Black Hills Bike Trip

Lots has been going on in our family lately.  I will say more about this in days to come, but since I have a little more time let me start with this.....

For the last 4 years (thanks to our lovely wives) my brother and I have done a week to ten day long motorcycle trip somewhere.   The first year we went to the Black Hills.  Then we went to BC.  Then to Montana and Idaho.  This year, because it was so much fun the first time around, we decided to go to the Black Hills and tack on a few nights of stock car races in North Dakota.  Here are some pictures.

 The traditional "start of the ride" pic.....

 

Our hotel in Underwood, North Dakota. Went there for races and when we told the lady at the desk that she said, "Oh.... all right!" as if no one in the history of the world has come to Underwood specifically for their races.  We also walked the town and everyone stared at us because they did not know who we were or what we were doing there (at least that is what we told ourselves). 

 
 Came across a "Show and Shine" in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota.  Always fun!

On the shores of "Devil's Lake" in North Dakota on a nice day

In the hotel in Jamestown - all geared up to go ride in the pouring rain.  Stayed in the room as long as we could hoping the rain would go away.  Got on the road and 15 miles down the road we drove out of it and had sunny skies the rest of the way.

A slight delay on the Wildlife loop in "Custer State Park"

Lenny and a donkey in "Custer State Park".  Can you tell which is which???

The reservoir in the middle of the Black Hills

We only stay in the classiest joints (As classy as you can find for $70 or less that is).  Here is our room in Leed, South Dakota.  Note how the two single beds almost touch in the middle of the room - that will tell you how small the room was.  Nice place.  Great owners.  Very budget friendly.

One day we climbed to the top of the highest point in South Dakota.  Supposed to be a 4-6 hour hike.  We got there late in the day and decided to do it anyway so we got to the top in 1 hour and 58 minutes (including a detour that cost us 20 minutes).  Back to the bikes in under 3 hours (a new world record????)  and I was wearing biker boots and a 68968459689 pound motorcycle coat!.   Big ranger stand at the top.  Cool view!

 View from the General store patio in Custer state park.  Nice place to grab a drink and hang out

Car museum ("Motion Unlimited") in Rapid City.

Me after 8 days on the road (I am happy on the inside.... just too tired to show it).

I guess it is a small town

You know that you have booked a small town hotel when you have this conversation.....

Hotel person:  "Hi!  You have reached the ______hotel.  This is Rhonda.  How can I help you?"

Me:  "Hi, Rhonda!  About two months ago I booked a room with you guys and I am just calling to confirm my reservation".

(Without missing a beat and without asking my name):  "Yep!  Two double beds...  this Thursday night. See you then".

I guess it is not hard to keep track of reservations when you only have one a month!

Some times you have to wonder

I heard that my buddy Justin is coming to town this weekend, so I wrote to him and asked if he would lead singing at church on Sunday.  Here is his response......
____________________
It is fully my intention to grace your city with my presence.  I submit to you a list of my demands.

1. I would like a basket of puppies, they all have to be golden retrievers at precisely 5 months of age.  The basket should be wicker with a soft pillow filled with only British Goose feathers. 

2. I would like an oaken barrel filled 38% full of only green peanut M&Ms.  

3. I need the my room to be held at precisely 68 degress Celsius.  Any temperature variance may inhibit my vocal performance. 

4. I would like my room painted a soft blue and all furnishings, decoration, and anyone entering the room to see me be likewise colored. 

5. I demand that until the performance is complete, nobody should look me directly in the eye or to try and gain my attention in anyway.  It is important to mentally prepare and I do not want my meditations to go to waste. 

6. Finally, I would like to be able to win at least one crib game over the course of the weekend.  It sucks that I always lose.  You would think they would at least toss one game my way.  Sometimes it makes me feel sad.  And I don't like to feel sad. 

OK.  Let me know when my demands are met and I will let you know when you can expect my arrival.  Oh, and I want a Panda to greet me at the city limits with a sign that says, "I am not Endangered, You are,  You awesome fellow you."  

Looking forward to blessing you with my angelic voice this coming Sunday.

Justin

______________

Maybe I need more normal friends.  :)

Opening Day

It was opening day at "Estevan Motor Speedway" today.  It turned out to be a great day!  Lots of cars.  Lots of fans.  Lots of fun.

I volunteer out there as a track official so I thought I would post some pictures just so you get to see what the races look like from my point of view.

This is just a nice looking car on an "old school" hauler

Here is the new style "car over" hauler. (Note the steering wheel sticking out of the back of the car that allows the driver to steer the car as he pushes the car into the trailer or rolls it out)

This is my normal point of view.... on what we call "The staging lane".  This is in front of the grandstand where we line the cars up before they go onto the track.  One of my jobs is to let them know when it is time to go.

These two are from the end of the front stretch wall.  I get to stand here and wave caution flags, wave black flags at people (to disqualify them from the race), I check damage on cars when there is a caution and I throw debris off the track

A couple more shots from around the pits.....

 On the staging lane with the dude that I am training.....

And, lastly, a video just so you get the idea of what it is like.....

Watch this!

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Snowbird pilot.  I LOVED the Snowbirds (of course I grew up in Moose Jaw which is their home base so we saw them a lot).

A buddy sent me this video.  It gives a unique perspective on the team and their formations.  Enjoy!  :)

Boys - find a wife life this!

Some women demand diamonds.  Some rant about roses.  Some prefer perfume.  Some tirade for trips. Others are monsters about money.

But who can find a wife like mine?

I bought her a gift today.  It was a secret!  I walked her out to my truck and then (in front of all the neighbours - even though I knew it may make their wives SUPER jealous) I unloaded this bad boy.......

Now I know what you are thinking....... "How can you spoil Sari like that?" and "What are you trying to do???  Now our wives are going to expect the same thing!"

But you know what?  Too bad!!!  Sari deserves it!

The best part..... and I am not even making this up (Ask the girls who watched the whole thing from the living room window)..... Sari's reaction was as if I had bought her a new diamond ring.  :)

Boys - find a wife like that!  One who is happy when you give her an obviously stupid present.... one who is happy with the simple things in life.... and especially one who is excited about doing yard work!!!!  :)

Then, as I looked at it, I found the other best part of this deal.  Look at what the tire says on it.....

Now, I am not sure where you live nor what condition you have to be in to look at a wheelbarrow and go..."Man, that looks good!!! I bet it can do 60!"

But I am glad there was a warning on it.  I may have done something really stupid otherwise!

A Spring Tradition

I know it is spring when I get to go to the "Majestics Car Show" in Regina. 

Every year the group that I go with seems to change a bit (we add a couple of guys, others can't go) but it is always a good time. 

For me, part of the fun is talking to exhibitors.  Most people just walk up, look at the car and move on, but the really interesting part is the story (how the guy found the car, what shape it was in, how much work it needed, etc).  Of course they are always eager to talk because (a) they have a lot of time and money invested in these things and they are proud of them and (b) they get bored silly just standing there watching people walk past. 

As an added bonus, I got tons of free tickets to stock car races, drag races, mud races, etc just because I stopped and talked to them - so that was good too. I have my summer entertainment all lined up and it is free!!  :)

This year the car club added a "Motorcycle Experience"... and that, in my opinion, was the best part of the show.  Here are some of my favorites.

 And then these last two are for Sari who always says that she would like to have a "Little Red Wagon".  How about this one?  It has 1/2 of an old go cart tire under the seat for suspension and dude said that it goes about 70 mph.  What do you think????  You could get to school in no time flat on that thing.

Getting ready for Spring

Spent part of the day replacing fork seals in a 1980 Honda so that it will be ready to sell when spring comes. 

Spring is coming right????

With friends like this.....

What is the end of that title????  "Who needs enemies?"

Here is what Megan's friends did to her room while we were away (They may have been assisted by Sari who gave them a key to our house). 

Pranks are fun! (If they are not on you!)  :)

Well, isn't that interesting?????

Cottage Life magazine recently rated the top place to retire in Canada.  In order, here they are.....

1.  Niagra-on-the-lake, Ontario

2.  Stratford, Ontario

3.   Moncton, New Brunswick

4.   Kelowna, British Columbia

5.   Cochrane, Alberta

6.   Comox, British Columbia

AND.......

7.  ESTEVAN, SASKATCHEWAN!!!  (Who would have guessed that??????)

 Click here to read the article and find our why we are so great!

PS.  We are now taking reservations if you would like to come and check it out for yourself!

We're number 1..... We're number 1...... Well, actually we are number 7 but the rest of all y'alls didn't even make the list so........ :)

The Most Canadian Song Ever!!

I heard this on the CBC on my way to work today and had to share it with you.  If they could get Bieber to record it, I think it would be an even bigger hit!

I think I am going to make this my theme song!  Just like wrestlers and boxers have songs that they play before they enter the ring, this will be the song that plays every time I enter a room. Better learn the words as you will be expected to sing along!!  :)

Ps.  Listen all the way to the end or you will miss the sweet key change!

All the cool kids are doing it!

Yesterday, Sari gave me this funny look and said, "Did you wear that shirt all day?"

"Uh, ya!" was my witty response.  "I didn't go to the office without a shirt!  It would have started a riot!!"  :)

"Well, did you intend to wear this too?" she asked as she turned me around and pulled a dish cloth off of my back.

Apparently, at some point in its journey, my flannel-ish shirt was attracted to the dish cloth (or vice versa.... who knows how these shirt/dish cloth romances work these days???).  I had grabbed the shirt off the hanger without actually inspecting it (who inspects their clothes for stowaway dish clothes?) put it on and wore it for most of the day.

The good news:  I wore a coat to and from the office and no one came by to visit or go for coffee, so no one saw the dish cloth

The bad news:  The fact that no one came by means I have might not have any friends!  :(

Anyway.... we did not get a picture of this new trend-setting thing I am doing.  However, it is not the first time this has happened to me.  Here is a childhood pic of the exact same - only worse!!

(Editor's Note:  This is what I would have looked like if this actually did happen to me when I was a child.... and if I had been born a girl!  Other than that.... it is completely accurate!)

Watch out Jennifer Jones!!!

Last Saturday, the four of us went curling together.  It was great!

We won our first game!  Mind you it took the other skip making a mistake and raising one of our rocks in for the winning points, but that is why we left that rock in front of  the house, right?

Then we played a rink that was made up of three rec league curlers and another guy.  This was not a good thing for us.  You see, my family curls regularly tool.... only our regularly consists of once every couple of years.  We started well and stole a couple of points, but then we lost.

In our last game, we ended up playing our longtime brother and sister buddies, Ian and Andrea Muirhead.  This turned out to be an epic battle until everyone but me (seriously all 7 other curlers on our sheet) started talking about going for supper at the Red Barn restaurant in Moosomin.  Every time someone said "Chicken Dinner" our shot percentage dropped.  This continued until no one cared about curling anymore and the goal seemed to be to throw the rocks as quickly as you could so that you could get out of there (It was very disturbing to my ultra-competitive/non-chicken dinner loving self).  We started well.... stole one in the first.... stole one in the second..... gave up four in the third ("Chicken dinner") and then who knows what happened after that......  They play 4 end games and my last rock had barely stopped when it was kicked to the side.... and every one was gone.  In fact, I think that the engine was running in the SUV before I even got off the ice ("Chicken Dinner!!!").

So you may be wondering how losing 2 of 3 games makes us any sort of threat to Jennifer Jones as suggested in the title of this blog.   Well, for one, we had a lot of fun!  We laughed a lot!   And, secondly, we LOOKED GOOD!!!  I mean seriously!  The girls worked on their hair for like hours before we left..... but, sadly, we did not get any good pictures of them (Sadly part 2 - my hair needed little to no fixing!)  :(

On a serious note:  I have been going to this bonspiel for more than 20 years and I remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be great to enter a family team in this thing sometime?"    We had the chance to do that a few years ago and to be able to do it again was great! 

We may not have been the best curlers..... but we were definitely the best family of curlers (Mind you, there were no other completely family teams..... but that is beside the point)

Other years I have stacked my rinks with really good teams and lost..... so if I am going to lose anyway I am glad it was with my girls!

Five months of Fridays

This is what you get when you invest about 20 Fridays into tearing the engine out of a Durango and rebuilding it...... a nice ending!

Anyone wanna buy an SUV?????

Living on one Dollar

I like documentaries and I just watched one you should see.

I is called "Living on one Dollar" and it is about four college guys who tried living in a village in Guatemala for two months.  During that time, they attempted to learn about the lives of the people and they tried to live under the same circumstances and restrictions as those around them.

If you have "Netfix" and an hour, go and check it out.  It will change the way you see your life and the way you think about the world.... and that is a good thing because it is easy to think that everyone lives like us or that (somehow) our lives are hard when they really are not at all.

Or go to their website and check them out here......  http://livingonone.org/livingonone/

Yahoo!!

A buddy of mine had a 2000 Dodge Durango that had turned a bearing, so he and I decided to tear it apart and fix it.  Then, once we got started, we decided rather that fixing that one problem, we may as well rebuild the entire engine.   That was in November.  After four months of working on it most Fridays (my day off), taking out every part and piece, having the block dipped and cleaned and then putting it all back together, yesterday was "D day".  Here is what we got........

Glow Bowling O-Rama

So we all went bowling last night. It was a lot of fun!  I won't tell you who is who on the scoreboard... I will let you try to figure it out.  :)

You know it is cold when.....

