Thursday, September 11, 2008

MegaMel's August 2008 Adventures!

MegaMel's August Travel and Activities Report!

Motorcycle Trip to Telluride!

Traci and Jay Wedding!

Bonneville Salt Flats!

Colorado Adventure Dirtbike Ride!

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Motorcycle Trip to Telluride!




MegaMel and Sandie, along with brother Doyle, his son Richard and wife Sarah.





MegaMel and Sandie on Independence Pass.





Lunch break outside Aspen.





A lot of people don't know that my brother Doyle really is Spiderman.




One of nine Galloping Goose Trains that were built. They ran from Ridgeway to Cortez and then to Durango, and still run a few times per year. Gotta' try it!




Ouray! One of Colorado's most beautiful places.



Durango Silverton RR.





Downtown Silverton.




MegaMel and Sandie on the V-Strom. Note the Galloping Goose rail line in the background, below the cliffs.




Bridalveil Falls and Hydro-Electric plant near Telluride.




MegaMel and Sandie with Mt. Sneffels in background (I climbed it from the opposite side (much easier) when I was busy climbing all 54 of Colorado's 14'ers.



Doyle, Aimee (his daughter), Mark (fiancee), and MegaMel in front of Barr Camp.

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Our daughter Traci married her longtime boyfriend Jay on July 31, 2008 in Ft. Collins at The Tapestry House. We had three days of dinners, party's, and outings. It was a blast.





Traci and Jay (Bride and Groom) have some fun on our Wedding Whitewater Rafting trip down the Poudre outside Ft. Collins.




Yes, we had a lot of fun the the Class 3+ rapids. One of our boats flipped twice. We had fifty people on the trip.



MegaMel and Traci head down the aisle.



All the Grand kids. Taylor, Dakotah, Colin, Jordyn, Baylee, and Thea.


The Tapestry House in Ft. Collins.



Traci during the photo shoot prior to the wedding.



MegaMel, Granddaughter Jordyn (Sophomore at CSU), and Sandie.




We had three days of party's at the wedding but our Whitewater Rafting day was a high point (second after the wedding itself of course). Here's Jay (the groom), Trevor, Dakotah (granddaughter), Taylor (granddaughter), Jordyn (granddaughter), MegaMel, Maia (daughter-in-law), Traci, Colin (grandson).




MegaMel, Sandie, Jordyn, Taylor, Dakotah, Colin, Baylee, Thea.


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Bonneville Salt Flats trip with Jack Bergman.



Jack Bergman with 250 cc Triumph without the fairing. He set a record in both classes again this year (Partial Streamlined and Modified).

These guys were pitted next to us. They hoped to go 330 MPH and had almost 4,000 HP in the motor.


There were 500 entries and at least 50 "Rat Rods" (built to look like they were built in the '50's). Probably another 50 or so Street Rods were on hand as well. Quite a show!

Jack, on the Start Line. Anyone can hang out here and talk to drivers and crews. Fun!


BC, Wally, and Jack at Tech. inspection.


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Colorado Adventure Dirtbike Ride in Beulah.




Roman cooks us a big batch of Slovakian goulash. Tasty!


How 'bout that goulash? Buddy wants a taste.

Our every night campfire was loads of fun.

Joi and her cabin.

Chevy Flatbed on it's "maiden voyage".

Harry preparing some of his signature Brats. Buddy's hoping for a taste.

Judy from St. Louis and my wife Sandie enjoying the Beulah views.


BC's new "Shed". BC and Harry working on the roofing.

Bob Garner, Mike Kunz, BC, MegaMel, Harry Wedler, and Don Zobel watch while we try to get "Little Blue", a 1-1/2 HP Hit & Miss engine, running.

MegaMel with his KTM 450EXC

BC on a very narrow single-track through the Aspens.

First private resort on National Forest land.

Starting the '49 Chevy. See the YouTube on it.

Zobel shows how to get the starter working.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

RTAA - Roadtrip Across America


Trevor (son) and his buddy Brent made it to Colorado Springs with Trev's "Millenium Falcon" (an 80's Tioga Motorhome - MoHo) along with their two boys Colin and Ian.

Trev and I had planned a RTAA (Roadtrip Across America) to Nashville using my MoHo from Colorado Springs.








Riding our Mtn. Bikes down the Barr Trl. on Pikes Peak seemed like a good idea to start our adventure.

The Barr Trl. is "Hot", with 8K elevation drop over 12 miles of fast single-track.

We did some crashin' but what else would you expect?








Halfway down we hit the coffee and snickers pretty hard at Barr Camp.

It's a great place to spend the night.














Sandie and I left Colorado Springs in our MoHo with Trevor and his two kids from CA (Colin and Thea). Thea flew here direct from CA, electing not to do the eight day MoHo trip with the "Butcher Boys".

After spending a night in Ft. Collins to say Hi to our daughter Traci, we rolled on to the Black Hills and made a stop in Hot Springs.

Why pay to go to some commercial hot springs when the local river flows at 90 Deg. F. Fun!



Colin really wanted to catch some fish and we tried as often as possible.

One of the lakes in the Black Hills.














Colin and Thea at Mt. Rushmore.

We also visited Wind Cave N.P. and the Crazy Horse memorial.














After a fun morning at Wall Drug (I guess it's one of the top ten site-seeing attractions of America?) we drove twenty miles north to
Creighton to camp at the Babcock Ranch (7K acres).

I've been there a couple of times before to ride dirtbikes with Randy Babcock.







I'm pretty sure a swim in the Missouri River will cure most anything.















Cleaning the Bass that Colin caught at a campgroung near Omaha.
















Watrous Watkins Woolen Mill state park. My third visit there.


The only complete 19th century woolen mill in existence.











The entire buildings machinery (four floors) was powered by a single-cylinder steam engine.















We didn't want to take the time to stop but the arch in StL looked cool.















While we we're visiting Trevor's buddy Marco in Nashville, I rode my DR350 dirtbike 75 miles to Lynchburg to visit my "Old Buddy" Jack (#7 founder).





The MoHo in Marco's driveway.

















We found the Natchez Trace State Park halfway between Nashville and Memphis. We camped next to a beautiful lake with a great swimming beach.

The park had a free shooting range so we sharpened up our shooting skills a bit. The girls did some shooting but seemed to prefer doing workbooks.

A fellow camper (Robert - around 70 I think?) went with us and showed us the routine of "Cowboy Shooting".



On the way back to Colorado we stopped at my brother Lyle's house on Lake of the Ozarks to waterski for a few days. It was fantastic!