Wednesday North Central ROMEO Lunch Ride for 9-26-12

[Richard]

Guys - This is a new one we found last year and tried out and is a real hoot. It's most likely the smallest town we've ever been ever. It't amazing the place can survive but it's been in operation now over a year so they must be doing something right or it's just so unique that that alone draws its own interest. We all had a great time last year so here we go again!

Here's the place............................The St. Joe Store
2801 Noble Road
St. Joseph, Kansas
785-446-2801
Pat & Jo Girard, Owners

St. Joe is hard to find on the map so the easy way to get there is just drop down South from Clyde 5 or 6 miles


Here's the time..................................11:00 am


As always.............ride careful, ride safe and I'll see yo in St. Joe. Richard
http://tinyurl.com/Romeo-Rides-This-Week
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Guys - Timeline....this morning at the crack of dawn! Visualize lying in bed in peaceful slumber and thunderous lightning awakens you to raindrops on the glass paned window directly next to your bed. Then, a noticeable increase from quiet patter to full fledged spray as if it was from a lawn sprinkler. It came in cycles as if the spray was washing past left and right. This, I thought to myself, was Wednesday as I gradually gained consciousness. I laid there contemplating my options and finally took the line of least resistance and agreed to go back to sleep. I love sleeping on a rainy day but duty calls.
Some time later as I did my morning ritual, playing with my cat, Boomer, who faithfully comes in for a morning visit before commencing his cattly duty whatever that may entail, I peeked out through the blinds and noticed the rain has ceased.
The morinings a go I thought but also realized turnout would be slim today. due to what would naturally be we roads.
All the bikes were gassed and serviced but it's a no brainer for me on a wet road day.....it's the scoot. Mostly plastic so cleanup is a cinch. Five minutes with a wet rag and it looks good as new. Yep, that's the one for today!
True as a mothers love, the roads were wet and sloshy but as I pulled out onto I-135, it was bone dry. Traffic must have eradicated all trace of moisture. It was on the the meeting place in Salina and what.....nobody there....then a headlight appeared in my rear view and then another. Now there were three and over there sitting in his car was old Joe. Not gonna' get his bike dirty, not by a long shot!
We waited a while and decided we were it! I called the cafe and told them that turnout today would be a bit slim and they said a couple of guys just pulled up in front of their place. Well, at least we won't be alone and won't shame ourselves by
becoming a no-show group.
The ride up was delightfully cool. Sixty-nine degrees and gradually rose to an honest Seventy by the time we arrived. And yep, there were four others there as we arrived. A real mob for a day like today. As we stood outside chatting, off in the West appeared two more headlights. Now we were ten! A flash mob!
Special for the day was hot roast beef sandwich with smashed potatoes and green beans. Dessert was provided later of some kind of pudding. Very good and tasty but I couldn't identify what it was for certain. Could have been pineapple?
It had to be some kind of first for us although nobody took advantage of it....second helpings were offered. I only found out about this later or I would have offered to help reduce the inventory overage.
Thing about the day was.....half way through the meal.....the sky ripped open and I thought the flood was happening again for the benefit of those that had missed it the first time around. Several of the guys left to head home to order a houseboat but Delbert and I just hung around hoping things would just lighten up. They did about an hour later but it was still raining when we headed out. We rode in and out of rain most of the way home and I was in discord with myself for having failed to transfer my rain pants to the scoot prior to leaving this morning. I need to develop a checklist for days like this.
I was happy however with my great choice of a bike today. Rain protection is superb with hardly any drops landing anywhere other than on my full face helmet. Only problem with that however is with the upright position of the scoot, the water drips directly down onto your.....you guessed it! Lap! I bet you thought of something else didn't you!
Anyway.....a good time was had by all as they say. Delber Schriner wone the high mileage award today with 105 miles from Canton. Here's the town represented today......Lindsborg, Cuba, Concordia, Canton and Salina. It's great to see some new towns becoming represented now and then.
If things work out next week, we may be heading further West again. It will be the first Wednesday of the month again for my Sr. Center Board Meeting so I may be late. Don't wait on me!
Here's a few photos of the day......

[Al.]

Good thing I noticed the area code, or I may have ridden to St. Joe, KS. St. Joe, KS is two miles east of Cheney Reservoir.
Then I figured out you meant St. Joseph, KS. Hope no one is planning to ride to St. Joe.
But that would not really have been a problem for me, bet ya I would find somewhere to eat. LOL