Aug. 1 and 2

Aug. 1


A bunch of us (Rider Chic's friends) gathered at Bozeman Harley Davidson, about 8-10 bikes and a car load of folks. There was an incident; if you can imagine what happens when two queens collide … the empress of the universe and the queen of the you-know-what universe. I asked the empress if she had a patch. She did not, so I took possession of the universe, in total.

rR

Don and Rider Chic

It was a super ride, and when we got to Virginia City, a bunch of us had to do ice cream first … there was a little generator making the ice cream right outside of the ice cream shop. Great ice cream … I had maple walnut on the bottom and cookies and cream on top. Delicious.

Nuf said.

From there everyone scattered. Rider Chic and I went to look in a few shops, then I wanted something to eat, so we joined Don, Donna, Angel and Jamie and her husband, Sam, Bridger and Connor. Don said he liked riding with me … he would look into his rear view mirror and could see me, I was right there, and always visible. What a nice compliment. Thank you, Biker Bill for teaching me the proper place to be when riding with others … so you can see the face in the mirror, then you are also visible.

The elk-bison burger ... yummy.

Sam took the kids to go on the train. I had a buffalo-elk burger, and it was so good. Add some sweet potato fries to that, and it was just about the perfect meal. Or was I just really hungry? I think both. And from there the rest of us walked up and down the street, checking out some of the little shops. It was a nice, relaxing day.
Then we had to stop by the ice cream place again. This time I had pistachio and licorice, something new for a change. It wa also delicious. What a great day … ice cream two times.
Everyone else took off and Rider Chic with Don and I, and our chase car, took a back road. Was beautiful, and we stopped at Nevada City to take a few photos, then rode on. We saw an osprey nest with little ones that was exciting, and rode along the river, the Jefferson I believe. Then Don took us up the road to Lewis & Clark Caverns. On the right hand side of the road there was a doe … and she just stood there looking at us. I slowed way down, and she stayed. She was beautiful, and so healthy looking. Her big brown eyes just shown and her muley ears were stuck out on either side. It was a photo burned into my memory. There was no way to stop as I knew she'd run if I did. Was a wonderful thing to see.

Rider Chic and me.

The ride up to the caverns was twisty, and really pretty. It would be fun to come back through here another time. Maybe.

Rider Chic and Don.

From there we headed back to Don and Donna's for burgers and dogs. Sometimes you meet folks that you just kind of click with, and Don and Donna are two of those folks. While we were wandering from store-to-store, Donna and I seemed to both like the same things. We said to each other that if we decided we had one more thing in common, then we must be sisters. We were looking at Celtic jewelry and I said I was Irish. She said that's it, so am I. So sisters we became. From their place it was back to Rider Chic's as a friend from her work was coming over to visit. But teary-eyed I was to be leaving some new and wonderful friends.

Connor giving the thumb's up!!

Bozeman area really is pretty … there are mountains, rivers, greenery … I have enjoyed visiting the area a lot, and really want to come back. In fact, there may be a trip in the future to visit again, along with a birthday trip to Vegas. Oh yeah … someone's 60th is coming up.

And at midnight, I said I was tired and had to go to bed. I was definitely all in.
Aug. 2

Loaded up and ready to rock and roll.

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready to head to Butte to meet up with Cupcake and Judy, and Two Bike and Wrong Way. I had gotten showered and ready by 6:30, and the remainder of the time wa mostly spent packing and repacking the bike. I did not ever get the load arranged the way I wanted it, discovered I did not have extra bungee cords and a cargo net like I'd thought, and the Roc straps I had, were only partially there … but after much rearranging and help from Rider Chic we got it on there so I could at least get on the road. One last cup of coffee, a muffin, and multiple hugs, and I was on my way. Teary-eyed I took off down the road, heading in the right direction.

I hopped on the slab, I-90, set the cruise control for 80 mph, sat back, relaxed and headed west to Copper Canyon Harley in Butte, formerly Thunderbolt Harley, but it's now owned by someone else. Needless to say, no dip dots, or pins. But they had shirts for sale.
About 20 miles of highway was being chipsealed, so it was one-lane, 35 and 45 mph. No more 80 mph until past that. It was hard to hold Miss Scarlet back … she had settled in at 80 and was purring along. Then I started getting nervous about getting to the shop on time, but I made it with about 15 minutes to spare.
I went in the shop and was just starting to look at shirts when I heard multiple bikes coming. I looked out and there they were … just rolling in. I tossed the shirt on a chair and ran out to meet them. They were all looking fine, and there was Wrong Way, riding in and parking her bike just like she'd been doing it for years. Cupcake and Judy were there, Cupcake with hair longer than I've ever seen.

I'm gonna break his fingers.

We had a festive reunion, and to celebrate, Two Bike even allowed the group to have a snack … which I understand could be highly irregular. One meal a day, evening only. But celebrate in style we did, Pringles, home made pepperoni sausage from Tacoma. Yummy. And then we started a little bit of power shopping. Two Bike must have had an epiphany … shopping and snacking all in the same stop.

Shopping and snacking out of the way, off we went going east, heading to Billings for the night. We made some pit and rest stops … and Two Bike even let us have another opportunity to shop … at Billings Harley Davidson. He must be getting soft …
It was a great ride today, and we got into the hotel and unpacked. It's a great room, two bedrooms and a bed in the main area, so plenty of room for the five of us. It's eerie, because it's on Highway 87, where Errol and Dorothy used to live. They were friends of Biker Bill's, and then me. Errol died a few years ago, and Dorothy couldn't manage on her own, ended up in an assisted living place, couldn't abide by the rules and is now, as far as we know, homeless. It makes me feel bad, and I worry that I might see her on the street, because I know there's nothing we can do for her.

We walked to have dinner at a steakhouse down the road. Service was more than slow, but the food once it arrived, was good, and we wolfed it down … one meal a day, remember? Make everything taste good. It was, and then we wandered on back to the room, and tonight, we are … all of us … in.