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Western US 2011…Wyatt Earp & The Rocky Wonder Show
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jefflthomas
Tour Pro
have you got hotlinks to those maps mate?
You Sir, are a very devious man to be leaving it hanging with that.
I doubt it made for a sleepless night....
Loads and loads to come....turned out a 4400mile/ ~6500km trip in the end.
If you want them, I can chuck in some google map links?
OK...go to the start of each day and there's an active google map now as well as the static overview.
Seneca….it’ll NEVER be forgotten!! As here happens one of the most bizarre encounters I’ve had in my life!
And it all, sort of, went like this:
The whole frameset already is a little intimidating with the black clouds over dark hills, strong gusts of wind howling across the plains, driving us into town….and the temperature's dropping quickly.
The small place looks deserted, not a soul or car around…. a line of small, shady trees blocking part of the view to the entrance to the BearCat Lodge, a substantial 2 storey weatherboard building , by itself on the right hand side of the road, expressing a sort of “them-and-us” attitude.
An Arctic Cat 4WD ATV and a sparkling Trumpy Tiger 1050 are parked under the trees…we pull up, check around. The signs proclaim a “Bikers-ONLY!!” place, no other guests welcomed
. Something just doesn’t feel quite right here…Goodie stays on the bike, waiting how things will pan out.
The door opens and a guy in his, maybe, late 50’s/ maybe mid- 60’s welcomes us, urging us inside.
Meet J.W. Everitt, or short: JW.
A quick peek around the corner of the doorjamb offers views onto a welcoming yet weird and quirky interior…. a HUGE room which is a humongous lounge with open fireplace, lounge suites and 50” Plasma TV as well as a dining room… a stage ready set for a concert… a dentist chair and some old, brass fire extinguishers…a reception and hallway all at once…a corner set with a big table and chairs like an old-style French country kitchen….knickknacks and memorabilia everywhere.
Welcome to the epicenter of the BearCat Lodge…from here, long hallways stretch past rooms, a drying-room for wet bike-gear, a firewood storage, a fully set-up recording studio and small auditorium, and bedroom after bedroom, all of them “themed” according to local timbers and furniture styles, most of them the country- rustic variety.
Some absolutely stunning woodcraft, each piece a gem in its own right, huge slabs of cedar, aspen, oak, cherry and whathaveyou.
“Yeah, nobody here for tonight, good to see you guys!! We’ve got PLEEENTY of room, just pick whatever bedroom you want, there are a few more upstairs, but we’re still renovating some others, mind the tools and timber-stacks!...
Oh, the bar is also upstairs and we make our own Tequila, from some &^%$ -cacti that a friend sends up every year…the stuff’s dynamite, hehe, cackle, cackle!!” Just drag your stuff inside before it starts bucketing!!”
HAAAAAANG ON!!
How do we go about tucker, there doesn’t seem to be anything in town….and what are the rates? And brecky tomorrow?
“All taken care of, Carol (the better half, just now peeking around the corner of the hallway) will knock up some first-rate dinner for everyone, same for brecky, which is gonna be a big one, cooked of course.
And as for “rates”….we don’t work that way here. Each room has a small “Goldfishbowl” where you can leave whatever you think it was worth, just enjoy yourselves first, it’s all inclusive.
And…..have you been up to the lookout? No?
Just clear your stuff, then we’ll check the skies and meet again here….oh….and depending on how I feel, I’ll do a little jam-session tonight, used to play with Crosby, Stills+ Nash….”
Jimbo and I look at eachother….STUMPED!!!
WTF WAS THAT??? Did I get this right??
Seems that way, as we mutter to eachother on the way out for a short conference.
We’re both stuttering, just can’t believe this whole thing…it’s just….unreal!!
Never, ever seen or heard anything even remotely like that…and JW’s last comment still bounces around the back of the noggin:” We don’t charge for the first night…you just ‘donate’ whatever you reckon it was worth, and I’ll tell you if you can come again”.
Gives you that ‘hollow’ feeling in the gut, dunnit?
We look at eachother again…look at the skies and the howling wind whipping up the dust across the plains….stuff it, we’ll stay. :devil:
How do we go about tucker, there doesn’t seem to be anything in town….and what are the rates? And brecky tomorrow?
“All taken care of, Carol (the better half, just now peeking around the corner of the hallway) will knock up some first-rate dinner for everyone, same for brecky, which is gonna be a big one, cooked of course.
And as for “rates”….we don’t work that way here. Each room has a small “Goldfishbowl” where you can leave whatever you think it was worth, just enjoy yourselves first, it’s all inclusive.
