Something New

We learned our former place in Merrill had a fire the last Sunday in July. Everyone is OK but they are unable to live in it until it is repaired. We took a trip to Bend with a long list of “to do” things and came away feeling pretty good as we were able to get everything done including finding a dress for me to wear to our granddaughter’s wedding in Sept. The next morning the bike shop called to say a bike like Larry wanted was there. We had been there looking at 3 PM the day before and the bike came in at 4:30 PM—bad timing on our part so we went back to Bend and ending up trading and now we have a new to us BMW. It came loaded with lots of extras, some things we probably wouldn’t have added so it is nice they were included. Larry is very happy with the bike and we can now take trips longer than 65 miles. (The Yamaha only had a 1.4 gal tank.)

The new BMW with saddle bags.

A better picture of the saddle bags on the BMW.

BMW without saddle bags. Larry was very busy the next few days reto- fitting the bike rack to fit the new bike as we were going to another RV park for two days and only took the bike (leaving the trailer and car at Cascade Meadows). We enjoyed our two days at Sundance RV, met some very nice folks, rode the bike to Costco (only eight miles away) and took a trail ride thru the BLM lands that adjoin the RV park. We also played two rounds of miniature golf and came out tied which was nice since I usually lose.

Entrance to Sundance miniature golf course.

Miniature golf course at Sundance Meadows.

Our view of the geese in the meadow at Sundance. We took a 100 mile ride on the upper half of the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway and it definitely is the prettier half. We had a great day for a ride as the weather was perfect 75º, clear blue skies, and very little wind. Larry likes the new bike so well he wants to ride it every day!

Cultus Lake along the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. By far the most popular lake of all the lakes we saw.

Elk Lake along the upper half of the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway.

Lava Lake along the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway.

Devil's Lake, the last lake we saw on our 100 mile ride. Most of the lakes we saw on this ride were very close to the road which made for easy viewing. We have new neighbors from LA and he is a great chef. He made some real Louisiana gumbo and gave us some. Really, really good! They are moving here after a fire burned their business to the ground in July. We didn’t do anything special for our anniversary since we bought the BMW. It also serves as a birthday present for Larry. I baked an applesauce cake for his birthday. It is a recipe I have had since we were first married and that is the first cake I baked him after we were married. Amazingly he still likes applesauce cake as one of his favorites. Here it is Labor Day weekend already and the end of summer. We will be leaving here in less than two weeks to head south. This summer seems to have flown by!