Had a great nights sleep at Amy & Tom's house. I felt like a King sleeping here!! Had coffee and breakfast and packed up for the trip to Dodge City, Kansas. Looked at the weather and it was forecast to be sunny and HOT. Forecast was 107 degrees for Dodge City! Tom took off with me to ride for 20-30 miles with me and give me a riders tour of the countryside around Nixa. It was a great ride. Tom rides a Victory and he did a pretty good job keeping up with me when I was leading. I tried not to "push" him too close when he was leading for the first part, but I really had to hold the Harley back!! (Hey Tom, I am glad you cannot edit this posting!! hehe!!). That was a nice ride and tour. THANKS so much for the hospitality! You too are great hosts!
The next part of my ride ended up pretty somber! I decided to ride through Joplin and look at the destruction from the tornado that struck the city back on May 22. Hard to believe it was over two months ago with all the destruction & debris still there. I am sure it was a worse sight then. Just hard to comprehend the power of nature!! Here are a few of pictures I took this morning:
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| Mercy Hospital |
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| Close up of Mercy Hospital |
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| Max from Ireland! |
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After that site, I headed back through the non destroyed part of Joplin and headed west on old US 66. Stopped at the Rt 66 sign as I crossed into Kansas and met Max from Ireland. He and his wife had flown to Chicago, rented a car and was riding old US Rt 66 all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. He wanted a picture with my motorcycle and one of me so we exchanged pics/cameras. I had no idea that US 66 had such a world wide following. He was really excited about Rt 66 (and he liked my Harley)!! Times like this are really neat on a motorcycle ride. Meeting interesting folks like Max!
On into Kansas on US 166 I stopped for gas in a LITTLE town of Chetopa, KS. A guy also gassing up his pickup walked over to ask the "normal" questions of "where are you from and where are you headed" (and today they would add, "it sure is hot out here!!").Ended up the guy had been to Richmond, VA and fished for catfish in the James River there. He had been a driver too for Abilene Motor Express which is headquartered in Richmond and has shipped my motorcycle a couple of times (once to Los Angeles and once to Rapid City). He also knew the owner of Abilene, Kolin Jones who I also know and is a HOG member in the local chapter in Richmond. It seems like a small world at times like this!
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| YES, that is 117 degrees in the shade!! |
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Boy, did it ever get hot across southern Kansas. Here is a pic of my bike thermometer IN THE SHADE (I was under the canopy of a gas station for about 15 minutes when I took this pic). This was 117 degrees. I turned on the NWS on the Harley radio and they were reported temps of 115 degrees in the areas. I don't think it was this hot the year I rode across Death Valley in August!! I just kept drinking water and felt fine all day. I like the heat and have never had a problem riding in it (much prefer the heat over cold temps when riding!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Stopped at the M. T. Liggett "farm" in Mullinville, Kansas. The man is really talented in his "artist/welding/political" skill. Here are a few of his sculptures!
Made it to Dodge City, KS around 6pm and started looking for a hotel room. Well, this week is something called Dodge City Days 2011. It is a big deal here with parades/rodeos/carnivals/concerts/etc. I went to five motels before I found one with one room left and I said I will take it!! There is a sports bar & grill across the road from the hotel so that is where I quickly went after unloading the bike. It was very good. Had another great beer with dinner again tonight. My friend Tom put me onto this beer last night. It is Boulevard beer brewed in Kansas City. They had it on draft!!
I have checked the agenda of items for Dodge City Days for tomorrow and there is a Chuckwagen breakfast sponsored by Fidelity State Bank at the Boot Hill Museum for $2.00!! I think I will head up there in the morning and take a tour of old town Dodge City. Will review that in my blog tomorrow evening. That is it for tonight!
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