Photographic evidence that, indeed, the Rowdy Beaver Restaurant & Tavern exists. That's me on the left and Denny on the right.

Day One: St. Joseph to Liberal, Kan.

Miles covered: 460 miles

No matter which direction you head, riding across Kansas is never a treat. But Sunday’s ride was actually bearable compared to a couple of years ago when we rode straight west on U.S. Highway 36 into a stiff wind from the southwest. By the time we hit the Colorado border, we were worn out.

But this time, because we’re headed to New Mexico first, we rolled south down I-35 then west-southwest on U.S. 54. It was still a long ride, but not nearly as exhausting as Highway 36.

Actually the worst thing we experienced was the continual cloud cover and cool temperatures. The sun never really did shine but it never really rained either.

We (and by “we” I mean me and my wife, Chris, and the Villhauers, Denny Melissa) hit the road at about 8:30ish and arrived in Liberal about 7:30ish. There’s not much beautiful scenery to describe because, after all, this is Kansas. But we did see several clean, picturesque towns and the roads were smooth.

We stopped for lunch in Wichita and munched on a sandwich at the Rowdy Beaver Restaurant & Tavern. That’s right, the Rowdy Beaver. And, yeah, I bought the souvenir t-shirt.

After lunch, we began our run west to Liberal. We stopped for gas in Greensburg, Kan., which was obliterated by a tornado two years ago. Although the town has recovered somewhat, there are still building skeletons downtown and dead trees everywhere. Banks, insurance agencies and other businesses were still housed in mobile homes.

Aside from Greensburg, we rolled through other small Kansas towns like Godard, Kingman, Kismet, Minneola and Cullison.

In the end, the best-looking thing I saw all day was the chilled bottle of Bud Light Lime as I soaked in the hotel hot tub. It was a long ride, our muscles were sore and hot water and cold suds was a nice reward.