I promise, you will get a review of each movie from me here in the future, just not today, but I will definitely share my thoughts. One thing I have observed, which is interesting…as we watch these movies, a few things are happening, which contradicts the beginning of this sentence, go figure…
As I was saying…as we watch these movies, I don’t know about PSM, but I am seeing these movies through not only new eyes and maybe getting new perspectives on a few aspects of the film, noticing things I might not have noticed before, but I am also talking a lot more, well, asking questions, which I don’t do very much the first time I watch a movie, notice I said, not very much! There are more questions that I have as I watch these movies, much to PSM’s chagrin, I’m sure! At least we’re not in the movie theater!
The other thing I’m doing, oh my word, is coming up with some awful [ly funny] puns! For example…tonight we watched Iron Man 3 and the villians were on something which made them get very hot and blow up, so my brain can’t stop, which comes right out…”Oooh, she’s hot!” “He blew away the competition!” and it went downhill from there! I laughed!
Overall, it’s been fun to watch them again, and to watch them with PSM. So far, some of the ones we just watched are the first time we’re watching them together, that really has been fun. Also, looking for the amazing Stan Lee. I know there are lists of where he appears in each movie, but I am keeping my own list as we go, and I will share it with you when we are done with all 23 movies, promise.
I wanted to say thanks for joining me on this marvel-ous adventure, it’s quite the undertaking. Over the course of these posts, we’ll Iron out the details. I’m keeping my Hawkeyes out for Stan Lee’s cameos, which I think is a Banner idea! [groan!] I honestly tried to keep it all Loki, but it’s not working! I’m afraid I mave have made you Fury-ous! I am Thoroughly enjoying this! As I’ve Peppered this post with puns, it’s made me so Happy! I hope you don’t find all of this Strange and you’re not Hulking mad! If you did, please don’t Avenger, I might turn Scarlet, sorry, I had a Vision. Ok, I’m done! [I’m sure there will be more down the road, I’m just that determined, I’m trying to get to the Groot of the problem! Maybe more on Thorsday! Thorry…
Today, since it was raining, no motorcycle rides for us, but…we decided to go to the movies and saw Raya and the Last Dragon, the newest Disney movie. The IMDB tagline is “In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon.” Pretty accurate.
A little bit of trivia…Kumandra was inspired bythe Southeast Asian cultures of Brunei, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The story is that Kumandra is peace and harmony and all peoples living as one, with the five lands in the shape of a dragon: Heart, Talon, Spine, Fang, and Tail, all connected by the River Dragon. One day, a very long time ago, the Druun emerged, a swirling mass of purple and black, reminding me of The Nothing from the NeverEnding Story, it basically swirls and swarms through the lands turing the people and dragons to stone statues.
The dragons pooled their magic into a magic gem called the Dragon Gem, to protect against the Druun and the five lands are now divided. The dragons who pooled their magic gave the Dragon Gem to their sister, Sisu, the last remaining dragon. The Heart Land was tasked to guard the Dragon Orb for centuries and when Raya’s father brings the lands together, hoping for peace and a return to Kumandra…unfortunately, I think you can guess what happens, and the orb is broken apart and each leader takes a piece of the orb to try to protect themselves and their people. Unfortunately, that unleased the Druun to begin it’s attack on the people and the lands again. And the mistrust is even greater amongst the people.
Raya’s Ba, or father, is turned to stone as he pushses Raya away, gives her his piece of the orb and tells her it is on her to go and bring unity back to the world. That’s a lot to put on a 12 year old’s shoulders, but she rises to the challenge. We see her six years later, riding on Tuk-Tuk, her loveable pet, comprised of one third-pill bug, one third-armadillo, and one third-pug hybrid, with the ability to roll into a ball, it’s pretty cool. He’s adorable, as a wee bit, and then a big bit and stays very much a goofball throughout the movie, but he can move! Where do I get one?! These movies have to stop creating characters that I want for my own!
