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Another day of lucky sunshine was peeking through
the window of our hotel room as we prepared to ride to Blue Springs Missouri. Mike woke up practicing his new career as a
news reporter “And that’s the news from Mike Krzemien for Channel 13…” As we checked out of the hotel,
the folks at the desk said, “Hey, we saw you guys on the news last night!” Mike went into a tizzy and saw a need
to ride to a Wal-mart to buy a box of Sharpies. After I got his head to fit back into his helmet, we took off for our next
stop. We decided to take a quicker route and took Rt. 70, the main highway through the state of Kansas. This was a mistake
as there was a lot of traffic and the roads were not exactly CB77 friendly! Since the state boundaries for Kansas and Missouri
are over the Kansa/Missouri river. We were unable to take any pictures showing us crossing the border. After a 95 mile ride
we pulled into Dells Honda, where Rich Woten and his pet Macaw, Peaches greeted us.
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| Rich and Peaches met us as we came to the store |
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| An old ad with a new HRCA poster |
Dells Honda has been around since 1961 when Rich’s
mother Shirley, started the business after winning an economy run riding a CA95 150 Benly. After she won, some folks from
Honda told her that she should sell Hondas and she did it! One of the offices in the dealership has some wonderful memorabilia
from the past and there is a plaque recognizing Dells for 40 years of outstanding service. Not many Honda dealers have one
of these hanging on their walls! The store is now run by Rich and his wife Carroll.
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| Dells Honda Memories hanging in the office |
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| A pretty famous motorcycle hangout from years past |
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| You wont find very many of these out there! |
There are lots of framed Vintage Honda magazine
ads hung around the store, many of them are hanging in the bathroom! Now Mike and I have a case for back home!
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| Old Honda Ads lined the bathroom |
We met with the staff of the store and had some
nice discussions about our ride and Honda while we looked at the display of vintage Honda’s that the store keeps on
display. Included in the line up is an extremely rare CB92 125 twin as well as a P-50 also known as “The Little Honda”.
There are some old CR’s also there and in great condition.
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| The crew at Dells strikes a pose with Ed and Mike |
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| A very rare CB92 |
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| "The Little Honda" (red) next to a C100 |
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| The C100 was the first Honda motorcycle sold in the United States |
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| One of my favorites, and S65 |
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| Vintage CR's area specialty at the shop |
We joined Rich for lunch and had a great discussion
about his store and Honda in general. After we returned, we met Jerry Semler who rode up on his 1968 SuperHawk that he bought
in 1981. The bike was in excellent condition and is one of many bikes in Jerry’s stable.
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| Jerry next to his SuperHawk |
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| Close up of Mr. Semler's CB77 |
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| Three long lost brothers.. |
Dells had some spokes for Mike’s rear wheel
and he purchased the replacement as well as a couple of spares. Our tires are wearing pretty quickly and we are going to be
cutting it very close on us getting to Indianapolis before Mike reaches the cord on his. No one has tires this size in stock,
which is understandable.
We met with various folks, all curious about
our bikes and our ride. We then said our goodbyes and thanked Rich and his wife Carroll for their hospitality.
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| Mike, Carroll Woten and a customer talk Honda's |
We headed East on Rt. 50 and after riding into Sedalia,
we saw a sign that made us decide to go the distance and ride to Jefferson City to get ready for tomorrow’s visit at
Larry’s Motorsports where we will be going on a HRCA ride with some of this chapters club members.
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| Dont ask us! We didn't even want to know. The scary part is that it's the 11th one!! |
This turned out to be a good decision as we came
across the front of a major storm that came through the area.
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| Even Mike was ready to put on his rain gear for this one! |
The rest of our week will be pretty busy as we visit
with Larry’s tomorrow, Dave Mungenast Honda Thursday, Niehaus Motors Friday and Dreyer Honda on Saturday.
After that we will spend Sunday in Indy at Eric
Kaufman’s home to get the bikes ready for the remainder of our trip.
Today, we rode 233 miles and our total accumulated
miles now come to 2333.
Till next time…
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