Wednesday North Central ROMEO Lunch Ride for 6-29-11

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:04 pm

Guys - I debated a long time over this one. The forcast I last saw about next wednesday indicated 'hot'. It could top out at over 100 degrees so I didn't want to overstrain the sweat glands by having too long a ride and yet I didn't want to repeat the close by places again because we will need them for inclement weather and then there's always winter again which limits our coming and going. I chose a happy medium...sort of. All the smaller places that we haven't been to are a real committment in terms of distance but this place is just an easy ride over but it's a bit larger town. The thing that sold me on it is that it's a private ownership kind of place that we would normally find in one of the little towns we love so much. Bigger towns have these places too, I keep telling myself. I don't want to make it a habbit of going to these larger towns but just this once...... Oh, by the way, it has a cycle shop that we can visit and there are several ice cream places we can sample just in case we ever are over this way again.

Here's the place............................Diane's Diner
807 East 10th.
Great Bend, Kansas 67530
620-792-6045
Diane Morris, Owner

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

MAP:
Roger Shores has, or will soon have, a map up at the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/Romeo-Rides-This-Week

For a view of all the past and present ROMEO destinations, click on the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/lxldjr
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Guys - What a time! Joyce got up early today and went for a bike ride instead of her usual trip to the Wellness Center to work out. When she came back she was exited and said "they're already leaving". "I saw Louie heading south as I was riding to Assaria". "When are we supposed to be there?" We have time, I said, and we did. We left at 9:30 am and got there earlier than any lunch ride that I can remember.
I thought the forcast said it was going to be hot but the morning turned out to be quite comfortable. I even noticed clouds off in the distance to the West and pointed 'em out to Joyce who is always conerned with the weather.
We headed out on hwy 4 'till just before Geneseo and I turned south on 22nd road which took us to US 56. If we had continued on we would have come upon some of the guys that did stop at Geneseo for a cuppa, but such is life.
By the time we arrived in Ellinwood however, the clouds has dissipated and it did start to warm up, and by Gt. Bend, it was just flat hot.
We were the fourth bike at Diane's. Evan and Louie's bikes I recognised but there was another I didn't recognise. Aha....a new member. A man and his wife from Lyons came. Yep, the same guy as below wanting to know what time we meet. He apparently found the answer from someone because this is the first time I've been on the computer to see his question. Actually, noon is the official time but if you showed up on time....you'de be late. I try to to let the places know that we try to get there between 11:00 am and 11:30 am to try to miss their lunch regulars who mostly are workers and have limited time available to eat before returning to the job. It just seems to work better for everybody that way and since we're retired, what do we care one way or another.
Our attendance today wasn't as large as usual but like I keep saying, we're not all about numbers. We have a hoot of a good time anywhere we go and with however many show up. Today we had 15 and had to get that number by including Marty's dog Leo who has now become our official mascot. He can't write and a paw print would be too obvious so Marty signs him in as Leo Hauk. It works for me!
For those of you that were looking for shirts last week at Emporia, know that my order didn't come in as it was supposed to but I finally received them. So I'll have them with me for a while on fouture lunch rides if you want to pick one of them up.
Short sleeve, safety green in sizes S,M,Lg, XLG all just....$13.00.
Now, I just have to tell 'ya about Diane's. The town's a bit large for us but this place is memorable for one of the best lunch spreads I've sampled. They had a salad buffet that was loaded. They had not one but two entre' buffets chock full of choices that even the pickiest of ROMEOs would find something to satisfy and a dessert buffet that I didn't even notice until almost too late. Oh, did I forget to tell you about the ice cream machine. Make 'yer own! Awesome!
They weren't part of the lunch buffet, but I spotted some cinnamon rolls that would win a prize for size if entered in the State Fair. They were HUGE! Maybe even larger that HUGE....they were HUMONGOUS!
Everybody had eaten and was outside visiting while I was trying to put up my shirts and clean up the remaining items on my plate and I got in a bit of a hurry. I don't do anything well when I am rushed, and I made a serious mistake. I failed to leave a tip. I really feel bad about that too because they had three little kids doing cleanup, bussing the tables. They were working like there was no tomorrow and Joyce had asked one little guy if they wre getting paid. He said they were working for tips and were saving up their money to buy a pony. A brown one, he said. I have the address of the place and tomorrow, I'll be dropping a couple bucks in an envelope just for them and their brown pony!
Oh, I don't want to forget....we had another winner on the long distance award. You'll never guess. Maybe you will...'Long John showed up! Just a short hop of 250 miles from Shawnee on his GL1800. His miles even blew Louie away after he had gotten up early and took off to surround the area to get the award locked in. Foiled Again!
Here's some shots of the day....