North Central ROMEO Weekly Ride for 11/15/17
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 12:12 pm
I was rummaging through the mountain of useless junk cluttering one of the miles of kitchen counter space that I have and I ran across a pen, the origin of which is a mystery to me. It advertised the Green Cafe in Green KS. On a lark I did a search through the north central ROMEO web page. Lo and behold, we have been there, but not since September of 2013. They weren't in my database so I called them fully expecting to find the phone disconnected. I was astonished to get an answer. Bottom line, we're set up for the Green Cafe on Wednesday the 15th. The weatherman promises a reasonably good day considering this time of year. 11/13/17 I just checked with the weather prophets and the forecast is holding for Wednesday.
OK After much debate and discussion we came to the conclusion that we will be meeting at Big Jim's church at 9:45 to join up for a quick trip to deliver a birthday greeting to our friend Mary Lou. From there it's off to Green to put on the feed bag.
TIME....................11:30
Here it is.............. GREEN CAFE
705 DIXON AVE.
GREEN KS. 67447
(785) 944-3483
Facebook Page............https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Ca ... ?ref=br_rs
Web Page.............
Map site.............http://bit.ly/1uLkbOc
Enthusiasm was running pretty shallow this morning. My “get up and go” wouldn't even roll over. I'm glad I didn't have a motivational speaker to deal with. I probably would have drop kicked him out the door. I couldn't even get the dogs to go outside. This conjured up some interesting and discomforting mental images of what I could expect later in the day. I am thoroughly convinced that between 6:00am and noon the clocks all run at double speed. Launch time for the ride came rushing toward me like a speeding freight train, and again I find myself scrambling to get ready. I finally got my over sized hooves into my boots and all my toys gathered up and headed for the garage, hoping against hope that the bike would start one more time. I really need to invest in a new battery before too long. You know how it is. The cobbler is walking around with holes in his shoes. Of my three Moto Guzzis I have one that's road worthy. I mounted up, turned the key, and hit the go button. Much like myself it struggled to get through that first compression stroke but finally coughed to life. Once again victory is mine and I have defeated the weak battery. A quick jog to the Quick Stop to fill my noble steed's feed bag and it's off to search for Big Jim's church, where we were to launch from. Once I got into the neighborhood of the church my memory was jogged and I managed to find it. I pulled in to find Randy Clark was the first one there. It was still a little brisk and this didn't do much to bolster my enthusiasm. After we gathered a group of 11 we headed out to our first stop, Mary Lou's house. Tomorrow is her birthday so we stopped by to give her our best wishes on her day. She's a spry old gal and is always glad to see us and all the bikes parked in front of her house. She's going strong at 86. I think she enjoys the reaction of her neighbors too. After the celebration and pictures it came time to go. When we got back to 9th street the traffic was a little heavier than expected and some of us got separated. When we got to Bennington, only about half of our contingency was there. Terry, who was in the lead, pulled to asses the situation. It wasn't too very long before the stragglers caught up and we pressed on northbound. About halfway there the ride was starting to wear on me, and I was getting anxious to get there. But as the ride droned on I noticed that the temperature was actually starting to rise, and in turn my spirits. We motored through Clay Center and I knew we were getting close. One more turn to the north and it was just a few more miles till I saw signs of civilization and then the sign telling me we had arrived at Green. When we pulled onto the restaurant I was met by the sight of more bikes already there than I expected to show up. We pretty well filled their parking lot. I passed the book off to Jim and went about my photo tasks. By the time I went inside I had counted 29 bikes. Dangerously close to doubling the number the restaurant was expecting. But the sky was clear and it was getting warmer. I started getting the indoor shots and found that we had quickly filled the back room and were spilling into the front dining area. I got my order in on the fly while snapping pictures, and when I did finally get a seat it was at a table with the trio of Diesel Dave, Bud and Big Jim. That's a combination guaranteed to generate a good time. Most of us took the special of the day. Chicken fried steak, mashed taters, and green beans, (I don't care how you dress them up, green beans taste like dirt.
) while others went the burger route. I managed to pawn the beans off on Chuck. Eat them in good health. As bellies filled people started filing out. No one seemed particularly anxious to hit the road, which lead to a massive tire kicking session. I guess we're clinging to whatever last vestiges of summer remain. I was in my usual state of oblivion over my whereabouts, so I hooked up with Big Jim and decided to follow him to more familiar territory. Falling in trail like the good lemming that I am we headed south. Eventually I started some things that looked vaguely familiar when the sign for Longford leaped out before me. Now I was confident that if Jim were abducted by aliens before my eyes I could still find my way home. Cruising through Niles we came to old K40 and headed west. Soon the other guys south again to attack Salina from their end of town, so I tooted a farewell and pressed on straight into town on Pacific and Broadway.
