I knew there was a reason...

I bought the Corbin seat because I was looking for something more comfortable than the stock OEM seat.  I ordered a seat cover, which looked great but was made for the wrong seat; I sent it back.  While searching for another alternative, I found out that Corbin makes custom seats for my model Vespa.  They were set up early at the Sturgis Rally, I was able to go there and order exactly what I wanted... and was able to pick up the seat in Sturgis (their manufacturing facility is in California) in just 4 days.  It just all worked out.

But now I know why I picked the color and texture of the leather...

Yep, it matches Rufus.  ;-)  He is officially my new "seat warmer."

And, a look at some walking...

No pooping photos.  You're welcome.

Once is a first - the second time is the start of a trend...

Rufus has been doing a good job walking on his leash.  I walk him most of the time, Joan walks him once in a while.  Last night was a first.

Let me say: none of our cats have gone to the bathroom outside.  If Izzy had to go potty while we were outside, she would go to the door and meow to go in... she'd do her business in her little box, then go back to the door to go outside again.  Molly would just hold it until we came inside.  Rufus has been following Molly's example... until last night.  While walking, he stopped, sniffed around a bit, hunkered down, and dropped a big steaming pile of poop.  I was shocked.

No, I didn't have a bag with me - haven't needed one until this moment.  RV parks are insistent about "picking up after your pet."  We were on our way back to the coach, when he did his business about 100 yards away.  I "memorized" where in the grass he made the deposit, and hustled him back to the coach - to put him inside AND get a bag to go back and pick up the poop.  It was getting dark, so I took a flashlight.  Even with the flashlight, and knowing the general vicinity (it was close to the only puffy dandelion in that huge area of grass).  Literally, it took me about a half hour to find it.  While looking, a lady walked by with her dog and said, "Kinda hard to find diamonds in the dark."

Funny.  I almost said, "No shit," but somehow managed to bite my tongue.  I just knew the neighbors were watching, and there was no way I was going back to the coach until I found that pile of "diamonds."

This evening, after we got back from a nice scooter ride, I took Rufus for another long(ish) walk.  Joan had tied a bag to the leash; before we left, she told Rufus, "Be sure to poop outside again!"  (She handles the litter box duties, so this means less "back end" work.  Yes, I manage the "front end."  We have a system.)

Rufus walked just fine.  Joan came out on the patio to watch us, until we got out of site.  On the way back, in roughly the same vicinity as last night's "deposit," Rufus stopped, sniffed around, and hunkered down again.  This time, I had the bag at the ready, and picked it up.  Yes, it was still warm.  Want any more details?  Joan praised him as we got close to the coach.

I think we have a new routine.

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Now, regarding that scooter ride today: a round-about way to Custer for lunch, then back via Custer State Park and Iron Mountain Road.  Love it!

I took photos (of course) and played around a bit with some video (helmet cam again).

After some fun curvy stuff, we passed by Mt Rushmore.

Some video - you can turn the sound on this time, if you want...

Lunch at Black Hills Burger & Bun Co...

Through Custer State Park on the way back...

A wide load coming right through the park...

A turn onto Iron Mountain Road  on the other side of the park...

Yeah, there are some leaves changing at the 5,000' elevation (above).

Back through Keystone...

The twisties, then back home...

Moving day, again...

Our "9 days out" in this site are up today, so we will be doing the "shuffle" once again today.

We were blessed with sunshine and nice weather.  Joan wanted to vary the order of vehicle movement, but any way you do it, it takes 3 trips: car pulling the trailer and ride one scoot; set up the trailer, then take the car back to get the motorhome; take the car back once more and get the other scoot.

Rufus had his usual concerns about moving - he hopped up into my lap as I pulled the motorhome out of the other site... "Where's Momma?"

"Just you and me, buddy - but it is a short trip."  He was happy to see Joan waiting for us when we got to the new site.  Well, not really such a "new site," we are back on the site where we stayed our first 21 days.  I like this site better, mostly because of the location: it is much quieter here, without being at an intersection.  Not that people are loud or rowdy in this nice resort, just a lot of walk-by and drive-by traffic on the other site... and a few people who don't understand the "don't walk through RV sites" etiquette, when they walk through your site instead of staying on the paved road.

