Yesterday's ride

Cliff always has something that needs doing around here, and yesterday was no exception. It's about time to mow hay, since there's no immediate rain in the forecast. We don't have the alfalfa patch any more, just a pasture-grass mix that is fine for our animals. So mowing only has to be done a couple of times a year.

Cliff decided to put the mowing on hold so we could go for a motorcycle ride. I assembled stuff for sandwiches: bologna, mayo, bread, cheese, tomato, bibb lettuce from the garden, hot pepper rings... I just tossed it all in the cooler, rather than make the sandwiches ahead of time.

We have lunch meat so rarely that it's actually a treat for us. Cliff had me buy some Oscar Meyer all-beef bologna recently ($4 a pound... ACK!) and I froze it in packages of four slices each, to ration it out.

Cliff wanted to hunt up some tractor dealer in Clinton; they wouldn't be open on Sunday, but he likes to cruise tractor lots and see what they have. He's on the lookout for that elusive Oliver 1755, you know.


We stopped for lunch at the city park in the tiny town of Centerview.


Once we got to Clinton, we started looking for a McDonald's; we love their coffee, and a "senior coffee" is cheap. Besides, I needed a rest room. Cliff stopped to get gas, but the rest rooms at the station had outside entries. That usually means a filthy rest room, and I passed on that. Try as we might, we couldn't find a McDonald's, and we really wanted some good coffee.


I saw a sign for the Katy Trail State Park, and told Cliff to pull off there; state parks have rest rooms, and indeed, this one did. While we were stopped, we decided to look at the map for some creative way to ride home, and a lady said, "Are you lost? Can I help you?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Where's the McDonald's in this town?"

Turns out there was more town up the road that we hadn't even checked out.

Cliff never found the actual tractor place he was looking for, but we had a nice ride.

The closest we came to finding an Oliver tractor for Cliff was in Higginsville, and that was a 50-series rather than 55.