EXALTED RULER, LOCAL ELKS LODGE

This big boy is a resident of Bear Country, Rapid City. As you can see, his rack is still in velvet. Quite impressive, and good eatin too.
Hope you all are having a wonderful summer. We will be leaving Sturgis in the morning and heading for Sheridan, WY, one of my favorite authentic cowboy towns. Until we meet again, God Bless you and the USA.

GETTIN DOWN WITH THE BREHMS, 8 JULY,2013

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HOME IN ELKVIEW RV PARK, STURGIS, SD

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For those of you that follow this blog, I apologize for not keeping it up to date. Being able to maintain a spot in cyberspace can be difficult at some of the remote spots we camp. All of this blog activity is a few weeks ago. I will try to catch up as I can. I have a lot of material to share with you. But for now, we are all well and having a great time. Weather is a factor on our plans, as almost every day includes a thunder storm.

DOING TIME IN THE BIG HOUSE

Yes kiddies, these are your grandmothers. Diane and Darlene were incarcerated for failing to violate in the presence of an officer.
We were fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with good friends Gene and Darlene McDonough. They camped at Hart Ranch, (the other side of the tracks) in Rapid City.

THE INCREDIBLE WORLD FAMOUS "KNUCKLE SANDWICH"

There is a biker bar in downtown Sturgis called the "KNUCKLE". The food and drink are quite good. I did not order this sandwich, which consists of a 1 full pound hamburger patty, a couple of tomatoes, an onion, five strips of bacon, two jalapeno peppers, half a head of lettuce, six ounces of cheese, and a bun about the size of a volley ball. As you might guess, most eateries cater to BWB (bikers with bucks) so the service and the fare are good.

THREE STORY HIGH MOTORCYCLE ENGINE

On entering the Buffalo Chip Saloon, you are greeted by this behemoth monument to big power for bikers.
I will try to get this blog up to date as soon as circumstances allow. Hope you are all having a wonderful summer, in spite of the heat. I think we must be in one of the best places for now. No tornadoes, no excessive heat, no forest fires, just a whole mess of green grass and trees. Lucky us..

THE BUFFALO CHIP

The famous Buffalo Chip Saloon out side of Sturgis. Similar in nature to the Full Throttle Saloon, maybe more famous. There have been many documentaries on TV on this place.

FULL THROTTLE GHOST RIDER

As you can see in the background, the weather has been a little sporty here. Even though the days are typically sunny with a slight breeze, the afternoons are usually blessed with thunderstorms, lots of lightening, a few big booms, and varying amounts of rain. We have had a couple that were doozies, gusts up to 72 mph, heavy rain, and hail that stayed on the ground for hours.

DARLENE, GENE, AND DIANE WITH THE GHOST RIDER

This is another shot from the parking lot of the Full Throttle Saloon. The "Ghost Rider" in the background is a weldment made of old motorcycle parts and various hunks of scrap metal.

ANOTHER STINKIN BIKER BAR

Just a few miles out of town are, maybe the most famous biker hang outs of the "Black Hills Motorcycle Rally". They are the Full Throttle, and the Buffalo Chip. Both offer camping sites, food, top named rock bands, booze by the gallon, motorcycle events, and lots of skin.

COMMANDING OFFICER'S HOUSE, FT. BRIDGER

Pretty nice digs for the CO. All the rooms are furnished and demonstrate the way of life back in the good old days.

CARRIAGE HOUSE, "NO VACANCY"

Fine rides from the elite.

LINDA, ANDY, DIANE & MESELF AT THE OLD ICE HOUSE

Some of the buildings are original and date back to 1840's, others are reconstructions. This is the "reconstructed" ice house, where winter ice was insulated and stored through the summer. These four fossils were recovered from ice.

CARTER TRADING POST, with a DECENT DOCENT

The Carter family lived with the Army inside the fort, and stated a new trading post after Jim Bridger. This is the building Carter occupied. This is a picture of the docent who conducts tours through the store. Even though he looks like he's been sniffing axel grease, he was quite enthusiastic about his history.

ENTRANCE TO THE FORT

Interesting history here. Jim Bridger was a mountain man, scout for the US Army, and an all around expert in outdoor survival. He opened a trading post here which was bought, but not paid in full, by the Mormons, later occupied by the Army to protect pilgrims moving West.

OUR CAMP WITH THE CLARKSONS, FORT BRIDGER

That's us on the left and the Clarksons on the right. This was home for three days while we investigated the local history.

ENTRANCE TO THE RV CAMP

Howdy Howdy loyal friends of the BLOG.  After a few restful and rejuvenating days Fort Bridger, WY, we are settled at the Elkview RV Park in Sturgis, SD. We had a wonderful time with good buds, Andy and Linda Clarkson at Fort Bridger, and did the tour of the fort.

GETTIN DOWN WITH THE BREHMS, 10, JUNE, 2013

SITE OF THE ORIGINAL TRADING POST

OFFICERS HOUSE, fT. BRIDGER

GETTIN DOWN WITH THE BREHMS, 4 JUNE, 2013

PRINCESS DIANA CHECKS OUT THE LONDON BRIDGE

We were abducted and forced to do the touristy thing in Havasu which included wandering among the British artifacts at the London Bridge and having lunch at the Mudshark.

LONDON BRIDGE, LAKE HAVASU

I'm sure everyone knows the story of Havasu City and Mr. McCullough, the chain saw king, so I won't go into that. We took a day trip from Parker to check out Lake Havasu and Havasu City.

GUESS WHERE WE ARE

Here we are in beautiful Provo. I think we are at about 6000 ft. It is June, but there is still a lot of snow in the mountains. Provo has about anything any other good sized city has, plus BYU.

OUR CAMP IN PROVO

We arrived in Provo May 30. We are camped at the Elks Lodge with full hook ups. Notice the snow in the peaks behind us. The folks here are great, we have met some real nice people, both campers and Elks. They have a full menu, a matre di and live piano dinner music on Fridays Saturday they had a BBQ rib cook-off with live band, which was good.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

Well worth the drive. These falls were on the road to Sundance and Mt. Timpanogos. We saw them from the road and decided we wanted a better view, so we pulled off the road and parked at Nunns Park. There is hiking trail in the park that leads to the falls.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS 2

There is still a bunch of snow in the mountains, so the falls keep falling. A beautiful site to just stop and stare at.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS AGAIN

Sorry for all the pictures of the same water falls, but they were magnificent from any angle or distance, so I went nuts..

UTAH TROUT

These guys were plentiful in the creek that runs off Bridal Veil Falls. See how clear the water is? and cold too.

MT. TIMPANOGOS TRAIL MAP

This was the end of our day trip up in the mountains. There is a parking lot here for hikers to depart from. We elected to take this picture instead of hiking in the snow.

GETTIN DOWN with the BREHMS, 20 MAY 2013

Greetings to all followers of this geriatric cult. We are in Parker AZ, at the Emerald Cove RV Resort. This was Diane's maiden, solo adventure, driving from Ocotillo, CA to Parker AZ. She did it driving a 40' 400HP diesel pusher towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and did it without any problem. She's a natural. She is so good, I almost fell asleep. Hope you are all having a wonderful summer, and none of you were involved in the tornados.

SHADY SIDE POOL

This is the pool on the shady side, and you can see the Tiki Bar in the middle. They also have 2 spas and two kiddie pools.

SUNNY SIDE SWIMMING POOL

Emerald Cove has two large pools. One in the sun (this'n) and one in the shade. In between the two pools is the Tiki Bar. Open from 11:30 till midnight. Cheap drinks (plastic cups) of course, and karaoke in the evening.

BIG LEAGUE KETTLE CORN

We don't do anything in a small way, here at Emerald Cove. This is the itinerant Kettle Corn concession in the park. Just in case you need something to wash down with that beer or margarita.

CAMPGROUND FOR THE RICH

Yes, boys and girls...this is how the rich enjoy the river. These are mostly weekend homes for celebrity entertainers, athletes, and other persons of means.
This photo is taken from Trailer Trash on the Shore, a modest, temporary abode for the less affluent. But we like it better, I think.

BREHM'S LANDING, EMERALD COVE, PARKER AZ.

Not a bad spot, one row back from the river. Less noise, less sand, nice and level with 50amp service. Important when running two air conditioners, refrigerator, washing machine, and microwave all at the same time.

