Road Trip!

[dm_gsxr]

Greetings. After a couple of days of transcribing my notes and getting my pages set up for viewing, I have my ride report for the past two weeks ready to post. Hopefully the server will be able to handle the load

Part of the report involves a gathering of members of another forum so there are names and forum name references that aren't from here. Part of the ride was to attend these events so you'll have to bear with the out takes

The reports listed below are from my website. Feel free to hop over and look at the other pictures.

I have pics of Dantesdame's BBQ for BluePoof and the WCRM Part Deux BBQ and the group ride that fell between. Several pics of the countryside and I even tried to be a sport tourer rather than an Iron Butt rider.

To get you started, here's my current touring map. The fresh blue lines in the PNW is the focus of this report.

The total ride was 4,563.0 miles and I lost about 7 pounds by the time I got back. I camped for four straight days. Had to get a new tire while on the road and hopefully learned a few new things.

Carl

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 1 Ride Report

Broomfield, CO to Green River, WY
404.8 miles

I'd spent the evening getting the bike packed and ready to go. There was just the morning gear and I'm ready to head out. Rita had the car packed and she was heading up 25 to 80 and was going to meet me in Green River. After putting the cats in the car, I headed off to get gas and reset the starting mileage. As I got to the 136th street bridge, I spotted Rita behind me while waiting at the light. A wave and that's the last I saw of her until we met at Green River.



I was riding pretty comfortably on 25 north intending on making the left into Ft Collins to take Poudre Canyon. At one point, a BMW convertible and a pickup passed me at a high rate of speed. After making the turn into Ft Collins, I got up to the light before the railroad tracks and there were the two. Pickup in the left lane and BMW in the right. I got behind the truck. The BMW was slow at the light so I swooped in front of him and made the right turn after the tracks. He seemed a little put out by the move and tried to keep me from getting in front of him when the road went to one lane. He peeled off at the bypass and I continued on.

It was a nice day for a ride, a bit chill but beginning to get warm. I stopped at the Conoco at the corner of 287 and 14 (Poudre Canyon Road), filled up and took a break. I screwed around with the phone since it seems to have stopped working. I'd used it before but now I couldn't hear Rita when she called. She could hear me though. I had the GPS set up as well and was keeping an eye on the info; particularly speed since my speedo appears to be off by a little.

The first part of Poudre Canyon around Stove Prarie Road is a great ride. Nice twisties and little traffic. As I reached the cliffs and got into the sweepers, it started warming up a bit but I was able to go a little faster. I was also able to start passing cars which was more difficult in the beginning.

It was early enough in the morning that my shadow stretched a few feet in front of the bike. It was cool seeing my shadow head into a turn just before I did and shifting left and right through the turn.

I passed Profile Rock and Elephant Mountain (which looks like the head of an elephant including the trunk). As I approached Cameron Pass, I could see some snow a hundred feet or so up the hillside and a nice profile view of Mt Richthofen.



One of the things I've been learning about sport-touring is that when you see a good picture, you should turn around and take it. You're never in so much of a hurry to try and capture a piece of beauty. In addition, you should try to get your bike in the picture. After all, everyone gets pictures of Mt Richthofen. How many have a picture of a Hayabusa? (Does that taillight look a little bright? {foreshadowing; hinting of things to come}

There was a group of folks hanging out at Cameron Pass waiting on the restrooms. The guy (who had one arm) asked me if I was cold. While it was a little chilly since we're at 10,276 feet, I said I was reasonably warm in my Aerostich.

After taking a break I hopped back on the bike and headed down the other side, Mt Richthofen off to the left looking very imposing in its grandure.

The ride back down wasn't at the speeds that I've gone down before due to several RVs backing up traffic and little opportunity to pass until we reached the valley floor. In Walden I parked next to a large group of cruiser riders that included a GSXR in red and black and an FJR in silver grey. I chatted with the guy next to me and found they were down from Cheyenne and heading by Steamboat Springs and Craig before heading back home.

I also intended on a similar path but continuing on past Craig so I bid them farewell and headed off. While I was at the station, I looked at the map and found a little non-highway road over Buffalo Pass that looked interesting. The pass is in Routt National Forest and appeared to be a dirt road. I figured, what the heck. I can ride a dirt road and the motel isn't a long distance away so when I got to the turnoff at Hebron, I made the right and headed off on an adventure.

A couple of miles before Routt the road turned to a hard packed dirt road. Not horrible but still an interesting ride. I stopped at the entrance to Routt for a pic and then a few feet farther for the signpost to Buffalo Pass.



The coolness in the air, the smell of the pine trees and wildflowers were just outstanding. Especially the pine. It was heavy and made me want to stop right there and set up camp. The road itself wasn't too bad until the last few miles. A sign warned of dips but they were actually humps. And on the other side of the humps were gullies where the water ran across the road. At the first one I spotted a deer on the right side of the road. I startled him so I slowly rolled backward for a better look and he bounded off into the forest. As I headed up I came over a hump and there was a pretty deep gash in the road that I hit pretty hard. From them on I took it easier but I still hit some pretty hard.



As I approached Buffalo Pass, I passed a snowfield on the right with mountains in the distance. The recent hot days at home made seeing snow somewhat of a novelty so I stopped to capture the memory.



Buffalo Pass wasn't clearly marked but there was a campground at Summit Lake with quite a few cars. On the other side of the lake, the road continued on down to Steamboat Springs but the condition was significantly worse. I got a couple of shots but they don't really portray just how bad the road was. It was pretty clear the traffic coming up from Steamboat Springs was causing all the rough roads. There were lots of rocks, ruts and potholes in the dirt road. I was able to keep it reasonably stable but there were a few bumps that were pretty hairy. Plus at one point, I drove between the narrow space between two rocks. I was sure I was going down there but managed to keep it upright.



Meanwhile, I had the iPod playing and was curious about the music selection. I kept hearing the same tunes over and over and they were pretty slow. The past couple of days I was setting up the tunes and cleaning up the lists on the Mac. I still had too many to fit on the iPod though. I plugged it in and the external drive would grind away then pop up an error; too many songs for the iPod. This happened a couple of times and I didn't pay much attention to it figuring with all the noise, it was just copying as many as it could. I'd deleted a couple of hundred songs from the beginning of the original list that I didn't want to listen to on the road. Quiet slow songs that just weren't appropriate for riding. Turns out iTunes deleted all the songs off of the iPod in preparation to copy but didn't delete the songs I didn't want to hear. So I ended up with three hundred or so songs that I really didn't want to hear on the road. Talk about annoying

So I got down to Steamboat Springs threading my way through the roads. I followed the GPS until I got to 40 and headed west. I was going to hit the gas station but gas was running at $2.64 so I continued on down to Craig. I rolled through town then back until I found the station with the best price and filled up.

