Olpe, KS 5-14-08

The day started out a little different with the Salina and Lindsborg ROMEOs meeting in nearby Gypsum for the ride to Olpe.  With Richard in the lead six of us began a leisurely jaunt toward our first planned rest stop in Council Grove.  I was just enjoying the ride and lack of cross wind when I noticed blinkers ahead indicating a turn to the south.  The little green sign said Wilsey, one mile.  What the heck! must be a little cafe there that Richard wants to check out. No such luck, it's been many a year since Wilsey has seen a cafe or much of anything else for that matter.  The little town made someone's list of Kansas ghost towns and that's what the downtown was, just boarded up buildings.  What had once probably been a thriving community was now a ghost town.  No one took any pictures, we just stopped in the middle of the old main street and gawked like tourists.

When we pulled onto a side street in Council Grove before we got to the convenience store it became apparent that Richard was in his tour guide mode today.  This stop was to check out The Hermit's Cave.  You can Google that one if you're into Council Grove History.

Marty and Richard in the Hermit's Cave.

 

Another 40 miles put us in downtown Ople at the Chicken House, one of the more famous chicken restaurants in Kansas.  Most of the crew had already arrived and the parking lot was full of bikes.  The preliminary count was 53 but I'm thinking with some of the late arrivals there had to be at least 60.  

The ROMEOs are accustomed to ordering off the menu and as you can imagine the tastes of a geezer crowd this size are pretty varied.  If you didn't like chicken you were out of luck today, it's a chicken house and by damn chicken is what you got.  The salads were already on the tables and it wasn't long before a plate of fried chicken was down and ready to eat.  Pretty tasty bird.

After the parking lot social hour the crowd started dwindling and we mounted up for the trek back home.  We were joined by Denny on his big black Gold Wing.  I like riding close to Denny, we have the same taste in music.  The parade only got the ten miles to Emporia before we wheeled into a parking lot to check out a custom sidecar rig we had spied on the ride down.  It was a beauty as you can see from the photo.

Dairy Queen in Council Grove is a biker friendly place with picnic tables and, once the leaves get grown, shade trees.  We met the owner on a previous stop, he was out back washing his Gold Wing.  Told us he was the town mayor.  We didn't see him today but wondered how his political career was going.

The trouble with these ride reports is how to end them without getting poetic, lyrical, eloquent, or philosophical, and exposing my limited journalistic talents.  Let's just say we made it home and it was a good motorcycle day.

BOW

Our Fearless Leader forgot his camera today so he delegated me to pick the BOW.  This shiny Honda CBX reached right out and smacked me with one of it's six header pipes as I walked by. 

ROMEOism

After the day's ride and while attending a church supper a friend commented that her BMW riding brother from Ottawa had gone to lunch in Olpe today.  Small world, sorry I missed you John.