Visit with Denver Woods Pt. 2

Christy Smith, a motorcycle enthusiast from the Northwest, is starting her own podcast called The Devilish Angel. She enjoys riding motorcycles and has a variety of bikes, including two Triumphs and a Ninja 636. Christy also uses her motorcycle for fundraising and awareness campaigns, such as breast cancer and colon cancer awareness. She is also passionate about photography and encourages others to pursue their hobbies. During the podcast recording, Christy and the host discuss their experiences with podcasting and the challenges of editing and promoting their content. They also talk about the Thunderbird motorcycle and how Christy acquired it after years of admiration. What is going on, everybody? Welcome to Milepost 126. Doing a little something different. Usually we've got the guests here online and looking at them from another screen, but tonight we have Christy Smith who is starting her own podcast, The Devilish Angel, and she is from the Northwest. We said, hey, why don't I just drive up and we do it? Like, sounds good, let's just do it at the house, do something different, and take me out of my comfort zone, as I've said. But no, it's been a lot of fun. We actually just recorded an episode for her podcast, and now we're gonna do this one. So, let's dive into these. Yes, let's do it. Let's do it. So where'd you find motorcycles, Christy? How'd they come into life? Well, let's see. It kind of started out with my dad. He did dirt bikes and had the old Honda, and then my second dad also rode motorcycles until he had an accident, so that was a sad moment. But then when I got older, my ex-husband decided to be creative and instead of giving me an engagement ring, he gave me a motorcycle. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, and so I fell in love with it and enjoyed riding more than I enjoyed being married, so. That's all she wrote there. Kept the bike, got rid of him. Yeah, there you go, no problem with that. For you, at least. Yeah, no, it was great. So, what kind of adventures, what's kind of your style of what you enjoy riding? What do I enjoy riding or where? Well, I mean, yeah, a little of both, I guess. A little of both. I mean, some people enjoy the day riding. I don't know if you're the more adventurous soul watcher. I know the answer to the question, but other people don't, you know. Okay. What's your style of enjoying riding? The further, the better. I love riding into new places, new locations where I haven't been. I'm definitely a traveler, not a vacationer, and I like riding all kinds of different bikes. I enjoy my sport bikes when I have a little, need that little quick go, but I also enjoy the comforts of a long cruiser, too. So, I have two cruisers and one sport bike. So, what do you got in the garage? What are your bikes? I have two Triumphs. One's a Speedmaster, one's a Thunderbird, and then I'm rebuilding my friend Michael's bike, which is a Ninja 636. Nice. Yeah. Got a little variety. Yeah, yeah. I like to change it up, you know. Gotta have more than one pair of shoes, right? Yeah, this is true. Very true. It's just like I walk out there, I'm like, hmm, what do I feel like today? Hey, if you got options, go with it. Yeah, yeah, and now I have the space, too, so. Which is nice. Yeah, exactly. I know you also kinda enjoy, you know, using your motorcycle and whatnot for, you know, giving back to the community and have a kind of a passion a bit for that also. I do. Yeah, I've helped out with some fundraising on different occasions every October. So, I like kinda adding the bikes to boudoirs shoots. So, in October, we do the pink bra shoot just for awareness, breast cancer awareness. So, we get together and bring out the pink and we do a photo shoot like that. I've also done a photo shoot for colon cancer awareness, like we just talked about, March is Colon Cancer Awareness, and that is what my friend Michael passed away from back in November of 22. And so, you'll see some blue photo shoots, you know, with this year, or this month. And yeah, anything I can do to give back and help out. Susanna, you have photography is also another hobby of yours. Yes, yeah, you know, my friend Michael, he actually is the one that got me into that, you know, more of the how to do editing and shoot lighting and everything. And so, yeah, I do a lot of the photography and trying to bring people out of their comfort zone as you said, you know, like I'm bringing you out of your comfort zone, just having me present instead of, you know, on the phone. Yeah, it's a little, it is, you know, it's different, but it's fun. You know, you get to do something different. I mean, we both, you're, you know, getting into the same thing and doing podcasts and I've been doing mine for a little while, but usually it's, you know, I'm having the conversation, staring at the computer screen with the other person. So when you have the actual interaction where, you know, they're sitting next to you, it's a little different, but it's a lot of fun. I know we, like I said earlier, we just recorded an episode for your podcast. We wanna go and let people know about yours also. Yeah, so Devilish Angel, I'm an angel with two E's, like the horns, productions. And I've just started, I think that this is gonna be episode seven for me. So we'll get that out tomorrow, actually. I'll go home and edit all that and have it posted for us. So yeah, and then it'll also be on YouTube, the YouTube. How old am I? You know, so yeah, I like to just kind of put it all together. Which is fun and you can take the nice thing, like with, you know, being into photography and also with the podcast and you can really, in a way, combine, of course, you know, when you're doing, you know, YouTube for your thumbnails and of course, you know, the pictures of when you're promoting your podcast and when, you know, you're getting that background of photography, it could really help go hand-in-hand with each other for promoting both ways. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, that's why I went with productions instead of Devilish Angel. Because I am doing photography, we are doing the podcast, we are doing the YouTube. We're all, you know, there's all the platforms and everything, so. And I also, I do the pictures for other people, too. So it's not just me modeling, it's everybody else. So I'm trying to get, you know, more people involved with that. And, you know, if they want to do their podcast, I've got the equipment, I've got the studio, you know, and I just want to encourage people. Yeah, we're using a bunch of your equipment today. You brought the whole thing up. We got, you know, using your microphones, you got the Rodecaster, so we got a couple different cameras set up. You're recording on yours, we're still, you know, doing mine and kind of a joint operation and no, it's been really cool. Yeah, yeah, I even took a picture of the setup, you know, as the production. So it's, it is, you know, we have to, there's so much, you know, then we got to go back and edit everything, right? The videos, the audio, every, you know. And that's the learning part, you know, from a Gen X perspective. It was all of the technology of learning how to edit and getting into all