Mike's Boo Boo

Mike's bike was a bit scratched up - windshield trashed hand guard gone, fairing and bags scratched and scraped. Going over Galena Summit, a mountain pas about 20 miles north of Ketchum, Mike had puled onto the shoulder to take some pictures. he hadn't anticipated the soft and uneven sand and his bike went over at about 15 mph. Mike hit hard on his shoulder and helmet and had a slight separation of the shoulder but little other damage. The bike was as described. a passerby helped Mike patch together the windscreen, and he made it to Ketchum OK. Mike got a can of Krylon and I chipped in some more cable ties, and with Jay's suggestions, we cobbled together a pretty good solution to the windscreen. It's now about 1200 miles since Ketchum and the bike (and Mike) are doing just fine.

Over to Ketchum

The next day I rode about 400 miles to Ketchum, ID, where I was to meet Mike Bosworth for the next stage of the ride, and visit friends Jay and Gay Weake. No pictures on this section and not too much excitement, except: heading west from Bozeman, I took another "small" road numbered 84. What a treat! Like 78 the day before but even better, lusher, twistier.

I had another "National Geographic" moment. At the bottom of a long hill a came upon the Madison River, a famous trout stream that was wider and deeper than I imagined. After a mile or so I noticed some pelicans in the water to the left, a surprise to me. I thought they were seabirds, and we were about 600 miles from the ocean. As I watched the pelicans, I noticed something on the right side. There about 100 feet ahead, and about 40 feet in the air, was a big golden eagle, flapping its wings feverishly to gain altitude. For what seemed like a few seconds, it seemed to hover over my head before heading out over the river.

The rest of the ride was uneventful; a nice breakfast in Ennis, MT, where I finally met some riders not on cruiser bikes - Ducatis and BMWs; through some famous trout fishing areas, fairly crowded with tourists and over familiar ground in southern Idaho. Finally (I was tired again) up that sweet ride up 75 through Hailey and into Ketchum.

Mike's bike was already parked in Jay's driveway. I found Gay and she mentioned that Jay had taken Mike to the emergency rom, as a precaution after a minor bike mishap on Galena Summit. I hadn't noticed anything wrong with Mike's bike, but when I looked at the other side, sure enough, it was battered and bruised.

To be continued.

Beartooth Highway

What can I say 40 miles or so of high mountain twisties, about 15-20 miles in alpine environment; just spectacular, even with construction delays and tourist traffic. I'll just post some ictures and even they don't do it justice.

At red Lodge, MT, a bustling Western style resort town I took a break. I was tired and it was late. I took a left on Rt 78, a country road as per the map, and was rewarded with a wonderful romp over and around grassy hills, ranches, with beautiful sweeper curves. Reinvigorated, I made a quick run down th e50 miles or so to I 90, then blasted into Livingston, where I had a reservation at the restored Murray Hotel, built in 1904, and right out of Legends of the Fall. Nice room and a great meal downstairs in the restaurant. Read a bit, enjoyed some Moose Drool, the local beer, and went to bed.

Even More Incredible!!

From Worland, I head north on Rt 16 in desert scrub and plus 90 degree temperatures, then turn west into Cody, WY. I stop for a break and find a shade tree in a small grassy park. Lying on my back in the soft cool grass feels good. After about ten minutes I mount up and find the turn off for the Chief Joseph Trail about 1/4 mile up the road. On the road atlas this road is depicted as a low end two lane highway, but this thing is a beautiful, modern two lane highway with the wide, paved shoulders that give you confidence to cut loose a bit. The road winds through some rolling terrain and you can see the mountains looming just ahead. We start to seriously climb through beautiful grassland with big orange rock outcroppings, around a few switchbacks and up into some "high country", a fairly wide table land with big firs, meadows, and brooks. Up and up we go until we "summit" at a well developed overlook called Dead Indian. The view down the other side is breathtaking - varied terrain and mountain structures as far as you can see, and directly below another series of serious switchbacks. Lets go!!

Incredible!!!

Thursday - With the big mileage behind me, and my tire repaired (I hope), I am now ready to ride on some of the most spectacular roads in the country.  From Buffalo, I will head west on Route 16, which is billed as the Cloud Peak Skyway.  It runs westward over the Bighorn Mountains through Powder River Pass, then down through Ten Sleep Canyon over to Worland, WY.  It is a wonderful ride even though I am a bit apprehensive about the tire.

