It looks like tomorrow will be warm and partly sunny. A good day for a ride to Florence. There are a couple of round-abouts to deal with, but we can handle that. If we launch from the Rodeway Inn @ 12:00 we should be able to find our way there on time. I think I remember the way.
TIME....................1:30
Here it is.............. The Brandin’ Iron
423 Main
Florence, KS 66851
(620) 381-0975
Facebook Page............https://www.facebook.com/doylecreeksbrandiniron
Web Page.............
Map site.............https://tinyurl.com/wd4hsez
Today was a day for which motorcycles were invented. I managed to get some things done before the ride. I've been doing some metal carving on my milling machine and when I got done I had run out of steam. So the machine laid there buried in aluminum chips over night. I couldn't stand to see that any longer so I cleaned it up. By this time Fritz was cuing in on what day it is and was getting pretty excited. I assured him that he could come along, which just aggravated the situation. Finally departure time came and and I led Fritz to the bike. I decided to take "Lil Suzi" just to see how she'd act. She seemed just as anxious to go as Fritz was. I decided to check a few things before we launched. Oil, OK. Tire pressure, Rear a few pounds down, Front, OH OH! Showing NOTHING on the gauge!
I'm always preaching to my customers about keeping their tire pressure up. Maybe I should take my own advice. Tires pumped up, we were ready to go. Now, as he is so wont to do, Fritz departed for parts unknown. OF COURSE! We're running out of time and now I have to chase the dog down! He was at the neighbor's house checking things out. I coaxed him back to my yard with the promise of a ride. He made a bee line for the truck. "No buddy we're taking the bike". A quick stop at the gas station and we rolled into the launch site. About half of the crew was already there. There was some good tire kicking going on and some others rolled in. We even had a new face. Les Greenamayer rolled in on his Suzuki Bergman along with Big Jim Langford. I had the honor of working on Les's bike a while back. Before I realized it was launch time. Some of guys were still ratchet jawing, so I hit a few toots on my horn to get their attention. We launched and it didn't take long for Kurt Keeler to take a commanding lead. He likes to keep up a spirited pace. It was really no problem following him. I just follow the heat ripples from his after burner. Suzi was having a good time humming happily beneath me. There was one spot that I had a little issue though. We came up on another biker taking a more leisurely pace and when I screwed it on to pass him I got a little too aggressive with the throttle, and Suzi started to complain. The down side was there was a car coming the other way and I was forced to cut back into the right lane kind of early. I really need to go up a step on the main jets. One of these days I'll get to that. We rolled into Florence with Terry in the lead. He pulled over, apparently not sure where the restaurant was. I had a pretty good idea so I took the lead. The restaurant was right where I expected it to be. This place is a little fancier than we're used to, but they were glad to have us. They had pulled several tables together for us, and about half of the crew was already seated. The decor was a ranch theme and one interesting touch was that the ceiling fans were windmills. The staff was very friendly and helpful, and the food was great. I opted for the mushroom and swiss burger. Some of the other dishes around me looked really good too. Lots of good food and conversation and all too soon it was time to head out. Outside there was a lot of tire kicking and lie swapping going on. I gave Fritz the bite of burger that I had saved for him, and joined in the festivities. After a while I noticed Randy Gantvoort having trouble firing up. I strolled over to investigate. By the time I got there his starter was just clicking the solenoid. Dead battery. He pulled a volt meter out of his saddle bag, (the man comes prepared), and the battery was only showing 6 volts. He also had jumper cables with him. As I said, prepared. Steve Errebo jump started him and I agreed to ride back with Randy just in case. The ride back was pretty uneventful, and when we got to old 81 and K4 I asked him if he'd be OK the rest of the way. He was confident that he would, so I stayed with him until Water Well road where I peeled off to head back home. Fritz and I pulled into the the garage and unloaded. Then it hit me that with the distraction of Randy's problem I'd left Fritz's water bottle and dish on the street in Florence. 
The water bottle was an old spaghetti sauce jar, and the dish was a sour cream container. Both of which I have in abundance, so there is no real loss, just frustration. All in all it was a great day of good food, good friends, and a great ride.- My favorite war horse.