2017 – Page 2 – KromeKitty

Scratching Made from Scratch – June 25, 2017

Posted on June 29, 2017February 28, 2018 by Janice Friedman

Rule #1 for a bike trip – Expect the Unexpected. On June 25^th, twelve Kitties piled into the Quik Trip parking lot on the northwest part of Wichita all ready to ride to Wilson, KS and eat at the Made from Scratch Café. As I was walking out of the QT with my cup of hot tea, I was accosted by Kitties who all had their radar pulled up on their phones. What I saw was a whole lot of blue, green, red and yellow and it was the red and yellow that gave me the most concern. And where should all that blue, green, red and yellow be? Right smack dab in the middle of where we were headed. If we didn’t get wet getting there, we sure as heck were going to get wet getting out of there. With imploring eyes, I heard one Kitty after another say, “Please Janice, don’t make us go there. We don’t want, need or can survive another Oh Hail No ride!” Ok Kitties, where do you want to go? From the radar, it appeared all the wet activity was north of us, so instead of being Kitties today, let’s be Snow Birds instead and head south. Suz suggested Attica, but the memory of the Oh Hail No ride is still too fresh so Attica was scratched. Kathryn suggested Winfield with a stop in Dexter to visit the Henry’s Candy Company. We all agreed that was doable and after Suz begged on her hands and knees that we NOT eat Mexican food (something about stomach cramps and diarrhea – Oh, was I not supposed to share that? My bad.), we agreed that Montana Mike’s would have something for everyone and especially those with delicate tummies. So Kathryn, with the map of Kansas hard wired in her head (seriously, how is it that Kathryn knows every single back road in the state of Kansas and I have to Mapquest how to get across town?), she quickly rerouted us from northwest Wichita to southeast Kansas.

However, before leaving we all welcomed Sue, who was making her debut ride, to the group. Let me just say that this is one Kolor Koordinated Kitty! Her bike is a beautiful teal color and she has embraced this color to the absolute max! Her shoes were teal, her Kitty shirt was teal, her jacket was teal and her little backpack was teal. She even has a daughter named Teala! We may not know a lot about Sue yet, but we sure as heck know her favorite color!

With Kathryn in the lead and Nellie bringing up the rear, we were in Winfield in no time flat, despite a slight delay by a passing train. As we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, I didn’t see one single indication that this was Montana Mike’s. As we parked our bikes, I looked over at Colleen and said, “Where are we?” Her response, “Just outside of Winfield.” OK, I had that coming with my inability to lead myself out of a paper bag, but what I mean is what is this place? My little bandanaed head was spinning around looking for a sign that said Montana Mike’s, but it appeared we were eating at the Now Open Restaurant as that was the only sign in sight. Oh well, fine by me so long as it’s not Mexican food because if it is, I ain’t riding behind Suz! Turns out, Montana Mike’s had closed and it was under new ownership, but the signage hadn’t been installed yet. Despite the fact that 12 Snow Birds showed up unannounced and unprepared for, we were immediately seated and received excellent service from a super friendly young waitress. However, in spite of seeing 12 gorgeous bikes parked outside, she only commented on one. Nellie’s Whiz Bang machine. I swear, riding with Nellie is like being the ugly girl with a group of pretty girls in a bar. We are categorically ignored! Darn you Nellie and your Whiz Bang machine! You know how I like being the center of attention! You’re ruining everything!

I conducted the normal Kitty business while waiting for our lunch to arrive by selling pins, patches, taking orders for Kitty swag and trying my best to keep track of all the cash that was being thrown my way. To an outsider, this must look like some serious drug dealing going down with all the trading of cash back and forth. After lunch, I counted out the 50/50 money and BAM! Someone is going home with 30 smackeroos! We gave Sue the honors of pulling the winning ticket and was it me? No. Again. The winning ticket belonged to SECOND TIME WINNER DAWN MORSE! I’m seriously thinking of changing the bylaws to say that no Kitty will be allowed to win twice until this Kitty is allowed to win just once! Congratulations to Dawn! Kinda. No seriously, I’m happy for you. Sorta.

As we were wrapping up our meal, Kathryn announced that weather was moving into Hutchinson, where she lives, so she was going to make a run for it and try to beat the rain. Colleen, who was fighting a splitting headache, said she was going with her and Bobbie, who believes it’s better to travel in threes, said she was joining them, as well. So as those three Kitties headed north, nine Snow Birds stayed south and travelled the short distance to Dexter. But first, we made a gas stop at the very same Dillons where the Fob debacle happened last month. All eyes were on Christine to make darn sure she had her Fob and she secured her Fob!

Upon arriving at the Henry’s Candy Company in Dexter, we all filed inside to buy as much candy as we could stuff in our saddle bags. Denise and Suz had their picture taken to commemorate a picture that had been taken there in 2014 to see if they had aged any – they have not. After paying for our goodies and taking a water break, we all biked up and said good-bye to our Snow Bird days and headed north to uncertain weather.

Dawn led us back to Wichita via Augusta. So far so good, not a raindrop in sight. However, as we arrived in Augusta, I looked to the east and it didn’t look good. Not good at all. I looked over at Denise and said, “We’re going to get wet.” Well, not all of us, just those of us who live any further west than about Greenwich Road. Linda, Suz and Nellie made it home high and dry. Dawn got a little wet, but the rest of us? Soaked. To. The. Bone! None of us had rain suits on and only one of us even had a jacket on – that being Smarty Pants Denise. I debated pulling over to put on my jacket but it wasn’t a rain jacket so that just meant another piece of clothing would be drenched so I just trudged on. Christine found the silver lining to all those dark clouds and was grateful that the rain had cleaned off all the bugs from her half chaps. I, however, just longed for my Snow Bird days…..

Thank you for another great day on the bikes! We reinforced what we already knew…it’s not where you go that matters. It’s who you go with that’s important! Those on board for the Scratching Made from Scratch Road Trip were Janice, Kathryn, Bobbie, Maureen, Christine, Denise, Colleen, Suz, Nellie, Linda, Dawn, and Sue.

Janice, KKMC Founder

“P” is for Ponca, Pawhuska and Pig – May 20, 2017

Posted on May 29, 2017February 28, 2018 by Janice Friedman

We is kind. We is beautiful. We is smart. For the Road Trip on Saturday, May 20th, we were especially smart. You see, back in April at the Burrton ride, Kathryn approached me and said, “You know there can be up to a five hour wait for lunch at the Pioneer Women Mercantile, right?” I replied, “Are you flipping kidding me?” We can’t wait five hours to eat lunch!” “Precisely.” Kathryn responded. “I would suggest you ride to Ponca City and eat there and then ride to Pawhuska and avoid that whole line around the building thing.” Following Kathryn’s advice, that’s exactly what we did.

Nellie, Maureen and I selected The Ground Round for our eatin’ spot and once again, we proved how smart we is. First of all, as Dawn led us all into the restaurant parking lot, our Oklahoma Kitty, Sherri aka Hard Core Kitty, was just getting off her bike. That, my dear Feline Friends, is what you call perfect timing. Secondly, this parking lot was my absolute very favorite kind – wide open with not. one. single. car in it. Ain’t no five hour wait in this joint, no sirree! In lickety split time, we were all seated in a long stretch of tables and shedding layers and eyeballing menus. While we waited for our food orders to arrive, I passed out the AWESOME member patches. We all chit chatted through our meals and Dawn expressed her displeasure with those who don’t pay their taxes and then get to settle a $50,000 debt with the IRS for like 80 bucks. How in the world did that come up in conversation, you ask? Well, Sherri is a tax attorney; you can probably figure it out from there. “How is that fair??” Right, Dawn? And then it was time for the most important part of the lunch – the 50/50 drawing! There was a total of $45.00 in the flamed bag so that meant someone (not me) was going home with $23.00! We gave our friendly and very helpful waitress the honors of drawing the ticket and ……. Sherri was the winner! Ironically, Sherri had just thrown all kinds of money at me to pay for a shirt, Kitty Kap, patches and a spot pin. Now, I was throwing it right back to her. I’m now thinking maybe we might ought to change her nickname to Shrewd Sherri!

After our friendly and helpful waitress took a group picture and commented (or was it more like me saying?) how bad ass we were, we all filed outside and biked up for the long 44-mile journey to Pawhuska with Dawn in the lead. Next stop – shopping!!

It didn’t take a Lewis and Clark expedition to figure out where the Pioneer Woman Mercantile was in Pawhuska. Just look for a line of people wrapped around a building. We is SO smart for avoiding all that standing and waiting by eating a tasty and quick meal in Ponca City! Thank you Kathryn! We masterfully pulled nine bikes into like three parking stalls and bypassed all those suckers (uh, I mean poor souls) to walk right into the Mercantile. We all split up and agreed to meet back at the front door in one hour.

