Truckhenge, A Missile Base, And A Flat Tire

[Lee 2002]

Wow, I can't even figure out where to begin... Boy what a morning......

Huskysooner (Dave) is a Professor of Meteorology (read: smarter that 5 or six of us combined). He wanted to get a photo of his motorcycle in front of the "local" NEXRAD radar dome located in the Flint Hills of Kansas. To get to the radome would be several miles of gravel. So I sorta' egged him into this. But he was game, so we set a date and I began to make plans. I decided to develop an itinerary that involved more than just the radome. Along the way, hondalover (Mike) decided to join in .... He is an adventuresome sort... He heard the word "gravel" and couldn't keep himself away. (Some of you may remember our previous adventure.)

To just ride to the Radome and take a photo would be too easy... so I decided to add a few stops along the way.

First would be TRUCKHENGE. Truckhenge is the artistic rantings of a local artist against the local government. They told him to pick up his trucks... so he did. The video says so much more than I could ever begin to describe.....

Ron marvels at the beauty of Honda VFRs. He asks if we would be willing to donate one so he could stick it upright in the ground.

Ron was given this plaque.... I am sure much to the chagrin of the local government

The spot were "Truth" is buried.

Ron talks a lot with his hands.... He had a lot to say about the meaning behind Truckhenge.

Hondalover listens intently as Ron shows all the bones, fossils and petrified objects he has found on his land. I think these happen to be the jaws of a pre-historic camel... or are they the pelvis of the pre-historic super-bison?

The fossil museum is still a work in progress.

Ron (still talking with his hands, and still marveling at the beauty of Honda VFRs) explains the sculptures in the background. To the left is "Twister" and to the right is "Snake in the Grass".

For the life of me, I just can't remember the names of the sculptures in front of this monolith. There was entirely too much information for me to absorb at once.

Regrettably, Ron does not have a college education (he mentioned this about 25 times) so some of the spelling isn't quite correct.

This stump from a 130-year-old tree was donated to Truckhenge... Ron carved on it himself. Seriously now... I like it.

I think Ron drinks a lot of beer. He builds trees and "monsters" out of the bottles. He says that when the wind blows the sculptures "hummm" and the light shining through them in the evening is beautiful

Hondalover ponders the social significance and environmental importance of Boathenge, a work in progress.

The second part of our day was to be a trip to visit an Atlas Missile Base. That's right... Nukes aimed at Russia. It is now a home to Ed Peden and his wife. Ed happens to live next to a co-worker of mine. With a little name-dropping we were able to gain passport into the undergound confines of the cold war.

Unfortunately, on the way to the Missile Base... I got a flat tire. It is entirely my fault... I was hoping to stretch my tires as long as possible so that I could arrive at the Summer Summit meet on fresh rubber. I stretched a little too long and was flattened by a sharp rock.

Hondalover and I assess the flat-tire-situation at the entrance to the Missile Base... now named "Subterra." Huskysooner was kind enough to record the moment for me.

Hondalover tries his hand at sealing the tire with a rubber rope after my attempt with a mushroom plug failed. We had better luck with his rubber rope, but we still could not get the tire to seal.

PERFECT.... If I keep my thumb right here we'll be able to make it home.

We rode up the (extremely long) driveway to the Missile Base. What you see here is about all there is to see from the surface. That is a 47-ton blast door. Behind it would have resided an Atlas Missile laying on it's side. In the event of naughty Ruskies, the door on top of the silo would have slid to the right and the missile would have erected and been fired in less than 25 minutes.

The Castle Turret was added by Ed to pretty the joint up. (Looking for a new home? Ed will sell you one... he owns missile bases all around the country. LINK Bring your checkbook.)

Ed was kind enough to offer to help us get my tire aired up. So he pushed the button to open the 47-ton blast door (very s..l...o....w...l...y) and I pulled the VFR right on into the missile bay. The big yellow arms you see were used to erect the missile to fire it. The roof would have slid off to the right of the photo.

Unfortunately, my tire was never going to hold air again.... So the bike had to be left in the secure parking of the Missile Base Bay.... behind the 47-ton blast door.... I was pretty confident nobody was going to mess with it.

