Quick trip to Shasta Lake, CA

 A quick background note as to why this trip was necessary. Over the years of motorcycle riding I have tried and bought several motorcycle seats trying to find one that would keep my butt from hurting at the end of a days ride. The 4 or 5 that I tried over the years did not do the job. One that I had not tried, because of price, was the Russell Day Long Seat. It was time to bite the bullet and see if this was the seat for me. It is a seat that many "Iron Butt" riders have raved about. One of the Iron Butt rides is to ride 1,000 miles in 24 hours.

 So in June of 2013 Sandy and I loaded the Goldwing Trike into the trailer, hooked up to the GMC pickup and headed west to Shasta Lake, CA to have one installed. Gotta have a reason for a road trip. HA HA. It was the best $1,000 I've ever spent on a motorcycle accessary. 

 My friend Dale put one on about 3 years later and loved it. My brother, Joe, got tired of of listening about how Dale's and my butt were not hurting after a day's ride and said "I give up. I need to try one of these." Upon contacting Russell he found out he could send his seat out and have on built on his seat pan but it would be about a 3 week turn around. Not wanting to be without being able to ride for 3 or more weeks, Joe asked when the next ride-in appointment would be. If you ride-in they will build the seat in one day and send you on your way. They gave Joe a May 30th date which he took.

 Guess what -- "ROAD TRIP." We left June 25th and rode out in 4 days. On the way out Joe wanted to stop every hour to rest his rear end. I did my best to remember. Sorry Joe. We actually got there on the 28th so on the 29th we were going to ride around in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I suggested we stop at Russell before we left to see if by chance they could get Joe in a day early. We must have been good boys on the ride out because after some checking they could do Joe's seat that day. With his seat done we headed back home on the 30th.  Going back we wanted to do a little sight seeing so it took us six days with us riding through,                                

                               Zion National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Arches National Park by Moab, Utah.

Now tell me, now did this stay up there, or is this a commercial for Super Glue?

We were also going to ride through Rocky Mountain National Park, but it was 34 degrees when we got up in the morning and that was the expected high up in the park. Knowing that ice was melting up there we decided we did not want to chance coming around a corner and find frozen patches on the road. We both have been there several times, so it was hit the throttle and continue on home. 

 It was a good 11 day, over approximately, 4000 mile ride. Joe was even able to ride from gas fill to gas fill for about 3 hours, on the way home. He's loving the seat.

Until Next Time,

Dave

                                     2018 Winter Trip
It's July 4th as I start writing this blog post. We are camped at Mina Lake State Recreation Area west of Aberdeen, SD with some of Sandy's cousins. Last night we went to supper at the Wakeside restaurant and found that another cousin of Sandy's was there also. We invited them to the RV so we could visit. While visiting, they asked if we were still doing the Blog. As you can tell, it has not been updated for awhile, so thanks Roger and Mona for get me motivated.

Because our new RV wasn't ready for pickup until Valentines day, we did not leave for Arizona until February 24th, with a detour to Nappanee, IN to have our surround camera worked on. Then it was off to AZ. We arrived at McDowell Mountain regional park on March 2nd. McDowell is just north of Fountain Hills, AZ. We spent 12 days there before moving to Cave Creek Regional Park to stay for the rest of the month. 

The RV was pretty dirty upon arriving in AZ, so I contacted A.N.S. Detailing to have the RV washed. Andy has a mobile washing service and did a great job.

We did not get any sight seeing in this year because of being in AZ for only the month of March. But we did keep busy visiting with friends. in the picture below is Sandy, me (Dave), Nancy, Karl, Deb and Gil. Deb and Karl are from North Scottsdale. Nancy and Gil came down from Henderson, NV just to visit us. Thank you guys for coming down so far out of your way and having to move your RV every one or two nights because all the campgrounds where so full you could only get one or two nights in the same site.

While at supper Sandy and Nancy came up with the idea of going to the Cavalia Odysseo, an excellent horse show  After the show, Nancy was so thrilled, she said that she should go out and get a horse for herself. 

This was our camp site at McDowell. 

We felt safe at this site because Gumby was watching over us. You all do remember Gumby, right. If not just do an internet search.

Ruthie and Vern came to visit us and we went into Fountain Hills for supper. While visiting we found

out that they also had been to the Cavalia Odysseo. While this surprised us because of the coincidence, it shouldn't have, because one of the things on Vern's resume is "training horses".

This is our favorite site at Cave Creek, and no, I'm not giving out the site number.

A lot of mornings at Cave Creek the balloons take off just down the road.

Steve and Sandy came to visit us one day.

We thought it was time to leave when the rattlesnakes started coming out. We got back home on Easter Sunday.

Sandy's mom, Dalles, had her 90th birthday on May 17th. On the 19th we had a party for her and had over 100 people show up. Dalles was very pleased that so many people thought enough of her to take time to come and visit.

The week of July 4th we spent at Mina Lake State Recreation Area. Our campsite at Mina Lake.

Dalles, Dave, Randy and Korine watching the activity on the lake.

This was the first time we had seen this type of "float" being pulled by a pontoon. It's called "Super Mabel" and it carries 3-4 people. Sandy thought it looked fun and she might even try it.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy.