Fort Welikit Family Campground – Custer, SD

(Cheryl) Today we toured the Nebraska plains stretching out on either side of the truck far beyond where the eye can see. Grassy hills with windmills and Black Angus cattle flew by our windows for hours. On Rt. 29 between Scottsbluff and Harrison we only passed two cars going the other way and the road had no shoulder. We felt like we out back of the great beyond!

After we turned on Rt. 20, we began to see civilization again. We stopped for gas and then found a little family drive-in for great chicken, wedge fries and a hamburger that tasted like homemade. The little town of Crawford was shiny bright with tidy little houses lined up on shaded streets. What a treat! As we sat outside on a glider waiting for our food, we watched half the town’s people drive up in their pickups for either sandwiches or ice cream. We ate outside at a picnic table on a covered patio and watched the young robins munch berries on the trees. Behind us in the garden sweet peas bloomed on the fence next to rhubarb and hollyhocks. It looked like the family who runs the drive-in might live right behind it in a lovely little yellow house.

It wasn’t long before we turned north on Rt. 385 toward Custer where we planned to stay the night. Sturgis is only about 60 miles or so north of here. We’ve seen lots of Harleys along the way, so we’re not the only ones a bit early for bike week. Frank called ahead after we got settled to find out if Rush No More campground near Sturgis can accommodate us a couple of days early. They told us to come on in tomorrow, no extra charge, since we paid rally rates for the week, which are rather steep. That was a nice surprise, but we’ll wait until we get there before we actually believe it!

Frank did a great job backing the trailer in here at Welikit. He’s had some practice earlier today and at Echo Basin, and he’s really got the hang of it. They had no pull-throughs and only one back-in site left big enough for us to fit, so we must be riding under a star.

Again, we miss all of you and would love to get some email at ckdelmonte@cox.net and fjdmjr@cox.net

Love and hugs, Frank, Cheryl, and Peanut

Terry Bison Ranch & RV Park, Cheyenne, WY.

(Frank) We didn’t quite make it to Kimball, NB as planned as it was slow going and quite rainy. Cheryl went on-line as we drove and found this campground and remembered she had stayed here back in 1998 when she was driving her Coachman RV across country so we decided to call it an early day and stop at about 3 PM. Naturally once we stopped and hooked up the sun came out and we’re now sitting here wondering what to do next.

I just spent an hour trying to figure out why I still can’t send email using MSMail or MS Outlook. Both will receive mail, but neither will send mail. Cheryl is willing to put up with Cox’s Web Mail program in order to send her emails but I’m just not willing to use that piece of doo-doo. It just makes me mad it’s so user hostile.

I’ll try to call Alltel and see if they have any type of tech support for their Quick-Link product. But not today. With the mood I’m in I wouldn’t be a pleasant customer.

8:20 AM – Wednesday, July 29, 2009 – River Dance Campground – Eagle, CO

(Cheryl) Yesterday we visited with Melanna, her husband, John, and her mother, Carmella. Melanna has a spacious home near Vail situated in a golf course community. She has gardens full of flowers complete with a pond and waterfall she created herself. The views from her windows and French doors really invite the outside in. We had a luscious dinner on the deck and enjoyed the soft evening breezes. Italian hospitality and great food made catching up with family a really memorable part of our vacation. Thank you, Melanna!

Melanna and John have two sweet girl dogs and Peanut was in seventh heaven running around the house with them. They made up quite quickly and soon Peanut thought he owned the house and promptly barked at everyone who came to the front door!
As we traveled West on Route 70 yesterday I took some stunning video of the mountains and winding highway. It’s incredible to see snow still on the mountain tops and the clear blue sky with big puffy white clouds in the background. The ski areas here look awesome and make me wish I hadn’t given up skiing.

Stay tuned for more about our mountain adventures.

Love and hugs, Cheryl, Frank, and Peanutty

Leadville, CO. At the RV Corral.

