2009 Iowa State Fair

Last weekend I decided to go to the Iowa State Fair to check out the sites, sounds and smells. The Iowa State Fair is one of the best fairs in the United States. There is so much to see and do that it can be a little overwhelming. I took a few photos of the sites that I saw while I was there. From the record setting pumpkin, the 3000+ lb Bull, to the white veranda tents of the Des Moines elite that camp at the fair all week...it is something to see. Bubba Sorenson, the Freedom Rock Guy, was in the Arts & Culture building painting a smaller rock for the fair. I had lots of fun walking around and people watching. I was excited that I was able to listen to a few of the "Sprouts" perform during the Bill Riley Talent Show. I cast my kernel for UNI. And I even found some of the new 2010 Harley Davidson Motorcycles.

My View of the 2009 Iowa State Fair...

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If you are interested in finding out more about the Iowa State Fair check out the facts on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_State_Fair

Poker Run for Brandi Klos - September 19, 2009

**** UPDATE **** Sadly Brandi Klos passed away before her poker run. As far as I know they are still having this event because I'm sure that her family has many expenses. If you would like to donate money please send it to Montezuma State Bank 101 S 4th St Montezuma, IA 50171-7709.

Toots and Spider are from Montezuma, IA and they are bikers with the hugest hearts. Toots e-mailed me and asked me to post about a poker run that they are having for a young lady from Montezuma who has Cancer. Toots wrote a bio on Brandi Klos that I'm sharing below. There are also details about the poker run if you live here in Iowa and would like to attend.

Brandi M. Klos is the daughter of John and Brenda Klos 1200 East Main Street Montezuma,Iowa 50171. I don't know about you, but I am proud to call Montezuma Iowa my home. And so is this family or they would not be here.

Brandi graduated from Montezuma High in May of 2008 she has 3 sisters Cheyene 15 who is a sophomore this year, and twin sisters Lauren and Carmen are 6 starting first grade this year at Montezuma.

Brandi continued her education at MCC, got an apartment and started a job as a CNA(certified nurses assistant) Her dream and education was to be a nurse. We all thought she should be a model, so beautiful. But her dream is to help others.

In October 2008,Brandi noticed numbness in her fingers and toes. On November 1st she said her tongue was very weak and her speech was slurred, so on November 2nd mom and dad got her home from school and took her to the emergency room in Iowa City. Where they did an MRI and found a mass on her brain stem. They said because of the location that is was in-operable,(meaning they cannot operate), or do any kind of biopsy. So it is being treated as if it were CANCER!

She went thru 6 weeks of radiation and 5 weeks of daily chemotherapy, she had double vision and very weak in both legs. And in January things looked good as far as the MRI showed, then Dr'S said she could go back to her apartment and go to work and school. So she went on with life and full filling her dreams. But also had to stay on chemo pills 5 days a month. Mom and dad believed in their daughter and doctor's and let this happen.

Then Brandi had to have and MRI done in April, it looked ok, so she continued on with her chemotherapy pills, taken 5 days in one month.

But in June the MRI showed lots of color, it was wrapping itself around her spinal cord and the madella of her brain. In case you don't know that is not good!
So mom and dad decided to take her to MAYO in Rochester Minnesota. Doctor's wanted to start Brandi on Avastin, a new type of chemotherapy. So Brandy did start it every 2 weeks in an IV and also had 3 infusions in an IV. She had lots of weakness in her left side, hand,arm, leg and foot. She can no longer walk or stand on her own. Her steroids that she takes made her gain weight, and to Brandi this is a major concern.LOL.

On August 11th Brandi seen a specialist in Houston Texas suppose to be the best in the United States and agreed with MAYO Rochester MN, that it is not operable,non-curable but they can try their best to slow it down.

