We're back home!!!

That was a quick, long trip. 800 miles in 2 days....Whew!!!! I'm sorry we took off and left you all in suspense Wednesday morning. Here's what happened. I have been looking around the area for a 2-wheel Cargo Trailer. I always have something to haul and needed something to haul it with. Plus, we were also looking for a good Polaris 4x4 ATV....

Much to my surprise as I was doing my usual check of the "For Sale" ads, I ran across a guy that happened to have a nice cargo trailer and a Polaris 4x4. In talking to him on the phone, he sounded like a reputable person and the pictures of both units looked good. Only problem was, they were completely across the state near Sioux Falls. I wouldn't have driven that far to check on just one, but for both we decided to do it.

We took off shortly after 5am Wednesday morning. It was a nice day and the weather was perfect......by 2pm our time we pulled into Chuck Miller's place in Brandon, SD. We looked at both units and they were just what we wanted, so we did a little bargaining and made a deal!! We hooked up the trailer, loaded up the Polaris and headed back West... made it about 80 miles to Mitchell, SD, where we stopped at the R&R RV park. By then it was HOT & HUMID!!! Clouds started gathering and a storm was brewing. There came a "knock" at the door and we were advised a Tornado was spotted North of Town. We could come into the office bldg if we wanted but we were both so tired, we just crashed. The storm stayed North of town...that was good! You know some times you are just too tired to worry....ever been there?

After a nice evening of rest, we came on home Thursday. It was GREAT to be HOME.... even Megabyte2 was HAPPY to be back.

Anyhow, here is what we bought:

This is Chuck Miller and behind him is the 6x12 Cargo trailer.

(click on all pictures to enlarge)

Here we are parked at a Rest Area headed for home. The Cargo Trailer pulls Great!

This little pop-up Camper comes in handy,,,,,Pat is making some lunch..

We were so busy, we didn't get any pictures of the Polaris until we got it home. Here it is in the Shop right after we unloaded it....out of the trailer. It is a Sportsman 500.

Trailer is finished off inside including a Line-X finish on the floor and several tie downs.

Yesterday we took the Polaris out for a short spin across the road on some National Forest land. Here is a picture of Ms Pat taking her try at it. The Polaris runs out good and we are happy with both units....More toys!!! We are filling up that new Pole Garage! :-)

We have so much to be Thankful for !!!! Praise the Lord!!

Today we are looking forward to our Great Friends Tom and Sally Gierisch arriving and spending a few days with us.. They have just had their Teton 5Th wheel painted with a FULL BODY paint job! We are anxious to see it. I'll get a picture of it and show you how it looks Wednesday.

God Bless you all...

Happy Birthday Scooter!!!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday.

Taking a TRIP!!!

I don't have much time to Post, as this morning at 5:00 am we are heading East from Custer to Brandon, SD. That's nearly 400 miles East across the state, close to Sioux falls. We plan to be there hopefully by 4pm.....we lose an hour changing from Mountain time to Central.

I didn't want to take off and leave all my faithful readers wondering.. This is not an EMERGENCY in any way!!!!....Nothing is wrong. It's a trip to check out something that we have been looking for, for a while. I will leave it at that and you can guess....????...... NO, it's not a Motorhome!!!!:-)

We are driving our Chev Pickup with the camper on the back.........it will take a day over and a day back. We couldn't leave Mega2 here by herself, so she is riding along with us!! We'll see how that goes. LOL

I want to thank all my great Friends and Family that sent and called with the Birthday wishes...I had a GREAT birthday....went fishing!!!!!:-)

We have GONE CAMPING!!!

Please drop by Sunday and I'll tell you all about it....Maybe, I'll have something to show you....

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!!

God Bless You All!!! Travel safe.

Mike

*PressurePro tip of the week:

Do I need to replace my rubber valve stems with metal valve stems?

