Back to life...

We arrived back home on Saturday night.
We have been in Pitkin, Colorado for the week. It was nice and cool during the days and cold some mornings...

We went there to hang out in these great cabins on Quartz Creek. We have stayed here before. In the past we came with a huge group to ride 4-wheelers on the trails in the mountains.

But this time it was just the 2 of us and " little Eddie"...

Little Eddie is the name of the Polaris RZR..remember? Hub's new toy?? Eddie got his name after the 2nd day there..it just came to me as we were climbing a very rocky steep trail..I said "Hang on Little Eddie and get us thru this"..and he did.

It was man and machine for Hub, he loves to test his skills and put his machine to the test. It was hang on and take pictures for me...I love just riding..I drove some, but it's way too much work. So, I gave it back to hub and let him do all the work. I'll have more pictures for ya in a couple of days..we went on some hairy trails and saw some great Colorado scenery.

Have a great Monday!

t

Saturday's Adventure

Saturday was cloudy when we walked out of our rooms. It was a nice change from the furnace of the sun the last few days..after breakfast at BJ's we headed out.

We were on a mission, sort of..I'm thankful that Leonard and Sue are good sports and allowed me to have this time! Hub knows my ways, may not always "get" me..but he humors me..
Today's mission was to go to Center Point Texas to meet up with a blogging friend! After riding some good roads we stopped for me to call and 'warn' her of our arrival.





We found the white fence and the pink bicycles..that caught Sue's attention, pink bicycles..she's an artist too, so she undersands our muses..After making our rumbling way up her driveway we found Jan and Frank in front of the garage watching us arrive..

Jan and I have been emailing for awhile now..and she's a teacher at Paper Cowgirl. So, it was fate~ we had to meet sooner or later..and since I was in the area..we made it sooner

She couldn't believe I rode my own. I thought she read my blog..guess not... They welcomed us to their home with true Texas hospitality! Frank is a life long Texan and Jan got here as soon as she could, so we'll forgive her for not understanding my Texas speak sometimes...

We were shown around the studio and their wonderful house. The guys set around the table and talked guy stuff while we did our girl thing...Let me tell you if you ever get the chance to meet this fireball of a woman, you need to take it..and be ready for a full ride~

We all went to Camp Verde for lunch at Jan's suggestion (instance) and have the best sandwich we'd ate this whole trip..As we set there, the rain started..and finished for that moment..We had to get going and parted way too soon, for we were not done talking...so we'll have to pick up where we left off next month at the retreat~


We then traded Moo cards and we were off..Frank suggested a road near that we needed to ride down...

These fellows were along the way:

We stopped to admire their wonderful horns for there were 3 more longhorns and a couple of odd fellows like the one behind...

Bandera was the next stop. Not that far down the road. We made it there..the boys let us shop...and then a big storm was blowing in. We rounded up and headed out. Hoping to miss the storm, but it caught up with us down the road. We had to climb into our rain gear, as we just zipped up the last zipper it hit us..Large- hard- cold -drops... let me tell you, at 50 miles an hour, those things feel like rocks hitting any bare spots you have showing~ We made our way back to Camp Wood. As we pulled in, the bottom fell out. Off and on all night it stormed and Sunday we woke up to it pouring off the roof...We suited up again and after breakfast at BJ's before we headed to Llano our split off place..

We left Leonard and Sue at Llano, rain suits shed and sun shining on our faces. Hub and I enjoyed the dry and made tracks for home. About 2 hours later, we were donning on the rain gear again..and rode in off and on rain until we were about 45 minutes away from home. By the time we made it home, we were dried out from the rain and ready to be home.

So, that was our road trip! Hope you enjoyed it! We did...we are taking another one next month~

later, t

Are you ready for a ride?

Hub brought the cable home! yea!! We down loaded photos! Some good, some not so good..

We had the bikes packed and ready in about an hour on Wednesday evening. He was late getting home and we thought we'd be way down the road by the time we were just getting started. We normally don't leave out in the evenings. The normal is an early rise to start the day. It was a nice change. More worries, but a nice change. D-E-E-R are the worry in the later hours of the day...But to have those late rays in your eyes were a nice relief after the Texas sized heat that had been the last few days.

As we rode on thru the early evening the air cooled down and made it a pleasure. Smells were drifting our ways. Cedar trees, mowed grass/hay, dry earth were many of the smells we were riding through. Hills and sweeping curves were also on the menu as we rode. Traffic was light and we met few as we made our way. Back roads, farm to market roads they are called her in Texas. Little black tops with little or no shoulders, but traffic is light and usually these are the fun roads for motorcycles.

It was just getting dark as we pulled in to a Restaurant I've not been in for years. Mary's in Strawn Texas. As we pulled up we were soon talking with a group of folks with take-out boxes in their hands. They had come over from Ft. Worth on their bikes to eat dinner at Mary's. Hondas, Harleys and in between were in their group. We headed in after a friendly smack down and road discussion. That is one of the first things that happens, where you from and where are you headed are always asked, especially when your packed down like we were.

Chicken Fried Steak is on of the main stays at Mary's and we were not disappointed this trip either. Full of oil field workers, families, cowboys even this late summer night, noise was at a high and tea and beers flowed around us. Bellies full and darkness had set in as we walked out the door. Zipped up jackets and headed out. Following our headlights in the dark we made our way. Stopping for the night in Brownwood, it was near midnight. We were in good spirits having got a head start on the next days miles, we unpacked and went in for the night.

