"The most beautiful things in life are not things. They're people, and places, and memories, and pictures. They're feelings and moments and smiles and laughter."
~ Unknown
The month of August was a really active and interesting month. It began with an organized bicycle ride at Big Bear Lake. I rode the Harley to Utah where I attended the Humpherys Family Reunion held in Clinton, then went on to Logan where I joined Jon C., Ted and Quent for our annual Summer Scooter Ride. After the Scooter Ride to the Rocky Mountain National Park, I stayed overnight with Ted & Dixie at Bear Lake where we witnessed the Total Solar Eclipse. After returning to California I did a Harley Day-Ride to Camp Williams and a hike to Deer Park in the San Gabriel Mountains. Individual blogs were published on each of these activities. I also posted blogs recognizing August birthdays, some favorite family photos, memories of cycling the California Coast, and published a memorial for my mother.
This blog summarizes other activities during the month in a category I call Visiting Friends & Family and Other:
On August 5th I participated in an organized bicycle ride in Big Bear and published a blog on that event plus related items and history. Although I've already published a blog on the event, after the event I received the photo below with a good view of the lake so thought I would include it in the Wrap-up Report.
On August 12th, on my way to Logan to join Jon C., Quent and Ted for our Annual Summer Scooter Ride, I stopped in Clinton and had a short visit with Clare Taylor. Clare had contacted me in mid-July with the sad news that Kenny had passed away, and when she told me where she was living, it turned out to be right on the route I was traveling to Logan. We agreed to meet for a short visit the morning I was passing through. I had actually not seen Clare since she and Kenny attended the 1972 Sigma Zonk Reunion, but Kenny had kept me up to date on her and their relationship after their divorce. In 2012 he told me that they were going to come to the 2012 Zonk Reunion together, but I guess Kenny's health prevented them from coming. Anyway, it was great to see her again and hear about her life, and relationship with Kenny, over all the past years.
On Sunday morning, August 13th, I contacted my old buddy Neil, and he and Quent and I met at Angie's for coffee. I haven't chased around with Neil in recent years like I have most of my other old Utah friends, but I have known him longer than any of the ones I do chase around with. He and I both grew up on 3rd West in Logan and since Neil is two years older than I am, he frequently taught me things that he learned before I would have known them in the normal course. Those things ran the gamut from how to tie a Double-Winsor Tie Knot and how to tell time from my wrist watch, to the fact that Santa Claus wasn't real and how to "give the finger." It's no surprise that my mother didn't appreciate the last two on that list. We talked about many fun memories of the happenings in our neighborhood as we were growing up, and things that happened as we went on to high school through to when Bonnie and I moved to California. Unfortunately, at our age these conversations always include talk about all the people we knew that have passed away.
Our Summer Scooter Ride, the 24th annual ride I have done, was from Monday, August 14th through Saturday, August 19th, a separate Serial Blog was published covering that ride. Quent and Jon C went home a different route than Ted and I because of some things Jon C wanted to do before he went back to Alaska. Ted and I arrived at Bear Lake around mid-day Saturday, the last day. We had a great dinner that night at Cooper's Restaurant at Bear Lake West.
The next morning, Sunday August 20th, was a lazy day - Ted and I had morning coffee at lake's edge and watch the geese family take their morning trip looking for breakfast. Later in the day I had a few fun visits that I'll summarize below.
Glamping - Prior to leaving on the Summer Scooter Ride I looked on the Internet to determine the time, percent totality, etc. of the solar eclipse that was expected in Garden City. In doing so I came across a reference to the Conestoga Ranch, a Glamping Resort in Garden City that was advertising for people to come to their resort specifically to see the eclipse. (Glamping, for the uninformed like myself, is defined as “glamorous camping”). So this morning I rode over to the ranch to see what was there. There was no big sign about the eclipse like I expected, but the office staff at the reception area verified that there was no vacancy and most people staying there were there to watch the eclipse. The resort staff was very friendly, but I’m not sure staying at a glamping resort is for me. Below are a couple of photos I took of the resort area.
