Daily Twaddle

This is for those of you who need to know where I’ll be this weekend…

I will fly out of Montana on Friday afternoon and arrive in Wisconsin on Friday night (at 8:29pm). I’ll spend a few days rocking it with Carol until Monday.

I’ll fly back Monday night. I’ll be available on Tuesday.

We just took a trip to Idaho to ride the Hiawatha Trail. The trail spans 15 miles through ten tunnels and seven high steel trestles. The Forest Service transformed part of the railroad grade into this “rail-trail” by removing the tracks.

The big tunnel spans 1.7 miles of cold pitch-black darkness dripping with moisture flanked by 12-inch deep gutters. The only source of light shines from each biker’s headlight to create the illusion of highway cars at night.

After the big tunnel, the route snakes through some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen. Roch stopped at each interpretive sign to read the history along the trail. The trail has a slight downward grade the whole way down with an optional bus ride back to the top.

Our leisurely ride lasted about three and a half hours and when we reached the bottom we decided that the trek to the top would be too much for one day. I secretly dreaded the ride back up, but I blamed Tara for having to get home early.

I had a great time. The trip left me wondering what other fun adventures lurk just around the corner.

Hiawatha Trail - Tips For Success

1 - Bring a bright head light.
2 - Get a fender.
3 - Bring a raincoat for the big tunnel.
4 - Keep your skin away from the shrubbery.
5 - Stop to read the interpretive signs.
6 - Pee at the ski lodge.
7 - Bring cash.

Find out more about the Hiawatha Trail

View more of my photos

We took a trip to Salt Lake City for a long weekend to attend a couple of Dave Ramsey live events. They totally rocked out loud - we had a blast.

Nothing too noteworthy… it was a nice vacation. Just thought I’d share the photos I put on my Picasa Albums.

Go to Album

We had a tire blow out on the freeway last month on Roch’s new dump trailer. Les Schwab came to our rescue in the middle of nowwhereville - I won’t have my tires serviced anywhere else - ever! But I realized that road side assistance would have been great and I’ve been worried about each trailer we haul since that incident.

My mom highly recommends Good Sam (she hates AAA). At $99 a year, emergency road service is an easy investment. I bought the service through Camping World’s website because they gave me a $10 merchandise coupon. Whoo-hoo!

Here are a few of the must-have road services that Good Sam offers. There are more goodies that come with this service, but these are the most likely ones (all FREE):

1. Emergency Towing
2. Flat Tire Changes
3. Lock-out Service
4. Fuel Delivery

We’re taking a trip to central Montana just East of Helena for my nephew’s swim meet. He placed third in divisionals, so he should do well at State. We camped right next to the city pool last weekend in Cut Bank. We’ll do the same thing this weekend - but with the Good Sam.

My sister has been highly entertaining since I’ve been visiting. Her baby is the cutest baby ever. Really. They’re watching a scary movie so I can’t stay on the computer too long. I don’t like scary movies. I’ll have to go do something else. The Messenger.

I met up with my old friend Gabby. She’s going to take some pictures of me (she’s a photographer). Cool right? I made biscuits and gravy for my parents yesterday.

That’s all I have to say about that.