those programs and, you know, it's just a huge learning curve. What made you want to dive into the podcast realm of stuff? I kind of stumbled into it, actually. You know, I wanted to eventually, you know, I've watched you and my friend Jenny, you know, since 2020 and I've seen you grow and I've just, I've seen so many people in the last year, you know, few years, just how they've grown with their hobby and interaction and networking and I'm like, hey, I do that anyways when I go out and about, you know, when I go to an event. You know, I'm always talking to new people, you know, so. Yeah, I got Davies Brock coming. The Triumph Thunderbird is an awesome bike. Does he have one? Because I have only had this one for a year, which is an interesting story, actually. So the gentleman that had this, he saw my Speedmaster in the parking lot and he rode up and said, hey, whose bike is that? And I said, well, that's mine. And so we got talking about Triumphs and he's like, well, I've got the Thunderbird. So the last five years, I've been watching this elder gentleman riding this Thunderbird and he said, if I ever decide to give this up or I can't ride anymore, I'm coming to you. And I said, great. So he did. He came to me and said, hey, I can't ride anymore. You know, are you interested still? And we had just bought the Harley for Tony, like signed the paperwork the day before. And I said, let me see if I can offload my Yamaha MZ09. If I can sell it, then I'll come get the Thunderbird. And I didn't sell it for a while and somebody else bought the Thunderbird, right? And so December comes around and I found out who had bought the Thunderbird from him. And I went up to that guy and I said, hey, you still got that Thunderbird? He goes, yeah, it's just sitting in my barn. He goes, I don't ride motorcycles. He's like, I was just taking it thinking I could flip it and make some money off of it. He goes, it's just sitting in my barn. I said, OK, I'm going to go get you cash. So yeah, so the bike I've been looking at for five years, I got the ride. So I really enjoy it. It's a little different than my Triumph, or than my Speedmaster because it's twice the size in all aspects. So it's a learning curve, but no, it did really well all the way to Moab. What year is it? 2010. So many miles on it. When I got it, 16. 16,000. So I had 16,000. So my Speedmaster has 50, and so this one has 20 on it now, I think. I know I put more than that on it last summer, in the last year, because I've had it a year or so. Well, and when you have more than one to ride, obviously you're going to share the mileage amongst them. Well, the reason that I got the Thunderbird was because I was retiring my Speedmaster. So if anybody knows me, they already know the story. Triumph came out with the cruiser style in 2003. It was their first attempt as a cruiser market into the US. And so they only sent about 100 bikes to the US to test out the market. And mine's an 04. And then after 04, in 05, they changed everything. They said, OK, this is how well it's doing. This is what's working, what's not. And then they changed it. So I have one of the very few Speedmasters that came into the US. So I wanted to retire it. And like I said, it has 50,000 miles on it. So I was like, yeah, I need another bike, because everything I have on it is original. It's totally self-stocked. The pipes aren't, but I have the stock pipes. I just got to put them back on. Yeah, and so I was like, OK, well, I need another bike. So I got the Thunderbird, so I'm pretty stoked. Nice. Why do you enjoy it? Oh, jeez, got to watch out for things as I hit everything. That's new to you, though. You're not used to that. Why do you enjoy traveling so much on my bike? What is it for you? Well, obviously, for me, it's just the openness, the smells, the visual. It's getting away. It's checking out. I'm one of those people that doesn't like all the technology. I don't want comms in my ear. I don't want all of the fancy buttons in the front. I just want the basics. I just want the wind. I just want the freedom. I don't want all that stuff that messes up with you. I don't put my phone on the handlebars. It's in my pocket. I don't want people to talk to me. If somebody calls me, I'm on the bike. Bye. Check out. I totally check out. It's definitely therapy for me. Yeah, that's kind of as easy as the word goes. Basically, you get on and unplug from everything. Absolutely. It's my time out, my adult time out. What's one of your favorite trips you've taken? Well, before this last summer, it was Health Canyon. I used to love just going over to Health Canyon and riding all the rides, all the different routes and stuff they have over there. There's like 10, 12 routes or whatever. That was always my yearly. This past summer, I ended up in Moab, Utah. I was on a reset mission. And I just knew that I was going to Health Canyon to do something. And then I went to Launerville Salt Flats because that was my next destination. And after that, I had no idea where I was going. I just was like, OK, so let's see. What's tomorrow going to look like? How far do I want to ride? How hot is it going to be? And I ended up in Moab. And I think Utah is beautiful. And pictures don't do it justice. It is beautiful. I haven't ridden through it on a bike. That's my plan soon. But I did drive through it here a couple of weeks ago. And it is gorgeous down there. Going down through Moab was just the rock cliffs and just the scenery. It's like you said, you can see pictures. I mean, I have friends that are photographers that live down in that area that I've got to know. And you see so many amazing pictures. But when you can see it with your own eyes, it's a whole next level. I felt so small compared to those rock formations. I felt just so, yeah. And how they changed every so few miles. They're just different formations. And then I think it's, I know it's right around Moab. Going down the highway, there's actually one of them, there's a hole through the rocks. There's a big science hole in the rock. I'm like, what? And you know, it's like, how the hell did that get made? Yeah. It's just unreal. Absolutely. Because I rode through Salt Lake and stopped at the latest headquarters, because that's where it originates. And so I went through Salt Lake. And yeah, it just was a really great ride. I would definitely do it again. I recommend it. Anybody can fly into Moab and just spend, yeah, it's great. It is beautiful. I talked to Alex Kennedy. I love the Lewiston, going from Lewiston, Idaho, down to Legrand. That is an amazing run. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, in Hell's Canyon, the Hell's Canyon Rally, they give you a booklet that has the pages of different routes that you can do. And so that's been kind of a tradition, to go over there and just do those during the rally and not during the rally. I don't like crowds. Have you done, I know it's a very short ride, the old Spiral Highway in Lewiston? Yeah, coming down. Yeah. We did it during sunset. Yeah, we did it in the middle of the afternoon. And then up through, we headed up Lolo. And then went from Missoula to Flathead during sunset. OK, I haven't ridden through Missoula yet. And I've driven through there. But that's coming up. We're going to the Rocky Mountain Roll camp out in August this year. Have you done Lolo Pass? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. I used to do Beartooth one of these summers. What's Beartooth? Beartooth is in Red Lodge, Montana. It's the highest mountain pass. I think it's 10,900 feet. OK, so I need to put that on my list. They say it's one of those, even in June, it can be 100 degrees in Red Lodge. And it could be snowing at the top, you never know. But they say you just dress and weather yourself accordingly. But it is an amazing, I mean, there's a lot of YouTube videos and check it out. But yeah, it's really cool. So do the typical Washington layer up? OK. I actually think, you know, when it comes to even riding around here, one of my favorite ones is go down to Packwood. And just once you're going up White's Pass, I like to hang a left on Cayuse. And then go up the backside of Chenote. Yeah, so that's, for me, that's a day ride. We just go up and come back around. So where I live, where I live in the Olympia area. Because, you know, I can come up here and do the 101 loop. Or we can go down, do the coast. Or we can do the passes. You know, because I like going up 14. I like going up Highway 14. And then coming back up through Yakima and all of that. So yeah. 14 is cool. Plus, you got the great, you know, the Maryhill, you got Stonehenge Memorial, which is a really cool place. Yeah. We got some really cool pictures of the sun setting between the pillars when we were there last summer. I have ones of the sunrise. Never, oh, that'd be freaking cool. I've never done a sunrise. Right below Stonehenge is the Peach Beach Campground. So if you haven't stayed there, you should. It's really cool. And then you just walk up or ride up. We stay close there. We just did a city park in the parking lot one time. Oh, yeah, we did that, too. We worked a couple hours power nap and keep going. I love power naps. We call them toddler naps, just FYI. Toddler naps. Understandable. Yeah. It is fun. And that's the fun thing, like over here, which is another reason why doing ones like this, it's so much fun to do a mile posting on an episode and have somebody from the Northwest when you can talk and understand the roads, especially when we have so many options of cascade loops. Absolutely. Like, do you want to go big? You want to go small? You want to go medium? Yeah. Well, you can do three of them, too. We do a three-pass blast. So you can do all three. You can do three in a day. I did nine in a day. OK, overachiever, one-up me. I didn't believe that this was a one-up show. That was a crazy long ride, but it was cool. We started at North Cascades, and then Stevens, Snoqualmie, Blewitt, Chinook, Cayuse, White's Pass. We kept going down all the way to Mount Hood. Well, actually, Mount Hood was the next day. At that point, we had our 4,000 miles for day one. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah, except for the 47 miles of fresh chip and seal on the North Cascades Highway. We always have chip and seal during the summer months. That and the graded, all of the graded roads, the graded roads, the chip sale. Like, you know, for new riders, you just got to do it. Grit and bear it. Yeah. Just pucker up and go. Yeah. But I think, you know, North Cascades, it's like that hidden gem, even for last year for Harley. It was one of the 50 rides of 50 states. That was Washington, right? It was North Cascades Highway. In the summertime, it is beautiful. Stevens Pass can be great, especially, you know, it's so big with tourism now. You've got Leavenworth, which is such a cool place to visit. Or Winthrop. Yeah. Yeah. The western town. Winthrop is cool. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of rides. We were just talking here a little bit ago about Oregon, going down the southeast corners, and go down to Fields and Burns. I haven't done a lot of the southeast. I've done northern, well, I'd say central Oregon north, a good amount through that area. But I haven't done the southern part. I mean, passing through, of course, down I-5, I have. But I haven't explored much of that area. I highly recommend it. I did a piece of it, oh, man, 2000, 2001. Did the Lawman 1000. And I remember we went south of Pendleton, down 395 for a ways, until we turned. And I can't remember where we turned, but that ride was beautiful. Down along the river, and just twisties, and it was great. Yeah, we cut through from Health Canyon to Pendleton the back way. And it's very much like the Lewiston, where you're coming down into it. Great roads. Can't remember the name of it. But if you go in from Scotty's fuel station out of Health Canyon to Pendleton, you can map it. It's pretty cool. I think we did that. When we did I-100 access, me, Frank Orlando, and Steve Weber, we did our crazy loop. We went here, down to Packwood. We did, yeah, White's Pass to Cayuse to Chinook, then out through Mattawa to Ritzville to Lewiston, the old highway, and then ran down to La Grande, and then back to Columbia, and then back here for a 1,000 mile day. That's when I lost one of my brand new motorcycle gloves. I lost one of my gloves in Zion National Park. I took it off so I could video. I could use my cell phone to video while riding. I took mine off so I could hit my Google Maps when I was coming, getting close to Portland, because I didn't want to take I-5. I preferred to go 205. Went to turn it on. I stuck the glove between my pants down in my seat, got my Google Maps, and grabbed it. Had cruise control set, because it's a great thing. Had this hand up, went to put my glove on, and the wind caught the glove, and phew, gone. Oh, wow. I'm like, fuck, it's brand new. It's gone now. Yep, yep. And what sucks is I only had my lightweight ones in my tour pack, so I ended up stopping, and then it was down by, no, it was Highway 12 and I-5 junction, stopped at a gas station, went in, bought some little cotton gloves that fit inside my Joe Rocket gloves. Like, hey, my hands are warm now, because I absolutely hate cold hands when I'm riding. Well, see, and for me, when I left it at Zion, I had to buy a new pair in Salt Lake because I was getting sunburned, because it was so hot, because it was in July. I was like, oh, I'm burning. Yeah. I do a lot of the half-finger gloves when it's summertime and warm, but then once the sun goes down, then I usually go with the full finger, because I get cold hands. I just hate them. I haven't pulled a plug on heated gear or done that route yet. A lot of people are like, why not? Just do it. I'm like, I just don't want to yet. So here's the thing. I went to California for a Polaris and Alitos event, and we were talking about heated gear. And they're like, what's this heated gear you're talking about, because they're all from California. And they're like, you plug it in? Is it battery operated? Why do you need it? And I said, have you seen our weather? So up here, yeah. So the Gerbings are the ones that actually patented, and they were out of Union, Washington. Jeff Gerbing now lives in Montana, and I will send this link to him so he can. My dad took a pair of gloves, and he sewed in liners and whatnot for heated gloves when he had some made. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so heated gloves. So yeah, now you can battery operate them and stuff. But I had a pair of heated gloves, and I didn't like them. I didn't like the wire being plugged in and attached to the bike. I just felt too restrained. And the gloves just felt too bulky for me, and so I actually passed them on to someone else. But I do have a heated vest, but it's battery operated. And I just push the button, and I put that underneath my jacket. But yeah. I've been considering doing that, just for heating your torso and whatnot. But Frank Orlando, my good buddy, he's got the heated gear. He's out of Yakima. He recently got heated insoles. He said those are an absolute game changer. Well, they also say just heated grips. Like, don't even forget about the gloves. Just get the grips. As long as your hands are warm, your hands and your torso, you're golden. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, so definitely go to Zion. I see that, Amy. I want to see Zion. I want to do Zion. I want to go to Arches. And what was it? Canyon Reef. Canyon Reef. Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon. Yeah. So I did Zion and Bryce Canyon all in one day. And I can tell you more about tips and tricks when you get there. But yeah, that whole area was great. I would definitely go again. OK, here's one. So you've obviously ridden in California. Multiple times, yep. Lane splitting. What about it? What's your take on it? I think with everything, there's a pros and cons list to it. Well, we went down there for Babes Ride Out. And I was with two other ladies. And we had talked about it ahead of time before we got there, or got into California. And we're like, no, we're not going to do it. We're going to just hang out. Well, it got to the point where we were running behind schedule and to the event. And they were going to lock the gates at 10 o'clock. We were hit traffic. And it got to the point where we kind of looked at each other. And a California Highway patrolman on a bike went by. And the lady that looked at her, and she's like, I go, go. And so we did. And for some people who aren't used to it, it can be a little nerve wracking, because you're not educated and trained in it. It's just something that we were just following the leader type thing. There were cars that didn't want to let us over. I know there was a truck that the mirror got pushed in at once. But down there, it's a whole different ballgame. So if you are air-cooled or whatever, sometimes you just got to do it. You got to bite the bullet and do it. But definitely educate yourself before you do it. And so just jumping into it. I think, again, there's pros and cons to it. And I got introduced to it when I went down there in September. And I was always the person that I was against. I'm like, no, it's not for me. No, no, no. I don't think it's smart. And then you get down there, and we get down to LA. And I don't think it matters what time of day you go through LA. It sucks. And the car in front of me kept moving off to the shoulder. And I'm looking in my mirror. It's like, fuck, is there a cop coming? You know, emergency vehicle? He's moving over for you. My buddy looks at me and goes, hey, you want to sit here? We're going to do it. I'm like, all right. And we're going. I mean, we were doing 15 to 20, just because we're on baggers. Right, and that's the other part. We're comfortable with it. I don't want other people to fly and do a 50-plus. I'm like, no. But I got a whole new respect from, like, this is genius. And got comfortable with it. And it did. It's like, either we can sit in traffic for about three hours, or we can get to our destination in about 45 minutes. And traffic gets going, cool. You fall back in line, being gridlocked, see ya. We're going to do some lane splitting. And there's a time and a place for it. Yeah, and then coming back, we got up to Portland. And it's like, this sucks. Can we just hit the, you know, let's just go. And it's like, California's smart. But I think you're right, though. Down there, I don't, obviously, it's been a law for a long time. I don't know, because I didn't look that part up. But the people down there are accustomed to it, which makes a whole difference in safety. Awareness, because they're aware of it. And so I know, so actually, it's funny that you said it. Don't try it in Washington. Well, we were on the motorcycle lane. But here's a different perspective, from my understanding. And I could be wrong. I know, so like, Brian Lang, he's part of the abate group and has been for years. And I know that, at one point, they had approved for us to ride in the far left, you know, beyond the fast lane. But that's where all of the debris is. That's not a safe place for us to be. But that was what they optioned or what they chose for us to do. And I think that a lot of people are still doing it. I mean, I see a lot of people that are coming up here from the military bases and stuff and are still doing it. And what is the fine, $300, $400? And you're like, you know what, a brand new engine is going to cost me a hell of a lot more money than that if I sit here and I overheat. Yeah, well, the stator I talked to didn't care all about them. Getting numerous calls, me and my buddies been doing this, and looked up and said, me and my buddies, me and my wife had been out of state for two weeks. So I don't know what you're talking about about me and my buddies riding on the shoulder, which was up here. The traffic was backed up. It was about a five, six mile backup. It's like, I'm going to hit the shoulder and do like 15 miles an hour. And some car tried to cut me off. And then I crest the hill right where the thing is. And there's a stator sitting on the wrong side of the highway looking right at me, pulling traffic. And he comes up there and gives me a stern lecture. And the young kid was a prick. Well, you know. I wasn't the wrong, but he was one extremely rude individual. Whatever. I think, again, a time and a place. Pick your battles. And if you've got to do it, do it. Be safe and be aware. And you know, like I said, I'm on the fence about it. You know? Yeah. It just depends on the situation. Yep. So there's that. There's my two cents worth. And you know, it just popped in my eye. It's like, well, shoot, you've ridden down there. We're both up here. And so it's fun to, you know, pick somebody else's brain when you get the option to do something we don't have the option to do up here. Right. Yeah. There's a lot. You know, when you go to different states, you know, you don't know all the rules and the laws. And sometimes you just got to wing it. Yep. As Ryan calls it, that's the motorcycle on the shoulder. Yep. So what else you got for me? I got stuff. I'm working on it. So when it comes to locally riding, what's one of your favorite little areas that just, they call it to you, whether, you know, you just go to or a place that just, whether it's a 10-mile ride to relax or just a 100-mile loop? Oh, that's a good question. Because I'm in Olympia area. And we have so many options of just, you know, end of the day, I can go to the beach. I can go to the mountains. I can go wherever. I would say I like going out to Wainuiti Dam. That's one of my favorites. Another one is I just go over, like you were talking about, you know, 410. You know, go over to Chinook, and then cut over and come back up the White Pass. I like going out to the beach. Have you done the old nuclear cooling towers down at Sassop? Yeah. I was going to say, if you see any of my social media, I go out there a lot. I used to go out there a lot for pictures. I mean, it's a great photography location. And I just did, a couple of years ago, I did the Warrior Angel Challenge scavenger hunt. And that was one of their locations. And so I stood on my bike, and then I put my number, like I was dropping it into the top of the tower. That was cool. Yeah. So I tried to get creative with their locations and their numbers and stuff. And that was one of the things I did. But yeah, we go up there quite a bit. You can go up to the Brooklyn Tavern, which is only open on occasion. And sometimes they just open if they hear motorcycles go by, and they go, oh. Where's that at? It's one of the oldest taverns in the state. It is in Brooklyn, Washington. So it's out by Monteceno, between Monteceno and Raymond. OK. And you just take a, go up the road, and yeah. Never heard of that one. Never heard of Brooklyn, Washington. Oh, yeah. It's a little tiny town. You'll miss it. Gosh. It's an old little logging town. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, the peninsula. I mean, that's so many of them out here. That was their bread and butter. Yeah. So here's, I have a question for you. You're from here, right? Mm-hmm. So where did the name Denver come from? I don't know. Really, you don't know? No, truly, I don't know. Was it John Denver, or Raymond? I've wondered, and I've really never found out why. You live in Washington, but your name's Denver. I was like, I got to ask him. OK. Are you ready for the monkey wrench? Yeah. Middle name's Orlando. It's what? Orlando. Orlando. Did your family like geography or something? That one I know. That was my grandfather's middle name, so I got that one. But yeah, I'm just, you know, geographically, if you take my initials, I'm the stock market. Nice. Oh, that's great. It's pretty good. Yeah. Now, you know, you're talking about the Brooklyn Tavern, one of the oldest. You know where the oldest tavern in Washington is? Winthrop. No. It's not Winthrop? No. Roslyn. Oh, is it? The brick is the oldest one in Washington. OK. The one in Leavenworth is the oldest saloon. Oh, see. And there was some legal deal with the Three Finger Jack Saloon. That's Winthrop. Yeah. So Winthrop is the oldest saloon. That's right. And then the brick in Roslyn is the oldest tavern in the state. Interesting. You ever been to the brick? It is really cool. You sit up at the bar, you actually have a trough of water that's flowing by, like it would have been for the old spittoons. Is that what they tell you, the spittoon? Well, a lot of people say you spit your tobacco. Or you can just wet your whistle. Well, or you just don't go to the outhouse. Yeah. Now, the Brooklyn has that as well. Yep. Apparently, they were too tired of working in the woods to go do their business. Well, you have enough drink, you just don't want to go out still. That's right. I'm tired. So, yeah. But the brick does have some amazing food. It's a cool place. It'd be a good place to go check out in the summer. I will put that on my list. Then if you like beef jerky and pepperoni and all that good stuff, then you go down to Clay Owen and stop at Owen's Meats. The most amazing pepperoni and sausage. They have some amazing, they're grandpa's old style sausage. I still wanted to say something dirty right there. I know. Me too, then I thought to myself after I said that, I was like, oh, that doesn't sound right. He opened up the door and I was going to kick through it, but OK. Yeah. That's a quick recovery. So, let's leave that. Yeah, we're going to move on. What's the next one? I'm going to leave the sausage party. I'm going to sneak out. Oh my goodness. It's getting hot in here. And it's not a hot flash. I know. I did put some wood in the fire beforehand. OK, stop with it. Stop. So, what's your plans for the summer? This summer, I'm actually, I've got a trip out to West Virginia for the Steel Cow Girl meet and greet. I was going to ride, but looking at the mileage and how much time I could take off, I decided that flying out and renting a bike when I get there and doing the festivities that way is probably the best route. Gives you more time. It does. It does, because if I rode from here to there, I'd be doing mainly freeway. And that's just not the way I want to go. And so I'm like, I'm just going to do that whole ride share, rent a bike when I get there. And yeah, so I'm pretty excited about that, just riding out in West Virginia. It'll be awesome. That's a friend of mine, Harley Fat Boy Jr., who's on YouTube, became a great friend. When he went to Sturgis last year, his bike ended up breaking down the day he left. He only made like 50 miles out of Portland. And he ended up flying up there. And it was some like, oh, it's like a Facebook group to rent a motorcycle. He went up there and ended up renting a, it wasn't a Honda Shadow. I think it was a Yamaha something. But it was dirt cheap. People literally rent out their personal bikes. And he found something. He was like, man, it was a great deal. It cost him a couple hundred bucks to, I think he said like $250ish or something, for four days to rent the motorcycle. Yeah, that's what's going to cost me, about $200 for about four days. So when one of the leader girls that I spoke to, she does it. She actually went and bought a couple of bikes just for this. And she said that she only had one incident where there was some damage. And the company and everybody worked. It went out fine. She goes, that was the only incident. It was just a blooper and no harm, no foul. And she makes great side money doing it. Well, I bet. So it's definitely something to look into if anybody's looking for a side hustle. Just go get some bikes and put them on there. Especially if you're, and I know a bunch of the girls that come out for the Dream Roll in August, they fly up or fly in to Seattle. And they do the same thing. They rent bikes. And especially when you're just tight for time or whatever. And yeah, no, it's a great, great option. It is. You get some of these destination places, like the last one on one side of the country, got an event over there. But you can only take so much time off. Yeah. Your weekend and five days during the week and the next weekend. Well, it's like, if I'm riding out there, that's going to be three days here, three there. Well, that only leaves me a couple of days. And fly out, rent it, and enjoy five days in the area. And come back, still have, unwind a little bit. And then back to the nine to five grind. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, no, I'm pretty excited about that. I've been following Regina, Steel Cow Girl for apparel for years, since she started it. And this is the final, or the one meet and greet that I'm actually going to be able to attend. I'm pretty excited. That would be awesome. Is that going to be your one big one for this year? Probably not. So in the summer, I try to take a three or four day weekend every month. So I know that in May, we're going to go ride down to Burns, Oregon, and stay at the Crane Hot Springs. So the weekend after Mother's Day, we're going to head down there, me and a couple of the girls from the latest group of Olympia. And then I know that we're going to Montana, to the Rocky Mountain Roll in August. I'm doing the Steel Cow Girl in July. Well, I got to do one for June, don't I? I mean, I try to get as much rut riding in as we can, from May to the end of October. That's kind of our ride season, you know? Yeah, then after that, it's just hit and miss here and there when you can. Yeah, because I know I've got International Female Ride Day at the beginning of May. I've got stuff going on in June. So yeah, like every month, for sure. You'll be busy. I love to ride. I do like to stay busy, hence why I'm starting a podcast. No. Well, that's like, you know, with that, you can even, you know, you meet somebody on the side of the road, it's not too hard that you can record an episode just with your phone. Well, yeah. And like I told you when we were talking, that my ideal plan, or would be great to do, is I would love to do the podcast, a road tour, and hit like all of the bike events, and then just pull some really cool people out of the crowd that just want to be on the podcast, you know, just here and there. So yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Short stories, you get one, you know, 10, 15 minute interviews. Yeah. Sometimes they, when you dive into the algorithm stuff and get too far, it's like, OK, they recommend people actually only really will listen for, you know, keep their attention for 10, 15, 20 minutes. So it's like, cool, do some short stories, basically, and it might really get things going. Well, that's kind of how I've been doing my podcast. I try to keep them about 30 minutes. You know, just enough to say, oh, you know, OK, that was really cool, what's going to come next? You know, because I'm busy, and I know my drive to work is 30 minutes, or actually it's a little less. But I'm like, OK, boom, done. You know, I just, my attention span is, you know, I squirrel constantly, so, you know, I've got to get to those people that relate to me. And yeah, you know, you go that long where keeping somebody's attention span, and no, it's a smart idea. Yeah. Especially, you know, if you really want to get technical, then you go down that rabbit hole of staring and reading too much of analytics and this, that, and how much read time, how much list, like, holy crap, I'm done with this. Yeah, I love when your phone pops up and says, screen time, you know, and it tells you all the things. Wow, I was on that for how long? What was I doing? You're up 24% from last week. Right? Shut up, leave me alone. Exactly. Yeah. You know, it's been fun. Kind of doing something a little different, but it's been really cool. Yeah, what have you enjoyed? It's just, it's a different aspect of, you know, instead of watching the person, you actually get the interaction, and it's just, I don't know, it's fun. Yeah, I agree. You know, especially since we're so close. You know, and like I said, there's not a lot of motorcycle podcasters in our area. No. You know, I know there's a lot out in the Midwest and the South and all of that, you know, where the weather's nicer, you know, and they have a longer ride season. And it's a lot more fun. I enjoy it when you get an episode from somebody, like, you know, we're both from the Pacific Northwest, so you can talk about places riding and when you know the area also, and you can relate to it and understand. I don't know, it makes it a lot more fun. Just, it's more personal, I guess, is the best way. Yeah, because you can picture those locations. Like, oh yeah, I was there. Like Diablo Lake and, you know, all of, you know. Yeah, well, it's like, you know, we're talking Lake Trillium. It's like, we've been to Mount Hood. Oh, right past coming here, and when you know the area, it's like, oh, cool, you've been there. Well, if you go up a little farther, hang a left, this is a cool place, and it's, yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, yeah, definitely sharing little locations and stuff, you know, like have you and, you know, so, yeah. Let's see, what, do we have any questions out here? No, I think we've been pretty much covering them. I think some people have thrown off because I'm an hour earlier than normal, but that's all right. So, we have to get, keep talking until your normal five o'clock. Let's see what else I got, because I know we've covered some of them. Yeah. See, we did the best area. Yep. Your go-to route. What's your dream ride? Oh, my dream ride is literally to do the whole U.S. I wanna be able to take some time off and literally just ride all of the states, you know. I feel like I, since I'm over here on the West Coast, that I can only hit, you know, so much, like I've got, oh, a week. How much can I cram in and do? I just wanna ride all over, you know, but I also would like to ride in some different countries as well. So, yeah. What about you? I mean, there's always the people, you know, have their bucket list. I wanna ride England, I wanna ride Scotland, but, you know, after doing this meeting, all the people that I've been able to have on, I don't think people understand some of the areas and some of the riding we have on our own borders because everybody's riding interstates. You're not seeing America. I think, you know, if you travel some of these bad places, get off the main path, and you can really find some amazing places. You can find those mom-and-pop places, but you can find some amazing destinations that you have no idea are there just because of how society is now. Everybody wants to go A to B as quick as they can, but you're not gonna see what built the country. I agree. I wanna do Route 66. There's all kinds of stuff. Yeah, I just wanna go be on the bike for the rest of my life. Can I do that? Yeah. Okay, cool. Who's gonna fund that? How do I make money doing that? Help me. Anybody? Throw $5 and keep dreaming every week of Lotto. Okay. I never win, but then I don't ever buy a ticket, so that's the other answer. Yeah, exactly. So here's, so what best ride, the best ride that you've ever had that really stands out the most, that you really enjoyed? I'd have to say Utah now. I really have to say that Utah was probably the best ride that I would wanna do again. I just, I think it's just because I had no time frame. I took my time. I think the only time, because the only time I was fresh is because all the national parks are going to reservations now, and I had a reservation at the Arches, and I had to get there, and it was 100 some degrees, and I was, I couldn't stop and look at everything that I wanted to go look at because I had to make that reservation. So that was the downfall of that trip, but yeah. I think sometimes that's a downfall of reservations where it can really put you in a bind because instead of, I think basically you can get yourself too rushed because you gotta be somewhere at a specific time but then there's a flip side, hey, I know I'm gonna have a place to stay or whatnot, but I think it's a crapshoot. It's a 50-50. Yeah, and