As Raya sets out, she goes to each of the lands to attempt to take the piece of the gem to reunite them together. Along the way, she finds Sisu, who seems to have been asleep for a while, not really sure what’s happening when she ‘wakes up’. It was interesting to watch their dynamic, and to see Sisu see the world through new eyes, a lot has changed since she’s been gone, almost the eyes of a child, or at least a very trusting, naive innocent, she still has faith in humanity and what it can accomplish if you put your trust in one another, something hard to do at this point, for most of the people still there, or left behind, as it feels.
Along the way, as she is going to each land, Raya meets someone that she has to trust and earn their trust in return and as you might imagine, they become their own band of merry men, so to speak. It really is an interesting combination of characters that she brings together. I hope you can picture all they can do, when they learn to trust and work together.
And that’s what the movie is about, believing in yourself, having the power and strength to open yourself up to others, to trust them and allow them to trust you and what you can accomplish together. Did they succeed? Was there unity? Were people reunited with their lost loved ones? Did Raya get her Ba back? First…if I tell you everything, how will you be surprised. Second…it’s a Disney animated movie, yeah, that about sums it up.
The cast is great, Raya is played by Kelly Marie Tran, Sisu by the brilliantly funny Awkwafina, the dialog was perfectly her and there were a few times I felt like she was channeling Robin Williams, in that way he would kind of do his own thing with dialog, go off the rails, like he did in as the genii in Aladdin. Gemma Chan was Raya’s nemesis, from Fang, Benedict Wong was Tong from Spine, Sandra Oh was Chieftess Virana from Fang, Lucille Soong was Chieftess Dang Hu from Talon, Daniel Dae Kim was Chief Benja and Raya’s father. I love that Alan Tudyk played Tuk Tuk, he didn’t say much, but his noises were mighty cute!
Overall, it was a great movie, a lot of wonderful symbolism, pageantry, colors, feelings, story, action, humor, humility, unity, trust, and love. What more could you want?! I hope you enjoy it, I’m going to watch it again!
The rain was predicted, but held off! It held off for the day, it had been raining the few days before, but not today! So…what should we do?! Go for a ride! It’s chilly, but we’re in riding season!
Now…I’m not a hard core rider, I don’t ride when it’s below 48, I might put the top down on the Beetle-Bug when it’s in the high 30s/low 40s, but the bike, nope. I don’t have the fancy stuff on my bike to keep me toasty, like butt warmers in the car, you’re kind of exposed, so…bundle up. I was fine on the top, but from the thighs to the ankles, a little brrr. Next time, Cuddle Duds under the jeans. Such a chance from last weekend, when I could have gone out in a sweatshirt!
We decided to ride to Grafton, IL, I don’t think I’ve mentioned Grafton yet to you. Its a small town in Illinois on the Missisippi River, turns out it’s the oldest town in Jersey County, IL. It gets crazy crowded in the summer and it’s a known spot for bikes, motorcycles, that is. Someone told me about it as a nice ride and one of the biker bars, the Hawg Pit BBQ, it made it an easy destination to put in the GPS.
It’s about an hour ride from here, so not too bad, and a nice destination, as I mentioned. You can go by the highways, yesterday, PSM took us on some alternate roads and it was nice. We eventually connected with the main drag that takes us over the Clark Bridge to Alton, IL, the middle of the bridge is actually the state line, pretty cool. It really is a pretty bridge, I have yet to take a picture of it, we’re always on the bikes. Alton is a cute town, we haven’t explored much of the town, there is a cobblestone street where they have a few restaurants with tables set up outside, which we’ve eaten at, it’s charming.
It was a bit chilly on the ride, so we decided to stop in Alton, but inside, ha ha. We stopped at The Old Bakery Beer Company, as the name says they have beer, tee hee hee. It’s a certified organic craft brewery with food options. We were going to get lunch in Grafton, so I settled on a cup of tea. I would like to go back, they had a nice looking menu with vegetarian and vegan options. It’s a warehouse-like open space, exposed beams, streams of edison bulbs, with tables, spaced appropriately socially distant, mask mandates, hand sanitzier, just like most places. It had a nice open, welcoming feel. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.
After warming up a little inside, we walked outside to the bikes getting ready to head towards Grafton, it seemed to have warmed up a little, outside. One of the things we love about having Indian Motorcycles are the conversation starters. When we came out, a woman was in her car looking at the bikes and told us she was just sitting there admiring them, which was nice, and a guy came up to us to talk about our bikes, he’s thinking about joining the club! We would welcome him! He was wearing a great utilikilt, we’re getting near St Patrick’s Day, people were out celebrating. A utilikilt is a kilt made for every day work wear.
We got to Grafton and pulled in to the parking lot and walked into the Piasa Winery and Pub, we were there for the view, not the food. It was a seafood restaurant, they had some other things, but it was mostly seafood. PSM had a fried alligator, I tasted it, I was curious. I’ll just say, aside from the spicy batter, which I wasn’t crazy about, it still tastes like salty chicken, didn’t make me change my vegan ways, ha ha. For me, I had the grilled pear salad, it was quite tasty. A variety of greenery, grilled pears, glazed walnuts, and cranberries. We sat on the deck and there were heat lamps warming everything up, we needed it. Even the table was warm, I was happy!
After the winery, we went to the Gold Bar Saloon, there was a bar with a few stools, but the true gem was outside, well, sort of outside. There was a building next door with fire pits, that was fabulous. We took our drinks in, took off our jackets and sat on one of the sofas and just enjoyed ourselves. There were a few other people in there, but they were each at their own set of sofas and firepits, awesome! The music was country, but classic country that everyone seemed to know, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Boz Scaggs.
After a while, even though we had just eaten, we were slightly peckish and all I wanted was french fries. No idea why, I haven’t eaten or craved french fries in a long time, they just don’t agree with me, so I try to avoid them, but I was craving them, so off we went. We walked…next door, ha ha, to the Grafton Pub. We ordered fries, when I asked the cut, I was told they were somewhere in between steak fries and Burger King french fry. It was funny, when I asked what the cut was, she looked at me funny, so I explained the different cuts. We also ordered guacamole bites, which are a bit odd, but we were curious. We were told they were like wontons with guacamole in them, and fried. Ok…let’s just say, they were hot as all get out, to me anyway. We’ve had them before I realized, and let’s just say, not ordering them again, not everything tastes better fried…The french fries on the other hand, were tasty, if you could get past the coarse salt and pepper they put on them, seriously?! Just not my cup of tea honestly, I forgot to order them unseasoned, which would have meant fresh out of the frier, nothing extra, which would have made them perfect, they really were good fries, good size, perfect crunch on the outside, texture and taste of potato, I know that sounds weird to some, I’ll explain in a later post.
The Grafton Pub is also on the water, and Grafton itself it really is a pretty place in the Spring and Summer, especially with the trees in bloom and boats on the river.
After our snack, it was time to go. Interesting thing…until we sat at The Gold Bar Saloon, we didn’t see another motorcycle all day, then there were a few, it was nice to see some other cold weather riders like us. We got to the bikes, met another group of admirers, theses folks were slightly closer to inebriated, they were getting into the St Patricks Day mood, but still admirers of our bikes, which we definitely appreciate and welcome the conversation. After that, on the bikes and head back down by the river, over the bridge, on the highway this time and hello puppies.
The sun pretended to try to peek out, but aside from that, a great day overall. What could be bad, motorcycle ride, good company, laughter, the wind in your face, as I’ve told you…wind therapy! Wonder where the road takes us next…
Sorry, I know I just blurted that out, but I couldn’t help myself! If you watch The Masked Singer and you haven’t seen the fist episode yet, sorry! I’m just still in shock!
If you don’t watch The Masked Singer [IMDB listing], then you’re good! If you don’t watch it, the premise is A singing competition guessing game based on Korean format King of Mask Singer. 12 celebrity performers wear costumes to conceal identities. One singer is eliminated each week and unmasked. Small hints are given for the viewer guess along. There are four judges, but it’s the audience, and the judges who vote, not just the judges, and at the end of the show, whoever gets the least amount of votes goes home. Now you know the way you win or lose. Let’s get to the rest of it.
There are 12 famous people who are in the costumes, and these costumes were nominated and won an emmy! These costumes really are something! Look at it this way, you can’t see the singer, so you need something to look at! Here is a list of all 5 seasons of costumes! There have been some great ones and some goofy ones, but all of them have been impressive. I want to say we tried to watch The Masked Dancer and one episode was enough for us, you won’t hear me talk about it again!
