Isle of Vashon TT

(Frank) OK. Great Britain has the Isle of Mann TT, and it is older and world famous but the Isle of Vashon TT is closer and the ferry ride is only 20 minutes. So there we went and it t’was fun. They had a Poker Run on which we did not ride, a Concourse Bike Show in which we did not enter, and bike field events at which we did not attend. It was wonderful. We walked around downtown (all of) Vashon and watched bikes and people, bought two Vashon 27th Annual TT T-Shirts and BTP’s and went to son Michael’s house for lunch. Daughters Kimberly and Stacie and clans came over for the day and we lounged away the afternoon.

(Cheryl) Ok, I admit it. I enjoy seeing the crowds of motorcycle people and hearing the various sounds of the bikes. It’s a rush. The ferry ride was especially fun because on the way over we got to go around the line of waiting cars and form up with the other bikes on the dock. We roared onto the lower interior floor of the ferry, hopped off the bike and Frank immediately had several bikers gathered around him asking about Nortons and his in particular. Great way to start the day. Getting off the ferry was a bit trickier for some. It turned out to be a free for all because the ferry people forgot their protocols and just let ‘em rip! One lady got tangled with the guy next to her and scooter and all went down on the ferry dock. Luckily no injuries, and she was soon pulled over to the side recuperating from the mishap while the rest of us roared on to downtown Vashon. It’s a pretty ride through the trees and along the water from the south end ferry dock. We took it easy and let people pass, so we had a gentle ride into town where we parked front and center to begin talking bikes.

Of course, Frank cleverly parked next to a nice café where we had a great ham and eggs breakfast. Michael and his two kids found us there and soon Stacie and her clan showed up. After breakfast Kimberly dropped Rowan off and all of us took a walk down the street sizing up the bikes and taking pictures. While the rest of us drove up to Michael’s, Frank stayed in town a bit to kabitz with fellow enthusiasts. On the way home last night the Norton started running badly, so Frank stopped to assess the problem and off-loaded me to Stacie’s car for a ride home. It turned out to be a loose wire, and Frank wasn’t far behind my arrival at the trailer.

Today we’re just kicking back watching movies and loading the Nort back into the toy hauler. Tomorrow morning we head for Illwaco, WA, and a nice RV park on the ocean at Long Beach. Thursday morning we’ll see the Spruce Goose not far from Portland, Oregon, and that’s as far as the planning goes!

Love from the intrepid travelers,
Steve McQueen, the Biker Chick, and Peanut the wonder dog

Eight Days!!!! A Family Affair . . .

(Frank) Eight days! That expression comes from the movie “Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep. We use it whenever we have any period counted in days. Sooooo anyway, this blog will be a recap of the missing week+1.

This morning dawned wet and soggy after a full overnight rain. Did you know it rains in Washington!? Me neither! Anyway, I bounced cheerily out of bed and whupped up a nice breakfast of pancakes and fried eggs. Then I flounced stylishly over to the Laundromat and washed, dried, and folded clothes while Cheryl blogged for you our faithful readers. Now it’s time for me to peruse that which she wrote and add insightful and pithy comments.

(Cheryl) Yesterday we took the most amazing hike on the Natchez Loop Trail very near the famous volcano, Mount Rainier. From our vantage point on the hike Rainier’s glacier-covered peak looks like a scoop of vanilla ice cream glinting in the afternoon sunshine. Our daughter, Kimberly brought son Rowan (10) and daughter Hailey (5) from Carnation down to the KOA in Kent where we’re staying. We all rode in KB truck through Enumclaw and nearly 50 miles into the Snoqualmie National Forest to meet son, Michael, wife Shannon and daughters Daalny and Aine, and daughter, Stacie with her daughter Madison, son Kyle and Madison’s boyfriend, Kyle.

(Frank) I promptly tagged son Kyle, “K1” and boyfriend Kyle, “K2”.

(Cheryl) Our group numbered seven, 16 and under, and seven adults and one passing hiker thought we were a hiking club! The two missing from our number were Nathan, Stacie’s husband, and John, Kimberly’s husband. Both were doing something called work on Friday and couldn’t join us. Michael was our hike leader so he snagged a day off of this thing called work!

The little girls, Hailey (5), Daalny (almost 5), and Aine (2) plunged into a shallow mountain lake popping up like little frozen popsicles to run around making muddy footprints along the shore. That’s a memory picture Grams won’t soon forget. The boys, Kyle (K1 almost 13), Kyle (K2 16) and Rowan (10) spent time chasing after salamanders, skipping rocks, and launching water-logged driftwood into the middle of the lake. Pop-Pop got lots of hand holding and secrets from the little girls along the trail as did Grams. All in all, it was a day we’ll relive again and again when we eventually take up our rocking chairs – like possibly tomorrow! We were bushed after the hike, but stopped by Stacie’s house for a good ol’ wiener roast and some burgers and salad. Luckily the kids cooked, so Frank and I could crash. Tomorrow we’re looking forward to another family day as we ride the Norton down to the Ferry dock, (Frank. Weather permitting) and land on Vashon for an antique British motorcycle rally.

Monday will be a day of rest for us before starting out Tuesday morning on homeward bound highways with our first stop at the Spruce Goose in Oregon.

A few tidbits about our Seattle Family Affair:

• Rowan getting turned upside down by “Silver Man” on the Seattle waterfront

• (Frank) This was the day we went to see the Paul Allan collection of WWII fighter planes. Afterwards we went to downtown Seattle to see the Pike Street Market (WOW!) and to visit “Ye Olde Curiosity Shop” in order to press some Sylvester the Mummy pennies. http://www.flickr.com/photos/baggis/2440492786/

• Hailey, Aine, and Daalny running upstairs to play with Madison’s stuffed animals

• Kyle and Rowan wrecking Kyle’s miniature racecar and reconstructing it

• Frank and Rowan fixing “N-Sect” the robot for 5 hours.

• (Frank) This was a kick! We had that thing on its back and in a hundred pieces. It looked like the bug alien autopsy scene from the movie “Alien”. I kept expecting Sigourney Weaver to show up and shoot up the house.

• Hailey and Daalny hiking hand in hand on the Natchez loop trail

• Michael and Shannon serving dinner on their deck overlooking the water with Mount Rainer in the distance at their house on Vashon

• (Frank) I could get used to this.

