Yorkie Health Update

Well, thought some of you might be interested on how our little Yorkie, Hawg has been doing. This will be the last of your Yorkie Health Updates. Haven't written about him much because I don't want to bore you will all the mundane little things that really don't need to be covered. Hawg got his stitches taken out today and is doing just fine.

It was a little touch-and-go for him this last week, actually more touch-and-go for me, not him because I was not sure how fast he should be healing. Hawg was still doing some internal bleeding 7 days after surgery, and the vet had originally said the bleeding was to have stopped after 5 days. Since I am such a worry wart, I called another vet, described the procedure that Hawg had gone through and asked when there should be no more bleeding. Based on what I told them, the vet indicated that the bleeding was normal up to 10 days after surgery, because Hawg's surgery was so extensive. Well, imagine how much better I felt.

As if on command, the next day, Hawg exhibited much less bleeding, and by the 10th day, there was virtually no more blood. Yippie!!! Then all I had to do was to worry about how and where to get his stitches out. He had a total of 10 stitches, and normally I am not squeamish about that, but where the majority of the stitches were, well, I wasn't going to be snipping around ANYTHING...

When we arrived in Corbin, KY yesterday, I started asking around for a vet. I couldn't keep Hawg's stitches in forever, so figured this would be the best time to get them removed. I was pointed to the Corbin Animal Clinic, which was about 2 miles from the motorcycle rally. I rode over there yesterday to ask if they would remove Hawg's stitches, and was pleasantly surprised to receive such a kind and positive answer. I always worry about going into a vet's office in an area that I am not familiar with. The people at the front desk were wonderful and kind and gave me a few blocks of time that I could bring Hawg in. Gratefully, I went back to our motor home and let Hawg know he only had one more day before he had his stitches removed.

This morning I loaded Hawg up on the bike and we rode together to the Corbin Animal Clinic. Within about 10 minutes after arriving, they came out to get Hawg. They verified where all the stitches were supposed to be and took Hawg in back. Within 5 minutes (seemed longer to me, but as you know, I am a worry-wart) he was back, sassy as ever. The vet said he is healing well and should be just fine. After my stomach finished doing all kinds of back-flips, I thanked everyone at the Clinic, put Hawg back on the bike and headed back to the motorcycle rally.

It took me about an hour to calm down after that (it only took Hawg about 10 seconds to calm down...) and now he and I are much happier. I am sure he feels much better not having all those stitches and I feel better knowing there is nothing more for him to do except finish the healing process. Hawg is loving this venue, the people we have met are awesome and are definitely "dog" people. He is being spoiled by everyone he meets, so I am positive his healing will proceed even quicker now that I am not nervous (my stress did cause him to be a bit stressed too) and he now gets to meet people again (again, in my over-protective state, I wouldn't let anyone touch him while he was "healing", since I didn't want anything to go wrong...I am such a pain sometimes...). Both dogs are still happily eating their StemPETS nutritional supplement too, which is probably what is keeping Gypsy healthy and helping Hawg to heal well.

Next time you see Hawg, you will never know he had any type of surgery. On a slightly different note, Gypsy has really been liking my over-protection of Hawg because I don't walk them together. She gets individual attention when we walk then he gets attention. Gypsy has been thriving on this individual attention, so I may make more of a habit of walking them separately. We shall see, since each dog loves a good brisk walk. The even better news is that by my walking both dogs separately for the last almost 2 weeks, I have lost a good bit of inches around my middle. My belt is now pulled into the last notch. The extra walking along with my watching what I eat (and taking my StemEnhance regularly) has finally done the trick to helping me to lose that extra padding. More reason why I may just keep walking the dogs separately...we shall see.

Until tomorrow...

Kentucky Ride In 2010

Today was the last day of the Kentucky Ride In 2010 put on by the local GWRRA (Gold Wing Road Riders Association). This was not a typical motorcycle rally for us, more like a weekend for Gold Wing Riders to literally ride in and just hang out together. It was a nice change of pace for us, we were able to present our Waterless Cleaning Products to the riders and not feel like we had to work hard. One reason for that is our table was set up inside an air conditioned pavilion. So even though it got over 90 degrees outside with a high humidity, we were very comfortable.

Since the majority of riders at this event were Honda riders, we focused on presenting our Waterless Cleaning Technology products for them to see. Since we were essentially at an indoor event, we did not have much opportunity to demonstrate our Waterless products. The good news is that many of the riders were familiar with Waterless Cleaning Technology, so demonstrations were not super critical. What was really nice about an indoor show is that all the attendees were happy to be indoors and had a good attitude when looking at the products we had to offer.

This event was a great way to connect with many people. Since it was not a crowded event, it gave us a lot of time to wander around and spend time talking with people instead of constantly demonstrating our products. For many vendors, this may not have been a good thing because it was a very casual event, designed more for socializing than selling. But in these casual events, you get to learn more about what people are interested in and you actually have the time to spend time with people instead of looking for that next customer. We had great opportunities to talk with the District Staff and find out more about what Gold Wing Riders like to do. This is great information for when we attend other Gold Wing Rallies in the future.

Since I spent a LOT of time socializing, it is VERY late right now (after midnight) so I am going to call it a night. We are looking forward to attending next year's Kentucky Ride In assuming that it will be held after Memorial Day (for us personally...) otherwise we will be sure to have one of our associates attend the Ride In so that our Waterless Products continue to be represented here.

Until tomorrow...

