December and Christmas 2018

This has been a very busy month.  We celebrated Ella's 14th birthday, we moved into our cabin at IGLS resort in Helen, and all the kids were here for Christmas. 

Christmas evening Nate and Mila left early because they had to get a very early flight the next morning heading to Siberia where Nate will meet Mila's family for the first time!  Mila hasn't seen her family for a year and a half, so she was very excited.  Try to stay warm Nate!

Katie and her family are leaving on the 28th for Colorado with their friends for a week of skiing and sightseeing.  They've had lots of fresh snow, so they should have fun.  Livie is staying with us until the 1st when she and Barb will fly out to join the rest of the family.

It's so wonderful to be back in the cabin and have the family all together, even if only for a few hours.

Ella and PawPaw at her birthday party

All decorated and ready!

3 of the 4 White kids stayed with us one night

The annual picture with the grand kids.  The stairs are almost too small!

And a picture with all the big kids!

Neil and Scott fooling around - what a cheesy picture!

PawPaw enjoying the apple pie that Katie made

Nate wants to get in on this!

Christmas Season is Here!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with Pam, Neil, and Jake, and then continued the tradition on Friday to get a Christmas Tree for their home.  All of Tony's kids and grandkids were here for Thanksgiving (Tony is Pam's brother-in-law), and a lot of them spent time with "Auntie Grandma Pam".  It was a great weekend.

Mike and Neil have also just about finished the garage for the motorcycles.  The only thing left is adding the barn doors and the trim, then a little bit of paint.  It turned out really nice!.

The perfect tree

C'mon Jake, let's have a smile!

Pam's great-nieces from the Cain side of the family

Working on the garage

The ramp is done, and the bikes are parked!

Camping with the Family

We just had a great weekend camping at Lake Lanier with the family. 

First, last week we pulled the trigger on a new Class A motorhome.  We've been talking about doing it for a while because this 5th wheel is too big to drag around the country any more.   We just stopped in to look, and they had a 2018 they were trying to get rid of and we couldn't pass it up.  It's great - 30', almost exactly what we were looking for, but we couldn't pass up the price.  We surprised the kids with it on the camping trip.

It's very comfortable, and this is what we'll take back to Hart Ranch when we leave in the spring.

It was COLD, but we had a great time.  It poured rain on Friday, but Saturday was sunny so we could be outside.  Such fun being with the family on a camping trip.

On Sunday we were going to go up to Leisure Acres in Cleveland to finish testing everything, but we couldn't get the big slide in. We stayed Sunday night, and then called the dealer on Monday morning and their tech guy walked us through how to override the fault codes on the slide controller.  Once we got the slide in we took it directly to the dealer for service.  They  have a 3 week backlog, so I hope we get it back so we can take it out again before we have to winterize it!

Nate and Paw Paw having a serious discussion

Snacks before supper

See the red noses - it was COLD!!

Standing close to the fire to stay warm

The campsite

October 2018

I can't believe the month has gone by so quickly!

We took a beautiful day and had a ride on Lake Lanier with Neil and Pam, we helped them bathe the puppies (they have all found homes now), Livie and Taylor spent the night one Saturday, and last Sunday we took a drive to Cloudland Canyon State Park - a truly beautiful area in Northwest Georgia.

Cheers!  On Lake Lanier

Life is great!!

Oh those puppies don't want a bath

PawPaw read me a story

Back Home in Georgia!

Our last day of work at Hart Ranch was September 29th, we loaded up on the 30th, and then hit the road on the 1st.  We had to be back for Nate and Mila's housewarming on October 6th.  They bought a new house in Cleremont, GA. 

Thankfully, we had an uneventful trip, and made it back to Pam and Neil's the afternoon on the 5th.  We got parked and settled in, and then had a fun time at Nate and Mila's.  Their house is great, and they have a huge, beautiful yard - plenty of room to grow  😉

On Sunday, we had an awesome ride to Helen with Neil, Pam and Jake.  We had brats at our favorite spot on the river.

It's so wonderful to be back!!!

All loaded and ready to go!

We're parked, and now it's beer time!  90 and VERY HUMID!

The newlyweds in front of their new house

C'mon Jake, give us a smile!!

September at Hart Ranch

We've made it through another summer, and this one seemed particularly busy.  Probably because Kim and Richard were here and Katie and Mike and the family came too.  We also squeezed in three camping trips. Oh, and then there was work!

