Ahhh, the day that I was waiting for. The wide open Plains of eastern Colorado leading into western Kansas. I-70 east out of Denver is motorcycle bliss. Well, we all ready ourselves at Castle Moke and prepare to head out so Ian can take his son to school. After the round of "Thank you's" from everyone we rolled over to I-25 south for a few miles to hit a gas stop. With the new morning scheduled breakfast that we had to include (Uncle Dudes breakfast, like I argued with it), I spied a Waffle House near the gas station. Oh yeah, time for an American grease spoon icon. We grabbed a bunch of seats at the counter and grubbed out, lets roll bishes. Down to the 470 we go, but wait....whats this? Is my stomach upset? How can this be? Damn Waffle House strikes again. I detour into a Marriott hotel parking lot and proceed to use their accommodations.
Ok, fast forward if you don't like sophomoric/teenager boy humor. You have been warned! So I get to the nice restrooms and make my way to a stall. I know the boots in the next stall,
they belong to Uncle Dude. The restroom rendezvous goes like this...(Dano) What's up Dude? looks like we are going to be stall neighbors." (Dude laughs) "sup brudda." hear the ass gaskets being opened and placed on the Thrones, bare asses sitting on them....silence....pause. (Dano)"I'm gunna be nice and give ya a courtesy flush." smiling I do so, and let one rip in the whirlpool background noise. Quickly Dude follows up "Oh yeah." and fires one off too. Both of us are laughing now. I smile and say "Back at ya." and launch a retaliation second round. Giggling school boys we are, Dude pipes up and says, "I'll see your flush and raise you one." and immediately cranks out two rapid fire flushes, damn professional. I'm crying I'm laughing so hard I cant talk. (Dude)"You can out corner me, but ya cant out flush me." Dude gets up and because he is in the handicap stall he walks out of my boot viewing sight. Water in a sink turns on and he starts to wash his hands....in the stall too. I ask, "They have a sink in the stall?", (Dude)"Yeah, and they have bagels and coffee machine too." I was glad that I was on the toilet because I would have crapped or pissed my pants because I was laughing so hard. The boots walk off and leave me. I get outside and we both laugh looking at each other. With everyone fed and relieved, we head out into the wide open spaces that is eastern Colorado. At that point Steve parted out company and headed back on his own as he was going to do some big mile days at a faster speed than us.
Adios Steve, good meeting you.The weather was sunny and blue skies, perfect weather to ride in. We all took full advantage of the hair-ties that Hockey had given us and set our make shift cruise controls on. Private Parts(Chad)
practiced his Iron Cross cruise control balance act. I did a high speed strafe on Private Parts and Hockey with the RC FiddyOne at full song. We swapped bikes a few times in during the day at gas stops. I recall eating at McDonald's .JPG)
because Chewie wanted to see if they made the burgers the same way as in Australia. They did, tasted exactly like what he was used to. While eating lunch, Hockey posed a question. The question was that we vote on changing CCC Chad's name from Private Parts to Rose. Hockey can fill in that story, haha. It might gave been at that time that I also nominated that we change Hockey's name to "The Fall Guy" because of his run in with the ground at Lake Arrowhead. Hockey laughed but wasn't too keen for the change Hahaha. With a quick bite to eat we rolled out to get across the open plains. 
We stopped at the Colorado/Kansas border and took the normal State line sign photo.
From there we made it into Salinas, Kansas for the evening. We spotted a Travelodge right off the interstate and booked 3 rooms with the sweet military discount that Hockey provided. Hockey and I were at at the counter and asked to have three room right next to each other. The girl at the counter said she would look for three open rooms together. Hockey and me look at each other(not because we are sexy, but we are) because there was maybe FIVE cars in the whole parking lot. The hotel was three buildings and two stories each. Do your best then please. With keys in hand we divvy up the rooms and unload the steeds, leaving the unloaded Ventura packs on the bikes. Why? Because its early, we ain't got no jobs and we ain't got shit to do, I'm gunna get you drunk. (Friday the movie reference) Off to gas up the bikes, lube the chains and make a beer, whiskey run. With all the party essentials in hand (thanks for the tequila guys) we went back to party central. The tables and chairs from all three rooms came out in front of the rooms onto the covered sidewalk. We formed our own private outdoor patio club,
with our six bikes right in front of us. We had the whole backside of the hotel to ourselves. Next on the list, pizza. Domino was called and grub was delivered. We couldn't have had a better time than what we did. Six guys with nothing to do except ride, drink and have fun. We drank lots, and enjoyed a great evening of bullshitting and great company. Tequila Dan made an appearance, that's me when I have lots of tequila and start to smile and laugh a lot. I'll let some of the others fill in the blanks of the night because I don't recall a lot...I do remember that the Aussies became Crown Royal fans, Cheers big ears! What a night, fist bumps all around.Chewie says:.....this was one of the best nights we had......one of those things you can't plan, they just happen.
Dano says:.....I agree Chewie, it was by far the funnest night of the trip(speaking for myself). There were other many close seconds, but this night topped them all.
David says:
We actually got an early start today. Good thing too because this was going to be a big mile day. We fueled up the bikes not too far from The Mokes house and Dan spotted a Waffle House. I wasn't exactly pleased with his decision because I've had a few bad experiences at the WH but I made the best of it, ordered light and stayed away from anything fried. About an hour into the ride Dan hits an exit ramp and rolls into a hotel parking lot. I have no personal knowledge of what went on in that bathroom but he went in with a slightly panicked look on his face and came out giggling like a school girl. After that we headed down to I-70 on a toll road. I've never been through a toll that doesn't get their money right away, this one took a picture of your tag as you drove by and mails you the bill. The combination of the overloaded bike and dirty tag means I never got a bill. Good because that one toll in Ohio cost me over a $100.
I'm not really sure why but I was expecting a big drop in elevation leaving the mile high city. That was not the case. The Great Planes spread the elevation drop over about three states. I never knew that. We did about 400 miles on a straight, flat, boring interstate. Along the way I guess Nimec started to fight the boredom by trying to see how long he could ride with no hands. I watched him ride along with his arms floating out to the side for probably 10 minutes when it hit me, it looked just like he was recreating the scene from Titanic where "Rose" is standing on the bow of the ship. I chuckled to myself till the next stop and put the name change to a vote. It passed.
I have to agree with Dan and John that was one of the best nights on the road. I have no idea how long we were outside but it was one of the most relaxed and stress free times I have had and I'm glad I had such a great group of friends to share it with. It was one of the moments that has made me define this trip as "life changing". Salina Kansas 6266 miles so far.
miles traveled for the day=458
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