I checked out the route. I was going to take 40 south of Dinosaur National Monument and then 191 up in Utah but I was hooked on the side roads. They didn't seem so bad so I decided I would take 318 up to Dutch John and then catch 191 up to Green River. So I made the right at Maybell and headed off yet again. The road was pretty nice then I got to a fork where 318 to the left was still paved and 10N was packed dirt. It took a few minutes but I finally decided to take 10N. It was a nice hardpacked road and I was able to get to 70 in places

Up ahead there is Irish Canyon. A sign at the entrance says that Irish Canyon was named for three Irishmen who robbed a Rock Springs saloon and stopped to consume part of the take in the north end of the canyon. A long way to go before taking that drink. I hope it was worth it

The road through Irish Canyon was a bit gravelly but I was able to move along pretty well. The wind was blowing down the canyon pretty stiffly. I got to the other side without incident. On the other side the wind was blowing pretty hard. When I got to Wyoming the road immediately changed to pavement and I was able to pick up some speed.

I'd loosend my 'stich to get more air but with the wind I was ballooning up even with the vents being open.



I stopped at a Phosphate processing plant and zipped up the stich. When I got to Rock Springs, I spotted a Harley behind me. When I got to the light, he pulled up next to me and we chatted until the light changed. I headed up to gas up and called Rita. She made it to Green River at 3ish and got our room.

After we got together, she said her ride up 25 and down 80 wasn't a big deal except for one incident. See, we brought the cats along this time because they were getting a little odd when we went away on trips. So she'd been parking the car in the shade when she hit the rest stops until she got to one where there wasn't any shade. She left the car running but took the remote so she could get back in the car. However, she found out that the remote doesn't work when the car is running. Probably to prevent accidental unlocking of doors while the car is moving. So she couldn't get back in the car and of course it was running. She tried to call me but I wasn't in any service areas so she couldn't reach me. She was going to contact a locksmith when a couple of guys from Colorado offered to help. The one guy unscrewed his car antenna and was able to slip it down and roll down the window enough to unlock the door. Good thinking there guys.

We had dinner at Don Pedro's Family Restaurant; a Mexican food place. The food wasn't too bad but a little blah. Not quite up to some of the places we've eaten at.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 2 Ride Report

Green River, WY to Nampa, ID
558.2 miles

We woke up on time and gathered our gear together. I got the bike loaded up but left my tent, sleeping bag and pad in the back of Rita's car. No sense carrying it now. After we got done packing, we went to get the cats but couldn't find Arial (the black cat). He'd taken to hiding in the mornings since he doesn't like riding in cars. Niki has no problem with it and enjoyed the outing. I hunted under the bed and glanced at the box springs. No feet indentations. We started checking outside and the halls to see where he might have gone. I'd swear he hadn't slipped out while I was going through the door however one time he ran back away from the door so he was checking it out. Rita had their food dish and was outside shaking it trying to call him. After 30 minutes or so, I told Rita that she'll need to get the room for another night since we're not leaving without him, fool cat. I checked the room one more time and this time his feet were making an impression in the box springs covering. I poked at him and tried to get him to come out but he wasn't budging. I tipped the mattress up then the box springs and then pulled out the covering along one side of the springs until I could grab him. He was fighting but I got him out. We put the bed back together, put the cats in the car and checked out.

I was going to take 191 north to the Tetons but decided to take 372 instead. It was a less travelled road which is always more interesting. I hopped on the bike and hit 80 for a couple of miles until I got to the 372 exit and headed north. Traffic was light however there were several semi's.



At the turn onto 189, the road had been freshly oiled and chipsealed which was a lot of fun but just a few miles down the road, construction was happening. The road turned to dirt and I stopped for a few minutes letting the semi that was behind me go ahead. I wasn't going to be moving very fast and didn't want to be too close to a semi throwing up rocks and crap. After a few minutes I moved along but shortly came upon a line of traffic. One lane road ahead. I stopped for a few minutes and waited for the lead vehicle to show up.



When the lead vehicle arrived he motored back to where I was and told me I was to lead the pack. Reducing damage from rocks I'm sure, or at least keeping the pack at a reasonable speed since bikes like mine won't be haring across the gravel. We travelled down to the Fontenelle Reservoir and was released until the next stop about half way around. We had to wait again for a few minutes then headed off again. At the other side, the road turned to asphalt again and I stopped in La Barge for gas and a break.

As I approached the Teton National Forest, I got behind a couple of RVs followed by several cars and a couple of cruisers. After several minutes, I wanted to pass them in order to have free rein in the forest so I passed at the first chance and boogied on down the road.

The roads up to 26 in Hoback Canyon were nice big sweepers. I was able to take them at a pretty good pace and enjoy the cooling down of the air as the altitude increased. When I reached 26, I had to decide. I wanted to see the Tetons, but the road following the Snake River looked grand as well. After a moments thought, I made the left and followed the Snake River. Again, some great sweepers and light traffic. Most folks appeared to head north to the Tetons leaving the nice bike roads to me.

I stopped at a boat ramp and rode down to the river. There was a beautiful red bridge but it was blocked since it went to a country club.



When I crossed into Idaho, I travelled next to the Palisades Reservoir where traffic was a little heavier. I followed 26 into Idaho Falls and hunted for 20 west. After a little running around, I found the exit and stopped briefly for lunch and a break.

This part of Idaho is the flattest most barren place I've been in in some time. Even Kansas was hillier

From looking at the map, there are lava beds all through the area with the Big Southern Butte (at 7,576 feet) visible for some miles.



As I passed through Arco (first city powered totally by atomic power) and headed south, I intended on stopping at the Craters Of The Moon National Monument since seeing the reference in Dantesdame's 2005 National ride report. It was one of the reasons I came this route.

It was pretty hot out and all the vents were open on the 'stich. I went in to the park and decided to ride around the loop. When I got to the Inferno Cone, I decided to stop and get a pic.



When I realized you could hike to the top, I shed my gear, locked it to the bike and headed up to the top. It wasn't much of a climb except for the heat. A bunch of kids were up on top playing hide and seek. Looking out over the lava fields was pretty cool. You could see for miles and the closer lava cones looked pretty interesting.



I took a couple of pics of the surrounding area then spotted a couple of good shots. I decided the second one came out the best. Again, that's the Big Southern Butte off in the distance.



I headed back down, got into my 'stich and continued on around the loop. When I got out of the park, I found some more lava outcroppings and stopped for another quick one.



After the park I made a right turn on 20 in Carey passing through Picabo, over Little Camas Pass and down Goodale's Cutoff (a way to try and avoid the Shoshone indians). The ride down to Mountain Home was pretty cool. Nice little twisites coming down off the pass. The rest of the way to Nampa was pretty uneventful since it was on the slab. It was very hot though as temps in Boise were exceeding 100 degrees.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 6 Ride Report

Nampa, ID to Seattle, WA
536.9 miles

The previous couple of nights, I'd been using the Mac and ripping the CDs that Rita'd brought along. Better than the droning music I'd accidentally had on my iPod. She had Bare Naked Ladies Greatest Hits, They Might Be Giants Flood, The Ramones Mania, Eve6, Randy Newman, and a mix CD with Cake and Rob Zombie on it. She also had a couple of chick CDs that I didn't bother with. I dumped the 400 or so songs for the 200 or so from Rita's selection and enjoyed the music on the trip.