GWRRA Georgia Wing Fling

Last night was the closing of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA) Georgia Wing Fling rally. Personally, I had never participated in a Gold Wing rally and am very, VERY impressed about how they organize it out here in Georgia. I also was not entirely sure how we would be received at a Gold Wing rally, I had no idea what Gold Wing riders were interested in. Generally the rallies we attend are basically Harley-Davidson focused, even though other bikes are more than welcome. What I have learned is that rallies for different types of motorcycle brands have different ideas of what happens at a rally.

For instance, at the BMW rallies we attend, the riders are more focused on light-weight camping gear and clothing for riding rather than cleaning their bikes. Actually, they seem to find it a mark of pride to have a dirty bike. The more bug-caked their bikes are, the higher their standings are. Their focus is on riding, not cleaning their bikes. Therefore, our Waterless Wash products do not really go over too well with BMW riders. The only thing they really liked our products for was cleaning their windshields and face shields on their helmets.

Harley riders tend to like lots of leather. Leather jackets, chaps, vests, purses, belts, basically any type of wearable leather. Harley riders do like cleaning products for their motorcycles, especially our Waterless Technology cleaning products. That is mostly because there can be a whole lot of chrome on Harley-Davidson motorcycles and with a waterless cleaning product, they can quickly and easily clean their chrome without making a mess.

Gold Wings are large bikes and do not have their engine showing like the Harley's or even BMW's usually do. There is a lot of fiberglass or plastic on a Wing, and usually not a whole lot of chrome. The Gold Wing riders take a lot of pride in their bikes and like to keep them clean, so we figured that our Waterless Wash Technology products would be a good fit for the Wing riders. I just wasn't sure about the reception of the other products we had to offer (like our Doo Rags and our wheel cleaning stands). I should not have been concerned. What we had to offer for the Wing riders is what many of them were looking for.

Back to why I really liked the planning of this particular GWRRA Georgia Wing Fling. what I really liked about this type of rally is the fact that they not only had poker runs for the riders, but there were seminars and educational lectures for the riders and their passengers (also called co-riders). The BMW rallies we have attended also had seminars for the riders, and it is nice to know that other groups also find seminars worthwhile. Some of the seminars covered a wide variety of topics from "How to have fun at a Rally", "Remembering Names" (boy do I need that one...), to "Motorcycle Awareness" to name a few of the choices available.

The theme of this year's GWRRA's 25th Annual Georgia Wing Fling was the American Bandstand, so they had 50's style dance contests, bingo, a "Twist it up Talent show" and all kinds of activities. There was even a scavenger hunt and a trivia quiz that included many vendors. I thought that the wide variety of activities really kept the participants very busy and having a whole lot of fun. Everyone we met was in a good mood, and that could have been a major challenge because it did get quite warm during the days here.

Not only did the rally organizers have all these activities going, but they were going on in a timely fashion. There seemed to be no delays, and when they say something was to occur at a particular time, golly, it did. The vendor organizers also had their ducks in a row. They had already had areas set up for the vendors and worked very well with the vendors to make sure everyone was satisfied with location. What I thought was awesome was that the Assistant Georgia District Directors continued to wander around the vendor area making sure the vendors had cold water to drink and checking to see if the vendors needed any assistance with anything. It is extremely rare that organizers take that much care of the vendors. It is wonderful to find people that care about others. We have found a whole lot of people here in Georgia really care about other people....

We are looking forward to attending next years GWRRA's Georgia Wing Fling.

Until tomorrow...

What to talk about?

Well, tonight I have been struggling for the last few hours, actually all day long, trying to find something interesting to talk with you about. I usually start each day with the question, "What to talk about?" and usually have something already on my mind or have made notes of talking points. Today, I have drawn a complete blank. You may find this funny, but I already have a blog topic for tomorrow and for Sunday, but have still been struggling today.

Perhaps my biggest issue was my concern about our Yorkie, Hawg. He went into surgery this afternoon, and I got a call from the vet later in the day saying he was fine and recovering. If all goes well, we get to pick him up tomorrow around noon. They warned me that he is in pain, and will be in pain for a while. I don't know about you guys, but looking into a dog's eyes knowing that they are hurting, just breaks my heart. Hopefully I am worrying about nothing. The only reason I knew something was wrong with Hawg was because he wasn't urinating, he didn't indicate any major pain. He is one tough little bugger...

But after my all-consuming worry about our Yorkie, we also have the Gold Wing Road Riders Association Georgia Wing Fling to work at. The people are great, and the weather has been much better than we have dealt with in the last two weeks. The only wrinkle in this show has been the brief rain-shower that occurred (not on the weather report...need to have a chat with the weatherman on that one...) late this afternoon. If the weather man listened to me, we can't have rain until after the event shuts down, after 5 pm. But nobody talked to me about that rain shower. I will have to have a chat with someone about that. I will not allow another recurrence of a rain shower until after 5 tomorrow afternoon...my rules...

So, as you can see, again, I have nothing to say...(not) Hopefully this was a little entertaining. Stay posted, I will have interesting topics for the next two days....

Until tomorrow...

Good Guys Spring Nationals - Day 2

Today is going to be a relatively short talk about how much fun we had at the Good Guys Spring Nationals in Scottsdale today (because I am VERY tired). As you can see by some of the posted pictures, there was a wide array of cars to look at and drool over. It is very amazing to see the variety of cars that people have been working on. We have seen car shows before, but not as varied as this Good Guys show has been.