In each costume are celebreties that include singers, dancers, actors, politians, athletes. These performers include stage and screen, paid atheletes and olympians, you honestly never can tell! There are four judges, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, Nicole Scherzinger, and Robin Thicke, and host, Nick Cannon. Niecy Nash is hosting the first few shows of the season, I looked it up, Nick Cannon had Covid at the time they started taping. She was fun, gave Ken Jeong the same crap Nick Cannon does! The winner of The Masked Singer is going for The Golden Mask trophy, the judges are going for bragging rights and now, The Golden Ear trophy. Each week, four singers go up against each other, before they go on, they give the audience and panel clues to their identity. When they first come out, the judges have to make a first guess and it goes into a vault, to be taken out at the end of the season and the judge with the most correct guesses, wins. Some of the clues are easy, some are tough. It’s funny to watch the judges try to guess, Ken Jeong is the goofiest of them all. The silliest part…they ALL say this is the best opening ever! And it’s always the toughest to watch someone go…
The thing we like about the show is you honestly don’t know who is in the costume and they really are doing for the love of doing it! Sometimes you can’t believe how long someone has lasted and you’re shocked at some of the ones who go home early! It really is a fun show and what we love…we watch it on Hulu, so if we want to just binge an entire season…there it is, even better…I paid for no commercials! I told you, I have no patience!
Ok, back to the first episode. This season, so far, there are Russian Dolls, Porcupine, or Robopine has he wanted to be called, you’ll see…Seashell, Raccoon, and Snail. I thought Racoon would go first, but Snail [this was the Snail singing the song] it was. He sang You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall and Oates, I thought he did pretty well. Actually, when he started singing, I actually, for a moment, thought it sounded like Barack Obama! Why not?! But it wasn’t. It was actually… Kermit the Frog! O M G! If I remember correctly, the tag line was a TV Legend, movie star, producer, singer, actor, entertainer. And wow, is he ever! If you know me, you know I am a HUGE Muppet fan, not just Kermit the Frog, as evident by my Muppets Monopoly [2 different versions], Muppets Chess set, Muppet Show and Muppet Movie collection, GIANT stuffed Kermit the Frog and Kermit the Frog cookie jar, and my other Muppet stuff, I’ll show you those some other time.
Kermit the Frog was the first eliminated singer, watch the reveal, also the first puppet/Muppet to participate in The Masked Singer. We were floored. If this doesn’t tell you what a big kid I am, we need to talk! Bottom line, we really enjoy The Masked Singer, not a lot of reality shows we watch together, but this one is fun and fun to guess and get shocked at!
And…sorry for the spoiler alert…I wonder who’s next! I won’t do that to you again, promise!
Oh, how punny! I know, you have no idea, so I’m going to tell you, not to worry!
Last week sometime, while I was in Colorado, I told PSM, this was a whim I had, and I’ve had a few, that when I’m home, we need to do an MCU marathon! And for those of you not in the know…that’s Marvel Cinematic Universe! And for those of you still not in the know, those are the super hero movies based on the Marvel Comics, and the amazing Stan Lee, just one of the many brilliant minds who brought us all those amazing super hero comic books and grapic novels.
I was a kid when I started reading the comic strips in the newspaper, Sunday funnies, those were great, because, depending on the newspaper, those were the ones in color! When it came to comic books, I started with Archie Comics, Spider Man, in high school, I was introduced to X-Men, among others, I could go on and on and on, on this topic and I might just do that…another day. Back to the topic at hand.
I’ve watched a lot of the comic book and graphic novels come to life, like I said, another time, and I remember when the first Marvel Movie came out, Iron Man in 2008, starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Faverau, who also directed, and Terrance Howard, to name a few…I think I reviewed this movie way back when, but I have a renewed look at it, I could do it again, it is my blog, after all! And that was just the beginning, literally! One of my favorite memories was when The Avengers movie came out, May 3, 2012, I went to the AMC Theater near me for an MCU marathon!
Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and then…The Avengers. It was 18 hours in the theater! OMG! We had special passes and they let us out for about 30 minutes in between each movie, it was amazing! So…if you had only seen each movie once, which we know was not the case for me, this was an opportunity to see each movie again, and then…The Avengers! What a day it was!
So…where was I? Oh yeah, like I forgot, we’re in the MCU Universe! PSM must have heard me because last night he suggested we do a MCU Marathon, but… not in order of release date, but in chronological order, how you should watch them in the timeline that actually happened. And friends, that’s just what we did!
We started wtih Captain America: The First Avenger, starring Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, and Hayley Attwell, then we watched Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson. Both fabulous, oh, we have got to talk about these two movies soon! Tonight was Iron Man, we started late, so we threw in something else that didn’t take as long, tell you about it later! Tomorrow…Iron Man2 and The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, of course! Oh man, I’m getting excited to tell you about the movies themselves! Tangent!
So…that is the plan, go through all the movies, even the ones we weren’t crazy about, only because one of us didn’t like the way it played out, [that would be me], but ya gotta take the good with the bad, so I’m down for some Baby Groot to lift my spirits!
I know Spring is coming, but it is only the second week of March, and Ishould NOT be seeing, or killing, MOSQUITOES!!!!
No, March 8th, which is when it happened, is waaaaayyy too early for mosquitoes! I was sitting in my office, with the windows closed, we leave the back door, which opens to the back yard, open now for the dogs to be able to enjoy the warmer temperatures freely, and all of a sudden something was flying around my laptop. I didn’t think twice and reached out and clapped it. I opened my hands and looked and thought “What the H!” [Well, it was a little harsher than that, but this is a family show!] “This is not right, it’s tooooo early!” But…point is, I killed it! Wahoo!
I am a lover of all creatures, great and small, well, I guess that negates that sentiment. There are some things that I feel we don’t really need on this planet, sorry…and there are some things that definitely do not belong in my house! ‘squeeters’ being one of them!
I looked it up and mosquito season begins when the temperatures get above 50 and guess what…it’s been above 50, even close to 70 over the last few days. Wait…we just had snow on the ground up until about a minute ago, Mother Nature, why don’t you give us a minute to get acclimated to the nice weather, give us a chance to prepare for the onslaught of hot weather, mosquitoes and whatever other flying and creepy crawly things are coming our way with Spring and then Summer?!
I guess that storm door with a doggie door in it is coming sooner than later! Now you now what I’ll be doing with my first paycheck! Last year, we had a mesh, magnetic screen door, it was great! It attaches with Velcro to the door frame and there are magnets in the middle that click close after you pass through it. The dogs took to it pretty quickly. The tough part is sometimes the one half of the velcro comes off the house, loses its stick, good thing there’s more velcro out there! But…it would be nice to have a storm door there with screens and a doggy door, so we don’t have to worry about the velcro coming off…the big idea…let the dogs out, and in, but keep the bugs out.
It is TOO EARLY for flying things in my house! My allergies are bad enough this early!
From Wikipedia: International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence against women.
What I truly enjoyed was seeing all the fabulous posts online, LinkedIn [I’m sure there were quite a few on FaceBook, I’m just not there very much, sorry], and so many places just celebrating women. With everything going on in the world, it’s comforting and empowering to see us lifting us each up in positive ways, isn’t that what we need more of?
This year’s [2021] theme: Choose to Challenge! Change comes from challenge, “A challenged world is an alert world”. Wow, how powerful is that?! It makes me proud to be a woman!
Can we keep this up? Not just today, but everyday. For my friends, family, nieces, daughters, granddaughters, seestah-friends, I wish only this and so much more for us. Let’s keep lifting each other up. I wish you love, strength, and peace.
I know, it’s not actually the first day of Spring, that would be March 20th of this year, which is only a few weeks away, but…my allergies have kicked in and they are already kickin’ my arse!
I have been scratching my eyes like crazy today, my nose won’t stop running, if you see it, please catch it! When my eyes get like this, I can’t focus, it makes me incredibly sleepy and groggy. I actually had to close my eyes for 30 minutes earlier today! Oh brother!
I didn’t have allergies growing up, just smoke. Then…I moved to Georgia…someone told me that if you don’t have allergies, after you move to Georgia, you will! It didn’t happen to me for at least 10+ years, then all of a sudden, I’m allergic to everything and every spring…I had a mantra…I hate Spring. I know, hate is a strong word, I have said it a million times, but oh brother, I mean it! I even use Flonase every day, when it gets like this, it doesn’t matter! I used to user bioAllers Outdoor Allergy, it was dissolvable and I took it every four hours. It was crazy, it literally was like clockwork, if I went over four hours, I was sneezing. Eventually, it didn’t work very well, so I stopped. I’ve taken Zyrtec, that tends to make me sleepy, so does Claritin, even though they are both supposed to be non-drowsy.
When I moved to Colorado, wow! No allergic reactions to anything, except smoke, wow! It was crazy…I’d visit the Northeast and as soon as the plane doors would open…sniffle, achoo. Oh well, when I moved to Boston, hello, then Hawai’i, no different, now Missouri, it is what it is. Usually it only lasts this bad a few weeks, then it tapers off to manageable annoyance, then…in no time, it will be Autumn! Ha ha!
I remember last year, when the mask mandates came down, it was Spring and I was walking through the grocery store sneezing, and I would say loud enough for the people around me to hear “I loathe Spring!” That was all I could think to do to let folks know it was allergies and not anything else! Geesh…
I’m glad you can’t see me right now, my eyes are red and puffy, itchy and I can’t stop sniffling! I was so happy the snow melted…until now!
I think I told you last week, while I was in Colorado, that there was a group ride on Sunday, and here we are! I told you that PSM and I went out on the bikes to get some dinner last night, after we both got home and it was brrrr…chilly! Today, the official group ride. Wah to the hoo!
We belong to the St LouisIndian Motorcycle Riders Group, or IMRG. When we lived in Hawai’i, we joined the IMRG HoloHolo chapter, well, we actually still belong to the group, we have the 2021 patches to prove it! Man, I still need to get a vest to put my patches on! At this point, I need two vests or something to put the patches on. I absolutely LUV my motorcycle vest so much, I don’t want to put anything on it! Is that terrible?! I’m looking, I’ll do it eventually, promise!
We got up, took the pups for a walk, had some breakfast, geared up, well, you have to put your gear on, every super hero does! ha ha. Because we’re riding, we start with jeans, I’m sure you’ve seen people wearing shorts on a bike, not me, ever. Ok, I can’t say that…the last staycation we had in Hawai’i, we went to the Big Island and rented motorcycles. The last morning, when we were returning them, we both wore shorts the 2 block ride to return the bikes, but I promise, there is no way I would ever ride in anything by jeans. Short sleeves, definitely, especially when it’s hot, and I’m usually wearing a vest that helps protect my chest, but my legs, no way! I have to tell you, I was so happy to be completely covered the day I wrecked my bike, years ago! Wow, digressing now! You wanted to hear about our lovely ride!
So…back to our apparel. Jeans, long sleeve shirt, thin sweatshirt I got last summer at the Looney Bin Bar & Grill. I will be telling you all about it this summer when we go on our annual motorcycle ride with the guys in New Hampshire, cannot wait! Then, I have a heavy denim Indian Motorcycle jacket, it’s quilted on the inside, so it keeps me warm, but it’s not too warm to sometimes wear in the summer. Yup, I wore my Chucks, and got grief from our Ride Captain, it was awesome! I showed him the picture I shared with you from KN, “How to spot a biker chick”, he still rolled his eyes at me! I had my black gloves with red trim that I got at Harley Davidson in Seattle, WA, I had to go a long way to find those and those…saved my hands when I wrecked, I will never give them up! Neck sleeve that I got with sunflowers that got at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, headphones, goggles, and helmet…we were good to go!
We met the group at the designated QuikTrip, gives us a chance to greet each other, this is the first time a lot of us have seen each other since the last ride in the Fall, I think it was October, get something to drink or a snack, gas up the bikes, and get our riding instructions. When you’re riding in a group, it’s important to know the rules and hand signals, all that good stuff to keep everyone safe. There were about 25 of us, it was great! There are male riders, female riders, as you might guess, couples, Indian motorcycles and two Can-Am Spyder Roadsters.
