There's no place like home...

start 9:15, 14796
end 14:15, unknown (15020, approx)

We made the last 250 miles yesterday. Started in Lexington, NE and ended 33 miles from home in Clay Center, KS with a flat rear tire. That was the excitement of the day. And we are home and back to daily life.

I wish vacation lasted forever...I guess that's what retirement is!

Just getting there

start 9:30, 14381
end 19:30, 14796

Yesterday was all about getting home. We started in Casper, WY altering our route a bit from what we originally planned and stopped in Lexington, NE.

Our first stop was in Dwyer, WY at a rest area at the intersection of I-25 and US26. A VFW group had cookies and drinks. An older man with a Korean War Veteran hat stopped me because he saw the Big Red One pin on my hat. We stopped and chatted with them and had cookies and Arnold Palmers. That was pretty much the excitement for the day.

Except that Ryan got stopped for speeding! I almost forgot! Hysterical. We were somewhere in Nebraska after lunch. We were cruising along making good time.  When we crested a hill there was a Highway Patrol Officer in the oncoming lane. He immediately pulled a u-turn and stopped us. Ryan thinks he was going 78 in a 65, but the warning ticket didn't say for sure. The officer was nice about it. Checked everything and sent us on our way.

We did a good deal of interstate riding just trying to make time. The riding was good. There were only a few periods of really windy riding. We are only 250 miles from home this morning. Should  be home by early afternoon.

Yellowstone to Mama Sage

start 9:38, 14022

end, 19:30, 14381

This morning we started the day in Gardiner, MT just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone. We went on a quick 2 mile run. Would've gone longer, but we ran from one end of town and back again. It was a small town. There was no one else in town running, except an elk. She was uninterested in us and continued to eat her breakfast. The locals looked at us oddly for running. 

We entered Yellowstone at 9:38 and toured for about three hours. We saw the Mammoth Hot Spring, a mud geyser, mud volcano and the Fishing Bridge. The first two and a half hours of sightseeing were fantastic. The last bit was nerve wracking for me. The first incident was a herd of Bison on the road. Not a big deal when you are in a car, but on the motorcycle, it was scary. If one of those guys got spooked and charged us we would have been knocked off of the bike easily. As it was, they ate grass and meandered with no interest in us or any of the other cars. After sitting for about 10 minutes they cleared the way and we moved on. Not really a big deal, but my heart was racing. I did get some great pictures. 

We continued through the park toward the East entrance through the Sylvan pass at over 8400 ft. Going down the pass around Yellowstone Lake was when the real trouble began. The clouds were closing in around us and we really needed to boogie as quickly as the roads would allow. As luck would have it, there was a very cautious driver in front of us going about 25 - 30mph, when the speed limit was 45. Frustrating. And we ended up getting wet. Finally there was a passing lane and Ryan was able to get around them and get us out of the path of the bad part of the storm.

We exited the park through beautiful scenery into Cody, WY. It was a quaint town and looked like it had neat offerings. Unfortunately as we stopped to find a place for lunch, Ryan pulled up the weather and saw there was a severe weather alert forecasting hail and severe thunderstorms in the next 45 minutes. We decided to jet. 

We rode on to Thermopolis, WY with every plan to stop for lunch. There was no restaurant in sight. We stopped at an Exxon. It was there we had our oddity sighting of the day. If you are familiar with Sons of Anarchy, Jax, Piney, Tig, Juice, a couple of others and two "old ladies" on the back of bikes rode in. They were an intimidating group. They all had on cuts of some club name, est in 1977. I wish I could recall the name. The one guy I'm referring to as Jax paid for all the fuel. Everyone had a smoke break and waited on him to go inside. I wasn't in the gas station but I am certain there was a pay off, drug deal or some other nefarious deed. The two females were the most interesting to me. They were in jeans and various accoutrement tied about themselves. One looked like Pocahontas in tall leather Minnetoka boots and the other was definitely a "lady of the evening" in a skin tight top and five inch spiked platform purple suede heels. All of the group appeared to need a thorough cleaning and some personal hygiene and maintenance. Needless to say, we were not invited to be part of their group.However, a "Rider for Christ" gave us a card and asked us to join. Oddly, though, he did not approach the Sons!