They again had the races, but I didn't have the time to go out and watch. We had all kinds of people visiting our booth today, so we didn't have too much time to wander around and look. The pictures were taken on our brief times away from the booth. As a general rule, we didn't spend more than 5 minutes away, didn't want the other person to get overwhelmed.

On a business perspective, this was awesome advertising for our business. People got to wander by and see what we had to offer for sale. They got to touch and feel what we did. Potential customers can place a face and voice with the name, website and product. It is much easier to make Internet sales after the customer has seen the product work first hand. We had several opportunities to demonstrate our waterless cleaning products on the really neat cars. This show also appeared to be a good fishing ground for other promoters looking for vendors for their upcoming events. We received several invitations to other upcoming car, truck and motorcycle events while at the booth. The neat thing is that the promoters of the other venues could see how we conducted ourselves and how we presented ourselves. This way, they know what to expect for their event. It is almost like having an interview. This is a great way to locate other events in the Phoenix area.

If you want to see what other events we will be getting involved in, stay tuned to our Schedule of Events page on our website. Once we finalize the upcoming events, they are posted on the schedule. If possible, we also include an address and a website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the Good Guys show. We are looking forward to this, but also it is a sad time since we have had so much fun here. The people we have met here have been awesome and very welcoming. We look forward to doing more Good Guys shows in the future.

Until tomorrow...

Preparing for Events and Shows

Today we spent the majority of the day preparing for our first major show of 2010. It is amazing how much work is needed to prepare for a large show. As you are aware, we have been doing Outdoor Festivals at the various Bashas' stores around Arizona. This upcoming show will be our first multi-day event this fiscal year.

Even though this show, the Good Guys 1st Spring Nationals will be held in Scottsdale, AZ March 12-14th, we are preparing as if we were going to be on the road for the next six months. The reason we prepare so much is similar to why Olympic athletes prepare so hard for their competition. It is always better to plan and practice, and practice and plan before the event. That way, when you get there, you are ready for anything that may come your way. We need to be sure we have everything for the show, so that we don't have to keep running back to the house to pick up the items we forgot. We are expecting a fairly large attendance, and again, sales are based on numbers.

Preparing for a car show, motorcycle rally, or RV rally is almost the same type of work. For each event, you need to have an estimate of the attendees. Once you have an idea of how many people will be there, then you can begin to estimate how much product you need to bring to the event. One of the worst things that can happen to a vendor is to not have brought enough product for sale. Some may look on that as a good thing, but if you left product at home, then selling out at a show is a bad thing because the remainder of your inventory is sitting at home.

Inventory is money that has yet to be converted. The real trick is to figure out how much inventory you need for a show and to sell almost all of that inventory. Otherwise, you have an investment of money sitting on a shelf until the next show comes along. You can't spend inventory, you can only spend money. In this economy, it has been very difficult to predict the purchasing patterns of event attendees. It used to be that you can look at the prior year and predict a modest increase in sales for the current year. Now, it is a lot more difficult to predict any increase in sales over the prior year. It becomes especially difficult when this may be the first time you attend an event.

This blog is not intended to frighten new business owners from participating in events, but it is intended to show that you really have to plan prior to larger events. It is a very fine line we all walk when we attend multi-day events, you have to balance the quantity of inventory to the anticipated sales. With luck this event with the Good Guys will be a very exciting and busy event. We will keep you posted as the event progresses.

Until tomorrow...

Outdoor Fesitval (Marketplace) at Bashs's

Today was the day we were to spend at Basha's, located at 23760 S. Power Road, Queen Creek, AZ for their Outdoor Festival (Marketplace). We did spend a good bit of time there, getting there by 6:45 am, setting up by 8 am anticipating all the crowds only to have the rain start at 10:15 am and not really stop. First thing in the morning was fun, cool, but not too bad and we had very high cloud cover. By the time we finished setting our booth up at 8:30 am, the few clouds that were there had cleared, and we were beginning to feel very optimistic that the weather forecasts of rain all day were wrong, as is often the case.

Boy, were we surprised to see those nasty, heavy, dark rain clouds bearing down on us by 9:30 this morning. I still had high hopes, the wind was blowing, so I was telling everyone that the clouds would just "blow away". HA, I was so very wrong in that prediction. The temperature continued to drop until the rain started at 10:15. By then, you could see your breath when you talked to anyone who would brave the wet weather to see what nuts we were standing in the rain. After a little over an hour of holding down stuff that was trying to blow away, and getting wetter as the minutes ticked by, we ended up calling it quits. We were by far not the first to quit, the rush of vendors to get out once the rain started was pretty amazing. I had again been hoping for a quick rain, and then more clearing so we could get on with selling. I was obviously incorrect. Don't hire me as the next weather person, I don't do well at predicting any more.

Once we got back home, it was time to take all the wet stuff (and there was A LOT of wet stuff) inside to start the drying process. We took our EZUP Tent and now have it partially set up in back by the pool. Hopefully we won't have any significant winds to blow that tent into the pool. The way our luck has been running, I really expect to see the tent in the pool. On a lighter note, the dogs are TERRIFIED of the tent in the back yard. They will go through great lengths to walk around it, they won't walk under it. It is really funny to watch. When they take their usual route out of the house, they have to run under the tent to get into the larger part of the yard. They start their run, and stop so suddenly that they slide under the tent. Then then run back to the door and look at us wondering what evil thing we have now placed in their way. It takes a lot of coaxing to get them to walk around the tent so they can have full access to the back yard.

The reason this is so humerus is that when the tent is fully set up at events, the dogs have absolutely no fear of the tent and will always run to whoever is under the tent. They are pretty funny that way..

