Family Visit

Got some extra family visiting in Meeteetse over the weekend.  It was nice that Mary, Ed and the girls were able to make the trip to Wyoming.

I at least get to visit with my siblings once a year.  I got to visit Mary and Ed in April and Bonnie in August, this time I got an extra visit with Mary and Ed.  One of these times they will actually make it to my house in Hardin, but I have fun traveling to where they are.

Had a great time, climbed the hill with Gracie and Libby.  The girls made petroglyphs on the side of the road up the hill.  Gracie remembered what Aunt Bonnie told her on how the Indians in the old days made paint.  That was fun.

Ed set up his slack line in the yard and we all had fun playing with that.  No one was brave enough to balance on the thing, just Libby and only if I held her.

We went through the museum and had our pictures taken with our ancestors.  The girls were excited to see pictures of their Great Grandma in the museum.  They also were able to grind coffee beans, which we took home and brewed for morning coffee.  It was real good.  The girls decided that it is way easier to just buy the coffee already ground up, too much work to grind them yourself.

It was a nice and relaxing weekend just visiting.  Sure glad that the weather cooperated and we could get out and do stuff.

Yellowstone Ride

Went on the HOG Chapter's Annual Yellowstone Ride.  This is our 4th year participating and we enjoy it.  We spend the night in Chico and enjoy the hot pools.

For some reason, Gary and I are the experts on Cody.  They asked us where the best place to eat was. We mention Granny's because it's large enough for us, or there is the Irma or Sunset House.  It was decided we go to Granny's.

We had to be at the dealership before 9:00 am as the ride left promptly at 9:00.  We made our way to Cody for breakfast.  We ate at Granny's, they are very good at getting our large group inside and served.  We were smart this time getting gas.  The group always stops at the gas station at the top of the hill as you get into town, we gassed up at the station right next to the restaurant.  We also got a good parking space.

We made good time getting into the park.  Right at the entrance there was a moose down the hill but we couldn't see him very well and nobody really stops so that I could get some photos.

With all the road construction in the park, we rode to Canyon Village.  We made a stop at Artist Point for a break and photo ops.  We got a group photo but not on my camera.  One lady was kind enough to take the photo, then she asked if she could get in our group photo and send to her family.  It was fun.

We made it to Chico and got checked in around 6:00pm.  We had wonderful weather, nice for a September day.  The water in the pools wasn't as warm as it usually is.  One of the guys talked to worker and they think that the earthquake the park got last week some how messed up the water temperature.  The water was warm just not as warm as usual.

We didn't ride back with the group on Sunday morning.  They always ride back into the park and take the Northeast entrance and down the mountain into Red Lodge.  We had things to do at home.

We had a nice ride home, left Chico pretty early around 7:00 am, had breakfast in Big Timber.  We were home by 11:00 am.

Had a great time and look forward to next year.

Homeward Bound

Time to head home and we have some long days ahead of us.

We left Newport on Friday and it was sunny, on this day we are making our way to Kennewick WA.  It was on this day that we had a disaster with GPS.  Our friend Marty will follow a GPS to the letter instead of using it as a tool.  He will not read road signs, which I did so I knew where we were going.  Some how his GPS was all screwy, so he would get on the CB and ask Ron (who had his) which way to go.  It got very tiring.

I should go back here.  Our friends Pat & Sandy Breckenridge were going to go on this trip with us but due to Pat having to have shoulder surgery that was no way he could go.  He is our mapping guru.  He spent alot of time mapping out the route and making sure we would see some sites.  Marty felt that it was important that we follow this route to the letter.

Listening for 2 hours if Marty was headed in the right direction and driving though heavy city traffic near Portland we had about enough of GPS.  It was near Estacada that we all got separated.  At a traffic light we and Marty made it through but Ron got stopped, we pulled over to wait for Ron but he had pulled over further back.  We decided to turn around to find Ron.  This is where we got separated from Marty due to heave holiday traffic.

We didn't see them, so rode up the road about 5 miles before we could pull off in a safe manner.  This was a small two lane road with alot of traffic.  We pulled off into a gas station.  While we were filling up with gas, Gary was asking the attendant how do we get to Hood River as that was our next stop.  He gave us directions.

We all got back together and I told Marty how we are to get to Hood River.  He said that the GPS says we are to go up the road a ways.  I pointed out to the sign that said Hood River.  He reluctantly took it but was determined that we were wrong.  Turned out that the road the GPS wanted us to take took us to the same intersection in this little town.  The route that we took was about 10 miles shorter.  Marty so wanted to follow Pat's route, but I don't think 10 miles is going to hurt Pat's feelings.

Saturday we made our way to Missoula, again listening on which way to turn with the GPS.  Told Gary to just be quiet about it.  We managed to find our way to Missoula.  We had pulled over just before hitting Lolo Pass, when Ron said he wanted to lead.  I had overheard him tell his wife that it was getting monotonous listening to Marty ask which way to turn.  We managed to find our motel without any problems.

