Archive for August, 2010

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bugman does denver, part third

Sunday, August 15th, 2010

How?

Banjo Billy’s ?

Banjo BIlly’s sounds like they are the kind of tour that could be fun. The bus is tricked out like a hillbilly shack on wheels with couches and saddles to sit on inside the bus.  The tour is OK, but the tales told were not as bizarre as I would think; could it be me?

Walk the neighborhoods! See the houses!

Lots of mansions stuck between high rise condos. Here’s one looking from the top floor of our temporary condo.

State Capitol Building

I mean it’s right there in the center of town. Who could miss it?

Looking up at the dome from the inside

House of Reps! The door was open, but nobody was there.

An Italian Beef to some degree

We being the spoiled type, you just have to go into the BIG CITY if you really want something good to eat. Sorry Fort Collins, we love you for many things, but the following places put your restraunt listings to shame:

Tommy’s Thai – Super Thai favorites at a great price. I’d eat there 3 times a week if I could!

Fontano’s Subs – Man, if you go 200 miles outside a’ Chicago you won’t find an “Italian Beef Samich” anywhere. However, you can get mighty close to one at this place.

Bistro Vendome – It’s French! “Tres bien” all the way!

Brothers BBQ – WTF? The O’Sullivan brothers came from England and started a BBQ restaurant in Denver back in 1998. Only in America! Check out their “License to Grill” video on their website.

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Bugman does denver: Part 2

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

At the Botanic Gardens:

The number one place to see when you come to Denver

Holy Cow! The macro option on my camera is working!

For some unknown reason the dual image display on the old Minolta camera is a little flakey.  Today it worked beautifully!

I don’t know what it is, but it looked cool.

…and there were Moore statues!

and more Moore !

The whole event is called “Monumental Sculptures” in collaboration with the Henry Moore Foundation on display through January 31, 2011.

17 more Moore, not pictured here scattered around the gardens

The CEO at Gould Labs had a number of Moore statues placed on the corporate grounds in Rolling Meadows. It really classed the place up a notch! Hey, I believe I posted something about a Picasso statue at Gould Labs here.

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Bugman does denver, Part 1

Friday, August 13th, 2010

At Coors Field again:

The Easy chairs in the Wells Fargo Club area

We have about a week to spend in Denver; We lucked out by staying in one of the states senator’s condos about two blocks from the governor’s mansion. It was a good central location to explore Denver and check out the scene!

Once again, Dinger the Dino

I could have actually met the dinosaur, but then I’m not sure what I’d say; “How did all your relatives manage to die out?” , “Are there any statistics that show that you actually help the Rockies win games?”

“Are the Rockies a Mickey Mouse Organization?”

I don’t understand this item. It was standing (about 7 feet high) in a corner by the club exit. Note the head of Dinger at Mickey’s left foot. Did giant mice kill off all the dinosaurs?

On Friday the 13th, the Rockies Won!

We were there to see this and I’m glad. I thought that we were responsible for their past poor performances because of our attendance. I love leaving the stadium when the home team wins.

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cross taxidermy

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

at Vern’s

coon-skinned top face hat.

Seems a bit weird, but that’s what you get when you stop in at Vern’s.  The Post-Ragbrai depression is setting in, so I rode with my banjo out to Laporte to Vern’s Place to enjoy one of their world famous cinnamon rolls.

Outside of Vern’s Place

As good a redneck style of breakfast location can git, this is probably the closest outback place from the Fort; And if you show up toting a homemade banjar, well the similarities to the movie “Deliverance” become all too evident.

Note: I think they “healthy upped” the cinnamon rolls as they were not as gooey and full of sugar like they are at  Johnson’s Corner. Sure, I nearly threw up after eating one, but I didn’t have the near death experience I had eating the “J.C.” roll.

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Janis’ monument

Monday, August 9th, 2010

No Co immigration:

Near the town of Colona, now called Laporte.

Janis moved in on June, 1844 with his wife First Elk of the Oglala Sioux tribe. He moved out of town in 1878 when the gov’t forced his wife to move to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. His original homestead cabin was moved to Fort Collins in 1939 and is open to the public. I have passed the cabin hundreds of times and have yet to visit. Maybe next time I’m near the main library I’ll peek in and say hello!

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the last ragbrai post

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

forever…

Playing on Craig’s tractor

Thanks to Craig and Brenda of Manchester and the group who didn’t show up; We got to sleep on real beds in a fabulous 100 year old farmhouse.

The Iowa State Patrol

This guy is looking over at me and thinking “Oh boy, trouble!”  Thanks for keeping our way safe!

The 2010 signature banjo!

