.  Here are the amazing results.

A Ride on the Mild Side

I uploaded my ROMEO video from yesterday's ride to Galva onto Youtube.  No one will accuse the ROMEOs of riding with wild abandon.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoT2NoHTM3w

Galva, KS 8-12-09

It was a rare solo ride to lunch in Galva this morning but it only lasted until I caught the Lindsborg bunch south of Lindsborg.  I got the idea to get ahead of them and catch a little video of ROMEOs riding.  I blew around them at the first opportunity with the intention of stopping and shooting them as they came around a corner.  The first indication that my plan had gone wrong was the headlight in my rear view after about five miles.  It seem Richard can't stand to be passed when he is on his scooter and he was in hot pursuit. He and Joyce caught me before I could get the camera out to start my little video.  The other fly in the pudding were the remaining ROMEOs.  Instead of rounding the turn and proceeding down the road they were like a bunch of curious old dogs and had to stop to see what was going on.  I guess a guy with a camera waving them by didn't register.  

I have gone past that nasty looking pole north of Galva dozens of times and always thought those were snapping turtles nailed up there.  I was wrong as they are catfish heads, some big ones too.

Around 27 ROMEOs showed up for lunch at the Kountry Kafe and the place was pretty well packed when I entered.  It didn't take long though and I got to visit with some Galva friends while I waited.  The buffet was worth the wait as usual.

I followed Richard and Joyce to Marquette for ice cream and a visit to the museum.  A leisurely ride down Falun road wound up a nice day as Richard and I parted ways.  Fourteen curves on Falun road if anyone is interested.

Galva, KS 8-12-09

Catfish heads decorate a power pole north of Galva, KS

Kountry Kafe

Thor's Roar 2009 Lindsborg, KS

Pat, Neil and I journeyed to Lindsborg this morning for a Biker's Breakfast.  Guess 9am must have been too late because the breakfast buffet was looking bare but we gave it a go just to support the city of Lindsborg.  This rally had been rained out the first two years so we wanted to do our share.  Don't think the cafe was prepared for all the business.

Fairly typical rally, lots of loud Harleys, black leather and some nice customs.  The Patriot Guard Riders made an entrance with flags flying, impressive as always.  Just a random thought here but how is it that all the motorcycles rallys have this military connection?  The PG has their thing where they recognize the vets and active duty people, that's all well and good but what does it have to do with motorcycling?  For anyone reading this that doesn't know me I am a retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer with almost 23 years of active duty so I feel qualified to speak.  I guess I just get tired of all these leather wrapped, bad ass looking wanttobe bikers representing my military.  nuff of that rant

They had a good turn out of vendors, maybe even more than the rally in Marquette.  One lap around the two blocks they reserved for bikes and vendors and we saw about all there was to see so we let the wind blow us home before it got too hot.

Thor's Roar 2009 Lindsborg, KS

Main st looking north

Enterprise, KS 8-5-09

The idea of getting in a good ride before lunch and before the afternoon heat turned out to be a wise decision.  The temperature never reached Tuesday evenings 100 degree mark but once it goes over 90 who counts?  

My thought was to ride to Junction City then take J Hill road south and around back to Enterprise and Rachel's cafe.  After the prerequisite stop at the Harley boutique for free coffee (I passed on the doughnuts) Pat and I made our way to J Hill only to find it still closed.  Back tracking wasn't so bad as it all looks different.

As we rounded the last curve before Entertrise the ROMEOs were quite evident in their bright day glow green shirts. 

 A large group had gathered around a brand new H-D that cost a reported $35K.  WOW, nice bike but too steep for me.

Rachel's was nice enough but obviously over whelmed by the large group of ROMEOs.  By the time the ROMEO aged waitress got to our table they had ran out of both specials.  No problem, hamburgers always work.  Turned out to be pretty good too.

We got into a large groups of riders leaving town with a destination of Russel Stovers and ice cream.  Pat, Niel and I passed on the ice cream and called it a

 day while it was still cool.

Enterprise, KS 8-5-09

What the heck was the name of that place? Rachel's Cafe

Kanopolis, KS 7-29-09

I have gotten so dang lazy with this blog that I hardly post anything anymore.  For that reason I lifted Richard's RIDE REPORT from www.RomeoRiders.com/forums and shamelessly posted it here, with my own editing of course:

Lunch at Orozco's Cafe in Kanopolis, KS:

There were twenty eight that took advantage of the fine fall like weather this July day to arrive in Kanopolis for lunch. The Breakfast location for the South Central guys located in Arlington was only a short 60 or so miles away so Bill Wilson and Gibbo took advantage of it to 'hit' two ROMEO destinations today. There may have been others and some I talked to had considered it but just didn't follow through with the plan. 
I rather think a whole day of ROMEOing about seems like a very good way to spend a day especially when it was as nice as this one.
I'm still doing grand children duty so I wasn't able to go on for ice cream even though I considered it heavily. I heard that Freddies Frozen Custard over in Salina was the spot selected. Custard? I hear it's better than it sounds! I may break down and give it a try before passing judgement. But doesn't Ice Cream just have a better ring to it?
Multi wheeled bikes of all types seemed to be the center of attention today. A sidecar rig, a regular kind of tryke and an articulated wheeled Piaggio MP-3 kind of set the stage for unusual vehicles parked on the short main street of town. It brought out some locals and kept some ROMEO's busy gawking while others were already cleaning their plate. 
Town history was a subject discussed with some locals and a few in our group that I talked with had never been here before even though they had resided in Kansas for quite a spell. 
This is one of the finest ways to see the State yet devised as far as I can determine. Close up and personal and long enough to just 'sit-a-spell'.Richard failed to mention that he got a surprise before lunch.  Denny had been busy circulating a card for everyone to sign to thank Richard for his dedication, devotion of time and hard work in arranging the ROMEO lunch rides for many years.  The card and small honorarium were little thanks for this weekly commitment so let's all remember to let him know how much we appreciate his work the next time we see him.