• Picking flowers, strawberries and green beans at Jubilee Farm with Kim and kids

• Watching Boone (Stacie’s boxer mix) chase Peanut around and around the yard

• (Frank) and watching Peanut cower in abject fear under Cheryl’s seat until he figured out that the huge seven foot monster towering over him just wanted to play rather than eat.

• Watching the moon glow dance on the water while crossing on the ferry from Vashon to Point Defiance

• (Frank) Yeah, yeah, yeah. “Moon glow” fer heaven’s sakes…..

• Taking Rowan to see the WWII fighter planes at Paul Allen Museum in Everett

• (Frank) Yeah. That was fun. Fighter planes! Manly stuff! http://www.flyingheritage.com/

• Riding on the Snoqualmie train with Kim and family and staggering through the old train cars to the back of the train as we rocked along the tracks above the riverbank.

• (Frank) That was cool. The passenger cars got older as you walked from the front of the train to the back. It was like walking back through time.

• Watching an old Bogart movie, Treasure of the Sierra Madre at Stacie’s; groaning at the slow story and laughing at the line about not needing “no stinkin’ badges.”

• (Frank) And giving Kyle (K1) the “Stinkin’ Badge” I bought over in Montana!

• Killing time in beautiful Point Defiance Park among the flowers and Japanese gardens while waiting two hours for the ferry when we misread the schedule.

• (Frank) “WE” misread the schedule! Excuuuuuuuse me!

• Grinding out “Sylvester the Mummy” smashed pennies at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop on the Seattle waterfront and elbowing our way through Pike Street Market.

• Sleeping late while listening to rain on the trailer roof this morning! Sweet peace!

So, until later, yours truly,

Sylvester the Mummy, Silver Woman, and Robo-dog

Train Ride Photo

Train Ride Photo.

Carnation, Washington. Kids, Grandkids, Trains.

We spent the day with our daughter Kimberly, her husband John, and our grandkids Rowan & Hailey.

We went to see some trains! Cheryl was in Train Heaven.

We also took a really neat ride on an old train.

I took some great pictures but then left my camera at the restaraunt where we had lunch. (Deep sigh.) Oh well, Kimmy is going to go back there and rescue said camera.

By the way, did you know that if you click on the photos in the blog they get really, really BIG! No? I didn't either. I just found out by accident.

Try it. But not on todays pictures because they're still at the restaraunt.

I'll get the camera back Tuesday and I'll post them then.

'Til then,
Forgetful Frank

Brewster, Washington – A Diamond, A Bear and a Bug

Some days you win, some days you lose. Some days are diamonds, some days are stone. Some days the bear eats you, some days you eat the bear. Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug.

Today we won a diamond, delivered by a bear we ate, behind a bug-free windshield, so this turned out to be a good and sunny day.

First, we made it to Grand Coulee Dam just fine and had a nice tour of the visitor’s center. We saw the “How we did it” movie, and bought our BTP (Been There Pin). Then we decided we were all natured and scenic’d out and decided to blow off the North Cascades National Park and instead make tracks South towards I-90 West. We made it as far as Brewster, Washington where we fell into a bed of roses.

We are now camped in the Brewster City Park, which we found by accident. It was going on 4PM as we approached this small town and we decided to just watch for a “RV Park” sign and if we saw one, check it out, and if it was nice we’d stay over. Well, we saw a sign, we checked it out, and it’s WONDEFUL. It’s a city owned recreation center, park, swimming pool, and RV park all located on the edge of Lake Pateros. Most of the folks camped here are fisher-people and have really neat fishing boats. A couple across from us just showed me two 30-pound Salmon they pulled in today. I was amazed and told them so as the only Salmon I had ever seen came in little round cans at the supermarket. Yup, city boy, that’s me.

So here we sit. Cheryl’s outside in her lounge chair, with Peanut in her lap, a cold drink placed conveniently by her right hand by yours truly, and is reading a Kindle book we downloaded yesterday. Life is good, so I think I’ll shut up, take my own chair outside and kick back for a few minutes.

Love,
Andy, Barney, and Gomer.

Beautiful Downtown Wallace, Idaho

(Frank) We spent the last two days in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. It’s not the smallest town in the west, but it’s a close second to Wallace. We ended up in Bonners after driving west out of Glacier National Park. Upon arrival we both just sort of “crashed.” Because Blue Lake RV Park seemed very quiet and restful we decided to extend our stay for an extra day to unwind, rewind, re-boot, and recoup. That was before we realized a train track was 150 yards from the camp. Gee, trains are really noisy! Ask me how I know.




The high point of the two days was us doing laundry at a very nice Laundromat and each of us getting our hairs cut at appropriately gender-specific hair cutting places. My barber shop was called the “Barber Ship” and looked like a boat about to founder. Cheryl’s Beauty Shop was more traditional and very nice. The funny coincidence was that each of our stylists, mine and hers, had a father who “used to ride a Norton.” We think they might be sisters, but don’t know for sure and will never find out.

As I was de-camping Ali-the-Gator this morning, the guy from the camper next to us came over for some small talk and mentioned that his hobby was model trains and real trains and that he was heading for Wallace, Idaho the day after next day just to visit the Great Northern RR Line Museum located there. He described it as “Huge” and “Loaded with neat GNRR antiquities.” Since I like old trains and Cheryl LOVES old trains, we promptly changed our day’s destination from Grand Coulee Dam, Washington, to Wallace, Idaho. The two destinations are in direct opposite directions of each other, but I figured a little backtracking wouldn’t really hurt us. Well . . .

Boy is he going to be surprised!!!! The miniscule museum resides in a very small restored train station. It takes a grand total of 20 minutes to “do” the whole thing. That’s it. The rest of the town can be “done” in another 20 minutes. We did have a very nice dinner at a local restaurant, but now we are sitting in the local no-name-RV park wondering a) what to do next, and b) how did this happen to us?

Oh well, tomorrow we’ll make it to Grand Coulee unless Homer’s Sirens lure us to some other God-forsaken small town black hole. Be sure to catch the next installment of Frank & Cheryl’s Excellent Western Odyssey.

(Cheryl) Frank forgot to mention we visited the Bordello Museum, and found it just as whelming as the train museum. He also forgot to say that the no-name-RV-park is on the road to the local mine with a constant stream of HUGE dump trucks coming and going (easily as noisy as the Bonners Ferry Choo-Choo’s). Last, but in no way least, the 90 degree temperature, accompanied by 150 percent humidity makes walking around town a lot like taking a sweat shower. I told Frank, “We’re paying our trailer dues.” He knew exactly what I meant because when he first started taking me out on the motorcycle he said, “Always remember and never forget, riding in the rain pays the dues for all the sunny days.”