I was committed to finding a pig for Suz and recruited all Kitties to cover every inch of the place and report back. Their marching orders – FIND ME A PIG!! Here’s what we came up with – one small plain white piggy bank, which didn’t even have the Mercantile logo on it; small pink pig mugs; and little bowls with pigs on them. What the heck?? Wouldn’t you think at a place called “Mercantile” there would be pigs? There were plenty of cows, horses, chickens and every other barnyard animal, but no PIGS! What do these people have against pork?? Well, in the end, I opted for the bowls but it was truly a very disappointing experience. (Sad emoji face.) After I recovered from the pig debacle, I wandered around the store and covertly took pictures of the Kitties shopping and caught Shelley in both her Ladylike and Sexylike poses. We commandeered a young man to take our group picture in front of the store with our bags of goodies and then walked to the bikes to pack them all up and get ready for the trip home.

Dawn found a beautiful little road to begin our trip home which reminded me of Thunder Road out of Augusta with lots of turns and some hills. Everything was a brilliant green what with all the cool and wet weather we’ve been having and it was a very relaxing and serene ride. That is until the pothole from hell that several of the Kitties fell into. I was right behind Christine when all of a sudden, she bounced like she was on a trampoline! I swear I thought she was going to come clear off her bike! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something fly off her bike and as I was zooming past at about 70 miles per hour, I thought, “Huh, that looked like a key on a key ring.” But knowing there’s no way a key was going to come out of an ignition like that, I didn’t give it too much thought. Until…..we stopped in Winfield for gas. Christine pulled in line behind some other Kitties and switched off her bike to wait her turn. When she went to turn it back on, all she got was a whole lot of nothing. You see, these newfangled bikes have a Fob that has to be near the bike in order for it to start. Turns out that Fob was nowhere near the bike and somewhere near that pothole from hell. Guess my quick assessment of a key on a key ring flying by me was spot on. Linda came to the rescue and said, “I know how to start it. All you have to have is your code.” “Code? I don’t know my code,” replied Christine. “Here, let me get my phone and call my husband, Dorrin, to give it to me. Oh wait, my phone is in my saddle bags and I can’t open my saddle bags without the key.” We all started throwing phones at her and she got hold of Dorrin. Dorrin asked silly questions like how did your Fob fly out of your pocket and if it wasn’t in your pocket, how did your Fob fly out of your windshield pouch? Christine decided this wasn’t the time to get into the fact that her key wasn’t securely tucked away in her pocket or windshield pouch, but rather laying in a cubby hole on her dash. Some things are better left unsaid, right Christine? Dorrin provided the code and after quite a few minutes of Linda and Christine hovering over her bike, we finally heard it fire up! In unison, we all said, DO NOT SHUT THAT OFF UNTIL YOU’RE IN YOUR GARAGE! While we were patiently waiting for Christine and Linda to break into her ignition system, a grumpy Winfieldite told us we needed to get our bikes out away from the gas pumps, despite the fact that there were many other pumps to choose from. Our Enforcer Maureen, said “Since you asked us so meanly, we’re going to move them but we ain’t gonna be quick about it!” This guy must not have realized what a rough and tumble biker gang we are – he’s lucky we didn’t get our lipsticks out and defame his car!

Now fast forward to the next day and Dorrin is determined to find that key Fob so he packed up his biker gang member Christine and headed off to retrace our steps of the day before. Christine and I exchanged several texts that Sunday morning trying to determine where I saw it fly by me and I made a comment something along the lines of a needle in a haystack. What I was silently thinking was, “There’s a snowball’s chance in Hell she’s going to find that.” Well, Hell froze over on Sunday, May 21^st, when I got a text from Christine saying “We found it!!” Feeling quite confident she was fibbing to me, I demanded pictures to prove it. And then she sent pictures! I’ll be damned if they didn’t find that key Fob, along with about a dozen sticks of Trident gum that also flew off her bike, laying alongside the road. The Fob is a little worse for wear and it’s anybody’s guess as to whether it’ll actually ever work again, but the Eagle Eye Allsmans proved me wrong. If you’re ever actually looking for a needle in a haystack, might I suggest you contact Christine and Dorrin? I just have one question….how is that they could find a Fob in the middle of nowhere and I couldn’t find one darn pig in a country store?? To quote Dawn, how is that fair?!

And so it goes for the second Road Trip of the 2017 season. Thank you, Dawn, for leading us to and fro without one turnaround and thank you Nellie and Maureen for planning a fun day of riding, eating and shopping. Those on board for the “P” is for Ponca City, Pawhuska and Pig Road Trip were Janice, Sherri, Melaina, Maureen, Nellie, Linda, Dawn, Shelley and Eagle Eye Christine.

