Saturday, July 5, 2003 ... The first team GPS Ride. Temperatures in the high 90s gave emphasis to the phrase, "Hot as a Firecracker!" Nine riders made it to the start point in Wichita, KS. Coming in from St. Louis by way of Stillwater, OK was Sean Noll with his KLR650. Mike Lemasters of Wichita rode his KLR650, Tom Hamby of Wichita rode his KTM 640 LC4, and Dave Dixon of Derby arrived on his KLR650. James Pratt rode up from Edmond, OK on his BMW F650GS Dakar, accompanied by Phil Templeton of Oklahoma City riding a KTM 640 Adventure. Gwynn Norris of Wichita joined the group on his BMW 1150 GS, Brady Allensworth of Wichita had his '87 KLR650 along, and Roger Baugh of Wichita rode his KLR650. We decided to split into two teams, with Mike LeMasters and James Pratt serving as ride leaders. Clues and GPS points were distributed, and the leaders went to work feeding waypoint information to their GPS units. Spaced at ten minute intervals, James' group took off first on what was to be about 140 miles of mixed road conditions, most of it either dusty sand or gravel county roads. Mike's group was fortunate when stopping for a clue in St. Mark's, KS. A local parishioner gave the group a tour and history of the beautiful limestone church. We rolled through Sedgwick and Butler counties in good form, but Mike's group got off course and ended up missing a waypoint by the time we reached Mulvane, KS in the mid-afternoon. The riders who lived in the vicinity, or had plenty of miles on their return trip home bid adieu, with the remainder returning to Roger's for a viewing of the new Chris Scott DVD, "Desert Riders 2003", a video on his latest ride through the Sahara Desert. It was hot, it was dusty, it was fun! 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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