ROMEOS

Guys - I'm going to play it a bit safe this week just in case the plan of the weather guru I use turns out differently than what we talked about. He was just on the fringe of a bad day but said he thought it would be later in the day before it moves in to disturb what could otherwise be a delightful day for riding. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt taking him at his word that the early morning should be nice for a ride but I don't want to extend it too far in to the afternoon and get caught out where I have to detail my bike again. Anyway, it sounds reasonable to me! Gary Cooper may even show up! How come you ask! See the time below!

Heres' the time...............................................High Noon

Here's the place.........................................Westside Ventures
(aka Bennington Cafe)
Main Street
Bennington, Kansas 67422
785-488-3700

HISTORY OF BENNINGTON -
Bennington is a city in Ottawa County, Kansas. Bennington was platted in 1878 and currently has a population of over 600. The city name comes from one of two sourcees. A paper written on the history of Bennington states that Bennington is an Indian name meaning "place of fine trees." The same article also states that co-city founder George R Parker gave the town its name after Bennington, Vermont. And a little history for all you ROMEO railroaders, the Solomon Valley Railroad, a branch of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, reached Bennington in 1878.
In 1879, the first school was located one half mile south of town. In 1918, a new school house was built. In 1938, an auditorium was added; in 1955 a shop was added, and in 1961 a new grade school building was annexed.

As always...........................ride careful, ride safe and I'll see you in Bennington. Richard
http://mapq.st/1FGty7L
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Guys - I was a little concerned about what the weather would be like today but I shouldn't have worried. It was a magnificent day! Since lunch wasn't until noon, I decided to get a bit of a ride in first. Normally I just make a bee line to the destination and map out a road that may provide me with a few twists and turns here and there but today....today would be different! I set up the leave time at ten so we could get in a few miles before showing up since it wasn't far from home today. Bennington is just a hop, skip and jump from me here in Lindsborg and the Salina guys probably wouldn't leave to head out much before eleven thirty I thought so here's my chance.
I gassed up at ten with Pat, Abner and Harvey in tow and we headed out in the opposite direction of lunch. At the first turn, Pat pulled up alongside and said he had read where there was road construction on the way to Roxbury so I altered the route I had in mind and headed up the interstate for a spell and turned east to begin meandering my way to where I thought I had gone way past Benninngton to the North. My old faithful liquid compass had fallen off my windshield a few days ago so when I get on twisties sometimes I get confused with my directions. It's that age thing i'm sure.
We were motoring right along and I heading for Gypsum so we could pick up some high speed twisties and I was having a time. Then I thought I wonder if some of the guys had ever been to Carlton where they have one of my favorite roadside signs. It says 1987...Nothing Happened Here! What a hoot!
Past Carlton comes the little burg of Norway. Who'd a thunk! Norway! But hey, we have a ROMEO in Denmark. The road dead ends a few miles north and turns east like you're going to go to Navarre. Navarre? Yep! But we didn't, we headed north again and hit the first paved road, again going in the opposite direction. By then I was convinced they thought I was completely lost. To tell you the truth, I was hoping my earlier scan of the map wouldn't fail me now. After quite a few miles, I spotted what looked like a green sign at an intersection in the middle of nowhere. Sure enough, it was paved and said Solomon was just a short distance away. Whew! At Solomon, I kinda knew where I was and headed back west to find Niles road. It's also paved and has a bridge over I-70.
We rode by barren harvested fields until the road turned into the little town? of Niles and we headed north where we ran in to road contruction but we just lucked out and caught the pilot car before eventually intersecting highway 18.
From there it was just twist the throttle on the way to Bennington and lunch.
We arrived at ten to noon none the worst for wear and were amazed at the mass of bikes lining the street. Benninngton was the place to be this day for sure!
I counted 48 bikes on the street and at least one ROMEO had a passenger and in all liklihood someone failed to sign the book. It always happens so I'm calling the attendance 50 today.
The three of us rode 87.3 miles to lunch today according to my speedometer and I thought we had really done something. Nothing like 'Long John' used to log for our lunches but respectable I thought.....until.....I saw where Louie had ridden 145 to get here and several others recorded over 100.
I may have to establish a rule....
It was hard to calculate who showed up today because names were on three different pages. Hope, Lyons and Bennington all had todays riders signing. I may have to go back to individual sheets of notebook paper instead of the spiral binder!
We had some new faces today and I always look forward to new ROMEO's. Actually some were from other areas and of course we're always happy to meet and welcome you.
New members are how we grow so use the recruiting card I passed out when you see a good prospect. It's their loss if they don't join.
As some of the guys in the others groups have said....It was a good day to be a ROMEO! And as for the little place we went to today....I'm sure we made their day!
By the way....can I pick 'em or what! Don't you just love the photos and write-ups of Marty and Mark my M&M guys. If you do, please let them know!
I also thought it was super special what 'Big Jim' did this morning with the guys visiting the meals recipient before heading out for out scheduled lunch. You guys are just the best!
I was also pleased that we had a visiting guest, Kai, from the Eastern group came over to join us today. Maybe we should have an award or something for that! Did you see his bike...Wow!
Hey Kai, tell your friend that I have a URAL too!

