April 25, 2004. Eleven riders made the rendezvous at the Beaumont Hotel in Beaumont, KS. It has only taken two weeks for the Flint Hills to lose their winter brown and develop their emerald green from the native prairie grasses. Quite a change in color .... We had our first French rider with us, Luc Valentin, who rode his KTM 640 Adventure. Luc is a student at K-State in Manhattan. Also riding a KTM 640 Adventure today was Wil Locke of Derby. Riding KLR650s were: Dave Dixon of Derby, Kenny Houk of Wichita, Jeff Gilliland of Wichita, Randy Snyder of Belle Plaine, and Roger Baugh of Wichita. Bernard Smith of Hutchinson rode his KLX650C, Mike Jennen of Mulvane rode his DRZ 400, Steve Starkel of Wichita rode his Husqvarna TE610E, and Brady Allensworth rode in on his BMW 1150GS. From Beaumont, we rode south to Latham, then east toward Howard and into open range country. We made some pleasant stream crossings where the water was swift and running 1-2 feet in depth. We continued south to Grenola through water and mud filled two track without incident. At Grenola, Wil and Jeff elected to continue south towards Oklahoma, while the main group turn north and west towards Grouse Creek in Cowley county. We crossed several stone arched bridges, then looked to crossing Grouse Creek at two separate low water bridges. It was not to be .... the extreme water flow and hidden debris would have made it too hazardous to attempt this day. We stopped in Cambridge for lunch, then worked our way up into Butler county to visit the historic bridge and building at Bois d'Arc. At Augusta, the group said adieu to Luc, Mike, and Randy ... then we proceeded west and home. It was another good ride. It was wet and there was plenty of mud to negotiate. But it was fun, there were no problems, and everyone got to log about 180 miles in the Flint Hills. Click on a thumbnail to view a larger image. Use your browser's "back" button, or the "left" arrow in the navigation bar to return to this page.

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