Yesterday’s highlight was seeing Redstone, Co again. We were last there in about 1980-something. We stayed at the Redstone Castle B&B but that is no longer being operated as a B&B now. It’s open for tours and someone from California owns it. Redstone is one of our favorite memories. It includes a dark and stormy night, a grand piano, a 16-year old piano prodigy on her birthday, brandy snifters and a roaring fire in a huge fireplace. Remind me to tell you all about it sometime.

Now we’re here in Leadville 10,800 feet up in the air and I’m huffin’ and puffin’. Everything takes extra effort and extra time. We’re in Leadville due to a bit of Colorado highway department humor. You see, last evening as we approached Vail we saw a blue “RV Camping” sign just as we entered the town of Mintern and the sign pointed to the right onto Colorado Rt. 24. So we took the turn and three hours and 31 miles and three, eight to ten thousand foot mountain passes later we found ourselves here in Leadville. I’ll bet Leadville had that sign put up.

Well, we had a nice breakfast at Doc’s Bar & Café. The history on the wall said it really was owned by Doc Holiday and was the site of his last gunfight. It seems he shot the local sheriff over a $5.00 debt that he owed someone and then he left town real quick! He made his way down to Glenwood Springs where he died of consumption (TB). He was buried him there but his family later had him moved back to down south to (I believe) Georgia.

We’ll be breaking camp in a few minutes and heading north to see Melanna. We’re going up Rt. 91 as I NEVER want to RV my way up or down Rt. 24 again!

Ridgeway State Park – PA-CO-CHU-PUK – Loop G

We’re north of Ridgway almost to Montrose. We decided we’d had a full day and this state park was handy, so here we are.

But first here is a bit of bad, sad news: Last Wednesday evening the rally committee arranged for a police escort to take the bikes down to old town Mancos and park them in a blocked off street so the local folks could see them. As it was a clear and sunny afternoon we decided it would be OK to leave Buddy and Peanut alone in the trailer. The problem was a thunderstorm rolled over the campsite while we were gone and Buddy freaked out and ate the trailer, just as he did last year. The damage included the wall in the bathroom, the toilet, and the bathroom door.

Thursday we had a serious discussion and decided we had the option of returning to Phoenix, continuing our trip but one of us would have to stay with the trailer at all times, or continuing the trip without Buddy. The decision was to turn Buddy over to the Animal Shelter in Cortez. It was a difficult decision and we both have been hit with deep emotions about it. But, the folks at the Shelter were very nice, the facility is very clean and the animals seem to be well cared for. They also assured us they had no time limit on adoptions and they would keep Buddy until he was adopted. So, Buddy is now waiting for a new home.

Thursday we ordered a new door and toilet at a RV shop in Cortez and Friday they installed them. I cut out the damaged area of the bathroom wall, cleaned up the edges, and I’ll replace it when we get home.

Saturday Cheryl and I took our friends Red & Sally and their granddaughter Laurel down to old town Mancos for “Mancos Days”. There was an old fashioned parade including horses and cowboys and Indians, the fire department and sheriff’s cars and kids in their wagons and on bikes. It was wonderful small town America at its best. We also had a great breakfast at the local bakery/café. That evening Cheryl and I, Red, Sally, and Laurel, and Bob and Carol, two other close friends went to the Bar-D Dude Ranch for a Western Show and Dinner. It was cute and fun and the food was very average. But … we all went in Bob’s truck and now I have to rename my truck from KB (Kick Butt) Truck to WL (Wimpy Little)Truck. Ya’ see, Bob drives a Freightliner truck and pulls a 40 foot fifth wheel camper. His truck is sooooo big four adults fit comfortably in the back seat. It just reinforces the deep, basic truth that size DOES MATTER!

