Backroads Touring - May 18, 2013

May 18, 2013 .... and the Chautauqua Hills of southern Kansas were calling.

Ten riders appeared through the thick, dense fog that had settled-in to the Flint Hills this morning and arrived at our rendezvous point of the Beaumont Hotel. On a clear day, there are usually an aircraft or two parked next to the hotel, but with the ground-touching cloud ceiling, we expected none. What a surprise to see that an ultralight pilot had managed to navigate and land at the nearby grass strip.

This day's gathering included: Steve Starkel - Bel Aire - TE630, David Woodward - Wichita - XR650L, Thurman Brittingham - Rose Hill - KLX250S, Greg Mitchell - Emporia - KTM 950, Phil Denk - KCMO - KLR650, Jeffrey Grier - Mulvane - XT350, Khalid Ebrahim - Wichita - KTM LC640, Keith Harris - Andover - KTM 690R, Chris Owens - Garden Plain - KLR650, and Roger Baugh - Wichita - KLX250S.

We rode south out of Beaumont through the heavy mist, and a visibility of a couple of hundred yards, at best. Slowly, the mist would lift after ten miles or so, but it was an eerie feeling to ride through a wind farm and only see turbine blades when they reached the lowest point of their rotation.

Once down into the riparian forest that marks the beginning of the Elk River Valley, we had a deer explode from the forest between riders, but our lowered speed meant no close calls. We stopped in Moline for fuel, then proceeded south to the Red Buffalo Ranch and a stop at Butcher Falls. From there, we rode a beautiful ridgeline route overlooking the Caney River Valley into the ghost town of Elgin on the Oklahoma border.

Leaving Elgin, we rode north to Sedan for lunch at our favorite BBQ joint on the west edge of town. Upon arrival at the restaurant, who should we meet but our favorite Frenchman, Luc Valentin, who was visiting the area with his family. Many of us in today's patrol had ridden together with Luc in past years, so it was a great reunion! Following lunch, Phil took over as ride leader and led us to a beautiful stone house and the entrance to the Quivira Scout Ranch area.

At QSR, a look at our watches told us the day had been become long and it was time to work our way back home, so we opted to finding tarmac and make short order of the miles that remained. It had been a great day with incredible scenery, no mishaps, nor mechanical issues. Unfortunately, it had to end before nightfall settled-in on us!

...... Roger Baugh

Route Maps Download ... PDF format, (1.1 mb)

Click on any thumbnail to open an album window. Clicking on the right edge of an image progresses to the next image. Clicking on the left returns to previous image. Album "close" box is found in lower right-hand corner, or by clicking outside of the enlarged image area.