I got up on time and Rita and I hit Dennys for breakfast. The hotel had some deal set up that we'd get 2 bucks off or one of a small selection of meals in place of a continental breakfast. We found these were more than sufficient for breakfast and enjoyed our meal. I got my gear all packed and left Nampa at 7:53 hopping on the freeway and heading northwest. It's a straight run up 84 to 82 so I expect no problems other than a possibility of rain in the PNW.

At a rest area at mile marker 209ish, I'd pulled in for a break. The lady asked if I was air conditioned. Of course she waited until I had earplugs, my hood and helmet on before asking so I didn't initially hear her. When I turned around and she asked again, I said that I was of course air conditioned, then laughed and pointed to the vents on the suit. As I was getting ready to go, I saw some drops of rain so I pulled out the tank bag cover and put it on. I hit a little bit of rain but not enough to be interesting.

When I got to 395, I decided to head up the side road and search for lunch. I went by Stanfield to Hermiston for lunch.

I made the right turn on 12 in Yakima and headed to Mt. Ranier. The last time I'd seen it was when I attended school in the area as a kid but there was a lot of fog in the park so I wasn't able to see the mountain.




At the end of the park I spotted a deer on the side of the road that I snapped a pic of.



After the park I headed up 7 to 161 and up to Puyallup. Traffic was pretty heavy but not insane. I followed the road up to 405 then over to 5 and to Spokane Ave. I was following the lower road and curious about the discussed bridge when I got to a draw span. It spun clockwise to let some boat through. While I was idling, I realized that the upper bridge was probably where I should be so I checked the map and figured that I could still get to the right road. Once the bridge closed, I headed up and found Dantedame's abode. In the driveway, a largish orange cat was patiently waiting for someone to let him in. He was very friendly and stood still for petting and a pic.



DD had offerred the hospitality of the house but it was late enough that I still needed to get to the motel and grab some snacks for the BBQ so I headed out, found the Travel Lodge and signed in. The room smelled of furniture oil which smelled somewhat like cat pee. The bathroom smelled of old towels but it wasn't over powering so I unpacked then went to the local Safeway to pick up some chips, salsa, hotdogs, and buns then back to DD's.

The group had arrived while I was getting settled and the BBQ was in full swing when I returned. I parked the bike, took off the suit and delivered the food. One of the neighborhood kids (about 12) yelled over that he wanted a bike. I asked how much money he had. "$300". "Sorry, not enough".

Of the 20 folk who were there, I met BluePoof, Uncle Bob, Dwane, Nathan, Twist, and others whos names escape me.




Uncle bob has a Kawasaki rat bike with a troll on the front and the lights that didn't work. He'd turboed it so the exhaust were straight. the coolant overflow was a water bottle cable tied to the frame. He had another bottle tied before but it started to leak.



I had a sausage, diet coke and a few chips. I also had two desserts. A cake crumble thing and strawberry pie.

There was a rep from Nikwax there and he gave out some glove proof and tent & gear proof. Bluepoof got the lion's share

which she had trouble packing into her gear. Hopefully some went to others at the WCRM II BBQ tomorrow.

Jimmy, DD's cat, was enjoying himself on the bikes and basking in the attention.



Finally I bailed at 9:30 or so since I was an hour ahead I was feeling the time. Others had already started out so I didn't feel bad about bailing. Coleen said she'd PM'd me letting me know I could stay at her place but I didn't get the message. I understand they didn't get to bed until 2am anyway so I'm not sure I would have been much fun

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 7 Ride Report

Seattle, WA to Bend, OR
371.7 miles

At 2am some bonehead upstairs was tromping around and talking, listening to the TV. I was able to get back to sleep but he interrupted the routine. At 5:30 my alarm went off and I got my stuff packed on the bike. by 7ish, I was at Coleen's. The garage went up when I got there telling me either someone saw me come up or that someone was getting ready to roll out the bikes.

Twist was there and another rider who bailed while we were getting ready to go. I assume he headed out to the meeting place so BluePoof, DantesDame, Twist and I headed out.



We came out to 169 and followed it to Enumclaw for the meet. I was glad when we stopped. I had to hit the bathroom pretty badly. Twist mentioned that my brake light was on the entire time. I checked it out and discovered that while I adjusted the brake pedal, I hadn't adjusted the sensitivity of the brake lights so I quickly adjusted the brake pedal back so the light'd stay off unless pressed. I'll deal with it later.

While waiting a guy on a BMW stopped for gas and we chatted with him for a few minutes talking about his adventures in Mexico and different places they'd visited.

There were nine bikes at the station when we saddled up and hit the road.




We headed down 410 around Mt Rainier, then 123 and 12 down to Randle and 131 south where we stopped again for a break. The views of Mt Rainier were clearer than Friday's ride. Apparently there had been a large rain storm Friday morning so by the time I'd gone through Friday afternoon the roads were slightly damp and fog had settled on the area. Stopping at the gas station for fuel and to make a pit stop was right on time. Of course with a car wash going on, it made it a couple of person line to the bathroom. Not great when you need to go.




A smaller group took off and headed down 131 to Mt St Helens. I was following DD since I didn't know the exact final destination and was keeping up pretty well. I hadn't realized it was a filter trip rather than a general Seattle based group ride south so I'd hooked up with one of the groups. We'd passed a group of riders at an intersection and continued on up the road. At one point she turned around to get a pic and I followed. With the turn around, I figured that we'd simply made a quick side trip while waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. while we were snapping pics about 10 riders went by. We headed out again and as we were going by one of the turnouts, I spotted three other bikes and pulled in in order to get a couple of good pics. DD was ahead and stopped at the very end of the turnout and cruised back down to the group.




Nathan had explained that there was chip seal on the road ahead so we'd need to be careful. When we hit it, the bike was a little wobbly but I shifted off the seat in the corners and the bike seemed to handle much better. We stopped with a couple of other riders at a corner and I hit the head once again. Quite a foul stench in there. I saw someone else heading over and thought that having a smoke and going in the latrine might not be the best combination

After this stop, I followed Nathan. He was a bit faster which I was enjoying. On one of the 15mph turns I hit the corner a tad hot. A rider behind me later said he saw the rear tire step out a tiny bit. We followed 25 south around the park then over to 30 south. A bit later there was a bit more chip seal that I don't think he expected.

When we got to canyon, we made a left on 14 and then right over the grated toll bridge. I was expecting some dancing but it was surprisingly stable. I looked down and could see the river below. We stopped at the toll booth, four of us with DD and BP a car back. Nathan paid for all 6 riders and we headed out to Hood River for lunch.