Today we drove from Mancos to Cortez and turned north heading for Glennwood Springs. As you can see we didn’t make it even halfway. Our plan is to be in Vale Monday evening and at Melanna’s house Tuesday. We may stay over Wednesday also if she and her husband don’t tire of us too quickly. As we made our way up through the mountains we took some time to turn in at Telluride just to get our “BTP” (Been There Pin) as we certainly earned it last Tuesday in the rain.

Please be advised, Cheryl does not agree with the following paragraph.

Just before we turned into this state park a 12-year old State Trooper pulled us over and informed me that as I had a line of six cars behind me I was impeding traffic and that when I saw cars behind me I should pull over and allow them to pass. I assured him that I pulled over at every passing lane opportunity to allow cars to pass me but was reluctant to pull over onto the shoulder while moving for fear some fool would do something stupid while trying to pass me in my lane. He reiterated I should pull over when cars stack up behind me, so I assured him I would, and he let me go. I feel like writing a letter to his supervisor suggesting that the young man will make a splendid officer once he gets old enough to realize that dispensing common sense wisdom to people three (possibly four) times his age is not an efficient use of his time.

The world is being run by children!
And some of them wear badges.

Norton Rally. Day Two, Hot, Sunny, Cold, Rainy.

Cheryl:
Yesterday we rode the Million Dollar Highway through bright, hot sunshine, huge sloppy rain, and fingertip sized hail stones! We ran in and out of these areas all day long. About the time we dried out, we got wet again. The pines smelled so good and the air so fresh, it was hard to be bothered much with being soaking wet! We made it home in OK and I wrapped Frank in a sleeping bag with two hot water bottles and a heating pad. Then we thanked God we weren’t camping in a tent. Frank slept like a log and woke up raring to go again. In fact he’s on the other side of the trailer giving Starship Snoopy a well-deserved rubdown as he ran like a top all day for us!

I’m outside our shady trailer door sitting in my too good to be true fold-up chair with our handy-dandy laptop on my lap, dogs at my feet on their rug. Amen! This is the life!

Since we got fairly soaked yesterday, we decided it was time to do laundry, so we took the dogs and kick-butt truck a short drive to the camp laundry. Now, that’s all folded, and we’re all bright and pressed again. There were some magazines down there that included some shiny paper on manufactured vacation homes that looked just incredible! I can imagine one on our lot down in Wilcox. Sigh. Maybe someday. One of the bikers walked up to Frank while we were down there and handed him a copy of the Cortez newspaper. The rally got great coverage that included the interview the reporter did with Frank on Monday and a picture of him pointing out Snoopy on the dash of the Starship! How cool is that!

In spite of the rain and hail (by the way that stuff makes red marks when it hits you on the arms!) on our ride yesterday, we had a blast. Silverton always makes us question our choice to live in Phoenix. Of course, there is never snow on the ground when we visit. I ran into a guy in the Silverton museum who lives not far from us in Phoenix during the winters. He and his wife have dreams of building a house on the property they own in Silverton. In the meantime he takes part in the local goings on and helps out at the museum. We also ran into people from Germany, who the guy at the cash register managed to ingratiate by throwing out a few German words.
Frank and I had visited the museum in Silverton the last time we were up here and subsequently donated some historic items we bought in a Silverton antique store. Unfortunately our items weren’t on display because the museum got a million dollar windfall, and they’re completely restoring the old brick jail that houses the museum. They have also built on a lovely frame addition, which we toured. In the front lobby I spied some quilts for sale. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spied a twin-sized quilt with cutwork hand-stitched daisies appliquéd on it. I immediately fell in love and asked if it could be mailed home. The lady who made the quilt is a museum sponsor who often donates quilts to support the work of the museum. I wrote a short note thanking her for sharing her talent of quilt-making. A gold plaque with her name on it along with other museum sponsors hangs just beyond the lobby along with another larger quilt she made that will be auctioned at their fund-raiser.
We had a great breakfast in Silverton at a tiny, tiny café with a postcard view of the mountains, and then walked up and down the street looking in the shops where I bought a tiny bird water-whistle. I’ve been looking for one for quite some time, and I’m having a blast driving Frank insane with its little water warble. She sounds just like Jenny Wren and sits on top of our coffee maker in the trailer. Frank thought I was buying it for one of the grandkids, but no, I’ve wanted one of these for quite some time. The one I first glimpsed was an antique made in Italy. Of course, it belonged to someone else, so I couldn’t have it. My search on the Internet didn’t turn up any I liked so finding both my quilt and a bird whistle in Silverton proved quite serendipitous.