PressurePro™ recommends the use of metal valve stems in conjunction with PressurePro™ Sensors. We do have a few customers that install the sensors on rubber stems temporarily until they can switch to metal. If the rubber valve stems are relatively new, in good condition and not too long, you can probably get by with them for a while but you should inspect them on a regular basis. We do recommend, however, that you change the rubber stems to metal as soon as you can to avoid possible problems.

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday.

Cowboy COOK OUT!!!! UmmUmm, GOOD..

(click on all pictures to enlarge)

Friday evening we had a great Cowboy Cookout Supper at the Broken Arrow Campground.

Our great friends and owner operators of The Broken Arrow invited a local Cowboy cookout specialist into their Campground for all the folks staying with them. They are nearly full, but give them a call and they will get you in if they can.

This young local Cowboy "Clayton" will bring all his fixings to the campground and puts on an ALL you can eat Steak Supper. He brings all his own stuff right down to the fire and all the plates and utensils. He does this at many of the local campgrounds in the area....It is SUPERB!!!

As Clayton begins cooking the meal, folks start gathering.

The Fire is HOT and the Steaks are lookin good!!

Potatos are cooking...

Cowboy Baked Beans are steaming...

More and more Campers are congregating and watching Clayton and his wife slave over the fire...Over 60 people showed up for this Cowboy Supper.

Ms Pat managed to get a shot of me telling some of my "secrets" to Jim (another Jim) who is staying in the campground.

Our good friends Jim and Ellie Meacham were there to enjoy the great Cowboy Supper with us. We had been hiking earlier that morning with Ellie in Custer State Park.....Ellie is showing us how Geocaching works......We found two this morning!!!!

Everyone got all the steak and fixings they could eat and for those that so indulge, Clayton had also prepared a Peach Cobbler. Ms Pat and I don't do desserts....but it looked and smelled pretty good!

Great Friends, Great Food, Great Weather,,,,,We have so much to be thankful for!!

Yes,, it was a GREAT WEEK !!!!!!!

Only thing missing was YOU!!!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you all are enjoying life. Be safe!!! AND HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all you Fathers out there.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Suzuki FOR SALE,,,,

(click on picture to see more)

Suzuki Marauder

My 1998 Suzuki Marauder 800 Motorcycle is still for sale. I haven't really been trying to sell it, but now I'm motivated... I see a HARLEY in my future.....A Heritage Soft Tail Police Officers Special Edition. It is a BEAUTY and like NEW!!! Owned by my best friend and buddy Roger Haddix. Roger told me he had it sold and I almost cried..... He called the other day and said "the guy backed out for some financial reason"..... I jumped with JOY!!! Praise the LORD! I procrastinated on it first time around and I won't do it again. I don't know how I will pick it up as it's in Florida, or if it will fit on my Truck without modifying my Rampage. But where there is a will, there is a way,,,right? RIGHT!!! We'll MAKE it work!!!

So, if somebody wants a nice LIKE NEW (only 3500 miles) Suzuki Marauder, I'll make you a deal....It is a "jewel",,,,,,I just put a new battery and new front Dunlap tire on it.....It runs Strong, Loud and FAST!!! I have had several people ask me what kind of a Harley it is.

Give me a call or email,,,,,,,I've got to sell it, sure can't use 2 bikes...Ms Pat says she is NOT interested in having her own bike, so it's GOTTA GO. $2500.00, or make me an offer.

Wanna see a picture of the Harley,,,,,,OK..... hang on a minute I'll get one

Here it is,,,,,,,Click on the picture to enlarge it and take a close look......It's a BEAUTY!!!! I sure wish it was up here in the Hills right now! I can't wait to get back in the Harley corner. I have been sorry ever since I sold my Wide Glide and my Hugger when we went full timing. I have had dozens of Bikes and I enjoyed the Harleys most. A Harley will "spark" a whole new interest in my life and in Motorcycling......Can you tell I'm excited?

