I am sharing a bathroom with Ron and Laura and have already suggested a code to indicate which one is in the bathroom at any given time. If I'm going to walk in on someone it needs to be Laura. Ron's a super nice guy but I'm just not sure he's up with the program. More on that later.
Woke up with the rooster again and, not wanting to disturb anyone, decided I'd ride into town and try to find something. It was like 6:15 a.m. and I didn't expect to find anything open but lucked into an early starting restaurant and managed breakfast. Afterward, I took a short ride back up the canyon and took a couple of pictures trying to test out a wide angle lens with an adapter. Took 'em and don't see any real difference...something tells me I need to work on this a little more. But not now.
Went back to the lodge where Wayne was preparing breakfast. Boy, can this guy cook. He also makes some of the best "camp coffee" I've ever had.
Wayne is the Butch Cassidy of the Hole-in-the-Head Gang. Bobby J is our Sundance Kid. The rest of us are just banditos (or is that Doritos?).
The gang rode downtown in the early afternoon to see what was happening. Since it's the 13th Annual Beartooth Motorcycle Rally you can't throw a rock and not hit a motorcycle, motorcycle rider, or vendor selling motorcycle "stuff." Estimates are something over 30,000 bikes in town and that translates into money. Especially where Wayne, Ethan, and Bobby J are concerned. They understand the need to keep this fat ol' economy going and are doing their part. I can see their point...at least I must...I managed to drop about $50 in about 10 minutes on bling. Ya just can't have enough bling.
Bobby J (2nd from left) doing what he does best: shopping. The young lad watching the event is Toughy, Wayne's grandson. And no, I don't know where the name came from. (But I do know Wayne has a calf he's named Dinner, so it could have been worse.)You can also see some sights while going from sales tent to sales tent.
Left is a snap I took holding the camera down by my right leg as I passed. Note Bobby J is never far from the action.(Click to enlarge)
These guys were great! I hope I can do that when I'm their age.
The championship shopper trophy goes to Ethan, Wayne's seventeen year-old son. He bought bright blue neon-like liquid crystal displays installed on the underside of his bike so it lights up the road surface below the bike as he rides. Later that evening he demonstrated the use of these to the local gendarmes who subsequently gave him a warning ticket because, according to the cop, only police are allowed to show such blue colors. We think the cop somewhat anal, but, fortunately, he gave a warning and Ethan lives just over the hills in Wyoming, not Montana. Perhaps they'll be more amenable back home. (Note, given his stories regarding his interaction with the boys in blue there, I doubt it.)
Exhaustive shopping requires a few stops for libation.(Ethan, Bobby J, Dick, Wayne, and Toughy)
(Laura, Ron, and Dick)
Perhaps you no longer question my reasoning relative to the bathroom signals.
Later in the evening we sat around stuffing ourselves on great grilled burgers and played guitar and sang almost every song Hank Williams ever wrote. It's a good thing the boys are willing to share their guitars, given mine isn't sounding all that good after FedEx decided to drop it on the top end at an angle. The case has a great mark showing where it smashed, I guess, down some chute. Makes me want to cry.
July 8th
This morning we got up and made it downtown to sign up for the Poker Run. For those who don't know how this works, they set up a course (this one was approximately 180 miles) and designate five stops.
At each stop you draw a card from a deck and that card is recorded on your "poker" sheet. At the end (5th stop) you get your last card and the one with the best hand wins a fairly substantial amount of money. There is also a consolation prize for the worst hand. As when I play Hold-Em, I had neither. My first two cards were 6-hearts and Ace-clubs. If this was hold-em the only way I'd see the flop is if I was the big blind and no one raised the pot.Poker Run Pictures:
Going up.
Some of several rest (later beer in moderation) stops
Just like those Tour de France guys we have chase cars bringing food and libation.
I just love all the history around this area. As part of our poker run we took Hwy296, the Chief Joseph Highway. This picture is looking down "Dead Indian Pass." Believing they had trapped Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, Gen. Oliver O. Howard and his 7th Calvary were anticipating their first victory after numerous defeats at the hands of the retreating tribe. But the Nez Perce, leaving multiple confusing sets of circular tracks were able to escape out of the steep mountain trap, leaving a wounded warrior at the bottom. This warrior, when discovered, was executed by scouts and lead elements, and the place has from that time been known as Dead Indian Pass.
Later, not too far north and east of this point Chief Joseph surrendered and gave his "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." And he didn't. Was that good stuff, or what?
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