Wednesday North Central ROMEO Lunch Ride for 2-17-16

[Richard]

Guys - We have another brand new place to go to this week. It's only been open according to the lady I spoke with 3 or 4 months. Frankly, I don't know much of anything about their menu but I can believe it's probably better than the place we went to last week. We're going to go North this week into a direction we've not been to for quite some time. I'm in hopes again that the weather man might smile on us and creep the forecast up a day to give us a few more degrees. If not, we'll still have some 60 degree sunshine. I tried to make the lunch time fall somewhat into the heat of the day and the cafe said they appreciated that. They also said in addition to burgers, their wednesday special is fried chicken wings.

Here's the time...............................................1:00 pm

Here's the place...........................................Hebrews Cafe
120 S. Market Street
Glen Elder, Ks. 67446
785-545-3663
Randy Kuesler, Mgr.

As always.............................ride careful, ride safe and I'll see you in Glen Elder. Richard
http://bit.ly/1uLkbOc
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Guys - Let me crowd in here in front of Marty's write-up. If you haven't already read it, please don't miss it, just scroll down below my jabberings here and see what he has to say. Needless to say, Marty is again in prime form. Next time you see him, you might just give him a word of encouragement both for his take on the day and the fine photos he regularly submits.
Today day couldn't have been more wonderful! Mid sixties and climbing! I left by myself intending to meander my way to lunch hoping for a much better time than what I had last week and after a half hour I had completely forgotten the issue and was in my zone so to speak. I headed northbound on the old Burma Road and a little past Smolan, I spotted a bike ahead in the distance. Too much of a coincidence I thought to myself. Another bike headed the same direction at this time, it had to be a ROMEO. I was going a bit faster apparently because I kept creeping up little by little and by highway 140 just west of Salina I came upon him. It was Gilbert on his red 250 Kimco. Gilbert moves right on down the highway on that bike so I decided to let him lead the way. First, he's from up around the area we were going to and second, he rides at a comfortable pace by always leaving early getting to where he's going in ample time.
As I followed, my mind began to mull over the bikes and scoots that I have had in the past. Some 35 to 40 if memory serves. Some I've sold off or traded for one reason or another. A few, like so many of you I'm sure, wish I had a few of them back. But...that's another story for another time!
As I followed Gilbert, my mind wandered to some all time favorite bikes and most were of smaller engine sizes and physical size.
I began to consider what makes a favorite all time bike. It's not engine size. I was riding my 1500 Wing and Gilbert was riding his 250 scoot and both of us were riding the same speed.
I was getting maybe 40 mpg and he was getting probably 65 t0 70. His tires, batteries and accessories probably half of what mine would be so what defines a fun bike?
There was a story about a month ago in one of my cycle magazines that really piqued my interest and I have been giving it a lot of thought. It went somewhat along these same lines. It was about a group of ten or so riders who took a 5000 mile loop around the western US. Over 50000 miles in total. On 10 Chinese 250 adventure bikes http://www.cscmotorcycles.com/ . I can't get it out of my mind. They had a blast! I wanted to be on that ride. They had a hoot. It's wasn't the distance,. It's not the bling. It's the comeraderie.
Thing is...you can be happy on anything you happen to be on at the time. But, I think it's safe to say that you will have a happier time if most bikes riding in a group are of similar power. See, that's where I tend to go astray. I ride alone most of the time. I like riding in a group for the fellowship but as to the most miles on a bike, I tend to ride alone.
So, for me, I would be perfectly happy with one of the 250 adventure bikes. I'm just wired that way! I like my Wing and my VStar but my Ural...not so much. It doesn't do group rides. It's stricly a lonesome highway or around town kind of bike but ....the little Chinese Adventure bike....that may be a horse of another color.

Oh, hey, I completely forgot to indicate the turnout today. It was wonderful. We had 36 attend lunch today. I don't recall who turned me onto this little place but it was great. I had been past this town many times but this was the first time I had ever 'EVER' set foot downtown. In fact I didn't even know there was a downtown!
The little cafe was owned by the church next door and all the staff was unpaid church members. What an undertaking!
I knew immediately who would take the high mileage recognition today when Long John came wheeling in on his pretty blue Wing. Yep, he took it with 300 miles to his credit. He said he had even gone to another groups breakfast prior to riding over to ours. That guy RIDES!
It was great to see some of our old friends come out today. They Hays group.....good to see you again. We'll try to stay a bit closer for a while. It's always a pleasure to see Steve Errebo. He comes out when he's not farming. And Harry...I enjoyed our ride back. Be safe my friend. Nick....I'll try to keep it closer for 'ya!
We had a great scattering of towns represented today...here's a few by name...Lindsborg, Salina, McPherson, Shawnee, Hays, Russell, Denmark, Clay Center, Cuba, Canton, Culver, Minneapolis and Hutchinson. I actually think this is a record of some sort!