Today was a little different from our usual ride. Some of the Salina guys deliver meals on wheels, and we decided to stop by one of their recipients to give an official ROMEO greeting. So 8 of us showed up in front of Mary Lou's house and Paid her a visit. We had a very pleasant visit and presented her with a Halloween basket. After introductions and posing for some pictures it came time to depart for Bennington.

Nice crowd at Bennington. Managed to get the 40+ guys into the café on Main street. Good food and friendly service. Had a nice visit with Jason Mauch across the street. He runs the Bennington Bike Shop. He has 16 years of Harley - Honda work. (785-488-8244) Bennington lake is just north of the town. Looks like a nice fishing/camping lake. Just west of the lake we found buffalo burgers on the hoof.
Ride safe - Ride with a smile. Mark

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Leo. He's getting too smart for his own good. As soon as I got dressed he perked up and jumped up on my lap with that tell tale look on his face asking “When do we go?”. I didn't say a word about going for a ride or even put my boots on yet. He knew it was Wednesday and we were going riding. I went to the garage to prepare the bike, leaving him in the house he soon found his way out another door and joined me in the garage. He started for the bike when the neighbors dog announced his presence and Leo's canine instincts kicked in and he bolted across the street to introduce himself. The next twenty minuets were spent chasing him down the street while he sniffed out every square inch of the neighborhood. He finally found a particularly interesting spot in the neighbors front yard where I could catch him and carry him back to my yard. I fear that it's just a matter of time till he gets his paws on the bike keys and leaves without me.

I finally got the bike ready and Leo loaded and we were off to meet the guys at big Jim's church for the aforementioned ride over to visit Mary Lou. After our visit with this sweet lady it was Bennington or bust. Although it was a relatively short ride, once we were out of town I fell into the zone and the bike was humming along with a satisfied purr. We arrived in Bennington with the street mostly filled with bikes and parking was getting scarce. We all sort of scattered and found places to put our rides. I found a spot between two cars next to a Harley and got Leo settled so I could set about getting some shots. We had pretty well packed the place to capacity and when I entered I found a long line waiting to place their orders. No fault of the staff. They went above and beyond to accommodate all of us. Most had something in the line of a burger or other sandwich, but I threw a monkey wrench in the works by ordering chicken nuggets. But they took it in stride and I think I even saw her pen starting to smoke as she took orders. Finally my nuggets came and I started in on them vowing to save the last two for Leo when I was presented with a portion of a roast beef sandwich for Leo that looked like the Leo sized equivalent of a side of beef. I knew he would thoroughly enjoy this so I decided he didn't need those last two nuggets, so down the hatch they went. I went outside to give Leo the sandwich and he met me with a look of hopeful anticipation. His eyes lit up when he saw what I had and attacked it with abandon. As the crowd thinned out my head of steam pretty well went flat. I pondered the advantages of bringing the bike from its parking spot to where Leo was leashed, as opposed to carrying the water, the dish and Leo to the bike a half block away. Moving the bike won out. When Leo saw me fire up without him he got a panic stricken look on his face that said NOOOOO!!!! DON'T LEAVE ME!!! He was immediately relieved when he saw me stop in front of him. I got him loaded up and Diesel Dave and I set off for Salina parting ways at Broadway and Crawford. Arriving home I hit my recliner and reflected on yet another great day of riding, food and fellowship.

Marty

Hello, my name is Kai Sayson. I rode in from Manhattan, KS. I usually ride and have lunch with the Eastern Chapter of the Romeo's but today you guys were closer and I was worried about rain. You fellows sure had a good turn out!!!!

Would someone here know the owner of this bike. A friend of mine Russell Torrens also owns a Ural with a side car and would like to contact him. Kai

Bill Wilson, owner of the Blue Ural with Side car, would contact me. I have a friend, Russell Torrens who owns a Ural with a sidecar also. He would like to contact you. My email is kai52@sbcglobal.net and my cell is 785-564-3670. Please contact me. Kai

Richard, Marty,
Love the write-ups and pictures, gets me motivated to ride and find some other old coots for lunch. That was a great idea to visit that lady, she looked like she had a good time, keep up the good work....Leonard