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.
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