Sunday, August 30, 2009

One more Month!!! Then heading South!

I can't for the life of me figure out what happened to my pictures on last Wednesday's post. They wouldn't enlarge as they usually do. So, I'm running another one of Ms Mega2 and her favorite pastime. Sleeping!!  Hopefully, it will work this time.
Recently while hiking near the Stockade Lake Dam in Custer State Park, we ran upon what at first looked like a little black kitty. I quickly scrambled and tried to get a picture. After a closer look, we discovered it was a Mink. We've seen a few of these out here but not many. I zoomed in quite a ways but still didn't get very close. 
He is in this picture, I think!! You may have to enlarge it to find him....hope it works.


This is Grandaughter Shala and son Pat. Shala is in her junior year at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She is out of the county for a couple months to attend a special Spanish language training session. We just got a message on Facebook that her plane landed and she is safe on the ground...in of all places... Argentina!  This will be quite an experience for her. We send her our prayers and will keep her in our thoughts. Please be careful Sweetie and have fun.
It is sure hard to believe that the Summer is almost gone! We have been here in the Black Hills for over 3 months. The time has gone so FAST!!  We have been really busy, yet I haven't gotten half the things done I wanted to. 













I'm doing a little work on the truck getting it ready for the trip south. It's a good thing I didn't build the garage big enough for it to go inside, cause there just isn't room for it!! But it sure is good to have a nice concrete floor to crawl around on to work on stuff. For the last 15 years, my workshop has been a Campsite, with gravel or rock to work on and if I'm lucky, a picnic table as a work bench.  Ah....it's the small things in life that count!!! Right?

We went on another nice ride on the Harley Softail yesterday. It was very enjoyable!!  It just seems to get better and better. In just 60 miles riding in the Black Hills, we rode through 2 BIG herds of Buffalo, saw several Antelope, Turkeys, Deer and of course the "Wild" Burros that eat out of your hand. (-:  We rode to Keystone and passed right in front of the Great Mt. Rushmore. WOW, what a glorious site. There is still a little traffic and lots of Motorcycles, but not as much as there has been. We will definitely do that trip again in September before we leave. The "pig tail" bridges and switchback roads of Iron Mountian Road, along with the tunnels, are something quite spectacular! One of the Tunnels is especially memorable. At the far end, as you are going through,  you can see the Presidents faces at Mt. Rushmore perfectly framed by the tunnel.  Beautiful!!  There was enough traffic this time that I didn't feel safe stopping for pictures, so we will go back and record that!

We had our Rv'ing  friends the "Hero Makers" roll in yesterday to spend a few days with us.  They have been on a "Mission", meeting with Missionary Groups across the country and into Canada. Rocky and Sherri Rhoades have just gotten a "new to them" Teton 5TH wheel and also a "new to them" Volvo 770 truck. The interesting thing about his truck is that it is an EXACT duplicate of mine. They came from the same freight hauling fleet. It is identical...I mean right down to everything. (Pictures later)  We got them all settled in just before we headed out on our Motorcycle ride. Meanwhile, they grabbed a much needed NAP! They have also been BUSY!!!  Seems to be the story of an RV'ers life!!! We LOVE it!!

This morning it's off to Church.  Rocky and Sherri will be going with us, Praise the Lord!!  I know they will enjoy our Cowboy, down home style Church. Then right after Church, we have some new friends that have been reading our Blog and want to stop by and say hello.....you'll hear more about them later.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave us some comments in the section marked "comments" below. We love to hear from you.  Remember.... we NEVER know you've been here if you don't say something.  We need some encouragement to either keep this nonsense up or shut it down.  Thanks to all of our loyal readers.

Hope your summer has been as pleasant as ours! God Bless you all....

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wedenesday..

13 comments:

Jerry and Suzy said...

Well, here's our comment, Mike, and we know what you mean about needing feedback to make a choice about keeping up or shutting down. We've been through that a couple of times and actually did shut down for a time. Just couldn't keep quiet, though, and came back!

Never saw a real live mink -- good for you.

Suzy says Miss Mega2 has grown quite large! Will she ever stop growing?

Rick said...

Great blog today, Mike and the pictures enlarged just fine. I can see you might need a good spotter when you're backing your Volvo into your garage! I enjoy hearing about your rides around the area, like Keystone and Mt. Rushmore, as it brings back such great memories of our time there. It's a beautiful spot for sure.

Nick Russell said...

Where does the time go? Can't believe our busy summer is already coming to an end.

squawmama said...

Hey Mike & Pat... Sounds like you’re really enjoying that motorcycle... I know exactly the tunnel with Mount Rushmore framed in it... I took the best picture there... Love your area and I know your having a great time... We'll be there next Apr/May to show our friends the beauty of the Black Hills... Thanks for posting! Have Fun!!!

Travel Safe
Donna

Marilyn Hensley said...

I have been faithfully reading your blog every Sunday and Wednesday first thing in the a.m.. Please keep them coming. We were on the parking crew at last years Gypsy Journal rally in AZ and also stayed at North Ranch for a week while you were there but I'm not real good at meeting new friends. You do not know us but I feel like your old friends thru your writing.

Jim said...

Mike & Pat,
That herd of burros on Iron Mtn Rd were like highway bandits when they caught me. They blocked the whole road and wouldn't let me past without a donation.
I hope Shala enjoys Argentina. Its been 20 yrs since I went down there to climb Mt Aconcagua. I loved the place and the friendly people. She's probably in the big city, I was on the western border with Chile, near the town of Mendoza.
Hope to cross paths with you guys this winter.

Carol said...

Well, now, if you shut down, you are in B-I-G trouble, my friend. You have got me doing my own blog, a blog for our area AND an on line Bible study blog. Oh wait! If you shut yours down you could take over one of mine! Nah! We enjoy your travels with you. I think I would like going through those tunnels on a motorcycle lots better than with a car!!!

Keep on keeping on! We love you! :)+

Bruce said...

Sure can relate to doing maint. on gravel or dirt. Doesn't matter how you lay you are always on a rock. I put down carpet but that only works a little. Looking forward to your photo's of Mt. Rushmore. Bruce

Joy and Phil said...

Do not shut down! I repeat, DO NOT SHUT DOWN! Your blog entries are always well worth reading and your pics some of the best.
Mike and Pats Travels is one of the greatest blogs around and your skill at the keyboard is the reason (of course MissMega2 helps a lot :) Not bad for a cowboy!

Debbie Goode said...

The summer has gone fast for us here in Indiana as well. We won't be heading south til late October...can't wait...

Jack said...

Why would you shut down your blog!!! Read your statistics - I'd bet it is pretty well read!

Say hi to Rock and Sheri for us. Does your key work in their truck? It should :)

See you soon.....

Margaret Wright said...

Hi Mike and Pat -- love your blog and it's interesting to see the mink. We saw something, sadly, that looked like that dead on the side of road. I couldn't figure out what it was, but now I think maybe it was a mink. I just wanted to say thanks again for helping us out the other day -- everything seems to be working fine now. We gave you a shout-out in our blog post for the Custer area -- check it out at http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-470275. We'll try to look you all up in Congress this winter -- travel safely and take care.
Margaret and Ian

Anonymous said...

Hang in there with the blogging, Mike; how else will we know what you are up to?!?

Cheers,
Don & Fannie