So, to recap, today's show was not really a show. We are hoping for much better weather at the Basha's in Gold Canyon for next Saturday. If you are in the neighborhood, we will be there from 10-4 pm talking to people about our business opportunities and showing anyone interested what our waterless wash products can do for vehicles.

Las Vegas Bikefest Rally

We are here in Sin City, Las Vegas, Nevada. There are some changes to the city, some of the construction projects that were supposed to be completed by now have stopped due to lack of funds. You can see the effects of the economy even here, in Las Vegas. The casinos are not as full (which is really good for those of us who don't like crowded casinos...more chance to use the machines) and there appear to be several businesses that are no longer in business.

On the bright side, we were able to spend the last day catching up with our friends who live here. It was almost like a homecoming week, going from home to home, visiting all of our friends and catching up on news that is not usually discussed at length over the telephone.

The weather here was hot (upper 90's to low 100's) up until today. It got really windy last night and I don't believe the temperatures got much over 75 today. The main downside to the weather today is that I was unprepared for the cooler temperatures. I forgot to put sunscreen on my neck and have subsequently burned the back of my neck today (in the heat I don't forget to put on sunscreen). There were really big gusts of wind throughout the day, which made setting up tents in anticipation of the start of Las Vegas Bikefest quite a challenge. Despite the winds, the vendors were upbeat in anticipation of the start of the rally. Everyone pitched in to help each other, and the general consensus is that this was going to turn into a really good show. We even had some time to visit other vendor friends of ours today and catch up on what is happening with them and their business.

Steve got to show me around some of his old stomping grounds, and we were able to sneak in some time to wander around Las Vegas. It is nice wandering around, but I had forgotten how bad the drivers here could be. I ended up watching the road more than I have had to for a very long time. To think about it, we have not been in a large metropolitan city for several months. I forgot what it felt like to navigate through rush hour traffic. Even with the traffic, it was still wonderful to ride the bikes around and see some of the sights.

We did stop this evening at Mr. D's on Rainbow and got to watch again the "Globe of Death" show. I understand that this is the last evening that they are riding at this location so it was a lot of fun to watch the guys ride two motorcycles in this tiny globe. From the outside, the globe looks pretty darn big, but if you stuck your head inside the globe, you have to wonder why these two guys don't bonk their heads each time they pass in opposite directions in the globe. You get a whole new respect for the challenge and skill that is required to ride around inside basically a giant hamster ball... It was a fun show, and if you get an opportunity to watch these guys, do, they are very entertaining.

We also got to meet the World's Fastest Woman, Valerie Thompson. She is out of Scottsdale, AZ (small world when we are all in Las Vegas). She will be racing her drag bike the end of October and plans on going back to the Bonneville Salt flats next year to try to break her own record and get over 200 mph. Her current record is 187.42 mph (she is the 2x world land-speed record holder), so she is very close to breaking that 200 mph mark. We had the opportunity to chat with her a bit tonight, and she was very charming. We will be rooting for her to break that number next year at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

That is all for tonight. Tomorrow I will talk a bit about trying to decide what you want out of life... deep thoughts....Take care

Golden Aspen Rally

Hi everyone. I know I have not been posting again, but I really do have a good reason. We are currently at the Golden Aspen Rally in Ruidoso, NM. We are dry camping (camping without electric, water or sewer) and have a very small window in which to run our generator. Running a generator can be a noisy experience, so we make sure our generator is turned off by 9 pm each evening. The problem with blogging is that I need the generator to keep the laptop running, the show ends at 8, so I have less than an hour to eat, take care of the dogs and then get the laptop running. Last night, we didn't get out of the booth until after 8, so my time got really squished.

Right now, I am in our booth, just before the show opens and trying madly to let everyone know what is going on. I guess I will have to beg to get inside the event early (we are provided electric to our booth, but we can't get into the facility until 8 am) and talk to you all before they open the doors for the general public. I feel badly about not blogging more regularly, but will continue to work on getting more consistent. Please bear with me a little longer so I can get a pattern going even when I am working at shows.

Now, if you are wondering about the Golden Aspen Rally, it is a really great rally. As I mentioned earlier, it is sort-of indoors (there is a huge covered rodeo arena and they put sides on it so we are basically indoors without any heating or cooling) and a lot of fun. The people here are awesome, the weather has not been so nice.

It has rained most of the day for the last two days. Hopefully the weather will clear up later today. On Wednesday (the first day of the rally) we got a massive rain and hail storm and luckily no damage to any vehicles or people. I want the rain to stop because it is dangerous to the riders coming to the rally. I have no doubt that the motorcycle rides can handle the rain, my bigger concern is the 4-wheelers who have problems driving in the rain bumping into the motorcycle riders. As far as I know, there have been no problems with bikes in these wet conditions, but I really want the rain to stop because the riding around here is beautiful.

The rally is held in Ruidoso, NM, up in the mountains. Even if it is over 90 in El Paso, it is much cooler up here. This is a great rally to attend, they have a large selection of vendors, the promoters are careful not to have more than 2-3 duplicate type products so there is a wonderful selection and not all the same stuff. The prices of the products, food included, are very reasonable. I would like to discuss the riding around here, but as I said, it is raining, and I have to work the booth. I will look up some of the riding around here and let you know what is available in my next blog (hopefully tomorrow morning).

My next blog should not be as disjointed as this one is. I am madly trying to get information out to you before I have to work at the booth.

