You Could See Forever from Up There

As you know, I’ve been off on a painting adventure into northern Minnesota and the North Shore of Lake Superior. Last week I reported from Cooperstown, ND where we narrowly escaped a shelf cloud storm. Our travels since then have taken us as planned. It is really flat across most of that country, at least from the Black Hills in …

Wild Weather in North Dakota

We’re getting some wild weather in North Dakota on our ride to the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. This is the first time I’ve had sufficient internet to post some photos. Traveling the hinterlands has it’s disadvantages and that’s one of them. The advantages however do outweigh that little inconvenience. It’s been a great ride, as they all are. Our first night …

2016 Happy New Year!!

2016 Happy New Year!! Starting a new year today gives us all an opportunity for do-overs or to make plans for the coming year. Perhaps one might want to make this year a better one than last year or merely continue the great ride last year was. That’s probably where I am at. I have a number of great things …

Lookin’ Out My Back Door

“Lookin’ Out My Back Door” is a song written by John Foggerty of the Creedence Clearwater Revival and released in 1970. You have to be of a certain age and persuasion to know this song. According to Wikipedia, it is a tribute to the Bakersfield sound, which was originated by Buck Owens, but…that has nothing to do with this weeks’ …

oil painting by Mike Simpson of an Alaska summer between Tok Alaska and Glen Allen

Gallery Update of New Paintings

Just a short note to let you know I have made a gallery update with of a couple of new paintings I have just fininished. Plus there are others gallery updates that I made recently so you might choose to take a look if you haven’t been there in a while. You can view the particulars for each piece in the …

It’s Good To Be Home

Well, it’s good to be home. Rolled the big two wheeler into my driveway yesterday afternoon about 2:00 after a 16 day, 4,838 mile tour through Northern British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. I managed to get 16 watercolor paintings done to add to the collection of memories. I took this ride by myself so I could …

Back in the US of A

Yes, I’m back in the US of A. My second night actually. When I left you good folks a couple of days ago I was in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. I crossed back into the US that afternoon at the Chief Mountain crossing between Waterton National Park, AB and St. Mary, Montana. It’s a really nice small border crossing, sort of …

No Room at the Inn

I’ve been through Jasper and Banff National Parks before and have never encountered the crowds that are here now. This is crazy.I rolled into Jasper in good time yesterday, about 3 in the afternoon. Usually when you get into a town that early, it’s not a problem getting  room. I looked for almost an hour and finally resigned myself to …

Filling in the Gaps

Today’s ride, although through some really scenic country and punctuated from time to time with rain, had no special stops, so I thought I’d take this time we have together and do some filling in the gaps of the trip so far. I left Houston this morning in the rain. You may recall that I was hanging out at the motel for …