Retired and Trippin

Several days ago my girlfriend saw the weather forecast for today; sunny with a high in the 60’s. She thought we should ride someplace in the Flint Hills for lunch. I did some map checking and internet research and we decided on Alma, with lunch at Deb’s Restaurant. We left home at 10:50 am and rode west through De Soto, Eudora, and Overbrook,past a Bison ranch, through Scranton and Burlingame to Alma. It was 50 degrees when we left home and 64 when we arrived in Alma. The weather gods also blessed us with very little wind, a rarity in Kansas. There were a boat load of other motorcyclists taking advantage of the beautiful unseasonable weather on this fine Thursday.  I’m surprised there are so many retired people in the world ! We had lunch at Deb’s Restaurant.  My internet research told us their fried chicken was good so we gave it a try. It was LARRAPIN good.  And the pieces were good sized, unlike the pigeon-sized pieces of chicken we had at the Riverhouse Resta...

Sunny and 56 degrees on December 31, 2011. A good day for a ride. Four couples (Bill and Jamie, Carl and Marge, Larry and Bev, and Chris and Charlie) and one singleton (Bruce) met at Johnson Dr. and Renner. We took off north on I-435 and then Hwy 45 north past Weston, MO, KCPL’s IATAN power generating plant, and Lewis and Clark Lake to Hwy 59 east into Atchison. As we rode east, the wind from the south would have blown off my helmet were it not for the chin strap. We parked along the Missouri River and had lunch at the Riverhouse Restaurant. Most of us had their fried chicken, which was tasty. I’d provide you with the link to the web site for this restaurant but the waitress told us this was the last day they would be opened. From Atchison we rode south on Hwy 7 into the strong  wind to Leavenworth, KS and past the U.S. Penitentiary. The temperature reached a high for the day, 64 degrees. We rode Tonganoxie road south from Leavenworth, passing several road closed signs. Som...

The high today was to reach 50, very good for late December in Shawnee, Kansas. My girlfriend was going shopping and to lunch with a friend. A great time for a ride. I left Shawnee northbound on I-435. It was 45 degrees. I took Hwy 45 north up through the Missouri River valley. At Hwy  59/273 I turned west and rode across the Missouri River into Atchison, KS. It took me a little under an hour to get there. I picked up Hwy 7 north, intending to ride to White Cloud and possibly on up to the Nebraska state line. Not too far north of Atchison, however, the temperature dropped to 41, colder than I wanted, so I turned westbound on Hwy 20. In this area north and west of Atchison I could see remnants of snow in fields and ditches.  At Hwy 73 I rode back south and east to Atchison. I stopped at Taco Hell for a lunch of the Triple Steak Stack. I’d ridden 110 miles without stopping. I rode home southbound on Hwy 7 through Leavenworth and then Hwy 5 south and east to I-435 which bro...

Greg saw that the weather forecast for Sunday December 18th was going to be good . . . . . real good for December, highs in the 50’s. He proposed a lunch ride, folks were invited, and it happened. Greg, Gary, Larry, Mel, Bruce, Bill, Mike and I left the gas station and convenience store at 83rd and K-7 riding south on K-7 and then south on Hwy 169 to the south Paola exit. Our destination was We-Be-Smokin Barbeque ( http://websmokin.com/ ) at the Miami County Airport. Mel had a hankering for BBQ so that was our goal for lunch. We found out that on Sundays, We-Be-Smokin serves breakfast only all day long. I’ve had their breakfasts, which are larrapin good, but today we were looking for BBQ. So we took off north on Hwy 169 headed for our next destination. At Hwy 68 we turned westbound and at Hwy 33 we turned northbound. We stopped at Smokey’s BBQ ( http://www.smokeysbbqks.com/ ) in Wellsville, KS. Fortunately, for us, it was open and serving BBQ. After a most excellent lunch we ro...

Day 1; Friday; 10/28/2011 Five motorcycles (9 humanoids) departed the Quick Trip at 151st and 69 Highway in Overland Park, KS for a ride into southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas.  The purpose of the trip was to view the fall foliage and, of course, to ride the motorcycles.  A sixth motorcycle (1 humanoid) met us at the motel at the end of the day. We rode south on Metcalf to Louisburg and then east to Highway 2 in Missouri.  We rode east and south on Highways 2, 52, and 135 through Harrisonville, Leeton, Windsor, Cole Camp, and Stover. We gassed up in Leeton and then again in Laurie, after which we grabbed lunch at the Chances R Restaurant and Lounge. Highway 5 took us all the way south into Arkansas and we saw some very pretty fall foliage along the way. We stopped for the evening in Mountain Home, Arkansas at the Comfort Inn.  We walked to the nearby Arena Sports Bar & Grill for dinner.  It was a bright sunny day for a ride.  Temperatures ...

Chris and I decided to take a day ride and, hopefully, see some fall foliage.  We like the scenery in northeast Kansas so that was our destination. We took off at 10:40 and rode Hwy 45 north out of the Kansas City area to the Weston Bend State Park in Missouri.  A few photos were taken from the scenic overlook of the Missouri River.  As we continued north we enjoyed the fall foliage in the bluffs east of the highway. At Hwy 59 we turned west towards Atchison, KS and the Missouri River.  This area had been flooded this past summer, which was obvious from the new road, the significant amount of standing water (still), the fields of bare dirt, and the flood line on a vacated farm house. In Atchison we had lunch at the Riverhouse Restaurant. From Atchison we rode north on Hwy 7 (also known as the Glacial Hills Scenic Byway) to White Cloud, KS, which is just a few miles from the Nebraska border.  Fields along here were barren with cracked soil.  If not f...

We had another good breakfast at the Country Kitchen connected to our motel.  If you are ever in Wichita the Best Western at North 53rd and I-135 is very good.  The room was clean and spacious.  The rate was reasonable, and the free breakfast at the Country Kitchen is very good. We departed Wichita at 10:00.  It was 71 under blue clear skies.  We rode north on I-135 to Newton and west on Hwy 50. Just east of Peabody we stopped to take a couple photos of the Wildcat Creek Ranch. http://www.wildcatcreekranch.com/ We stopped to rest our buns in Emporia and then rode north and east to Reading (again) and Osage City, where we caught Hwy 56 eastbound. We stopped in Baldwin City for a walk, and lunch.  Part of our walk included the campus of Baker University.  The trees were starting to change here, as they are most other places.  On the third weekend of October Baldwin City celebrates its Maple Leaf Festival. http://mapleleaffestival.com/ We...