The RAGBRAI BANJO is official! It’s even signed by T.J. “TJ” Juskiewicz, the Ragbrai director. Also signing the banjo head was Dan McKay, the RIDE RIGHT State Chair. Great job as always!

Mr. Pork Chop

Without his pork chop stand in Woden, Iowa in 2005, there would be no “Roadside Boys” and all the fame and fortune that goes with it.  Great to hear you again, Paul!

Me and “Sherry of Oxnard”

In 2005, Sherry and I seemed to be riding at the same pace each day. We talked quite a bit on that ride. I didn’t see her the following years until the last day of this year’s ride. She had heard all of my stories and asked me to repeat one in particular because she forgot how it ended. It was the one about the dead cat! Glad to see you again, Sherry!

A Tagalong and a FlyGirl

Speaking of stories, here is Ken and Sue after only six and a half minutes of listening to me tell one  of my weird tales. Thanks for organizing our little club; We had a great time because of your hard work!

Alan in plastic

If we made up a toe tag we could have called the Cerro Gordo county coroner’s office and had him shipped off to the morgue as a joke; But who do you think we are, Team Shagbrai ?  Thanks for putting up with me for an entire week!

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Winter dance party memorials

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

In Clear Lake, Iowa:

The poster

Last minute arrangements were made for the above group to play at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 2, 1959. I got a chance to stop in at the Surf to check it out. Actually, there is a musty oder to the place; perhaps some of the original curtains have not been touched since that fateful night in 1959, the Day the Music Died.

The street we camped out on

We had wonderful camping spot a a residence located on Buddy Holly Place. About a mile south on this road is the last place Buddy, Ritchie, and J.P. made music.

A memorial inside the Surf

…and another outside the Surf

The next day at the  PBJ, on a location that may have been near the actual crash site, John Condon started the group singing  Don McLean’s American Pie ! You should have been there.

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oh, behave!

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Whatever happens on Ragbrai, stays on Ragbrai:

Dr. Evil standing by his bus

Hey you Groovey Dudes and Dudettes! Remember that fab post with all those Ragbrai Team Buses I posted a while ago? No? Well click HERE if you want to review them. Anyhow, while I haven’t had time to add more teams to the collection, we had a chance to get real close to a team on our overnight stay in Algona. Dig this scene, man: On our quiet little corner comes this most far out and quite funky bus & mobile chill pad you ever saw! And it pops right in our hood! How cool is that!

Apparently one of the Team Shagbrai members (heh, he said “members’) is a brother to one of the friends of the daughter of the host family, or something like that so they got permission to stay with us for the night! Far out!

Check out the Shagbrai YouTube Channel if you dare.

Posted in Bike, RAGBRAI | 1 Comment »

ragbrai jamin’

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

along the route:

At a PBJ stop

On the left we have Ron from Chicago on electric guitar, an unidentified woman who sang a few songs (quite excellent I might add!) with us, John on guitar and  Teresa on bass.  John and Teresa make up the Buck Hollow Band out of Decorah, Iowa. John knows a lot of songs in the key of G and I am glad he does! (The banjo approves!)

Mike and Jim blow them away in Pocahontas

It was great to meet up with Mr. McAbee this year; I somehow missed him last year. Anyhow, here we are on stage at Bob’s bar.

Jim & Tom at yet another PB&J stop

When Tom and I play, we are “The Roadside Boys”. We only play during RAGBRAI and that’s probably for the best. We also provided entertainment for a party held by the Ragbrai C.U.B.S. organization in Charles City, IA.

The Spandex Bluegrass Trio

I know this is at another PB&J stop because nobody travels on their bike with a fiddle.  We played for a bit in the hot sun and then went on to Mr. Pork Chop and did our little “Pork Chop!”  song for Mr. Paul Bernhard.

Young Fiddle player at PB&J.

She was used to a half sized instrument so she had to get used to the fingering. Note the unidentified hand indicating where she might find the proper notes (or not)!

This woman was used to the fingering!

I didn’t catch her name, but she is a violist in a symphony orchestra and knew how to make that house fiddle sound like a million bucks!

PBJ Blues

Or maybe it was heavy metal. I don’t know, they had trouble deciding. I took a break and had my custom made sandwich (crunchy peanut butter, strawberry jelly, marshmallow fluff, bacon and raisons on white bread)  and chocolate-banana milk.

Posted in Bike, Music, RAGBRAI | 2 Comments »

coming home clean

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Things got better:

FREE SHOWERS!

As we traveled eastward, the price for showers got cheaper. Of course we never bought into this scam, but we are happy to be clean and ready for our trip home! We drove from Dubuque to Grand Island and stayed the night; note: The Accordion Jamboree in Grand Island is not until September this year! It would have been a perfect trip, but we lost a bike wheel to the wind gods on I-80 someplace west of Des Moines.

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