Let’s hope our dues are paid in full at this point and tomorrow is once again a sunny day.

Love, Homer, Marge and Bart

We got electrons. More leftover photos.

We're connected to a wi-fi system.
We got fast electrons!
Here are some more leftover pictures.

Some photos of Nevada City, MT

We spent 6 hours in the "rebuilt" ghost town of Nevada City, MT.
T'was neat!
Here are a few photos.
F.

We got electrons. Here are a few photos.

This blogger seems to limit me to 4 photos per posting.
So I'll try to do a few separate postings and post some past photos.
Here's the first.
The truck crash in Yellowstone, in reverse order.
F

Glacier National Park - A Million and a Half Pictures Later

Yahoo! Back in the land of electrons.
We're on our way to Bonner's Ferry.

(Cheryl) Once again I ran out of memory on my camera! My hobby for the rest of my life is all set, editing pictures and video of Glacier National Park. The mountains here win the trip prizes for most craggy, most ice capped, most lake and river kissed and most narrow twisting roads around. The photos don’t come close to showing them to you. You gotta take this trip, somehow, someday, sometime! Rob a bank if you have to.

(Frank) Beautiful! Yadda, Yadda. Magnificent! Yadda, Yadda. Beyond belief! Yadda, Yadda. Incredible! Yadda, Yadda. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If I see much more nature my head is going to explode. The only thing keeping me going is the anticipation of seeing the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington and the Spruce Goose in Oregon. And frankly, the most beautiful things I saw in Glacier were the circa 1930 Red Busses originally built by White Coach Company. These 8-door touring cars ran continually until 1999 when they were shipped off to Ford Motor Company for complete frame-up restoration and all new drive line components. They returned to service in 2002 and they are beautiful!

The other scenic sight to catch my attention was “Goat Lick.” I figured I’d never licked a goat so I turned in, and it turned out, to be a natural salt deposit the Mountain Goats liked to lick. Of course there were no goats there. Booooorrrrrring! Another group was there and I said “Goat Lick sounds like a Mason Williams poem.” All the youngsters (less than 50) looked at me like I was crazy out of my mind but the other old fart there smiled and said “Yeah, it does.” So, in homage to Mason Williams (Google: “Mason Williams, “Toad Suckers” and “Moose Goosers”), here is my Goat Lick poem.

Goat Lickers.
By Frank (M. Williams) Del Monte
How ‘bout them goat lickers,
Ain’t they a card!
Lickin’ they Mountain Goats
In they yard.

Ya’ wanna be a Goat Licker
Well here’s the ticket!
Grab yourself a Mounty-Goat
And ‘rair back and lick it!

Love from three Montana goat lickers. (Mmmmm. And tasty too!)

8:30 a.m. – Monday, August 17, 2009 – Glacier Meadows RV Park
(Cheryl) We are currently in the technology wilderness, so we’re blogging in Word until we can get to someplace with electrons.

Both of us have been experiencing sensory overload and now understand why some people only spend 45 minutes in, say, a four-day park like Yellowstone. The vistas across miles of flowering land to the tops of craggy mountains followed by lakes and rivers of majestic proportion soon limit our ability to comprehend what we’re seeing. Such beauty must have to be processed in small doses in order for us to do it justice in filing it to our metal landscapes. All the adjectives we can muster like awesome, brilliant, majestic, out-of-sight and beyond belief don’t come close to describing what we’ve seen and continue to see of this seemingly endless array of western states. Of them all, so far, my all-time favorite is Montana. I now get the meaning of wide-open spaces. Wowzer!

We can’t even capture what we’re seeing with digital photos and videos. You just have to come here and experience it. I encourage you to somehow make the time someday to travel this broad expanse of jeweled landscape. We are thrilled to think of our children, our grandchildren and their children inheriting all this WEALTH! Thank God for those who had the foresight to put in place our national park system. By the way, we got a “senior pass” for $10 that gets us into all the national parks for free. However, don’t wait until you’re 65 to see all of this!

Speaking of God, we’ve seen all sizes and shapes of churches. A little white tent set on a hillside not too far north of Ennis, MT, caught my attention, The Cowboy Church – All are welcome. I don’t know about you “pardner, but that appeals to me in a grassroots kinda way. Stained glass may excite the Lord, but he met His flock on hillsides if I recall my childhood stories accurately.

Today we’re setting out to tour Glacier National Park on a rather wet and misty morning. The kind lady in the office of our RV Park loaned us a CD with a complete audio tour of the park. One side is East to West (the one we’ll use) and the other is West to East. We had thought we’d take the “Red Bus,” but $80 per person seemed a bit unreasonable. So KB Truck and indestructible “Frank the driver” will continue to facilitate our transportation deluxe. As I remember, the “Yellow Bus” in Yellowstone was almost as expensive at $60 a head.

Glacier Meadows RV Park is 16 miles from the East entrance of Glacier and one of the most scenic parks we’ve ever experienced. Vast meadows stretch out to woods on either side of our meadow perch and impossibly high mountains surround us in this small valley. Peanut runs around in the meadow catching little winged bugs, chomping them, depositing them on the ground and then rolling on them. Evidently they smell really delightful to doggie noses. Freedom to roam is a wonderful thing and Peanut took advantage by wandering away from me while I took a picture. He paid a visit to a Class A Coach, the home of a pretty little Sheltie. He’s such a Romeo! Man, I panicked when he disappeared so quickly.

More Later, F&C&P

Technical Difficulties, please stand by.

We're in (near) Missoula, MT. in a Jellystone RV Park.
I usually avoid this type of "Theme" park as they are full of kids.
(I subscribe to W.C. Fields opinion of kids.)
Anyway, I can't seem to upload photos.
The Alltel Quick-whatever keeps kicking me off.
Oh well. Maybe later.
We're on our way to Glacier Nat'l Park.
Maybe I'll get a good connection there. Ha!

Later,
Frustrated Frank.

