8-2-2008

July Party Time !!!

I had a party up at the new doghouse and invited a few friends. Micah, Keith and Gramps showed up from the western part of the state on their motorcycles and were headed on down to Gillette, Wyoming for the BMW Nationals Rally.

I got some grass fed beef from Mark Weeding and when I needed help figuring out how to barbeque them, Karen started right in making patties and Tucker took over the grill as he is an expert with briquette fires. Charlie gave me the grill and it worked out really well. Several of the people brought salads and deserts so there was plenty to eat and I had the tub filled with drinks of all kinds.

After the food feast the boyz moved in the doghouse and started to play. They would take turns playing a song and the others would play along. They have played together a long time and they really are pro’s at this. (Joe, Tucker and Rick)

I was really pleased to have the banjo in the mix. My poor ears really love the sharp sound of the banjo. You might notice that this is a left handed five string one…

After the boyz started playing blues songs the cry went out for Terry Hanson to come in with his harps. Wow, the cabin was filled to the top with music. What a fine start for life eh?

The next day we headed on down to Gillette. We stopped in Volberg to check everything out and Gramps indicated that he was interested in riding the sidecar rig. That was just fine with me as the rig is so little it makes my knees sore if I ride it very far without stopping regular for a stretch. Gramps ended up driving it all the way down to Gillette. I had to ride his big R1150GS oil head. Wow, what a bike that is. It is really fast and with the ABS brakes it almost threw me over the handlebars when I hit the brakes hard. I never did get a picture of it but it is a big bike that weighs 565 pounds which is fifty pounds heavier than the Yellow Dog.

This was hay season and this guy had put up quite a few.

As we were getting close to Gillette we came by this new building project.

I think it must be a new coal terminal. This whole area is coal mines.

We stopped at a gas station and Micah hopped on the old dog and gave it a little ride around the parking lot.

We camped up at the far corner of the event. It was interesting how many different kinds of tents there were.

The friendly Airhead welcome center for the kind of bikes I ride.

this little rig looks like fun to ride. A little different way to have three wheels on the ground.

Inside one of the buildings they had some antique bikes. This one is a military German one.

I likes his trailer.

I think this is a pre-war flat head with a cool shifter mounted on the side of the tank.

They sure are pretty when they are like they came off the show room floor.

The white ones are one of my favorites.

I took a few guys for a spin around the grounds but here I let Bob give Dr. Bob a ride. As you can see Dr. Bob didn’t seem to mind it.

That night a couple of lightning and rainstorms rolled through. I had my hearing aids out and just slept through it. A friend that was camping down in the midst of the pack said that all night he could hear big ‘THUMPS’ and then someone asking for help to get his bike lifted up. You might consider that everyone was probably naked in their sleeping bags and then had to get out in the rain and pick up these big heavy bikes in the dark. The rain softened the ground and the side stand sunk in the mud and the bike tipped over. It is luck this bike didn’t fall on the guy’s head in the tent. I guess he figured he would pick it up when he got up and didn’t get out in the rain that night. There were several bikes on their sides and they looked like beached whales.

This vendor booth took a heavy hit with the wind and rain.

In the morning we all went down to drink the coffee.

we walked around and looked at bikes and did a little visiting and shopping in the vendor area.

I liked this guys sleeping arrangement.

Next to the camping area was a mining display along with this very cool ton granite sundial.

I think this is an old coal hauling truck.

Keith gave us all lessons in climbing on and off of moving trains. He is an old rail road man.

We all decided to split the rally and head for home. I stopped in Gillette before leaving and had a wonderful green chile burrito at a restaurant. While I was just finishing up a woman came in and asked if I rode a funny looking motorcycle? Well, “yes as a matter of fact I do.” Well she said she had just hit it in the parking lot. It could have been worse but the fiberglass saddle bag took a direct hit that cracked it pretty bad. After having to deal with her and her husband (cop came too but wouldn’t write a accident report unless the damage was over $1000) they gave me some cash money to fix it and I got out of town and headed home.

I hung around came for a few day but I just needed to get out on the road and have some time to myself to think. I rode north across some really lonely areas. I wonder where this guy found enough rocks to build with. It seems like there isn’t a rock within miles of here. I guess he found some and that is about all he had to build with.

This little church doesn’t look like it has been used for a long time. All the little farms that used to support this have moved away and gotten bigger. I suppose the big guys now go to the big town for church now.

This old school had been turned into a post office but even that was down scaled to just a little mailbox on the steps. It may be open for a short time now and then but didn’t look used much.

I think this was Glasgow old Ford dealership.

Out back were some nice projects.

The north country is WHEAT country. There are a lot of grain bins at every farm but this farm had more of them than most. I think there was 48 of them or so.

This is the tourist rest area in Chester that is made out of old cross arms from telephone poles. This little stop is right on the main street.

This little diner is one of those that was delivered on a truck. It is very similar to the one I ate in down in Bisbee, AZ this last winter.

Just down the road there was a little sign that pointed to camping. I went down a couple of blocks and found this really nice little park in the middle of a residential area. They had a sign that said that the south side was sprinkled at night so if you were tent camping please tent on the north side but please move out before nine because that is when the north side would be irrigated. It was quiet and the walkers all said “Hi” when they came by. I love the High Line of Montana. All the towns seem to be friendly and the people are just so nice. I guess it is so tough up there in the winter it runs the riff raff out.

I just love the wheat trains. Up here they haul grain and not those huge long string of coal. I guess Montana is just a colony of resources for the rest of the country. 

Wheat is THE business.

I finally made it up to Glacier National Park. There used to be 180 glaciers but now there are only 30 of them. Something about global warming?

The reason I went is to ride the ‘going to the sun highway’ that was built a hundred years ago. I remembered the road from when I was there as a little kid but it was very different than what I remembered. There was some road construction where they were rebuilding the rock retaining walls along the edge. This is a government zone and there was a lot of standing around looking and watching by the workers. The motorcycle ahead of me here was a total jerk on a new Triumph.

I did actually catch a couple of guy working.

the Ford Motor company restored some of the old busses with new engines and running gear to take tourists on tours through the park.

After I got out of the park the road follows the river and it was just filled with floaters.

I found some really nice gravel roads heading on over to Conrad. There is very little traffic on these roads and they were in great shape.

that evening I made it to Carter Ferry but too late to take the ferry across. I woke up early and packed up.

This is that grouchy old bastard that I had to deal with last year. This year he didn’t remember me and was fairly nice. The dog just so- so.

It was good to be back in camp and was totally surprised to hear a bike roll into camp with Charlie on it. He just bought it and had come by a couple of times to show it off.

I finally got a picture of my 100 year old ball bearing mouse trap that I have now living in the doghouse. This cat I found under a cabin I bought down in Goldfield, Nevada. The cabin was built in 1907 and evidently the cat was built under it and the carpenters didn’t realize it. I have owened this cat for over thirty years. He is an easy keeper. Not a very good mouser though.

After building the cabinets I needed to build a closet and storage for my clothes. This is what I have come up with. It is on glider buttons so I can move it around and out of the way if and when I need a big space. There will be a hanger bar installed and maybe doors on top but I haven’t decided on that yet. It might just get a curtain. Those drawers are three and a half feet deep and nine inches deep. They should hold a few pairs of sox eh?