Wanderlust

What a breathtaking view of the Space Shuttle Discovery Launch from Kennedy Space Center!
I suspected I might be alone in my attempt to see the launch from 60 miles south of the the Cape, but was pleasantly suprised to find many people along the beach waiting to watch the amazing wonder with me.

Wonderful news - Lydia arrived healthy and beautiful on October 16th! Congratulations to Amber, Rob and Tyler on the blossoming family.

Welcome to the planet, sunshine, we look forward to meeting you.

We hadn't been back to Sturgis bike week since 2003, but it was the same feeling four years later. Totally surrounded by bikes of all makes and models, outragous outfits (or lack of), respect for veterans, beautiful scenery to ride in, and the play hard attitude.

Met up with Stewart in Deadwood - he just happened to park right outside of the breakfast joint we were at - what are the odds - we had no plans but only to meet in Deadwood. Hundreds of other places he could've pulled up to. Beautiful short ride - lots of sun and blue skies.

Since we stayed at the Lamphere this time instead of the Buffalo Chip, the Full Throttle was just across the street. We got to meet up with Jess from Minnesota here.

Our lovely campground:

Just one of the strange sights we saw in Sturgis:

Leaving Sturgis, road trip to Omaha - of course it rained. 550 miles. And rain. Poor guys didn't have rain gear or a windshield. Nice rainbow, eh?

Happy ending, home sweet home!

Ok... so I'll admit... we didn't actually see that much of Riverfest.
But we did manage to catch up with our very own Wild Hogs group, hehe.

Coincidently, and fortunately on our part, OAR was playing at the Big Easy in Spokane this week. It's only a couple hours from Richland, and the show was cheap; so it was a no brainer to snag tickets. To add to our luck, the room I got was just across the street - literally a 2 minute walk. And for after the show, we were also very close to another pub - which of course we stopped at along our way home. The restaurant adjacent to the club was busy hours before showtime, and we realized after waiting for an hour for bar food why. Scarfed the food and scooted in the venue next door in five minutes flat. The opener was Bedouin Soundclash who played for a good 40 minutes and gave away their CD on entry. Not sure if we're getting older or what, but there were more asses than I can remember at a concert. Fighting, pushing and heckling - each other. At an OAR concert for hell's sake, not like a Metallica show. We just moved back to the 'alcohol' section where the people actually had a few inches of air between them and we were happy again. About the alcohol sections - it's a small venue - maybe 1500 heads - but you were stopped from wandering with a beer in the hand in a few different areas. Not sure if it's always like that or they were just expecting more underage kiddies. I can say that know that I'm almost 30, ha. Damn spunky, energetic kids.

So, this is my new ride - like it?

Ok, so I lied. But it's pretty, no? And the funny thing is the guy that owns this has no clue that I am sitting on this bike and smiling for the camera. Ha. He will soon, though...now.... Couldn't resist, Bub, sorry! Cujo just moved the bike from one place to another - however I found that it's quite a different Harley compared to the flaming King I'm used to sitting on the back of. Yeah, yeah, a bike isn't a bike isn't a bike. More reason to get another bike, or a different bike, or paint this bike. Can you tell I'm in the midst of an attempted persuasive brainwash on reasons to spend $ for another bike? On the patient side, obviously.

We have just been happier than shit in this space. I want to remember it's space 42 just in case we come back. And I want to share with everyone who reads this, that may happen to come here and stay in Richland, that this is the space you need to ask for.

It's got everything you could ask for in an RV resort - it's an end spot, so we got 2+ paved parking spaces with room for both our vehicles, bikes, and bike, grass all around, picnic table, pool, hot tub, laundry, showers, cute dogs, and a market right on the site. Ok, the cute dogs don't come with your space, but I'm sure you'll see some. Oh, and our space is across the street from the cute dog run and wash station. Man, we can only go downhill from here.

I was VERY excited when I heard about this event we went to last night - however, I mis-heard the name of said event. It is called Hogs and Dogs. Now, don't mistake that for Haagen Daz. It's a bike rally, not an ice cream rally. We went anyway. Hehe. I think there were thousands of bikes there, it really was groovy. A huge sports field outside simply covered with bikes and people.

All types of bikes, didn't matter. And a trike, for that matter. They gave away a prize of your choice - $10K or a Harley Davidson. Lo and behold, we were stunned to find that we didn't win. I found solace in the beer garden, and Curtis found it by watching the lead singer of the live band. Yes, she was female.