Janice, KKMC Founder

“P” is for Ponca, Pawhuska and Pig – May 20, 2017

Posted on May 28, 2017March 1, 2018 by Janice Friedman

We is kind. We is beautiful. We is smart. For the Road Trip on Saturday, May 20th, we were especially smart. You see, back in April at the Burrton ride, Kathryn Langrehr approached me and said, “You know there can be up to a five hour wait for lunch at the Pioneer Women Mercantile, right?” I replied, “Are you flipping kidding me?” We can’t wait five hours to eat lunch!” “Precisely.” Kathryn responded. “I would suggest you ride to Ponca City and eat there and then ride to Pawhuska and avoid that whole line around the building thing.” Following Kathryn’s advice, that’s exactly what we did.

Nellie Taylor, Maureen Stout and I selected The Ground Round for our eatin’ spot and once again, we proved how smart we is. First of all, as Dawn Morse led us all into the restaurant parking lot, our Oklahoma Kitty, Sherri Carver aka Hard Core Kitty, was just getting off her bike. That, my dear Feline Friends, is what you call perfect timing. Secondly, this parking lot was my absolute very favorite kind – wide open with not. one. single. car in it. Ain’t no five hour wait in this joint, no sirree! In lickety split time, we were all seated in a long stretch of tables and shedding layers and eyeballing menus. While we waited for our food orders to arrive, I passed out the AWESOME member patches, which, by the way, will be given to you the next time I see you so let me see you soon! We all chit chatted through our meals and Dawn Morse expressed her displeasure with those who don’t pay their taxes and then get to settle a $50,000 debt with the IRS for like 80 bucks. How in the world did that come up in conversation, you ask? Well, Sherri Carver is a tax attorney; you can probably figure it out from there. “How is that fair??” Right, Dawn? And then it was time for the most important part of the lunch – the 50/50 drawing! There was a total of $45.00 in the flamed bag so that meant someone (not me) was going home with $23.00! We gave our friendly and very helpful waitress the honors of drawing the ticket and ……. Sherri Carver was the winner! Ironically, Sherri had just thrown all kinds of money at me to pay for a shirt, Kitty Kap, patches and a spot pin. Now, I was throwing it right back to her. I’m now thinking maybe we might ought to change her nickname to Shrewd Sherri!

After our friendly and helpful waitress took a group picture and commented (or was it more like me saying?) how bad ass we were, we all filed outside and biked up for the long 44-mile journey to Pawhuska with Dawn Morse in the lead. Next stop – shopping!!

It didn’t take a Lewis and Clark expedition to figure out where the Pioneer Woman Mercantile was in Pawhuska. Just look for a line of people wrapped around a building. We is SO smart for avoiding all that standing and waiting by eating a tasty and quick meal in Ponca City! Thank you Kathryn Langrehr! We masterfully pulled nine bikes into like three parking stalls and bypassed all those suckers (uh, I mean poor souls) to walk right into the Mercantile. We all split up and agreed to meet back at the front door in one hour.

I was committed to finding a pig for Suz Tiede and recruited all Kitties to cover every inch of the place and report back. Their marching orders – FIND ME A PIG!! Here’s what we came up with – one small plain white piggy bank, which didn’t even have the Mercantile logo on it; small pink pig mugs; and little bowls with pigs on them. What the heck?? Wouldn’t you think at a place called “Mercantile” there would be pigs? There were plenty of cows, horses, chickens and every other barnyard animal, but no PIGS! What do these people have against pork?? Well, in the end, I opted for the bowls but it was truly a very disappointing experience. (Sad emoji face.) After I recovered from the pig debacle, I wandered around the store and covertly took pictures of the Kitties shopping and caught Shelley Bonnell in both her Ladylike and Sexylike poses. We commandeered a young man to take our group picture in front of the store with our bags of goodies and then walked to the bikes to pack them all up and get ready for the trip home.

