Retired and Trippin

 It was a chilly 45 and cloudy when we woke up this morning. Bluemont Hill was our first destination of the day. It is located in Goodnow Park and proudly displays "MANHATTAN" in big white letters. The top of the hill is accessed by a paved road and overlooks the big white MANHATTAN and the actual Manhattan. You can even see part of the KSU campus. From Bluemont Hill we engaged in a brief shopping excursion at Wal-Mart and then it was off to the Flint Hills Discovery Center, where we watched a short film and learned all there is to know about the Flint Hills. Normally the entry fee for adults is $10 but today was a freebie. I'm glad because I'm not sure it is worth $10. They do have some great photos and panoramas of the Flint Hills. It was time for lunch so we were off to a longtime fine dining establishment in Manhattan - Vista Hamburgers. Fortified with Kansas beef we took off for the Konza Prairie Nature Trail. We walked a small portion of the trail before heading...

My better half and I decided to take a little overnight trip to get away from home for awhile. Our destination was Manhattan, KS, the Little Apple. Our route was Interstate 70 west from the KC area to exit 313 and Hwy 177 north to Manhattan. South of Manhattan is a scenic view area that I've driven by numerous times but today we stopped to check it out. There was a beautiful view of the Flint Hills and some pretty little wildflowers. Chris and I had been to the waterfall at Pillsbury Crossing before but there had been quite a bit of rain lately so we decided to check it out today. We took Deep Creek Rd east off Hwy 177 to Pillsbury Crossing Road to Deep Creek and Pillsbury Crossing. Deep Creek was running full so we decided not to test our Honda Ridgeline. It was too cool to get in the water and we did not have the clothes for it anyway so we could not get close to the falls. After grabbing an ice cream cone at DQ our next stop was the campus at Kansas State University, where we di...

 The morning was cloudy with temperatures in the upper 50's. There was yellow pollen dust all over my Mustang. Mel left early to head home so we were nine. As we were hanging around the hotel parking lot the owner of the hotel came out with his dog in tow. The dog was a mean looking Mastif with a gigantic head. He turned out to be an old lovable softie that craved human contact. His owner said he was old and nearly deaf. Carl was happy to give the old dog some love. The nine of us remaining left Eureka Springs at 7:55 AM. It was 61 degrees. Our route today was 62 west; 37 north into Missouri through Cassville, Monet, Pierce City and Sarcoxie; 126 west at Golden City into Kansas; 69 north at Pittsburg and back to the KC area. At Hwy 37 Chuck left our company, headed for Joplin, Missouri. Now we were eight. We experienced some water drops around Pierce City but we didn't have to don rain suits or put the convertible top up. We stopped north of Pittsburg for lunch at Chicken Annie...

The morning brought clouds and temperatures in the mid to upper fifties, promising to be good day for riding and driving the Arkansas highways. But Rob was missing. And then we found out what was going on. The prior evening, after arriving at our hotel, Rob realized his cell phone and charger were missing from his luggage. His best guess was that they fell out of his unsecured luggage when we left the scenic viewpoint along the Talimena National Scenic Byway. It was shortly after 6:00 AM and Rob thought he could ride back up the mountain in an attempt to find his phone and return by 8:00 AM, our scheduled departure time, which he did. He found his phone but it was damaged and wouldn't work. When he returned to Mena he was awarded the chicken. Our first stop of the day was the Skyline Cafe in Mena, where we loaded up on breakfast. This was a busy place so we had to wait 15 to 20 minutes for tables. After breakfast we refueled our rides and departed Mena. It was 60 degrees and still ...