June July 2008

I was talking with a guy that was wondering about all the big piles of hay that he had seen while driving through the country. He couldn’t understand what anyone would want with that old hay. I look at a pile of hay and think that who ever owns that pile, has lots of ‘money’ in the bank there. In a lot of ways it is maybe even more valuable than dollars are, as I am sure hay will increase in price, as the price of fuel goes up and considering that the dollar is worth less every day now.

I took this picture of the hay on my way over to Bob and Anne Clements summer solstice party. I took the Tongue River road down to Ashland and then across the Cheyenne and Crow Reservations to Lame Deer, Busby, Crow Agency, St. Xavier.

The ride across the Rez was wonderful as usual. No traffic to speak of and the yellow sweet clover was a blanket of yellow over the hills.

I headed south to Fort Smith. I rode over to Dr Greg Frazier’s place and was pleased to find him at his place. We had a good visit and then hopped on the bikes and went up to check the lake behind the dam. On the way back Greg rode over to the camp area and scored a few pieces of firewood that some campers had left behind. These rounds he lashed to his new KLR that the Kawasaki folks are letting him ride for a while. He writes for several motorcycle magazines and the Kawasaki folks would like to see photos of their bike when he does an article.

I didn’t take any photos of the party at bob’s this year. It was fun just to hang out and get things in order for the party and visit with some really nice folks. The food was wonderful as always and I even had a half glass of beer this year. I went all out……

During a slow spell I hopped on my bike and made a run up the Beartooth pass. On the way up I happened on this double motorcycle accident. The guy walking up the road was the guy that was following his friend up the hill. He said he was looking off at the mountains and when he looked back his friend had slowed down and was going to make a turn. He didn’t have time to avoid him and crashed into him from the rear. You can see the cop car and a bike over on each side of the road. The kid said it was unfortunate that he hadn’t gotten his motorcycle license yet so was a little worried about what they were going to do to him. I would wonder what his buddy is going to do to him……

It was a really nice ride up the pass.

The road is in great shape after they had to rebuild it a couple of years ago when an avalanche wiped out the road from top to bottom. There are lots of switch backs that are fun unless you get behind someone that goes really slow. There are a few places to pass if you are lucky to not have opposing traffic.

I was up near the top and saw this old restored Yellowstone Park tourist bus making the run up the pass. You can see the snow banks here where they had to open the road for spring.

Up near the top was this huge snow blower. It has a huge diesel motor hanging off the back of this rig that runs the blower by hydraulic motor.

Yeah, these are some serious chains on this baby. It has to be a blast to run this rig.

On the way back through Roberts I stopped for a quick shot of a new (to him) little Airstream trailer. This guy seems to find quite a few to ‘fix up’ to sell.

Roger Muggli invited me to go over to Dickinson, ND to watch his niece in a play at the college. Stanley Markuson also came along on his KLR. Roger had to ride his new Harley Sportster that he won a couple of years ago. It was a perfect day for a ride.

Here we are coming into Baker, MT with those huge grain elevators that are such nice landmarks in this eastern Montana country.

Baker was having a celebration of being 100 years old. There was quite a bit of activity in town and we stopped and had a little lunch at one of the bars. Stan used to work at a bank here in town when he first graduated from college. Stan is a very personable fellow and it didn’t take him long to see some folks that he knew. Stan is now the main Ag guy at Stockman Bank here in Miles City. When I first came to this area I went in and talked with a banker and the owner of the John Deere tractor dealer to find out what the agriculture picture was in the area. Stan was the guy I visited with and he was very helpful and gave me the Big Picture. If you are ever looking around an area and looking for ag land/business possibilities, go see a banker and the tractor dealer, they KNOW what is going on.

This is OIL country as well as ranching land. I think the sign said that the first oil well was drilled in 1930 or so. There is talk of new discoveries in the area and I suppose the area will boom again as it did back in the sixties.

We were going through a little town of Marmarth, ND when I spied this old theatre and I just had to stop and go back and take a photo of it. Roger came back too and told me that one of his Grandfathers or Grandfathers uncle owned this. (I may have this all wrong but in any case it was a relative that owned it. Rogers family came from this country but they all got run out and came over to Montana to start over where no one knew them.)

Next to the theatre is this old iron slab jail. I remember seeing one like this down in Nevada. This one is two cells with a iron wall between. It doesn’t look like it would be much fun in there and sort of difficult to get out of. They had the jail thing figured out way back then. I think they spend a lot more on jails now and they probably are nowhere near as secure as this old one. If I ever got thrown in one of these I sure wouldn’t want to come back for another visit. I bet it was a little cool in the North Dakota winters.

The town of Marmarth, ND has seen better days. The little flag says it was started in 1908 like Baker but the money flowed away from here. This building says First National Bank 1918.

It is hay time out on the prairie and with the nice rains we have had, the hay and the grain crops looked good.

I love these nice straight North Dakota roads. I like to look around and check out the country and see what the farmers and ranchers are doing.

We made it to Dickenson and I parked my Fat Dog next to Rachel’s scooter. Rachel is Rogers Sister daughter and she is the one in the play we were going to see.

Rachel isn’t very tall but she had the leading role in the play (Rachel is second from left. Sorry about the poor picture but the little camera didnt like it in the dark and lighted stage). I think she must have had 80% of the speaking lines in the play and she gave it all she had, which was a LOT!!! She was a lot of fun to be around and didn’t seem to mind a group of motorcycle guys taking over her little apartment. I set up my tent out back on the lawn and at fist was surprised to hear shooting when it got dark. I asked if they usually heard shots around here and they told me ‘it might be 4^th of July fireworks”. Ah, yeah I didn’t realize that was the case, they were probably doing that in Miles City too but I don’t hang out in town much after dark.

I was going into town on the back roads when I happened to see Brian Lynnes on his NEW motorcycle. He just bought it over in Billings and was in the process of getting it broke in.

It is a Royal Enfield 500 Bomber made in India. This is the military model and I sure liked the nice crash bars and rugged looks.

check out the cool license plate. It sounded great.

Two hundred eight miles so far. He said it was a slow trip back from Billings at 40 mph for break in speed.

I was leaving for town when I saw this big bull snake in the road and went back and got my camera. He is a little shy and headed for the grass. I estimate that he is a little over four feet long. Yesterday I stepped out of the trailer and almost stepped on him. He was moving slow again but this time he had a big bulge in the middle. I think he is working on my little bunnies that are all around here now. This is the second batch of little and I wondered what happened to all the first batch, now I know. I think he is working on the mice too as that population is down from normal as well.

I have been working like mad to get the cabinets done in the doghouse. Roger loaned me a cool little jig and drill for putting the pieces together rather than useing dowels like I am used to using. Wow, what a nice little method. It made things go much faster and Roger says that it is even stronger than dowels. I am pleased with how they came out and will now have to ‘stock’ the shelves and drawers.

This Wednesday evening ( July 16^th) I am going to have a little (?) party as sort of a cabin warming party. I always loved it when Cactus Jack and Willie used to come to my cabin in Nevada and play their music. It just seems like the music cant get any better than that played in a small cabin with good friends. Well, I have invited several musicians and lots of people and will grill up some of Mark Weedings grass fed beef, warm up some beans and maybe have a few beers, and see how the cabin reacts. I hope this will give it a lively start on life…… I still have the furniture to build and ‘move in’ which will take the rest of the summer I suppose. I invited several friends that are going to the BMW Nationals to be here and after the party we will head on down to Gillette for the weekend. I am planning on taking my Old Dog (R50) with the side car so it will be a nice slow trip for me at least. The next dog log should have some photos of that event……..