more "booking scrap"

woohoo! I had a relaxing day while in the Sawtooth area, and did another layout.

This one is an example of me plagiarizing my own blog for scrapping. Here is the journaling, much of it taken directly from my blog entry at the time:

Friday, December 26th, 2008, we were riding with Bob and Diana Gorecki to a party at a friend’s house, when Greg asked them what they were doing for New Years Eve. Bob mentioned that he thought it’d be fun to go to Beale Street. As in Memphis, Tennessee. He just said it casually, not really thinking about going. Well, Greg started egging them both on, saying we should all go. On the other hand, I kept saying “but I have to work.” At the party, Greg and Bob started in on Ernie and Pat Olson. Ernie needed no convincing – he was in. So then it came down to me and work… I called my project manager the next day and asked if I could work from the road. She said yes, so we left two days later, Sunday the 28th. We drove straight to Memphis, all six of us in Gorecki’s big car, what a riot! I worked most of the way down and back, as well as numerous hours each day.

A highlight for all of us was touring Graceland. Although I’m not a major Elvis fan, I was amazed at the rooms full of hit singles and albums, and the number of costumes on display. I was most touched by the stone fence along the front of the house – people write on the stone, kind of a guest book of his fans who have visited. We also walked around Beale Street, shopped at A Schwab, toured on a trolley, and we girls visited an Underground Railroad stop. Of course we played lots of Sheepshead, and enjoyed a few Big Ass Beers and Jello shots. Four of us shared a Sasquatch burger (7.5 total lbs., inc. 4 lbs. of beef!) at a place made famous on a Travel Channel show. We watched a guitar “drop” for New Years, followed by fireworks. Our four nights in Memphis was a fun mini vacation with great friends!


And another R&R day today here near the Tetons, where I did this layout about the boys. Yep, I miss 'em. How could I not?! They're so dang cute! No journaling necessary - pretty self-explanatory - the top row of photos is Henry, the bottom is Alex. An interesting thing about this layout (for my scrappin' friends) is that this is only paper and chipboard stickers - VERY rare for me 1) to use stickers, and 2) not to add other "stuff."

the sawtooths

I have determined that I love the Sawtooth Mountains because they're raw. They're sharp and jagged. They haven't been softened by rain and wind and vegetation yet. Aren't they just fab?!

As you can see, we did a beautiful ride through Sawtooth N.M. Not only are the moutains amazing, but so is the surrounding area. Of course I would think so - there are lots of cool rocks!

q & a again...

We were discussing my prior blog post and we came up with more questions we've heard. We also thought about what we would want to know about taking an extended RV trip like this. So here are some more:

How's the weather been? It has been absolutely amazing! We've hit a little rain a few times, even tiny hail, but nothing major. Only one day did we revise our bike route - the thunder was worse than the rain! That same day we stopped under an overpass for maybe 10 minutes because of high winds. Otherwise it's pretty much always mostly sunny and warm!

How do you get your mail? Every few weeks, Tom, our fab housesitter, sends us a goodie box STUFFED with mail.

How do you pay your bills? Almost all of our regular bills are on autopay, directly withdrawn. So no worrries there.

Why did we buy an RV and have to deal with driving that around, versus just taking the bike and staying at hotels? First off - convenience - it is SO nice to have a "home" - we have pretty much everything we need with us, we can relax "at home," etc. Second - cost - we believe this is cheaper than it would be to get a hotel room every night and eat out every meal. And third - can you imagine riding on a motorcycle EVERY day for 4.5 months? - I can't!!

What's your favorite part of the trip so far? For me, besides not working, LOL, my faves have been visiting my relatives in Oregon, relaxing and reading. Greg gave the standard expected answer of seeing so much pretty country - which is true.

Has there been anything unexpected? Two things... We both seem to have become more jaded (best word I can think of) about the scenery. We see things now that we think "oh, nice" and three months ago we would have thought "wow - that's amazing!" And personally, the time and effort for me to update my blog is more than I expected. Of course, I didn't expect to update it so frequently, either! I keep telling myself that not only are some folks looking at this, but I can and will use this info later when pulling together photo albums and scrapbooking. This is as close to a diary or log as I get, so I just gotta keep it up!

Have there been any frustrations? Our microwave squeaks and our slideout bangs while we drive. Annoying noises!

What do you miss from home? Besides the obvious family and friends... LOL... I of course miss my kitties, my boys.

Do many people have pets with them? Some folks do, probably less than 10% - but that's all campers, not just full-timers. I would guess that folks who spend months on the road are much more apt to train their pets and bring them with. We do see cats sometimes, almost always hanging out in the big front window enjoying the sunshine.

What do you NOT miss from home? Greg does not miss the heat and humidity of Wisconsin July/August.

Has anything scary happened? OMG - one day we were on the bike, and suddenly there was this hugely loud noise above - a fighter jet was flying very low through the valley we were in. The sound just echoed. And it was so sudden! And of course, when the RV tire blew, that was a bit scary too, but not NEARLY as bad as that sudden jet noise!

just in case

you're wondering...

