ROMEOS

Guys - You recall the old song 'I Heard It From the Grapevine'. I can't recall who sang it, and it's not important, but that's how I found out about this little place. On my scouting loop a couple weeks ago after lunch at Aurora I was on fumes when I stopped in at the nearly not there anymore little town of Norway and was able to get gas from the gent at the Co-op. First soul I've seen all day says the attendant....
And I thought some of you guys could shoot the bull. I heard about Aunt Emma, Uncle Clyde and his cousins, along with Minnie and her next door neighbor, the one with the cats, Abigayle, 'till I was finally able to ask where a folk might get a bite to eat around here without bother'in a body in town.... Well sir, he says, some of us kinda like the little place up yonder some and after saying that every Wednesday is their Chicken Fried stead Special, I had heard enough.
I didn't even have to go there. He knew the name, address, phone number, zip code and name of the owner by name. A veritable walking phone book. I probably should have gotten his name and phone number as a 'most valuable resource'.



Here's the place..........................Pinky's
428 Main Street
Courtland, Kansas 66939
785-374-4200
Jo Ann Kenyon, Owner

Courtland Kansas is located one mile south of US Highway 36 on Kansas Highway 199 in Republic County.


Founded: 1887 Elevation: 1499 feet
Population: 350 School Dist: 426
Zip Code: 66939 Area Code: 785
Latitude: 39° 46' 53" N Longitude: 97° 53' 33" W


As always..................ride careful, ride safe and I'll see you in Courtland, and I have a 'very special place' picked out for ice cream afterward. Talk about off the radar! Richard

Guys - For years at the motel, customers from the Northern part of the State had been expounding about this place but it never rang a bell with me until the guy at Norway ran it back up the flagpole.
Let me tell you, if you do happen to like chicken fried steak as much as I do, this is the place to be every Wednesday. Nothing frozen or trucked in at this place, no-sir-ee. All fresh meat and battered to perfection. Two sizes of meals are available depending upon your appetite and it comes with smashed potatoes and brown gravy, beets, corn or cucumber salad. Beets, to me, are like sitting next to someone having liver and onions. It's just not tolerable.
But, let me tell you....If you have the cucumber salad, all will be right with the world. It was the most delicious stuff I have ever had the pleasure of mandibulating. I could have eaten an entire bowl of the wonderful stuff, and may go back again and try to do just that.
The town seemed quite busy while we were there and folks come in from off the farm from miles around to eat at Pinkies. The meal prep area is right out in front of you as you walk in, not hidden behind any type of wall or seperated from the dining area at all. It's quite unusual but if you like to see your meal prepared, this is the place to do it.
We weren't a big group. Only a dozen of us came today. Summertime as everyone knows is the time of vacation, cycle trips and visits to the grandkids and we were aflicted with all of the above. Not a problem for us ROMEOS though because we have just as much fun with a half dozen as a hundred, and its nice to know everyone by name again.
Some elected to head on back to the house instead of hitting my surprise ice cream stop. My mistake was going to it in reverse of how I got to it last time there and as you all know, things just look different on a road taken in reverse.
So much so that I though I was lost at one point and stopped to check out my map. At that point Rich McCall already on fumes said adios, calculated his comfort zone and turned around to go back and get gas at Clyde where we had just come through. The three of us persevered on to Agenda which turned out to be over the next hill and only a mile away. And Rich,they had an open gas station at the entry corner to the town.
Downtown is a word you would find hard to use in Agenda but they do have two sand streets and a couple shops that would do justice to a town a hundred times their size. My wife was enchanted with one of the shops saying it would be 'cute' in Lindsborg. A 'new' pair of shoes for Joyce, size six, fit perfectly in the til trunk.Brand spanking new of some famous brand that all the women know about and at a price of a malt at Skoops. In fact if your wife wears six, she could fill her closed for less than the price of one pair at the mall. Did you hear me say size six? Apparently that's the only size in the store thus the very reasonable price.
The ice cream shop is another charm and we each had a dip in a cup. You can get several varieties of cones and sundaes and don't ask what kind of ice cream they have or the attendant will go off on a list so long you won't remember them anyway. All this in a little town of 37 people. Unbelieveable! You should have been there!

I had planned on an early breakfast at Eskridge, then on to Courtland. Routes by the scenic routes were planned out and ready. Got a call Tues. afternoon, spent the evening and Wed. cutting down a tree, fixing the roof at Mom's house in Hope, due to storm damage from Monday night's storm.
The Kanopolis cafe is good, ate there several years ago on a backroads ride.
Ride safe.
Gordon