Director's Report, June 5

Last late afternoon the wind was ghastly and the humidity was very high with a temperature in the high 80's. The vehicles had a tough time fighting the wind to get to the overnights. Later the wind picked up and we could see a cloud bank approaching, Lighting and warnings for the tenters was given for 70 MPH winds with heavy hail. The basement shelter in the school was opened for the bikers. We had the wind and rain but no hail that I saw. After the storm passed we had a beautiful double rainbow one of which went all the way over. The temperatures dropped and the humidity fell and a slight cooling breeze was experienced. But later that night the storms returned with torrential rains and heavy winds. This morning a slight breeze was experienced from the southeast. This afternoon the winds came up and our short 6-mile stretch to the south was tough for most of the riders.

Our day was a different one for BAK in that we didn't have an official start. Some people rode or were driven to the state line, others went to the official turn around point that gave them the same mileage as if they had ridden from the state line and others just left Ulysses and went to the next overnight stop.

I did see one State Trooper that had a car stopped just outside of Sublette, but other than that no apparent help was seen from any of the Troopers or Sheriff's Departments. It is a shame that we have a major event of nearly 1200 people from over 30 states riding their bikes across the state and are not given any support by the State Police. I did hear that on the Acceptable route that some bikers were stopped by the state police and were warned that their bikes would be confiscated if they were caught riding two abreast again. State law does allow riding two abreast but if they were riding unsafely then I hope the threat will keep them safer the rest of the ride. We although don't recommend riding two abreast when traffic is heavy. Although we do have a good relationships it would be nice to have a better relationship with ALL of the Sheriff Departments, City Police and State Troupers with them trying to help the riders have a safe trip across the state. Just for information there are several State Troopers that are taking their vacation and riding as a part of our group across the state.

Tonight all three routes will sing the state song "Home on the Range" at their evening meetings.

Tomorrow I will be with the Acceptable Route in Jetmore. It will be interesting for me to hear of their adventures for the past two days. Norma has been with the Bizarre route and will stay in Scott City this evening; Sherry will be in Garden City tonight. Most importantly this has been a safe day with few accidents and none serious. I will try to keep it that way. If you are using email to contact the riders encourage them to be extra safe as the cross the great state of Kansas.

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