Wednesday North Central ROMEO Lunch Ride for 7-14-10

[Richard]

Guys - Boy howdy, has this been a week or what? First, it was the computer viruses that we had to deal with after returning from a weekend trip to Omaha. And then it was the 4th of July festivities during which I snapped a tendon in my left arm while helping carry a Char Broil Grill down from my son's deck to the front of his house for a 4th of July church gathering. And I'm left handed. And then a double whammy took place when a couple we knew were involved in a domestic situation that resulting in orphaned children.
All in all, a week that I would not like to do over.
Fortunately there's Wednesday. I so look forward to Wednesday. Everything becomes so much fun on Wednesday!

Little River, within the past year or so, has lost one of it's main eating establishments, its corner cafe, so it behooves us to give this little place some of our positive stimulus which we've become quite famous for.



Here's the place............................Fat Boyz Bar & Grill
245 Main St.
Little River, KS. 67457
(620)897-5216


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


Little River, Kansas
Population: 693
Elevation: 1590 feet
Latitude: 38° 23' 53" N
Longitude: 98° 0' 42" W
School District: USD 444
ZIP code: 67457
Area Code: 620 Business
Churches
Education
Government
Library


Little River is located in eastern Rice, [RC], County near the Little Arkansas River. The old brick Burke Hotel still anchors Main Street even though the hospital across from it has been torn down. This is a town with a lot of civic pride. Downtown is clean and neat with new sidewalks and well-painted buildings; Alber Park at Main & Prairie offers a new gazebo to check over the area.

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Guys - For a day that was as all fired hot as it was today, I thought we had a wonderful turnout. Joyce and her twin sister Judy rode over to Little River on our little 50cc E.Ton scooters and were having a good time bragging about how fast they were going until my brother in law and I piped up saying how optomistic the speedometers on those things were. We were stuck leading and following at the awesome speed of 35 mph. We had left at ten but made it shortly after eleven and weren't the last ones to arrive so all was well.
As I keep saying, Wednesdays are full of excitement every week and this week it was again Dale Flynn and his wife in the sidecar. Gary and Dale passed us a few miles into our trip over and when we arrived they were still not there. I figured they had either gotten lost or had taken a mighty long route. Come to find out, the sidecar rig wheel axle crystalized and collapsed and folded up under the rig and led Dale, his wife and the rig off the road and over a cliff sending Dale up and over the bars. His wife is OK but Dale broke something minor in his neck or chest. I just received a report from Gary a few minutes ago saying Dale will be sore but all is pretty well otherwise. [Update...Dale's son took him to Wichita to get checked out and found he has a crushed vertebrae in his upper back and a broken bone in his leg. Both were considered minor and he will be kept there a couple of days and released to come home] Thankfully, his wife was unscathed. The bike may be another matter.
On another matter, I have some sad new to pass on. My friend Paul Dahlburg died yesterday afternoon shortly after lunch. Paul was a dear friend. I got aggravated with him sometimes for all his tomfoolery and lack of seriousness but I will seriously miss aggravating him. He was one of the few folks in my life that I never heard a cruel word from. He was always upbeat, had a cheerful spirit and could out work many a person half his age. I firmly believe that if the Doctors had just left him alone, he would still be here with us. Paul had no living relatives and we (the ROMEOS) along with the Kawanis and the Legion had become his family. He was soooo proud to be one of us! As soon as funeral services are announced, I will let you guys know. It has been suggested that some of you that knew Paul might want to show up duly attired wearing your ROMEO shirt.

I'm going to go ahead and count Dale and his wife in todays headcount because they would have made it had it not been for mechanical issues so our official count today was 29 bikes and 31 attendees. This was one of the best turnouts in weeks and it was great to see. Rich McCall from Minneapolis riding his beautiful day glow lime/green Kaw showed up reporting 76 miles and immediately captured high mileage honors for the day. I have penciled in his name on the cardboard placque kept in the most duly honored place at the house....a bench positioned close the throne.

[fifthave]

Well it looks like once again you guys and gals had waaaaaay to much fun on a Wednesday!! It sucks to still be working for a living but being the boss helps so on the rare times when the work load slacks up I will be there!