Thursday - Sturgis, SD

Woke up early today so played a few games on the computer, ate some breakfast and worked for about an hour until we left to go riding. Let's just say the route Pat had picked out was not followed to the letter and we ended up on some gravel roads not knowing where we were, but hoping we were going the right way.

As usual Pat got us heading the right direction (I don't know how he does it). The ride was a good one as we had a road that was just one curve after another. Went by this one place that had a water wheel.

Got back to Sturgis and made all the shops in town. I couldn't find a shirt I liked so will probably come home without one, which is just fine, like I need another shirt.

Had lunch at Bob's and it was great. We had great service as we were the only ones in the restaurant. The food was great, we both had empty plates when we left.

Came back to the RV and worked way too long while Pat took a nap. I'm hoping that work will slow down (have I mentioned this before?)

Started watching a movie on HBO and then lost our signal as it is currently raining and now starting to hail (small).

The skys have cleared and I believe the weather will be cooler thru the weekend. We'll go on another ride tomorrow. I know everyone is looking forward to the July 4th weekend..... more to come............

Wednesday-Sturgis, SD

I woke up feeling better than yesterday, not A-1, but better. I worked for about an hour then got showered to do some sight seeing with my guide, Pat.

Walked out of the RV and it is HOT! I've been spoiled with the cool weather in Colorado. Pat said that yesterday was much cooler in the morning but did warm up in the afternoon. I think it's supposed to get to the upper 90's today. I feel like I'm back in Austin, TX.

We left in the Vue and Pat took me around to the areas he had traveled by the BMW yesterday. We saw the bars that are filled to the max at the Harley Bike Rally in August. It looked like they were starting to get everything ready for the upoming rally. In fact in town it looks like everyone is revving up for the August event.

This is the sign for Buffalo Chip Bar

This is the Broken Spoke

Above is the Full Throttle

We even saw a postal delivery truck with a harley painted on the side and pictures of Harley's on the back. The whole town is all about Harley's.

We drove by Bear Butte, it was named this by the Indians as they thought it looked like the siloutte of a sleeping bear.

With all the lush green grazing look how fat the cows are. They like to eat as much as I do.

We drove to Spearfish to do some grocery shopping, we went to Walmart and Safeway, our stores of choice since leaving Texas.

Since it was so hot we came back to fix ourselves some lunch and then it was back to work for me. As the day progresses I am feeling better.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cool in the morning so we will go riding in the area on the BMW. Hopefully more pics to follow.....

Tuesday-Sturgis, SD

Well today was not a good day for me. My stomach was giving me fits. (if you know what I mean) I worked longer than I should and during this time Pat went scoping out the area and to do the laundry. He cooked dinner and I ate hoping all stays down. I have no idea what brought this on, I think it's just a bug.

I'm hoping that tomorrow I will wake up feeling like usual and if I do we will go riding in the area. There are so many things to see in and around here.

I do have a pic of wildlife right here behind the RV that Pat took this am.

Speaking of wildlife I asked Pat about the regulations regarding pets and he said that per our neighbors there was a couple that just let thier little dog out of the RV with no supervision or leash and it has never been seen again. Blaze is never out of our site at any RV park.

Hoping tomorrow is a feel better day......

Monday on the way to Sturgis, SD

When Pat saw that they let dogs drive in Colorado we decided to leave town. LOL See the cute pic. At least they have one driving and one showing him the way.

We left about 7:00 while there was still frost on the roof of the car and drove and drove and drove. Wyoming was lush and green with not many trees until you got to the northern part and then this carries over into South Dakota.

It was a loooong day as we didn't arrive at our destination until 4:40. This RV park offers 3 areas to park, the bottom, middle or top of the hill. Of course we chose the top. Here's our current view.

Above is our RV.

Once we got set up I worked for close to an hour. I'm happy to say that the wifi and phone both work good here.

I'm totally worn out and I didn't even drive. We didn't get the Dish TV working yet so will have to work on that tomorrow. I'm looking forward to our bike rides in this area.

More pics to come so keep tuning in.......

Sunday - Grand Lake, CO

We woke up this morning and Pat was not feeling his usual self. We decided that today would be a veg out day.

We did'nt do much of anything except watch the tube and lay around. Blaze even beat us to bed again by about 30 minutes. I guess hanging out in the bars wears him out.

We're leaving early in the morning on the way to Sturgis. This is what we will be leaving. Here are the pictures taken from the RV of our current views.

Till tomorrow....