We parked the bikes and I locked my gear to the bike rather than carry it around with me. We wandered up the street then back to a coffee shop that one of the riders had found.



[too many pics; broken into two]

 

[dm_gsxr]

I had a half a salami sandwich. While we were sitting there chatting and eating, we spotted the GSXR1000 outside making a right. Nathan was discussing the next route south, heading down 35 to another twisty road but BP said she'd been riding twisties a little too much "seems like every group I meet wants to kill me

" so we decided on a more direct route.



I hit the head once again and when I came out, DD and BP had bailed. I wasn't sure what was going on so I headed back to the bikes and Chris was there on his yellow bike. While we were sitting there waiting to go, Nathan and the other rider headed out. ForceOne was shaking his helmet out into the bushes. Got a bug maybe. We headed out with me in the lead for some reason. I was hoping to catch up with the others at the stop sign but I spotted one at the intersection and he waved me to the left. I made the left and started back the way we came. I wasn't sure exactly where to go and didn't think we wanted to head back over the toll bridge so I looked back shrugging and got on 84 heading east with everyone else following

Shortly DD passed me with a thumbs up so I figured I was going the right way but we hit an overpass and headed back so then I figured I made a mistake.

Sure enough, Nathan had gone back to the gas station after the bridge for gas and was waiting for us. I filled up and looped around behind. After a few minutes we headed out back to 35 south. A few minutes down 35 and DD passed us to try and chat with Nathan. We pulled over to check it out and it seemed that one of the riders wasn't with us. With people peeling off, I'm never sure just who's with us and who's not. I figure that as long as I follow DD, I'll get to Bend.



So DD headed back to get ForceOne. Chris decided to continue on so he headed out. A few minutes later, DD and ForceOne zipped by so we got our helmets on and headed out as well. We caught up with them pretty quickly and headed out as a group once again.

I had waved BP and FO by. I'd wanted to stop for a pic and didn't want other riders to stop for me. Not long after that, the other rider stopped so we stopped briefly to make sure he was ok. I snapped a couple of moving shots then a minute or so later, I stopped and got a pic of Mt. Hood.




I headed out, passing when able. I got over Bennet Pass and got to the 26 cutoff but initially went the wrong way. That didn't last but a second and I quickly looped back and heading back to the east.

As I almost got to the bottom of the mountains, I caught up with ForceOne. Now earlier I'd found out he was riding a 250 Ninja and that 95 downhill with a tailwind was his fastest speed. I also recalled a story about his rev limiter causing the bike to go to idle when hit so I hung back figuring I was close enough to the pack. I watched as he slid left to check out the oncoming traffic so he could pass and finally get by all the slowpokes. We hit it to try and catch up. I snapped a couple of moving pics of Link no longer works .



[still too many...]

 

[dm_gsxr]

At one point, I saw FO lose a bit of momentum. I figured he'd hit the rev limiter and dropped to idle. We caught up with the group as we came into Madras. They were pulling into a gas station but a couple of bikes with boxes continued on. DD and someone else (Chris maybe) said they were going to try and catch the two other riders so they cut out. We got directions to the meet, finished gassing up and hitting the bathroom then headed out.

As we got to Bend, Nathan peeled off to find his room leaving us to find the party. The directions were interesting. Go east then west and west again then south and finally west to the house. Unfortunatly the third sign was missing but fortunatly ForceOne had his GPS set and with a slight detour, we finally made it to VFRFan's house for the BBQ.

I pulled into the garage and parked. Introductions all around and then I hunted up some food. Peter (VFRFan) was running the BBQ so I chased down a burger and a couple of chips and mingled and looked over the different bikes. While mingling I realized all the hotels in Bend were taken and the campground (I was going to camp for most of the trip) was pretty far away. Peter was nice enough to offer his back yard and I took him up on it. Another rider also camped in the backyard along with Baxter the dog.

Peter's Ural with Sidecar was the center of attention, especially since he parked it on the grass

Interestingly enough, there was another Ninja 250 at the BBQ. Sam and ForceOne got together and pretty much excluded the rest of us while they chatting about their bikes and the mods they'd made. I remember the advise about not using bondo on the plastic since it doesn't flex

I always try to file away info like that for my own use, thanks

The Austrians were offerred a back room since they were also camping and with BP and DD hanging their hats in the living room, the house was full.



Dr. Gil and his wife arrived on their bikes. His new Moto Guzzi of course and the napkin of doom.



After a bit, Nathan arrived and said he'd found the Austrians, programmed their GPS for the address and sent them over. They arrived before he did and became the center of attention. Michael and his wife were riding a Transalp and an Africa Twin around North America. They'd been in the country for three months when they happened upon our group. I spoke to Michael and found they were from western Austria. I mentioned I had been stationed in Erlangen near Furth/Nurenburg but apparently mangled the accent because they didn't know where I was walking about. When I gave it the rolling r they immediately knew where I had been.




With the exception of the Austrians, I'd had the longest ride so far at about 1800 miles.

At one point, someone asked if I was the guy in the Ronald McDonald photoshoped pic

Thanks again Rich, I'm a star

One of the folks I met was Brian (bdaleray). He's a member of the dc-cycles mailing list I was on when I lived in the DC area. We chatted for a bit and talked about the characters on the list.

The small group chatted for a little while after the BBQ broke up. We looked over the Austrians map of the US and where they'd been. Lots of riding there. He said that there were only three Africa Twins in the US. One in Florida and two in Seattle. It's been difficult to get spare parts when they're needed.

There was a consensus to hit the Black Bear Diner for breakfast at 7am which we all felt was too early

Figuring there'd be folks there at 7:30 or even 8, we decided to head over when we got up instead of trying to get up early and with that we hit the sack. There was some music playing in the distance but I was able to get to sleep without much problem.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 8 Ride Report

Bend, OR to Bay View State Park, WA
405.1 miles

At about 5:53 I woke up and started to break camp. The other guy also was up a few minutes later. Baxter was running his nose on the outside of my tent. As I got things cleaned up and started bringing my stuff to the bike and tying it in place, Baxter got in side and woke BluePoof up by licking her face. Sorry about that BluePoof

I was ready to go by 6:45 or so, so we headed over to get breakfast.

Mr. Ed was there waiting. Turns out no one told the manager that there was a larger group heading over for breakfast and we were asking for separate checks. I heard him calling other servers from home to take care of the extra guests and we were put into the conference room. It looked all set up for a meal so I figure there was another group coming for lunch. I'd ordered a short stack and a side of sausage. When it came it was gigantic. I was only able to eat about half before stopping. The Austrians, DD and BP arrived at 7:30 along with Peter, who'd said he wasn't going to come.

After some genial chatting with the others in the group, we started getting ready to go so I paid my bill and suited up. Michael asked me about the Aerostich and thought it was great that I could wear regular clothes under the gear and still be protected rather than wearing the leather pants they had.

After getting out to the lot and saying my goodbyes, I asked Peter about a Wal*Mart so I could get batteries and a sweatshirt since it was a bit chilly. I headed out, waving at ForceOne who was coming out of the hotel, stopped in at Wal*Mart and got my goods then headed off north. I was considering Crater Lake but I also had a bit of a schedule and figured that I might not make it home in time if I headed south so I decided on a northbound ride.



I was a tad agressive on the way up 97, passing when I could. I got behind a long line of cars, bikes, and RV's. I passed the last car then a white car to get behind the bikes. At one of the places where the lane goes to two lanes for passing, the guy in the white car came up on the right and was a little ahead when he decided he wanted to get in front of me. Nope, I'd just passed him so I wasn't letting him back in. I'd hung back a tad so I wasn't a part of the group of bikes so I closed up just a bit. When I looked over, he was red faced and screaming "arsehole". Of course his windows were up so no noise was coming out. I gave him the one fingered salute and he pulled in behind me, high beams on. Not long afterwards I was able to get by the rest of the group and the RV and hot footed it up the road.

I followed the same route back to Hood River stopping a couple of times for pics or to pee.



At the toll I gave her a ten and got back $9.50 in change. Hmm, I thought the toll was 75 cents. I did get back a 50 cent piece though so maybe it was her mistake.

I made a left on 14 then a right up 141. The road was pretty nice if a little heavily travelled. I was able to pass when necessary and with no problems. I was planning on taking 23 north to 12 and enjoying one of the back roads. I could see on the map that it was a dirt road for a couple of miles.



At the split for 90 the road turned to dirt. The sign said 17 miles of narrow road but there was little traffic. I hit the bushes for another break and headed on down the road.



Surprisingly there was more traffic than I'd expected. I got to 12, made the left and followed the same route I did on Friday to get past Seattle.

Once in a while I'd get a car full of 20 somethings that'd pull up next to me on the freeway and look over the 'busa

It's nice to be noticed.

After Seattle I pulled in to a gas station and called Rita. It was late enough that I didn't expect to make it as far as I wanted (past Vancouver) so I had to cut out one of the rides I'd planned following 99 up to 1. I was thinking of hitting the Van Zandt State Forest but Rita found Bay View State Park so I headed over there. The ranger said to find a spot and let them know which one I wanted. As I went through the park, I found that all the sites had "Reserved" on the little posts. I went back to ask if there was an available one and she said that they just hadn't turned the signs back around yet and that any without a little receipt was available. I snagged number 42 and got set up.



A guy on a Goldwing had the spot next to mine and we chatted briefly.

I was going to hit the showers but it turns out that they were coin operated and I'd used the last of my coins at the last gas station so I was out of luck. Rita and I chatted for half an hour, discussing routes and the costs for riding in Canada (cell phones were 60 cents a minute). I got ready for bed and hit the sack.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 9 Ride Report

Bay View State Park, WA to Whistler Campground, Alberta
553.2 miles

At 4:50 I woke up. I got my gear together noticing that the tent was rather damp from the dew. After getting packed up I headed out. I stopped at an IHOP for breakfast and chatted with Rita until the battery died on the cell then headed north. The morning was on the cool side, hovering around 50 degrees so I was glad to have the sweatshirt. As it started warming up to 60, I began shivering a little.

As always, when I approached the Canadian border at Sumas/Huntingdon I was a little apprehensive. He asked me if I'd been in Canada before (yes), where I was going (Jasper) and where I was from (Denver) then let me through. After going by I took it a little slow since I have to register the changed speed limits and keep an eye on the inside orange speedo reading. It took a bit to change my 70 miles = 1 hour vs 100 klicks = 1 hour rough thinking.

I stopped in Chilliwack to take a break and grab a soda from a Burger King. I chatted with an older guy who asked me about the bike. He thought the biggest problem would be with speeding tickets

The mountains in Canada heading up 1 were awe inspiring. On the side of the road the waterfalls coming right down to the freeway were quite beautiful. It's too bad that there was so much traffic and the shoulders were so narrow. I considered pulling off to get a pic or two but I needed to be in Jasper tonight

In cache creek while filling up, a couple pulled up on their Harley. He asked how fast I'd been on the bike and I told him 160. He said that I still had a ways to go, eh? The bike will go 300 klicks, right? It didn't dawn on me until I was on the way that he thought I'd gone 160 KPH and not 160 MPH. Had I known I would have told him that I'd gone 255 klicks

When I got up to 5 north, I was still admiring the mountains. There were Jersey barriers everywhere (I wonder what they're called in Canada) making it difficult to get a decent shot. The entire valley was glacially created so the peaks were high but the valleys were broad and rounded. Beautifully rounded and forested slopes up to the tree line looking like a green wash.



Something weird though. As I got closer to 16, the bridges seemed to be coated in kerosene. There were long tire trails exiting bridges and I kept to the tracks to try and avoid splashing too much up on the bike.

Finally at Avola the traffic cleared up enough and there were pullouts where I could stop and get a pic or two. There were still Jersey barriers though. I was heading by a great view when I realized there were no Jersey barriers so I turned around and got a nice pic.



Later I was able to do it again when traffic was on the light side.



At Valemount I met a couple of guys on bikes; one an SV and the other an open framed bike. We chatted briefly as we cleaned our helmets. They were heading up to Jasper too.

At the 16 intersection I made the right towards Jasper and as I came around the corner I spied Mt Robson at 3954 meters. That was awe inspiring. There was a rest area just on the other side of the pass but no good view so I looped through and then stopped on the shoulder with others to get a picture. I must say, the picture does not do it justice. The size of the mountain and it's imposing presence is just not able to be captured. It's much closer and higher than it appears in the pic. The peaks were scraping the lower layer of clouds clean and throwing a spray of snow and ice behind it like an upside down boat.



On my way in I followed a river up to Moose Lake. The river and lake were a milky green in color. Some quick checking and I wasn't able to find out what caused the color.

While heading in, I was passed by a guy on a Harley. He'd head by and then get stuck behind a car or RV until I caught up and passed him. A bit later he'd pass me again then the same thing'd start all over again. Finally he stopped at the info board outside of Jasper. About this time the two guys I'd met back in Valemount passed by and I got behind them at the light. After the light changed, the guy on the SV wheelied into town.

I had intended on camping at Jasper but first I wanted to check out the motels figuring that if it were cheap enough, I might just get a room instead. We normally do two days camping then a day in a room. When I got there though I fould out it was much like a ski town, like Vale, and that rooms were likely to be far out of my range. So I hopped on the bike and headed down to the first camp site at Whistlers. There was a bit of a line waiting to get in and someone was out with a sheet of paper and chatting with the folks in cars. I figure he was checking on the intentions since the car in front of me turned around and headed back out. When he got to me I found that they reserve spaces for motorcycles since our needs are much smaller than a camping car or someone with an RV or trailer. I got my spot, headed over and set up camp. After dinner I took my food over to the lockers and locked it up. No need for any visiting bears in the night

The frigging mosquitoes were gigantic. One got the back of my neck and the other got me through my pants and bicycle pants I was wearing underneath. Rita'd given me some oil to use (she doesn't like chemicals) which worked real well. I watched one mosquito hover around my hand until she landed on the sleeve of my sweatshirt and tried to drill for blood there. A swat ended that exploration. Since Rita hadn't heard from me, I took my cell phone and charger over to the bathroom and plugged it in. I sat outside reading a magazine until I had a couple of bars then gave her a quick call to let her know I'd arrived in Jasper and was ok. The noise in the campground was up a little but a couple of earplugs took care of that and I hit the sack.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 10 Ride Report

Whistler Campground, Alberta to Apgar Campground, MT
490.6 miles

At 3:30 I woke up and it was pretty chilly. In breaking down the camp, my fingers got quite cold. Since it was cold, I threw on an extra t-shirt as well as the sweatshirt. I got everything packed up and headed out. The camp was pretty quiet and there weren't many folks on the road at 7am.



As I left the campground and got on Icefields Parkway, there were a bunch of elk feeding on the side of the road. The roads were nice and empty for that time of the morning so I was able to snap a quick shot.



Unfortunately my thermometer said it was 40 but of course, with the wind chill it was a bit cooler. I got to the beginnings of the ice fields and had to stop for a break and tried to warm up. I hung out there for a good 15 minutes warming my hands on the bike exhaust and grabbing a snack for energy.



Several cars went by then a large group of bikes. I got suited up and headed on. The bikes had stopped at an overlook so I pulled in to take another break and get another picture.



I continued on to the Columbia Icefields and stopped at the information center at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier which is a part of the Columbia Icefields. The sign said not to go on the toe of the glacier as folks have died of hypothermia before rescuers could pull them from the crevasse.



Man, the mountains are so close yet so high! Pictures just don't do them justice. I started getting a bit warmer but still took another break for gas and to warm up at the intersection of 11. The temps were showing below 40 so getting warm was necessary.




After the park, Route 1 was very very busy. I stopped at Dead Man's Flat for gas then on to Calgary to get the chain tightened. For sure I must remember to put the socket and a 3/8" wrench in the gear list for next time. Plus some lube and the plexus stuff Dantesdame was using. I got to Calgary at about 12:30 and called Rita to see if she could find a bike shop. While I was waiting on her, I asked the guy behind the counter and he just said "north" and waved his hand. Outside I snagged a mailman and asked him. He pointed me to Bowcycle and gave me directions. I headed down there but they didn't have a 33mm socket, necessary to get the nut off of the axle. I didn't want to hang around until his crew returned from lunch so I asked if there was a Suzuki dealer around that might be able to help. He pointed me to GWCycleWorld off of 2 and gave me directions.

When I got there I asked how long it'd take to get my chain tightened and the service manager said his guys were all busy so it might be 60 to 90 minutes. Well, no help for it and I hung around waiting for them to finish. By 2:14pm I was finally out the door and heading south. I was appreciative of his efforts but you know, as a Harley rider too, I know the Harley dealers have a policy of dropping everything to get you back on the road and I kind of miss that. It was a great feeling that I could stop in anywhere and get back on the road as soon as possible. The nice thing was that it only costs 15 bucks Canadian so it was only expensive in time. Must remember the additional tools.

Traffic on 2 was a tad heavy. I got to the border without much fuss and by hauling arse since I was a couple of hours behind schedule and it was eating into my Glacier NP visiting time. I stopped for a quick shot of Glacier National Park and Montana before approaching the border.



I rolled up to the border and the guard asked what I did, where I lived, if I was bringing anything back into the states and to look at my ID. Computers, Colorado, nope and here you go.

I continued past the border and started hunting for the St. Mary entrance to Glacier National Park. At the intersection for the park, I stopped for gas and then pulled in for a bite to eat. A buffalo burger that was more bun than burger. A handful of soggy fries that I only had a few bites of and I was off into the park. Had I been there earlier, I might have pulled off to take in the sights but I saw that half the campgrounds were full so I figured I shouldn't dawdle. The drivers were coming towards me, looking at the sights and with the sun in their eyes. I spent most of my time keeping an eye on the drivers.

There were a couple of construction zones that reduced traffic to one way but mostly it was a fast, hairy trek to Lake McDonald. It seems other drivers had the same idea and were trying to get to the campsites before they were all gone. On the other side of the lake, I pulled in to the Apgar campground and went through the loops looking for a campsite. The first two were full (I started from loop D and went backwards since the other folks were heading to loop A). When I got to loop B, I found the last site. A little campsite that is good for a car or motorcycle. I pulled in, zipped down to the check in place and secured my site.



I figure that in the morning I can head back early and be able to take in the sights without much traffic trouble. I got my site setup, discovered that there was a large group of kids at the next site over who were a bit noisy. I headed out to the bathrooms and spotted a couple across the way at a campsite as well with a tent up. He was in his chair and she was massaging his feet. "Hey, can I be next?"

Turns out he's planning on riding up to Prudhoe Bay. next year. He'd taken his BMW up to Alaska last year and wanted to go the whole way next time. I got cleaned up, headed back to my tent, put in my earplugs and went to sleep to sweet tinnitus.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 11 Ride Report

Apgar Campground, MT to Miles City, MT
576.8 miles

I got up at the normal time of a few minutes before 6, got my gear together, cleaned up and headed up Going To The Sun Road. It was much better this morning, traffic being lighter. It was easier and safer to pull off and check out the view.

Of course the construction was still going on so the road was down to one lane in a couple of places. I got to the first one and there were a couple of bikes in the line. A BMW and something else I couldn't get a view of next to him. We moved on, around the hairpin and up the mountainside. I pulled off at a couple of places to take in the view. Rita and I'd been here a couple of years ago so it all looked familiar. About half way up, I pulled out and took a look at the famous hanging valley on Mt Oberlin.



I've been harassing Rita about doing some hiking and camping. This'd be a great place to go. I'd love to camp up there and check out the valley. At one of the pullouts, spotted the two bikers heading around one of the turns in front of a hanging valley and captured them along with a pic of the valley.



Just as I was getting to the last couple of turns approaching Logan Pass, I stopped to take a look at the valley and right next to the bike was a Marmot. He jumped up as I looked down and scurried down to the next rock, eyeing me warily. As he sat on the rock, he'd look out then down and then turn a hairy eyeball back to me.



I stopped at Logan Pass for a break and to grab a soda however the store was closed since they were repairing the roof. I chatted with the two guys. One was on a Honda sportbike. I wasn't able to see the model. They were heading up to Jasper and we chatted for a few minutes about weather and general conditions. They went out to take some pictures and I grabbed a quick snack. I was watching the lot and one of the chipmonks when I turned and saw someone taking a picture. Now I passed several folks taking odd pictures of flowers and the scenery but the angle of his camera said he was shooting pretty close by. I continued around and just across the lot, a deer was browsing at the edge of the lot.



