North Central Kansas Weekly Ride 3/16/17

Moderator: Roadpounder

Post Reply
User avatar
Roadpounder
Posts: 628
Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2008 7:56 pm
Location: Salina KS

North Central Kansas Weekly Ride 3/16/17

Post by Roadpounder »

This is a little place we stopped at for a break on the way back from another ride. The weather looks a little warmer on Thursday and these folks are pretty busy on Wednesday anyway. Their special that day is fried chicken.

Through much deliberation and negotiation we have settled on a departure time for Hunter. We're set to blast out of the Iron Skilletat 11:30 to arrive at Hunter around 1:00. You may have noticed that I don't have an address for the restaurant. But then even I should be able to find my way around this town.

TIME....................1:00

Here it is..............Hunter Cafe
Hunter, KS

785-529-3325

Facebook Page............

Web Page.............

Map site.............http://bit.ly/1uLkbOc

Today looked like it was shaping up to be another one of those glorious days for which motorcycles were made. Still a little cool in the morning, but the forecast was looking great. The mercury was hoovering around 54 when I left the house, a little below Leo's threshold of 60, so I didn't make a big deal about my departure. The bike was a little reluctant to wake up. It took some coaxing. I really need to get a new battery before I find myself in the middle of No Hope ND and my noble steed decides to go on strike. But being the miser that I am I usually try to squeeze every last electron out of the battery before I bite the bullet and buy a new one. The last time I was in ND everywhere that I stopped for gas I was met with looks as though I just landed from Mars. Moto Guzzi isn't very well represented in that part of the country, so it does get some curious looks. But I digress. I fired up and went to to gas up the bike and try to chisel some of the bugs off the windshield. Being a little early I was the second one to the Iron Skillet but before long others started rolling in. Before long we had a fairly good collection of trikes. Almost half of the group had three wheels. Leon and Morry launched a little earlier than the rest of us. They like to take a more leisurely pace than some of us. The time to go came and we all fired up and hit the road. I wound up pretty far back in the line of 12 or so that left. I came in behind Harold chase and it wasn't long before I settled in to enjoy the symphony of the V twins. I like the sound of my Guzzi but I have to admit that you can't beat the sound of the big V twin Harley. I tried to stay close enough to hear Harold's bike and also enjoy the the music from mine. The temperature was steadily rising and the wind diminishing. Along the way we encountered Diesel Dave who fell in line. We weren't far from Hunter when we caught up to Leon and Morry. Most of the group passed them but by the time Harold caught up to them we were close enough to Hunter so we just stayed in trail til we got to town. Of course the restaurant wasn't where I remembered it. It seems that the smaller the town, the easier I get lost. So back into lemming mode for the last leg. We turned the corner and were met by a sea of chrome and color. I found a place to tie up my steed and looked around to re orient myself. Quickly I handed the book off to get it going on the rounds while I snapped pictures. While I counted and snapped there were even more rolling in. When I went inside there was a lot more room than I remembered. The restaurant is in the same building as the community center so there was a lot of room for all of us and then some. The special of the day was fried chicken which is what it looked like most of us had. I followed suite. They did a great job and I really enjoyed it. Belly full and settled up I went back outside to kick tires and solve all the worlds ills. There were still a good number of us there still letting lunch settle and enjoying the warm sunshine. Before getting too lethargic I decided to mount up for the trip home. Diesel Dave and I hooked up for the ride back and I let him take the lead for the second act of the Harley / Guzzi symphony. He chose an very scenic route with plenty of curves and hills to keep things interesting. It wasn't too long before we caught up to the Salina group heading home. At the next stop sign Dave asked if I wanted to follow them or go take the more back road route. Not being in any hurry we opted for the latter. Soon came another stop and Dave mentioned that he was getting low on gas. He queried if we should go through Culver or just head to the freeway and back to Salina. The great ride caused us to throw caution to the wind and head for Culver. It didn't take long for my low fuel light to come on. Fortunately when we got to I70 there was a Velaro station there which had 91 octane, which we both needed. Now for many years, since Hugo Chavez nationalized the oil industry in Venezuela, and extended to middle digit to the U.S.A. I have been boycotting all fuel from Venezuela. That includes Velaro, Shamrock, and Citgo. But considering any port in the storm is good, and a little justifying it by Hugo being dead, I gassed up there. Our minds set at ease we hit the back roads back to Salina and Crawford where Dave and I parted ways, and I arrived at home to two dogs were ever so grateful that I was still alive.

We had riders from Salina, Minneapolis, Hutchinson, Sylvan Grove, Russell, Hunter, Beloit, Tipton, Lincoln, Manhattan, Hays, Chapman, Cuba, Junction City, Denmark, Culver, McPherson, Lindsborg, and Canton. Once again our high miler was Jerry Eilers from Manhattan on his Harley at 145 miles.

We were riding Honda, Harley, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW, Kawasaki, CanAm, and Moto Guzzi.

OZ.jpg
OZ.jpg (39.87 KiB) Viewed 338 times
Attachments
101_2413.JPG
101_2414.JPG
101_2415.JPG
101_2416.JPG
101_2417.JPG
101_2418.JPG
101_2419.JPG
101_2420.JPG
101_2421.JPG
101_2422.JPG
101_2423.JPG
101_2424.JPG
101_2425.JPG
101_2426.JPG
101_2427.JPG
101_2428.JPG
101_2429.JPG
101_2430.JPG
101_2431.JPG
101_2432.JPG
101_2433.JPG
101_2434.JPG
101_2435.JPG
101_2436.JPG
101_2437.JPG
101_2438.JPG
101_2439.JPG
101_2440.JPG
101_2441.JPG
101_2442.JPG
101_2443.JPG
101_2444.JPG
101_2445.JPG
101_2446.JPG
101_2447.JPG
101_2448.JPG
101_2449.JPG
101_2450.JPG
101_2451.JPG
101_2452.JPG
101_2453.JPG
101_2454.JPG
101_2455.JPG
101_2456.JPG
101_2457.JPG
101_2458.JPG
Last edited by Roadpounder on Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply