It’s that time of the summer when it’s easy to get the summer blah’s.  The yard work is mostly done and already the signs of Fall are in the air.  With the last motorcycle trip behind me and the next one doesn’t come up for 3 more weeks, what am I supposed to do with my time?  I’m bored, bored, bored.  Please help me think of something to do.

I do have to tell you about something Mum, Pop and I did last night.  We got to spend some time with some old friends that go back over 40 years.  I don’t remember these people myself, but Pop and Mum were telling me that two of the other men were old Air Force buddies of my Pop.  They were stationed together at the Air Force base in Chandler, Minnesota.  That’s where my Pop met my Mum.  One of the gals was a high school mate of my Mum and her Mum and Pop, John and Evelyn owned the Chandler cafe. This was where everyone hung out.  Mum said some nights the cafe would be so packed you could hardly push your way through.  John and Evelyn were special people and were great friends of many of the Air Force guys.  The back room of the cafe held an old pool table and was where these guys could play pool, drink some beers and feel like family even though they were many miles from their own families.  Mum and Pop got married when Pop was in the Air Force and stationed there.  She told me about a card game they used to play called “Put and Take” but she doesn’t remember how to play it any more.  Does anyone out there remember?  Please let me know because I’d like to play that with them. Mum said they didn’t have much money then but they sure had some good memories. Mum and Pop had a great time last night.  They said “Thanks Butch and Nancy and Connie and Oke for still being good friends even after all these years”.

Back to the summer blah’s, Vic and I were talking today and think it would be great fun to trick Mum and Pop.  We’re going to talk again tomorrow and see if we can come up with some cool tricks.  Anything to get though the mid summer blah’s.  I’ll let you know what we can think of.  If you have any ideas, let me know.  If it works, I’ll take pictures.

I thought you might like an update on how Victor (Vic) the latest gnome my Mum and Pop adopted is doing.

Vic says he loves it here.  He says for the first time in his long gnome life he finally has a real job.  As you can see he loves his new job.  I’ve yet to see any other expression on Vic’s face then the one you see in this picture.  I think Vic is a great example to all of us on the importance of contributing to family.  Sometimes we forget how what we do effects others.  Sometimes in a good way and sometimes in not such a good way. 

Pop and Mum’s contribution to our family is to take care of all of us and make sure we’re comfortable.  Vic’s job is to make everyone who visits our home feel good and welcome.  My job is to tell you about all the things that go on in our lives.  Sometimes my stories will make you feel good and sometimes they will make you feel sad.  Mum says that’s OK – that’s what family is all about.  We aren’t all the same and we don’t all have the same jobs but put them all together and that’s what makes a family circle.  Welcome to our family Vic

I’ve unpacked my suitcase and am spending time just chilling out for a few days.  I’m tired, I’m sunburned, my feet are sore from standing on the back of Pop’s bike for 10 days, but oh so many great memories of our motorcycling vacation.

As you can see the helmet is off and so are the goggles.  I had to clean the bugs off the helmet.  Dang they make a mess but think of what my hat would have look like without that helmet.  It was definitely worth the investment and the wait.

My eyes are tired and Mum said that cucumbers would help refresh them.  I’ve never tried this before.  I’ll let you know if it works.  I had a really bad case of helmet hair, but that is starting to settle down some.  I just finished taking the pictures off the camera and put them on the video picture frame.  For the next few days I’m going to sit and look at them all and remember all of the fun we had.  Thanks Uncle Steve, Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Butch and Aunt Val, Mum and Pop, I had a great time.  You’re the best.

This morning we got up and back on the road.  Today is the day we were heading home. 

We took the scenic ride out of Prairie Du Chene along the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side.  It was a beautiful ride.  We all agreed that the best scenery we saw on the whole trip was in Wisconsin.

We stopped for breakfast at Deb’s Pit Stop Cafe just before we reached Rochester, Minnesota where we would part ways with Uncle Steve and Aunt Marilyn.  Had a great breakfast.  Lots of other bikers were also there which pretty much means the food is good and the people are friendly.  Once again this proved to be true.  This is where we said our goodbye’s.

On the road again for the last leg of this vacation.  All in all we rode 3,045 miles and with a few minor glitches along the way it was a memorable trip.  I can’t wait until we get to do this again.  I’m going to keep my suitcase packed just in case some morning Pop says, “come on, get on the bike”.

Thanks for following me on this trip.  I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures as much as we enjoyed them.

Do you ever have any of those days when you just don’t seem to accomplish anything.  Today was that day.

We started out the day by going to Kegals Harley Davidson in Rockford, Ill.  Kegals is the oldest Harley Davidson dealer having been  in business for 98 years.  The cool thing about this dealership is that they have a restaurant right in the store.  As you can see by the picture, I had to have my picture taken.  There’s a real motorcycle right in the middle of the diner.  How cool is that!  I don’t know why every dealership doesn’t think of that.  People were coming and going into that diner constantly.  The food was great and so was the service.  I would recommend if you are passing through this area of Illinois, you take some time to stop at this dealership.

After a great breakfast we got back on the road planning to ride to Lanesboro, Minnesota.  That would have been only about 260 miles so just a nice easy ride (off the freeway) after the bad day we had yesterday.

We were doing good, running a little behind but nothing major.  We stopped for gas, when Uncle Steve noticed the oil pan cover had fallen off and oil had sprayed out.  Pop called the Sauk City Harley Davidson dealership since we were about 20 miles away, to see if they would have the parts necessary to fix it.  They did, so Pop and I were off to Sauk City to pick up the parts and come back.  When we got back it didn’t take Pop much time at all to fix the problem. Total time to do this was about 1-1/2 hrs.

Also today was hot, hot, hot!.  Probably somewhere in the 90′s.  After all of this, we decided to only ride about another hour into Prairie Du Chene, WI.  We had a great ride, the scenery was fabulous.  Some of the prettiest we’ve seen on the whole trip.

Since it was almost 6:00 PM before we got into Prairie Du Chene, it took 6 tries before we could find a motel with a vacancy sign.  It was a clean and comfortable place and we were so relieved to find an available motel as none of us wanted to go any farther.

We went to a nice restaurant and as we were walking in I heard this little voice saying “please take me home”.  It took me a few minutes to figure where the voice was coming from, but there in the corner was the saddest looking gnome I had ever seen.  It seems that no one was interested in giving him a home and Mum being the soft hearted person that she is, agreed to adopt him provided we could find room for him on the bike.  Pop said no problem – he’d make room.

After we got back to the motel him and I had a long talk about what his duties would be around our home.  We finally decided he would be the official greeter to our home and quickly made up a welcome sign for him to hold.  Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, his name is Victor, Vic for short.  As you can see he is now one VERY happy gnome.  I’m sure he’ll enjoy being part of our family. 

That’s all for today.  Good Night