Right now, the gates are open, people are streaming into our area, so I need to get to work. I look forward to talking to everyone later. Take care.

Review of 4-Corners Rally and beyond

Wow, I can't believe it has been 10 days since I last posted here. We have been busy, busy, busy. As I am sure you all know, last time I blogged, we were set up for Ignacio Bike Week (formerly the 4-Corners Rally).

This year we were blessed with wonderful weather. It rained Friday late afternoon/evening and that was it. Last year we had rain almost every day, lasting almost all day long. This year we even had relatively cool weather too. It got into the upper 80's or low 90's, but at night it cooled off to at least mid- to low 60's. Great riding weather, great rally weather.

Attendance was pretty good at this show. the town of Ignacio did everything they could to make it a biker friendly event. The town people were very welcoming and many came out to visit the vendors.

The bike parade on Sunday was great, many people came out to watch the (Steve included) bikes first ride up the main street, and then return back on the main street. If you have time next year during Labor Day, I highly recommend spending some time in Ignacio, Colorado for the annual Ignacio Bike Week.

We managed to find our way home early Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. We got to spend a whole 5 days at home (wooo whooo) madly catching up on mail, weeding, cleaning, washing, grocery shopping, etc. It is amazing how much work needs to be done when you get home, even though we are in our home away from home. I did get a reasonable amount of weeding done, but there is still quite a bit more to accomplish.

We also managed to find time to attend the weekly Bike Night at Arizona Joe's on Thursday night. If you are in Apache Junction (AJ), come on by for the Thursday night bike night. We will not be there for the next 3 weeks, but they are still holding the bike night in our absence.

We are on the road again. We left late Sunday and are already bouncing through New Mexico on our way to the Golden Aspen Rally in Ruidoso, NM. I am already looking forward to the cooler weather that the higher elevations offer. It has been in the mid-100's at home. As much as I don't mind the heat, when you are working outside, anything over 90 is just plain hot...and don't try to convince me about the "dry heat". Arizona is still in monsoon season, so we actually have 2-digit humidity which for us desert rats, is quite muggy...

I will chat at you guys more later. It is good to be back in the saddle again.

Until next time....

Wrap-up from Sturgis Rally 2009

Hello all, I have been out of touch mainly because I have been busy and tired for the last few days after the Black Hills Rally (Sturgis Rally). It is amazing how tired you become on the last few days. I had zero energy to get on the computer and talk about anything. Today is the first day that I feel almost energetic, though still tired.

As promised, you will find pictures from the rally we did in Custer, SD. The last shot is of the street and all the bikes lined up in the middle of the street. As mentioned in an earlier blog, Custer closed off 2 of the 4 lanes that ran through the center of town and dedicated those two lanes to motorcycle parking. That was really neat and allowed riders to park conveniently.

Technically the Custer Cruisin' rally ended Sunday, but many vendors had already pulled out Saturday evening. We stayed on through Sunday hoping to see the last minute riders. Unfortunately it rained most of the day on Sunday, so we ended up packing up relatively early and calling the show over.

I know, today is Wednesday and no posts occurred for several days. As I said, by the time we finished packing in between rain showers and hail storms, I was pooped and had no desire to type anything (not even check e-mails). It has taken until today to get my rear back in gear to start clearing e-mails and blog again.

That being said, we are looking forward to returning to Custer Cruisin' next year. The city officials were wonderful to deal with, the people of the city of Custer were great and supportive and basically the weather was good. In Custer, excluding Sunday and late Saturday afternoon, the rains came late each evening. Sturgis, SD got hammered with softball sized hail, Rapid City encountered torrential rains during the day and we basically got the rain in the evening, within an hour of closing time. Not a bad deal in my book.

Some other pictures of what went on in Custer include the signs that were posted on two of the portable outhouse doors and some really cool trailers. We had a lot of fun in Custer, there were so many people to talk to and interesting bikes to look at. If you ever have the opportunity to participate in the Black Hills Rally, I highly recommend spending some time in Custer for their Custer Cruisin'. The food was great, the company was awesome and the weather beat anywhere else in the Black Hills (my personal opinion...). Hopefully we will see you in Custer for the 2010 Rally, which will also be the 70th Annual Black Hills Rally.

Day 7 of the Black Hills Rally

Well, we have completed what I would call the 7th day of the Black Hills Rally. It is Friday, but based on the crowd behavior, you would have expected it to be a Wednesday. There were not many people early in the day, they came out after noon.

I figured we had people later in the day because the weather was wonderful here and the bikers were probably getting in the last few rides before they had to head back to their respective homes. The weather in Custer has been great, we don't really get rain until much later in the day, usually around 7 or 8 pm after most people have either stopped for the night, or already headed back to Sturgis for the parties.

Today was no different other than it did get a good bit warm. Once and a while the breeze would kick up and we would get a much needed relief from the heat. What I find interesting here is the large quantity of grasshoppers that have appeared. Today it looked like they were swarming. We had a few hundred behind the tent and as you looked out towards the hills, you saw thousands of those little buggers flying all over. You couldn't walk anywhere with bunches of grasshoppers jumping away from your feet. There were also quite a few that would fly into you and either bounce off, or hang on for the ride. Hopefully the birds will come and eat all those bugs, the grasshoppers are all over, even jumping on people. I did have to laugh, the grasshoppers were so bad that as one gentleman walked past, there were grasshoppers on his back and one landed in his beard. He did a very interesting dance trying to remove the grasshopper from his beard...

