Moto Giro degli Stati Uniti: The Many Faces of Kansas

Tuesday June 30 Martedi 30 Giugno
Attenzione, italiano addizionato adesso

Today we will ride east and north across Kansas. There are many people who do not like riding in Kansas as there are no hills or curves and it is especially boring if you are on the interstates. Flat and straight thy name is Kansas! However we will take secondary roads through the farm country and the smaller cities. We will basically follow the old Santa Fe trail that was the route for traders to bring their goods to Santa Fe, New Mexico. And indeed the roads are flat and straight as we leave Dodge and start to Great Bend. Initially the view is of dry looking prairie but it gradually becomes greener. On the way we come into the small town of Kinsley. Out of the corner of my eye I see a sign and I turn around and go back to take a second look. It seems that Kinsley is exactly the same distance from New York City as it is from San Francisco. Back on the road we continue on to Great Bend on the Arkansas river. We gas up here and continue east with me in the lead. Again from the corner of my eye I see a sign about a historical marker. Nothing important, there are thousands of them across the USA. But it appears that this marker is in a park just east of town. I stop and ask Deane if he wants to go back to the marker and we go back. The marker is about a fort that used to be here to protect travelers on the Santa Fe trail from Indian attacks. There is also a sign about the Barton County Historical Museum. Back into Great Bend we go searching for this museum eventually ignoring the GPS which thinks the museum is north of town but we know it is south. Score 1 for the human beings as we find the museum south of town. It is a very nice museum with lots of exhibits including one of several types of clothes washing methods and machines as well as a restored motor scooter like the one in my garage waiting my restoration efforts. It was well worth the visit and I want to bring Linda back here. We like museums and there are many of them in towns across Kansas. From there it is northeast to the town of Marquette. Marquette is of interest as it is the home of the Kansas Motorcycle Museum and both Deane and I had heard about it and wanted to stop there. It is a small building from the street but inside there are 3 rooms full of restored motorcycles. At first it seems that it only has the American brands Harley and Indian. But the other 2 rooms do a good job of showing brands from around the world. And there is another restored scooter like the one I have so I get plenty of detail photos that will help me later. The museum is dedicated to the memory of one of Kansas' great motorcycle racers and his widow is the host at the museum. A quick and inexpensive lunch and we are on our way again. We are definitely in farm country here. Everywhere there are combines in the fields and it looks like hot, dusty work. I am watching my gas gauge and comparing it to the miles traveled. It seems like the gauge is reading low for the miles traveled but my mind tells me that the gauge is reading slightly low because the bike is going uphill. Uphill? In Kansas? Sure enough as we go east the terrain is changing from flat to hilly and very green. Actually I am not surprised as I have traveled Kansas before. I am a fan of the Midwest. I like the outlook of the people. They respect and are considerate of each other, they are hard working, patriotic and God fearing and I enjoy being in their country. Along the way we occasionally see farmhouses about to collapse and sometimes collapsed and being covered by vegetation. And we also see new houses or houses under construction, It would be easy to make a photo story of the life cycle of a farm house if I had stopped and taken pictures. It is fairly easy to make comparisons to the human situation as I ride along and philosophize about life. We eventually arrive at Manhattan where Deane's brother Del lives. He has a carpet business and his residence is in part of his business building. He gives us a room with a bed and a pad on the floor. Deane takes the bed as he is not a camper and I am and have a sleeping bag and am prepared for the floor. Del takes us to a nice buffet restaurant and buys our dinner. I check in with Linda and then we sit in the patio at the back of the carpet business and enjoy the Kansas evening.
289 miles today.

Oggi guideremo est e nord a Manhattan, Kansas. Kansas e' un stato famoso per terra livella. Comunque useremo le strade piccole e meno noioso. Alla partenza la terra e' marrone e livella e la strada e' senza curve. Dopo un po' ho visto un cartello che indica la distanza da qui e San Francisco e' uguale alla distanza a New York. Siamo in centro fra queste due citta. Poi siamo fermati al museo nella citta di Great Bend. E' un bel museo e vorrei ritornare con Linda. Linda usa molto la sua lavatrice e c'e una stanza pieno delle lavatrici storichi. Anche c'e un altro museo alla citta di Marquette. Questo museo e' un museo delle moto storiche. Ci sono tre stanza delle moto in come nuova condizione. Adesso la terra e' verde con piante agricole. Abbiamo visto tante case vecchie e abbandonato. E' difficile a pensare che a una volta queste case sono stati un sogno d'oro di qualcuno. Adesso ci sono colline verde, siamo nelle colline "Flint" quale e' un area famosa e bellissima. Finalmente arriviamo a casa del fratello di Deane dove staremo due giorni. 289 miglia.