Here Ed leads hondalover down the tunnel from the Missile Bay to the Control Center... now living quarters. This is all deep underground. The tunnel is 120 feet long.

Here are the original control panels that were left at the Missile Base when the government abandoned it.... Ed says, "Somebody took all the cool buttons."

Hondalover listens as Ed explains the history of his house and the Atlas Missile Program. I think all three of us could have listened to Ed all day long. I'm serious here; we got the 5 star tour. It was cool. Again, we are deep underground here.

This was the generator room. Now it is a very large gathering area. It was redecorated by the Discovery Channel show "While You Were Out." (If that isn't correct, hondalover will let me know.)

Huskysooner inspects the roof (sliding door) of the missile bay.

Subterra also has it's own "henge"... Is that how these things are described? This photo is taken from the roof of the missile bay.

Hondalover is on a mission to have a photo of his motorcycle in front of all the "henges" of the world. Check "Missile Base Henge" and "Truckhenge" off the list, Mike. (he already has one from Texas, so that is three total.)

So with my VFR safely tucked away behind a 47-ton blast door, on a tire that could not be made to hold air, it was time for Lee to become Hondalover's bitch..... Damn, that sucks.

Unfortunately, Huskysooner recorded the event on his camera... so I'm sure that the photo will show up here shortly.

But it is all cool.... 'cause a true friend will give you the wheel off his bike so you can get yours home.

You may have noticed by this point that there are no photos of Huskysooner's 3rd gen VFR in front of the NEXRAD Radome. The flat tire pretty much killed the rest of the time alloted by our wives. So, we'll have more adventures in the future and I'll be sure to post up about them.

[Guest]

Thats one of the coolest ride reports I have ever seen, and no curves involved...bravo...and that would be a safe place for a VFR!!!!

[Guest]

LMAO!!! First off, Ron....er.......YOU DA MAN!!! Flip 'em off brother! Secondly, viffers in converted missle bunkers in Kansas are just toooo much! Beautiful. Possibly the one of the looniest threads ever on VFRD. Thanks, Lee, you made my day, man. :laugh:

[Lee 2002]

Thats one of the coolest ride reports I have ever seen, and no curves involved...bravo.

Thank you for the kind words.

Ron....er.......YOU DA MAN!!! Flip 'em off brother!

Ron did a lot of Flippin' 'em off... I just never happened to catch it on film.

Glad you enjoyed the post. Words could never describe the fun I had today. I know it is a day I will remember for a very long time.

[motorman]

Living in tornado ally all these years, that's the best darn parking place I think I've seen! Could you be any safer? You're even safe from nuclear fallout! Great ride report! off topic but if you want to borrow a bike even better suited for gravel roads and water crossings, give me a call. :laugh:

[hondalover]

This was the generator room. Now it is a very large gathering area. It was redecorated by the Discovery Channel show "While You Were Out." (If that isn't correct, hondalover will let me know.)

That was "The Learning Channel" that decorates the generator room. BTW, what are you doing out of the kitchen? I said make me a damn pie BIOTCH!!! I'm looking forward to Dave's pictures.

P.S. The room in Dillon is two beds....right?

[Lee 2002]

That was "The Learning Channel" that decorates the generator room. BTW, what are you doing out of the kitchen? I said make me a damn pie BIOTCH!!! I'm looking forward to Dave's pictures.

Yeah, well while I'm in the kitchen you're the one watching decorating shows on the Learning Channel.

Oh, I am going to regret all this. I shoulda' just sat at the end of the drive and called AAA.

Seriously though, thanks for all your help in getting my bike home. Best pie in America is on me.

[ECX585]

This truckhenge guy is my hero! Way to stick it to the man!!

[huskysooner]

Oh, man, what a morning. I can't add anything to Lee's description of Truckhenge, but between Truckhenge and the Stonehenge II creation, I couldn't get Spinal Tap out of my head all morning.

Another picture of Lee's flat tire

Out in the boonies, no one can hear you scream. Ah, but the cell phones and Blackberries still work!