We had a great thunderstorm here tonight, awesome lightning show that lasted about 20 minutes and continued to roll Southeast. We saw some very close lightning strikes, but it did not appear any fires followed. After the storm, the full moon came peaking out from the leftover clouds. It was an awesome moonrise.

Hopefully tomorrow will also be a beautiful day for the riders. We understand that Sturgis got hit with a significant hailstorm, and Rapid City had heavy rains and high winds. Custer only received that brief thunderstorm I talked about. Perhaps the weather all over the area will hold again for the day to allow riders to continue wandering around the Black Hills.

As much as I enjoy the activity during the Black Hills Rally, I am looking forward to having a few days off to catch up on all the paperwork. Just working a rally is fun, but there is a tremendous amount of paperwork that is involved before and after (including taxes...fun...). I would also love to have the chance to sleep in and be able to work on the computer when I want, not after the booth closes. I know, life is tough....I still get to ride and enjoy the great outdoors while some of you may be working in an office and not be able to get out on the road.

There is a lot to be said for being your own boss. There is a lot of work involved, but there is also the ability to make as much or as little money as you want when you want. You are in control (reasonably) of your own destiny. Your decisions may make or break your business. I would not trade this type of stress for a Corporate job. I don't mind the work, I guess you could call me a workaholic, but at least I am working for the benefit of myself and others. I feel I can make more of a difference in the world instead of working for someone else who may not want to help others.

I will get off my soapbox now. If you are interested in starting your own business, or want to grow your personal business, I will be starting another blog next week on that subject. I want to have an article or two posted by next week. Until then, have a wonderful day.

Day 6 of the Black Hills Rally

I can't believe I forgot the camera in the trailer again. I am almost out of battery on the camera too, so pretty soon I won't be able to take any pictures.

The rally was pretty slow today, there were storms all around us. There was a tornado watch later in the afternoon, the clouds got really dark and strange shaped. Fortunately for us in Custer, nothing much happened, not even a lot of wind or rain. I am not disappointed. Have not been checking the local news, but hopefully nothing serious came out of the tornado watch.

After a great chili dinner cooked by Rock, a bunch of us vendors went to the outside parking lot of the Crazy Horse Monument to watch the laser light show (the rain had stopped and it looked like we would be dry for a while). We got there early, expecting it to begin at dark. What we forgot about was that "Dark" is 9pm here. It was dark(ish) all day today due to the bad weather. We got to the parking lot around 8:15 and stood around until 9 for the light show.

It was worth every minute of standing around to watch them light up Crazy Horse and then start a laser light show. Steve and I plan on going back to the monument some time next week to see the museum and then watch the light show from inside the grounds. From what we could see from the distance, the show was awesome and awe inspiring. After we attend the show, I will provide more information about the Crazy Horse Monument for those that may be interested.

Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative for all the surrounding areas tomorrow and we will be busier than one-armed paper hangers. Nite all, it is time for me to catch some much needed shut-eye.

Black Hills Rally Day 5

I had planned on posting pictures of the current Black Hills Rally today, but discovered I forgot my camera in the trailer. You will all have to wait until tomorrow to see what the streets of Custer look like filled with motorcycles.


I wanted to let everyone know that Steve is now suffering because he can't play with the 1968 Camero he had to clean for 2 days. The running joke was that if they left the car with him much longer, he would have rubbed the paint off. That was a beautiful car, but the owner did want it back so he could enjoy it. Now Steve plans on purchasing one of his own...as soon as possible. I am looking forward to seeing how he plans on taking it back since we currently have two motorcycles in a trailer pulled with a motor home.... I am sure, with enough incentive, he would find some way to get the Camero home...that is to say, if he could find one.


You will notice there was no post yesterday and there is a very good reason for it. No, not because I was tired (I was) but there was a bad thunderstorm and I am kind of a freak when it comes to plugging in a computer during a large electrical storm. I do have surge protectors between the laptops and the electrical source (we need a surge protector from the main electric source to the motor home, but that is another story...) but I just didn't want to push our luck. In my imagination, I pictured a bolt of lightning hitting the power box and coursing through the motor home and then blowing the surge protector on it's way to blow up the laptop. I know more things would have to go wrong before that happens, but like I said, I am a bit of a freak when it comes to electricity and laptops. So, the good news is that I got to go to bed relatively early, but I go no blogging done.


We have had some really cool (depending on who you talk to) storms roll through Custer these last few days. This evening it looked like we were going to get pounded again, so we closed up shop early only to discover the storm parted around Custer. For the last two evenings, the winds were so strong that they almost blew our tents away. The rain came down in VERY cold sheets (I know, I was out in it getting pounded and freezing) and blew sideways on several occasions. The lightning was a sight to see and the thunder shook the buildings. This is the kind of rain that when you step outside you become instantly soaked.


Since we had been getting soaked for the last 2 days while we were trying to button down our various tents, we really didn't want to get soaked again today so we closed up early. Now we look like wimps since it only sprinkled and nothing else happened. Oh well, stuff happens.


Today was supposed to be a slow day in Custer because the town of Hulett in Wyoming was to have an "anything" goes day for bikers. Hulett is a very small town and is a great stopping off point for riders going from Sturgis, SD to Devils' Tower, WY. On the Wednesday of Bike Week each year, Hulett has the free Hulett Ham 'n' Jam in it's 21st year. This small Wyoming town has a year round population of 410 and is transformed into a hot spot for motorcyclists. It is the place to be on Wednesday of Sturgis Bike Week.