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Visiting Family and Friends - Later I rode over to Pickleville to the old Hadfield Cabin, now the Rowberry Cabin, to visit Jim & Julie. Matt was also there with Kale and Knox. It was fun to visit and I also lucked into some sausage and eggs for breakfast. Below are some photos. The first shot shows the new home on the left that towers above the cabin, and not quite as visable, but towering over the cabin just the same, is the Thomson house on the right. The second shot is of the beach, which has sand instead of rocks for the first time in many years. A recent storm brought the sand in and I’m sure the kids are all happy about that. The third photo is of Matt and his two boys, Knox on the left and Kale. They are really cute kids. The other cute kids are Julie and Jim.
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While at the cabin I also visited with Lynette and Harv who are neighbors. They came to the 2012 Sigma Zonk Reunion, but I hadn’t seen Lynette since then. Harv and Merle take their BMW machines on scooter rides, but have never wanted to join our group on our summer ride. A big difference is they camp outside, and we camp in motels.
Next I rode to the Covert's cabin up into Bridgerland Village. Amy was there, just arriving from the concert weekend at Beaver Mountain, and I had a nice visit with her. Quent & Barbara hadn’t yet arrived, but I’ll see them when we gather to watch the eclipse on Monday.
Back at the Wilson’s abode, Ted fixed his famous salmon dinner, with Dixie preparing fruit and a great pasta/chicken salad. How lucky am I?
The next morning was Monday, August 21st - a day that had been discussed thoroughly by everyone in the country (I think) since it was the Solar Eclipse day. A bunch of us went up on the mountain to the west of the lake and watched eclipse -- I've covered that experience in a separate blog. When the eclipse was over, several of us decided to get a raspberry shake down in Garden City. There is an interesting history about these shakes, and anyone that knows about LaBeau's famous raspberry shakes should take the time to read an article published in the New York Times. You can copy and paste the URL below in your browser:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/28/travel/great-shakes-in-a-small-town.html
OR, if that doesn't work you can do a search for "famous raspberry shakes in Garden City, UT"
In 1989, a Bureau Chief for the New York Times was passing through Garden City and published the article. Briefly from the article, the drive-in was purchased by Renee LaBeau in 1981 and she billed it as the "Home of the Famous Raspberry Shake." After this article appeared, the drive-in and the shake became much more "famous" and in 1984 Jeannie Willis opened a competing drive-in across the street from LaBeau's (the Quick 'n' Tasty Drive-in) and of course offered "Famous Raspberry Shakes." A current trip to Garden City will reveal that there are now many drive-ins, restaurants, and even a gas station, that all offer "Famous Raspberry Shakes." Ted pointed out that a new place in town named Jake's had the best raspberry shakes, mainly because they were using hard versus the normal soft ice cream in their shakes. So despite breaking a Hadfield tradition of always stopping at LaBeau's for a raspberry shake, we went to Jake's -- and I wasn't disappointed. The photos below are Bonnie and I partaking of a LaBeau's shake on a prior trip to Utah, and the sign on Jake's Place advertising it's "famous raspberry shakes.
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That Monday evening Barbara (assisted by Quent) prepared a wonderful salmon dinner with corn on the cob, fresh tomato’s, and a salad. Since salmon is probably my very favorite meal, and everything was fresh and well-prepared, this was a second lucky night in a row. The only problem is that with being on the road for almost two weeks, and not doing any exercise while traveling, I'm sure I have added 7 pounds to my frame.
