It didn't rain all the time........

The phone picture is kind of blurry but you get the picture...   We were out at the Johnson County Amateur Radio Club's field day...  And as I arrived, I brought the rain clouds....

The station was secured for that two hour period...   But the catered Mexican taco bar arrived promptly at 6 PM...  And the radio contacts resumed not long after everyone's tummy's were full....  Actually someone was running even during the meal...

We had first aide training by a very capable EMT fellow after the dinner, and the rain stayed away for a while longer...  I gave up and went home around 10 PM, but many of the guys were sleeping in their cars until it was their turn to operate...

I've lost track of how many of these events I have participated in, but they are always fun...

Retired Rod

Catching Up

Hasn't been a lot going on here in KC, other than I seem to be busy almost all of the time............

Grand daughter Ema was in another musical performance on Friday Night....  This was at a large church here in Olathe that has an activities event center attached.... Its kind of a stage with a gym floor attached as well...   The carpet must roll up or something, but we had chairs and the play was an adaption of Wicked...

It was really hard for me to hear what was being said even though they were using a PA system....  I thought it was just me, but son Ben said he couldn't make it out either....

These are paid summer activities camps...  The kids go every day all day long and learn the performance.... Then on Friday night they put it on for their folks and grandfolks..   There were about 40 of them, mostly girls... I tried to get pictures, but it was too dark with a spotlighted stage...  Camera didn't do well..

On Saturday night, I was invited to my son Chris' home for an outside barbecue..  Burgers and hot corn on the cob...  And a couple of brews as well...  Biscuit and the grand kids over there were chasing all around...  Its warm here well into the night, so we sat in the back yard long after dark..

Sunday, my friend Al had a guest pulpit invitation in Topeka...  So I was invited to go along for that worship service....  This was fun, as I had never been to one of Al's services since he is retired and not actively serving a church..

Afterword, we went to an all you can eat buffet....  One of the parishioners treated us..  We were all over 60, and got the senior meal rate...LOL I limited myself to one plate of food.....  You can go crazy in these places..

Then on Tuesday we went cycle riding again...  To Polo, Missouri...  A town about 75 miles North East of here..  This was right straight up the Interstate 35 and then 12 miles East on 116 highway...  Kind of a boring trip but we met a couple of other riders with Romeo Stickers, so we made a convoy...

Then Today, we rode out to Osage City, Kansas sponsored by the Topeka group..  A group of us from this side of KC met at the Mc Donalds in Gardner, Ks and went on West from there....  Osage City is South and East of Topeka...  Again it was 75 miles out there...

 Today was another Tenderloin sandwich...   It was their special from yesterday, and today was battered Cod fish and fries...   I didn't want the fries and the fish seems to have a lot more upsetting quality for my stomach...  So this was quite fine...

Somehow we have ridden 400 miles in the last two days, and that put me over the oil change mark on the odometer...  We stopped at one of the dealers yesterday, so I got the special Honda oil and filter..

Tonight, it was time to drain the bike and spin on that new filter...  I'm slow as a mechanic so it takes about an hour and a half...

That is what has happened around here.... Oh, I was asked what biscuit did while I was gone... And today she was over at son Ben's house with his three grandkids...   She's in the chair across the room tonight, killed!!  She doesn't know it but tomorrow is a haircut day for her....  She'll be thrilled....

Retired Rod

More lunches in the small towns....

Traveled on two more luncheons again this week......  The first one was due South of Overland Park, Kansas on highway 69 about 70 miles..   69 is four lane divided highway, so it seems boring to drive on...

But then at the last minute you drive East over the state line into Missouri...  Hume is a coal mining town that has mostly gone extinct in recent years...  But they do have the restaurant Sisters..

The main restaurant is in that tan and green building behind the grain bin...  But the dining room is in the grain bin.....  We like this place and have gone down there several times.........

Once inside of the grain bin, you would have no idea what the building was..  I'm sitting there next to Al leaning intently forward listening to yet another story... Green shirt and black hat....  Al has his arms folded with the blue hat sitting next to me...

Like usual we came back the long way thru a town named Lacygne..  It is on the Marais des Cygnes River.....  For the record, in French marais is a marsh and cygne is a swan....  I have been thru this town several times but never have seen swans...  

And then we found a big road resurfacing project on the other side of Lacygne...  Chip rock and tar sealer...  When the rock is still loose and fairly deep, it is really hard to ride on....  As my tires threw up the stones inside of the plastic fenders, it sounded like the bike was about to be ruined...

Then today (Wednesday) we were off into Kansas to the town of Oskaloosa.....  This is over North of Lawrence (University of Kansas)...

We did our best to stand right in the middle of the street and talk to another of our riders Mike...  The court house was across the street behind Al in the orange shirt...  There wasn't enough traffic to bother us as we stood there...  Some of these places are really sleepy...

This restaurant was more of a bar along the street in the trees beyond us...  It was clean and offered pulled pork barbecue and one side for $7.95.   It was good, but I didn't sit with Al...  Which turned out to be my mistake...  Someone paid for his bill, and he didn't know who it was...

There were no open checks that remained on the computer system, and they were emphatic that no food left the kitchen without a ticket entry into the computer... So the owner insisted that all the bills were paid....  He said he had over 50 tickets by then and it wasn't much past noon.  We do make a difference to these proprietors...  And we are having fun too....

Again on the way back we ended up riding most of the way to Atchison in the country, and then back South along a river bluff into Levenworth.. This was quite the windy road, which challenges my riding skills on the big heavy Goldwing...  And of course they will tease me about those skills if I drop back too far from the leaders...

But don't worry, I never do anything that I don't think is safe...  I hadn't ridden cycles for years when I took it back up in retirement...

Once back here in Overland Park, I had a grand daughter's softball game to go to tonight at dusk.....  It was in the 90s again today, so I am quite tired from the exposure of being outside all day...  We covered about 350 miles in the last two days....

In the middle of the afternoon, we always stop for ice cream cones at one of the fast food chains... Today it was a Burger King....  But I have to watch the others do that since sugar isn't on my diet......  Just a small diet pop for me....

Talking about the exposure part of these rides... I am fair complected and don't tolerate the summer temperatures as well as some of the other riders, so I am really happy when they decide its time for ice cream...  By then I really need that cold drink and some air conditioning....

But I can stay home all day tomorrow, and it is supposed to rain again so I won't get sunburned a bit....

Retired Rod

Father's Day is in the books.....

As father's day winds down tonight, I was trying to remember what this week has been all about....  Let's see, I was eating that tenderloin in the rain on Tuesday, and came back home in Al's car...

Then on Wednesday he called me early in the Morning wanting to go riding again....   To a town called Circleville 40 miles north of Topeka....  That meant it was 105 miles out there...........    .............   ...........  I passed..  Al wasn't too happy about it...

So he rounded up some of the other guys and went without me..  They had some nice pictures, but the town was really a wide spot in the road...  But its about the ride and not the destination....  But I had ridden 4 times in the last week, and just needed a break...

And our yard was up around our knees...  And son Ben had just returned home from his three week holiday, so I did his that day as well...   I used the John Deere riding tractor, so don't worry about feeling sorry for me...  But when you ride on it for several hours, even it becomes work....  That was the only sunny day too...

So on Thursday it rained and kept me inside where I worked on bills and paper work for most of the morning...  And then the afternoon had me out in the garage cleaning out Loyce's CRV Honda....

I have argued with myself about selling it... Didn't want to go thru the grief of having to list it and sell it to some person..   Didn't want to deal with the financing and worry of receiving good funds...

So on Friday, I took the car back to the Honda dealer after it was spiffed up all around...  It took about a half an hour while the sales manager took the car up to the general manager and they shot me a low ball price...  Then it took another half hour while I argued them up another thousand.....  But in the end the deal was for a strong wholesale price, and I tossed him the keys...

They had one of the salesmen drive me home in a newer car and just like that it was over....  But you sit here and wonder if you did the right thing.....  But hey, she's gone so I have to move on....  Besides if she could come back, I would buy her the best car possible...

I went to one of the grand daughter's soft ball  games on Friday night just to keep myself occupied and not over stress about it..

Then today we had a big father's day brunch after church at Ben's home...  I was proud of his (my) mowing job on his yard, but it is long again as it has rained three times since Wednesday...  He teased me that I shouldn't worry about it since he had this service with a white Jeep and a John Deere in a trailer....  And that they would be by this week....  Uh, that would be me......  Ya right!  Good try..

We had had Ham Balls and Twice baked potatoes for the brunch, and Melissa brought a barbecued shrimp dish on cheesy grits mixed with polenta.. This was quite good as well and I took seconds of all of it......   I haven't eaten much for the rest of the day.....

We sat out in Ben's back yard under the trees on his patio... He has these massive knock out roses that surround the seating area.... They are over six feet high with flowers all over them....  Somehow the afternoon just drifted away with story after story....

The grand girls were inside playing house...  My 13 year old grandson is starting to hang out with the older folks as he is transitioning to a young man.....  Time marches on.....

So happy father's day to all of my readers.... !!

Retired Rod

Another tenderloin............

You know the drill!!!!!  A place called PT's  That I later learned stood for Perfect Tenderloin...  This is off of I 70 in Oak Grove, Missouri...

The only change in the routine was that we had to drive Al's car out there because is was raining cats and dogs...  And they did it with mashed potatoes and gravy served open face as well, but I didn't take a picture of that one...

The onion rings were about 2 inches wide, but I didn't order them either...

Retired Rod

Getting fat at Kansas luncheons...

On Tuesday we went to Plattsburg, Missouri and the Three Amigos Mexican Restaurant....   They had Taco day, where every taco was a dollar....  I had three and a soda....