We pressed on through some rugged terrain in Wyoming. Learned that "mama sage" supports all kinds of wildlife in the area. 

The hours were long and the miles few, but we finally made it Casper for the night. We had a swim at the hotel, did laundry and had a dinner at Outback. We are ready to ride for the next two days and get home Sunday so we can recover and prepare for work on Tuesday.

pine tree hallway rain dodging

start 9:00,  13794
end 17:43, 14022

Today was a day of riding, beautiful riding. It was chilly to start around Flathead Lake and the Flathead Valley. We passed by several lakes, one of which was the longest lake without a dam, Swan Lake. We rode through several summer lake communities and they were lovely. By midday when we got to Helena it was warm. We stopped for lunch at the Brewhouse and had a delicious pizza and homemade sweet potato fries. I wish we'd have been stopping for the day because they had 19 fantastic beers on tap. We continued on to Bozeman where we stopped to let a huge rain storm pass. The storm was just in front of us and looked ominous. Luckily with Ryan's weather forecasting skills we completely avoided all parts of the storm (except the wind).  In Livingston, 27 miles east of Bozeman, we turned south toward Yellowstone. There was standing water on the sides of the road but the roads themselves were dry and the sun was back out!

We arrived in Gardiner, MT about 5:45p and checked into the Travelodge...yes the Travelodge. It is fantastic. I cannot believe how clean everything is. The proprietors are also super. They left a welcome note on the bed and the nightstand thanking us for staying. Plus, we got the best recommendation for dinner. We ate at the Raven Grill. It was fantastic. The special was pine nut crusted salmon in vanilla buerre blanc with a pineapple salsa reduction served with Delmonico potatoes and fresh squash. It was delightful to have something that was freshly prepared and not deep fried straight off the back of a Sysco truck.

The vistas today were amazing and changed considerable through the day. This morning it was lake side greenery, midday we were surrounded by pine trees by tonight we are in the rolling grassy hills going into Yellowstone. The one bit of sightseeing in Yellowstone tonight was the Roosevelt Arch dedicating the park in 1872. It was close enough to the hotel to walk to. So beautiful!

Tomorrow we will spend most of the day in the Park and finish the day in Casper, WY.

clearly relaxing

day five - 13654 start and 13654 end

Today was awesome. We woke up to a cloudy rainy moring. No worries, Ryan made a big breakfast and we sat on the porch reading and relaxing. After lunch the skies cleared and we walked down the hill from the cabin to Yellow Bay State Park on Flathead Lake. The water is brilliantly clear and "refreshing" at maybe 68 degrees. We swam and sat by the lake for a few hours. Then we came back up the hill for dinner on the grill and to watch the sunset. It has been a great 36 hours of nothing and we are refreshed and ready for the trip home. This is definitely someplace we will visit again and stay for as long as possible.

Tomorrow we ride to Gardiner, MT just outside the North entrance to Yellowstone Park. Should be a quick 350 miles.

Going to the Sun

departure 8:15, 13236
arrival 6:30p, 13654

Day Four started with a nice breakfast and hospitality from the Innkeeper at the All Seasons Inn in White Sulphur Springs, MT. We lolly gagged a bit because 54 degrees is just too cold to start a ride when you only have summer gear with you. Once we were on the road we only made it 30 minutes before we had to stop and warm up. We stopped in Neihart, MT. The place we originally planned to camp. I am so glad we didn't! There were serious thunderstorms the previous night with a half of inch of rain and it was about 40 degrees. Learned that from the proprietors of the General "inconvenience" Store where we stopped to defrost. They were lovely folks. They even turned on a heater for me to de-ice my fingers! Also, got to play with their dog Tip for a few minutes. A great start to the day.