Sunday we made our way home.  Gary had told the others that we were going to head down on the interstate as we had 400 miles to go.  They agreed as they wanted to get home too.  Gary was even told to lead the way.  I was surprised because we didn't have a GPS to lead us home.

We do have a GPS unit and we even brought it on the trip but didn't use it.  We don't have the right mount for it on the bike.  Gary has a hard time seeing the screen and he couldn't hear it talk on the bike.  It works ok in the truck because he can hear it.

We had a good time despite GPS.  Our last bike vacation with GPS was 3 years ago and it might be another 3 years before we take another group bike vacation.

Newport Oregon

We spent 4 days in Newport.  The main goal was for the guys to go deep sea fishing.  They left bright and early on Tuesday morning, had to at the docks by 6:00 am.  The wives were able to sleep in and have a leisure breakfast.

In Newport we stayed at the Best Western which is right on Agate Beach, we all got water view rooms with small balconies.  No air conditioners in the room, so we just opened the sliding door and let the cool ocean breeze cool the room.  It was very relaxing and we slept very well.

While the guys were fishing, we took a taxi down to the Bayfront to meet them later on, we did some shopping.  They were done fishing at 12:00pm and all three said never again.  They all caught fish.  They caught 11 fish, 2 crabs and 3 sick men.  The water was so rough that they all got seasick.  Of all the fish they caught they only kept four fillets for all of us to eat.  Marty caught the first, Gary caught the biggest and Ron caught the most.  Ron also rented a couple of crab traps but he was only allowed to keep 2, had to throw all the females back.  The guys donated the rest of the fish to the crew on the boat.  No way we could get that home and shipping would have cost a fortune.

We found the restaurant that would cook the fish for us.  The rest of Tuesday was spent at the motel, all the guys took naps and we just relaxed which was nice.

On Wednesday we rode north and made our way to Tillamook.  Toured the cheese factory, ate some ice cream and bought some cheese for snacks in our rooms.  We ate a late lunch in Lincoln City at Mo's.  Their claim to fame is the best clam chowder, but I actually liked the chowder at the restaurant in our motel.

Since our lunch was so late, we didn't eat supper just snacked on cheese and crackers in the room with cocktails.  It was very good.

Thursday we rode south to Coos Bay to stop at the Harley Dealership.  We made several stops to enjoy the scenery and photo ops.  We had to get back to Newport before the fishing place closed to pick up the fish the guys caught.  It was on this morning that the fog was thick, we couldn't see the beach from the motel.

We took a taxi down to the Bayfront, got the fish took to the restaurant.  They cooked the fish 4 different ways, battered, blackened, baked and deep fried.  We were charged $10 per plate, we got a salad, the fish with fries.  It was all we could do to eat.  I liked the fish equally but my favorite was the blackened and baked.  The fish that we kept was ling cod and it was very tasty, not fishy at all.  Didn't stay out too late on Thursday, had to repack everything and start making our way home.

Agate Beach view from our room

Bayfront

Fishing rules

Our fish dinner

Oregon Trip

Just got home from a 10 day motorcycle trip to Newport Oregon.  We went with our friends Marty & Vickie Davis and Ron & Patty Steigerwald.  Had a fun time but as usual glad to be home.  Trials and tribulation with GPS that Gary will never ever take a trip with one.

Our worst weather was in Montana when we had rain.  It was bad when we left on the 22nd and made our way to Butte.  Got caught in a downpour 20 miles east of Livingston.  We wanted to make it to Butte before the bad stuff came.

On this trip we stayed in Best Western motels, you know what you are going to get and they are always nice.  We have stayed at the Butte one before.  We were going to walk across the street to eat at the Mexican restaurant but it was raining so bad that we ate in Perkins inside the motel.  Since we were guests we got a discount.

Saturday morning was nothing but rain for 400 miles.  It was just socked in at Butte.  From Butte we rode through the Wise River Valley and then made our way south through Salmon Idaho.  It was a long day over 400 miles to our next stop in Ontario Oregon.  We were glad to reach Ontario, finally got out of rain.

Sunday we made our way to Redmond Oregon.  Our friend Marty lead the whole way on the trip.  He just got a new bike and it came with GPS already on it.  Needless to say we had an interesting trip following the GPS instead of the road signs.  We found where the onion fields are in Oregon.

Driving in Oregon is slow, 55 on the two lane and you are not allowed to pump your own gas.  The attendant's wouldn't let you swipe your own card.  Some didn't care.  The attendant would hand the guys the pump and then they could pump.  Gas was expensive in Oregon, so you paid for it.

We made it to Newport on Monday, found where the guys fishing charter was located, got all the information that they needed for Tuesday morning.

Saw some beautiful sights to Newport.  No photos the first two days, just too rainy to get the camera out.  We saw the Painted Hills, a covered bridge and a ton of trees.

The group photo was taken at Mount Washington in the Deschutes National Forest just out of Sisters Oregon.

Marty & Vickie Davis; Patty & Ron Steigerwald; and us.