Adventures in Traveling

Well, as you know, we travel from show to show. Currently we have been on the road for 2 months. In those two months we can tell some pretty funny and hair-raising stories regarding adventures in traveling. Please don't get me wrong, traveling is great, but with traveling comes challenges and adventures. No matter how hard you strive to avoid the adventures or challenges, they will find you... You need to keep a positive attitude and good things will come out of the challenges.

By definition, traveling is an adventure. If there were no adventures in traveling, then people would not venture forth from their homes. Heck, Christopher Columbus probably would not have chosen to sail the ocean blue. I warn you about traveling because in the event you believe we have traveled without mishap, you are woefully mistaken. Each mishap though is an adventure in and of itself. Some of the challenges we were presented with this trip could have caused some to just throw up their hands in resignation, but, if you take the challenge in the right perspective, there is a lot to learn and there can be a lot of fun to be had.

The key is to take each wrinkle in your travels as a mini-adventure. If you start thinking about all the problems you may have encountered when you traveled, you will not enjoy your trip much at all. Traveling is never easy, no matter how prepared you may be. You just need to know that your travels will not always go as planned, and you basically need to plan for the unexpected. That is part of the allure of traveling, experiencing the unexpected. The best thing about traveling is discovering how many people will rise to the occasion.

Keeping those thoughts in mind, our travels this time around were interesting at best. Our first adventure in traveling occurred during Run for the Wall. One of the hubs on our trailer failed as we were heading towards Jackson Harley Davidson. Thankfully, since we were caravaning, the people behind us notified us that the trailer wheel didn't look right. The tire was removed and the caravan continued onto Jackson Harley-Davidson for the Run for the Wall festivities and participation in the Trail of Honor. What could have ruined the day, turned into an awesome situation. All Steve had to do was to notify T-Bo that he had a problem, T-Bo made a few phone calls, and BAM, someone was out at the Harley-Davidson shop repairing and replacing the burned up hub. So, by the time the riders were ready to leave Jackson Harley-Davidson, Steve, the motorhome and the trailer were all ready to leave too. It was awesome how T-Bo was able to get help on such a short notice, and the help he got was excellent.

A month later, as we were driving away from a rally, suddenly our motor home engine begin overheating, going immediately to red-line. We pulled over to the side of the road only to discover that the fan belt to our diesel motor home broke. This could have also been a terrible experience, but our insurance company took great care of us, even calling back first to notify us that someone was on their way and then calling back to verify that we were being helped. Even though we had to have the motor home towed to a repair facility, the guys that towed the motor home and trailer were great to talk with. I learned a lot about the local history, flora and fauna as we drove the 30 miles to the repair facility. At the repair shop, the guys took time away from their regular tasks to quickly re-install a fan belt. What could have been a several day event (from the towing to waiting for someone to actually install the fan belt) turned only into a half a day affair. It could have been so much worse than it really was.

Lastly, (you can only take so many adventures in traveling...) as we were leaving Kentucky, were checking the trailer tire pressure (we check all the tires on a very regular basis) Steve noticed that one wheel seemed particularly loose. The other wheels did not appear as loose, so we went on-line and started calling around to trailer repair facilities to ask how loose a wheel should be before it becomes dangerous. We called Stephenville Trailers & Truck Accessories (http://www.stephenvilletrailers.com/) for their advice. They said the wheel should not be loose, and they recommended that we remove the loose wheel and bring the trailer down to them. They couldn't guarantee getting us fixed that day, since they were extremely busy, but they would at least look to see if our trailer was safe to take home. Once we got there, they discovered that the bearings were shot and needed to be replaced. Instead of telling us we had to wait until another day, they had one of their guys replace the bearings. Better yet, since that bearing was so bad, the guy (whose name I forgot to get...sorry...) checked the remaining 3 wheels to be sure we were safe. He found that the remaining 2 of 3 wheels also needed the bearings replaced, which he did. We were so impressed by the excellent service by Stephenville Trailers & Truck Accessories, that we would like to recommend them to anyone remotely near the Stephenville, TX area.

