Wednesday North Central ROMEO Lunch Ride for 5-15-13

[Richard]

Guys - This is the week many of us have been looking forward to throughout the winter months. The time has come for our (drum roll) Circumnavigate Kansas, or, as the Eastern group called it ,Riding Around Kansas (RAK) which, by the way, just happens to be my initials.
The Eastern group actualy beat us to it but never fear, they haven't dismantled the roads just because they crossed over them first. Long John set a pretty high bar for us to beat when they had twelve participate and Roger and his wife were great with pictures and stories so much so I won't even attempt to match 'em.

First and foremost, don't forget this Wednesday is a lunch ride. Come ready to eat and if you choose to go on from there with us on this little loop around half of Kansas we'd be more than happy to have 'ya come along. We plan on doing this a bit different than what Long John did for the Eastern group. He had everything planned out to the n'th degree. I'm a bit more layed back some say spontaneous. I just wanna ride and if there is something of interest anywhere and you guys want to stop by and see...we're gonna see it. We'll leave right after lunch so be loaded up whether you intend to camp or motel it, maybe even a KOA camp'in cabin. We're not gonna hurry other than I told the wife I'd be back sometime friday. Whether it be daylight or dark!
This isn't just a North Central group thing. We're ROMEO's so if anyone wants to join in the fun, just show up at the lunch ready to ride!

Now for the official lunch ride.......

Here's the day...........................................Wednesday

Here's the time...........................................12:30pm

Here's the place...........................................Belvilla
W. Hwy 36
Bellville, Kansas 66935
785-562-7561
Doug Parks, Owner

As always......................... ride careful, ride safe and I'll see you in Bellville. Richard
http://tinyurl.com/Romeo-Rides-This-Week
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Guys - I just don't know where to start on this report. I've had 952.2 miles and two days to conjure up a thought or two but when I sit here to tell 'ya about it everything goes blank. It's not that I don't have some interesting stuff to tell 'ya, it's just that I have so much that it's all a jumble and I have to sort it out first in order to put it down on paper....er....electrons or whatever is inside this thing.
I guess the best way is to proceed with first things first. So, let me report that the turnout wasn't as fantastic as I had envisioned for as nice a day as it was Wednesday but 20 folks did show up. Of course Nick and Jim only came over from Cuba which is only 10 miles so you could hardly say they even left the house, but hey, we enjoy their company.
We did have a good time though and that's what we do this for, right? I noticed some new names on the sign in sheet and want to officially welcome John Crandell and his friend Peggy Anderson from Salina riding a Gold Wing. I hope this is just the beginning of your rides together with us. Doug Wilson also from Salina is new to the pages of this log book and we hope to see more of him and his Kawasaki.
Just for fun I totaled the mileage of everyone who showed up Wednesday and we logged 1446.7 total miles. That's pretty respectable for a mileage turnout total though the number of towns represented was down from the norm.
Nick recommended this place to me several weeks ago and I thought he did us all well. The specials were reasonable and varied. I had the Enchilada and it was delicious. The cherry pie wasn't all that bad either.
This was the day we were going to leave to circumnavigate Kansas or Ride Around Kansas as the Eastern bunch called it. As I headed out I thought I saw dozens of headlights behind me in my rearview mirrors but by and by as I regained consousness and the food settled after lunch, I was all alone. You guys must have taken the alternate route. Anyway, you missed a marvelous ride with amazing weather and sights to behold. Marvels beyond measure was what it was and nice folks along the way. Interesting side trips galore, and one of the longest loneliest roads I have ever experienced. Utah's highway 50 can't hold a candle to Kansas hwy 27 that runs North - South. Even it was a delight to travel on just for the feeling it provided of loneliness, being in the middle of nothingness. I stopped many a time on the side of the road just to listen to...quiet! And observe....nothing! Spooky! You just hope that your bike will start!
I met folks at museums, in cycle shops, at gas stations, food places and a motel after not having located a campground and told the ROMEO story to all that would listen. I felt like a celebrity at many places. These folks mostly just enjoy talking to someone.....anyone!
I saw country I had never seen. Country I had always been intrigued by but had never bit the bullet so to speak to take time to do it. I saw country you couldn't pay me enough to live in, and areas down around the Medicine Lodge region that would do Utah proud and that I could move to in a heartbeat!. I spent over an hour in Elkhart just visiting with the County Area Emergency Management Director about his roll and some of the things he looses sleep over. I declined to change jobs with him upon his request. Sorry, Luther, I'm still working on my own bucket list!
I took dozens of photos and will post a few of 'em here with appropriate captions as I sort 'em out.
The trip began immediately after lunch Wednesday and I spent the first night in Tribune. I arrived home at 9:00 pm thursday evening and had enough personal time to even do little things like go through the Dalton Hideout in Meade and peruse every cycle shop I spotted along the way. This trip was a hoot! No rules, no agenda, no place to be, no itinerary, nobody to please, wait on or look out for....not that I wouldn't have enjoyed your company along the way.
How about the bike.....it's more awesome every time I ride it.....no comfy seat and yet I never got sore. I did finally get tired of constantly adjusting my throttle for the hills so finally just set her on 74 with the throttle lock and forgot it. Yamaha's speedo's are notoriously off by 5 mph, so 74 on the speedo gave me 69 real time speed on the GPS which saved me many a time. Going uphill, I just left her alone and chugged up. Going down it was more fun and you could see off in the distance for the Man. I just leaned back onto the sleeping bag I used for a backrest and took in the country mile by mile and loving every minute.
Would I do it again? I'm already looking forward to doing the Eastern half, hopefully some time next month.
You're really welcome to come along!

[cyclone]

What time is lunch? I am not sure how late to eat breakfast. LOL

[Richard]

cyclone - many thanks for your inquiry.....I've been gone on a mother's day trip to Silver Dollar City and posted this in a hurry before I left and completely forgot to put the time into the messsage.
Just having returned I checked my messages noticed your question and had one of those forehead slapping moments. Hope my fix answers your question. Thanks again, Richard

[cyclone]

Thanks RIchard. I will try to be there at 12:29. Lets see, if I eat breakfast at .........