This is hittin home really bad, and I am stepping up to the plate to ask all BIKERS,all MOM's,DAD's,BROTHERS, SISTERS, GRANDPARENTS AND FRIENDS TO DO THE SAME. She's a kid with a big heart, alot of dreams and her whole life ahead of her. This could be one of yours, that just wants to live life to the fullest and help others, Hell that's a dream now let's help her live and then full fill Brandi's dream.


Poker Run - for Brandi Klos September 19, 2009

Sign in starts at 10:30 am at courthouse square in Montezuma, IA
$5.00 per hand or $10.00 for 3 hands with payouts to highest and lowest hand
Last bike out at 11:30 am
Last bike in at 5:30 pm (100 mile run)
1st stop Delta Junction Intersection of HWY 92 & HWY 21
2nd stop Wildlife Bar-n-Grill Fremont, IA
3rd stop All In The Family Raceway (used to be Winds) Oskaloosa, IA
4th stop Scooters New Sharon, IA
5th stop County Seat Montezuma, IA
Dinner and Street Dance -
In front of and hosted by County Seat in Montezuma, Iowa
$10.00 per person - includes dinner and dance, $15.00 per couple
Food will be served from 6:30pm - 8:00pm
CPR will be playing from 8:00pm - Midnight
Several Raffles throughout the night including 50/50
Lodging -
Camping available for free or you can choose the following:
Camping at Diamond Lake for a fee (payable to DNR)
Cozy Country Inn - call for reservations at 641-623-5505

Everyone Welcome!
All Proceeds go to Brandi Klos
Donations also accepted for Brandi Klos at Montezuma State Bank (641-623- 5766)
C/O John and Brenda Klos

Elk's Lodge #98 Poker Run - This Saturday August 29th

Click on picture to make larger!

Funny Little Beard Story

FLHX Dave asked if women like beards. Well this chick does! Love them actually and no they don't scare me.

Anyway...Funny little beard story. Dan and I were in Deadwood and we had gotten a cup of coffee. I kept seeing this cool looking dude with this very cool beard.(no I didn't get a pix...dammit!) Well anyway we were sitting on this bench, people watching as we drank our cups of Joe and this cool looking dude walks by with the amazing beard. I had to tell him...I had to...just had to....so I open my mouth and say..."You have the best beard that I've ever seen." He looked at me and laughed and said, "Thanks." Then he looked at Dan and said..."You better stop shaving sonny!"

LMAO! Too funny! Love it!

The Road Back to Johnston

Friday morning we loaded up the bike and checked out of the luxurious Motel 6. I was ready to leave but yet I wasn't. I knew in the weeks to follow I would end up going through Sturgis withdrawal and it wouldn't be fun. We saddled up on ZP and made our way to I-29. East Bound and Down...yes down that I was leaving Sturgis. Dan was determined to make it home on Friday. We rode and rode and stopped and rode some more. We ended up just outside Sioux City, IA in a little town called Sloan and decided we just couldn't take it anymore. We were tired from the South Dakota wind, sunburned, and our asses were sore so we decided to stay at a nice little motel in Sloan called the Winnivegas Motel.(there is a casino down the road at an Indian Reservation called Winnivegas) I'm glad we stopped. The good nights sleep did us good and we were able to make it home in pretty good time on Saturday. It was good to be home...to be able to sleep in a familiar bed but I still had that pang of sadness that another Sturgis was behind me. I'm still having withdrawal even as I post this. Below are some final pictures of the trip. They are all from the Friday that we left.

Dreaming of Sturgis 70!

Billy Lane - The Verdict

If you are interested in watching the sentencing of Billy Lane click on the link below.

http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-brevard-028-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=brevardimmersive&maven_referralObject=1215195520

Top 100 Motorcycle Blogs

Wow...I got this e-mail today that I made a Top 100 Motorcycle Blogs list and I got to looking at it and a bunch of us made the list. Very Cool!