My original intent when we left Montana was to go more south back into Idaho, straight to the Sawtooth Mountains, rather than west. However, while in Montana we decided we wanted to do the awesomely fun jetboat ride in Hells Canyon, thus forcing us to backtrack further than expected.

Really... there is (usually) a method to my madness!

more q & a

In conversations or emails, friends and family ask or mention things they're interested in. So I thought I'd share some of these...

How are you two getting along? Actually, quite well. Greg thinks we're arguing less than usual (which really isn't that much!) - we're trying to be more tolerant of each other.

Wow - great photos! (OR) Do you take many pictures? LOL I've taken over 6000 photos so far, most of them from the back of the bike. I usually take 100-200 on each road trip. Then I pick the best ones for posting. But that isn't the end of it - I pull those best pics into photo editing software, and crop them and fix the colors and the contrast, etc. Then I open them into Paint to reduce their size. So don't even think for a minute that I just take a few photos and they're all fab!

What about meals? We go out for meals maybe twice a week. We each make our own breakfast. Lunches while biking are sandwiches, chips, dried fruit, etc. Dinners are usually some grilled meats and a side dish or two. Easy stuff.

What about showers? Almost all of our showers are in-house. And that is one of the bummers of this lifestyle - showers are military style. We turn the water on and rinse down, then shut the water off. We soap everything up, turn the water back on, and rinse off. No good long soaking showers.

So what are you doing besides driving/riding? Greg does a lot of cleaning and maintenance work on the bike, trailer and RV. And he actually read an entire book. (That like never happens!) I read a lot, and spend time working on photos/blog/etc. I also do almost all of the routing, since Greg does the driving. I also do a little "booking scrap" when Greg does his solo rides. We have campfires most nights if we're in a place where they're allowed - yep, we still enjoy s'mores and pudgy pies!

What about TV? I think Greg has watched the news maybe 3 times. I haven't watched tv at all since April 1!

What kind of place do you usually stay at? At first, we stayed at a lot of RV parks that accept Passport America discounts. Then we got to areas where they weren't any PA parks, so we started staying at state and national campgrounds. Recently we started boondocking (not at an official campground), and I think we'll continue this when possible. As long as we find "nice" spots - what can beat free?!

(nobody has asked this, everyone's probably too polite) What's this trip costing you? Our daily average cost is over $100, but that includes 4 new tires for the bike (expensive!), new frig in the RV, plus the necessaries: fuel, food, campgrounds, equipment maintenance. This does not include the cost of the RV, bike or trailer.

When are we coming home? We plan to be back by Aug 11. Our housesitter (thanks, Tom!) will be moving out.

What then? hmmm.... that is yet to be seen. Will there be jobs available yet?

the sawtooths

I've said it before (in '05) and I'll say it again - I love, love, love the Sawtooth Mountains!

When Greg and I discussed this trip, his big thing was to ride the Pacific Coast Highway. The big thing for me was to come back to the Sawtooths. So now we've done both.

And of course, I had to put our home in a place where we could see the beautiful Sawtooth Mtns. We were looking for a place to boondock (park/camp at a place that isn't a campground), known by forest/park folks as dispersed camping. The Forest folks didn't really help us that much, and we were heading towards a state campground, and voila, the forest road we were on had several little roads coming off of it with other campers in there. So we found a spot with a fire ring (supposedly that's the clue that it's ok to camp there), and a view of the mountains. So we have a FREE spot with a fab view - how can it get better?!

oh, and if some of you are saying "what about hookups - electric, water, etc?" - bah humbug. Who needs 'em?! We're self-contained, plenty of water for showers/toilet/etc., lights work on battery power, propane runs the heater (it's around 40 at night) and the stove/oven. Electric is only really used for the microwave, tv and to plug things in (coffee maker, toaster, charging electronics). If we really feel the need for something like that, we just turn on our generator and do what we need to do - but we seldom do that. And tv? - not! - I haven't watched it once since we hit the road!


We've got the fire ring - might as well use it, right?

This is the closest I could get to a sunset picture... it looks to me like there are pink rays coming out of the mountains. LOL

scenic Idaho

These photos are taken near Hells Canyon Rec Area and other parts of central Idaho. Nice sweeping curves, pretty scenery. One road followed a stream which was almost entirely rapids - cool!

our latest adventure

We decided to have a bit of fun, other than the usual riding and camping. So we took a jetboat ride in Hells Canyon - it's supposedly deeper than the Grand Canyon, altho obviously not as massive, and without the cool colors. It was loads of fun, and beautiful to boot!

We saw this bald eagle... then we saw two more, her babies, that didn't have the white around the head yet.

We did a class 4 rapids. omg, what a riot! And silly me, I moved to the center of the boat (side to side and front to back) thinking I'd escape most of the water. bwahahahaha I was drenched! I think I got it worse than anyone else. Apparently a huge wave came in from each side, and being in the middle, I got both! I know... these don't look like much, but believe me, they were!