We had 33 riders from Salina, Minneapolis, Manhattan, Abilene, Clay Center, Carlton, Denmark, Junction City, Culver, Lindsborg, and Canton, with the long distance being a tie between Steve Erebo from Denmark and Rob Bird From Culver, both coming 107 miles.
We were riding Honda, Harley, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW, Kawasaki, CanAm, and Moto Guzzi.
OK After much debate and discussion we came to the conclusion that we will be meeting at Big Jim's church at 9:45 to join up for a quick trip to deliver a birthday greeting to our friend Mary Lou. From there it's off to Green to put on the feed bag.
TIME....................11:30
Here it is.............. GREEN CAFE
705 DIXON AVE.
GREEN KS. 67447
(785) 944-3483
Facebook Page............https://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Ca ... ?ref=br_rs
Web Page.............
Map site.............http://bit.ly/1uLkbOc
Enthusiasm was running pretty shallow this morning. My “get up and go” wouldn't even roll over. I'm glad I didn't have a motivational speaker to deal with. I probably would have drop kicked him out the door. I couldn't even get the dogs to go outside. This conjured up some interesting and discomforting mental images of what I could expect later in the day. I am thoroughly convinced that between 6:00am and noon the clocks all run at double speed. Launch time for the ride came rushing toward me like a speeding freight train, and again I find myself scrambling to get ready. I finally got my over sized hooves into my boots and all my toys gathered up and headed for the garage, hoping against hope that the bike would start one more time. I really need to invest in a new battery before too long. You know how it is. The cobbler is walking around with holes in his shoes. Of my three Moto Guzzis I have one that's road worthy. I mounted up, turned the key, and hit the go button. Much like myself it struggled to get through that first compression stroke but finally coughed to life. Once again victory is mine and I have defeated the weak battery. A quick jog to the Quick Stop to fill my noble steed's feed bag and it's off to search for Big Jim's church, where we were to launch from. Once I got into the neighborhood of the church my memory was jogged and I managed to find it. I pulled in to find Randy Clark was the first one there. It was still a little brisk and this didn't do much to bolster my enthusiasm. After we gathered a group of 11 we headed out to our first stop, Mary Lou's house. Tomorrow is her birthday so we stopped by to give her our best wishes on her day. She's a spry old gal and is always glad to see us and all the bikes parked in front of her house. She's going strong at 86. I think she enjoys the reaction of her neighbors too. After the celebration and pictures it came time to go. When we got back to 9th street the traffic was a little heavier than expected and some of us got separated. When we got to Bennington, only about half of our contingency was there. Terry, who was in the lead, pulled to asses the situation. It wasn't too very long before the stragglers caught up and we pressed on northbound. About halfway there the ride was starting to wear on me, and I was getting anxious to get there. But as the ride droned on I noticed that the temperature was actually starting to rise, and in turn my spirits. We motored through Clay Center and I knew we were getting close. One more turn to the north and it was just a few more miles till I saw signs of civilization and then the sign telling me we had arrived at Green. When we pulled onto the restaurant I was met by the sight of more bikes already there than I expected to show up. We pretty well filled their parking lot. I passed the book off to Jim and went about my photo tasks. By the time I went inside I had counted 29 bikes. Dangerously close to doubling the number the restaurant was expecting. But the sky was clear and it was getting warmer. I started getting the indoor shots and found that we had quickly filled the back room and were spilling into the front dining area. I got my order in on the fly while snapping pictures, and when I did finally get a seat it was at a table with the trio of Diesel Dave, Bud and Big Jim. That's a combination guaranteed to generate a good time. Most of us took the special of the day. Chicken fried steak, mashed taters, and green beans, (I don't care how you dress them up, green beans taste like dirt.
) while others went the burger route. I managed to pawn the beans off on Chuck. Eat them in good health. As bellies filled people started filing out. No one seemed particularly anxious to hit the road, which lead to a massive tire kicking session. I guess we're clinging to whatever last vestiges of summer remain. I was in my usual state of oblivion over my whereabouts, so I hooked up with Big Jim and decided to follow him to more familiar territory. Falling in trail like the good lemming that I am we headed south. Eventually I started some things that looked vaguely familiar when the sign for Longford leaped out before me. Now I was confident that if Jim were abducted by aliens before my eyes I could still find my way home. Cruising through Niles we came to old K40 and headed west. Soon the other guys south again to attack Salina from their end of town, so I tooted a farewell and pressed on straight into town on Pacific and Broadway.We had 33 riders from Salina, Minneapolis, Manhattan, Abilene, Clay Center, Carlton, Denmark, Junction City, Culver, Lindsborg, and Canton, with the long distance being a tie between Steve Erebo from Denmark and Rob Bird From Culver, both coming 107 miles.
We were riding Honda, Harley, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW, Kawasaki, CanAm, and Moto Guzzi.