Wednesday North Central ROMEO Lunch Ride for 7-29-15

[Richard]

Guys - Hey, I'm back in business with a new keyboard and wireless mouse. What a joy! And I did it all by myself which is miracle in itself. Maybe i'm beginning to learn thing or two about this after all. Nope, my wife says, it's just that I followed the instructions to the letter from the guy at Office Max. Everything I had was worn out! I first tried just getting a new mouse but the guy at Amazon I spoke with was in the Phillipines so that didn't leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. So, when I took the Gold Wing into Honda/Harley today to have my new clutch/start switch installed which turned out to be the wrong one by the way, we stopped and got two mices, micei, mouses, mousei....anyway, one for Joyce's Toshiba laptop and one for my ancient 'e' machine. Mine's working!
Anyway....where was I......Oh, yeh.....lunch.


Here's the time............................................11:00 am

Here's the place.......................................The Buggy Stop
(Home-Style Kitchen)
115 S. Factory
Enterprise, Kansas 67441
785-200-6385

As always........................ride careful, ride safe and I'll see you in Enterprise. Richard

I want to thank Terry Powell for the heads up on this little place. Little cafes seem to come and go here as they do all over the state so, as a result, we haven't been here in quite some time.
The last time I remember was a location on the East side of the main drag across the street from the local bank but the lady at the cafe informs me that place is now a 'gun shop' so guys, if they don't have immediate seating for 'ya, you might just mosey over and check things out! Maybe THEY have .22 shells!
http://mapq.st/1FGty7L

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Guys - We really hit the jackpot today. If anybody left this place hungry, it was their own fault, but hey, i'm getting ahead of myself.
In reserving the place I always give a heads up on what kind of a turnout I think we might have. Fortunately, I usually come pretty close. Sometimes however, a weather front just moves in and fouls everything up. Such is life. I hate it though when
the best of plans just seem to go awry. I can't say that today was one of those times but we didn't have the turnout I had hoped for. I had been conservative on my forecast so they wouldn't have spoilage but considering the little place was quite short of seating or so they thought, they rented the city civic hall which was directly across the street from their cafe. When we arrived it was a hoot! Children were peeking out of the windows obviously checking out all the bikes as they rolled in.
This was a full fledged Amish/Menonite family running this cafe and knowing their proclivity to not having their pictures taken, I tried to be very discreet about getting them in any photo. I asked and was given tacit approval to be discreet. I hope I fulfilled my promise. I did notice the kids jump under the table at one point when they thought I was going to break my pledge.
The community center was set up harvest table style and worked remarkably well, I thought. They set up the food at the back of the hall and called each table up to go thru individually. It went like clockwork. A slow clock but accurate nevertheless. The menu consisted of two big pans of meat. One of pulled chicken and the other pulled pork. Then they slobbered baked beans or slaw or potato salad onto your plate and you could take a slice of peach or cherry cheesecake. I didn't know that the cheesecake was extra at the time but I would have gotten it anyway. They also had cookies available for 2 for a dollar or you could get a whopper of a cinnamon roll for 2 dollars. Fresh baked bread was also available on the table near the checkout area for purchase. I noticed a few swarming around obviously partaking of the available items.
Everything was quite tasty and we took over half the hall so all things considered, I think they were quite pleased even though we didn't have one of our larger turnouts.
What was the turnout you ask.....we had 25 attend today and ever present Leo.
Normally, I have the attendance book set up to capture your name - town - bike - and miles to the destination but today I did something a bit different. I asked just out of curiosity the age of your bike and whether the bike was purchased new or used. Just curious to see the split between new or used. Nationally, new bike sales run a distant second to used bike sales and I was just curious to see if that holds true within the ROMEO's in this area. It seems to. Calculating the results of just todays turnout, 1/8 th of all bikes represented were new bike purchases. This would seem to confirm what I have felt for quite some time. Most dealerships would do well to pump their used bikes much more than they do. A case in point being the Salina Harley dealership where you have to ask and then be taken back to a dusty dingy hallway to see anything used or look at a bulletin board near the entryway with a photo. Not my idea of proper marketing technique considering what sales figures show.
But, what do I know! I have my own set of problems! I thought I had this computer thing figured out and resolved by getting a new keyboared and an electric mouse. Now, I have another problem I don't know how to deal with. You see my mouse runs by communicating with the keyboard and the computer but it runs by having a chip in the USB port. Now with the mouse' chip in the computer there's no port available to plug in the USB cable from my phone to load the photos. I solved one problem and created an entirely new one. Maybe even more serious! If anyone knows how to solve this dilemma....send me your answer to my problem. As a result they're be no photos 'till I get this resolved. I'll try anything!