I kept myself beside and behind the bike so I wouldn't startle him since other folks were starting to gather and get their pictures. After a few minutes of browsing, he hopped over the fence, across the road and up into the trees.



After getting out of the park, I headed south on 89. I'd spotted the Lewis And Clark National Forest and decided I wanted to check it out. The roads in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation were very quiet, very little traffic and you could easily see for long distances which made for the ability to get some speed up

I stopped in Browning for a break and the soda I didn't get at Logan Pass then continued on the Lewis And Clark Trail down to Great Falls.

It was getting pretty hot as I rolled into town. I pulled in to a gas station to locate a bike dealer. I'd run out of oil for the bike and the level was a tad low. I found a listing for "Steve's Suzuki", address of 4700 9th Street. I was on 10th Ave and I'd passed 14th Street coming into town and didn't see a 9th Street when I hit 6th Street. Scratching my head (figuratively), I crossed the river and got to 1st Street. Then 5th and then 9th Street when I made a left. The house numbers were going down so I looped around, got back on 10th Ave and made a right on 9th Street. Turns out 9th Street ends at about 2800. Hmmm, maybe it said 9th Ave. I turned back around and got to 9th Ave and made a left. The house numbers were in the triple digits and increasing until I got to about 800 at the river. Again I looped back to 10th Ave and stopped at a gas station. Filled up and asked the two clerks about the location. "Well, maybe 9th Street goes down to a field then continues on the other side." Seems they didn't understand how the streets were named either so I got a soda, geared up and headed out of town passing a Harley-Davidson dealer right on the main drag

I stopped on the side of the road after Belt after hitting a largish butterfly/moth and smelling the burst of fragrance of whatever it had ingested. I was changing the batteries on the GPS when I looked at the helmet.



Looks like I almost ingested a butterfly.

I made the right turn following 89 south and stopped at the overlook for Link no longer works . It was a nice little stop and I really didn't expect it since the rest of the ride has been pretty open. I stopped because I thought this was a bit unusual from my point of view. I was heading to the Lewis And Clark National Forest not really expecting much of a forest since I've always pictured eastern Montana as being fairly plains like so this was a bit of a surprise.



Next I headed down into the Lewis And Clark National Forest and boy was I surprised. The air started cooling down, a welcome relief, and there were quite a few trees. In fact, it was reminiscent of some of the areas in Colorado. Very familiar. I passed through Monarch and then went over Kings Hill Pass. On the other side at a pullout, there was a discussion of the Showdown Ski Area. Pretty cool stuff. I came around the bend and was on a nice long straightaway, rolling forest covered hills in the background.



As I was exiting the park, I spotted a sport-touring bike just finishing a U-turn. I went by them waving and looked at the mileage marker signs at the intersection. I decided that Harlowtown was a bit far away and that I needed some gas so I made the right and headed down to White Sulpher Springs. When I got there, the folks on the FJR pulled in behind me and went inside. I followed them inside and I chatted briefly with the guy. He was from Mexico and he and his wife had been to Jasper and were on their way back to Mexico. They lived smack in between Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Cool beans. We talked about Copper Canyon and he expressed concern that his rear tire would make it home. He asked me if there was a dealer in Jackson Hole where he might get a tire. I told him that I was sorry, I hadn't been there so I really didn't have an answer. I did say that there was sure to be a dealer somewhere on the way south.

While he was busy, his wife started out of the store and some guy asked her if her gear was hot. It was apparent that she didn't speak any english so I headed the guy off and told him the gear could be hot, especially while walking around, but that it was protection and that as the bikes got up to highway speeds, they tended to be cool enough. We chatted for a few more minutes. He and his wife were taking their daughter up to Alaska where she was going to be teaching. I suggested they might head up through Banff and Jasper National Park and take in some sights.

While the couple was suiting up and getting ready to get on the bike, I politely asked them if I could get a picture. "Of course," he says and they started to back away. "No no, with you guys in the picture

" They came back over and I was able to get a picture.



He said that when I came to Mexico, I should check in with the Iron Wind Moto Club for some hospitality.

I turned back around and followed 12 east. The lands started getting flatter again but not as flat as I'd expected and certainly not as flat as the Snake River Valley in Idaho. The heat was up there but not insanely bad (everything is compared with 107 in Idaho now

I passed small towns, some only towns in name. There were convoys of trucks with oversized loads coming my way periodically. As I passed Musselshell, a 22ft wide oversized load was slowly heading my way. The truck in front was forcing the cars and trucks ahead of me to the side of the road. She simply warned me though and I slowly motored by.

For a while as I approached Forsyth, the next town closer was Vananda. I figured that since it was actually on the signpost, it was another one of the smaller village type towns. Amazingly enough, when I got to Vananda, it was totally abandonded and all the buildings were long empty and falling in. Weird.

At Forsyth I made the left to get on 94. It was late enough that I was going to stop for the evening at Miles City. I stopped for a break at a rest area and checked the back tire on the bike. It was getting thinner than I'd expected. I was hoping to make it home on it, especially since I was only a days ride away. When I checked it, it looked like there were many small cracks in the tire. Not good news. Turns out it was just little fingers of rubber coming off of the tire from the heat and road friction.

I made it to Miles City and hit a Motel 6 so I could shower and sleep in a bed. The GPS was eating batteries like mad and I was stopping every couple of hours to change the batteries where just a couple of days before a pair would last throughout the day. I zipped over to Wal*Mart and replenished my supply just in case and headed back to the motel. I went to change the battery in the Autocomm and the connector broke. This was the second connector since the first one had broken off last year and I'd replaced it with a Radio Shack one. No music for tomorrow. Ah well, I had all the electronic devices plugged in for recharging so I hit the hay for a good nights sleep.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Day 12 Ride Report

Miles City, MT to Broomfield, CO
659.5 miles

As I was getting ready to go, I checked the tire again. Oh yea, I was going to have to change it soon. Maybe I can baby it until I get home.



In Baker, I stopped again to check the tire and saw a couple of threads. Too late and I'm in the middle of nowhere. I decided to continue on carefully and go as far as I could. I figured I may be forced to stop and hitch a ride to the next town with bike tires. I slowly continued on making the right turn in Bowman and heading south. I stopped again in Buffalo for gas and to check the tire. It seemed to be holding up pretty well. The showing thread didn't seem to be getting wider or longer so it was wearing better than I'd hoped. A couple stopped by on their old Harley and we chatted for a few minutes about the weather and the state of my tire.

It was about 70 miles to Belle Fourche, where a tire might be had and just a little farther to Spearfish just in case. Since the tire seemed to be holding up pretty well, I made a decision at the 168 fork and made a left intending on going into Sturgis instead of checking two towns that may not be able to accomodate me and forcing me on to Sturgis anyway. The guy on the Harley said that Sturgis was gearing up for the upcoming bike event and many vendors were in town. I might have a better chance there. So carefully I headed on down the road.