Well, friends that's about it for this Wednesday. If we aren't traveling, building something, remodeling something or repairing something, it limits what I have to talk about. The STORMS are starting to move in here in the Black Hills, so I hope I don't have something exciting to tell you about them!! We had a "smidgen" of HAIL the other day and my heart quickly jumped up into my throat!!!

Our GREAT friends Jim and Ellie Meacham went by our place yesterday in their beautiful Phaeton,,,and tooted there air horn. They were headed south to the Broken Arrow Campground. Yesterday they stopped by for a visit and brought us some of Jim's homemade "Salsa". It was great to see them. We already have a BIG cookout scheduled for Friday and we're planning a few "Geocaching" trips in this area.

PressurePro Tip of the week...... What causes erratic pressure readings ; i.e., pressure reads higher than the actual tire pressure, then bleeds down to a pressure lower than the actual tire pressure?

This can be caused by a "weak or worn" dill valve. When the dill valve is depressed by the Sensor, a small amount of air could release into the area between the Sensor insert and the dill valve while not depressing the dill valve far enough to keep the air passage from the tire open continuously.If the dill valve closes off air from inside the tire, then the air caught in the above-described area can be compressed to high pressures (i.e., 150 PSI). It would then stabilize at a pressure lower than the actual tire pressure (i.e., 20 PSI). If the dill valve has closed off air from the tire, then the Sensor cannot read the air pressure inside the tire. A possible solution is to replace the dill valve. Tires and valve stems should be carefully inspected prior to installation of the PP system to ensure that they are in good condition. Defective valve stems and Dill valves must be replaced.

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!!

God Bless you all!!

Remember to tell your kids you love them,,,they may not be around forever....

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Finally,,,,we went Fishin!!!!

Dad Gum,,,we have only lived in the Black Hills for 14 Summers now, and this is the COOLEST spring we have seen.............Plus, it's been rainy and dreary for days on end!!! Yesterday when we got up it was 34 deg.....burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... Now I like cool weather, better than HOT, but this every day of fog and rain has me with cabin fever....This morning it is 46*.... now that's much better! But it rained hard most of the night. The drought has "shore nuff" ended!

Watching the weather closely, it looked as though FRIDAY might be a break. I told Ms Pat "we're goin fishing". She never turns down a fishing trip. So we got up,at the usual time (you know what that is:-) and we were FOGGED IN......OH NO!!! not again! Shucks!

But I could tell as the sky began to lighten up in the East, that the sun was gonna shine! I told Pat. "Let's get ready, this will burn off in a couple hours". So we got all hooked up, lunches packed and we were READY TO GO!! We were outta here by 0700 and on the lake by 0815. It looked like a good day.

.
When we go Fishing at our favorite lake at Angostura Recreation Area, we have to go right through Wind Cave National Park. They have a herd of a couple hundred Buffalo. This morning they were right on the highway (US385). I just had to stop and take a quick picture to show you..... We usually see Deer, Antelope, Coyotes, Prairie Dogs and sometimes even a heard of ELK on our way to the lake...

We had a GREAT morning Fishing, the weather was beautiful. We quickly caught 5 fish,,,,,but as of June 1ST all Walleye have to be 15" instead of 14". WOW, the BIG ones took the day off!! We had to release everything we caught. By noon the heavy clouds were building in the Northwest......I was watching it closely, nobody else was catching anything.....So we decided we better call it a day. We were home by 3pm. GREAT DAY, but NO FISH. No big deal, like they say there is NO BAD fishing day!....... besides we didn't have to CLEAN fish!!!!! Incidentally, it did rain on us on the way home....

OK, I have had lots of requests and I'm sorry I have been neglecting posting any pictures of MEGABYTE2.........But she is doing well,,,,,,,and has been entertaining Ms Pat and I like you can't believe.... Here are some recent pictures.


She says "Is dinner ready, I'm hungry"!

She still LOVES to watch the "BOIDS".......We don't have as many "boids" here as we did in AZ. But when we say "BOIDS" and look at her, she immediately looks to the back window and her bird feeder. Then she sneaks up on them......


