BAD BOYS KENNY AND DAVID

LYONS, KS

MAY 30TH, 2005

A DAY TO REMEMBER IN DIGGS FAMILY HISTORY:

It all started out with an innocent drive from Hutchinson to the big metropolitan (population 3,000) city of Lyons. We all left Hutch in a convoy of 5 cars and our destination was to travel to Geneseo, Ks to visit the old "Diggs Homestead". It is a trip we all had anticipated and planned to take for a very long time. The property of the homestead is located 3 miles north of Geneseo which is approximately 10 miles north of Lyons. This area is the location our Dad and his family grew up at and we visit it as often as we can to see the places we were shown when we were just kids growing up. There were many stories behind the old homestead and we had visited it a few times with Dad and Mom to relive many of their old time memories. Dad and Mom were married in Lyons, Ks back on May 11th, 1946. There was also a roadside park that sits between Sterling and Lyons we would travel to every 4th of July and shoot off our fireworks at. The park in Lyons was a place as kids our parents took us and we would go play on the slides, swings and the merry-go-round. So this area was very dear to all of us and we loved going there to visit. This visit was extra special because all the brothers and sisters have gathered for the celebration of Memorial Day 2005. It was the first time we had all been together as a whole family since the last "Diggs Reunion" back in June of 1995.

We all left Hutch in a convoy around 11 am and headed out for the homestead. When we arrived in Lyons (30 minutes later) we all stopped at the park to reminisce and let our kids and grandkids play on the same slides, swings and merry-go-rounds we all enjoyed growing up as kids. Some of the brothers and sisters were searching for the old house our Dad grew up in and was moved into the city of Lyons may years ago. To clarify to everyone...this was not the old "Homestead" house up near Geneseo. This was a house that was originally outside of Lyons but was moved into the city by other owners after  Grandpa Adonis Diggs (our Dad's father) sold it. The "Diggs Homestead was the original house our great grandfather Francis Clark homesteaded and lived with his family. We knew the house was close to the park but alas we could not locate it. So Kenny tells us to load up in our cars and we would circle the area one more time to see if something would trigger our memory to the house's location. After circling a couple of blocks with no luck we headed for main street to find a place to eat. Kenny and Lou was in the lead car and David and Sue was following them. Ronda and I was the 3rd vehicle in the convoy following David and Sue's vehicle. John and LaRessha followed us with Darrell and Trenna bringing up the rear. Kenny is driving in the right hand lane heading north and notices a Dairy Queen down a block on the left. He makes a comment to Lou..."I really should not be doing this but I am going to anyway". His next calculated move is to turn left from the right hand lane crossing over the left hand lane beside him thinking "hey we are in this little town of Lyons with very little traffic around...what could possibly be wrong with this decision?" So Kenny makes the turn and because we are a convoy following our "Fearless Leader" we all decide to the same...thinking the same exact thoughts of Kenny. David makes the turn along with Kenny and all looks like it is going well until I turn on my blinker and turn the wheel to follow this illegal move. As I am moving to cross over the left hand lane...I glance in the side mirror and see a car about a block away with it's headlights on in the left lane...knowing I can beat it across before it gets beside me I begin my initial turn. I am stopped dead in my tracks when a siren is turned on coming right beside me...I look out my side window and see a Lyons city cop with his lights on and sirens blazing. I instinctively and wisely react and jerk the wheel to get back straight in the right hand lane and proceeded to cross the road in the legal manner...straight ahead. If the cop would not of turned on his siren when he did...the consequences could of been severe and I would of hit the police cruiser while making my turn because I did not look a second time in my side view mirror before making the turn. This officer passes by me and turns to the left down the street where Kenny and David had just turned illegally onto. Kenny was pulled over immediately and David was also signaled to pull over. The officer then called for back up and his help arrived in only a few seconds. John and LaRessha turned off their blinker and booked it out of there making a right turn at the corner. Darrell and Trenna went straight and followed us around the block where we parked on a side street to wait for the tickets to be issued. We all clambered out of our cars trying not to laugh too much...but I have to tell you we thought it was pretty funny at the time! We walked down to the corner to get a play by play view of the action. We could not resist the urge to grab our cameras to capture and preserve this moment in history forever! Both of them were driving rental cars so the officers were taking a long time in checking them out. One officer stood behind Kenny's vehicle with his arms crossed as if he was guarding the vehicle in case they decided to take off! These officers were also probably getting a little nervous because of the large gathering of people (the rest of the family) on the corner who were snapping pictures of this ordeal! We were surprised they did not call out the SWAT team to secure the area! John then makes the comment that we should go across the street and tell the officers that we thought we saw someone in the car with a gun! Well, we decided against it seeing how serious these cops were about writing Kenny and David a ticket for a minor illegal turn and figured we would really cause some bigger problems if we carried out our devious plan. Finally the officers finished checking these "Bad Boys" and issued both of them a $105 ticket...$65 for the illegal turn...and $45 for court costs. Wow...can you believe it? We all thought it was a ridiculous fee for such a minor infraction! You do not see that much on a ticket even in the big cities like Denver! It was probably the most excitement these officers had seen in a long time! But to show you how brilliant these cops were...if the first cop would of just waited down the block for all the vehicles in the convoy to make the turn he could of given us all $105 tickets! So we all learned several lessons over the ordeal...#1. Never follow behind Kenny in a convoy...#2. Watch out for the small town cops looking for "out of state vehicles" to pull over for minor infractions and then lay on heavy fines...#3. Always obey the rules of the road regardless how little the town may be!

We finally made it to Dairy Queen and everyone grabbed some food...mostly ice cream! Dan and Trissha joined the convoy and we headed out to visit the Lyons cemetery and pay our respects to our family who are buried there. We were back on the road soon to another adventure of finding the "Diggs Homestead" up by Geneseo. Click the link to be transported to the "Bull Runner" adventure!

Diggs Homestead Bull Runner Adventure