in fact, I am one of those people who doesn't do reservations for lodging. I learned the hard way when I had to eat a reservation because I didn't make the location. So I usually just, I can make a reservation within a few hours or the night before. I'll get on Airbnb or I will look at a camp spot. I always take my sleeping bag and an air mattress just in case if I'm just gonna, wherever. But yeah, I don't like to plan too far ahead when I'm out on the road because you never know what's gonna happen. Or two hours beforehand, say, cool, I think I'm gonna, after the next field stop, find something. So you phone over, get online, say, I found a place. Make a few phone calls, find something. Cool, this'll work. Yeah, because when I went to Utah, well, first of all, I didn't plan on going to Utah. It just kind of happened that way. I knew I was going to Bonneville Salt Flats. That was as far as I knew I was going and then I had all this time. But it was also the heat. And it was 95 to 103, and I was like, yeah, I don't want to camp, but I brought my stuff just in case. But I was like, I need air conditioning and I was ending my day at around three o'clock. So I was leaving, I was on the road between six and seven in the morning and I was done between three and four in the afternoon. I'm like, I am melting. And yes, the comforts. I'm old too, okay? No lie. So that was one of the things that came up when we were traveling with somebody. Nowadays, we're in our 50s. I don't know about you, but I'm in my 50s. Close. And yeah, it's one of those, I want a hot tub, I want a hot shower, I want the comfy bed. I can camp. I got my gear. But if I have to, I'd rather, I've got the money and the means, I want a hotel and Airbnb or something. Comforts. My body, yeah, my body is definitely feeling the age after a few surgeries and everything. You 20-somethings, 30-somethings, you go have fun in your hammocks. You go have fun in your little, whatever. But my ass is gonna go sit in the hotel in the hot tub. Yeah. You know? So, but those young girls are also on Sportsters and everything else too. I had to up my game and get a bigger cruiser. Comforts. And a windshield. You know, I finally got a windshield. I haven't had a windshield for years and now I'm like, yeah, I'm getting, my neck's starting to get pinches and stuff. I'm like. It makes a difference. It does. So. But yeah. Yeah, I haven't been in Colorado. I need to get down into Colorado still. Yeah, Amy is in our oldest move down this week and then she sweet-talked Seth into driving one of the cars down. He loved Utah. Going through Utah was his favorite part. Yeah, yeah. It's definitely, definitely a to-go. Definitely gotta make it there. So. So what's your worst experience on two wheels and why? My worst experience was when the yearling deer hopped off the hill and he boned me at nine o'clock at night doing 65. I kept the bike up. How about that? That's a bonus. That is, that was, yes. It pushed me over into the other lane and the whole nine yards, but yeah. I saw it, I was going down a two lane and I saw at the corner of my eye, it came off the hill and I was like, no. And it was definitely probably the worst and scariest thing I had to experience. And you know, the bike started to go down and I was like, nope, that's gonna hurt. And I pulled it out and it went down so far that it pushed the kickstand up between the frame and the exhaust. So when I did get the bike over to the side of the road, because it cut out and everything, and I stood there until the sheriff showed up until he could take it with both hands and pull it out from being wedged up there. And so I was on my bike with adrenaline running for a good 10, 15 minutes. And then the EMS shows up and says, and hugs me twice, they hugged me twice. First, when they first got there, they hugged me and they go, usually when we get a call with a motorcycle hitting a deer, we're scooping somebody up and going. They're like, you're standing here. And I go, yeah, I'm very bruised, but yes, I'm standing here. Yeah, and my heart is beating inside my head. Oh, it was awful. Because you know, and then the state patrol shows up and he's like, okay, I need your insurance. Because in Oregon, you have to have insurance. Yeah, I don't know about Washington now. Is Washington now, you still have it? Because at the time, Washington, you didn't have to have motorcycle insurance. But so I had my insurance. But he's like asking me all these things in my brain. I'm just like, I'm trying to call, I'm trying to get all the information. Going, I don't know where anything is. I'm just, I don't know. So, it was, you know. But yeah, that was probably, that was my scariest. At Springer-Mike's, have you ever been to Wyoming? I've driven through there, but I have not ridden through Wyoming yet. I could say like, Utah, go through there. Riding through the Grand Tetons. You know, that was on the list. That was freaking amazing. Yeah, I was supposed to, a few years ago, I was supposed to go through Wyoming and into Colorado, and that's when I got COVID. So, my group of my girlfriends, they went. I missed that trip, unfortunately. But yeah. The Tetons were amazing. I've heard that. Sorry, Mike, I don't mean to bash Wyoming, but everything else about it is so boring. There's nothing. There's little oil derricks. Yeah, like North Dakota. And there's a lot of antelope. And that's not all. Yeah. But the Grand Tetons, those were absolutely amazing. Yeah. It's, you know, like I said, with Utah, you see it in pictures, it's great. You see it with your own eyes, like holy crap. And that's how, going through the Grand Tetons where it's just awesome. And then, you know, we ran into a massive herd of buffalo just south of Jackson Hole, and it was cool. Well, you know what? It's just like Crater Lake. If you go down there and you, the color of the lake is phenomenal. You think that the pictures are edited. No. That is truly the blue. It is just, it's gorgeous. Yeah. Devil's Tower? Where's Devil's Tower? Remind me. South Dakota. Actually, I think it's in Wyoming. Yeah, I haven't. So I'm trying. I actually got my shirt on. The Devil's Tower run. Oh, yeah, you're right. I was like, I just saw that recently. Where did I see that? That was pretty cool. We didn't realize the day we went out there that that was actually the Devil's Tower run, the day of it. So yeah, there was a lot of people out there, but it is pretty dang cool to see. Yeah, see, like I mentioned, I don't like crowds. So I want to go to all these places when there's not an event. Well, definitely if you want to do that, well, riding the Black Hills is absolutely awesome, but. I've heard that, yeah. Going in June. I mean, there's still gonna be some bikes, but it's nothing like rally time. And there are some absolutely awesome runs. Well, I mean, the plaque back there, Iron Mountain Road, is great. There's one that I got introduced to this year that a few other people know about. It's called Riding Nemo Canyon, which is a back way from Rapid City down to Sturgis. And it is, that is an amazing ride. It's just beautiful country up there. That's one, Amy and I would love to go back to for about five days and just do more touring and sightseeing around