She can't wait each morning for us to get "HER" bed made up.....Sometimes she helps!!! Sleeping is one of her favorite pastimes. She is the QUEEN!!!!


Now isn't she just about the most beautiful Kitty you ever saw?

Here is Ms Megabyte2 in Texas the day after Christmas last year, just a few weeks after she and I met. We made friends quite quickly,,,but it took Ms Pat a while to see how much she meant to me.

However, we still decided that we wouldn't take her with us. Now, she and I kept becoming more and more acquainted and getting to know each other.... I could tell it was a "Special" friendship. I couldn't quite understand it. This had never happened to me before......she and I spent a lot of time together. Ms Pat still wasn't quite sure. She wouldn't let me take her into our Coach House and definitely in NO WAY into the TETON!!! She had been living under an old shed out behind our lot and each morning I would go outside about 4:30am and look for her. Sure enough there she would be, appearing out of the darkness. We were always so happy to see each other.


In a few weeks we would be leaving and I stated to Ms Pat that I didn't know if I could leave her and that I would worry about her. But I agreed, that we best not take her. We had never had a pet with us before in the 14 years we had been full timing. We didn't even have a pet before we retired and sold the house and hit the road....


Then,,,,,,Ms Pat started melting,,,,,she too started becoming friends with Ms Mega2. She is such a friendly Kitty. Soon it was OK to let her in the Coach house!!! Even on the Sofa. WOW, WHAT!!! :-) One day,, just for the fun of it I said, "Can Ms Mega2 come in the Teton? Oh, OK, but not for long", was the answer. Much to my surprise, I was shocked!


It was getting close to the day we were leaving, heading to our place in Arizona. Friends were saying "You can't leave her"! But we still thought we would. We were madly getting ready to go. The last 2 days Ms Mega2 must have sensed something was up, because she spent an awful lot of time at our place and most of it was perched right on our front step. Ms Pat said, "She knows we are going to leave". I said "Yes, she must, it's gonna be hard". I couldn't sleep, thinking about how she would be there all alone. Would she miss me? I was sure gonna miss her.


It was about one day before we were to leave and Kathy Detweiler sent me an email and it stated "You can't leave Ms Megabyte2, she is an ANGEL KITTY". WOW, Kathy you will never know how that email struck home......., it buckled me. I told Ms Pat what Kathy had said...that she WAS an ANGEL KITTY. I told her that our son had sent us the Kitty. He had a cat named Megabyte that was with him for 19 years and had died just 3 weeks after he passed away. Megabyte was a special cat to him. For 19 years, they were very close....Hummm, heavy stuff. So, Pat and I made the decision that evening before we left that Megabyte2 was now part of the family and she was going!!!!


That was almost 6 months ago.......Both Ms Mega2 and we have made a lot of adjustments. Most of you know of all her problems and how traumatic it was for us all. Her being an expectant mother really complicated things. But we survived and so did Ms Megabyte2. She is a happy Kitty now and I would like to personally and publicly thank Kathy Detweiler for her email. It was an email from Heaven!..... This little Kitty has given us more joy and pleasure in the last 6 months than I can ever tell you about....Who would have ever thought?? She is the joy of our hearts and neither of us have ever been sorry we made the decision...... God works in strange ways and further confirms my Faith.


God Bless you all................


It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!


Mike


This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday.

Do You Remember these?

(click on "old gas pump" in lower left corner to go to my Web Album)

This Old Gas Pump and Tanker Wagon are on display in my neighbors yard. Both he and his Father were in the Gas and Fuel distribution business.

This type gas Pump really brings back old memories to me. When I was a young boy these were the common pumps in use at all service stations. As I recall, gasoline was about 0.19 per gal.