On a side note, as we were waiting for the trailer to be repaired, Wes recommended that we look at some of the trailers they had for sale. MAN!!! Were those trailers really neat. Now I think our next purchase (when we wear out the motor home) is going to be one of those trailers. They are NICE!!!! You gotta go down there to see them...

So, even though we had some challenges on the road, which anyone who travels will have challenges, you really discover that there are great people all over this country who are willing to go the extra mile to help a traveler in distress. This is where you meet the greatest people in this wonderful country of ours. When you go out on your travels, expect the unexpected, and enjoy it. Then you too will have your own adventures in traveling that you can retell. It makes your trip so much more memorable.

Until tomorrow...

Kentucky Fried Chicken in Corbin, KY

As you all are probably aware, we are currently participating in the American Freedoms Rally in Corbin, Kentucky. Well, instead of continuing to tell you of all the fun you are missing at the rally, I thought I would provide you with some other interesting travel information on sights that can be seen in and around Corbin, KY.

Did you know that Corbin, KY is the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken? Not only that, but there is currently a museum and cafe here dedicated to Colonel Sanders and his now famous Kentucky Fried Chicken (now known as KFC). Colonel Sanders was born in 1890, in Henryville, Indiana. His full name was Harland Sanders. After completing 6th grade, Harland quit school and went to work. He held a wide variety of jobs, but it wasn't until 1930 that Harland moved to Corbin, KY where he would eventually create the fried chicken empire we all know today.

While in Corbin, Harland opened a service station (close to where the current KFC is located) where he also operated a lunchroom. This lunchroom was literally a room, one table surrounded by six chairs. It didn't take long for his simple lunchroom to expand, so that by 1937 he had build "Saunders' Cafe" which seated 142 customers. Eventually he learned the most popular item on the menu was his fried chicken. Harland closely guarded his recipe for his famous combination of eleven herbs and spices even though he claimed all the spices could be found on everybody's shelf at home. KFC has grown to become one of the largest quick food service systems in the world.

If you come to Corbin, KY, you will need to add to your travel plans a visit to the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken. There is a cafe where you can experience 1940's era atmosphere. It had previously burned down, but has been restored in the late 1980's to its original look. The cafe also features the original kitchen where the Colonel perfected his Original Recipe chicken.

The museum boasts a variety of items from the early days of Harland Sanders' restaurant business, including a barrel of his famous recipe, a life-size statue of the Colonel, as well as a replica of his original kitchen. So, if you are near Corbin, KY, come on by and visit the Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum, birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Until tomorrow...

Adventures in Traveling

Well, I bet you are all frustrated with me for not posting last night. I have a really, REALLY good reason why I didn't get this post out last night. We had another ADVENTURE in traveling yesterday and by the time we had a place to stop for the evening, it was past midnight and I was past coherent. Traveling around the country is very enjoyable, but there is always some kind of adventure involved in traveling.

Yesterday's adventure started very early on and really threw a monkey-wrench into the day...and evening. To start with, our first and on-going adventure in traveling is the fact that I am still using an outdated computerized road map to navigate with. Usually this is not a huge issue, but we have discovered several places in the East coast that the roads on my 8 year old map have been added to. Some of the main highways have been re-routed or have had a bypass created. That makes things very interesting when you are bouncing down the road at 55 or 60 looking for an exit that no longer exists...

Because we lost faith in my map, I started surfing the Internet and pulling different maps out in order to cross-reference directions. Can you imagine how difficult that can be when you are looking for an exit a mile ahead and Internet service is spotty at best? Well, after much frustration and tension, we were able to get ourselves into Milledgeville, GA the other day. That was fine and dandy, but then we had a business appointment in Fayetteville, GA (90 miles away) yesterday at noon. Well, 90 miles in a motor home usually means about a 2 hour drive. No big deal. We left the RV park around 10 am with the expectation that we would have minimal problems getting to our next appointment. HA!!!