Montana: Huckleberry Jam, Fly Fishing, Vigilantes, Old Friends, Trains and Buster Keeton

(Cheryl) Yellowstone seems like a distant memory, and I can’t believe we haven’t blogged since our visit to the Fishing Bridge where I managed to get a picture of a large beaver in the water. On our way out of the park we made a lunch stop on a sweet little scenic road next to the Yellowstone River. We had this spot all to ourselves and a deer peeked out of the trees on the other side of the river. Frank fixed chicken and cheese tortillas in the trailer while I dangled my feet in the cold, clear waters of Yellowstone.

(Frank) While we ate our lunch on the river bank, a scene directly out of Apocalypse Now replayed as five green, completely-unmarked, conspiracy-theory helicopters in tight formation thundered directly over our heads. There were three transports and two Blackhawk gunships. The only thing missing was the Ride of the Valkyries being played over loudspeakers and Robert Duvall enjoying the smell of napalm in the morning. The copters passed directly over our picnic at low altitude as I sat there with my camera in the trailer. About an hour later I heard the thunder again and ran to the trailer just in time to grab my camera and get a fuzzy long distance photo as they returned from whence they came. Later I found out they were secret service helicopters and part of the preplanning for President Obama’s visit to Yellowstone.

By the way, about the river; Cheryl got to dangle her feet in it, which is a “girl thing”, but she wouldn’t let me take a whiz in it, (even down stream) which is a “guy thing.” Now I’ll never be able to say I peed in the Yellowstone River. Women just don’t understand the significance of these small manly gestures. Sigh, what an opportunity missed.

(Cheryl) We got to Ennis, MT around 3:30 p.m. and caught up with our friends, Pam and Richard Lessner, just as they were heading out to their home 20 miles outside of town. They met us at the Ennis RV Park, and after hooking up the trailer we all headed out to “The Grizz” (Grizzly Bar & Grill), their favorite place to eat hereabouts. I munched down on some of the best ribs I’ve eaten in ages accompanied by beer battered onion rings (to die for) and tenderly grilled asparagus. We both slept like well-fed hogs when we returned to the trailer for the night.

Pam and Rick suggested we take in Virginia City and Nevada City the next day so on Thursday morning we headed out. We were so fascinated with Nevada City’s collection of over 60 pioneer buildings and contents that we didn’t even make it to Virginia City on Thursday. All but about a dozen of these log buildings were moved to the site, content and all back in the 40s before vandals had a chance to destroy things. It seems that when better opportunities came along, people would just lock up their store and all its wares and head to a new city to start again. Most of the buildings stood like that for years until an enterprising guy here collected them all and moved them to Nevada City.

There were rooms full of goods still in their wrappings, buttons, fabric, candy, tins of cookies, celluloid collars, shirt studs, razors, corsets, period clothes and all sorts of firecrackers and other goods, some wrapped with Chinese markings in the China section of the little reconstructed town. We paid the $8 bucks each to get in thinking it was too much, but by the time we finished looking and taking pictures until late in the afternoon we decided it was well worth the money. It was a self-guided tour so we were free to linger and walk through houses all on our own. Trust is a major factor here in the wilds of Montana and our friends don’t even lock their house. Pam said, “If you get there before we do, just go on in, make yourselves at home, and we’ll be along.”

We toured Virginia City on Friday and took in a silent movie featuring Buster Keeton. The film was accompanied by a photoplayer , a combination piano and sound effects unit played by a talented guy who may be the only person left who knows how to handle such a machine. This photoplayer is the only one in the world still in operation housed in a theater. The one other known to reside in a theatre was moved to a museum in Australia recently.

(Frank) In Montana’s early days the local folks were vexed by highwaymen, claim jumpers, thieves and killers. It got so bad the local Virginia City good folks got together and formed a vigilante committee. They posted warnings of their intent and then followed through. On one major occasion they hung five scoundrels from the center rafter of a shop that was under construction. Now the shop is open to the public and has the ceiling exposed to show the rafter, complete with rope burns where the bad guys swung their last dance step. Cool! I just love frontier justice. We need more of that.

We spent last evening out at Pam and Richard’s house having a cookout and great conversation as a rainstorm passed through their valley and the sun behind the clouds put on a great light show on the surrounding mountains. Thunder boomed and Peanut curled up in a fuzzy kitty bed in front of the fireplace content to be “home on the range.” Thanks Pam and Richard for such a lovely and memorable evening.

There is so much more to tell, but we’re going to the Farmers Market in Ennis this morning to get a rhubarb pie and other yummy local produce along with breakfast at a local pharmacy café. We’re heading out to Missoula, MT, today and possibly on to Glacier National Park. We hope to be in Seattle next weekend to visit with our kids. Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose is now in Middleville, OR, at Evergreen Aviation, so that is now on our agenda after Seattle.

Love to all of you from Roy, Dale and Trigger

Geezers, Geysers, Bicycles and Boats at Yellowstone Lake

After a breakfast of cherry turnovers and a batch of bacon, we mounted our trusty bicycles and headed down to the Fishing Bridge Visitor’s Center. We talked with the ranger about bicycle paths in the area and chose to ride the one by Bay Bridge which goes out to Natural Bridge. It’s only a three-mile round trip and it is right next to the marina where we were to take our cruise on the lake.

There were several people walking and riding bicycles to Natural Bridge. When we got there we decided the steep path to stand on top of the bridge wasn’t worth it. The ride back was mostly downhill so we had nearly an hour to kill before our cruise. After a short hop over to the marina we bought a sandwich and some cheese and crackers for lunch at a covered picnic table overlooking all the big boats moored there. We both agreed it would be cool to be able to say that one, “keeps a boat moored at Yellowstone.”

Our hour ride around the lake was on a 40 passenger boat captained by a young woman ranger, who handled the craft like a pro. We were impressed with her energetic, friendly manner and frankly, she was cute and petite and one of those irresistible people. We talked with her after the ride and got a picture of her posing by the boat. We told her about the mini-submarine tour we took in Hawaii that was also piloted by a woman. She said to tell our granddaughters, “Just don’t settle. I never have.” It’s great to see someone doing something she loves so much, especially when that means taking on a role normally thought of as male. She told us she has only been doing this for three months, and hopes to drive a tourist snow cat this winter.

The afternoon was still young so we decided to return to camp and do some “down time laundry.” The camp Laundromat is huge with 12 washers and 12 dryers. We figured that early afternoon was the time AFTER most folks leaving the park have left, and most folks coming into the park are busy setting up, so the Laundromat would probably not be busy. Turned out to be true. Only saw one other couple in there. T’was wonderful.

