We left Salina, KS a little later than we had planned.  We unloaded the choppers and planned to ride for a while.  By the time we started rolling it was already in the low 80’s.  Our normal morning routine is to gas up whatever vehicles are in motion that day and move on.  The trike was running great as was the truck.

I was having a hard time getting the Sena headset to work all the functions that it is supposed to do.  I’m supposed to have intercom to Spencer and CB (through the bike) to the truck plus music playing from the bike.  I could get one or two of the above to work but not all 3.  We finally stopped after an hour or so (temp in the low 90’s).  I got everything figured out but Spencer seemed to be having a problem with his helmet.  Turns out he had applied one of those helmet cleaner / freshener sprays and had a bad reaction.  He figured that one out pretty quickly, found an easy remedy, and we were moving again.

I have been a lot of places in my life but I’ve never been to Cawker City, KS.  Spencer wanted to make sure I saw one of the real landmarks of Kansas.  I’m not sure why but the world’s largest ball of sisal twine is in Cawker City.  That’s about all there is – I don’t think a single store was open.  Maybe it was because it was Monday or maybe it’s just further proof that small town America is disappearing. I choose to believe that everybody left because they had accomplished the great feat of having the largest ball of twine – there is nothing left for them to accomplish.

After wrapping things up at Cawker City we were headed a little bit farther north to Lebanon, KS.  What’s happening at Lebanon you might ask.  Well, nothing as far as I could tell.  We drove past the town itself for about two miles north then 2 miles east and we had arrived.  We were at the geographic center of the 48 lower states.  It was nicely done.  The thing I appreciated most about it was the cooling breeze and a chance to sit in the shade.  Riding the trike in almost 100 degree heat is not at the top of favorite things list.

We decided that this was the right spot to load the bikes back on the trailer and head for Goodland – our nights planned destination.  On the way to Goodland we were looking for something to eat.  We would have preferred to have something that was not burger related  but the choices were limited.  We ended up at the Plump Pickle.  What they had to offer didn’t match what we were looking for but we stopped anyway.

With late lunch out of the way we cruised the rest of the way into Goodland.  The Holiday Inn Express was really nice and looked almost new.  We checked in and started asking about places to eat.  There was not much in the immediate area and I was exhausted for some reason.  Right next door was a Steak n’ Shake.  Again not what I wanted but it was within walking distance.  We ate quickly and I was in bed by 7:30 (which was really 8:30 – we moved into Mountain time just outside of town).

Tomorrow we will be leaving Kansas in the dust (or in a big ball of twine) and heading into Silverthorn, Colorado.  Spencer has planned a couple of stops for us and he’s done a great job of choosing so far.