We’re collecting metal pins to place on our cabinet door showing all the places we’ve traveled in Ali-the -Gator. The pouring rain in Telluride made it impossible to stop, so we’re determined to drive though there on our way to Vale so we can get our BTP (Been There Pin). We certainly earned it. Ali-the-Gator is growing on us every day as we think up new ways to make it our own just like nesting in a new house.

Our INOA president just motored by on the back of a Norton yelling into a megaphone that the field events are about to start over at the ball field, so I guess I’d best bring this to a close. Tonight we do a group ride to Mancos where everyone shows off their bikes at Blondie’s Pub and Grub.

We’d love to hear your comments on the blog and what’s going on with you, so please email us at either ckdelmonte@cox.net or fjdmjr@cox.net. Looking forward to hearing from you. We do miss our friends and family!

Frank:
Wisdom comes with age.
Falser words were never spoken.
Wisdom would say, “If you are going for a 250 mile ride in southwestern Colorado be prepared for rain!”
Wisdom would say, “Just because you have no room for luggage on your “sporty-bike”, you shouldn’t give your rain suits to another rider to carry on his bike thinking you’ll be together when the rains come.”

Well, I did and we weren’t. And when the rains came we got soaked right through our not waterproof riding jackets and jeans. By the time we passed Telluride I was so cold and wet that I had decided if I saw ANY hotels or motels at all I was going to stop and stay the night, to heck with the dogs being alone in the trailer.
But that was not to be. There were NO motels anywhere. Finally we passed a small store and I saw a group of wet and bedraggled Norton riders in the parking lot AND THE CHASE TRUCK!

I quickly pulled in and asked the driver if Cheryl could ride passenger in the truck as there was no sense in both of us being wet and chilled to the bone. Then we went inside the store and I drank two cups of hot coffee, spent 20 minutes running hot water on my hands, bought two dry souvenir T-shirts and put them on in place of my soaked ones.

The remaining ride was 55 miles of spotty sun and drenching rain. By the time I got back to the campsite I was shaking so hard I could barely get off the bike. I crawled into the camper and sat in a hot bath and then conked out for 9 straight hours.

I have never been so wet and cold in my life, and it was all because I was dumb enough to not keep our rain gear with us. Oh well, lesson hard learned. But that’s probably the third or forth time I’ve learned that particular lesson and I wonder if it will stick with me this time?

By the way, Colorado weather is crazy. It has been sunny and a dry 95 degrees all day here at the campsite and yet just few minutes ago a black cloud swung in and dropped rain and hail on our heads! Then it scooted off and we’re back to sunshine. This is a weird state.