It is fascinating to watch camper rigs come and go through this camp/park. A rig will pull out at 11 AM and another will pull right into the same slot at 3PM. It’s sorta like running a hot-sheet motel. Tonight will be our third night here and we’ll be pulling out at 11AM tomorrow to go to Ennis, Montana. I think I’ll leave a mint on the power box.

It’s 5:30 now. We’re going to unlimber the bicycles again and ride down to the “No Fishing, Fishing Bridge.” We found out why it is now a no-fishing-fishing-bridge. It seems that it once was a very popular fishing spot but the Park Service realized it was also a popular spawning spot for the local trout. Working on the theory that if you want to keep a healthy fish population you shouldn’t catch and eat the spawners, they declared it off limits to anglers.


Tuesday, August 11, 2009 – The Geezers Watch the Geyser


(Cheryl) Yes, I know it’s only 4:00 a.m., but we were so tired last night we were in bed by 8:00 p.m. and seriously looking forward to sleep by 9:00 p.m. I’ve been reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to Frank while he drives, but with no TV or other diversions last night, we read for a couple of hours before going to sleep. I’ve already read this book, and it’s just as enjoyable the second time around. If you haven’t read it, pick up a copy or download it to your Kindle.
The altitude is well over 7,000 feet here at Fishing Bridge Campground, and yes, there is a bridge named “Fishing Bridge.” It has a nice, big sign on it that says, “No Fishing.”

The altitude has really slowed both of us down a bit. We left Peanut in the trailer long about 10:00 a.m., and took off for Old Faithful geyser yesterday. On the way we walked around some pools of boiling water and took some pictures. About three-quarters of the way on up to Old Faithful traffic halted. We figured there were bears on the road, but unfortunately we discovered a pickup truck had gone over the side of the road and down an embankment about 100 feet. They had already airlifted the two passengers to the hospital and arrested the driver by the time we joined the line of cars on the road.

According to the “Rangerette” at the head of the line of cars, the driver ran off the edge of the road on the right, then over-corrected to the left, losing control of the car and plunging over the edge of the road next to an overlook, missing the guard rail by a foot or so. He must have been going much faster than the posted park limit of 45 mph. We pulled over to the side of the road out of the line of cars and walked up to the accident scene to watch the truck being pulled up the hill. It was quite an operation, and I’ll let Frank recount the process and post a picture.

(Frank) I figure he was clipping along at speed plus too much when he passed the overlook, decided he wanted to stop, slammed on the brakes, tried to turn in, decided he wouldn’t make it, tried to straighten out, couldn’t do it, and ran straight off the road past the end of the guardrail. I don’t know why the recover troops decided to pull the truck up and over the guardrail, but that’s what they did. I’ll post a few photos.

(Cheryl) After the road-stopping event, we didn’t have far to go to reach our destination and eat a forgettable lunch at a fast food place in the Village near THE geyser. Feeling every bit our ages of 64 and 66, we huffed our way over to the front of the pack waiting to see Old Faithful. I suggested we sit under a tree in the background, but Frank urged us onward to a spot on the boardwalk in front of the crowd sitting on the benches. I can remember clearly when I could just plop on a ledge, dangle my feet and think nothing about it. Now, I have to get down on all fours in an unladylike pose to sit myself down. Sigh! Those WERE the days, we just didn’t know it!

Three young boys (probably 8-12 years old) sat easily down beside us, and Frank immediately struck up a conversation with them, telling them how the geyser plays with us by sending up little short bursts of steam and water several times before letting go with the “full banana.” He also talked about pipes and the guy who turns the valve that lets the geyser spout. They knew he was joking but loved his banter and kept up a steady stream of comments. They were really well-behaved kids, and we enjoyed talking with them.

(Frank) “Old Facefull” is impressive. Everyone should see it once. I carefully shot video as it erupted. Unfortunately I shot it with the camera rotated to vertical so I could get its full height. This puts the whole video laying on its side. Now I gotta figure a way to rotate the video. Dumb.

(Cheryl) On the way back to our campsite, Frank stopped at the marina on Yellowstone Lake to make reservations for today at 1:00 p.m. We’re going to go for an hour cruise on this mammoth mountain lake! I’m thrilled beyond belief. I’m a water bunny, and getting out on a lake is high up on my emotional fun scale. Yellowstone Lake really surprised us with its enormous size and the fact that it is 8,000 feet on top of a mountain! We both were ignorant of its existence and fascinated when it came into view on our way to Fishing Bridge when we arrived.

I hope we see some animals along the shore today. Yesterday we did see two elk leisurely munching grass near the lake as we drove over to see the geyser. Other than that, we have seen no bears, lions, tigers or zebras. Not even a puma. We keep telling each other, “It’s not a puma!” Some of you may remember a Schwarzenegger line from Kindergarden Kop, “It’s not a tumor!” Oh well, I guess you had to be there.

Our plan is to leave here Wednesday in route to see our friends, Richard and Pam Lessner (I met Pam and Richard at the Republic and Gazette Newspapers where we all worked in the 80s and 90s). They “retired” from a stint with the government during the Bush admin in D.C. to the wide open spaces of Montana. Their cabin has a wrap around porch and sits in the middle of a valley surrounded by enormous mountains. They watch large herds of elk wander past their windows and fish for trout in a nearby river. Pam now drives for a fishing outfit (12 hours a day during this high season) while Rick manages some sort of foundation in the little town of Ennis near Bozeman, MT. The trip up there should only take us a day, and we’re looking forward to visiting their place and catching up after not seeing them for at least 10 years.

Love from three intrepid high altitude explorers,
Frank, Cheryl and Little Toot

Lost in the wilds of backwoods America

Dear whoever reads these words.

We are lost in an electron-free dead-zone somewhere in a place called “Yellowstone.” No telephones, no cell phones, no television, no radio, NO INTERNET! There are no electrons in the air at all. I am suffering total technology withdrawal. There is NOTHING here except a bunch of nature. If we never return from this deprivation, look for our desiccated, emaciated, mauled by wild natural animals, body parts in the droppings of large furry beasts somewhere in the backwoods of this backward state.

Good-bye cruel world!

“Jeremiah Johnson” Frank, “Grizzly Adams” Cheryl, and Peanut, the Pioneer Pup.

Return to Greybull, Wyoming

(Frank) The last time I was in Greybull (1976) the town was about 6 blocks long and there was a line of old cars dating from the ‘30’s and ‘40’s lined up in a lot on Main Street. They weren’t for sale; it was just a vacant lot with about 20 rusting cars on it. I took a couple of photos. I’ll have to see if I can find them in my old albums. The town has grown since then. It’s at least seven blocks long now but I can’t figure out where that lot is/was.

