Kansas is so misunderstood

For many years my family and friends have traveled from either Missouri or Texas to Colorado. The jokes were usually about the long boring ride through Kansas. It is long and boring if you drive straight through and stay on I 70. We set out to find some of the back roads of Kansas and see what this state has to offer. We were a bit surprised to find a really pretty and historic area. Before I get to that, I need to do some catching up.

We spent a week at Bull Shoals in Missouri before leaving the Springfield area. As I have said in my previous entries, we have not skied this year. We decided to take a week and get the boat down to the lake. We skied 5 days and I really enjoyed my new ski. Here is a picture of our site overlooking the marina and the lake and Beaver Creek confluence.

We started out this trip with a new addition. My good Friend Bob D. built a rail on the back of my trailer, so that we could add a motorcycle. Here is a picture of that set up. It works great. Thanks Bob!

We decided on the DR 650 for this trip. The plan is to do some two up riding in the mountains of Colorado.

Here is a picture of Scott doing some skiing on my new ski on some perfect water. 

Here is a picture of Kim skiing. She had a good week until her last time on Monday morning. She tried to drop one ski and took a spill and bruised some ribs. It is now two days later and she is doing much better.

It was time to move on, so we headed out and after climbing the big hills between Branson and Springfield, we turned west on the old route 66. We then took a few straight back roads and ended up on Hwy 400. We planned a stop in Fall River State Park. It is a very pretty area with rolling hills lots of birds and flowers. Here are a few shots.

I needed one item for dinner, so we went to the town of Fall River, Kansas. It is a very cool, VERY small town built right on the river. The high school (no longer in use) was built in 1917. The big win was the grocery had what I needed and some home made cinnamon rolls that were awesome.

Tomorrow we will move on to the other side of Kansas. We will not be on I 70 and I am looking forward to seeing what else this wonderful state has to offer. 

Here is one final snap of the sunset on Bull Shoals:

Have a great day, whatever you are doing. 

On the Road Again...

We have had a very eventful and busy late spring and early summer at the ranch. The big event was the marriage of our daughter Shannon and Brian. They invited both his family and ours to a Florida beach house where they planned a wedding on the beach. It really turned out cool and we all had a great time all week. Here is a picture of the ceremony:

The ceremony really celebrated the joining of the two families. Her three kids and his two. Kim and I now have a new Son in Law and two new grandchildren. We are very happy about the additions.

We had all three of our sons and daughter in law and additional 2 grand children together. It was a memorable time. Here is a picture of the entire clan:

It was a very busy June. The race went well on the 15th. We did not have a huge turn out with only about 90 riders, but we got lucky with the weather and the guys had fun. That is the most important thing to me.

I was able to spend a bit of time with my brother Bob and his family when they made the annual trip to Arkansas. We spent the day at Eureka Springs and then went back to their condo for some swimming and a cook out.
Here is a picture from the train ride we took in Eureka Springs:

Kim got up one morning and looked outside and saw a new friend doing a little trimming on the lawn.

I spent the rest of the month doing brake jobs on the truck and the mustang and we rebuilt
Scott's motor in his motorcycle. I have not been doing any skiing because of the problems with the truck and weather issues.

We are camped out at Bull Shoals for the next week or so. Last night, my son Scott joined us and he did some skiing. He skied for a while on my slalom and then tried out the jumpers. Kim and I also got our first skiing in for the year. 

We will start the trip west to Colorado next week. We will spend most of August and September in the cool mountain air of Colorado unless we decide to do something different. We will see.