First off, I was running two maps, one on-line and the other was my old off-line map. I had been given specific instructions to be more careful about which roads to take because some of the roads on the on-line map were great for cars and motorcycles, but not RV's. As I am struggling to cross reference directions with wide roads, all of a sudden, bells, whistles, and lights start going off in the front of the RV. We hadn't gone more than 6 miles from the RV park when it looks like Armageddon had arrived... Next thing we see is the temperature gage for the engine go from normal to red-line in the blink of an eye. With the fail-safe systems in this RV, when that happens, we have all of one minute to find a safe place to pull over before the engine is automatically shut off.

So, here we are on a highway that we just turned onto, going up a hill and around a curve. We quickly navigate to a relatively wide section of the highway, hoping the shoulder is not too soft so we don't sink into it, and then the engine shuts down. After we check that everything else is fine, there are no other issues occurring, we go to the back of the RV, lift the bed (the best access to the engine...don't ask me, I think it is dumb having mechanics in your 'bedroom' fixing the engine) and hear the radiator bubbling away. We really do have a seriously overheated diesel engine. Not good news by any one's standard. The next thing we notice is that there is no belt (fan belt) in sight. Great... After about 10 minutes, we start the engine again as I watch to see if the radiator fan even twitches, which it doesn't. Well, now we know what happened, we threw the serpentine belt that runs everything that turns on the motor, the crank shaft to the valve train that runs the water pump, that runs the alternator, that runs the radiator fan, all the external moving components of the engine. Fun. We can't drive the motor home more than 2 feet before more problems occur.

We go on-line looking for a mobile diesel mechanic, to no avail in Milledgeville so our next step is to find a tow truck. Towing is an exciting task because we also have a trailer that is pulled behind the motor home. Finally we locate a company that will tow both the motor home and the trailer. They come out from Macon, GA, about an hour away, so in about 2 1/2 hours our tow trucks arrive to drag us to a certified diesel mechanic in Macon. After about 45 minutes of disconnecting the drive shaft on the motor home (you have to do that prior to a tow) and hooking up the front wheels so they can be lifted off the ground, we are ready to slowly head toward Macon. An hour drive there gets us safely into the diesel shop, where they spend about 2 hours putting the drive shaft back on the motor home and installing the serpentine belt. After paying the bill, we are now finally able to get back on the road toward Fayetteville for our very late business appointment.

I must say that everyone we met during our escapade yesterday was wonderful and very helpful. Even some of the mechanics in the shop came over to see what our problem was and to ask where we were headed off to. We were provided directions to get us going and we finally hit the road at rush-hour, which is always gobs of fun in an RV. Once we arrived at our destination we had our late meeting and by then, I was verging on comatose so couldn't post the blog.. See how much fun traveling can be. There are always adventures to be had while on the road...

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Until tomorrow... actually until later this evening...this was supposed to be yesterday's post...

On the way to Reno Street Vibrations

Hi everyone,

We are happily bouncing down the road, on our way to Street Vibrations in Reno, NV. The weather for traveling has been good to us so far. Last night, on our way from Ruidoso, NM we saw some pretty intense storms, but were lucky enough to pass between them.

If you look at a map, you would have figured that we would head up I-25 to I-40 on to Reno. We didn't do that, but took some secondary roads across New Mexico and Arizona to get to I-40. The driving was nice, we missed the storms that were probably hitting Albuquerque and Gallup. We are currently on I-40 just outside of Kingman, AZ. We expect to be in Reno late this evening in anticipation of setting up the booth tomorrow morning.

I did promise to provide you information on riding around the Ruidoso, NM area. As we were driving around, I was struck by how many museums and galleries were in the area. There is also a lot of information (including a museum) on Billy the Kid. On our way out, we passed through a wonderful little town called Lincoln. It is the historical home of Billy the Kid. He had been held at the Lincoln Courthouse but escaped from there. This town holds an annual event that features the "last escape of Billy the Kid". As I drove through the town, I was amazed by all the historical markers along the way. It looked like almost every building had an historical marker placed in front of it. Next year, I want to spend time wandering around this well preserved town and read all they have to say about Billy the Kid.

The riding around Ruidoso was beautiful (what we saw of it) and I would highly recommend spending time in the area. Be sure to bring a lot of warm weather since Ruidoso is around 7,000 feet and definitely bring rain gear. Even last year we got at least one rain shower during the rally.

We will be stopping for a little bit now, I will post more when we get back on the road. Talk to you later...

More Travels with Hawgwash

Well, today was an absolutely beautiful day. There were almost no clouds in the sky, the weather was warm, the air was clear...well, you get the picture. Since our Internet access has been very slow and I was getting extremely frustrated with the lack of speed and / or access, we decided to go out for a bit and explore Colorado Springs.

We are camping very close to the Garden of the Gods. I had visited the Garden when I was a young girl, so I really was looking forward to seeing it as an adult. (It has to have been over 40 years since I was there...) We drove the 4 or so miles up to the Garden, and as we were getting near, I kept looking over at some cool rock formations which kept reminding me of something. Then the signs said to turn left for the Garden of the Gods. Lo and behold, the rock formations I had been watching as we were riding along were the entryway to the Garden of the Gods. I knew there was something familiar about it.

For me there were significant changes, but what would you expect in 40 or so years? Anyway, even though I had high expectations, I was not disappointed with what I saw. There were a few monoliths I didn't find that I thought I remembered as a child, but I am now not sure that those monoliths were here. They could have been somewhere else in our travels. The main changes I noted was that the road is no longer dirt and there are very well marked paths all along and through the Garden.

The City of Colorado Springs and the Parks Services have done a wonderful job keeping this Garden a place to visit. This year marks the 100th year anniversary. I found the plaque that dedicated the Garden of the Gods to the City of Colorado Springs and have included that picture here. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do justice to this magnificent park. It is a registered National Landmark (as it should be) and should always be free to visitors. That was part of the agreement in 1909 when it was dedicated to the City of Colorado Springs.

If you are a technical climber, this is a great place to go play. They allow climbers (with the appropriate permits and equipment) to climb many of the rock formations. We had the opportunity to watch several climbers attempt various rock faces. One lady looked like a new climber, but did a fantastic job getting to the top of one of the formations. It made me want to go locate my old climbing gear and start climbing again. Luckily, I didn't have a chance to climb, I probably would have broken my neck.

If you ever have an opportunity to come to Colorado Springs, I would highly recommend taking a trip to visit the Garden of the Gods, it is an awe inspiring place to go. I just wish we had more time to spend wandering around. The park is fairly large and there is a wonderful network of hiking trails all around. Hopefully in the next few years we will be able to have time to spend wandering around this Garden.

That is all for tonight. Thanks to being in business for myself, I do have the opportunity to visit locations like this at the spur of the moment. People chained to a regular job would be hard pressed to be able to wander around as much. Tomorrow I will continue on my thread of how to let people know you are in business. Take care....

More fun while traveling - all about flys

And here I thought that I was going to make a relatively serious post today...HA! Today is the day I should have written about yesterday... (do you remember the phrase, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday"?)

As you all probably figured out, we are on the road in Colorado. We are currently at a Colorado State Park, north of Denver. For the last few days we have been swatting flys in the motor home. Until today, they were not bad, but each day the quantity of flys have been increasing. Today we were swatting flys at an alarming rate. Now that begs the question, where are those little buggers coming from.

These are not your regular house flys, more like big fruit flies (REALLY BIG fruit flies) but smaller than the run-of-the mill house fly. We noticed that when we were outside, there was not a preponderance of flys, only inside the motor home. Well, as you can imagine, the hunt began. What could have died in the motor home that we can't smell, yet are drawing flys?