Saturday-Chili Cook Off - Grand Lake, CO

Got up early as we had to get the RV to the park for the Chili Cook Off. We ended up cooking under a tent provided by one of the Colorado Chili Cooks but did get to have the RV behind us on the road. As we were waiting around and talking to the Colorado Chili Officials and others that we setting up thier cooking spots we found out that Carolyn and Bucky along with Tim and Connie Collier were going to be at the cook off. We were surprised to hear this as thought we might be the only Texas cooks here.

We set our tents up together and visited and cooked. This is a great cook off with lots of participation from the locals. In fact this cook off has so much audience participation that they gave us beans to put in our chili after we turned in for judging as they sell tasting cups and spoons for $5.00 a person. This cook off judges Red and Green Chilis and also Salsa. So with your $5.00 ticket purchase you could taste all of the chili's and salsa you wanted. As we were the first spots after the purchase of the tickets we gave out all our Chili while they were still selling tickets. Some people were dissapointed as they wanted to taste Texas Chili.

Above is Blaze and me after turn in and giving out all our chili. Judging is over and its time for the winners to be called. When it came to the Red Chili Texas took all but 1 out of the 10 possible. Number 10 went to Texas, number 9 was Colorado, number 8 was Texas and husband of the number 10 winner, number seven was Allen Dean from Johnson City, TX and then Number 6 was Pat, Number 5 was Laura, Number 4 was Connie, Number 3 was Tim, Number 2 was Carolyn and Number 1 was Bucky. I beat Pat again. Then since this was the Colorado State championship they had to have 3 Colorado winners so the next numbers they called they stated that if you weren't from Colorado don't come to the podium.

The girl in this picture is a 2 time Terlingua Winner. She placed tenth at this cook off.

Winners 5 and 6 - Laura and Pat.

Since Bucky won 1st he had to buy us all a drink so off to the bar we went. Dogs were allowed in so Blaze got to go to his first bar.

We had so much fun today and of course placing in the cook off didn't hurt either. After a couple of drinks and then splitting a great hamburger at the bar we drove the RV back to our site. Then Pat got DWI (dialing while intoxicated). It started at the Bar where he called Norma and my Dad, then at the RV he called Lynn, Chad (the young couple we met from Nebraska), Samantha and then my Mom. Everyone had to hear how Texas beat Colorado at thier own Chili Cook off. Now we know why they don't like Texans.

We retired at 9:00 and Blaze was the first one to the bed. He had a great day too.

I have pics of our current RV site. It is so nice, the lake view is beautiful. I'll include those in my next blog. You don't want to miss it.

Friday Granby-Grand Lake, CO

It is beautiful here. Everything is green and there is water running everywhere. No EXTREME burn ban signs here, they are under moderate fire warning.

We went into Granby this morning and found a nice grocery store with good prices. Pat got his bread and a few produce items.

We later went to the town of Grand Lake to scope out where the chili cook off is to be held, we found one small park in town with no area for an RV to park so went to the Chamber of Commerce to inquire about the cook off. We found out that there is no area for RV's you have to park the RV in a parking lot quite a ways from the cooking area. Oh well, I guess we'll find out more tomorrow when we sign in for the cook off.

Later we took a drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park to Estes, CO. WOW! We drove up to an altitude of 12,000+ and the road was sheer drop offs several thousand feet down. SCARY!!! I'm telling you Pikes Peak is a walk in the park compared to all these other roads we've been on. At the top the snow is everywhere. We saw plenty of wildlife along the road, moose and elk. It was beautiful scenery.

I'm sorry the pics aren't better quality but these were taken with my phones as Pat forgot to get the camera. We didn't stop along the road to take pics they were all taken while riding in the car.

Arrived at Estes Park. WOW! People everywhere, its kind of like Fredericksburg with all the shops and people on the sidewalks. We did get out and go to one shop as Pat wanted to buy a compass for setting our Dish TV.

Then back on the scary road back to Grand Lake/Granby. We didn't get home until around 5:30-6:00.

Got to get rested up for the cook off. Stay tuned for that.....

Thursday On the way to Grand Lake, CO

We left Colorado Springs at 10:30 on the way to Grand Lake. It was a long way up....

Look at the altitude on the GPS and we're not at the top yet.

There is snow everywhere. Now we must go down.....

We made it to the Arapaho National Park, where we will stay until Monday, not counting the time we spend in town at the Grand Lake chili cook off. I'm using my mifi here but have great AT&T phone service. We took a drive to the town of Grand Lake, we thought we might stop at a grocery store for a loaf of bread, but all were over $4.50 so tomorrow we will head back to the town of Granby in hopes of cheaper food.;although today when we filled up with diesel we spent $485.00. What can I say about priorities?? LOL

Granby Lake and Grand Lake are big and beautiful although they lost a lot of trees due to the beetle infestation that killed most of the trees. We'll send more pics later.......