Dawn Morse found a beautiful little road to begin our trip home which reminded me of Thunder Road out of Augusta with lots of turns and some hills. Everything was a brilliant green what with all the cool and wet weather we’ve been having and it was a very relaxing and serene ride. That is until the pothole from hell that several of the Kitties fell into. I was right behind Christine Allsman when all of a sudden, she bounced like she was on a trampoline! I swear I thought she was going to come clear off her bike! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something fly off her bike and as I was zooming past at about 70 miles per hour, I thought, “Huh, that looked like a key on a key ring.” But knowing there’s no way a key was going to come out of an ignition like that, I didn’t give it too much thought. Until…..we stopped in Winfield for gas. Christine pulled in line behind some other Kitties and switched off her bike to wait her turn. When she went to turn it back on, all she got was a whole lot of nothing. You see, these newfangled bikes have a Fob that has to be near the bike in order for it to start. Turns out that Fob was nowhere near the bike and somewhere near that pothole from hell. Guess my quick assessment of a key on a key ring flying by me was spot on. Linda Moreland came to the rescue and said, “I know how to start it. All you have to have is your code.” “Code? I don’t know my code,” replied Christine. “Here, let me get my phone and call my husband, Dorrin, to give it to me. Oh wait, my phone is in my saddle bags and I can’t open my saddle bags without the key.” We all started throwing phones at her and she got hold of Dorrin. Dorrin asked silly questions like how did your Fob fly out of your pocket and if it wasn’t in your pocket, how did your Fob fly out of your windshield pouch? Christine decided this wasn’t the time to get into the fact that her key wasn’t securely tucked away in her pocket or windshield pouch, but rather laying in a cubby hole on her dash. Some things are better left unsaid, right Christine? Dorrin provided the code and after quite a few minutes of Linda and Christine hovering over her bike, we finally heard it fire up! In unison, we all said, DO NOT SHUT THAT OFF UNTIL YOU’RE IN YOUR GARAGE! While we were patiently waiting for Christine and Linda to break into her ignition system, a grumpy Winfieldite told us we needed to get our bikes out away from the gas pumps, despite the fact that there were many other pumps to choose from. Our Enforcer Maureen Stout, said “Since you asked us so meanly, we’re going to move them but we ain’t gonna be quick about it!” This guy must not have realized what a rough and tumble biker gang we are – he’s lucky we didn’t get our lipsticks out and defame his car!

Now fast forward to the next day and Dorrin is determined to find that key Fob so he packed up his biker gang member Christine and headed off to retrace our steps of the day before. Christine and I exchanged several texts that Sunday morning trying to determine where I saw it fly by me and I made a comment something along the lines of a needle in a haystack. What I was silently thinking was, “There’s a snowball’s chance in Hell she’s going to find that.” Well, Hell froze over on Sunday, May 21^st, when I got a text from Christine saying “We found it!!” Feeling quite confident she was fibbing to me, I demanded pictures to prove it. And then she sent pictures! I’ll be damned if they didn’t find that key Fob, along with about a dozen sticks of Trident gum that also flew off her bike, laying alongside the road. The Fob is a little worse for wear and it’s anybody’s guess as to whether it’ll actually ever work again, but the Eagle Eye Allsmans proved me wrong. If you’re ever actually looking for a needle in a haystack, might I suggest you contact Christine and Dorrin? I just have one question….how is that they could find a Fob in the middle of nowhere and I couldn’t find one darn pig in a country store?? To quote Dawn Morse, how is that fair?!

And so it goes for the second Road Trip of the 2017 season. Thank you, Dawn Morse, for leading us to and fro without one turnaround and thank you Nellie Taylor and Maureen Stout for planning a fun day of riding, eating and shopping. Those on board for the “P” is for Ponca City, Pawhuska and Pig Road Trip were Janice Friedman, Sherri Carver, Melaina Phares, Maureen Stout, Nellie Taylor, Linda Moreland, Dawn Morse, Shelley Bonnell and Eagle Eye Christine Allsman.

Barn Kitties in Burrton – April 23, 2017

Posted on April 27, 2017June 3, 2018 by Janice Friedman

What a pleasant departure for an April ride. Normally, the days leading up to an April ride are filled with indecision and stress. There are usually dozens of emails shared between myself and the Excursion Kitties scrutinizing every change in the weather forecast. Plans A, B and C are devised in the event the 50% chance of rain turns into 80% chance of rain. Well, not THIS April my Feline Friends! While the day before the ride to Burrton was very cloudy and cool, Sunday, April 23^rd, dawned with abundant sunshine and no wind! Let me repeat that. NO. WIND! So, although the temperature was only in the high 40’s by the time we all were leaving our homes, the sunshine and NO WIND made it feel warmer. Well, for everyone except Sherri Carver who left her house HOURS before the rest of us, but more on that later.