Powder River Pass is all beautiful sweepers through forests and high meadows.  No traffic.  Skies crystal clear, temperature in the mid 70s.  Another glory day!  from the west side of the pass the road winds down into Ten Sleep Canyon, a rugged piece of terrain, great twisties, still no traffic.  The road finally winds down into desert scrub and into Worland. 

Whoops!

I was definitely tired as I rolled into Buffalo.  I pulled up in front of the Occidental Hotel, a long two story brick building right out of some western movie.  I backed my bike into a parking spot next to a couple of Harleys, one of which sported a sidecar.  I couldn't help noticing that the people sitting on the rocking chairs in front of the hotel were looking at the rear of my bike.  "Probably worried I would hit their Harleys I figured. But no,  when I hopped off and took off my helmet, one of the ladies said, " I think you have a flat tire".  "Oh no" I said. "I just came in on the interstate and noticed nothing strange about how she was riding".

But a closer look indicated that yes, it was going flat.  A nail about an inch long was located right in the middle of the tread.  The thought occurred to me that I had been extremely lucky.  The flat could have occurred on the last two miles into town; or, it could have happened out on the interstate.  A few miles more on the interstate and I could have faced a serious control issue. But instead, I was pulled up in front of my hotel.  Then my lucked really turned good.  One of the guys on the rocking chairs came up, introduced himself, and said he had been a BMW bike mechanic for over twenty years, had a tire plug kit, and would be happy to help.   I had my own tire plug kit and air pump, but appreciated the help and encouragement. He helped and I bought them a round of drinks.  After some Mexican take out I went to bed and slept soundly.

  A tire plug is a reliable stopgap repair but not for a long trip. An interior patch would be better, especially since I planned to ride about a thousand miles over some hairy mounted roads before I could get the tire replaced in Missoula Monday morning.  Luckily, the front desk had the number of a local motorcycle wrench named the Twisted Piston, and when he returned my call the next morning he referred me to Elmer's Powersports, about two blocks from the hotel.  Let me just say the Erik Elmer is a saint.  For $21 he put on an interior patch, allowing me to watch how carefully he went about his work.  I am sending him some maple syrup when I get home.  It was about 11:00 AM before I left Buffalo.  I was behind schedule for one of the highlight riding days of the trip, but I had definitely dodged a bullet.

Across the Wide Prairie

Wednesday was planned as the longest riding day of the trip in terms of both miles covered (730) and hours in the saddle.  The plan was to go from NY Mills in western Minnesota to Buffalo Wyoming, in west central, Wyoming.  The route included I-94 across North Dakota, and picking up Route 85, a north south road in  the western Dakotas, riding it all the way to I-90 in Spearfish, South Dakota, then blasting out I-90 to Buffalo.  I had a reservation at the old Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, an authentic vestige of frontier days. I credit my friend Brad Miller for introducing me to the charms of old western hotels.  On our Arizona ride last October he had booked old hotels in Kingman and Prescott, and they were fun and reasonably priced.

Anyway, I figured this would be a boring part of the ride with not much to see, quintessential "fly-over" country which I planned to fly over.  Was I wrong!  North Dakota was beautiful!  Soft rolling country, multiple shades of soft green, wildflowers.  Even the designers of I-94 managed to introduce some big sweeping curves into a highway that could easily have been a straight shot across the state.

I took a break in Bismarck, the state capital, figuring I could find an interesting lunch spot downtown.  I waded through the fast food places coming into town, rode arond downtown, found nothing, and finally settled for a burrito chain place on the strip on the other side of town.  Good burrito, but I left town unimpressed.

It was another 100 or so miles to the intersection with Rte 85 in Belfield.  Route 85 was a nearly straight shot southward to Spearfish.  Some interesting undulations in the land, some butte advertised as the highest point in N. Dakota and little else of note.  but the ride was pleasant and I made good time.  At Spearfish I climbed on I-90 for the last 2 1/2 hour sprint into Buffalo, 170 miles to the west.  I put the bike on cruise control, set at 85mph (speed limit 75).  The Black Hills are beautiful, but then the land morphs into a scrub desert for most of the ride.  At one point I pulled off on an exit to take a break and looked up to see two antelope watching me about 100 feet away.  By the time I got my camera out they had moved off a bit but I got a shot of their exit.  When I finally saw the exit sign for Buffalo, I was definitely ready for a break.  I had been underway for over 12 hours.