The Motorcycle Diaries: (July 11) Two Weeks Late Edition

 This is why I will never make a living as a blogger or a writer.  On Friday July 10 I posted about working on my cousin's house.  On Saturday July 11 I left said cousin's house on my motorcycle.  I traveled across seven states, camped five nights, stayed in two hotels, rode a couple thousand miles through beautiful country, returned home on Sunday July 19 and didn't post a thing.  🤔

Saturday July 11: Abilene, Kansas to Denver, Colorado

Salina, Kansas to Menards for a quick exchange of a defective product, specifically Australian Gold bug spray that didn't spray.  I use their sunscreen and love it.  After five days camping in Richland, Washington, I don't love their bug spray.  I got eaten alive.  Details to follow.  Needless to say the bug spray got thrown in the trash before I left the campsite.

Cawker City, Kansas The World's Largest Ball of Twine

Turns out that even "the world's largest" is open to interpretation.  According to Wikipedia there is the biggest by diameter, the biggest by weight, the biggest put together by a community, the biggest put together by an individual, etc.  I love America.  Either way, didn't care.

As an aside, next time someone says gas prices are high because of President Trump, show them this picture from Kansas, who happens to have the exact same President as those of us in Washington state.

So while I'm there I start chatting with another couple and they mention the geographic center of the United States.  Not including Hawaii and Alaska.  That's up in South Dakota.  I feel like I've been to that one already.  The "contiguous United States".

Lebanon, Kansas The Geographic Center of the 48 Contiguous States

I stop for lunch in Lebanon and then head out of town about a mile or two.  There are my friends from the World's Largest Ball of Twine.  We take pictures.

Finally, driving through St. Francis, Kansas, population 1263, and there's a sign saying "Motorcycle Museum".  OK, guess I need to stop there.  Probably weak sauce, I mean there's 1,263 people who live in this town, how good could it be?

OMG!

After that it's off to Denver. Except now there's a really long road that goes from Lebanon to Denver, with no gas stations or towns, a common theme of my trip.  

Side note: It was a lot worse when I crossed the country right out of the Navy on my 1992 Fatboy.  The Fatboy only had a 4 gallon tank and there were a LOT fewer gas stations.

However, made it to Denver and stayed in a really nice Best Western with a big swimming pool and lots of diversity.  Which means that it was loud and I couldn't use the hot tub because there were a dozen kids throwing a ball around in it.  Perhaps hotels should have rules about the hot tub so that the adults, who are paying for the pleasure of staying, can actually use them.  I can't count the number of hot tubs at hotels and KOA campgrounds that have basically been inaccessible because of the kids.  That's my grumble for the week. 

Dinner at P.F. Chang's with the World Cup on the TV, good drinks at the bar, and always good food.