We got set up just in time for the mowers to roll past our site.  They are big and loud, and Rufus is not a fan.  (He was sitting outside with Joan.)

So, we're getting settled in for another couple weeks.

Some patio time before meeting friends Ron and Darlene for lunch...

Rufus wandered to the door, hinting that it was time for his lunch...

When hinting doesn't work...

"Somebody needs to feed me!  Now!"

"Ohhh... did I say that out loud?"

"Just me... being sweet... yep, hungry and sweet."

He's a good boy.  :-)

"I'm not a cat person, but..."

I've heard this a time or twelve before.

Rufus has been getting some good walking time in today.  Joan had a hair appointment today, and we needed to get some groceries, so I took him for a walk before we left.  Well, until it started to sprinkle.  I said to him, "Didn't your Momma teach you to come in out of the rain?"

Apparently not.

He loves to be outside.  It seems that he has become pretty secure with his place in the family... he had developed a mind of his own.  I said to him, "OK, time to go home."

To which he replied, "Huh-uh."  Needing to maintain my Alpha Male status, I guided him to the front door.  The boy is all muscle, and it takes some effort to "guide him" along.

We did our running; got back shortly after his lunch time.  Yep, more walking while Joan put groceries away (keeps him from being under foot - me, too).

A lady driving by stopped and said, "That is a beautiful cat - walks on a leash; impressive."  And, it started sprinkling again, so back inside.

We heard from the mail room here that we have a couple packages to pick up, so we made a trip to the lodge and took care of our check-in with the move we'll be doing again in the morning.  Back to the site we were on when we first got here - it will be good for Rufus walking, with a large grassy area off our patio.

Back from the lodge, and time for another walk.  This time, though, the sun was out; I knew we could take our time and go further.  His longest walk, yet.  A guy walking by said, "I'm not a cat person, but he has great markings!"  Rufus wanted to rub up on this guy, but I figured with the "I'm not a cat person" stuff that it would be better to keep him on a short leash.

I have mentioned this with our other cats, but walking a cat isn't like walking a dog - there is no end goal, like getting to a place to potty.  He has his own private potty in the coach.  So, we walk a bit, sit and sniff the air a bit, roll in the grass, chase a stick in the grass, walk some more...

Notice no pulling on the leash...

Time to roll in the grass...

He also does this when I tell him it is time to "go home."  This time, when I told him it was time, he meowed at me, and hit me in the leg!  "What did you do?" I said to him.

There was a lot of "I'm sorry" leg rubbing...

Made me laugh.  There were no claws out, but he was letting me know that it was NOT time to go home.

Um, yes it is...

So, all in all, we're walking pretty good.  We'll do another walk or two before the day is done.

On the market again...

No, as of this writing, Joan hasn't dumped me, yet.

I heard from my buddy, Tim (who bought Wild Blue from us) that he is not using the boat as much as he had hoped and is putting it up for sale.  For a moment, I considered buying it back from him, if he would agree to buy it back from me again in a couple years.  ;-)

Yeah, I'm kidding.  About the buying it back part, not the Tim is selling Wild Blue part.  This morning, I got a call from a gentleman who got my number from another friend - he was hoping I could share some information with him about Wild Blue.

"Well, since you asked..."  :-D

We SO enjoyed that boat.  While our boat cruising desires changed, our admiration for that great boat didn't.  Yeah, I spent a couple hours on the phone answering questions.  He asked good questions, I gave him honest answers.

When Tim listed the boat on C-Brats last night, he made a reference to "the famous Wild Blue..."  I will say that we had a pretty good following on C-Brats, but when we sold the boat, I also stopped posting to that "Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and Crew" thread.  I asked the gentleman if he had looking at that thread, because there would be a LOT of information about how we used the boat.  He hadn't seen that Grand Adventures thread.  I told him I thought there had been about "300,000 views of it..."

Joan looked at the thread while I was still on the phone; she said, "Over 500,000 views on that thread."  I can understand why someone fairly new to that forum wouldn't know about that thread: it has been almost 4 years since I signed off on there.  The thread eventually moves down the page and away from regular viewing, but is still on there.

A lot has changed in those 4 years.  But, the thought of Wild Blue still makes me smile.  A look back at our last cruise on her...

This afternoon, we took the scoots out to try a different place for lunch (The Gaslight in Rockerville) - and in an unusual situation: I didn't take a single photo or video.  ;-)  We then rode Rockerville Road to Keystone before head back for home on the fun, twisty roads.

A change in the weather coming tonight: lows in the 40s, tomorrow's high in the 60s.  The temps were already cooling off and the wind was coming up as we rode home.

On the Rufus front, he is really enjoying going out for a walk on his leash - if you ask him, he will tell you that he "taught himself how to do the whole leash-walking thing."  Well, not too far off - we have been spending time with him out on the patio, where he has to be on his leash.  I have been walking a few steps off the patio, then calling him.  Repeating that.  Now, he just walks along with me.  If he decided to plop down in the grass, I walk a few steps, letting out some leash, and he catches up.  Yep, all on his own.  ;-)

The Red Moon...

One of the nicknames of the August full moon.  The others: Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon.  The "Red Moon" is because of the viewing in some areas where there would be summer fog.  "Green Corn Moon" and "Grain Moon" from Native American harvesting ceremonies.  Also called the "Sturgeon Moon" by some fishing tribes due to the abundance of sturgeon fish in August.

The "Red Moon" is appropriate here...

Even though there are no forest fires around here currently, there is still smoke from the fires in the northwest US and Canada.  The above photo is how it looks to your eye tonight.

Them Changes...

If you said, "Buddy Miles, 1970," you get 200 bonus points.

A few days ago, I took some photos of my handsome furry boy.  Joan and I were discussing how much he has grown and changed.  When we first adopted Rufus, the vet estimated he was between 2 and 3 years old.  If that were the case, I would expect that he would have been fully grown.  While he has "filled out" (he gets that from me), he has also gotten taller and longer.  And, the fur - oh, that luxurious fur.

See what you think:

The first photo we took of him, still incarcerated...

And, Rufus today...

I am still amazed at how this boy has blossomed.

An Orca sighting!

A lovely day, another scooter ride.

Out the usual twisties...

We had a loose plan: stop and walk around Keystone; maybe have lunch; ride some more.  Yeah, that's about as detailed as we get.  We parked the scoots in Keystone and set out for a walk-about...

No trinkets or t-shirts that we needed, but Joan did point out: "Look - an Orca!"

Yep, a beaded Orca in the window of one of the tourist shops.  In the Black Hills.  Somewhere on the far side of 1,000 miles from the nearest Orca.  Not sure if there would be a big demand for that here.  We picked a place for lunch and started walking back there; one side of the street has a covered boardwalk (see a few photos above)... these people were sitting at an open air bar under that covered walk...

I haven't seen bar stools like those since we were in Terlingua, near Big Bend National Park.

Lunch was OK, but we were ready for more riding.  The obvious choice from here: Iron Mountain Road.  I wanted to experiment with my small, but very nice Lumix camera on the mount I usually use for the action cam.  That turned out to be a really bad idea...

It is painful to watch due to the camera shake - it makes me really appreciate just how effective the stabilization is on that inexpensive Akaso camera.  Just warning you that the video above isn't suited for any age viewer.  Really, it is that bad.  The Lumix has a Leica lens, which is a nice piece of glass... just not the right tool for this job.

I used the same camera for the stills in this post.  They are OK, but not up to the standards of the Nikon DSLR.

When used at anything other than wide angle, there is some "movement", even on stills.  Leaving the Black Hills National Forest lands...

Onto Playhouse Road, a county road...

It doesn't get the PR of Iron Mountain Road, but the riding is still nice... and almost no traffic.  More curvy roads on the way back to the coach...

As usual, we take turns taking the lead.  I think we have been able to do more riding these past two months than we have done in the past couple years... and truly enjoying it!