September 16th - 30th

I know it has been a while since I've updated this but we are still in Chaska, MN at our good friend Cowboy Tom.  As it turned out on the 19th I developed a small intestine blockage (twisted intestine) and wound up in the hospital.  After trying rest, tubes, drugs, etc,. surgery was done on the 24th and than back to Tom's on the 27th.

We been resting up (at least I have) and plan to leave here on 10/1 and head to GR.  We will have to see what happens as it will all depend on how much shaking & driving I can do.
Nurse Arda   and Cowboy Tom    plus our friends all over the country have been terrific!  Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and help.

If you are ever in need of a hospital while in the St Paul area, I can highly recommend the nurses, doctors, and everyone we came in contact with at St Francis Hospital - they were super! 

Anyway the good news is that all is on the mend and Wrangler Dave should be back in the saddle soon.

Keep your loops open.

September 11th - 14th

Haven’t much to tell you about the last 4 – 5 days other than we had a few days of down time and Arda made several donations to the local economy.

Biker Arda did go biking but it was really hard as the wind was blowing and most of this area is up and down.  In fact she was enjoying a 5-mile downhill ride when she realized she had to go back up   but she made it… red face and all!

Wrangler Dave didn’t wrangle anything but his computer.  It was very windy for several days plus it rained all day Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday.  The locals were very happy as everything was very dry.

We left this AM (Monday) and headed east towards Chaska, MN where we will visit our good friend Tom  Home for a few days.  In the meantime we are back in our favorite campground, Wally-Mart in Mitchell, SD where is it 83^o at 7:00 PM.

That is all for now… keep your loops open.

September 6th - 10th

Here I am  again folks - back hard at it, writing my Tally Book entries.  On Sunday after church, we headed south to Douglas to visit our friend Fronie Hendren.  We knew Charley and Fronie when we all lived in Texas over 20 years ago.  We made contact with Fronie last year on our trip to Yellowstone but were not able to spend any time with her which was unfortunate so this time  we made sure we had the time.  Fronie has a neat house (it has a lot more room than it looks from  the outside) and we were fortunate enough to be able to "camp" in the empty lot right next to her.

We got to know Charley and Fronie through St. Mathews Church in Arlington TX where we were both part of a group that sang/played at the Saturday Night Mass.  After Mass we would all head to the Tole's (we were the only ones with small children) for Nachos, visitin and jammin.  It was a great time. 

Charley and Fronie went to El Paso after we left for GR and they soon moved on to Sheridan WY and then to Douglas WY where Charley passed away in 2006 from a brain tumor.  He was a real cowboy at heart and started writing songs, cowboy poetry and finally, became an ordained Cowboy Preacher.  He touched many lives over the years and continues to do so with his CD's and books.  You can find more about Charley or obtain one of his CD's or books at Charely Hendren - Cowboy Extraordinaire!

Did I mention that Fronie is an excellent cook... peach cobbler, cookies, pecon pie, plus lots of food that is "good for you".  Sure am glad Arda and I gave up sugar before getting to Fronie's - HA!

Fronie is a bit of a slave driver though... she locked me in the basement office for 2 days until her computers where working properly.  No I didn't break them in the first place.  In spite of this terrible hardship, we are planning to visit Fronie again next year only this time she wants us back for a week - hope it is not in the basement again.

On Wed. we headed for Deadwood SD where Arda has to stop anytime we cross east to west out here.  It is interesting to see the topography change as we travel east.  The land goes from prairie with miles and miles of rolling hills and very few trees to the SD Badlands where the hills get higher and the open land gives way to trees and rocks.

We will spend a few days here catching up on some things while Arda "entertains" herself... if you know what I mean. 

Take care and keep your loops open!

September 1st - 5th

I know, I know it has been a while since I wrote my Tally Book.  No excuses... Wrangler Dave has been wrangling, roping, having fun, and then was just too tired to write my Tally Book at night.  Well today we moved a couple of miles down the road from Wally-Mart in Sheridan to a campground with internet in Sheridan so here I am.

Biker Arda and I have spent the last couple of days at our good friends Dick and  Sidne Overturf.  They have a house in the mountains that they stay in during the summer and then  they head south for the winter.  Dick irrigates land for Wally and Rhett Papas (great people) who provide him a place to park his RV, horses, etc. for the summer.  This is where Arda and I stayed.

I was able to spend some time in saddle either moving cattler from one pasture to another (the views are just terrific!) or roping 3 calves that Dick has for this purpose.  It sure was nice to be back in the saddle again.

We headed to Sheridan on Friday (4th) as we had to pickup the leather sewing maching Biker Arda purchased last spring.  We this morning we loaded it up in the back seat of the truck and will be heading back to GR (slowly) with it.

Tomorrow we are going to Douglas WY to visit a good friend we knew in Texas…

Pictures are found at Red Lodge 2009

Take care and keep the loops open.