After much searching, we really found nothing. That is, until we lifted the seat of the toilet. Who would have thought to look there (no jokes...). Apparently those guys somehow got into our holding tank and are breeding their little hearts out. At this point (please remember it is now late in the evening when we discover this) I don't want to use the toilet because every time you open the lid, 4-5 flys come zooming out. At first we thought, OK, it's got to be residual smell that is drawing the flys to the toilet.

Well, it wasn't residual smell as I noted earlier. We determined that when we held the little flapper door open and waited. Lo and behold, flys kept flying out of our black tank into the bathroom. Now if it was just me, I would have closed the flapper, killed the flys that came out and then put all kinds of chemicals in the tank to kill the remainder. But Steve wanted to be SURE the flys were coming from there and nowhere else, so he continues to hold the flapper open and let MORE flys into the motor home. Then he comes back to do it again to see if perhaps all the flys had gotten out??? Now can you imagine how many more flys are buzzing around the motor home, getting in my ears, hanging around lights, the dogs are going crazy trying to catch the flys and then Steve is running around with a fly swatter squishing flys willy nilly throughout the motor home.

The worst part about Steve and his fly swatter is the squish that is left after he has caught the fly. Those little guys make more mess dead than alive. It is truly gross. In Steve's defense, he does try to clean up the squish, but really, when he smacks a fly over my head when I am trying to type on the computer, where do you really think those guts go?

The good news is that we have figured a way to out-smart the flys. (I know, we are attributing more brains to flys). We put chemicals in the black tank in hopes of making it more inhospitable, but we are also keeping water in the bowl so the flys can't work their way up through the seals and start flying around here again. The bad news is what happens when you flush? I am not really interested in seeing a swarm of flys rise from the toilet once we basically open the top. Tonight I am walking to the outhouses, I refuse to be the one responsible for flushing and letting more flys into the motor home.

For those of you who thought motor home traveling was traveling for light-weights, you haven't dealt seen anything until you deal with this type of mess. But I still wouldn't trade this lifestyle for the world.

Hopefully I have been able to make you smile for a second day running. I know I promised a more serious article today, but this fly problem was way too funny to not pass along. Take care and I really promise to be more serious tomorrow.

On the lighter side

As promised, this is going to be a "fluffy" night. I couldn't think of anything particularly funny to write. (actually, that is not true, what I wanted to write about would embarrass too many people) It seems most of the funny stories that came to mind were funny from my point of view, not from the person on the receiving end. I have since been struggling about what to write that would be enjoyable to read, but not tax the brain too much.

What I did learn today was that there are pelicans located in inland lakes in Colorado. Until now, I had only believed that pelicans resided in coastal regions. We are currently staying at a park that has several large lakes and I saw pelicans flying overhead today. Of course, Steve did not believe me and for those of you who know me, know I have a tendency to pull legs...so Steve's distrust was well founded. Luckily, as I walked around the lake (actually the park calls them ponds..biggest darn pond I ever saw...1.3 miles in circumference) I found an information board talking about the pelicans at the pond. Hence the name Pelican Pond (duh, Holly!).

[Whenever I see pelicans, I am reminded of the limerick, "The most wonderful bird is the Pelican, whose bill can hold more than it's bellican, he can store in his beak food enough for a week, but I'm darned to see how in helican."]

Anyway, there really are pelicans here in Colorado, specifically the American White Pelican. This bird is found in and around freshwater lakes in the inland United States. These birds are really large, at least as large as the brown pelican you see on the Pacific Ocean and they are white birds. Their beaks are yellow, and they have sort of a flattened "horn" on the top of their bill during breeding season. The one I saw today did not have the "horn" but the picture on the information board along the lake did show the pelicans with the "horn". Those horns only appear during mating season and somehow fall off after the season is over.