And…..have you been up to the lookout? No?
Just clear your stuff, then we’ll check the skies and meet again here….oh….and depending on how I feel, I’ll do a little jam-session tonight, used to play with Crosby, Stills+ Nash….”
Jimbo and I look at eachother….STUMPED!!!
WTF WAS THAT???
Did I get this right??Seems that way, as we mutter to eachother on the way out for a short conference.
We’re both stuttering, just can’t believe this whole thing…it’s just….unreal!!
Never, ever seen or heard anything even remotely like that…and JW’s last comment still bounces around the back of the noggin:” We don’t charge for the first night…you just ‘donate’ whatever you reckon it was worth, and I’ll tell you if you can come again”.
Gives you that ‘hollow’ feeling in the gut, dunnit?
We look at eachother again…look at the skies and the howling wind whipping up the dust across the plains….stuff it, we’ll stay. :devil:
10 mins later I'm back out again, JW showing me the strap-in procedure of the ATV “it might get a bit bumpy on the way to the lookout….and this lever is for low, that one for slow, this one for 4wd, that one to hang onto when we tumble tits-over-arse down the hill on the way home, only joking hehe….just so you know, remember the way and turnoffs, you’ll be taking one of your mates up there after we’re back…and he/ she can take the last one up.
HEEHH???
Fugging WOT?? I thought I’m getting the sightseeing tour and that’s it!! Now I’m supposed to drive this thing, possibly 10 or 12 grand?? worth of 4WD rocket, and we barely know each other for 5 minutes??
This guy’s NUTZ!
Sure is, as we’re taking off in a dust-storm…. running parallel to the road (this thing is unregistered) and up a side-street, into a steep, narrow gully and past a shooting range. The steep sides of the low hills are bare, apart from the ever-present sagebrush and some walking tracks or animal trails.
Scrap that last bit!!!
Those are ATV tracks and there are no bends and hairpins…it’s STRAIGHT UP!!
I’m shitting myself at the sight…and know in my guts what’s going to come.
Barely a second later the nose is pointing straight into the sky, the world disappears in an almighty jarring and bouncing and the little red “toy” claws and jumps its way uphill, getting slower as we go up, the wheel spin at the rear is flinging tons of dirt downhill.
“Better kick here into 4WD, eh?”
What?? All this was 2WD???
There’s a dirty grin from the driver’s seat as the horizon starts to jump all over the place.
The views across the plains from the top of the hill are sweet….but I’m already thinking about the way down those tracks, ohhh mama!!:kna
20 mins later I try to give it my best to pass on the same thrills to Jimbo….who then takes up Goodie.
It’s an animated night at the BearCat Lodge that night…good tucker and vino, the homemade Tequila even better than described....and then JW plucks one of the guitars off the wall!!
BearCat Lodge?? UNFORGETTABLE!!!
HEEHH???
Fugging WOT?? I thought I’m getting the sightseeing tour and that’s it!! Now I’m supposed to drive this thing, possibly 10 or 12 grand?? worth of 4WD rocket, and we barely know each other for 5 minutes??
This guy’s NUTZ!
Sure is, as we’re taking off in a dust-storm…. running parallel to the road (this thing is unregistered) and up a side-street, into a steep, narrow gully and past a shooting range. The steep sides of the low hills are bare, apart from the ever-present sagebrush and some walking tracks or animal trails.
Scrap that last bit!!!
Those are ATV tracks and there are no bends and hairpins…it’s STRAIGHT UP!!
I’m shitting myself at the sight…and know in my guts what’s going to come.
Barely a second later the nose is pointing straight into the sky, the world disappears in an almighty jarring and bouncing and the little red “toy” claws and jumps its way uphill, getting slower as we go up, the wheel spin at the rear is flinging tons of dirt downhill.
“Better kick here into 4WD, eh?”
What?? All this was 2WD???
There’s a dirty grin from the driver’s seat as the horizon starts to jump all over the place.
The views across the plains from the top of the hill are sweet….but I’m already thinking about the way down those tracks, ohhh mama!!
:kna20 mins later I try to give it my best to pass on the same thrills to Jimbo….who then takes up Goodie.
It’s an animated night at the BearCat Lodge that night…good tucker and vino, the homemade Tequila even better than described....and then JW plucks one of the guitars off the wall!!
BearCat Lodge?? UNFORGETTABLE!!!
goodie
...
That rattler got a bit “rattled”….still, I rather see ‘em like that than “all excited to meet me”.
That wasn't me..... I promise! I wasn't even there...
