Gophers and Cheese

Nope, this post has nothing to do with college basketball... the blog turns SIXTEEN years old today.  The blog is old enough to drive by itself now.  It could have gotten its learner's permit last year.  Crazy.  It's grown up so fast.

The blog turns 15 years old today!!!  1,370 blogposts featuring over 25,000 photos, and over 3,500 Instagram posts  (usually re-posted on my Facebook page too) make Gophers and Cheese the world's premiere rodent & dairy themed motorcycle & van blog focusing on events right here in Minnesota & Wisconsin.  As always, thanks for stopping by.

The blog became a smart-ass teenager last year and I failed to call that out but today marks 14 years since this rodent & dairy themed motorcycle & van blog started.   1,300 blogposts containing over 20,000 photos later, it's still going.  No ads, no sponsors, no merch, no income streams, only expenses...but continuing to do it anyway... like an insane person.  Thanks for stopping by.

The blog is 12 years old today!  While I haven't been posting much content here, I did just update the 2022 Events Calendar .  I hope to hit quite a few motorcycle and van events this year.  My current focus is getting my new-to-me 1978 Dodge Tradesman ready to roll.  I bought it in the fall and it's been a fun winter project so far with lots more to do.  It's about 100X better than the first van I owned .  If you wanna see pics, follow along on Instagram .

I've been neglecting the blog but I've still been busy riding, wrenching, and taking tons of photos this year.  I couldn't let October go by without acknowledging a very significant milestone.  I bought my first motorcycle almost exactly 10 years ago today and, yes, it is the same exact same bike that has the black and red lace rattlecan paintjob that I still ride today. I took this photo yesterday while riding through Wisconsin.  Yes, I swear it's the same bike.  I've just changed a few things and put a lot more miles on it. I thought it might be fun to take a look back and post some photos from the last 10 years, one year at a time.  While you may have seen some, I'll try to post a bunch you haven't seen before.  Some will be a little embarrassing, but that's half the fun of old photos. This is my 2004 XL1200C when it was brand new to me in October 2006. I considered starting with a smaller bike but am so glad I didn't as I never grew...

Gophers and Cheese is 6 years old today!!! Sometimes it's amazing what a difference one year makes.  Since last year: I've had 2 features on Chop Cult (soon to be 3) Combined followers on Instagram / Facebook / Twitter have more-than-doubled My photography continues to improve and I recently upgraded my camera, bought new lenses, and got a new cell phone I bought my 3rd motorcycle (2003 XL883R) I had my first (and hopefully last) motorcycle accident I've received legit press passes to 2 big events I bought a van I sold the van I helped promote the first-ever Moto Mania dirt track event I started getting back into radio control cars People continue to visit the blog even though blogs are supposedly dead THANKS FOR VISITING!!! Gopher photo © Angela Stanton , used with permission.

Gophers and Cheese is five years old today!!! Stats : 5 years 989 blog posts 8,000+ original photos 268,000+ blog pageviews (not counting all the views on Chop Cult) - Thanks for visiting!!! Nearly 600 followers across Instagram , Facebook , and Twitter Over 900 posts on Instagram that are primarily original photos and typically different from what is on the blog 1 photographer, 1 photo editor, 1 blogger, 1 social media guy, 1 sticker designer, 1 sticker sales guy, 1 sticker packer & shipper, and 1 guy to handle e-mails... and all those guys are me. :) 5 years is a long time so I'm going to take a few minutes and reflect on some key milestones that I've experienced over that time and thank a lot of people.  It's a blog.  You should expect some text once in a while. 2006 and the MSF course A few years before I started the blog, I got into motorcycling.  I've been interested as long as I can remember but I never really did anything about it until t...

A quarter-million page views is a huge number that I can't quite wrap my head around.  Thanks for visiting!!!

Wow!  200,000 page views and counting.  Thanks for visiting!!!

The blog is four years old today!!!  It's getting very close to having 1,000 posts and 200,000 page views.  This should be a big year!  As always, thanks for visiting!

Gophers and Cheese is celebrating 100,000 page views!!! Not too shabby for a motorcycle blog with a funny name and an uncool logo run by one guy living in Minnesota who loves motorcycles (especially Sportsters and choppers) but can't skateboard and doesn't own a denim vest. It's difficult to wrap my head around so many people from around the world seeing the photos I've taken and reading the words I've written.  Thanks for visiting!!!

Gophers and Cheese is 3 years old today!  The blog currently contains about 600 posts and I would guess 3,000-4,000 original photos (but I'm not going to count).  Thanks for visiting!!!

Just over 2 years from when I started this blog, I finally reached 500 posts.  I'm not even sure how many thousands of photos I've uploaded.  I'm not going to count. There are lots of things to look forward to in 2012 including getting the Sportster back on the road shortly (and looking better than ever), lots of riding in and around the Twin Cities, some big local bike shows, and later this year I'll be down in Tennessee and North Carolina riding the Tail of the Dragon and other roads in the Smoky Mountains for the first time.  Lots of pics and stories to come as I pass 500 and head towards my 1,000th post.

Gophers and Cheese turns 2 years old today!  With 445 posts and thousands of original photos, it's still going strong and I'm still having fun writing it.  Thanks for visiting!!!

I bought my first motorcycle, my Sportster, five years ago. I bought it used with 8,000 miles on it and the condition was practically stock. In five years, I have transformed the look of the bike and have put an additional 25,000 miles on it. I bought my Road King new in 2008 and it now has 19,500 miles on it (roughly 3,000 of those were miles my dad put on it while we were riding together). Time flies. Here are photos of my Sportster in October 2006, the day after I brought it home.  When I bought it, I remember saying to myself, "it's perfect - I don't need to change a thing."  It looks a little different today, doesn't it?

It's my blog's first birthday!  I started Gophers and Cheese back on March 24th, 2010.  One year, 234 posts, and about 1,400 original photos later, it's still here and going strong.  Thanks for visiting!!!

This is my hundredth post!!! When I started this blog back in March, I wasn't sure I'd enjoy doing it or keep up with it. However, it's been a ton of fun and I intend to keep it going for a long time. To celebrate post #100, I have finally added a logo to the page. The reason I hadn't done it sooner is that I found it really difficult to draw a realistic gopher in vector line-art. The cheese was a lot easier. Anyway, I am finally happy with the logo design and already have a few variations on it ready for different applications. With a logo will come stickers and more (check back for availability). After all, what good is a motorcycle blog without swag?

Today was a beautiful day in the Twin Cities (70s and clear) and I headed to Welch, MN for the first time.  I had heard that there were some good twisty roads near that town and the rumors were true. From the Twin Cities, I headed down through Hastings, MN.  Here's a shot of the bridge you cross into Hastings on US-61S. I took US-61 to MN-20 to Cannon Falls, MN.  Here is an abandoned gas station. I stopped in Cannon Falls to take some pictures.  I don't know if these are the Cannon Falls but they are waterfalls in Cannon Falls, MN. Near the falls was a little fenced in area with fish (trout I think), ducks, and a pair of swans.  One of the swans was sitting on a nest. From Cannon Falls, I headed west on MN-19 to Sunset Trail.  Sunset Trail looked like an interesting road on the map.  What I didn't know until I got there was that it wasn't paved.  If this road was in Wisconsin, I would think it would be an official "Rustic Road".  I...