Shake-down Ride Part 3: Taco John's in Lawrence for a pow-wow and a cool drink

After parting ways with Gilly and Uncle Bill near Topeka (thanks for a great tour of the Skyline Mill Creek Scenic Tour Route, Gilly!) we headed for Lawrence via US 40.


We stopped at Taco John's on 23rd Street in Lawrence for a cool drink and a meeting about the Big Ride. As I stood in line to order my drink, I noticed that Mike H. was still in the parking lot. When he finally came in, he told me that he dropped his ignition key down inside the fairing of his Gold Wing and he couldn't find it!


After cooling off a bit and discussing details of the trip, we headed outside to see if we could fish the ignition key out of Mike H's Gold Wing.


We all gathered around while Mike H broke out his official Honda Gold Wing tool kit and started dismantling the left-side fairing assembly in search of The Key. Several minutes and a dozen screws later, The Key was recovered. I think we did a fantastic job of supervising and supporting the recovery effort!


It was a beautiful day and a great shake-down ride. Total mileage: 291 miles.

Shake-down Ride Part 2: A great day for a Vista Burger

We took K-32 to US 24 to Topeka, then through Silver Lake to Rossville, where we picked up Scott Gillum ("Gilly") and his Uncle Bill. Gilly led the way to the Vista Burgers in Manhattan on his Harley 1200 Sportster and Uncle Bill brought up the rear on his new Harley Street Bob. Good burgers and cold drinks were the order of the day.

Shake-down ride to Manhattan and the Flint Hills

Steve, Mike Powell, Bruce, Mike Herrmann and I met at the old Central HD at 9 am for shake-down ride to Manhattan, KS for lunch and a ride through the Flint Hills.

Before we took off, Mike P. noticed that his front tire was low. Forunately, Mike H. had an air compressor on-board his Gold Wing (it IS a Gold Wing, after all). Within minutes, the tire was fully inflated and we were off.