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Saturday --- 23 May 2009
Well the weather is great and I am ready for a ride. I had been wanting to take some more pictures of Effie out on these bridges I found in March when I was looking up all the Lewis and Clark historic sites in the area. It being my day off, I slept in and then called Daryl to see if he would want to go with me. We made arrangements to meet at 13:50 and ride out. The site is around 60 miles from home. Heading out of KC toward Ft Leavenworth, KS I was in the lead which is unusual. I decided to take Hwy 5 which will take us right to the National Cemetery in Leavenworth. Hwy 5 is twisty and curvy. I call it The Gecko, it is not the Tail of the Dragon, but for KS it is not bad.

Arriving by the cemetery I decided we should just take a little cruise through it, look at the flags and pay our respects. The main avenue was lined with what seemed like a hundred flags. Not the 3ft x 5ft flags most people fly at their homes, these were the big casket flags these are 8ft long. Every tombstone has a small flag in front of it. We found a shade tree and pulled over for a minute of 2 so I could take a picture or 2.

The plan was to find a gas station so Daryl could fill up, next we would stop at Sonic to get something to eat then off to the bridges. After a hamburger and fries at Sonic we were on the road again. There was only about 20 miles to the bridges, there were about 5 miles of gravel getting to these sites. The area had changed in the 2 months since I had been there. The area along side the road had been scrapped flat and was all muddy. It lost some of its neat country look. We stopped at both the bridges and took pictures. The pictures of Darrel and his bike turned out really well.

Sunday --- 24 May 2009
The American legion breakfast was in the morning, I had not planned on staying for the whole morning, but they had not arranged for anyone else with keys to be there, so I was stuck. I feel like I am ambushed when they do this, instead of just asking me up front they just stick me with it. Well guess it’s a good thing I didn’t have plans that wouldn’t wait. As I am finishing up and taking a break, Bud and Phil Daffron come in the clubroom. Earlier that day I had asked Bud to show me the memorial that his WWII unit had built here in the city. Bud and I had talked about when our schedules allowed us both time that could be done but had not come up with a time that was good for both of us. They had been in the area and noticed that my bike was still there, so they had stopped to see if I had time to run over and see it then. Why not, away we went. I had the extreme pleasure of a personal tour of this WWII memorial by one of the guys that was instrumental in building it. The unit was an anti aircraft unit an assembly of men from all over the country. He spoke of how they can by the name and told me of the song that unit had. Mr. 5 by 5, five feet tall, five feet wide, he also resembled Winston Churchill. He told me of basic training and serving by the Rhine Falls. Bud told me of other members of the unit, some living some not. He also told me of the annual reunions that it holds throughout the country. It was truly an honor to get be introduced to this memorial by Bud and his wife.

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