You know it is cold when the sun dogs are so bright that you can't stare at them.  Yikers!

Sari Snowblower

Sari learned a new skill today.  For all your snow removal needs, call.......  :)

Bienfait Hockey Tournament

So I got to play in a charity hockey tournament in Bienfait this weekend. A team dropped out and they just started calling guys to make up the fourth team.

That was a bad thing!

None of us had played together before. In fact, most of us could not remember the names of the other guys on the team and we were playing three teams that were very strong.... good players who have played together forever.

Needless to say, we got whipped.

 I think we lost 12-0 in our first game (we were just trying to figure out who was playing where in that one).... then we lost 8-4 (started playing consistent lines and figuring things out a bit).... then we lost 8-2 (but the good news for me is that I scored both of our goals.... I should have had a third but their goalie made a nice glove save).

Anyway, below is a little bit of the "action" (if you can call it that) that Sari recorded in the beautiful "Bienfait Memorial Arena". I am number 17 in white. In fact, I am the only guy wearing a white helmet... Something that Sari noted and rectified by buying me a nice, new, shiny black one for Valentine's Day. After wearing the old one for 25 years, it was time I guess (besides, now I fit in a little better with my friends!) :)

You need to hear this

I have been meaning to post this song for a long time, so when I heard it on the way home today I decided to look it up.

As the Dad of two beautiful and wonderful girls and the husband of another.... I hope they get this.  :)

Have a listen.....

See what we saw!

Yesterday Sari and I took a drive in the country.  Here is what we found.....

We came across this old coal mine.....

 Talking to the old guys at church today, I found out that this is a rebuilt mine entrance... it is not original and there was even some debate as to whether there was ever a coal mine in that spot (three said yes another said that he was not sure).... but they all agreed that it is a good representation of what the old mines looked like around here..... and there used to be hundreds of them.  Funny thing is, I have driven the valley a lot and I have never seen that before.

We found several old abandoned farm yards.  Lots of stone foundation barns.  We even found one beautiful old, huge, two story house in the valley bottom right by the river.  Would have been very impressive when it was occupied, but for some reason we did not get a picture of it.  Here are a few that Sari did take.....

Then we kept coming across old cars and stuff in people's yards.   Here is a good project for someone (I am sure a little buffing would make it look good again)......

 These will take a little more effort.....

We did not see many people on our tour. In fact, this guy is about the only living thing that paid much attention to us (it was getting to be near supper time for him I think as he was really interested in what we were up to)......

And the photographer out snooping around (When you see her next, ask her about getting lost in North Portal)  :)

 As I said, there was a lot more cool stuff that we did not stop and take pictures of just for time's sake as we gone for about three hours as it was.... but there were lots of picture worthy things like old houses, the river snaking across the valley, interesting looking old trees, hawks flying around, former town sites, kids sledding down a hill, etc etc).

There are cool and interesting things everywhere.... you just have to look for them. 

Well, its been awkward!

For those who don't know, our church baptizes people in a big water tank in our church building.  The process looks something like this......

Ok - it looks like that except we are inside, I have less hair than that dude and we usually don't have some blonde kid looking over our shoulders.  Other than that, it is similar.  I go into the water with the people and we "immerse" them.

The problem is that we don't have fancy, white baptismal clothes like the dudes in the picture.  We used to, but, honestly, it is hard to find "one size fits all" clothing that actually fits all and works well when wet.... so now I just tell people to wear whatever they want and we just go from there.

Well, two weeks ago I was about to baptize this really nice couple who has been coming to church for the last couple of years.  They invited their adult kids to come and they wanted me to explain to them what baptism was all about so that they would understand.

So there I was, standing in front of about 20 family members, explaining something that we believe is very important.  All was going well... until I got to the end of my explanation.

I had previously decided that I would not get changed before I baptized them.  It was Sunday afternoon and I was still wearing the dress clothes that I had worn to church that morning and I figured I would just go in the water wearing those.  Therefore, when it came time for the baptism I simply reached up and (while still talking) started undoing my tie.  Then, taking my eyes off the group, I bent over and took off my shoes.

And then everyone got really quiet

When I looked up again the entire family had this "I am not sure what baptism is all about but if he does not stop taking things off we are leaving"  sort of look on their faces. 

Feeling like I maybe made a bit of a mistake and looking for some assurance, I turned to Sari and the girls..... they were giving me the wide-eyed, "Please stop what you are doing.... RIGHT NOW!!!!" look.

So apparently there is a reason why we have change rooms.

People are such prudes!!!   :)