Eastern Wabaunsee Co. Saturday - May 5th *Change*

[MacWildcat]

Looks like this Saturday may be a good time to ride the low maintenance sections of eastern Wabaunsee county.
I'm thinking start and end in Alma. Keep the miles of the loop fairly low to allow playtime in the less than dry conditions. I will probably take another run through Box turtle if the barriers and be circumvented.

Maybe a 9:00 am start time from the convenience station at the south end of town.

[troy]

Hello, Larry! Thanks for posting this up and your willingness to let some folks tag along.

I'm heading to Paris with my wife this Saturday, so I'm out for the ride. We have a lot of new folks on the forum that perhaps don't know Larry, so let me just say that if you can make the ride, you will not be disappointed! Larry likes the good stuff and knows how to find it. He's not too bad of a guy, either.

So get out to Alma this Saturday and enjoy a great dualsport ride!

[MacWildcat]

*NOTE - NEW START/END LOCATION* To make this ride more accessible to folks from the east, the ride start/end location has been moved to Maple Hill. We will meet at the truck stop at Maple Hill I-70 exit 341. The other awesome advantage to this location will be a late lunch at the famous Puffy's Steak House. If you have not been to Puffy's you are in for a great experience. Fresh beef right off the Flint Hills - Puffy's is also a locker plant that processes their own beef.

The route will cover low maintenance sections on the north and south side of I-70. The approximate length is 75 miles. We will leave from Maple Hill at 9:00 a.m. The Flint Hills are incredible right now, lush green with prairie flowers blooming.

For those folks considering this ride there will be mud, water holes, and rough conditions.

Here is a link to a image of the route.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1156376658 ... 9/May22012

[kendall_smith]

My wife and I might be at this one. We will most likely throw the bikes on the trailer and head out there to meet you before 9:00 since they don't do slab too well.

I'll post here with a definite answer before tomorrow night so you will know whether to expect us or not.

Looking forward to it-especially some Puffy's! We haven't eaten there in a while.

[troy]

Kendall, I like your avatar pic--it was taken 1/4 second before that ninja snuck up behind you and killed you.



Ask a Ninja
http://blip.tv/askaninja/ask-a-ninja-qu ... bq-4441697
http://blip.tv/askaninja

[kendall_smith]

LOL! I don't know why, but I love that picture! At first, I just threw it on there since I didn't have access to all my pics and it was one of the only dual sport pics I had, but it kind of grew on me.

It is growing on to Alissa too. She didn't like it at first, but I think she's coming around since I told her I laugh at it every time I see it.

[ozarksrider]

I'm off the fence now, so count me in as well. Mud, rough stuff, and water holes. How can that be missed?

Kendall I think I'll just push my bike up in the back of the truck or, if the tires don't look to dodgy, trailer. Either way thanks for the offer and I'll meet you all at the truck stop.

[MacWildcat]

Cool, sounds like we will have a good group. BTW - If you need to fill up on gas, there is a gas war between two stations on I-70. Reg. unleaded is $3.35 at the Maple Hill station. Who would have ever thought gas that expensive would be worth getting excited about.

[kendall_smith]

Sounds good. Looks like we're all on for Saturday morning. See you all at the truck stop around 9:00.

[MacWildcat]

Anyone else thinking of coming on this ride, please add a post. This will help me plan who to look for before we leave in the morning.

[Bob Morgan]

I plan to be at the Maple Hill truck stop in the morning and ride for at least a couple hours or so before I have to head back to Topeka for an appointment. I just called and the Subway Sandwich shop opens at 0800.......... at least the nice lady at the truck stop "thinks" that's when it opens! Anyway I'll probably be there around 0800 to sample their breakfast fare. See you all in the morning

[ozarksrider]

Great ride. Thanks Larry.

Mud (well not a lot), rough roads, and mud holes just as promised. Kendall got to go both directions on Box Turtle, the rest of us one way. I got my first experience with the Flint Hills.

I think my favorites are the rocky, minimal maintained roads.

[Bob Morgan]

It was good to see everyone again!
Dust was down, so fun riding was Up!

The previously installed barricade was removed and laying in the weeds when we arrived at Box Turtle road so we enjoyed the ride!

Mac Wildcat didn't say anything about doing a "pre ride" in his truck to check out the status of the barricade.......... but he never said he didn't either.

Nice morning, I really enjoyed the ride. Thanks Mac!

[gagnaou]

Too bad I missed that one! Anybody is going out tomorrow in the same area? Larry, you want to do it again

[MacWildcat]

Had a great time riding and meeting all the riders. The loop had us back at Maple Hill at 12 noon. Wabaunsee county is one of the best areas I have found to ride successive low maintenance roads without alot of long connecting gravel sections. Lunch at Puffy's wasn't too bad either!

Sorry I couldn't deliver on the amount of mud and water holes I expected.

Curt has a video already prepared from Box Turtle. As with photos, the video doesn't do justice to the ruggedness of this trail. Be careful out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARI-pYmNDxw

[electrician]

Good to hear Boxturtle was open. I had a guy respond to a post that boxturtle could have been annexed to private land, i hoped that wasnt the case. Im a new proud owner of a 2001 640 KTM Adventure. Cant wait to get out on it this summer.

[gagnaou]

Larry and team,

I think I saw some of your tacks today, I went back in the same area, it was a lot of fun.

For the ones of you that have never been in the are, it is a must do in KS, some of the best low maintenance roads IMHO.







Nice to be back in this neck of the wood

[MacWildcat]

Lots of great riding all around us Luc. Makes it hard to decide which direction to head.

[gagnaou]

No Kidding!

I had to remind myself to pay extra attention as there were quite a few roads with pretty serious wash out.

Box Turtle, I was thinking today riding through it that it's been 6 years since last time I rode it. The worst part almost seems to have gotten better, but the easier parts got worst...

Oh well, still a nice road, the best road that I have ran across in KS in any case .

[kendall_smith]

Good ride Saturday! Thanks for putting it together Larry. We had a great time and the conditions seemed to be about perfect for it.

As for the roads and the route, I don't think I've ever ridden a route that had that much of a concentration of minimum maintenance roads, so that was a nice surprise. Finally riding the infamous Box Turtle was cool too- wish there were a couple hundred more miles of that type of riding close to home!

We'll have to do it again soon.