We filled the restaurant on both sides, and the waitress gal was quite confused as to who's order was whos.. But how do you mess up?  They began just calling out how many Tacos were on each plate and if they were beef or chicken...  I never did get a ticket, but just told them what I had at the register...

It was supposed to rain that afternoon, but we fooled around up in the North part of KC finding a fellow rider's home to look at his motorcycle trailer..  Didn't rain until the middle of the night, when the wind came up in full gale and tried to blow the house away...

Then on Wednesday we mustered at the McDonalds in Gardner, where a group of us went together to Vassar, Ks... This place was called Green Acres, and I had been there before on New Years Day.....    It was cold on that winter day, and I took the Jeep...

Vassar is on Lake Pamona, and we go there camping as a family...  So I thought I knew my way, but the older local guys that were leading the pack went on the back roads, and most of them I had never been on before....

It was lunch time by the time we arrived out there as it is about 70 miles each way, so I ordered another breaded tenderloin...  But drew the line on the fries and just had a bag of chips...  If we are going to do this more than once a week, I need to keep it within limits, or I'll need new pants...

We came back a different way again thru the downtown area of Lawrence, where the University of Kansas is located...  That town is always busy...  The cops were looking us over as we rode by with 10 bikes..... We must look like desperados, but they didn't give chase...  If I keep on with these local fellows, I might really become knowledgeable about Kansas...

Well the Eastern end anyway....

Biker Retired Rod

Abby and Cinderella

Saturday we had my youngest Grand Daughter's Birthday party at her house...

Cinderella came to visit during the beginning of the party...   There were a lot of wide open mouths as they stared in disbelief as she came up the driveway in that gown...  She even had glass slippers which are visible at the bottom of the picture...

They played games and blew bubbles, as Cinderella led them in a magical time.. Abby's mom had talked to Abby in the preceding days as to who her favorite princess was, and she said it was Cinderella....  She of course, had no idea why her mom wanted to know that..

This is a service from a company named Princess at My Party....  It worked for Abby!!

Retired Rod

Touring Kansas

Its just too easy to be complacent... About blogging.....  That is when you aren't doing anything but living along in the normal fashion...  But since I didn't write all week, I should at least catch you up...


It was a short week since Memorial day was on Monday, so Tuesday was the Motorcycle ride...  It was kind of fun, as we went to We Be Smokin down at the muni airport at Paola, Kansas....  Its only about 20 miles down there but we went a round about way so it took about an hour to get there...

My friend Al was leading and we went North when we were headed South.....  Yep that always makes it take longer....

Some of the Motorcycle folks are also pilots, and flew into the airport...

I'm the fellow in the yellow shirt with black suspenders back along the windows..  And Al is the fellow with his arm up in front of his face in the orange shirt..  He's right in front of me, but not at the same table...  We often  sit with other people at the meetings...  But will stop at McDonalds on the way home and  visit with each other...

This is Dan... he normally rides or drives, but when we are at an airport, he brings this little green number...  Looks fun to me....

Then, since we hadn't gone far enough on Tuesday, we decided to ride with the Eastern Kansas gang that leaves Topeka on Wednesday......  They were going to Dover, Ks....

We had to get up and muster at a McDonalds on Shawnee Mission Parkway at 8 AM..... Booo....   But I made it...  This ride went on the North side of the Kansas River from Bonner Springs all the way to Topeka...  Dover was Southwest of Topeka out in the very rural countryside....

I was lost all the way...  Especially driving thru Topeka....  We came in on the North side of town and wound around on the divided interstate highways...  They were under construction and we sat in traffic for a long while...  This isn't pleasant on a cycle as you have to hold up the heavy bike when your not moving...  At one point I had the kick stand down...

After what seemed forever, we arrived at the Dover Odd Fellows lodge which is a restaurant on the first floor with the meeting lodge upstairs...  We had ridden about 85 miles when we arrived...

They had a sandwich bar set up in the middle of the restaurant, but most of our table ordered hamburgers....  I do that when I'm not at all familiar with the food or the facility...  Its hard to mess up a burger... LOL

We were way back behind one of those posts in the back corner...  This place had old chrome kitchen tables from the 50s and of course none of them matched...   Nor did the silverware...  It was equally as old and each piece weighed about a ton...   But the food was good and they had quite the crowd...

Their specialty was home made pie... As many of the ladies who worked there were along in years, they knew how to make spectacular deserts...   The most senior lady that started the pie tradition, has now passed along, but her picture was on the wall with several examples of pies in front of her...

We ended up going back thru Topeka and past the capitol downtown...  I couldn't take any pictures from the bike in the traffic...  And I didn't dare let the others get away from me, since I had no idea where the highways were to get me back to the way out of town...

This is a stock picture from the internet....  Now I know were that department of Revenue envelope is being mailed at tax time.....    Ugg.

Wednesday and Thursday it was mow the yards day for me, since my younger son is out of town...  I went over and did his as well...  He has taken care of mine too many times to mention, so I am well indebted and will never catch up in this regard....

This is rambling on so more later...

Retired Rod