6-29-2010

Jorg took me into his garage at his home and showed me the tractor that he just rebuilt. It is a German one that is used on the farm mostly now for gathering firewood.

Jorg took me up to a hillside locally so I could see around the area.

It sort of looks like a watchtower and maybe that is what it was designed to do.

I really like the rock work on these old buildings.

The view from the top. As you can see here, the ground is well taken care of and cut into odd shaped pieces. Jorg said that over the years the ground got cut up as families split the land for the younger generations.

A town in the distance.

Jorgs’ girls were rather pleased with the Angle wings earrings that they both received. They both speak English but were a little shy at using it. It sure must be hard to talk in a language that you only take in school and then have to try to talk with someone who speaks it as their native tongue. They understand most everything I say but it is hard sometimes for them to remember a word in English when they want to say something.

The girls have two turtles. This is the biggest one and it was just a tiny little thing when they got it. It must be nine or ten inches long now.

This is Lena who came over to talk with me. She is a cousin to Jorgs girls. I didn’t get a photo of her and this photo is one that she sent me that was taken a few years ago. She is a lovely lady and speaks very good English. It is amazing how she doesn’t have an accent and I complemented her on that. They must teach English in school that is like the English that they use on national radio and TV here in the USA. It was really great to have someone to talk with that spoke English easily as Lena does.

Ok, I was taken to the airport and had a chance to take another urinal photo in the Zurich airport. This time the trick is to put out the flame on the candle. I failed the test but got close….

They have major warnings on the packs of cigarettes as well as these little cigars at the airport. I sure liked the display with the hand of tobacco leaves. 

I had a clusterfuck time getting back to Miles City on the airlines. Everything was fine from Zurich to London and then on to Denver. At Denver I was supposed to pick up my luggage and have to take it through customs. I waited and waited and my luggage didn’t come around on the baggage terminal. NOW WHAT? I went to the luggage info desk and found that my bags were still in London. Oh just great. I had forgotten to take my pocket knife out of my pocket and put it in my bags. The interesting thing is that I went through security at Zuric and London and they found the knife to be OK since it had a blade less then three inches. It was a swiss army one bladed knife. I thought that was interesting and figured that I would put it in my bag at Denver as I know that it wouldn’t pass USA security check in. well now I had no chance to put it in my bag so I gave it to the luggage girl at the airlines and she said she would mail it to me. No package so far, so I assume her boy friend got a knife or maybe she has it in her bag now. I finally got to the line where we were lined up to get on the plane for Billings. The finally opened the door and let the pilot and the stwerdesses on the plane and just as they were going to let us board the guy gets a phone call and then announces that the flight has been canceled!!! He told us to go over and get in line to make other flight connections, which we all did. After about ten minutes I noticed that they were lining up at the same door we were and one of the girls went over and came back and said that they were loading the plane for Birmingham. I guess they didn’t have a full load to go to Billings, so they cancelled our flight and changed it to Alabama. Dirty bastards. Anyway I was finally given a voucher for a hotel room and supper and booked for a flight early the next morning. When I went out to get on the shuttle bus for that hotel the man out there said I needed to go in and get another hotel as that one was miles away and since I needed to get to the airport as six in the morning I needed one that was much closer. So I went in and got a new hotel and food voucher. When I went out  and got on the shuttle and went to the hotel I found out that I had gotten on the wrong bus and the hotel clerk wouldn’t honor it. So I went out and the shuttle bus was gone and wouldn’t be back for at least an hour. It was about midnight then. I saw a man in a suit get out of a pickup and asked if he by any chance would take me to the right hotel. He asked directions for that hotel and said he would since it was close. Well he got lost and in the rain and traffic we went about ten miles in the wrong direction but finally made it to the right hotel. I didn’t have any money other than Euro’s and he wouldn’t take any money he said. I finally told hm to give this 20Euro bill to his daughter who was getting married come to find out is the reason he was in a suit at midnight in the rain. I hope she and her new husband can go to Europe and have a chance to spend it. The hotel happened to be right next to the Harley shop it turned out. It was dark and raining in Denver and I guess it had been for several days. They even had a tornado there one of the guys said.