(Cheryl) We’re in Shady Grove campground, a small place with 14 RV sites. Last evening I walked down the alley about a block and a half to a local grocery. Along the way there were red Hollyhocks in bloom. After snagging some meat and other stuff the Big K where we shopped earlier didn’t have, I lugged my plastic bags back to the RV. It brought back memories of walking on the rails down to the tiny Standard Grocery when I was a kid in Kokomo.

It was almost 7:00 p.m. when I got started on supper, so I knew we wouldn’t eat until after 8:00 p.m. However, there were thawed pork chops that had to be cooked and a left over chicken breast that wouldn’t fit in the pot from the night before. I had marinated it thinking we would do the chops and the chicken breast on the grill. Frank looked bushed, so I thought I’d just cook everything inside. Believe it or not, I had our George Foreman roaster, the oven, the stove top, and the microwave all going at once! It was quite a feat in Ali-the-Gator’s small kitchen, but we won’t have to cook again for a couple of days at least!

(Frank) We left Sturgis at about 9 this morning and arrived here in Greybull at 6 PM. We drove west on I-90 to Sheridan, Wyoming and then turned left onto Rt. 14. The drive was scenic beyond belief as we crossed over 9033 foot high Granite Pass. Cheryl’s word for the day is “awesome!” I’ll let her add some more poetic prose to describe this day and yesterday.

(Cheryl) The highlight of the trip today was seeing Shell Falls in the Big Horn National Forest. Here the water is at work building a new Grand Canyon of the West. There was an interpretive path and a wooden deck to view the falls. I took tons of pictures and videos. The sound of the falls and the rushing water really gets inside me!

(Frank) Yesterday we drove about 70 miles to the east to visit Wall Drug. I sure hope you’ve heard about it as everyone else in the world has. Wall Drug is HUGE! Where it used to be an interesting place to stop while driving cross country, it is now a destination stop unto itself, witness our driving 70 miles just so Cheryl could see it. We spent the requisite hour or so there, and we spent the requisite couple of hundred bucks or so there, and we then headed directly south into the Badlands.

(Cheryl) Wall Drug provided the new boots I’d been searching for in Sturgis, a new cowgirl hat, and wonderful thick socks with the most fun artwork. My feet are happy, I’m happy. Wall’s turned itself into an indoor mall, and I’d be surprised if you get a prescription filled there today. They still serve free ice water to all comers and the newly married and veterans get free coffee and a doughnut. There is a chapel alongside leather stores, jewelry shops, and you name it they’ve got it stores. The merchandise compels you to buy something, anything just to say you got it at Walls. Really, the items I bought are good quality.

(Frank) The Badlands were appropriately named. This is not a place you want to be in a Conestoga wagon. Pity the poor pioneer who ended up here because they probably ended up here. The Badlands are Baaaaaaaadddd! I don’t even see how they cut the scenic road through for us wimpy-assed tourists. It must have been a Herculean effort. Once again I’ll let Cheryl add some more descriptive prose.

(Cheryl) I went crazy with the video in the Badlands using up all my camera card memory and moving right on to disk space on the camera itself. The Badlands must be what the astronauts saw on the moon back in 1969. Frank and I both agreed that it can’t be described. You must see it someday to appreciate it. Pictures just won’t do it justice. It is magnificent with its stark moonscape monoliths and canyons. I didn’t expect to love it so much.

(Frank) On the way back to Sturgis we stopped at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Elgin AFB. It’s not big, but it is impressive. They have F84, F86, F100, F101, F105 fighters on static display outside along with a B25, B29, B52 and B1B. Those among a dozen or so other cargo and special use aircraft. Inside the museum they have several large rooms full of memorabilia detailing the history of the Air Force from it beginning as the Army Air Corp to its future as the preeminent Space Command. It was fun.

We got back to camp about 5PM and dark clouds started to gather. Someone yelled “There’s hail down in Sturgis!” and we all scrambled to get our bikes inside our trailers. I got mine in, but got soaked in the process. The hail didn’t hit our camp, but did major damage to other camps, downtown Sturgis, and cars and bikes on I-90. When we went into town about 7PM we saw several cars with both windshield and rear windows completely smashed out, and several campers with their awnings torn completely off. Main Street Sturgis looked like a wet and bedraggled cat. We stayed long enough to eat some tasteless “pork on a stick” and pick up my “Used To Be Bad” patch. Then we caught “Da Bus” back to camp and crashed into dreamland. It thundered and rained all night. Peanut is a nervous wreck.

Later,
Soaking Wet Frank, Cheryl and Peanut (under the couch)

Taking a day off at Rush-No-More Camp

South Dakota really knows how to predict the weather. Yesterday they said it would be sunny and dry all day with showers in the evening and thunderstorms the next morning. So we took the 4-hour ride to Deadwood, Lead, etc and the weather was wonderful. Later we took “Da Bus” downtown for a great steak dinner and then walked from shop to vendor in a gentle rain that wasn’t even enough to soak through our lightweight jackets.

Early this AM the thunderstorms rolled it. Thunder, lightning, horizontal rain, it was great! And we were snug as can be in Ali-the Gator. We had planned to drive to Wall Drugstore and the Badlands this morning but heeding the forecast we decided instead to call it a down day and do laundry. Unfortunately everyone in the camp decided to do the same thing and the camp Laundromat was wall to wall with folks hauling sacks of clothes. So I declared we would go to Plan B.

I remembered that back in 1976 I dropped off my laundry at a “we do it” laundry in Sturgis and last week in my wanderings I saw the same Laundromat offering the same service. So we drove down, dropped off the laundry, and went to breakfast. I went back at 2 PM and picked up the washed, dried, folded clothes. Now that’s the way to do laundry!

One other thing! After breakfast we wandered about a bit and I stumbled into a vendor store that makes CUSTOM patches! As in, a patch that says whatever you want. So I ordered a “Used to be bad” patch for the back of my jacket. I’ll pick it up this evening when we once again board “Da Bus” for one last fling on Main Street.

