Last night...at Grizzly's

So this is our last night. Oh humor leader has shipped out in the form of Tony's body to Washington. Chad and I spent the last night at Grizzly's Bar drinking local brew and rapping with the bartender Ryan. We briefly discussed a business plan to lure mountain bikers to these small towns where the riding is great but could use a bit more business during off-peak months. After discussing such logistics as websites, business marketing, etc. we decided to stick to drinking and watching football.

Storm Mountain

Today we did Storm Mountain Loop which is about 15 mins from the cabin. Chad had to stay behind because of his gimpy back so Tony and I had to find our way without our leader. The ride was fantastic as all the others have been. What made this one unique, however, was that it had a very New England feel to it. Some areas of loose rocky areas and roots but unlike NE we were rewarded with rocking flowy down hill portions and no major climbs. I personally liked that we did not have many amazing views that you always feel you have to stop and photograph. It was my kind of ride…just being able to focus on the ride. Not that I’m complaining at all because we have seen some amazing views on the previous rides, its just that coming to the end of the trip it was nice just to cruise on the trail. There was one funny part when Tony and I got seperated and we both found ourselves yelling out to the other. A fruitless operation unless you’re both not moving and within say a quarter mile of each other. Both unlikely scenarios given how much distance one can cover in a short period of time. 15 minutes of screaming and backtracking later we found each other. I, even without a GPS unit, didn’t exactly feel too worried given that it was really early in the day and a relatively small mountain; could have backtracked or just as easily finished the loop. Tony had GPS so I wasn’t worried about him. I don’t have any pics of the ride because I forgot my camera but like I said, not too much in the way of scenery worthy of posting.

Chad met us in the other car at the trail head. Hopefully we can get a ride in first thing in the morning before heading for home. Maybe try to start the ride at 6am. We’ll see. Came back and said our goodbyes to Tony who is shipping out a day early. Snapped some pics of the cabin.

Cabin Shots

It's all good in the Badlands National Park

So we had a little trouble figuring out what the deal is with the 'badlands'. You see, most of the maps we looked at called the badlands as sort of a generic area but there is actually a Badlands National Park. Its HUGE. Like almost Yellowstone huge. We caught it after our visits to Custer and Crazy horse therefore the sun was going down and we were able to see a rather impressive sunset. The park itself is located at the southern-most point of our travels.

Cool pic of Mike with sun setting in background. Nice shot Chad!

Many, many, many years of erosion.

Quick Geology lesson. Each later of color represents a different time period. That's all I remember from the information placard...Oh and something else out 18 different native soils or something or other.

Donkey's Gone Wild

We couldn't have made this one up. Cars stopped all around where lots and lots of donkey's are hanging out. We thought this first three pictures were 'nice' in the sense that they are friendly and enjoying the day...

BUTT, then out of nowhere but right in front of our car, here comes the baseball bat-sized man stick...what the!! It should be noted that Tony was speechless while Chad and Mike could barely catch their breath. Also, man in next car, no joke, gave us the 'thumbs up'.

Mr. Custer and his park

EagleTail

This is EagleTail and he was selling his hand made items at Crazy Horse. He is Lakota Indian and a very good salesman. This was also the primary Seinfeld moment on the trip. Think when Kenny Banya was pushing the Armani suit on Jerry who didn't really want it but Kramer says; "Take the suit, you won't get a better deal than that.." We while EagleTail and Chad are talking and exchanging monies on a nice handcrafted item, Mike is examining a bear claw necklace. Mostly because he has a supreme fear of being mauled by a grizzly bear in the middle of the night. So he asks EagleTail if it would guarantee he not to be killed by a bear. This did illicit a chuckle from Eagle. Chad, in a more serious manner, suggested that maybe I should buy it...like Kramer...so I bought it and am actually quite satisfied with it. I have to say its well done and now has a story attached to it.

Notice the bear claw around Mike's neck.

Crazy Crazy Horse

Tony the blog machine

Don't mess with this man when he's blogging.

Tara giving Arlene some competition

This is Tara and she was also efficient like Arlene. There is no other interesting story to along with this picture.

Cattle bath

It was really, really hot on the Centennial trail. So after about 4 hours of riding, the last half having been in the open grasslands with not tree cover in 90 degree heat, Tony and Mike felt it safe to use this cattle trough to splash water on their faces, necks and arms. Although we didn't drink the water, it seemed to be okay and clean. I was tempted to drink it.

Autographs anyone?

We saw this old hunter's shed on the Centennial which we suggested Tony host his autograph signing. That's from an earlier comment Tony made while passing the trailhead early in the morning and noticing some people gathering. His comment was something to the effect of; "Those peeps best be getting my table set up for the autograph session". Can I just say its impossible to replicate this in text but T was cracking Mike up very consistently throughout the trip. Whoop, Whoop!

Rainbow Fire

A Centennial Impression