The pumps had a long handle on the side that would hand pump the gas up into the glass chamber at the top. The numbers you can see behind the glass are the gallons. That is how you could tell how much gas you used. Just fill the chamber to the top, then use it down and it shows how many gallon you used. You would use 10 gallons, then if you needed more, fill it up again and fill your car or truck on up. However, back in those days "self service" was not even heard of. The attendant filled your tank, washed your windshield and checked the air in your tires. Plus, they would check the oil, water, battery and anything else you needed done. All part of the service, no charge. Ah, those were the days. I don't suppose many of you were born at that time.....were you? Do you remember these? Let me know in comments below...

We have been having some kind of weather lately.... cold, rain and fog almost every day for a over a week. Again at 0330 this morning, I was awakened by the pitter patter of rain on the roof. Gee, I'm in need of some SUNSHINE!!! Every once in a while we get a couple hours of sun, but then the clouds start rolling in and first thing you know it's raining again.....but it sure is great for the grass, it's growing like mad!

The weather forecast shows a possible clearing Friday, so we are hoping to go fishing again. Other than that, we've sure been shipping out the PressurePro systems. Sent out 4 systems yesterday and 2 Monday. So not all is lost as folks continue to see the great safety advantage of having the No.1 Tire Pressure Monitoring system watching their tires as they drive down the road.

PressurePro Tip of the Week: You can unplug the Monitor and it will not lose it's memory even if it is unplugged for an extended time. However, when you plug it back in, it will take up to 5 minutes for it to display the pressure readings. During that time, it will display 3 dashes (---).

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!

Thanks for dropping by...

Mike




This Blog Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Good Friends and not so Good Weather...

The winner of the $232.1 M lottery steps forward. My congratulations to this young Cowboy. Sounds like he and his family can really use it. Read the story:

A 23-year-old South Dakota rancher whose family has bought and sold scrap metal to make it through tough times claimed a $232.1 million Powerball prize Friday, the ninth largest jackpot ever won in the multistate lottery game. Neal Wanless works with his parents on the 320-acre family ranch about 11 miles east of Mission in Todd County, an area of rolling green pastures, grazing cattle, fields of crops -- and some of the deepest poverty in the nation. For more of this story, click on the link below:

RAPID CITY JOURNAL

Roger and Susan Haddix from Tallahasse, Florida got here Tuesday about noon and spent until Saturday morning with us. We had one pretty decent day out of the 3. So we took a hike out in Custer State Park.

(click on all pictures to enlarge)

That's the Cathedral Spires on the Needles Highway right behind them. I like to hike up, under and around the base of them but unfortunately we didn't have time.....maybe next time.

Roger wanted to see an old Gold Mine Site and we remembered where one was...... just up this road...


Ah, Ha, we found it.....right over here.

This is the base of it. We didn't want to get to close as those old wood pilings and beams aren't very safe.

The shaft went way up......a long way....

...... all the way up to this old building.....

Then we stopped by this old Rock Quarry....

Next was the Needles Eye tunnel... (hard to believe Tour Buses make it through this isn't it?)


Then of course the Needles eye!

Sooner than we were ready for them to leave, they had to load up and "Move On".

Off they went yesterday into the fog and mist........Goodbye Roger and Susan. We sure enjoyed your visit, sorry the weather wasn't better and wish you could have stayed a few more days or weeks.....

Hurry back.......

We're sure hoping this weather clears up. Hopefully it will in the near future and I'm ready.

Many thanks to all of our friends that made comments on my last Blog,,,,,,and contacted us direct. It was very helpful for us at a troubling time.....

We have so much to be thankful for........

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

God Bless you all.

Mike

This Blog Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

In Loving Memory. Scott A. McFall

Todays Blog is dedicated to My Best Friend, our Beloved Son.

SCOTT A. "SCOOTER" McFALL

Scott, the weeks and months since you left us have been hard. You left a very, big hole in our world, one that can never be filled. All we have are Memories, but they are beautiful Memories. We thank God for the 47 Years that we got to enjoy you.

We miss you everyday Son. However, we know you are in the Lord's good hands now and helping him with his work. The influence you had on our life is cherished forever ...

We Love You,,,,,,,,,

Carry on my Man!!