On Tuesday morning, August 22nd, I left Logan about 9:00 am and rode to Lindon, which is near Provo. A rock had hit and broken my headlight while on the scooter ride (in a construction zone on the way to Craig) and I had made an appointment with the Timpanogos Harley Dealership in Lindon for it's repair. Also, I had made arrangements to meet Gary W at the dealership for lunch and a visit - a follow-up to the visit with he and Mildred in mid-July. We talked for a couple of hours on a wide range of subjects, from old school days, to our careers, to investment philosophy. The photo below is of the Timpanogos Harley building which is unusual in many respects. It is one of the few dealerships that I know of that includes an in-house restaurant and it is located across the street from the site where historic Geneva Steel once stood. The dealership harvested more than 75 percent of the materials from Geneva Steel to construct the 58,000 square-foot building, which is thought to rank among the largest reclaimed (or “green”) structures in the United States.
After lunch I hustled on down I-15, hitting a little rain between Scipio and Fillmore, to Cedar City where I spent the night. I had planned to take Linda and Chad out to dinner, but she had decided to prepare dinner herself, and since is an accomplished cook, I was happy for the invitation. Also, as it turned out, Al & Dottie were in Cedar City to attend a play showing during the Utah Shakespeare Festival, a very successful festival that has played in Cedar City since 1962. So I had a fun visit with them also. Below are a few photos taken on Linda's patio overlooking Cedar City in the valley below.
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When Bonnie and I are driving through Las Vegas we usually try to have lunch with my old school friend Karma who lives there. This year we tried to set up a lunch during our travels to Utah in July, but there were conflicts. Then this month when I would be passing through Vegas on my Summer Scooter Ride I tried again, but again there were conflicts. Should I take a hint? Anyway, for those who know Karma, I wanted them to see how great she looks, so I've included a photo taken when I met her on my scooter trip in 2016.
On Saturday evening, August 26th, my favorite daughters (Jenny, Tracy, and Heather), and Sean and Griffin, came to the house to visit Bonnie and I and to welcome me home from the Scooter Ride. We had a good visit and Heather showed us how to do an on-line order for take-out food from Panda Express to bring home to eat. It was good to see and visit with everyone.
I forgot to take a photo of the Dalys before they left, but a good one is included below with Curran when they were taking him to Humboldt State University a few weeks ago as he began his second school year there.
On Sunday morning, August 27th, I went on a Harley day-ride into the mountains (one of my favorite things to do), found a place to eat and read the paper. Because of my fixation with the number seven, I have to briefly mention what I read in a Barron's financial magazine. Barron's was interviewing the Chief Investment Officer of The Leuthold Group and said to him, "We understand that years ending in seven are bad news for the market." The answer was, "The August-to-November window of Year Seven has shown a strong downward bias, even when the extreme case of 1987 is omitted." What do you think we should do with this? I like the number seven and I make my living in the stock market. Should I sell the market short? Of course you don't make investment decisions on information like this, but I thought it was interesting.
Just for fun I've decided to give a gift of $7 to a stranger each month on the 7th. Our neighbor Mark gave me a couple of Lottery "Scratchers" at my birthday party and when I checked them on August 7th, I actually had two that were winners. There was a young lady standing in line behind me at the 7-Eleven where I cashed them. I handed her a $5 bill and a $2 bill with a note attached explaining how the number 7 played into my life. She was surprised and appreciative and gave me a heart-felt "May God bless you."
I have set an objective to be more aware of the opportunities to do good deeds. I'm sure that opportunities are all around me, but I seem to have difficulty recognizing these situations - but I'll keep trying. At the Comfort Inn in Beaver on my way to Logan for the Scooter Ride, there was a young boy having difficulty getting his bicycle up the stairs to his room, and I carried it up for him. He and his dad were very appreciative for the assistance.
We wish the Bingham's (Desirae & Anthony and family) and the Caruthers (Lacy & Sterling and family) in Texas good luck as they deal with the affects of Tropical Storm Harvey. We know that the Bingham's were forced to evacuate their home in Missouri City, stay in a motel in Katy, and then move on to Dallas to stay with friends. Apparently the Caruthers live far enough northwest of Houston that they haven't been seriously affected. Our thoughts and prayers are with both families.
August was an interesting month, with many fun activities and visits with friends and family members. I'm looking forward to an active and fun month in September.