Despite all of that great activity going on in Hulett, we were pretty busy talking with people in Custer. The riding weather is awesome and so far the rain is coming after dark. Rain after dark is not an issue since you really don't want to be riding around Custer after dark because of all the wildlife. There is so much wildlife in the area that in the evening, you can walk from our booth to the campground 2 blocks away and find deer grazing in an open field.

Well, that is all I am going to write tonight regarding the Black Hills Rally. We didn't get to detail the 1966 Corvette because of a minor mishap it had...something like some elements of the electrical system burning up... Luckily it does not sound like there was significant damage to the car. Hopefully they can get the car repaired before the end of Bike Week so we can detail it and then post pictures. We will keep you all posted. Until next time...

Day 3 of Sturgis Bike Week

Today was another great day in Custer, SD. The weather was good...well...except for that brief rain that only served to get everything damp...but good anyway... We had more people visiting our booth and we were able to talk to a large number of people.

We also had the opportunity to detail a 1968 Camero SS. I have attached pictures. Now you are going to laugh at my limited car knowledge, but this car has matching serial numbers, paperwork to go along with it, rally tires and factory installed air. It caused quite a stir around the booth. The only problem was that as the car was being detailed, the people watching were not as interested in the products being used, but more interested in the car itself.

We used UltraLuster Clabar on the paint to remove the impurities embedded in the paint, UltraLuster Metal polish to polish the aluminum trim, UltraLuster Tire Treatment to condition the tires and the vinyl top and of course, our main product, UltraLuster Waterless Wash for all the paint and to seal the aluminum after cleaning with the Metal Polish.

The paint on this car is now probably smoother than when it came out of the factory. The car sparkles like a diamond in the sun now. It is a wonderful sight to behold. Unfortunately a big wind came through the hills this evening and then it rained quite a bit so we will have to touch-up the car again tomorrow. The owner of the car is very pleased with the current results. We are looking forward to putting the finishing touches on the car tomorrow so that it will be ready for it's next car show (in a few weeks, I believe).

If you are interested in obtaining more information on what we did to the car, please leave a comment. If you want more information on our UltraLuster product line, you have two places that you can visit: www.ultraluster.com/hawg1 or our website (http://www.hawgwash.biz/) and then choose the order UltraLuster Items button on the left.

We are looking forward to more fun as the week progresses.

Day 2 of the Black Hills Rally

Hi everyone. This is going to be a relatively short post (I always think so, but end up with more to say than I originally expect). This morning of the rally started off slow, but definitely picked up steam around noon. The sun was out and the temperatures had to have gotten to mid- to upper 80's. The air was cool, which is what makes it so great to ride. We saw many riders with leathers on, but once they stopped and enjoyed the sun, the leathers came off.

Again, I can't stress enough how much fun the people are during rally week. The local merchants seem pleased to see the bikers (for some rallies, the merchants are not always thrilled to see us), the vendors are positive, and the local residents have been out to visit all the booths that are set up. It looks like the whole town is out to see the riders.

I did get a kick out of seeing the Flintstones' cars driving up and down the street today. I discovered that there is an attraction here called "Flintstones Bedrock City Park". They have a few vehicles that are made to represent the vehicles you used to see in the Flintstone's cartoons. At first I thought there was a mobile peanut driving up and down Main Street, but later realized it was a representation of a large log that was pointy at both ends. I did see the Flintmobile, which you used to watch Fred drive in the cartoon. I guess the other vehicle was the one that Barnie drove, but I am not sure on that.

As you drive past Bedrock City, you see a big replica of Dino (I think that is who it is...my cartoon trivia is lacking...). This park was established in 1966 and is over 40 years old. It is advertised as an amusement park and campground for all ages. Since I am not particularly a cartoon buff (if you haven't guessed that yet), this is probably a site I won't see this year. That is not to say I won't go, just not with the limited time we have this year.

If you have the opportunity to drive through Custer during Bike Week, you may also see "General Custer" waving at you. Several of the local citizens and Council members dress in period costumes to help bring the old Custer to life. You may find General Custer wandering the streets greeting people also.

We hope that the rally attendance gets bigger here as the week progresses. It is great to hear the thunder of motorcycles up and down the main street, and a lot of fun to see bikers wandering around a small western town. The more crowds there are, the more opportunity we will have to people watch, and the more I can talk to you about.

I will update everyone on my weight loss progress tomorrow (I know, I said I would do it today, but I forgot to step on the scale again this morning...). I will be giving weekly or bi-weekly updates on my weight loss since it has now started slowing down. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I truly believe that a slow weight loss is better for the body and that once the weight comes off, it will tend to stay off. I don't want to be writing daily on weight loss that may be from 1-3 pounds a week, that would bore almost anyone to tears...

Take care and I will talk more tomorrow. If anyone is interested in what I am using for my weight loss (I haven't changed my eating habits one iota, but the weight is still coming off) you can get the information at http://www.hawgwash.irepcni.com/.

(And I thought I didn't have anything to write about tonight.....HA)

69th Annual Black Hills Rally

I wanted to update everyone on what is going on ...other than the weight loss (I will not update you on my current weight loss until tomorrow...). We are currently participating in the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally. We are in Custer, SD, not Sturgis and I am really pleased we are in Custer. The people here are awesome and the weather has been fantastic.

Custer is about 75 miles south of Sturgis, SD and is against Custer State Park. The town of Custer has been considered the oldest established town of the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is the site of one of the major encampments of the 1874 Black Hills Expedition of George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry and the location of the first public discovery of gold. The town may have grown up in the 21st Century, but it still has the feel of a small, western town. People that live here are very personable and appear to be willing to help one another. We are currently staying at French Creek RV Park within the city limits and are having a ball.

The manager of French Creek RV Park is "Rock" and is very involved in all that goes on not only in the park but in the town of Custer. If you need to know something, or need help with anything, he is the go-to guy.

Custer puts on an event called Custer Cruisin' which coincides with the Black Hills Rally (most people know it as "STURGIS" or "Sturgis Bike Week"). Custer has vendors (like us) along 6th Street (they acutally close the street down and have vendors and foot traffic only) and sections out 2 of the 4 lanes along the main drag (Rushmore Rd / 16A) to create motorcycle parking. It is really neat to see blocks and blocks of motorcycles parked in the middle of the street during the day. The parking allows bikers to conveniently visit all of the local businesses (and the vendors) during Custer Cruisin' (and Sturgis Bike Week). The town of Custer is within easy riding distance of the Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore, Keystone, Hill City, Rushmore Caves, and more sites that I can't even begin to name.

I realize this sounds like a travel log, but Custer is definitely a place to go see and spend some time at. We have been here visiting over the years, but now that we have spent more than a half a day here, it is amazing to discover how much there is to do around here. We will be staying a few days after the rally so that we can enjoy the local sights too.

The official rally (Sturgis) has started and we are looking forward to seeing more bikers ride here and stop to visit. Things should start hopping in the next day or so. The town is geared up and has it's best party dress on for the riders. Custer has had a lot of rain this year, so the drought conditions that had plagued this town for the last several years is not an issue. Everything is green and ready for bikers to enjoy. Lets let the fun begin....

Little Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Review

Hello all,

I am not going to talk about my weight this time (but it is not going up...more on that in another blog). I wanted to chat about how much fun the Little Sturgis Rally in Kentucky was.

The Little Sturgis Rally and Races for Charity is an event that helps to raise money for various children's organizations. I have not had much time to find out which charities are donated to, but will continue to look for that information. This year was the 17th Annual and boy, do these organizers know what to do. This is one of the first rallies we have attended where there was minimal problem with vendor locations, the organizers knew where you would go, and there was actually a staging of vendors so that you did not get all tangled up in the rush to grab your space and start getting set up. Kudos go out to all the organizers and volunteers that worked this event. From our perspective, it was flawless.

This was the first year we had attended this rally and frankly we were not sure what to expect. You hear stories...some X rated, some XXX rated. The only way to find out is to attend. I think we were very lucky this year regarding the weather. On Wednesday and Thursday it was quite warm and very muggy. A huge storm rolled through Thursday evening along with a really good cold front which cooled off the event for Friday and Saturday. It started warming up again on Sunday, but nothing more than upper 70's/low 80's in the sun.

There was a very large number of vendors in attendance here, and only a few spaces that were not occupied by vendors. It is difficult to get into this rally because the organizers are careful to not get too many of a particular type of vendor (leather, jewelery, shirts, etc) and once you participate, you want to come back each year for more. Vending areas were set up well with large walkways for the people to wander through. I particularly appreciated the walkways set up along the isles so you didn't have people trying to cut through your booth in order to cross over into another isle. The vendors themselves seemed to really enjoy being at this event also. It appeared to us (being Little Sturgis Virgins....) that it was almost like a reunion among the vendors. For some of the vendors, this may be the only event where they get to see each other. The camaraderie was awesome.

On Thursday, I thought we were going to sweat our brains out. I think (didn't check) the temperatures were in the upper 80's, low 90's and the humidity had to have been in the 90's. You know that once they let the participants come in, clothing was going to be optional. Coming from the desert, this was very humid and even I didn't want to wear much. It felt like you could swim through the air... I figured the humidity was bad because it had rained a little on Wednesday evening. I didn't know rain until Thursday night though. Boy, did the sky's open up! By Friday morning you had to almost swim to your booth. The good news was that a cold front came in with that Thursday night storm and the temperatures had to have dropped by over 20 degrees.

The humidity was also considerably lower for the weekend due to the cold front. So for us desert rats, we had a blast. Unfortunately, with the colder weather, you saw a lot of people with jackets and sweaters on. Not many were brave enough to wear skimpy outfits in the cool air. Don't get me wrong, we did see our share of nudity, but it was not as prevalent as it apparently had been in prior years.

The people in attendance were wonderful to talk with. They came from all walks of life, and had many experiences to share. We met a father with his sons who actually had 3 generations of sons in the Marine Corps. The father and his sons were here to relax and enjoy the weekend. The fun part about this event was the acres upon acres of camping that was set up to house all the attendees. The campgrounds even had band stages so if you didn't want to, you could stay near your campsite and enjoy bands.

The sand drags on Saturday were a kick to see. People would register and race their bikes in the sand to see who was the fastest. There were mini-bike drags (very funny to watch, but very fast) up to the regular street bike drags. It was quite a show to see, the crowd really enjoyed it. They even had bike games on both Friday and Saturday, where usually at motorcycle rallies, bike games are traditionally on Saturdays. Let us not forget the traditional poker run on Saturday which took riders on a tour of the countryside.

Overall, we had a great time, had fun people-watching and we are looking forward to returning to this rally next year. Next year I will remember to charge the batteries of my camera so that we can take pictures and post some of the tamer photos for all to see. Perhaps some of you can attend also. If so, stop by and say HI. We will be glad to stop and chat.