1300 Mile Motorcycle Tour

Arron and I decided it was time to upgrade our motorbikes.

What could be more fun?... I'll tell ya.
but first, here is my new bike.

We drove to Twin to get it.

Oh man, it's a blast!

Easy to ride like the Rebel, but bigger and faster!
I love that it has a buddy seat with a sissy bar.
(anyone want a ride?)

I was thinking about getting different saddle bags for it,

but today I discovered I can carry:

a gallon of milk, a quart of 1/2 and 1/2,

a quart of whipping cream, (hey, I like dairy)

a bag of ice, my wallet, Nalgene, and a pair of work clothes!

I guess the saddle bags will do.

Now for Arron's bike.

A Yamaha FJR.

We flew to Chino Hills, CA. to get it.

Here is where the real fun begins!
We rode it 1300 miles back home.

We were so close to where Lad is serving his mission,

and it was so close to his birthday,
we had to do something special.

We decided to drop off a Birthday cake for him.

It all worked out so perfectly,
 right down to stumbling upon the chapel he was in.

We decided not to see him,
but we talked with people there who knew him.

They were kind enough to let us leave this cake,
a balloon and a card in their car for him.

This was just the second day of our trip!

From CA. we went to Vegas for two days.

(Please keep in mind I've been wearing
a helmet all day in 100' weather.)

Vegas was great! We went to

Le' Reve, a comedy show,

walked the entire strip,
and saw the fountains at the Bellagio.

From Vegas we went on to Green Valley Spa in St. George.

Belive me, after four days in the saddle
we were ready to be pampered.

Reading and relaxing by the pool is all we wanted.
Oh yeah, and massages and dinner in our room.

Our Suite was right off the pool...perfect.

I'm thinking the Villa needs a pool.

We could have stayed here for months.

Arron actually finished a pleasure read!

St George was great to visit but a little too hot for us.

So we were on the road again, headed for Salt Lake City.

I forgot to mention our awesome intercom system.

It allows us to talk to each other while we ride!

What a difference it made for our trip.

Salt Lake turned out to be just as hot as Vegas and St.George.

 We stayed at Castle Creek Inn.
I thought they ran a little wild with their theme,

but the breakfast was good and the rooms were clean.

As odd as this may sound,
my favorite place to stay was
the Bluebell B&B in Eden ID. We stayed in the Rose Room.
The owner Jerry, was so sweet and accommodating.
He thought of every detail.
He made us homemade chocolate chip cookies,
had a log in the fireplace in our room,
and after he made us breakfast,
he wrapped up some banana bread to go.
It was so great to get-away for awhile.
With no plans or deadlines.
Just a new bike an open road and a Visa card!
 We felt rejuvenated and ready to get
back to work on the Villa
...and that's really where the fun begins!

Oreana 100

The last few years our family has really taken to dirt bike riding.

The boys like to leave for a full day and ride out across the desert.

They'll explore a hundred miles of back-country in an afternoon.

We live so close to the Owyhee Moutains,

that it has become one of our favorite places to ride.

To mix it up a bit, Arron will occasionally enter into a race.

This year he talked Quint into joining him in the Oreana 100.

So last Saturday Stacey and I went out to cheer them on.

It was early, and it was cold, but we came prepared.

After getting their bikes approved and their numbers

they were ready for the starting line.

I think my favorite part was when all the riders
turned off their engines. It was so quiet.

They all looked like a bunch of Indians

 sitting on the ridge just ready to attack.

With the signal to begin, they did attack with a thunderous roar!

It was exciting to see them all flying down the hill.

Stacey and I could'nt believe how quickly they were gone.

Before we knew it they were little ants on top of  the next ridge.

 After about an hour we made our way to the halfway point.

This is where we hoped to see them and  help them fuel up.

Then they were off again for 50 more miles.

It was a relief to see them both come back in one piece.

It makes for a very long day. All four of us were pretty tired.

Stacey and I had a wonderful visit and enjoyed
 all the people watching. 

I think we'll both be there next year, cheering them on.

Now that we know what to expect we'll be even better prepared.

4th of July Weekend

I Love the 4th. It may actually be my favorite celebration!

I mean, come on... when else do you get beautiful weather,
great food, parades and fireworks?

 It was hard to narrow down my photos for this post so
 I hope you enjoy all of them.

Arron and I started the morning off by riding our motorbikes to Melba for the parade.
The kids wanted to sleep in this year so we just took the dog.

Small towns are the best when it comes to patriotism.

I admit it's a little bit redneck,
but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Okay, I have to stop the 'parade of photos' for a second to say...

 when I saw this group of Mexicans on these beautiful,
well trained horses,

proudly holding the American flag, I teared up.

We fell in right  behind the last of the parade participants.
I felt like I was in the parade.

 Olive was such a good girl, following at Arron's side.
She didn't even mind when people asked,

"can I pet your Labradoodle?" 

I could see Arron just cringe.
(why would anyone mix a lab with a poodle?)

We saw flags everywhere. It was wonderful.

After the parade everyone just left their chairs
and went to the tractor pull.

No need to worry about them,
 they will still be there when you get back.

At the tractor pull I bought 6 raffle tickets for a new lawn tractor.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I am so impressed with how this small town can put on such an amazing celebration.

I just can't say enough, they even moved all the fun to Saturday so families could spend Sunday

the way it was intended to be spent.

We came back later Saturday night for the fireworks display.

Arron's a pro at finding the best parking spot for an easy exit.
While he parked we found a sweet spot for viewing the show.
We actually got showered with debris from the explosions.
It was awesome!

I love when they play "Great Balls of Fire" they light off these huge fire bombs.
You can feel the heat from them and they actually mushroom cloud above your heads.

 It's not the 4th of July without great food.
Thanks to Don and Suzanne we had a delicious BBQ.
Grilled chicken, Grandma Glady's Lemon Jello Salad,
(I will post the recipe soon)
Lemonade, Watermelon and all the fixin's.
After we ate we went to Caleb's for dessert
and a barn raisin' (well a shed)
Amy and I didn't know we were both making berry trifles.
Great minds think alike I guess.
They were very refreshing and a perfect finish to our meal.

Skye played with the cousins and Lad rode Amy's Harley.
She's a lucky, lucky girl. We're all a bit jealous.

I am so fortunate to live in this country.
 America is still the bees knees.
People go to great lengths to live here.
Others go to even greater lengths to keep us free.

God Bless America