Keep the Rubberside Down
The Many Thoughts of Harleygirl
Arizona Harley Dude
2 Rat Bastards
Road Captian USA
Glider Rider
Rippin Kitten
Random Thoughts
Road Grits Cafe
Allen Madding's Musings
Midlife Motorcycle Madness
Rides Roads and Ronman
Mr Motorcycle
Lowrider in the Wind
Harley Davidson "Mystique"
Musings of a Contemplative Biker
KT Did
Biker Chick News
Mimi's Motorcycle Journal

http://www.attgophone.net/blog/2009/top-100-motorcycle-blogs/

Lorenzo Lamas and The Burnouts

Well the last day of the trip was spent in Sturgis. We walked around and bought last minute souvenirs and people watched some more. Later in the day we went to see Lorenzo Lamas, the Budweiser Burnout bike, and some major burnouts. Lorenzo Lamas told everyone that entered that he'd buy them a new tire if they blew theirs doing the burnout. I think he bought quite a few tires.

Here is a slide show of the final day in my favorite town Sturgis, South Dakota!

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After the burnouts we decided to head back to Rapid City and pack up so we could head out early on Friday. As we rode away I waved good bye to Sturgis and of course started to cry. I love the Sturgis Rally...I truly feel at home there. It's one of the places that I can be myself...be the biker chick that I love being!

Devil's Tower, The Fryed Brothers Band, and KT Did

Wednesday was a very busy day. We headed out to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. It's simply amazing! Pictures don't do it justice. The road out to Devil's Tower reminded me a little of Needle's Highway. Lots of twisties and high altitudes. It was not a ride for a newbie. I was glad that Dan had many miles under his belt for this trip. You really do put a lot of faith in someone when you are a passenger.

After taking in Devil's Tower we headed into Hulett and No Panties Wednesday. I think everyone that road a motorcycle was in Hulett on Wednesday. The town was jam packed. If we would have gotten there early in the day we would have stopped but parking was miles away from Downtown. We stopped and had lunch in a town called Aladdin, population of 15. It was great because they let the bikers pretty much take over. We made our way back toward Sturgis or so we thought. There was one point that I seriously thought we were lost out in the middle of nowhere. We finally came to a road and a road sign that told us to turn right to Sturgis. I could see Bear Butte in the distance so I knew we were on track again. We passed this couple and later Dan said to me, "Did you notice she didn't have a shirt on?" LOL

We parked on a side street in Sturgis and headed to the Broken Spoke Saloon for a beer. We were both beat and needed a break. After we cooled down and did some good people watching we headed back to Rapid City for a few hours. We headed back to Sturgis later on in the evening because it was the Fryed Brothers Band night. Thanks to KT Did for showing up for a few minutes so that we could say hello. KT is everything I thought she'd be...one cool biker chick! I went and looked for the lead singer of the Fryed Brothers Band, Harry Fryed so that I could give him a pin I had made. I was so lucky because he was walking out from backstage. I walked right up to him and said..."Hi, I would like to give you this pin!" He was like..."What does it say? I can't read it. You'll have to tell me what it says." "Well, it says...I'm an Old Dirty Biker." He laughed and said..."Well Darlin', I'm glad you think I am." OMG...he is so damn cute! Loved the beard and loved the music! If you get a chance go see them...AWESOME!

Before the Fryed Brothers there was cage fighting...ok...I guess there wasn't really a cage but I'm not too skooled when it comes to people beating each other up for money. :)~

I made another slide show so you could see parts of the day. There is only one more full day left after this post of Sturgis 69, it include Lorenzo Lamas and Burnouts! :)

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Deadwood, A Lake, and The Broken Spoke Campground

Tuesday we headed to Deadwood. In 1876 Deadwood was a gold camp and a gambling town. Many historic outlaws spent time in Deadwood, including Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock. The entire town is a National Historic Landmark and has around 80 Casinos. You can feel the Spirits of the Wild West as you ride your chrome horse into town and find a place to park so that you can walk around and take it all in.