PARKER THOROUGH BRED RACEHORSE

These wild burros are everywhere here in the desert. They just wander out in front of cars begging for food, money, or to clean your windshield. We drove from the campground (Emerald Cove) to the dam and saw about 20 on the way.

DAMN! WHAT A DAM

This is the downriver side of the Parker Dam. On the other side is lake Havasu, which is a whole other world. A little more tame and touristy. The river seems higher than I have seen it in previous years. Didn't see and sand barges at all.

A LITTLE FUN IN THE SUN

Nothing much more restful than sitting on a floating bar on a nice sunny day, watching expensive boats ripping up and down the river, while sucking down a cool draft.
Diane demonstrates her technique here.

AVAST YEE MATEY, THERE BE HAPPY HOUR HERE, ARRGGGG............

Emerald Cove is a pretty colorful place to spend time. A whole fleet of very impressive race boats, ski boats, party boats, and even an occasional fishing boat. The people are pretty colorful as well, as are their campsites. Kind of reminds me of Mission Beach in the "60's".

PARTY TIME ON THE ROADRUNNER

This is the famous "Roadrunner" floating bar. It's right on the Colorado River in Parker. The last one. There was a time when the river had many floating bars, but as they needed permits for repair or rebuild, they were denied. Too much fun I guess. Since they all have docks to tie up to, there may have been to many drunk admirals out there

THE SEXY SALTON SISTERS GANG

Before we left Johnson's Landing at Salton Sea, we had to capture this photo of the ruthless Salton Sisters Gang for their new Wanted Poster.
    These girls are like teenage sisters for a couple months each year. and they are from left to right; Sandy Schwarting, Maxine Dimmick, Diane, and Grace Davis. Approach with caution, they are considered mature and dangerous.....

CHOPPED, CHANNELLED, STROKED, LOWERED, FRAKED and SEQUESTERED.......

For several years, the Jamul Kiwanis have sponsored a car show/chili cook-off for charity at a local nursery. The nursery sold out last year, so Thousand Trails Pio Pico picked up the gauntlet and hosted the car show/ chili cook-off at our campground. It was a success, and will probably be bigger next year.

"32" with a heavy Hemi

There were about 80 hot rods at the Pio Pico/Kiwanis Car show. Most were local East County cars, and a couple from other states. This one was a real eye catcher with a Mopar Hemi 372.

A DAY IN AFRICA

Sunday, our daughter took us, along with boyfriend Ray, and her granddaughter, Jocelyn, to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We had a great time, and of course, thoroughly enjoyed the company. We saw most of the park and took the tram ride out into the animal open areas. It is so nice to see all the different types of animals sharing the same space.

Country Pork Ribs, MMmmmmmm!

I just couldn't resist taking this picture. These are the ingredients to a Dutch Oven prepared meal. The Dutch Oven is placed in a contraption called a "Volcano" which contains the burning charcoal. A couple of hours, and viola!
Some of the ingredients beside the ribs are; potatoes, onion, garlic, pasilla peppers, jalapeno peppers, carrots, tomatillos and seasonings.

Secretary Bird

An amazing fact at the bird sanctuary at the Wild Animal Park is that all the birds in the show are free flight birds, that is, there are not caged and not tethered. They fly around, inside and outside the arena, and always return to their handlers.

ANDEAN CONDOR

This guy is enormous. Ten foot wingspan. The Wild Animal Park has been instrumental, maybe the most instrumental in saving this species. Many have been collected, strengthened, breed, and returned to the wild. While they are still a protected species, I believe they are no longer on the endangered species list.

Our Hosts for the Day

We had a wonderful, fun day at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, now known as "Safari Park". We were invited by our lovely daughter, Donna, her boyfriend, Ray, and our great granddaughter, Jocelyn.

Jocelyn Feeding a Lorikeet

Jocelyn thoroughly enjoyed the hands on interface with the animals and birds at the park. Her full day demanded a nap on the way home.

     This will probably be our last special outing in San Diego. We will be departing in about 10 days for Parker AZ. ("The River"). After a couple of weeks, we will head out toward Gillette, WY. for a rally called an Escapade.