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention. The Gun Shop did have .22 shells.

[Richard]

chrono adjust

[cyclone]

Richard, you should have more than one USB port. Look around a bit. On most computers they are side by side. Sorry I missed the ride but the huge water puddle in my lane kept me off the streets. It is actually one big mud hole. Sounds like I missed a good meal though. Hope this helps.

[WindsongRider]

Richard, great writeup. Sorry we missed it this week! If the USB port you're talking about is on the front, you should have one in back, too. Good luck!

[Roadpounder]

Well this weeks trip to Enterprise taught me the true meaning of "You can't get there from here". I started my day at 7:00AM as usual. Bleary eyed and droopy tailed. Spending the next hour or so shaking the cobwebs out I got on the computer to check the weather. The sight that met my eyes was ominous to say the least. There was a line of thunderstorms that looked like they stretched back to the Rockies. I kept a close eye on them and they looked like they would get to Salina just about at our departure time. Considering the ride was likely a bust I settled back in my recliner just about resigning myself to a day of watching puppy videos on You Tube with my grand niece. Shortly before 10:00 I decided to take one more desperate look at the weather. Lo and behold, all the weather the fallen apart just west of Salina. I knew it was too late to meet the guys leaving from Salina, so I looked up the way on my road trip planner. Old 40 to Milo road to Enterprise. It was a no brainer. Perfect fit for me. I loaded Leo on the bike and set off. I figured I'd get there fashionably late. After passing Abilene I start to pay more attention looking for Milo road and / or a sign pointing to Enterprise. The further I went the more the feeling of impending doom washed over me. Finally arriving at HY 77 I figured I needed to go south as I knew Enterprise was south of old 40, and straight wasn't an option. As I got further south I not only saw no towns, but saw fewer and fewer signs of civilization. Half expecting to see a parade of prairie schooners I was beginning to think that Enterprise had gone where no man had gone before. Pressing down HY 77 I came to K4. At this point I was resigned to chalking it up to a nice ride and heading home. Cruising down K4 suddenly there was HOPE! At Hope I saw a sign "Enterprise 16". Turning toward Enterprise I figured that at least I'd be able to visit with the guys and kick some tires. And of course there was a construction delay. While we waited for the pilot car Leo had a conversation with the construction workers bulldog. We pulled into town to the cheers of those who had already eaten. We visited for a little while and Richard swiftly ambushed me to sign the book and informed me that they were still serving inside. I situated Leo and entered to meet the sweetest Amish lady who was serving the food. I couldn't decide between the chicken and the pork so I had a sandwich of each. I settled up with the sweet lady and gathered Leo up and headed for my bike when I encountered a young local girl who was intrigued with Leo on the bike and wanted to watch us leave. We headed north to old 40 and I immediately recognized the intersection we had passed on the way there. So I found out you can't get from Salina to Enterprise without Hope. But on the trip back there was no Hope. On the way back, just west of Solomon I caught up to a couple of other guys and we agreed to stop at Spangles for a drink. We had a good time solving the worlds problems and ushering in world peace. As usual it was largely ignored by the major media so don't expect any immediate changes.


Fast forward to Sunday. I am officially a Kansan now! After 9 years in Salina, I finally made it to Cassoday! Shorty and I decided to enjoy what looked like a perfect riding day and head down there. To avoid a replay of Wednesday, I programed my GPS and we were off. It was a great ride and when we arrived we were a little disappointed by the turnout. We had a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy, and by the time we finished the turnout had at least tripled with a steady stream still arriving. Lots of great bikes, but curiously I didn't find any other Guzzis. I was able to drool all over a few new Indians and a number of customs. The most unique antique was an old Sears Puch "twingle". 2 cylinders and 1 combustion chamber. The designers must have been doing some good stuff that day. Parked next to the Sears was my Holy Grail a 1947 Indian Chief. My dad bought a 48 chief new and had it until the 80s. I rode it as much as he did. I really miss that bike. We also ran across a Polaris Slingshot. Someone nearby mentioned that if he couldn't hold up a bike any more he would consider one. I responded that if I couldn't swing a leg over a bike I surely couldn't get my fat rump in and out of a slingshot. We walked around for a while more and admired the iron but soon decided to head home before the temperature got sub orbital. We got to our bikes and I was getting my GPS out of the trunk when I heard my name called. There stood Gary, Louie, Terry, and Duane. They had been there for a while and seen many of the bikes we saw. It was good to see familiar faces. We mounted up and headed back to Salina. I took the lead and immediately went the wrong way. At least I had the GPS to tell me before we got to Omaha. I got home just after 1:00 to an empty house. No kids! Blissful peace until after 10:00PM. Ready to do it again next month.


See ya Wednesday.
Marty