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May 4 2016 Day 6 So as it happened the KOA that I stayed at last night just east of St. Louis was located literally next to a train track that was hidden by a hedgerow; and last night I was woken up at 330 am the longest and loudest train I've ever heard rolled past my campsite for what felt like half an hour. At first I had no idea what that tremendous noise was and it scared the hell out of me for a second. I could have sworn the RVs in the parking lot had launched a late night crash up derby by the sound of it. It was a good camp site and cheep but count on being woken up by a train So then it rained a little and the train made another appearance just before sunrise. I broke camp and was on the road by 8 and the sky's were clear. I did 550+ miles from just east of St Louis to the Wakeeney KOA about 2/3 of the way through Kansas. I had expected Kansas to be a gruelingly boring but it actually was incredibly beautiful and it made a long day in the saddle tolerable. The entire time I wanted to stop and photograph everything but whenever I did I was loosing too much time and the pictures just can't do any justice to the absolutely mind boggling expanses. I rode slack jawed for most of the day just marveling at the endless ocean of grassy plains. I met a lot of nice people today. The first interesting character was from Topeka Kansas and he walked up to me at a rest stop on i70 and said in a thick European accent "hello! I love BMW! I ride 1100GS!!" His name was Roland and We talked for atleast a half hour, he told me that he worked in the factory his 1100 was manufactured in and I just thought that was pretty cool. A couple hours later I was fueling up and a guy came out of the store and complimented my bike and gave me 4 fat bags of honey roasted peanuts out of nowhere! We talked for a few minutes and honestly I forgot his name already but I thought that was really nice of him. I got to this Wakeeney KOA around 645 and paid for a site then road across the street to pick up some dinner at a subway. I ordered while I was waiting I saw this tough lookin badass trucker man covered in really wild tats tattoos with a beastly beard. He asked about the bike and had seen my plate and asked how the ride from jersey had gone. Being to lone travlers we are together at the subway and Turned out his name was Joseph he was from Edison NJ and moved out west 14 years ago. He has a 70s (forgot what year exactly wish I asked him to send me a pic) triumph that he's modified for desert racing! He showed me a ton of pics on his phone and it's defiantly a cool project bike to have. Literally 10 minutes later I was back to the KOA from the subway and was setting up this campsite When an incredibly nice older lady came out of a huge spaceship full bus motor home and introduced herself as Martha and brought me a big plate of fresh homemade chicken and rice complete with fork knife and napkin. Our encounter was very brief but said I reminded her of her brother who had been a motorcycle enthusiast. I thanked her profusely for the delicious pile of chicken and rice and she wished me a safe journey. And to think one of the things I had the most anxiety over was being alone an having friends or family to talk to. I've never in my life found it so easy to meet people as when my bike is strapped up with all my camping junk. Tomorrow morning I've got 250+ miles to Colorado Springs where I'll meet up with some friends from high school who I haven't seen in too long. Sleep ride repeat! Thanks for reading!

Hey great suggestion I was wondering about that actually, I signed up and made a profile thismorning under username AdventureHunter but can't seem to find where to get the site to issue me my link? Or do you just do like www.AdventureHunter.whereamiriding.com?

Meeting at Village Inn Restaurant @ corner of HWY 54 and 301 (Zephyrhills) at 8am sharp for a little breakfast/pre-ride planning, then heading up to the trails thereafter. So far it's just me and John Hutches, but if you want to come along, just show up. We WILL be riding off-road, so if you try avoid sand or even easy water crossings at all costs, might not be for you. We won't be trying to kill ourselves, but we'll only ride the dirt roads to connect to the next trail. Let's ride!

Great stories... Keep em' coming. Making my week better until I can ride this weekend. Love the stories of kindness and hospitality of others. Sure beats all the doom/gloom news out there!

We were one week behind you on the IDBDR in August. We lingered in Yellow Pine for several days and explored the Cinnabar Mine and other trails above the town. Friend hit a deer along Salmon River making a coffee/beer run into Riggins from Spring Bar campgrounds. Completely trashed a GS1200 with no serious injuries. His son came and retrieved damaged bike and dad and returned to Moscow, ID. Ended up being pushed off the route at Pierce with the fires. Other retired rider detoured around fires and continued north on IDBDR and I returned home to the labor camps.... It was fun!!

I am absolutely going to try and find then came Bronson and add it to my collection. And that's not a hijacking at all I appreciate the story about you and your father sharing that together. Reminds me of my father also passed and when my parents split he started racing motorcycles and was all about Ducati supersport bikes he had and wrecked 3 of em over like 4-5 years, all I knew was that I wanted to drag knee on a Ducati more than anything. Good Thing I wised up and realized and adv bike is a more practical choice!

I do not mean to high-jack your thread. This is the opening for a 1969 TV series called "Then Came Bronson". It lasted one year and had a pilot movie and 26 episodes that were filmed around the country. It was based on a real person. Essentially, the character quit his job, and spent a year traveling and working his around America wanting to see and experience the real America. The stories were about day to day people. The series came on at 10:00 PM Eastern time and I BEGGED my father to allow me to stay up and watch this show. He would always acquiesce and allow me (I was nine at the time) and would watch it with me. My dad drove long distances to work and he had to be up very early. I recall rarely being able to make it through to 11:00 PM and my dad would haul me back to bed. This show started the idea of traveling(and a love of motorcycles) for me and rarely does a single day go by that I do not recall it. My dad has passed now and I have great memories of watching it with him. He liked the character because Bronson WORKED to support himself. This was 1969 with the hippies and counter-culture movement and lots of young people criticizing and blaming mom and dad(particularly dad) while still holding their hand out. Young people wanting to "find themselves and see the world" is nothing new. The big bike companies were also working to rid the "biker" image from the media("You meet the nicest people on a Honda"). Bronson was introspective and a good person. Anyway, maybe someday soon I'll be Bronson for a year and ride my bike over the Bixby Creek Bridge. However in the meantime, reading about the travels of a young Bronson from New Jersey will suffice! Safe wandering!

But wait, there's more! They sound great. Might hv to give some a shot. Thx for the info.