The plane ride from Denver to Billings was a little rough but the landing was ok.

I had made arrangements with Chad to pick me up when I got to Billings the night before but when they canceled the flight there was no way to contact him and let him know I would not be coming in at 11:01pm. He finally found out but that sure made him late getting his kids home from a soccer match. I really have some good friends in Miles. My buddy Joe came all the way over in the morning and picked me up at the bus station where  I was spending the day until evening when the bus would take me to Miles City. I was really zoned by this time with maybe four hours sleep on the plane and a couple in the hotel total over the many hours since I left Zurich. That Jet lag is sure mean to me. Joe needed to pick up a book at Borders in Billings and we found this really nice little Chevy outside.

When I got home I found that with all the rain that they have had here my little Tonka truck and shovel were almost grown over with weeds. I guess they decided that since I was gone they would quit work. I got out the weedeater and lawnmower and gave the yard a haircut. Now it looks like someone lives here.

One nice thing about coming back early was I could make it to Bob and Anne Clements summer solstice party. I try ot make it every year as it is always nice to visit with friends and make new ones. Lots of nice bikes show up too. On the way over I took the road down the Tongue River to Ashland and then across the Indian Rez to Bob’s place. On the way in Joliet I stopped at Johns place and got a review of what he has been up to. Here is a chopper he is working on. He has found most of the parts in his junk pile as well as a few flea market things.the old style Springer front end is a classic. There are a few more little things to hook up and it will be on the road.

I have a photo of John on my BMW so I guess it is fair that I post this photo of me on one of his Harleys.

John just found a really nice Mercedes Benz station wagon too on Craigs list. This is a really nice wagon and it turns out much cheaper than a Subaru which he was looking for. It has four wheel drive which is needed in the winter here.

I have a few photos of the party and camp site.

There were also clowns…..

I took my yellow dog and sidecar over and was pleased to see another yellow dog showed up.

A nice old slash 2 from Wyoming showed up.

John came on a Harley of course.

There was a lot of this sort of thing that goes on at these parties.

Almost 50 K to get to this party.

There were three R80GS’s that showed up. This one is sure rigged up nice with Jesse bags, the PD tank and the nice little wind screen.

A new find that is just getting put together again.

This bike was in Red Lodge and the owner was going to bring it in to Bob and have him service it and get it running again. It never happened and the guy died. This guy was the lucky recipient and brought it to Bob to get it on the road again. It had been sitting so long that it took a lot of work but the bike has almost no miles on it so it is close to a new bike now.

A classic Honda four.

The paint on this one is great.

A neighbor showed up on a quad.

Doctor Toast rode in on a crowd pleaser. It sure is a sweet little bike and it sure speeds along the highway.

Bob parked his sidecar rig out in the driveway to keep cars out. I got a chance to drive this rig for a few miles when we swapped. That big Honda four sure is smooth and it is totally different than the Yellow Dog and its hack.

It was a little hard to get a photo of this bike as there was almost always a crow around it.

So I took this one of the Norton that showed.

Ah, finally the must have gone in to refill their beer cups with the Red Lodge Ale on tap in the garage. This is the Vincent that I had photos of in Craigs shop last year. He finally got it all put back together and has it running. This is the first trip out of his shop.

He was leaving here and turned on the gas.

. Everything stopped at the party when he kicked it over four times and finally a pop. The next kick it came to life with a ROAR and WOW…… what a wonderful sound and the ground shook. There are more pictures of the bike and party that Doug posted here….
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=592706

I made it home and that evening it rained a little here and made a nice rainbow over my old CA Allis Chalmers tractor. This same afternoon in Billings a tornado came through and tore the rood off the Convention Center. I was glad I had made it through before that happened. Riding a sidecar rig in a tornado wouldn’t  be fun I bet.