Day 1 – Friday, June 10, 2011 - Kansas City Missouri to Wheatland Missouri

Day 1 – Friday, June 10, 2011
Kansas City Missouri to Wheatland Missouri

I had minimal battles with Kathy on packing, but I could tell that she surely brought more stuff than me. There is quite a bit of room on a Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, but I think Kathy was determined to get plenty of stuff in there to fill all the nooks and crannies. We even filled up a Nelson Rigg CL-800 (with expandable pockets that were expanded to their limits). The plan was to pack light so that we could purchase local souvenir t-shirts along the way. The saddlebags were filled with motorcycle traveling necessities, including tools, an air pump, some tire plugs, a day/night cover, and all of our rain gear. I guess I should fess up... I did my share of filling some of the tour pack space with camera gear, but isn't that more important?

The forecast was not looking very good for Friday travel, since there were storms moving through. Around 10:00 AM of Friday, a pretty good storm hit our area. But it started to clear off nearly as rapid as it came in. We were in contact with Ronnie and Theresa about a desired time to leave town, which was around 1:15 PM. It was a pretty warm day with a temperature around 87 and a chance for rain.  We met Ronnie and Theresa at the nearest gas station to fill up the tank before heading out on our venture. After filling up, I reset my trip odometer to zero, then waited for Ronnie to start his bike (so we could hear that it was started), started my semi-quiet HD up, and and headed south.

There were no significant events on the first day, other than... 30 or so miles into the trip, Ronnie realized he lost his side cover off his Honda Goldwing while going down the road. Not to fear, Ronnie devised a quick plan to get another side cover, at least he thought so. Very near that same time, my GPS dropped from the bracket and the device fell off our bike and skidded down the same road. I did think the GPS looked pretty cool skidding on the road at 70 mph as well. You know, kind of like skipping a rock on a pond?

At the D and R Tavern in Clinton MO

We made the turn at Harrisonville and ended up at the D and R Tavern in Clinton, Missouri for a big glass of water (cough). The friendship of the townsfolk was instantaneous since we parked two of the best looking bikes outside their establishment. Most of the comments about our bikes were directed towards the black and orange Harley, which Ronnie didn’t quite get. Once we finished our waters, we were on our way to the in-laws. We pointed the bikes in the general direction of their house, since it was to be our destination for Friday evening.

Kathy in The Parlor

Again, the goal of this road trip was to get off the main roads as much as possible. Some know heading south on MO-13 can get built up with traffic. Since we were in the mode of getting on some curvy roads, we hopped off MO-13 and onto T Hwy, which goes through Gerster (population, not very many) in to Wheatland. Theresa quipped over channel 8, “We should open a bar in Gerster!” We all laughed, since there did not appear to be any form of life in that town, and continued on to Wheatland.

A Cool Ride in The V Parking Lot

Marie, Kathy, and Melissa at "The V"

Once we pulled up, we all received a warm greeting from Jim and Marie (ma and pa) Kenny. There was plenty of time to chat out in Jim’s “parlor”, which also serves as a driveway under the deck overlooking the golf course. There were also some friends that came over to say hi from the golf course. They were druuuuuunk! After mocking them for a bit, and fixing the failed GPS bracket (I actually saved it from dropping), we were on our way to "The V" 'cause it's "the place to be!" Well, that's what the locals say anyway. We shared a happy hour $5.50 pitcher (cough) of water and headed back to the homestead to cook some burgers and brats for dinner. Once dinner was over, the bed gods were calling... What a day!

Some revelations for this first leg of the road trip:

• Beer is like water and visa versa.
• I hope I set my out of office messages up.
• Ronnie’s bluish bike sure is quiet when he starts it. Almost like its not even on…
• There were free movies this weekend on direct tv and dish, thanks to the multiple announcements by JimJoeBob at “The V” – There was to be a Gunsmoke marathon all day Saturday. It had me almost rethinking this ride... (not really)
• Cajun mustard is good on grilled hamburgers.
• 150 miles this day - give or take – click here our general route.