Gophers and Cheese

Wrapping up coverage from the 2025 Twin City Vans Good Times Truck-In in Albert Lea, MN.  After the cruise, R/C Van races were up next.  I built a foldable ramp and brought cones to help lay out the course.  It was a lot of fun.  Some people really sent it over the ramp leading to a lot of thrills & spills and at least one van had a wheel break completely off!

Yes, I have even more photos from Twin City Vans 48th Annual Good Times Truck-In to share.  Check out the mirror on the ceiling.  I didn't even notice it until I was reviewing the photos I took.  Some of these vans have so many details it's overwhelming.

More photos from Twin City Vans Good Times Truck-In 2025.  We resume coverage right in the middle of show & shine.

Coverage continues from the Twin City Vans 48th Annual Good Times Truck-In...

The 48th annual  Twin City Vans  Good Times Truck-In was held in Albert Lea, MN at the  Freeborn County Fairgrounds  June 6th and 7th.  I was there in my 1978 Dodge sporting my newly installed vintage Cal-Jammer wing.  I did not get my new windshield visor done in time so little pieces of blue painter's tape covered the holes where the old, broken one was riveted on.  I'm still hoping to get a new visor installed before the Nats.

I've only managed to make it to one bike night so far this year... I went to Forgotten Star  Bike night hosted by The Litas Twin Cities on June 3rd.  An appropriate blogpost for Father's Day... My son debuted the 1978 Honda Z50 we worked on together late last year that I finished up with custom painted wheels and fresh tires in the spring.  I had been sitting on various parts from a non-running Z50 since 2018 and the project was long overdue.  It's a one-of-a-kind 48V electric conversion using a mix of original & new Z50 parts and all sorts of custom & modified parts by yours truly.  The bars are by Zombie Performance .  After a couple of issues frying and melting electrical bits, I'm thrilled with the way it turned out and my son loves it.  The electric Z50 is quiet, fast, and has good range.  He and I ride around our neighborhood together all the time and he was pumped to ride it into bike night.  Unsurprisingly, quite a few people...

Here's another big batch of photos from the 2025 Donnie Smith Show . 

The Donnie Smith Bike Show was this past weekend at the RiverCentre in St. Paul.  I've been going to show longer than I've been blogging about it and I have A LOT of blogposts covering the show over the years.  The bikes rarely repeat so there's always so much new to see and the giant swap meet is a bonus, though I didn't find anything I just had to have this year.  I got there right as they opened on Saturday and took a bunch of photos before it got super-busy, strolled through the swap meet, and then took a few more photos before heading out.  It's always nice running into some people I haven't seen in a while - it feels like emerging from winter hibernation.

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.

Here are bunch more photos from Mama Tried Show 2025.

This past weekend, I headed out to Milwaukee for  Mama Tried .  Like previous years, it's an incredible collection of custom motorcycles in a very cool venue that helps get us all through the end of Winter as we look forward to Spring.  Unlike previous years, I was there with my family, which is great because they were interested in seeing it, but it meant we were just there for the show itself and skipped Flat Out Friday and other events (this time).  On the bright side, it meant a lot fewer photos to sift through and edit so here we go...

The last bike night that I attended in 2024 was October 1st.  It was held at Forgotten Star Brewing and hosted by The Litas Twin Cities .  It was particularly fun because my son and I both brought bikes.  I had the Evil Monkey (my '76 Honda Z50) and he had his Razor MX350.  Obviously we didn't ride them there, but we did ride around the parking lot and it was a blast.  The Razor was originally my daughter's bike and when she outgrew it, my son rode it a bunch.  Over the past few months, I built him his own custom bike and I'll get to posting about that eventually.

Here's the last batch of photos from Pokey Tire Ice Racing 2025...

More photos from Pokey Tire Ice Racing 2025!!

Pokey Tire Ice Racing was held on Duck Lake in Madison Lake, MN on February 1, 2025.  It's been going on for a few years, but this was the first time I attended.  It was a cold, cloudy, and windy day out on the lake but it was a lot of fun!  The ice was solid, smooth, and very slippery as there was no snow cover.  I brought the Snowmonkey, which is the winter version of the Evil Monkey, my 1976 Honda Z50.  It has a studded tire in the back and banana ski up front.  It's been about 7 years since I've had it out on a frozen lake and it's as sketchy as it looks.  When I wasn't taking pictures, I did a bunch of laps and I even drag raced a newer 125cc Monkey... twice!!

Here are a bunch of fisheye photos from the Show & Shine at Ivan & Jane's Vantasy Island .

Saturday morning at Ivan & Jane's Vantasy Island , I woke up early, left the farm, and headed into nearby Maple Lake for the Gear-Head Get Together .  It's another annual event that I've heard only good things about but had never been to.  Cars, bikes, and assorted vehicles lined the streets and I followed the big sign to the swap meet area.

I went to Ivan and Jane's truck-in in Howard Lake, MN for the first time in August.  It was hosted by Northwestern Vanners & Naughty but Nice Vanners .  They change the theme every year and 2024 was "Vantasy Island".  I heard so many good things about this particular truck-in that I wanted to check it out.  Kenny's farm is like a field of dreams for vanners, from the idyllic setting to the oversized van-themed games.  I brought my son along, stayed Friday and Saturday night and took a ton of photos.  Here's Kenny:

In September 2024, Zac assembled a truly remarkable amount of his Heavy Clothing items that he has made and sold over the past 10+ years and hosted the Cult of Heavy Art Show at Neverest Studio in St Paul.  It lasted 2 days, September 6th & 7th.  I attended the night of the 6th.

While not an official Twin City Vans event, Tommy organized a Fall Cruise on September 28th for both vans and not-vans.  It was beautiful sunny day.