I made it to Sturgis and hunted up a phone book. I found the location of a dealer, got the address, checked the map in front of the phone book and headed on out. At the Sturgis BMW/Suzuki/... dealer, I pulled in and asked if they had a tire available. In fact they had 5 tires, all Metzler Sportecs. I'd intended on putting on Roadtecs when I got home, especially since these were more for twisties and not much good for distance riding but I was caught by the short hairs and they reamed me out pretty good. $300 total for the tire and change. Again, don't get me wrong. I was hurting. I might have made it home on the tire, but I really doubt it.



I spent an hour or so grabbing lunch and hanging around waiting on the bike to get finished. A couple had come in behind me on their BMW RT also needing a rear tire. I was ahead of them and there was another tire to be done at 2pm so they were in for a wait, unfortunately.

Turns out they have 5 or so bikes and three of them are stashed around the country. They'd fly in to a city where a bike was stashed and ride for a couple of weeks to the next big town, stash the bike and fly home. The RT had been ridden from LA to Phoenix and parked, then they flew back to Phoenix and rode up to Denver and parked it. This time they'd picked up the bike in Denver and was heading to Chicago. Sounded like an interesting idea.

We talked bikes and discussed the GS' that were on the showroom floor.

Once my bike was done, I loaded it back up, waved at the couple and headed on south again. The ride on 14 down to 85 was better this time than last time since I was on a sportbike and could enjoy the sweet curves. I headed over O'Neil Pass and into Wyoming. As I got to the edge of the plateau, I could see Wyoming spread wide in front of me. I was again a hot day with no prospect of it getting any cooler. I'd also intended on making it home tonight so there was no stopping.



I was stopping more and more often to change the batteries in the GPS. I was going to have to mount an accessories plug to the fairing for this and to charge the other gear while camping. The more I dicked around with batteries, the better the idea sounded.



While droning down the road, I pulled out the camera and got a nice picture of my "heads down display"

Then a pretty cool shadow pic.



As I got to Lusk, my chain was making quite a bit of nose. The BMW dealer had also adjusted the chain out to the farthest setting so I knew it was hosed yet again. My fault for not bringing my tools or lube to take care of the chain. I will know better next time.

In Cheyenne I stopped for gas and a soda. The lady behind the counter and I talked for a few minutes then she commented that there was freeway construction on 25 south of 80 to the Colorado border. I thanked her and stayed on 85 through town. 85 through Cheyenne was shorter than I'd expected and certainly more interesting than taking the freeway. As I approached the underpass for 80, a guy in a white pickup changed into the right lane and slowed down just a bit so I could come along side. He was telling his young daughter about the bike and she was sitting up as far as she could in order to see. As I moved off, I waved to them both and I could see her small hands waving above the dashboard.

I crossed the border into Colorado and spotted the familiar welcome sign. I stopped, looped around and got a Welcome Home picture.



I kept on heading south on 85. I was going to make a right and head over to 25 south, but someone apparently didn't want me to make that turn. I passed by corn fields, a processing plant spewing flame from one of its stacks and then made it to Greeley. I used the bypass and made a right on 34 heading over to 25 south. Just before 25 the GPS's battery cut out yet again and I was tired of it so I didn't stop and didn't worry about it. It was cool to have it and checking out the stats was interesting but it wasn't as capable as a more expensive model and following the side roads on the maps didn't need a fresh download of software.

I got on 25 south, dodged the insane traffic down to my exit and headed home.

 

[dm_gsxr]

One last thing. The reason there are three blank days there is that we spent those three days in Boise visiting Rita's Granddaughter. We tubed down the Boise River (damn cold) and went to see Lava Girl and Shark Boy. Pretty lame but she liked it.



And they have three dogs and three cats along with a rat. The two cats are ok, but they also have a beautiful pureblood Maine Coon Cat.



And that's it. Hope you enjoyed the report. All the pictures and the full sized ones are over on my site. You might want to wait a day or two before heading over

Thanks for reading.

http://www.schelin.org

Carl

 

[busahaya]

Wow, now that's what I call Road Trip

I'm sure you had a blast of a time

 

[dm_gsxr]

Absolutely. I find that I prefer to ride alone than with a group. I can stop when I want, go where I want and make impromptu changes to the route when necessary

But I do like heading off into the sunset every once in a while

Carl

 

[expat]

Great report! Sounds like a great ride, except for the dirt roads...

When were you in Erlangen? I'm living in Fürth now...

 

[cache]

holy hell.

you just did the mirror image of what my father does, but he does it on a mountain bike, and all over the world..... I'm gonna have to show him this thread!
fyi here is his site: Cycletourist.com and he still lives in Boulder.

 

[dm_gsxr]

Great report! Sounds like a great ride, except for the dirt roads...

When were you in Erlangen? I'm living in Fürth now...

I was stationed there from 1978 to 1980. Only two years since my (ex)wife didn't want to accompany me. I enjoyed myself even if I only had 80 bucks a month for spending money. I rode the bus around, visiting the local areas. I couldn't go to the border since I had a security clearance (well, I could but it was a bunch of paperwork before I could go and it was too much trouble).

I was stationed at the armored infantry unit as a graphics artist. Making training charts, painting logos and whatnot. I doubt it's lasted this long however I created the unit shields that were mounted on the column in front of the HQ building in Erlangen. It'd be great if they were still there but unlikely

Lots of youthful fun

Carl

Edit: Oh and the dirt roads were quite a bit of fun as well. You can't see everything by slabbing your way around the country

There were some interesting moments but the bike can take it. I wouldn't want to do it all the time on the bike, but if I'm in a situation where I go forward or backward, it's nice to know she can handle the rocks reasonably well.

A dual-sport 'busa. I just need knobby tires



<!--EDIT|dm_gsxr
Reason for Edit: None given...|1123003296 -->

 

[dm_gsxr]

holy hell.

you just did the mirror image of what my father does, but he does it on a mountain bike, and all over the world..... I'm gonna have to show him this thread!
fyi here is his site: Cycletourist.com and he still lives in Boulder.

What can I say? I like to ride. I got to 140mph coming down 89 in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. It's hard to do that sort of thing in safety around metro areas like Denver. The local popo's just don't look upon that kindly

Looking 10 miles down a straightaway and not seeing an animal, car, or even farmhouse and you just want to open her up. It's probably the reason my rear tire didn't last as long as it might have Heat and speed aren't good for tires. Ask the track guys

I can't get much farther than 19 miles or so on my bicycle before a ligament in my knee starts complaining and I limp for three days afterwards. Tends to make for short bicycle trips One of the guys at work rides his bicycle to work every day, rain or shine. I wish I could do that. Good on your dad for being able ride

Carl

 

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wow, I wish I could take the time to do that