the area. Can we just say that our country is beautiful? It is. You know, but I have to say that when I went through like some parts of Nevada and stuff, there were so many straight roads that I was just like, ugh, can I have a curve? Can I have a turn? It's funny, if you take the western part of the United States I haven't been in Nevada or Arizona. I've done everything else around it. Well, there's your list right there. The ones in the middle, somehow I missed those. But I've been able to hit the other ones. Yeah, I definitely want to go do the Keys. I want to ride the whole East Coast. I've lived on the East Coast for a while, so I want to, you know, do all that. I mean, again, can I just live on my bike? That's what I want to do. Take a year off on hiatus and just go do the Vagabond style. Okay, yeah, all right, deal. That'd be fun. I mean, I got the trailer, so, you know, just pack it up. Oh, that's funny. But no, yeah, motorcycling has just been a great adventure, but, you know, with this it's, because of motorcycling it's opened this door and I've been able to make some amazing friends and keep doing this because it's a lot of fun and it's pretty freaking cool. It is cool. You know, when I got my bike and I was always looking for other features and I was always looking for other females to ride with and I got on Instagram and that's where I have connected with 90% of my motorcycle community, you know. I hooked up with, you know, the Litas. That's been great. I've hooked up with all of the female, you know, motorcycle campouts, like the Dream Roll and Buy Babes Ride Out. That was one of the reasons I went to Joshua Tree was just because babes, you know, that's where they held it for the first few years, you know, and then they moved it to a different location and now they have multiple babes ride outs. They have East Coast, they have West Coast, they have, you know, it's not just one yearly event. Now it's broken up into different sections and different ones. But, you know, there's so much different riding styles. That's what I like about going to these female campouts is because women from sport bikes to Enduros to dirt bikes to, you see everything. You know, it's not hardly saturated. It's not, you know, one brand, you know. So it's everybody is riding something and it's great. It's the entire community coming together. It is, it is. And like you said, you know, in my podcast is how women are really starting to overtake everybody. Which is, it's awesome. Yeah, yeah, you know, because it wasn't always like that. No. You know, so it's great. It's great to just empower each other and be supportive and, you know, it's great to just get together and shoot the shit with a bunch of other female riders, you know, and change, you know, and swap in stories and experiences. Because, you know, we do, from a female perspective is way different than a male perspective when it comes to events. Like what we pack, how we ride, all of it. So, yeah, that's great. And everybody gets to share an experience and understand what so many people enjoy about it. Yeah. Well, that's the thing is that some people are just born to be bikers and some are not. Some try. Some are like, hey, that's a great idea. And they get a bike and they get all of the new gear and then they can't ride with shit. Or they don't have the mentality. They just don't have the mentality, you know, I don't know. I'm like, this is not for you. You tried it, you failed, go away. Like, you're too scary to ride with. Like, I don't wanna ride with you, you scare me. This isn't gonna get any better. You can't drive well. Why would you think you could ride a bike? I've seen that, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah, that's like, no, uh-uh, but yeah. Yeah, for those enjoying it, get out and ride and just experience it. Yeah. It's an amazing way to travel. Yeah. But if it's not your thing, please don't do it. Yeah. Stay in your comfort zone. Kind of like those people, if you don't like the snow, don't drive in it. Yeah. If you don't like that Facebook post, keep strolling. Exactly, yes, yeah. Yeah. So, well, shoot, this has been fun. This has been fun. Well, we actually have been doing this for like an hour and a half, because we did 30 minutes for me, now we've done an hour for you, you know, so we've been doing podcasts for an hour and a half here. We're running out of things to talk about. I know, we have some great stuff on here, but no, it's been a lot of fun. I'm glad we finally, you know, we're able to get this one down and do it. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah. I know we've chatted online for quite a while. Yeah, well, since, you know, 2020. Yeah. You know, when Jenny first, you know, did her podcast with you, and, yeah, and just watching you grow, and, you know, you've done phenomenal. I can remember one of your messages, hey, coach, tag me, I'm ready to come in, I wanna play the game, too. I did. Pick me, pick me. No, it's been, yeah, this has been a lot of fun, and thank you for bringing up, you know, you brought up a ton of equipment, and, you know, helped really make this one come together, and, you know, your mics, you got your Rodecaster going, and, you know, this is an awesome joint effort, and it's super cool. We're gonna have to do this again. This is gonna happen. Like, yeah, we're gonna have to do this again, for sure. We might do it, like, every six months. Yeah. Get on a six-month rotation. Like, after each bike season. Like, every, you know, like, at the end of the year, or the beginning of the year, you know, like, hey, do kind of like a year recap type thing. Like, oh, what did you do, and what did I do, and. Hey, that's actually a really cool idea. Yeah, you wanna do that? Yeah. Okay. I think we should. All right. You heard it here. He's gonna do this. This is what he's gonna do. The end of the season review. End of the year. We'll figure out some. Yeah. Splashy name for it. Well, yeah, we should. Definitely. And just so you know, I've been sitting around this Wild Ass for like a year, an hour and a half. This is pretty good. Squishy, squishy, squishy. Wild-ass.com. That's right. Gotta get that dash. You might see stuff you don't wanna see online. We're just putting that out there. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you can get it. And use that code D Woods, you'll get free shipping. Plug, plug. Oh, now it's been fun. Yeah, this has been great. All right. Well, thank you for introducing me to your world here. Well, I'll link your channel up in all the notes. And of course, this will come out with Spotify. I'll have all the more links and all the streaming sites. But no, it's been great. I'm glad we've finally been able to link up and do this. And it's been fun. I love the idea of the end of the season review or however we want to title it. I think that'll be a lot of fun. Yeah, the recap. Yeah. So awesome. Well, guys. Well, thanks for joining us. Yeah, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for Myopost 126. Yes. So we will see you all next Sunday. Probably back to the regular time, five o'clock. Till then, guys, say have fun, ride safe, enjoy the open road, and we'll catch you in the crossroads. Ciao. Later. Bingo.