Oh, one more other thing. Leaving Sturgis we got caught up in heavy traffic and I tried to get out of town by sneaking through some residential areas. This put us on a strange road which SEEMED to be heading the right direction, so we took it. It wasn’t. But it did take us past the “Buffalo Chip” (www.BuffaloChip.com) campground and that was well worth the wasted time. “The Chip” is HUGE! We could see it stretch forever. It looks like it is a complete city unto itself. It turned out that the heavy traffic was a three-mile backup of people leaving “The Chip” and heading into Sturgis for the day. And we had though that there must have been an accident on the interstate and they were detouring the traffic off I-90 and through town. Anyway, after about 20 miles on the wrong road we finally decided to U-Turn it back to Sturgis and slog along with the traffic.

The current two-day plan is to do Wall Drug (http://www.walldrug.com/default.aspx) and the Badlands (http://www.nps.gov/badl/) tomorrow and then pull up stakes and head west Saturday Morning.

Love,
Frank, Cheryl, and Rin-Tin-Tin

Devil’s Tower and Riding Spearfish Canyon

3:00 PM (Cheryl) We’ve had so much fun the past two days, we haven’t taken time to write! Yesterday we took KB truck over to Wyoming to see Devil’s Tower. The tower appears in the distance like some giant figment of our imagination as we approach the national park. Getting up close, it proves to be gulp time. I’m just glad we’re not here to scale it or anything stupid like that. I hiked a few feet up the trail toward the monolith with Frank urging me onward, but the altitude just saps my energy. One trail goes all the way around the tower and another skirts it and wanders off into some giant loop. We decided taking pictures and getting back in the truck might be the best idea. Peanut appreciated the short wait time.

We took the long way back to Sturgis and fell in love with Spearfish Canyon. So much so, we took off this morning at 8:00 a.m. on the Norton to do the loop from Sturgis through Deadwood, Central City, Lead, and Spearfish.

(Frank adds) We stopped in Lead for breakfast at a Methodist Church. It seems that just about every civic organization in the area puts on Biker's Breakfasts! We had scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, coffee and orange juice, all for $5.00 each. Yeah, for good food, good people, and clean restrooms, find a Methodist church. It was at breakfast that I asked "Am I in Lead (LED) or Lead (Leed)? The answer was Lead (Leed). Apparently a "Lead" is a vein of gold in a mine. I think it would be hilarious if every other local merchant put up a sign on their door that says, "You are in Lead (Leed) Colorado, and the next guy's sign would say, "You are in Lead (LED) Colorado, just to drive the tourists nuts.

(Cheryl again) Spearfish Canyon canyon twists and turns though a pine forest backed by towering stone cliffs accompanied by rushing streams and waterfalls. We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls for a few pictures and an enterprising gentleman was there selling bottles of water for $1 a pop. The trail over the creek and up to the falls proved to be too steep for me, so we again were happy to take pictures and get back on the Norton.

By the way, we’re going to try and include another video in today’s blog. Hope you were able to see the one we put in on Monday. We took today’s video on Monday morning when we lined up with the rest of the bikes along Main Street Sturgis. Starship Snoopy attracted several onlookers, and I got a bit of video showing Frank “showing off” the Norton. Note the back of the guy’s shirt as he ogles Starship Snoopy.

Tonight it’s back on the Da Bus for another trip into Sturgis for dinner at a steak house (hopefully). Last night we snagged some yummy chicken on a stick under an outdoor canopy while the storm moved into town. We got a bit damp, but Frank still managed to ford the gutter deluge and scamper up the steps of the Victory dealer. He sat on a couple of the bikes, and it was love, love, love. Wow! These bikes have class! We miss all of you and would very much like to hear from you by email at fjdmjr@cox.net or ckdelmonte@cox.net Peanut found the love of his life at the trailer next door. She’s a sweet Yorkie and the two of them can’t seem to get enough of each other. Love from Frankie, the Biker Chick, and Romeo the puppy.

Showing Off – Harleys 199,999 – Norton 1

3:45 PM – Monday (Cheryl) “Da Bus” pulled into Rush-No-More around 6:30 p.m. last evening. We hopped on board sporting new pink bus passes for the week on our wrists to go with our silver wrist bands from the campground. They’re serious about knowing who comes and goes around here. During the four-mile ride into Sturgis, we realized we’d probably be riding home with a few happy drunks at the end of the night (Da Bus runs every half hour until 2:00 AM). This was obviously a DUI avoidance conveyance, and a great idea. Sure ‘nuff, there were a couple of drunks on the way home. No big deal, and it was a terrific way to avoid having to find a place to park.

“Da Bus” dropped us off right in the middle of town a block off the main drag. We asked a cop where the locals eat, and he pointed us to Mama Mia’s Italian place. We had spaghetti and meatballs that were so good we returned for breakfast this morning – but I’m getting ahead of my story.

Last night the sidewalks were wall to wall bikers dressed in everything from leathers to almost nothing at all. One gal had covered herself with netting and was out in her all-together! Most guys just rolled their eyes and walked on. Earlier in the day someone told us a gal got busted for flashing her boobs. Evidently it’s ok if you have pasties on, but beware the flash if you’re exposing bare flesh.

Evidently the clothes police hadn’t caught up with the little netted angel yet. All in all, most people were just having a blast showing some cleavage and strutting their stuff. We were tucked in bed last night by 11:00 PM and on the Norton roaring toward Sturgis with the wind in our hair by 9:00 AM. We got a great place to park on Main Street not far from Mama Mia’s where we loaded up on carbs, carbs, carbs (great gravy with Italian sausage, biscuits, bacon, regular sausage, scrambled eggs, and coffee $7.95). We’re not looking at the scale again until September.

The number of bikes on the streets just boggles the mind! However, one statistic we’re pretty sure about says that among all the others there is only one Norton! Seriously, we really haven’t seen any other British iron, and apparently not many bikers were aware there were any Nortons still on the road because Frank got lots of questions and ohhh’s and ahhh’s.

(Frank) The biggest kick I’m getting out of Sturgis is having the same bike here 33 years after its first time. In 1976 I rode the Norton from Virginia to Sturgis back when he was configured for touring and named Big Red. Now I’ve brought him back reincarnated as the Cafe Racer Starship Snoopy. It would be fun to find out how many other bikes are returning after such long hiatuses. There are probably bikes that have been here every year for the last 33 years. At breakfast we saw a white-haired lifestyle biker whose wife was using a walker. We placed them easily in their late seventies, possibly eighties. I’ll bet they’ve been here a bunch of times. His beard was braided and beaded and his hair pulled back in a long braid.