After all that, we were off. We ride side by side to get started, then we ride in staggered formation, you’re on the left, I’m behind you on the right, and so on, and in some places, depending on the road, we ride single file. It’s quite the site to see a line of bikes coming down the highway. We try to stay together, when we’re at stop lights and stop signs, acting as a tractor trailer, so to speak, trying to keep any cars from getting in the middle of our group. That’s common for most group rides.
We rode to Sandy Creek Covered Bridge Park, a beautiful park with, you guessed it, a covered bridge. It looked like a great park for walking, together, with the dogs, a picnic. There were signs telling you the history of covered bridges and where to find Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites, something to strive for. And every ride…a group photo, have to commemorate the ride!
After the ride…lunch! We rode to Cafe Smok N Pi in De Soto, MO. I always look up the restaurant we are going to go to that day to see if there is anything I can eat, I finally got smart! This time, I really got smart, I had made myself a sandwiche to bring with me. It was a cute place with character and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Cafe Smok N Pi was our final destination and some people took off after lunch. The rest of us went to the Dew Drop Inn in Bloomsdale, MO, PSM said they were known for their bloody mary‘s, but did he have one? Nope, but the ones I saw, wow, they were like a whole meal! Celery, bacon, pickles, olives, pulled pork, really? Wow!
We had a great time, drinking, laughing, telling stories, getting to know each other, making new friends. The biker community is like no other, when you have a bike, you respect each other and look out for each other. If a biker is on the side of the road, other bikers will stop to help. I remember one day, I was coming out of a gravel parking lot and my bike dropped, immediately, bikers pulled out and stopped traffic in each direction and two bikers helped me pick up my bike and made sure I was set and the bikers stopping traffic waited until I was back on the road before they started moving again. It really is something.
After the Dew Drop Inn, we got back on the road and headed home. I have to tell you, it was a little chilly in the morning while we were going to meet the group, then it started to warm up when we got to the Park, some people started taking off their jackets as we were heading to lunch, and progressively, it headed up to almost 70 degrees, it was fabulous! It started to even out my sunburn!
How fabulous, skiing on Thursday, convertible Friday and Saturday, riding a motorcycle on Sunday, my life is full! I can’t wait for the next ride!
Mama, I’m comin’ home, by Ozzy Osborne is one of my favorite songs. I just wanted to throw that in there! Today, I am home! Back with PSM and the girls, Ruby and Bee, right where I belong.
I had the best time while I was in Colorado! I was with the dogs in the backyard and chatting with a neighbor, when I told them where I had been, they asked why I wasn’t still there…I missed my family! I will admit, it was tough to leave, but I wanted to be home, if they were with me, I would have stayed all month! Yesterday was really tough, I didn’t ski! I worked in the morning, then headed out. It was so tempting to go to Keystone when the lifts opened, for just an hour or two, then work for a few hours, then start driving. I was good…sigh…I worked until about noon, then took off.
NM and AM left earlier for the mountain to go riding, I finished working, packed up, let the dogs out, let the dogs in, loaded up the car and away we went. Annie II and I, that is. The roads were clear, what a change from my drive in and every day I was there! As I was on the highway heading away from Dillon, I was so glad not to be heading in the other direction, the line of cars was crazy! O M G! I’m sure it was going to take people about 2-3 hours to go 20 miles, no thanks!
I drove about half way, I was in Kansas at this point, sometimes with the top down, fabulous! Got some food and a hotel, settled in, talked to CWB, then crashed, it was nice. Today, got up, made some breakfast, then…I was on the road again, that was exactly the text I sent, by the fabulous Willie Nelson! Made me laugh. The temperature began to climb and it was 60 in no time, and you know what that means…top down on the car the entire drive home! The only drawback…I just realized I think I got a bit of a sunburn!
I got home, played with the pups, they seemed to have missed me! PSM had been out on his bike, came home, I dressed for the weather, jumped on the bikes and headed out to dinner, an impromptu date night! It was nice, we went somewhere new, talked, laughed, caught up, laughed, got goofy, perfect date night for us.
Now…we’re snuggled up, the pups are in the crate, and to quote the most famous Kansan said “there’s no place like home…there’s no place like home…there’s no place like home.”
Peaches Prattlings 