Able to sleep in an extra hour, we took full advantage of that. After breakfast with the sun already warm we headed out. Fredericksburg Texas was where we were to meet up with another couple. We were not that far, so it was a nice relaxing ride down more FMs and State highways. Stopping here and there to look at things that interested us. Seeing people out mowing their yards, tending their fields and going about weekday business. We zipped thru their lives as they dotted ours. Seeing things that make me smile are what adds enjoyment to these road trips. Someone had carved a pouncing cat out of a fence post in the middle of no where..a funky eye catcher made from auto rims standing guard at the entrance to a business. Rivers running beneath us as we crossed bridges.



We made it to Fredericksburg by lunch time. Found our way through the masses of tourists for a place to park. A quick phone call and we were soon reunited with our friends from College Station; Leonard and Sue. Lunch and a cool off session at a local German Resturant. Cooling off and catching up were our main concerns at this time. After lunch the guys resigned to us girls for some shopping.

We tripped in and out of several shops, eyeing many wonderful things and discussing where and what you would use them for..then we stumbled into a wonderful antique shop. The displays were amazing, the prices were amazing and we had a great time gleaning ideas from there.

The guys couldn't stand it, they found us and in their little bad boy ways convinced us we needed to get back on the road.

To be continued......

Michelle Ward moment

We are about to embark on a MC trip for a long weekend...so down at the local WM I picked up a couple more white long sleeve T's for Hub and I...Even though it's Hellish weather, we still have to wear long sleeves some days to protect our skin from the sun and the drying wind while on the Harleys..you would not believe the way moisture is sucked out of your body while rolling down the highways at 70! So, every little bit of protection helps.


I couldn't leave my T just plain ol vanilla white...so I had an *ah ha* moment and thought of spay paint and stencils...Michelle Ward is the queen of spraying things! So I took the cue from her and went to make some magic on my T:

After doing a couple of light coats of flat black on it..what did you expect? pink? Comeonpeople..this is for a Harley trip, I have to keep up my biker image..hehehee

I let the paint dry for about 15 minutes, then popped it in the washer with some other stuff and look how awesomely(is that a word?? ) faded it came out!! I love it!! Looks old and well worn!

Then after some in town business yesterday, I got to play in the studio while the paint dried on some samples and look what I turned out:

These durn things are so much fun! I hope I can find something to do with them...

Ya'll know the RAK I showed you yesterday? Well, I'm passing it on and my RAK to someone is going out in the mail today!!

We are hitting the highway for the next few days, so no 'puter till we get back home..Ya'll be good and if you can't be good at least have fun! Hub and I are!

later gator,

t

Envision...

Willie Nelson in his pigtails and bandanna...singing "On the Road Again"...that's going to be me..





Here's the story and I'm stickin' to it: Soldier Son calls us yesterday, his exhaust brackets broke on his NEW, did you see the NEW part? bike...so we go up to Oklahoma to get him and the broke bike...He's to be back on base this am..didn't happen...he's got another couple of days now to get back up there to Kansas...



This Dealership in Wichita Falls, Red River Harley Davidson, are being ASSES about doing warranty work on this, so after a few calls to the exhaust place, and the dealership that he bought the bike from they have an answer...So, guess what? MOM is going to take the broke bike back to College Station Texas to the dealership there, who were great about the whole thing, I might add...and leave it there to get all fixed up...So, if you are passing thru and need something at the HD shop in CS tell them that Tina sent you in..they'll know who your talking about..(she rides an 06 Deluxe and used to live there..)



Looks like brite and early tomorrow I'll be headed out in the Big Ass truck pulling the broke bike on the trailer...so if you don't hear from me in a few days send out the search party..





Today, is the last of the dominoes I had finished before my trip..the one on the left with the yellow flowers is sold..but if your interested the others are for sale..just give me a hollar..10bux. free shipping..

We are starting a blog about the retreat, it's at: http://papercowgirl.blogspot.com/ no work on it yet, but that's fixin' to change...yeehaw...

outta here..t

Our Trip to the Dump

We went yesterday to the Town Dump in Cave Creek, here's my review:








The Town Dump was a very eclectic mix of Metals and wood...if you need a kitchen sink, they had one, hammered from copper at a reasonable price..if you need a Fredia Kohl painting, they had that...if you need something wooden from Mexico, they had that...if you needed something metal and rusty in finish for the yard or house, they had that..for the most part it was household/yard goods.

But they didn't have anything for altered artists to alter..or at least nothing struck my fancy there....so if you looking for household decorating things, this is a good place to go...

Look at this fine fellow:

He was made from car parts and metal doo-hickeys all welded together..this was not at the Dump, this was up the road....

I did find more my likings at this place that had a huge metal rusty T-Rex out front, we think the name was Wild Bill's but really couldn't tell...so if you see a T-Rex in the parking lot that's the place..it was the only one with a huge dinosaur. I did buy some stuff there and my host found some nice pots that didn't look southwest. It was a bit neater in appearance than the Dump.

It was not all play yesterday..finished up the mural I'd started on Saturday and did some rework on some mirrors she had that were not quite the right color anymore..so dabbed on a bit of glaze here and there to unify them with her black accents.

Then for dinner we ate at an amazing place in Scottsdale called : Bandera . I recommend it! If you are in or near that area, look it up and go. They had a great menu, it smelled wonderful inside, wood fire..and dessert was amazing..

I'm about to wrap it up here, maybe finish up tomorrow if all goes well today...

Hope your Monday is a good one and you can get IT done, what ever IT is...

t

My adventure has begun..

I left Texas, Saturday morning and arrived in Flagstaff, AZ that evening. I'm now in Phoenix for 2 week. I'm working...so if you don't hear much from me, that's what's up..have a great week!!

tina