Love, Cheryl and Frank – Buddy and Peanut

Norton Rally Day One

Cheryl: Tomorrow morning we’re on the road on Starship Snoopy at 8:00 a.m., so we thought we’d update you on today’s happenings and what’s up for Tuesday. Don’t miss reading Frank’s early morning blog for today that follows this one.
I love coming to Norton rallies because the women here are so down to earth, outspoken and don’t mind getting their hands dirty or greasy. They either ride their own bikes or tag along with their enthusiast husbands without complaint (well, maybe a few ripe comments here and there). It’s a relief to find out how much our husbands have in common in the relationships department and swap stories of how we deal with it all. Someone said today she told her husband, “You better be glad I love you so much or I wouldn’t put up with _________!” Fill in the blank with something about a m/c project currently and perpetually in progress that he spent too much money on in the first place. Spoken like a true “biker chick.”
Our friends, Barney and Claudia, arrived from Phoenix today as well tons of other friends we loved catching up with from years past. We hung out at the registration tent for awhile, and Frank was interviewed by a reporter for a local rag about the beginnings of the INOA. That was cool and also it was sweet that the rally organizers saved the 0001 registration wrist band especially for Frank. (I got 0005, and I didn’t realize Frank had been married that many times.) Oh well, to be 0002, I guess I’d have to at least own a Norton of my own.
I didn’t get any hiking done today as the weather started out looking rather threatening with lots of wind. I convinced Frank to take down the trailer’s awning so, of course, it almost immediately cleared up leaving white puffy clouds all over a deep blue sky. Where those thunderheads disappeared to I really can’t imagine, but I swear I saw them, honey! (Nope, haven’t killed each other yet – close- very close)
We’ve been riding the bicycles around the campground and the hill right before the registration tent is steep. At an altitude of over 7,000 feet, we are really huffing by the time we top that hill. The good news is that flying insects don’t especially like high altitude; so unless you run out into a field and mingle with some cows, you won’t find any flies or mosquitoes.
Mornings have been crisp and pleasant, early afternoons hot and breezy, but evenings quickly chill out when the sun goes down making nights perfect for sleeping. You can imagine how much we appreciate the change from 115 degrees in Phoenix.
The ride tomorrow takes us up the million dollar highway from Durango to Silverton and then home through Ouray and Telluride for a more than 200-mile twisty-turney day clinging to the edge of mountain roads with no guardrails. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will see us at Casino Night in town for dinner and gambling tomorrow evening! We’ll probably hang around here for beer and burgers at the Echo Basin Resort restaurant.
We’ve hired a teenager named Josie to keep the dogs company since we’ll be gone all day tomorrow, and they aren’t used to all the wind and trailer noises (you will remember our trailer-eating dog experience from last year.) Peanut and Buddy love the woods and the smells of night critters they find during our morning walks. Except for barking at the horses and an occasional stranger, they’re behaving well so far. Everyone in the campground wants to pet Peanut and take him home – Buddy just rolls his eyes.
We’re having chili in the big tent with the rest of the Norton crowd this evening, and I’m thinking of making Frank sleep out in the truck tonight. (Frank Sez: Ain't be happening!" We’re expecting to see our Albuquerque friends, Hal and Sally, from many, many Norton moons back at the gathering tonight.
My rally pin now graces my Kokomo Kid ball cap along with two other Norton pins, including a Union Jack, I bought from Lois’ annual Norton regalia display at the big tent. Also got two matching cranberry windbreakers sporting the Norton logo. They stuff into the pocket in front making a neat package for carrying on a bike, so now Frank and I are properly decked out.
Don’t expect to hear from us tomorrow since we’ll be on the road again - two up on two wheels.

Later gators!
Love, F & C – B & P

Echo Basin Ranch, Mancos, CO.

We arrived here Saturday evening even though we had left Flagstaff rather early in the morning. The roads between Tuba City and Cortez are all two lane and are in very rough condition. That and the rise in elevation kept our speed down to a sedate 55mph on the “good” sections and even lower on the bad. I’m glad I had shock absorbers installed on the trailer before we left and I think they may have helped with the washboard sections.
I didn’t blog yesterday as I spent all of my computer efforts on trying to get our email working properly. We can receive email but not send email. We keep getting a SMTP time out error on transmit. I’ll spend more time on it today and may even have to call Cox for tech support. It has to be a parameter somewhere but I sure can’t find it.
We are camped in a really nice spot under tall pine trees and next to a huge pasture complete with a herd of horses that have learned over the years that campers are a soft touch for apples and carrots. Now we need to get to a store and resupply our fiber foods.
Our next spot neighbor is 30-year Air Force retired so he and I hit it off right away. We spent a lot of time reminiscing about airplanes we have known and loved. We went over to their camper (a really nice 5th-wheel) for drinks and snacks last evening. They travel with two cats, we travel with two dogs.
We rode our bicycles all around the campground yesterday and met and re-met a lot of early arrival Norton folks. Some we know from other rallies, some we’re meeting for the first time. The rally officially starts today so we expect a huge influx of old friends this morning. It may get real busy, real quick!
Cheryl took the dogs for a walk in the woods yesterday and saw a deer with “huge antlers”, and more horses, and a Llama. I have no idea why there’s a Llama about, but there you have it.
That’s it. More tomorrow?

