Reporting on: Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Riding Route: Took a day off!

Weather: Cloudy and Windy - Temp: 70's

Elevation Climb: I missed 6000 feet of up and down elevation today - a good day to take off!

Miles ridden today: 106

I have to admit that I took a day off riding today to spend the day with Carol, Wendy and Norm (pictured above). Wendy works at Fort Riley and took us there for a tour of the grounds and the museums. It's a U.S. Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort covers 100,656 acres. It's a huge facility with a daytime population of nearly 25,000.

Fort Riley is named in honor of Major General Bennett Riley who led the first military escort along the Santa Fe Trail. The fort was established in 1853 as a military post to protect the movement of people and trade over the Oregon-California and Santa Fe trails. In the years after the Civil War, Fort Riley was a major United States Cavalry post and school for Calvary tactics and practice. It was also a base for skirmishes with Native Americans after the Civil War ended in 1865, during which time George Custer was stationed at the fort.

The U. S. Cavalry Museum houses an extensive collection detailing the history of the horse soldier from the Revolutionary War to 1950 when the branch was deactivated. The 1st Infantry Division Museum tells the history of the 1st Infantry Division from 1917 to the present. The Custer House is furnished with period pieces from the 19th century and relates the history of Army families from this period. We visited all three - and had a great history lesson! The above picture of me with some of the soldiers was taken in the museum gift shop. "Yes, Sir" what great guys these were! A large group of them are leaving for Afghanistan tomorrow morning. Keep them in your prayers!

Then we toured the campus of Kansas State University! It has a student population of about 25,000. A beautiful campus! Their sports teams are called the "Wildcats" and they participate in the NCAA's Division I and the Big 12 Conference...and they are wild about sports in this town!

We left Manhattan and picked up with the tour group for the last 20 miles of their ride. We stopped in Dover, where we had a piece of pie made by 89 year old Norma - who last year was selected the best pie maker in America. She was on the Today Show. She wasn't there when the first of our group arrived - but came down to see everyone as they came in for a pice of her famous desserts! I can't add anymore pictures to this blog - so am going to do another one with just pictures for you to see!