Main Street in Deadwood is lined with Historic Casinos and souviener shops. We got to town early so it was still pretty quiet. When they finally allowed motorcycles to park on the street it began filling up fast. We got a coffee and sat and people watched for a while. After our coffee we had a mission to find a cigar store Dan had heard about called Deadwood Tobacco and Cigar Bar. Dan loves Cigars. To see photos of the Cigar Bar go to http://www.deadwoodtobacco.com/ . It was a very cool place and I enjoyed watching all the biker men come in to buy their cigars. After we left the cigar bar we decided to walk around one more time and then go for a ride.

We left Deadwood not really knowing where we were going to go. Our ride eventually took us to a town called Hill City. Along the way we pulled over and had some lunch in a turn off to a campground. We watched all kinds of motorcycles go by as we ate and I swear I saw Paul Sr., on a chopper, headed to Hill City. There was a beautiful lake along the way which I believe was Mitchell Lake but I can't be 100% sure. This ride was a first for me so I'm not really sure where we were at. lol After we rode through Hill City we headed back to Rapid City to relax for a few hours before we went to the Broken Spoke Campground.

We took off for the Broken Spoke Campground and the sky was partly sunny. Everything would change in the matter of hours. The reason we made the trip out to the campground was to hear the Jasmine Cain Band play. As alot of you know I love this band. I was so excited when I got their and couldn't wait to hear them. I also had been texting KT Did and we planned on getting together out there. She was going to see 38 Special. While we waited for the band to begin playing we walked around the campground. The bar at the BS campground is huge and the swimming pool is huge too. If you want to check things out go to http://www.brokenspokecampground.com/ . We walked through the Limpknickie Lot and watched the show at the Wall of Death. I was able to meet Bean're who I did an interview with this past year. The clouds kept moving in and there were reports of a severe thunderstorm on the way. About 10 minutes to when Jasmine Cain and her band were to begin they cancelled her show. It was too late for us to leave because it had begun to rain and the lightening in the distance, toward Sturgis, was straight down. We decided to wait it out and hang out at the bar. While we were waiting I kept getting messages from KT Did telling me she was stuck at Mt. Rushmore in a storm. Needless to say we didn't get to see each other Tuesday night. After the storm passed through Dan and I slowly made our way back to Rapid City.

There were a lot of pictures from this day so I made a slideshow...ENJOY!

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The Road to Rapid City and Sturgis

Monday morning I was up with the chickens. The anxious feelings I was having had gotten the best of me and I think I was showered and dressed by 5:30 am. I went down to the hotel lobby and checked my e-mail and other internet things, waiting for Dan to get up and around. When Dan was ready to go we went to the hotel restaurant and ate our complimentary breakfasts. It was funny because on the menu it was titled the "Senior Breakfast". That cracked me up and I said to Dan that we were honorary "Seniors" for the morning. After breakfast we loaded up the bike, talked to a really cool biker from Ohio, and finally took off for Mecca!

First stop along the way was 1880 Town. We didn't pay to go through the museum but I did take some pictures of the bikers that were stopped there for gas and a little bit of rest.

There was a lot of construction this year on Interstate 90. I do have to give South Dakota a huge compliment though...they have really great roads. I don't think we experienced a bad one the entire trip. The next stop on the journey to RC/Sturgis was none other then Wall Drug. We ate lunch, picked up our free Wall Drug bumper sticker, and then went on a little exploration of the area we didn't get to last year. We forgot to see Wall Drug's Backyard.





We made it to Rapid City and checked into the luxurious Motel 6 for our 4 day stay. This year our room was cleaner so I didn't worry about bed bugs near as much. lol I convinced Dan to ride into Sturgis for a little while to check things out. I couldn't just sit in Rapid City knowing what was only 25 miles away. Thank God he agreed or I would have had to ask for a ride from another biker. As we decended onto Sturgis I was ready to sit in line to get into town for about a 1/2 hour. Nope...zip...zing...right into town. Found a parking place and made our way to Main Street. Our first stop was the Sturgis Webcam where I called my folks and waved at them. They kept telling me that it was really good to see us on the cam. After that we walked up and down Main Street and took a few pictures.








