Cadillac Ranch

As we made our ride from Albuquerque to Amarillo, we stopped in at the Cadillac Ranch. If you're not aware of this attraction, along Rt 66, it's 10 Cadillacs, from 1948 - 1963, That are 1/2 buried, pointing to the southwest, and sitting on the same angle of the Great Pyramids, of Egypt.

The cars are in tribute to the peak of the auto industry! The cars are now covered in graffiti, which is fine with the owner, Stanley Marsh III. In fact, folks are encouraged to leave their mark! Below, is a photo of the ten Cadillacs, from a distance.

A close up of the Caddys!

Big D, alongside the Caddys!

This was a nice stop, along the way!

Morning in Las Vegas

After arriving in Las Vegas, we strolled down to Freemont St, the strip, and spent the evening!

We had a good dinner, and then took in a couple of shows. One was a 70's disco show, which was very good, and the other was a Rolling Stones tribute, which was great! As usual, the highlight of the evening was "people watching"!

On Sunday morning, we returned to the strip for breakfast. After breakfast, we decided to visit the pawn shop, where "Pawn Stars" is filmed.

Little D, on the strip!

The strip, Sunday morning.

The pawn shop, where "Pawn Stars" is filmed!

Inside the shop. Our visit to the shop was really cool! If you're a "Pawn Stars" fan, this is a must, visit! We had to wait, in line, to get in, but it was well worth the wait!

Morning in Reno

We left McCloud Thursday afternoon, and rode to Reno. We decided to spend Friday in Reno, and just chill out!

I woke up early, and decided to enjoy the morning on the deck, at the boat house.

Just me, the ducks, and an ice cold Frapp! Not sure it gets any better than this!

This is Hidden Lake, located between Reno, and Carson City. We always enjoy our visit with our friends, Dr Bill, and Sheri Avery!

Whiskeytown Loop

Friday, August 20

After calling our first week in McCloud, we decided to take a ride, through the country side.

We rode north to Gazelle, CA and picked up CA 3. We rode south to Callahan. Callahan is a really cool old town. Not much there, now. There is a post office, an old saloon, and an emporium.

We spent a bit of time there, and really enjoyed our visit!

Below is D, in front of the Emporium.

Below, is the old hotel. It was once a stage coach stop, along the Oregon Trail.

This is CA 3, riding south, toward Weaverville.

Little D at Trinity Lake

Below is Whiskey Town Lake. The barrier in the water is a wall that goes all the way to the bottom of the lake. It is to keep the warm water from mixing with the cold water, so the Chinook salmon, may spawn in the cold water.

D at Whiskeytown Lake

D&D at Whiskeytown Lake

Our ride was terrific! We start another week of calling, at McCloud, and will start our journey to Dallas Thursday, Aug 27. Will probably make a side trip or two, along the way.

Lake Tahoe Ride

Saturday, August 14

We decided to ride to Lake Tahoe, since Little D hasn't seen it. The ride was really nice!

Below, is a photo taken from atop the mountain, as Tahoe first comes into view.

A photo of the the lake, taken from the shore.

Little D, on the shore.

Reno, and Lake Tahoe, were really cool! We really enjoyed our stay at the boat house with Bill & Sheri! It was nice to have a day to rest up, and chill!

Las Vegas To Reno

Friday, August 13

As we journeyed to Reno, we encountered several really cool towns! The photo, below, is a small town called Goldfield. It was an old gold mining town. Not much there, but old skeleton buildings.

Below, is Walker Lake. Not far out of Hawthorn, NV. You travel through the desert, and all of a sudden you see the lake. This is the only water source for the area.

Below, is another photo of Walker Lake.

Las Vegas_Arlen Ness Tour

After spending 2 weeks at the Lake of the Ozarks, calling, and playing, we started our journey west. We journeyed to Las Vegas headed for Reno. While in Las Vegas, we visited Arlen Ness Custom Motorcycles. We were really surprised at how the management opened the entire shop to us! Blues, the head of the custom car shop gave us the VIP tour!

Below, Dee Barnes, the owner of the franchise, showed us several of his award winning cars.

Dee , is beside a 1950 Ford, that they are currently working on.

Below is another of Dee's cars. What a beauty! This car has won the National Custom Car championship, 3 years in a row. He has retired it from competition.

Below, is D&D, Blues, & Bill Biler, the general manager of the shop.

The bike, is an old Indian, that Bill built in tribute to his father.

Bill's father was an Ol' Indian rider! The bike is an ongoing project.

Below, is D&D & Shawn Reddy, a custom bike builder, from Australia. Shawn has won several "Biker Build Off" competitions. We really enjoyed visiting with Shawn, especially, when we learned he is a Marcos Ambrose fan, as I am. Shawn showed us several of his custom projects. The most interesting is a golf cart that he is installing an EVO engine, and tranny in.

Below is D, Blues, Little D, and Bill. These guys were great! They really showed us a great time!

Little D is on one of there customs, built in their shop.

This is another of those destinations, that a biker would really enjoy! What the heck, you don't have to be a biker, to enjoy this place! We will return, for another visit!

Riding The Ozarks

We rode a different route from St. Louis to Lake of the Ozarks. We rode through New Haven, Mo where we found a really cool restaurant! It is called SOMEBODY's. The food, atmosphere, and service was fantastic! As it turned out, it is owned by a dancer I have known, for many years! We, also, visited a glass blowing shop, while there. New Haven, is a really cool town, located between Washington, and Hermann, MO. Definitely worth a visit!

Upon our arrival at Kirkwood Lodge, we went for a ride around town, on Friday, checking out some of our favorite hangouts. By Friday afternoon, some of our friends who winter in the valley, arrived, and we all went out for a terrific dinner at the City Grille, in Osage Beach. The food was terrific! The City Grille, is run by some of our friends, that I have known for many, many years!

On Saturday, we all rode through the beautiful Ozarks, to visit another Valley friend, Wino.

Wino lives in a really cool town, called Tightwad! We visited with Wino, then rode into town, to his bar, there in Tightwad.

below, is a photo of Gary, Wino, D&D, Cindy, and Don, at wino's bar. Yes, this is in Tightwad, and not at Pepe's ! The sign made us all feel right at home! we had a blast in tightwad!

On our way back to Osage Beach, we stopped off in Warsaw, MO. Warsaw is an old town, located on the Osage River between, Truman lake, and Lake of the Ozarks. Definitely a town, worth a visit! We all ate supper at the RUSTY SKILLET, another cool eatery!

We really enjoyed our get-together at the Lake! In fact we all decided to do it again, next year, only hoping to have more Valley friends join us!

Our Week In St. Louis

After a quick trip to Dallas, for a couple of dances, we traveled back to St Louis, for a weekend of calling. Sunday, we rode to Alton, IL along the Great River Ride, with our friends, Marion, and Velma. We found a really cool place, in Alton, called the Loading Dock! It was an old warehouse along the river, that was converted to a bar, and grille. Our lunch there, was terrific! Some of the best salsa, we ever had!

Below, is a view of the river, from the Loading Dock. Notice the light house, on the river.

D&D, Velma, and Marion, on the river!

On Monday, we visited the Arch, on the river in downtown St. Louis. We really had a blast!

Below, is a photo taken from the top of the Arch. This is the courthouse.

Below, is Busch Stadium, as seen from the Arch.

The St. Louis skyline, from the Arch

Edward Jones Stadium, from the arch

D&D, in the Arch. Notice, we are 630 feet up!

I thought this was a cool photo, of the arch shadow!

D&D, at the Arch

Photo of the river, below the Arch

Our week in st Louis was great! We did a lot of sightseeing, and riding.

We visited a Lewis & Clark museum while there.

on Thursday, we will journey to the Lake of The Ozarks, for 10 days of playing, riding, and calling.

Visit to Decah's Birthplace

We left St. Charles, Thursday morning, July 15th, heading south for Dallas. We decided to take a ride through southern Mo, to northeast Arkansas, to visit Decah's birthplace. We rode south on Missouri 68/19 taking us through the Ozark National scenic river ways. We crossed the White river and rode the route to Mammoth Springs, the ride was fantastic. Some of the most beautiful scenery we have seen yet. We rode on into Arkansas, riding through Mountain Home, Arkansas.

Again, more fantastic scenery, with hilly switchbacks. We decided to spend the night in Gassville, AR. On Friday morning we continued our journey on to Prairie Grove, AR and then on in to Dallas. The photo below was taken in the hills of northern Arkansas.

We arrived in Prairie Grove, AR in time for lunch. We found a cool little restaraunt beside the locataion where the hospital was located. The hospital has burned down many years ago. At the restaraunt we met a waitress whose brother was born at the hospital, and she had a photo of the old hospital. We enjoyed our visit to Prairie Grove!

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that there was a Civil War battle field in town. We toured the battle field and visited several points of interest and were impressed with our visit. We definitely want to return for a more thorough visit.

Contrary to popular belief, the photo below is not Decah's home in Prairie Grove! It is an old cabin in the battle field park.

The photo below is Decah holding a photo of Elizabeth Hospital, where she was born. We were surprised to learn that the hospital raised its own beef and veggies for food served at the hospital.

The photo below is of 'downtown' Prairie Grove. Again, we really enjoyed our visit to Prairie Grove. We will return and spend more time there, later. By the way, Prairie Grove is located between Fort Smith and Fayetteville, AR.

Heading South

After leaving Michigan, we journeyed south through Indiana, and on to Pekin,Il (Peoria area), to spend a few days with our friends Tom, and Jutta.

while there, we all took a great ride, through the farmlands, almost to Hannibal, Mo. We had about 8 bikes on the ride. The ride was fantastic! We have never seen so much corn, at one time! Miles and miles of corn fields, along the way, on both sides of the road. At times, we felt as though we were riding through tunnels of corn! We visited Tom's brother's farm, and went for a, well deserved swim at Tom's nephew's home.

Really enjoyed all of them! We ate at a tiny diner, in Tom's home town, a small farming community, which I can not remember the name. It was a great day of riding! Monday was spent getting ready to journey south, to St Louis.

We left Pekin, and rode south, on Tuesday. We had a nice, relaxing ride to St Charles where we spent a couple of days with Marion, and Velma, in St Charles.

On Wednesday, I rode with Marion, and his son, Terry on there usual "Wednesday Ride". We rode through Defiance, Mo, and on through the Missouri wine country. We found a really cool biker grille in Defiance! Had lunch there, and rode on. Above is a photo of our steads.

Was another great ride!

Thursday morning we left for Dallas, detouring to take a ride through southern MO., and on to northeast Arkansas, to see Decah's birthplace, in Prairie Grove, AR.