By asking some of the campers here, I also found out that the pelican population is year-round at this park. Based on the reading I have done though, these guys are supposed to winter in the Pacific and Gulf Coasts. I guess someone forgot to tell these pelicans that they are not supposed to stay in Colorado all year. Or, perhaps the campers are wrong, nah, campers are always right...aren't they? I am including a picture of an American White Pelican in case anyone is interested (compliments of wikipedia.com).

Take care and I will chat with you all tomorrow.

Travels with Hawgwash

Hey guys (in the generic sense) didn't post yesterday because we didn't get back to the motor home until after 11 pm. We had some fun yesterday and help raise awareness to an important cause...breast cancer.

We ended up getting involved (somewhat) in a fund raising event for breast cancer awareness. The poker run ended at a really fun bar called the "Rock-N-Ranch" located at 110 Monmouth Ave., Firestone, CO. Once there, an awesome dinner was provided. They had home cooking like you would never believe. For the meat, they had slow cooked beef brisket and a roasted pig. They had home-made potato salad (to die for..) macaroni salad, several types of baked beans, ambrosia salad, regular tossed green salad, bread, corn on the cob, cake and probably a whole bunch more food which I can't remember. I loaded my plate down and there was still more food that wouldn't fit on my plate.

By the time I finished what I put on the plate (and again, my eyes were bigger than my stomach) there was no way in the world that I could go back for seconds. The food was awesome and I was almost in a food coma after the first pass.

Along with the awesome meal provided to help raise money, they had outside a mechanical bull riding ring. It was really fun to watch many people try their hand at riding the mechanical bull. I had never really seen this close up so it was extremely fun for me. The cool thing (and again, please remember I am a mechanical bull newbie) was that the guy running the bull did not try to knock people off immediately. He adjusted the difficulty level to the person on the bull. There was no time limit to being on the bull, the ride was done when you fell off and he did manage to knock everyone off the bull. The good part was that if a new rider fell off in less than a second, he had them get back on the bull and ride again.

While watching the mechanical bull riding, there was also a raffle drawing going on (which took almost 2 hours to go through all the raffle prizes) and a 50/50 drawing. After all was said and done, the event managed to raise almost $2.000.00 towards cancer awareness. Kudos go to all that helped make this event great.

Again, if you happen to find yourself north of Denver, CO, along Highway 25, go say HI to Ben & Christine, the owners of Rock-n-Ranch Tavern in Firestone, CO. The bar hosts 3 pool tables with competition felts (I know nothing about the quality of felts, but the guys that knew about playing pool were in awe of the tables...) there is a restaurant (which was closed for the day due to the poker run) area so you don't have to sit in or around the bar to eat, and then there is the bar itself with a large screen TV and several smaller TV's tuned in to various sporting events. Give the Tavern a visit, both the workers and clients are great people and the atmosphere is awesome.

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 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....

I'm Back from the "Black Hole" of Technology

Hi everyone,

I bet you have been wondering what happened to me, did I fall off the face of the earth? I actually think I did, this is the first time I had zero Internet AND Cell phone service at the same time. In order for me to use the cell phone, I had to ride 10 miles into town to get a decent signal. Since the battery on my laptop died, I couldn't just take the laptop along and use it wherever. Can't plug the laptop into the motorcycle, but that doesn't mean I won't find a way to do that later...hmmm more to work on...

Boy, in the 6 days I had no Internet, I thought I was going to go nuts. You don't realize just how much a person uses and/or relies on the Internet until you have absolutely no means of access. It was almost like going through withdrawals (which I know nothing about...no, really...well, maybe coffee...). We were in an out-of-the way place for a motorcycle rally (more on that later) and got there on Wednesday in anticipation of vendor set-up on Thursday.

Usually when you get in a to a show little early, you have a chance to catch up on any miscellaneous paperwork and e-mails that you couldn't get to while bumping down the road. Since this was a new location for us, I focused on navigating to the Saloon and not working on e-mails, Twitter, Facebook, etc. anticipating that I would have the time Wednesday evening. Boy, was that a bad idea.