Going east on Main Street I noticed a black building. I was all excited when I realized that it was a mock club house from the Son's of Anarchy. I'm so excited for season 2 to begin in September. Should be a great one!





Dan and I were both very beat so we headed back to Rapid City. Went to Walmart and got some food for the cooler. Went back to the motel and relaxed with a couple beers and Dan smoked a cigar. It felt so good to be there again. We watched the bikers riding west to Sturgis. I felt at ease again. My anxious feelings had finally left me. I was finally there...finally in the place that makes my heart sing. Finally home with my fellow brothers and sisters that understand my wild heart and obsession for riding! Home Sweet South Dakota!

The Anticipation - Sturgis 69

My biker chick heart beats with anticipation weeks before it's time to leave for Sturgis. I love being around all of the bikes and bikers. I love hearing the rumbling in the hills and mountains. I love seeing the good looking biker guys muscle their chrome stallions around the turns. And I love riding all the amazing rides.

I actually slept really well the night before we left. Maybe it was the Mike's Hard Lemonade that I drank. I needed something to take the edge off my extreme anxiousness. Sunday morning came and I was up at 4 am. Showered and biker chicked out. Ready to get on the road. We had a little adjustment to what we were taking on the trip and had to re-pack a little but it was all good.

At about 7 am we were on the road. We began the journey on Highway 141 and then I had mapped out a new route from last year, taking us through towns that I'd never been to. We ended up crossing over to South Dakota just outside of a town called Canton. My stomach did a flip as we crossed the state line. We rode Interstate 29 up to Sioux Falls and stopped at the Harley Dealership there. I could tell already, as we pulled into the lot at the dealership, that attendance was down. Last year there were more bikes in the lot.

It's really nice because this dealership has food for the travelers that stop. This year they had Burgers, Brats, or Hot Dogs and a soda for 2 bucks. As I was standing in line this old boy said to me..."Wow, this is the best and cheapest meal I've had since we left Michigan." We ate our food and then made our way in to check out the dealership. Didn't purchase anything even though the skull and wings necklace keeps calling my name. I can't imagine paying 110 bucks for a necklace so either the HD fairy will have to put it under my pillow or I'll have to do without! lol

Ready to get back on the road again we went back to the bike. These 3 cuties asked me to take their picture. They were those pretty boy types with the Affliction T's and the Rockstar bandannas but they were cute. I could feel their energy as they stood and waited for me to snap the photo. They oozed excitement. It made me smile.

We headed up 29 again to Interstate 90 and made our way down the road to Mitchell, where we stayed the night. We didn't go to the Corn Palace this year but we did stop into a casino and had some food and drinks. We played Foosball and pool. Back at the hotel we played a round of mini golf and then decided to call it a night. That was until the first storm of the trip came and Dan and a few other bikers had to find shelter for our pretty chrome horses so that they wouldn't get all wet and possibly hailed on. The hotel people were very nice and allowed the bikes to be parked under the canopies for the night.

More to come and with pictures even! :)

Sturgis 69 - Had a Blast!

Well we are back in Johnston, IA. Sturgis is but a memory now. It's always sad for me when I leave my favorite celebration of the year! As we rode away tears fell from my eyes and I waved good-bye. I'll post more thoughts later. I need to take a nap now.

Main Street

Sturgis

Well we made it to Sturgis and wow...where are all the bikers?? You can actually park on Main Street. Wish you all were here. I need to look for KT Did.

Love the Apes!

Mitchell, SD

Well we are stopping for the day in Mitchell, SD. There just doesn't seem to be as many bikes going west as normal but I may be wrong. I'll start posting some pictures tomorrow. Looks like Arizona Harley Dude has already been scoping out the women in Sturgis. :)