Oh, one more thing....we have a Spring Rendezvous coming up in the near future as well as the next ride around.

If you haven't done a Spring Rendezvous before. Give Eureka Arkansas some thought...http://www.romeoriders.com/forums/viewt ... =21&t=3854

If you haven't done a ride a round before. Give this Oklahoma some thought,...http://www.ridearoundoklahoma.com/

[Richard]

chrono adj

[Roadpounder]

Well, all started out well for the trip to Glen Elder today. I got the meeting time and place right and got there in plenty of time. In fact I was the second to arrive, after Bud. Soon others started rolling in steadily and before long we had about a dozen by the time departure time rolled around. The plan was to head north from the Iron Skillet and then pick up Hyway 81 to 24 and head west. At least that was my understanding. A couple of the guys planned a pit stop on the way so they were going to leave a few minuets early and the rest could catch up at the pit stop. The next thing I knew was engines were firing up and bikes were rolling. So I fell in line and launched. It wasn't long before things started to go askew. As soon as we came to a road that went west I saw blinkers come on. OK I'll stay with them. Then as soon as I was ready to make the turn some of us pressed on straight. Just then the giant TILT light came on in my head. Which group do I follow? What's a lemming to do now. Which group is headed for the cliff? My internal computer just crashed. As I slowed down to decide what to do I saw bikes behind me bunching up I saw the left lane was clear so I moved over there and let them pass and fell in behind. Now I'm tail end Charlie. We kept going north to K106 where we met up with the Minneapolis contingent. Fully expecting to jump onto US 81 and head north, again we split with some heading west toward Minneapolis and others heading up US 81. OMG they're scattering like cockroaches! Too far past the entrance ramp for 81, I was committed to following to Minneapolis. By now our group of 12 had been whittled to 4, and I was still tail end Charlie. We snaked through town and headed north over some pleasantly scenic roads until we finally got to US 24 and headed west. We made a pit stop at a Casey's where we met up with the others who split off first. After a good leg stretcher, again bikes started leaving in small groups. So I figured I'd better get going and quickly caught up with the lead group. We pulled into Glen Elder, which wasn't exactly where I expected it to be and I probably would have missed it on my own, owning to lack of signage. Being such a good day, weather wise, we had a good turnout which was about half there when we arrived. The restaurant was run by the local non denominational church and staffed by volunteers, who went above and beyond to accommodate us with our larger than expected crowd. Even Long John made an appearance from the eastern most reaches of he ROMEO territory. I think he's trying to get the largest collection of the coveted long distance prize, the washer/drier combo. I think he's planning to open a laundromat. The special of the day was several varieties of chicken wings. I opted for the garlic Parmesan wings and fries. It was quite tasty and abundant. After putting myself in a condition reminiscent of having swallowing a bowling ball I staggered outside to do a little tire kicking and lie swapping. While others chose to enjoy a more scenic route I opted for the more direct route of 24 to 81 to Salina, stopping at the aforementioned Casey's to gas up just for peace of mind. Arriving back in Salina I realized that my two 4 legged furry friends are out of their soggy smelly nourishment that they love so well. So I passed by home and went to the Dollar Tree at Crawford and Broadway to pick some Gravy train up. Leaving there I was delayed by the traffic light. I was the first one in line in the right hand westbound lane, patiently waiting for the light to cycle and allow me to proceed home. Cross traffic passing routinely my attention wanders while in my usual semi-comatose state. Suddenly a screech and loud crunch jar me back to reality just in time to see a pickup truck and a car skidding to a stop and parts flying hither and yon. I pulled my bike into the Speedy Cash lot and ran to see if there were any injuries. One driver seemed pretty stunned. There was a nurse on the scene and she started to attend to him while I dialed 911. The next thing could only happen to me. Salina PD's answering machine picked up and the recording told me I had reached their non emergency line and if it was an emergency I need to hang up and dial 911. THAT'S WHAT I JUST DID!! Fortunately there were enough cell phones on the scene that someone else got through. All in all there seemed to be no life threatening injuries and only two vehicles met an untimely demise. From my perspective both vehicles were totaled. All the emergency vehicles created quite a bottle neck and the police were detouring traffic away from going through the intersection until the mess was cleaned up, so I sat there until they got it all cleaned up. Arriving home I was greeted by two little dogs that were overjoyed that I was, in fact, not dead and did return home to them.