Now it's September, all the work campers are starting to head south (it's sad to say goodbye to everyone), the pool is shut down, all of the activities are over, and the park is thinning out.

Our last day of work is the 29th, we'll load up on the 30th, and then head to Georgia on the 1st.  We'll be there on the 5th, back with the family and squeezing grandkids!  We can't wait.

Just a few pictures.  Susan brought us some green tomatoes from her garden, and of course we fried 'em right up.  Yummy!  

We were going to squeeze in one more camping trip to the Badlands, but they were predicting rain and we didn't want to pack the tent up wet not knowing the next time we'd open it up.  So, we just took a nice days' ride through the Badlands, had lunch in Wall, and then came home.  Great ride, one of our favorites!!

Next update will be from Georgia!

Selfie in the Badlands!

Buffalo, Wyoming 2018

Last week we had a great trip to Buffalo and the Bighorn Mountains.  Good thing it was last week, as the whole area is getting snow this week!

We rode over on Monday, and it was quite cool - and the smoke from the western fires was so bad that what should have been a beautiful vista of the mountains was nothing but gray haze.

It rained Monday night and Tuesday morning, so we just hung out in town. We actually got to explore the downtown area - something we'd never done before.  The historic Occidental Hotel and Saloon was really cool - we had happy hour in the saloon.   We also went to the museum - very interesting about the cattle wars.

On Wednesday we rode on Highway 16 across the mountains and over to Ten Sleep for lunch in our favorite saloon.  We usually make the huge loop over 16 to Worland, then over to Greybull, then on Highway 14 to Sheridan and back to Buffalo; but we decided we just wanted a nice, easy ride.  It was perfect, the weather was cool and the scenery was beautiful.  Luckily the smoke had died down, so we could actually see the mountains!

Riding in the Bighorn Mountains is one of our favorite things to do, and I'm glad we got to do it again this year.  It never gets old!!!

Our campsite at the Buffalo KOA

It's a muddy mess on Tuesday morning!! And COLD

The view from Loaf Mountain overlook

Selfie at one of the pullouts LOL!

This is the view of Ten Sleep Canyon from the overlook

The Ten Sleep Saloon - LOVE IT!!

Sturgis 2018

It's that time of year again, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally!

LOVE the roar of the bikes as they take off from Hart Ranch in the mornings, LOVE seeing them all over the Hills, LOVE the excitement!!

One of our favorite things to do during Sturgis is the Dakota Thunder motorcycle ride.  It starts at Ellsworth AFB and is an escorted ride (by Sturgis Police), and the SD Highway Patrol shut down I-90 from Ellsworth to Rapid City, and then the Rapid City Police shut down the intersections as 200 motorcycles make their way through town. 

Then we ride through Nemo, through Vanocker Canyon and into Sturgis.  Again, the Sturgis Police shut down the intersections as we ride through, and then we arrive in a designated parking area.

This always happens on Tuesday, and Tuesday is always Military Appreciation Day in Sturgis.

This ride used to be open to the first 200 who signed up, but the last few years it is only open to active military, veterans, and their guests (due to heightened security on the base).  We were fortunate enough this year to be invited by our friend Scott Anderson who is stationed at Ellsworth, but also works here at Hart Ranch in the IT department.

We had such a great day, the weather was perfect, there was a B1B flyover down main street, an Army veteran/double amputee did a parachute jump with a huge American flag, and the patriotism (including saying the Pledge of Allegiance at Harley Square as we honored our veterans and active military) was elating and heartwarming!

THANK YOU SCOTT!!

Here are a few of the pictures:

This bike is on display at our local Wal-Mart.  Beautiful bike, but look at the price!!

Scott and Mike while we wait to get signed in for the Dakota Thunder ride

Bikes lining up waiting for the ride.  Gotta love that beautiful bird in the background!!!

Almost ready to start 'em up. It starts with a blessing from the Chaplain, and then THE ROAR is so AWESOME!

We just came through Vanocker Canyon - 200 bikes lining up to be escorted into Sturgis

Lining up to be escorted into Sturgis

Army Vet Dana Bowman comes in with the American flag

Double Amputee!!

The crowd folding the large American flag

Main Street Sturgis, waiting for the B1B flyover