Kansas back roads

Spring is here, the weather is awesome, time to hit the Kansas back roads! Even in today's busy world solitude can still be found. There are miles of paved back roads where you can ride for hours and not see another vehicle, except for maybe a tractor.

Sometimes solitude is the best therapy.

Kansas in October

I had the chance to put on some miles today just puttin' around on some back roads around my area. It was an awesome day for October in Kansas, sunny and 80 with little wind. If you're ever crossing northeast Kansas take some time for exploring our back roads. The area through the Flint Hills, Milford Lake, and Tuttle Creek Lake have some well maintained, fun and scenic roads.

Hot in Kansas

It's frickin' hot! Took my 900 out for a ride after it cooled off. 8pm and still 96*!

Winter ride

I can't believe the forecast! I've got a week off work for the holidays and the weather is looking to be in the 40's and 50's this week! Last week of December in Kansas!!??!! Sun's out, roads are clear, I'm ridin'!

Yup warm enough to ride-

No ride is complete without a stop at one of our local indy shops. We're fortunate to have a few close by so todays stop was at Cowboy's Custom Cycles in Washington Kansas. Good people, good shop, stop in for a visit if you're in the area!

Toy Runs!

Toy runs? Already!!!! For some toy runs signal the beginning of the end of the riding season in Kansas as the winter holiday season approaches. I'm sure most are familiar with toy runs, but just in case, a toy run is a benefit ride so that kids in need can have something under the tree on Christmas morning. Admission to a toy run is usually a new, un-opened toy. Following the run, sometimes nothing more than a short parade of bikes through town, there may be an auction of donated items with proceeds going to help out local families.

On Saturday, October 2nd, my wife and I headed out on a chilly but sunny morning for the hour ride to Concordia, Ks for the 10th Annual Cloud County Toy Run. There's alot of folks that put alot of work into this and it's impossible to list them all but, A.B.A.T.E. of Kansas District 9, California Phil's, and the American Legion Riders of Post 76 put alot of hours into this run for the kids. There's also alot of local businesses that donate items to the auction and this year the auction even included a car! For the last 10 years these folks have been going above and beyond to make sure that local families in need are taken care of. While talking to Phil of California Phil's I learned that 99% of the proceeds go directly back into the community, with the only exception being the mandatory insurance purchased for the event. The amount of hours volunteered in itself is amazing.

The start point was at the National Guard Armory in Concordia, Ks.

The participants rode bikes of all shapes and sizes from all manufacturers.



a Snap-on mini-chopper




A raked sporty




A full on custom Panhead chopper(I love this bike!!)

 A couple "big guns" in the background!

At the end of the day the big hearted bikers filled the back of this truck with toys to be distributed to local children

Babe Houser Motor Co. of Concordia even donated a car for the auction!

Even with the highly skilled auctioneer and all of the excitement going on at the auction, the great chili provided to everyone at the American Legion Hall was just too much for this guy, he managed to get a good nap in!

Here's a short video clip of the auction, this is the second time I've gotten to see this auctioneer in action and this guy makes it fun!

For all those that worked so hard and to those that came to the run and donated, THANK YOU!! Because of you, some of the kids in the Concordia area will have a little better Christmas!

Ralph Wayne's

Topeka's 1st Bike Gathering

We hit the road at 8am bound for Topeka Kansas to show some support for their 1st Biker Gathering. The only reason I knew about it was an obscure ad posted on Craigslist, guys, you really need to work on your PR skills for this! Get the word out! I'm "Joe Average" and if I'm willing to ride the 80 miles for it, there's alot of other folks that would do the same and ride further, if they know about it! That being said, I think it's safe to say that their 1st bike gathering was a success, with probably just over 200 bikes there, a couple vendors, and some killer biscuits and gravy, I'm looking forward to next month!

Not a bad turn out

Not bad at all

I do like the Fatboy Low

Sweet chop!

This thing just oozes cool!

Super clean BSA

One of the cleanest 76 KZ's I've seen in a long time

Nice CB chop

Some sweet 4 wheelers too!

Gotta admit, I was droolin' over this!

Couldn't pass up the patch, lol!

While we were in Topeka we took some time to check out the Korean War Memorial and the WWI memorial.

Couldn't have said it better.