I guess I have another first for the "new thing" list!

north yellowstone & beartooth hwy

We tried riding the beartooth highway on July 3rd, but no go. For the first time on this trip, we had to reroute due to rain... well, actually due to thunder. I freaked out. LOL

So we went back at it from the other side on the 5th. And wow - it was beautiful! And as luck would have it, we saw many bison (which we've seen before) and two mountain goats! omg, I had never seen mountain goats before, so that was a definite score.

a western 4th of July

It seems to becoming tradition for us to be out of town on July 4th. Last year we celebrated Canada Day (July 1) and our Independence Day in Canada. The prior year we celebrated the independence of our nation in our nation's capital - THAT was amazing! This year, we're here, "out west," so we did July 4th "Western style."

We had a two hour motorcycle ride en route to our destination. First stop was Virginia City, a working ghost town. Ok, that doesn't really make sense. But it does. The town, in its heyday, had over 12,000 folks. Now there's less than 150 hardy souls, who probably all make their living from tourism. Pretty much the entire main drag is all historic buildings. Some have been renovated inside and are now shops. Some have stuff inside that they would have had at the time - clothing, groceries, etc. And some are still in disrepair, in need of some serious fixing-up. I could have spent many hours there, looking at all the buildings, inside and out, and reading all the informational plaques. But it was time to move on...

Second stop was the Ennis rodeo. Yeah, baby... a rodeo. I don't recall ever going to a rodeo before, although I know I've seen some of the events at a county fair in Oregon. Greg has never seen any of these events before, so this was a great first. There are numerous events, some timed and some judged. Each event has specific rules that need to be followed, otherwise the person does not receive a score for that event.

There are different types of calf roping. In one timed event, the cowboy must lasso the calf's neck, stop him (the horse does all that work!), get off his horse, flip the calf, tie the calf's legs in a specified manner, yell "hooyah," and the calf cannot get loose for a certain number of seconds.

Break away calf roping is another timed event. The cowgirl lassoes the calf's neck and releases the lasso rope.

There is also a two-person calf roping timed event. The cowboys must stay opposite each other (with the calf between). One lassoes the calf's neck. Then the other lassoes the back feet. Can you imagine trying to throw a lasso around the two back feet of a running calf?!

Barrel racing is also a timed event. The cowgirl rides her horse around three barrels set pretty far apart, in a figure 8 pattern. The techniques here are interesting - some slow their horse more to cut the corners tighter, and some keep their horse going a tad bit faster but make wider corners around the barrels.

Then of course there are the judged events - the events most folks think of when they hear the word "rodeo." One is bronco riding. Broncos are not wild horses, as sometimes thought; they are "unbreakable" horses, meaning they haven't been able to be trained for normal horseback riding. It is necessary to stay on the bronco for a specified number of seconds, holding one arm up, plus other rules. If they get through that, they are then judged on their style and the bronco's stats. Here are pictures of what to do...

and what not to do.

The other judged event is the bull riding. These bulls were amazingly tough and even devious. One sneaky guy pulls a quick right turn, then just when the cowboy gets that move, the bull quick pulls left, and the cowboy goes flying!

And bulls are very dangerous. As soon as the cowboy comes off, they roll then move away. There are other guys in the field the whole time, who try to get the bulls (and broncos in that event) away from the cowboy, then off of the field.

We saw at least four cowboys get hurt in the bull riding competition. We also saw one bronco get hurt, and it was fascinating watching the rodeo crew tying up the bronco, rolling him onto a metal gate, then lift him into a trailer. Even though the bronco was hurt, he still didn't want all those guys around, and definitely didn't want to be manhandled into the trailer, so he was still flailing around as best as he could while tied up.

Anyway, after the ghost town and the rodeo, we rode back to camp and (not so western style) watched a movie!! omg, that's amazing for us - I can't even remember the last time we did that. We saw "The Aviator," about Howard Hughes, since we recently saw Hughes controversial giant airboat the Spruce Goose.

And then, of course, we watched some local fireworks. And when I say local, I mean local. There were at least 8 different families lighting off their own, that were nearly as good as the official town fireworks.

So, all in all, a very fun, action-packed day!

glacier n.p.

One of the gems of the U.S. National Park System - Glacier N.P. Wow! It is stunning! It was also quite busy, this week of July 4th. Although we toured there on Wed the 1st, there were tons of people/cars there. I was talking to someone who said that most folks in this region take their vacations over July 4th week - if they wait until August, wildfires are prevalent, thus it's more smoky/hazy. That is something I would never have thought about, being from the Midwest where wildfires are so rare.

Anyway, I had a really hard time picking out what I consider to be "the best of the best" photos from this ride. I hope you enjoy your armchair tour!

For size perspective on this waterfall, look for the cars on the road to the right of the falls. Oh, and what looks like the top half of the falls is actually snow.

If you have problems driving right next to big drop-offs, Going to the Sun Road is definitely not the road to be on!