Harley Olympics

Last Sunday was the HOG Chapter Harley Olympics and Picnic. We met in the Huntley city park at noon. The picnic was catered so didn't have to bring anything, which was nice. We had burgers, brats, salads, chips and for dessert had our choice of apple or cherry pie with ice cream. The pies were originally for the pie eating contest, but no one wanted to do that game.

Gary wanted to go after our 2300 mile trip because they had set up some games special for trikes. He figured if they went to the trouble then we should show up. We ended up being the only trike there, so not too sure what games they had in mind for us.

Gary and I did play in some of the games. We did the balloon toss, we made it to the final round, but our balloon broke. We did the bike wash. Your passenger throws a water balloon over a rope and it goes higher each time. We didn't make it the first pass, I tossed our balloon too far, couldn't catch it. It hit the windshield and bounced into the grass. We also did the buffalo shoot. You shoot paint balls at the target. Our target is a painted buffalo with a target on him. We got two tries to shoot 8 rounds each in the target. Not too sure what our total score was, but I did hit a couple in the bull's eye and I only three three shots. It was fun. The next game I did was the plank walk. You get into teams of 4 and you loop your feet onto the plank. My team didn't win our heat, but we did make it to the end without falling. It was all in good fun.

Before the games and eating we had a short meeting. Gary and I didn't win any of the door prizes this time, but I did win the 50-50 drawing. Walked away with $31. A little extra spending for my trip.

So far this year we have been lucky with the drawings. I won the 50-50 back in January, but donated all of that money back to the chapter. In April Gary won a bottle opener and in May I won a t-shirt. Some of our friends started to rub my shoulders so that my good luck will rub off onto them.

We had a good time. An enjoyable day, we got home around 4:00.

La Barge Wyoming

On our trip we made a stop in La Barge so that we could eat lunch at the diner. I had told our friends the story about the diner and I have wanted to go here to eat lunch, but have not made it yet.

A couple years ago there was an article in the Billings paper about this couple buying a diner in New York and bringing it to small town Wyoming. It was all very interesting and I wanted to go and check it out. Never did make it until now.

I will recommend this diner to anyone. The food was delicious. We had a burger with home made fries. The shakes are very good, just perfect. They need to work on their parking lot some more, nothing but rocks. Not the best for motorcycles but we managed.

The couple managed to keep everything original as best they could. Reading the history about it and diners across America was interesting. Too bad I couldn't bring a menu home with me.

There is a map of the United States on one wall with pins from guests. To my surprise there is a pin representing Meeteetse and Hardin. Makes me wonder if two certain women made a road trip. Would not surprise me in the least. Our friends enjoyed the diner too. It was worth the stop.

Colorado Trip

Gary and I had a wonderful time on our motorcycle vacation to Colorado. We went through four states and six national parks.

We spent a week with our good friends Pat & Sandi Breckenridge and Dale & Kitty Butterfield. These couples live in Billings and we met them in Hardin bright and early just after 6:00 am on Saturday morning. Made our way to Loveland Colorado through Wyoming. Got pretty warm after we left Buffalo and hit the famous Wyoming wind from Wheatland to the state line.

We lucked out with motels, we were able to stay in the Comfort Inn, Quality Inn and Best Westerns. We did stay in two mom & pop motels in Moab Utah and Jackson Wyoming. All the motels were under $100 except Jackson, there we paid $150. Every night we went out and drank beer. The first night I drank margarita's, they were very tasty after a hot day of riding. After that I stayed with beer. I broadened my horizons with beer, tried different kinds, but Gary stayed with his Coors.

The National Parks we traveled through were Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon, Arches, Teton and Yellowstone. Went over alot of mountain passes, the highest elevation was 12,000 feet at Independence Pass. Going over the Red Mountain from Durango to Ouray was a scary one. Very narrow mountain road with no shoulder and no guardrails or berms and a 9,000 foot drop to the bottom. Naturally we were on the cliff side of the road. This road also had many hair pin turns. I was so glad when we got to the bottom, seemed like it took forever.

Got caught in a hail storm near Kremmling Colorado, that was not fun, good thing the hail was pea sized. No place to pull over and nothing to hide under. We managed to find a place to turn off the highway, at a private driveway. Rode out the storm, lasted about 10 minutes. Otherwise the weather was nice. Cool in the mountains and very hot in the desert.

In Rocky Mountain NP we were able to see a moose with two calves. She stayed in the trees so getting pics was hard, but I managed. In Yellowstone we saw a sow grizzly with two cubs at Mt. Washburn. Got a bunch of good pics there. Otherwise we saw elk, buffalo and deer.

I got all my photos downloaded and uploaded onto Picasa. Now I just have to get them edited in photoshop. Will be making cd's for my friends. They are going to do the same with their pics.

Now I get ready for road trip number two to Idaho and California with Mom and Jen.

Here are some photos of us on our trip, the rest are on my picasa site.

pea sized hail stones, my lap

Rocky Mountain NP

I impressed people by getting on this thing



Lizard Head Pass

Pat & Sandi; Kitty & Dale; Patty & Gary

Black Canyon NP

Photo Contest

Beartooth Harley is having a photo contest during the summer. It just started this week. Every week on Sunday we will be given a list of items to photograph. All we have to do is get out and take photos. We have until Saturday to get the photos submitted. Voting will start the following week. The winner of the week will win a $25 gift card at the dealership. I have entered.

The top three vote getters for the weeks will then be entered for the grand prize. Grand prize winner will get a $100 gift card, second place $50 gift card and third place $25 gift card.

This week the items are deer, tree, flower, mountain, river. You can vote for me. I'm listed at pat. All you have to do is register at the Harley dealer website. http://www.beartoothonline.com/. Click on the Harley-Davidson sign. This will take you to a different page, from here click on the photo contest sign. It will list all the entrants and starting on July 11th, you can vote. If you want to register, there is a register link in the upper right hand corner.

Here are the photos that I have submitted for the week. The flower was taken at Shell Canyon last year. The deer was taken at Grandma's house a couple years ago. The mountains are the Tetons. The tree was taken at Craters of the Moon National Park in Idaho, it's called witch's broom. The river is the Yellowstone River taken at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone National Park.

Independence Day Weekend

To celebrate Independence Day, hubby and I jumped on the Harley and took a quick trip to Meeteetse Wyoming. The main goal was to visit my youngest sister and her family. We left town early in the morning and stopped in Rockvale for breakfast.

We got caught in Cody with the parade, so we got to watch the end of the parade. We were delayed for about a half hour, not bad at all. Made our way to Meeteetse. Got to the house and my brother in law made a trip to the Cody ER with my Mom. That ended up taking them all afternoon. Ken is fine, got some medicine for his abdominal pains. Got some good visiting in with my sister and nephews.

Gary and I went to the Cowboy for a quick bite to eat, just a snack to hold us over until supper. That's when we found out that the bar was going to have a live band that night.

Made all the arrangements for supper. Gary and I shared a pizza, we passed on the ribs. My sister and her hubby had the ribs though. We didn't get to eat in the bar as they were getting it ready for the band, so we sat in the cafe. With the little ones, not allowed in the bar.

After supper Gary gave Harley rides to my sister and nephews. The boys had to see their Mom ride first. Kevin was all excited. The boys had to wear a helmet. Gary took Kevin out twice, they went to town and back. Sam wasn't too sure about it, so he only went to the end of the check station and back. Sam didn't like wearing the helmet, said it made him feel like a bobblehead. I know what he means. Those helmets do get heavy. The boys wore Gary's helmet as it is smaller than mine and the helmet didn't fit Sam quite right.

We visited some more, then made our way back to the Cowboy for some drinking, dancing and listening to music. We were able to get a table for all of us. The bar was full, but not crowded, just right. The band is a local band and they played classical rock & roll.

At one point the band decided that the women needed to show off their stuff. Most of them were youngsters, so Bonnie and I decided to show them how it is done. We didn't win. The prize was a camping chair. Big Jim was the judge and the top three finalists were his granddaugher, wife of a band member and daughter of another band member with Big Jim's granddaughter winning it. Later he told me and Bonnie that he tried to keep it fair. We told him that they had youth on their side. It was all in fun. The dancing was after the shots of Pucker. Bonnie and I each had two shots each, made the dancing easier.

We also got patriotic hats, each one was different. I ended up trading mine for the cowboy looking hat, which I liked better. Ken sure had fun with his hat.

We didn't quite close the bar down, didn't get home until after midnight. Said my goodbyes to Bonnie and Ken as I wouldn't see them in the morning. Will be posting my photos on picasa later tonight. Mmom has her up.