As I pulled off Highway 96 to find the Kwik Shop, the first thing I noticed was a Quik Trip. What the heck? When did they put that there? I swear – Quik Trip has planted their stores all over the city and having planted this one right where I said we would be meeting at a Kwik Shop could pose a problem. And sure nuff, a couple of Kitties had pulled in the Quik Trip and were waiting for the rest of the Kitties to show up. Fortunately, a Kitty who knew that we were to meet at a KS and not a QT pulled in and drug them down to the right gas station.

And here’s another departure for the Burrton ride….the Kitty attire! There were splashes of red, green, purple, orange, pink and combinations thereof all over the place when the Kitties proved that you don’t, in fact, have to be a little girl or ballerina to wear a tutu! For those of you who weren’t able to attend the trip, here’s the back story….

Way back in June 2015, we traveled to Atchison, KS for an overnight trip. After a full day of riding, with a stop in Topeka for lunch, we quickly changed into something more comfortable. For most of us, that meant shorts or capris and flip flops. But not our wacky Kitty Sister, Maureen Stout! She changed into….wait for it….a skirt! Of course, she was given all kinds of grief and assaulted with comments such as, “who brings a skirt on a motorcycle trip?” and “well, aren’t you the fancy one” and “she’s just trying to make me look bad in my stupid capris.” Now fast forward to the next ride in July and Suz Tiede decided she wasn’t done with Maureen just yet and wore a skirt to the departure location. Suz made a comment that July morning about what’s next on a motorcycle trip – tutus?? Well, Maureen was a great sport about it all and let just enough time go by before exacting her revenge so no one (meaning Suz) would suspect anything. She decided that yes, Kitties CAN wear tutus on a motorcycle trip and rallied a number of the Kitties to do just that! Sure, we got pointed at – snickered at – and eye rolled at, but we all looked so pretty in our tutus that we decided that April will officially be named Tutu Month and from this date forward, all April rides will have two dress code requirements…a Kitty shirt and a tutu! Well, in Dawn Morse’s case, a fourfour with her longer, fuller version of a tutu. That’s Dawn for ya, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing! Suz hooted and hollered over the joke on her, but was a little put out that even Dawn’s Trunk Monkey had a tutu to wear and she didn’t. Knowing she would feel that she was just as worthy of a tutu as a Trunk Monkey, another Kitty brought an extra tutu for her to slip on, as well. There, are ya happy now, Suz?

After all the fun of looking at tutus and other people looking at us in tutus, we welcomed three new riders to the Club. Brenda Berry, who isn’t really new to the Club as she joined after the last ride in 2016 and attended the Winter Events, was making her debut ride with us; Tricia Carruthers; and Sherri Carver. This would be a good time to talk about Sherri for a minute. It seems like for every long-distance Kitty we have, there’s someone who has to outdo the last. First, we had the Augusta girls of Nellie Taylor, Linda Moreland and Suz Tiede with a 24-mile trip to get to the middle of Wichita. Then, Amy Hammer said she could do better than that with a 27-mile ride in from Newton. Not to be outdone, Brenda Berry said that ain’t nothing, I’m going to ride in 34 miles from Milton. Kathryn Langrehr thought she had it in the bag when she moved to Hutchinson just she could say she came the farthest at 46 miles. And then there’s Sherri Carver, who said “I got all you bitches beat! I’m going to ride in 165 miles from Oklahoma City! I dare one of you to try to outdo me – go on – just try it!” Uncle Uncle! You win, Sherri! I think your record will stand unchallenged for…well, ever… and your official Kitty nickname is Hard Core Kitty!

After introductions were made for the benefit of the aforementioned new Kitties and safety and route instructions given by Kathryn Langrehr, we were ready to roll out with one thing on our minds – Barn Food!

Like a stabled horse, Kathryn Langrehr led us right to the Barn door and after navigating a dicey entrance into the parking lot and pulling in wherever we could find a parking spot, we debiked and stretched our tired muscles from the grueling 34-mile journey. Nellie Taylor did her best to round everyone up, which was like herding cats – oh wait, we ARE cats – to get everyone inside. There we were greeted by The Barn staff and assigned our very own waitress who led us to a long string of tables that were all ours. While some Kitties ordered chicken strips and salads, Suz Tiede and Colleen Williams ordered a cow. Perhaps they didn’t intend to get the whole cow, but that’s what appeared on their plates. Seriously, the size of that chicken fried steak was off the charts huge! Instead of a side of mashed potatoes and green beans, it should come with a side of a to-go container! (Side note: I found the notion of Colleen ordering such a gigantic meal rather perplexing since in all the years I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her eat more than thimbleful of food. I guarantee she’ll be eating those leftovers til Turkey Day!)

During the meal and after we stopped gawking at the side of beef on Suz’s and Colleen’s plates, lots of patches and pins were sold, new Kitty snap jewelry was admired, and Kathryn Langrehr counted out the 50/50 cash. Holy Fur Balls! We got 80 bucks in this here flame bag! Someone is going with home with 40 bucks! Please let it be me. Please let it be me. Please let it be me. It wasn’t me. We gave the honors to a patron at the Barn in drawing the winning ticket and BRENDA BERRY was the lucky Kitty who got my 40 bucks! I’m trying to not be bitter since it was Brenda’s first ride and all, but I swear if I don’t win this year, the claws are coming out!

After several photos at the table, which involved yours truly doing a heave ho with her not so limber body onto a high-top chair, we were ready to get that customary group photo. Here is what we’ve learned over the years….get everyone in formation BEFORE we recruit someone to take the picture, which is exactly what we did and then accosted, uh, I mean asked, a couple who just got off their bikes to snap a couple of pictures. Turns out the couple is from Andover and several of the Kitties put on their marketing hats and told the gal all about our Club. Suz Tiede told me, uh, I mean asked me, to go get a Kitty card for her. Given that she lives in Andover, she might think she lives too far away to belong to a Wichita Motorcycle Club. Silly girl….she’s not even a contender.

It was a perfect April ride day with some of the best women a gal could have the privilege of riding with. We’ve officially got 2017 off to a great start and I’m excited for all the memories we will make together this year! Those on board for the “Barn Kitties in Burrton” ride were Janice Friedman, Brenda Berry, Kathryn Langrehr, Melaina Phares, Amy Hammer, Alice Friedman, Maureen “Skirt” Stout, Christine Allsman, Denise “Squirrel” Johnson, Tricia Carruthers, Colleen Williams, Suz “Tutu” Tiede, Nellie Taylor, Linda Moreland, Dawn Morse and Sherri “Hard Core” Carver.

Barn Kitties in Burrton – April 23, 2017

Posted on April 27, 2017June 3, 2018 by Janice Friedman

What a pleasant departure for an April ride. Normally, the days leading up to an April ride are filled with indecision and stress. There are usually dozens of emails shared between myself and the Excursion Kitties scrutinizing every change in the weather forecast. Plans A, B and C are devised in the event the 50% chance of rain turns into 80% chance of rain. Well, not THIS April my Feline Friends! While the day before the ride to Burrton was very cloudy and cool, Sunday, April 23^rd, dawned with abundant sunshine and no wind! Let me repeat that. NO. WIND! So, although the temperature was only in the high 40’s by the time we all were leaving our homes, the sunshine and NO WIND made it feel warmer. Well, for everyone except Sherri who left her house HOURS before the rest of us, but more on that later.

As I pulled off Highway 96 to find the Kwik Shop, the first thing I noticed was a Quik Trip. What the heck? When did they put that there? I swear – Quik Trip has planted their stores all over the city and having planted this one right where I said we would be meeting at a Kwik Shop could pose a problem. And sure nuff, a couple of Kitties had pulled in the Quik Trip and were waiting for the rest of the Kitties to show up. Fortunately, a Kitty who knew that we were to meet at a KS and not a QT pulled in and drug them down to the right gas station.

And here’s another departure for the Burrton ride….the Kitty attire! There were splashes of red, green, purple, orange, pink and combinations thereof all over the place when the Kitties proved that you don’t, in fact, have to be a little girl or ballerina to wear a tutu! For those of you who weren’t able to attend the trip, here’s the back story….

Way back in June 2015, we traveled to Atchison, KS for an overnight trip. After a full day of riding, with a stop in Topeka for lunch, we quickly changed into something more comfortable. For most of us, that meant shorts or capris and flip flops. But not our wacky Kitty Sister, Maureen! She changed into….wait for it….a skirt! Of course, she was given all kinds of grief and assaulted with comments such as, “who brings a skirt on a motorcycle trip?” and “well, aren’t you the fancy one” and “she’s just trying to make me look bad in my stupid capris.” Now fast forward to the next ride in July and Suz decided she wasn’t done with Maureen just yet and wore a skirt to the departure location. Suz made a comment that July morning about what’s next on a motorcycle trip – tutus?? Well, Maureen was a great sport about it all and let just enough time go by before exacting her revenge so no one (meaning Suz) would suspect anything. She decided that yes, Kitties CAN wear tutus on a motorcycle trip and rallied a number of the Kitties to do just that! Sure, we got pointed at – snickered at – and eye rolled at, but we all looked so pretty in our tutus that we decided that April will officially be named Tutu Month and from this date forward, all April rides will have two dress code requirements…a Kitty shirt and a tutu! Well, in Dawn’s case, a fourfour with her longer, fuller version of a tutu. That’s Dawn for ya, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing! Suz hooted and hollered over the joke on her, but was a little put out that even Dawn’s Trunk Monkey had a tutu to wear and she didn’t. Knowing she would feel that she was just as worthy of a tutu as a Trunk Monkey, another Kitty brought an extra tutu for her to slip on, as well. There, are ya happy now, Suz?

After all the fun of looking at tutus and other people looking at us in tutus, we welcomed three new riders to the Club. Brenda, who isn’t really new to the Club as she joined after the last ride in 2016 and attended the Winter Events, was making her debut ride with us; Tricia; and Sherri. This would be a good time to talk about Sherri for a minute. It seems like for every long-distance Kitty we have, there’s someone who has to outdo the last. First, we had the Augusta girls of Nellie, Linda and Suz with a 24-mile trip to get to the middle of Wichita. Then, Amy said she could do better than that with a 27-mile ride in from Newton. Not to be outdone, Brenda said that ain’t nothing, I’m going to ride in 34 miles from Milton. Kathryn thought she had it in the bag when she moved to Hutchinson just she could say she came the farthest at 46 miles. And then there’s Sherri, who said “I got all you bitches beat! I’m going to ride in 165 miles from Oklahoma City! I dare one of you to try to outdo me – go on – just try it!” Uncle Uncle! You win, Sherri! I think your record will stand unchallenged for…well, ever… and your official Kitty nickname is Hard Core Kitty!

After introductions were made for the benefit of the aforementioned new Kitties and safety and route instructions given by Kathryn, we were ready to roll out with one thing on our minds – Barn Food!

Like a stabled horse, Kathryn led us right to the Barn door and after navigating a dicey entrance into the parking lot and pulling in wherever we could find a parking spot, we debiked and stretched our tired muscles from the grueling 34-mile journey. Nellie did her best to round everyone up, which was like herding cats – oh wait, we ARE cats – to get everyone inside. There we were greeted by The Barn staff and assigned our very own waitress who led us to a long string of tables that were all ours. While some Kitties ordered chicken strips and salads, Suz and Colleen ordered a cow. Perhaps they didn’t intend to get the whole cow, but that’s what appeared on their plates. Seriously, the size of that chicken fried steak was off the charts huge! Instead of a side of mashed potatoes and green beans, it should come with a side of a to-go container! (Side note: I found the notion of Colleen ordering such a gigantic meal rather perplexing since in all the years I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her eat more than thimbleful of food. I guarantee she’ll be eating those leftovers til Turkey Day!)

During the meal and after we stopped gawking at the side of beef on Suz’s and Colleen’s plates, lots of patches and pins were sold, new Kitty snap jewelry was admired, and Kathryn counted out the 50/50 cash. Holy Fur Balls! We got 80 bucks in this here flame bag! Someone is going with home with 40 bucks! Please let it be me. Please let it be me. Please let it be me. It wasn’t me. We gave the honors to a patron at the Barn in drawing the winning ticket and Brenda was the lucky Kitty who got my 40 bucks! I’m trying to not be bitter since it was Brenda’s first ride and all, but I swear if I don’t win this year, the claws are coming out!

After several photos at the table, which involved yours truly doing a heave ho with her not so limber body onto a high-top chair, we were ready to get that customary group photo. Here is what we’ve learned over the years….get everyone in formation BEFORE we recruit someone to take the picture, which is exactly what we did and then accosted, uh, I mean asked, a couple who just got off their bikes to snap a couple of pictures. Turns out the couple is from Andover and several of the Kitties put on their marketing hats and told the gal all about our Club. Suz told me, uh, I mean asked me, to go get a Kitty card for her. Given that she lives in Andover, she might think she lives too far away to belong to a Wichita Motorcycle Club. Silly girl….she’s not even a contender

It was a perfect April ride day with some of the best women a gal could have the privilege of riding with. We’ve officially got 2017 off to a great start and I’m excited for all the memories we will make together this year! Those on board for the “Barn Kitties in Burrton” ride were Janice, Brenda, Kathryn, Melaina, Amy, Alice, Maureen “Skirt”, Christine, Denise “Squirrel”, Tricia, Colleen, Suz “Tutu”, Nellie, Linda, Dawn and Sherri “Hard Core”.

Janice – KKMC Founder