The good news is that we survived the lack of wireless access with slightly frayed nerves. We couldn't leave until Monday morning because one of our UPS shipments was rescheduled from Friday delivery to Monday morning delivery (which we didn't know about until it was too late...yup, with no wireless, you can't follow the UPS shipment updates). You can bet we were chomping at the bit waiting for the UPS truck on Monday. We actually rode out 10 miles Sunday night to find enough Internet access to verify that the UPS shipment would truly arrive Monday. We were on the road by 10 am Monday, only to discover a large portion of the drive towards Sturgis, SD did not have good (consistent) Internet access. Can you imagine the frustration level then? By the time we arrived in Custer, SD late Monday, we had a decent Internet signal and very frayed nerves. We then discovered that although we did not have access to e-mail files, nothing stopped the e-mails from piling up for those 6 days. It was almost like being on vacation for a week. I forgot how bad it was coming back from vacation only to spend the next few weeks catching up on the messages that came in while gone...

I am back on-line and should be better at posting for at least the next 14 days. After that, I will actually work on getting information out and posted some way or the other on a regular basis... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Stay tuned for my next blog as it will discuss the Angels' Straw Bale Bikefest. You will also get updates on my experiences with the Core4 products....

Travels with Hawgwash - Flight 93 Memorial

While we were in Pennsylvania prior to the Johnstown Thunder in the Valley Rally, we had the opportunity to visit the "temporary" Flight 93 Memorial. We didn't know what to expect and were a little nervous about getting there.

The memorial is out in the middle of a field, within sight of the actual crash site. The actual crash site is still fenced off and is still classified as a crime scene. The actual site is only open to the family of the victims of Flight 93.

It is odd riding out to the memorial. As you ride along a rough road, you are riding through fields of tall grass (at least at the time we came through). In the distance you see flags and a cluster of vehicles parked. There are no significant buildings nearby, just fields of grass. As you get closer to the memorial, you see a building put up by the Park Service, a rustic parking area and porta-pots for those of us who had too much coffee prior to the visit.

The "temporary" memorial is surrounded by a split-rail fence. I was not expecting the feelings that came along with visiting the memorial. As you walk slowly from one side of the memorial to the other, you see all of the mementos and tributes left by people to honor those of Flight 93. You can't get very far before you become overwhelmed with awe for what those people did in Flight 93 and the honor that is given to those brave heroes by many Americans.

All around you see tributes from children, adults, teachers, classes, clubs, etc. Basically people from all walks of life left and continue to leave tributes to the heroes of Flight 93. There are poems, flags, rosaries, sculptures, toys. All of these are left to honor. It is an overpowering experience and very much well worth the visit.

I mentioned that this is a "temporary" memorial to Flight 93. Apparently there are plans to build a permanent memorial, but personally, I believe this memorial better represents the thoughts and love of the American people than any formal memorial could possibly do. I can be very wrong in this belief too, but I was so overwhelmed by the memorial, I would hate to have it changed. I guess you could call me old-fashioned, but I believe gifts from the heart (and what is left there truly are gifts from the hearts of Americans) are more sincere. Hopefully the permanent memorial will incorporate the items in the temporary memorial.

Even though the actual memorial is very small, probably about 50 ft x 50 ft, it takes at least an hour to look at all of the mementos left to honor those of Flight 93. In the small building erected by the Forest Service they have the flight recording for the last 30 minutes of Flight 93. It is very scary to read what was going on in those last minutes. The Park Rangers there are also more than willing to talk with people and answer any questions they may have regarding Flight 93 and the memorial. There is also a sign-in book for all the visitors to this memorial.

It is awe-inspiring to think about what the people in Flight 93 went through and it is amazing to look at how they were able to crash the plane without injuring anyone on the ground. There is a grade school a short distance from the crash site and there is also a town very close to the crash site. The fact that the pilot was able to get the plane down in an open field is an amazing task and one that I suspect most people would not be able to do under the same circumstances. My heartfelt thanks to those heroes of Flight 93.