Sturgis is a town of 7,000 residents. During Bike Week the population swells by 100,000 to 200,000 people. I’ve heard that the town generates enough revenue during Bike Week to meet all its needs for the rest of the year. Likewise, while the local residents probably hate the week itself, they too make out like bandits by allowing bike parking on their property for outrageous rates, allowing bikers to camp in their front and back yards, and renting out rooms. Local businesses literally shut down for the week, move all of their products and employees to back rooms or upstairs and rent out the fronts of their properties to Bike Week vendors. The saying goes about the residents of Sturgis, “Those who can, leave. Those who can’t, gouge.”

Even though money drives Sturgis, it must be said that it’s a happy environment. The vendors are happy, the locals are pleasant, and the bikers are not so rowdy that you feel unsafe downtown. The aging of America includes motorcyclists, and we’re walking around with people with a median age of 50 plus. Yes, there are young men and sweet young things here, but frankly at Sturgis, geezers rule.

Love, Two Geezers and a pup

KB Truck Drive to Rushmore and Crazy Horse

3:15 PM (Frank) We just returned from seeing Crazy Horse and four dead presidents. It was interesting but not too enlightening as they are all very stone faced and uncommunicative. Somber you might say. The ride (drive) down was beautiful. This is very pretty country, but also very windy. South Dakota should consider a new slogan for their license plates, perhaps, “South Dakota, where the wind never doesn’t blow.” Or maybe simply, “South Dakota Blows.”

I’ve been to Sturgis Bike Week twice before (1976 and 1990) but this is Cheryl’s first time. I’m enjoying showing her things I’ve seen before, and I’m also marveling at how much they’ve changed in the last 33 years. I last visited Rushmore and Crazy Horse in 1976 and all the roads and facilities have been expanded 10-fold. At Rushmore we found the “historic” viewpoint down and around the corner from the new viewing area. That’s where I stood in ‘76 and it’s a weird feeling to be considered part of history.

I never actually went into the Crazy Horse Monument. I think you could see it from the highway in ’76 and it was just a big stone mountain with a few bare spots blown out of it. It didn’t strike me as worth making a left turn. Now however it is worth visiting. Major progress has been made on the monument and the visitor’s center includes museums, two theaters showing the full history of the monument, a restaurant, and a lot of other displays well worth seeing. When we entered we thought the $10 per person cost was a bit steep but we later found that the whole thing is supported by the visitor admission money and no government funds are accepted by the family who are carving the mountain. That made the price a bit more palatable.

(Cheryl) If we don’t poop out, tonight we’re riding “Da Bus” into Sturgis to get a look at all the bikes on the first official day of the rally. Hopefully we’ll find a place to have a nice dinner as well. Peanut will stay home in the trailer. At Crazy Horse today, they let us take him inside as long as we held him. He seemed to enjoy the movie about the family who keeps carving on the mountain. At least he enjoyed the guy sitting next to me and rested his head on the guy’s arm. Luckily the man was a dog lover! It was a fun day and the weather is absolutely perfect with a high of about 89 and soft breezes. Lovin’ it!

From the romantic land of cowboys and Indians,
Frank, Cheryl and Peanut (more fondly known as Little Toot, Little Bit, and Peachy)

A Rowdy Night in Deadwood

7:00 AM (Cheryl)

The rally officially starts tomorrow, but driving through Sturgis you’d think it well underway. The town looks like a circus with white tents full of Bike Week regalia, t-shirts, boots, leathers, helmets, clothes, chrome, jewelry, m/c parts, tires, and on and on. Long black trailers with m/c dealer and brand names on them park one after the other in lots next to campgrounds, tents and highways. Businesses in town leave their front doors open with signs in windows screaming Welcome Bikers!!! We feel like celebrities among civilians.

Harleys roll by like ocean waves with lifestyle riders and sweet young things on the back. And more and more frequently motorcycle mamas turn the throttle. Both Custer and Deadwood benefit from the Sturgis rally and these towns are equally outfitted for Bike Week. After rolling through Sturgis last evening in KB truck, we headed down to Deadwood. After a couple of spins through town passing myriad casinos, restaurants, bars, and shops crammed with bikers, we finally found a spot to park in a center-of-town parking garage just a block off the main drag.

Getting to the roof of the 4-story garage proved an adventure in itself. The lanes were so narrow Frank actually needed to back up a few times to avoid hitting trucks parked in “compact” slots. On the roof we marveled at two dualies parked side by side who obviously navigated the same narrow passages.

Frank carried Peanut up away from the foot traffic and shielded him somewhat from the m/c noise in the street. Peanut remained calm until the shootout in the street preceding the Trial of Jack McCall at the Masonic Lodge. Luckily Frank snagged tickets to the show after finding out this was the last night until after Bike Week. The authorities won’t allow the street to be closed for the shootout during all the biker traffic yet to come.

The Trial of Jack McCall proceeds in three parts. First, the shootout in the street where the sheriff catches a couple of stagecoach robbers; second, an hour later the sheriff and company chase Jack McCall up the street and apprehend him after he shoots Wild Bill Hickok in the back of the head as Wild Bill plays cards in Saloon #10 (true story by the way and on location!). Jack McCall, escorted by the sheriff, judge and lawyers, walk up to the building where the Trial of Jack McCall takes place a couple of hours later. While waiting to see the trial we grabbed a hamburger at Mustang Sally’s and sat on the busy patio watching the bikes roll past.

At 8:00 p.m. we wandered down to the Masonic Hall to see the end of the story. The Trial includes audience participation for witnesses to the shooting and the jury consists of kids chosen from the audience. One young boy played the sheriff, toting a gun and escorting the prisoner to the stage. The boy kept a close eye on Jack for the remainder of the trial. As the jury deliberated, the judge, court clerk, and attorneys entertained with ballads accompanied by mandolin, guitar, washboard, spoons and harmonica. The kids in the jury return from deliberation with large bills in their hands and the verdict, you guessed it – NOT GUILTY. The rest of the story related by the judge tells the tale of the arrest and hanging of Jack McCall in another town some weeks later. In the end, justice was served.

By the time we got gas and picked up a few groceries at a quick mart, our bedtime moved from our normal 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Three tired little doggies named Cheryl, Frank and Peanut hit the hay and dreamed of iron horses “thundering through the skies and up a cloudy draw.”

We’re having a blast, as if you couldn’t tell!

Love, Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and Doc