Having been up late wrenching the night before, I got a late start in the morning, surprise surprise. Not that there was a lot to look forward to on the ride, since day six was all Kansas, all day. This was the first time I had ever been to the state, and I have to say that it lived up to it's expectations - long and flat with lots of corn. Lots of corn, as we found out, means lots of corn moths, pretty little yellow bugs that love to fly in the path of moving vehicles. Scooters are no exception and our bikes saw the worst carnage yet of the trip. There were some interesting sites along the way though. I rode through Dodge City, so now I can officially say that I've gotten the f*** out of Dodge, as the saying goes. A few miles further, there was a major tractor trailer accident, with the rig lying on it's side off to the side of the road. There were also a couple of cool old classic cars parked by the side of the road throughout the day, which was a nice treat. There were also some neat little towns we passed through, plus one with the unusual name of "Gas". Aside from that, the ride was uneventful and I made good time.
The real fun began after we arrived in Fort Scott. Fort Scott is a gorgeous old town full of well preserved old buildings and even brick-paved streets. The chamber of commerce left gift packets for us at the hotel and the invited us to a welcome celebration at the Courtland Hotel, complete with a live bluegrass folk band, called Fuss and Feathers. After a delicious dinner at Rusty's, we headed over to the Courtland and took in the show. The three members of the band, along with a couple of guest singers, did a fantastic job of performing some of the most authentic, traditional bluegrass/folk music I've ever heard. They were a hoot and they left us grinning from ear to ear! I managed to capture several of the songs on video too. It was a real treat for us and was the best reception we had received yet. To top it off, one of the banks in town added a message to their scrolling sign welcoming us to Fort Scott - how cool is that?
Alhough my bike rode well that day, my rear tire was spent. I had expected to make the entire trip on it, but it barely lasted 2000 miles. Normally, one could expect a rear Heidenau K58 to last 4000 to 6000 miles, but the Cannonball has a way of taking normal expectations for wear and tear and throwing them right out the window. I brought a spare, but it was used and had maybe 1000 miles of life left - normal use miles, that is! I also noticed that the oil pan was developing an oil leak, and the oil was indeed a little low. Thankfully, St Louis was only a day away, where Vespa St Louis was ready to take good care of all our wrenching needs. However, since the hotel had both Internet access and a printer, I opted write up and print the rest of the route sheets for my "poor man's GPS", an enduro route holder. That had been a challenge for me, since I hadn't put them together beforehand, which caused problems for me to navigate properly. I was determined to finally get them done and thankfully I did, which was a big relief. The tire and oil would just have to wait until the next morning.
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