Black Bart’s Campground – Flagstaff, AZ.

Let’s see, how did I start out last year? “End of day 1. We haven’t killed each other yet. There’s still time.” This year is better. The drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff went smoothly. All systems are go, and we’re snuggly ensconced here at Black Bart’s Steakhouse and Campground.

BBS&C is, shall we say “basic.” Not fancy at all. The good news is the nice lady at the office saved us a pull-through spot as we stressed when we called that a pull-through would save all of us embarrassment and time. The bad news is that the pull-through spots are all in the center of the campground away from the nice shady pine trees. Well, ya can’t have everything!

The interesting news is that there is some kind of music festival going on in Flagstaff and one of the attendees is camped here and serenading us on his bagpipe. That’s neat and will probably be neat for about another 30 minutes or so and then I may have to shoot him.

If you saw our blog last year you know that “Jill” our Garmin voice took us almost 800 miles out of our way by taking us to Tioga, Philadelphia rather than to Tioga, Pennsylvania, and although Philadelphia IS in Pennsylvania, there is a big difference between the two Tioga’s. I guess she enjoyed that little bit of Garmin humor because she tried to do it again today by telling us to exit at Mund’s Park about 15 miles south of Flagstaff then directing us back onto I-17 and telling us to drive 117 miles due south. This time we decided to ignore her and find Flagstaff on our own. Turned out it wasn’t that hard. During that little episode Cheryl said “Jill-Bitch is messing with us again!” And that’s what we decided to call her from now on.

We’ve never eaten at BB’s Steakhouse so we decided we’ll settle the dogs in and walk up there about 7PM. Cheryl says she’s been told that students from NAU Music Department wait tables and entertain, so we’re going to take a look.

Tomorrow, Durango!

Testing the notebook computer.

This simply a test of the notebook computer we'll be taking with us on the trip. We went over to Alltel and reactivated their "Quick Link" service. It allows us to link to the Internet by plugging the confuser into my cell phone. We also can access any LAN's we may run into, but our primary link is through the Quick Link service. We could have purchased a web link card but that requires a contract and we only need the notebook on line for the duration of the trip and the Quick Link is monthly as long as we want it for unlimited air time for $25.00 per month.

Right now we're sitting around the house bored out of our skulls. I have no bikes to work on and all the trailer & truck prep is done. Cheryl has everything organized, the house in order, all the house and pool sitters are lined up, flowers moved under sprinklers, all that needs to be done is done. We may just leave early and spend some alone time before we go to the rally. We'll see.

I’ve been working almost full time getting KB Truck and Ali-the-Gator ready for the trip. KBT went in for an all fluids change and pre-trip look-over, and AtG got fitted with a complete set of shock absorbers which he/she never had. I’m hoping the shocks will prevent a repeat of the horrible and dangerous “porpoising” incident that darn near killed us last year in Oklahoma. I built some storage boxes under the couches for storing heavy items and I built a door locking system on the new cabinets in the back that looks pretty nice. I’ve removed, cleaned and/or replaced all of the utilities access covers on the outside of the camper, and I replaced the foam rubber in both of the couch/beds so my sweet Babette will rest more comfortably. There are a few more cosmetic items that I may get to during the next week or so, but all in all I think we’re pretty road-ready.