Saturday June 14--Atchison, Kansas

Last night we had our final meeting at the court house square. We announced the winners of the Annual Spirit Award. They were Mike Hinz of the Bashful Route, Ruth Glatt of the Affectionate Route, and Bruce Cooper of the Kongenial Route. We talked about the week and what was in store for the riders the next morning.

Riders rose early to the sounds of Chris Cakes of Louisburg preparing his famous Pancake Breakfast. The High School cheerleaders were hired to assist the serving of the breakfast. Many people left right after breakfast to take part in the celebration in Atchison. Others took their time, knowing the festivities didn't start until approximately 11:30. Most riders ended their BAK journey by dipping their wheels in the Missouri River and then crossing the street to Independence Park for the Celebration Dinner.

When the refreshments were uncovered at 12:00, the line started to move, which included fried chicken, meatless spaghetti, beans, cole slaw, veggies and rolls. Shortly after dinner, the crowd began to thin as the riders' families came to pick them up. The chartered busses arrived, loaded and left. Soon Independence Park was nearly empty. The equipment was loaded on the trucks and headed for home about 3 pm. By that time, the park was empty. The drive back to Wichita was a 3 hour drive, where we had to clean up the trucks and return them before we were through for the day.

The temperatures were this last morning as usual in the 70s, but later they rose to the upper 80s, which gave us our first warm day of the week. On Sunday, some of the committee came over to sort through the mass of BAK equipment, lost and found, etc. and returned coolers and equipment to storage. Later that day we returned the vans.

On Monday, more sorting and trying to find the owners of the lost and found was attempted and by evening, our home and shop were starting to return to near normal.

A final report will follow.