The Atlas ICBM base was VERY cool. As Lee explained, the roof slides off, and the missile is tilted upward into the vertical. In the photo, we're standing where the top/warhead of the missile would be. Across the long end of the room is a 17 foot drop-off (thankfully covered to keep unwary klutzes like me from falling in) where the exhaust flame is channelled out of the silo. Also, off to the left is where they had the huge tank of liquid O2. Ah, the days of liquid fueled rockets -- yikes. Maybe this shot will make the next Aerostich cover! Off to the left (not visible) was a Hondamatic.

[Cue Rod Sterling voice] Picture, if you will, a drum circle in the remains of a cold war ICBM launching site (see Lee's picture above of the diesel generator room). More irony:

Hondalover (Mike) tooling around Stonehenge II

Last but not least: I didn't want it to come to this, but the ransom did not arrive by 0000 GMT. So....

I'm happy to report that they were still zooming through the corners.

Lee parked his bike at the Atlas base. Then, Hondalover and he rode 2 up back to Lee's house, with me following. They "borrowed" the rear wheel of Mike's, and we all zipped back out to the site in the car. Mike's wheel was installed on Lee's VFR, then car and bike zoomed back to Lee's. Then swapped the wheel again, so hondalover could ride home. Got it? Gotta love SSSAs.

Sorry about your flat, Lee, but the whole experience was a riot. These guys like riding on gravel so much, I wonder if there's a knobby tire option for the VFR.

[Lee 2002]

Last but not least: I didn't want it to come to this, but the ransom did not arrive by 0000 GMT. So....

Yeah? Well, I am personally going to contact Ron and arrange to have all his art float down the river and take out the entire town of Lawrence and all it's bridges. So there!

I knew that would come back to haunt me. But, still, I can't imagine a better day.

[Guest]

Ah, it WAS the Honda that caused all of this. Hmmm, guess you DO meet the nicest people on a Honda.... :laugh: Met a few myself.

[dutchinterceptor]

Mike adds another henge to the list. :laugh:

Enjoyed the report guys! :laugh:

[Lee 2002]

Cool, made the Front Page.

[vfr_steve]

Great report! I often wonder what I would do if I had a flatty in the middle of nowhere, probably call the breakdown recovery - not very ''manly'' :dry:

The silver VFR rider - I noticed you have the white Tach from the 06+ models, is that expensive to get?

[V4 Rosso]

Wow, this is surely something else. Great 'ride' report :dry:

[gswanson]

Very cool ride report Lee. Wish I had been there to add another 'henge' to my list. I wouldn't have expected anything less than the support you got from Mike. A real stand-up guy! Now go make that pie.

[alwaysaware]

The only thing that really caught my eye was that awesome silver 6th gen with the 8 spoke rim. That was sweet. Besides that, nice ride report. :dry: :cool:

[Lee 2002]

.... awesome silver 6th gen with the 8 spoke rim. That was sweet.

You should have seen the awesome red 6th gen with the silver 8 spoke rim. That was sweet.

[hondalover]

Great report! I often wonder what I would do if I had a flatty in the middle of nowhere, probably call the breakdown recovery - not very ''manly'' :dry:

The silver VFR rider - I noticed you have the white Tach from the 06+ models, is that expensive to get?

Hey Steve, the tach is actually the stock black, just like yours I'm assuming. You may have seen the silver edges of the Zumo that looks like it would be in the position of the tach.

[JBAXX]

Great ride report, definitely a good read. Nothin' beats a good hippie/redneck tourist attraction! :dry:

[vfr_steve]

Great report! I often wonder what I would do if I had a flatty in the middle of nowhere, probably call the breakdown recovery - not very ''manly'' :blush:

The silver VFR rider - I noticed you have the white Tach from the 06+ models, is that expensive to get?

Hey Steve, the tach is actually the stock black, just like yours I'm assuming. You may have seen the silver edges of the Zumo that looks like it would be in the position of the tach.

ahh right lol no worries... I've got to say Silver VFR's just look soo sweet, and for the record I've always thought that, even when I had my blue VFR :dry: