Retired and Trippin

Taking advantage of the great weather (low 60’s and sunny) I decided to take a little ride to blow the cobs out of the Goldwing. I rode north out of Shawnee on I-435 into Missouri where I caught Hwy 45 west and north.  Hwy 92 took me west over the Missouri River into Leavenworth, KS.  I stopped at Riverfront Park for a few pictures. Before reaching Leavenworth, on the Missouri side of the river, I stopped for some $1.69/gallon gas thinking it was a good buy.  While riding through Leavenworth I saw a Casey’s with gas for $1.65 – figures. I rode past the U.S. Penitentiary and on the west side of Leavenworth I caught Tonganoxie Road which took me into Tonganoxie, where I caught Hwy 24/40 westbound.  Before reaching Lawrence I turned onto Hwy 32 eastbound.  Before reaching Bonner Springs I took some back roads south and east across the Kansas River into DeSoto, KS.  Old Hwy 10 took me back into Shawnee and home. Despite the strong wind it was an enjoyable 105 miles of cruisin

Chris and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today and ride north to visit the Shatto Milk Company.  We read about it a long time ago and had been meaning to visit. We took off at 10:30.  It was cloudy and 61 degrees.  Our route took us north and a little east through Smithville (MO), Trimble, Grayson, and Plattsburg to Shatto Milk.  Shatto has an Osborn, MO address but it is located on Hwy 33 south of Osborn. We purchased a quart of egg nog from the Shatto Milk Country Store and put it on ice for transport home.  A tour of the facility was not possible but we were directed to the calf barn where we could see some calves and witness their milking operation.  Chris enjoyed herself with the calves. I don’t know how many cows they have but they have two groups of cows that are milked twice a day and one group that is milked three times a day.  I believe the cows we saw consisted of one group.  Those milkers are busy guys.  An employee told us each cow gives 13 -16 ga

Last night was a real treat.  We watched the Royals kick butt on the Mets to win the World Series! Chris and I departed our motel in Camdenton at 9:40.  It was 57 and we had clear blue skies.  The motel we stayed in was the Sleep Inn & Suites.  It was very nice accommodations for the two nights we stayed and the staff was friendly and helpful. Our tourist stop for today was at Bagnell Dam located a short distance north.  We spent some time taking photos from numerous directions. After leaving the dam we rode north and a little east to Eldon where we started westbound on Hwy 52.  In Cole Camp we noticed an interesting highway sign.  The DOT seems to be giving passersby the big F U. As we headed towards Windsor the skies became cloudy and the temperature dropped from 68 to 59.  We stopped for lunch at the Wagon Wheel Café in Windsor and enjoyed their meat loaf special.  We did not enjoy the fact that they had a smoking section that we had to walk through to use the bathrooms.

We sure enjoyed watching the Royals execute a come-back win against the Mets last night.  Hope they win again tonight. We also enjoyed the extra hour of sleep last night and Chris slept in later than usual.  We were up in time to go to Wal-Mart to buy some discounted candy before riding to the Camdenton United Methodist Church for their 10:00 service.  It was 55 degrees under blue clear skies – a beautiful morning that turned into an unseasonably warm and beautiful day. Our first stop of the day was at the spring in Ha Ha Tonka State Park. followed by the natural bridge in the same park. From Ha Ha Tonka we took off west on Hwy 54, south on Hwy 73 and east on Hwy 64 to Bennett Springs State Park.  We tried to eat lunch here but the park restaurant was closed.  Luckily for us, we arrived at the spring as 4 scuba divers were diving down into the spring.  Very cool.  I took a series of photos of the divers heading into the spring and the last photo shows only bubbles after the diver