Second Annual Kings of the Ville Ride

March 19 2016

Pleasant Hill, Missouri, USA

Date Confirmed

Distances: 44 miles

Difficulty: Gently rolling terrain with one or two short hills

Please join the Dirty Dog Race Pack and other area farm mutts Saturday March 19 for a gentle 44-mile wander along some of the finest country mile grid gravel roads Cass County MO has to offer. No drop ride -- however those training for this coming season's races can feel free to push their own pace. If possible, there will be a regroup at the Fast Stop in Kingsville (mi ~24) for the obligatory group photo in front of an old fence. Tradition. See you there.

History Lesson 1:

Kingsville Missouri was founded by settler William King in 1851ish. He was born in Independence, Missouri, in 1831, but due to its growing meth problem, King fled Independence to rural areas to start his own meth operation. Later, conveniently situated on the newly-built rail line, he had access to easy distribution and soon businesses and Meth-odist churches popped up and made it the thriving town it is today. The Stahl Mining Co - originally formed during the Civil War to cast lightweight canons for the South, still mines aluminum to this day. It just looks like a normal building, but the pit inside goes deep down into the earth. Fact.

History Lesson 2:

On this ride, we will pass the grave site of Missouri's famousest dog, Old Drum. Long story short, Old Drum was sniffin' the wrong place at the wrong time. His name was given to him by his owner, Charles Burden, describing the sound it made when he'd beat his dog for dragging home one of his neighbor's dead sheep. Old Drum met his fate three days before Halloween in 1869. So much for that sheep costume he was sewing together in the beet cellar behind the barn. Fact.