Back on the road we continued to Great Falls, MT for a refuel stop. A short 158 miles later we were in St. Mary's, MT. Along the way, between Browning and St. Mary's we saw horse and cattle free range roaming along the road. It's was a bit nerve wracking to come around a curve to see a giant cow standing in the road. It was neat to look off to the side of the road and see an entire herd of cattle just hanging out in the trees. Reason numbers 123-146 why we do not ride the motorcycle at night!

In St. Mary's we entered Glacier National Park on Going to the Sun Road. Just as anticipated it was stunning. St. Mary's Lake is gorgeous. Unfortunately, all the scenic pull outs were closed for construction and we couldn't stop for any pictures. I did snap 100's on the camera from the back of the motorcycle. Once we are back home I'll upload all the links. We continued through the park and through Logan's Pass at 6647 feet elevation. Surprisingly lower in elevation than expected. This marks the Continental Divide. After the pass it was a downhill ride to the valley, McDonald Lake and parallel to a mountain creek. The water was rushing and amazingly clear. When we exited the park we stopped for ice cream and a a little rest.

The final leg of yesterday's trip brought us to Flathead Lake and a rustic (fully restored) 1935 cabin. Getting here was a trick. Really it was only the last bit from the road up the hill to the cabin that was a challenge. Ryan had to navigate the motorcycle two up, fully loaded, narrow uphill sharp right turn, from another narrow uphill road with a ditch drop off to the left on loose gravel. GO! It turned out fine and was well worth it. The sunset views are nothing short of spectacular. We are nestled in a cherry orchard with incredible views of the lake.

Today is overcast and chilly, but we are sitting on the porch of the cabin reading, blogging and relaxing. Later we plan to walk over to Yellow Bay State Park for swimming and laying on the beach. This promises to be a fantastic relaxed day to recover for the ride home.

 

Going the distance

start 7am,  12794

end 4:45pm, 13236

Just to recap the tent camping. It was not as terrible as it could have been. That said I was promised that I would not get rained on. At midnight, I was gently awakened by someone telling me that the rain cover needed to go on the tent. I took that as a hint that I needed to  help secure all the gear. It was starting to sprinkle and real rain was on the way! Dang it. Other than that it was OK.  I had plenty of room. I was warm. The ground wasn't all that hard. And even the rain shower was fine. All the gear was secured and the cover was on the tent so I stayed completely dry. My one legitimate complaint was the number of mosquitos this morning! Ridiculous. Mosquitos almost never bite me and I have bites on my face, arms and ankles. 

We woke up at the crack of dawn, literally. Trucks started rolling on the highway by the campground. We hustled up to escape the bugs and had two states behind us and two hours of riding done before we stopped for breakfast at Broadus, MT. The Cashway Cafe was all locals. The one waitress knew everyone (other than us) as they walked in and started their breakfast for them. It was exactly where Ryan described wanting to eat breakfast. I hardy breakfast and we got on the road for the most desolate ride ever.

The scenery was beautiful but there was no one else anywhere. We set waypoints in the GPS to stay on the scenic route we'd chosen. We thought they would be decent places to stop for gas and rest. Nope. Not so much.  On US-212the only place we saw people was a Welstone, MT at Jake's garage. It was so hospitable. The man I assume was Jake came out to pump the gas, although Ryan was already working on it. We chatted for about 15 minuted while we had water and rested a bit. The was another business full of locals. A couple guys in pick-up trucks pulled in and pulled up a stool at the counter and just chatted a bit. I liked it.

From there we continued through gorgeous. Again no other people. What there was, was wind. It was gusting like mad all day. I think there were a few times that I almost blew off the motorcycle. We pushed on because today was all about doing miles. 

We stopped for lunch at the Pioneer Cafe in Roundup, MT. Fantastic pie! The owner/pie maker was super chatty and friendly.

About three hours later we stopped for the night in White Sulphur Springs, MT. To get there we rode through some summer storms. The rain wasn't bad. It was the wind. Got a little scary for me, but all was fine. Certainly glad that we are in a hotel tonight. There are thunderstorms all around. It has been a nice night to recoup, did laundry, watched a bit of baseball, and had ice cream cones for dessert.

After a good night's sleep we are looking forward to Going to the Sun road in Glacier  tomorrow and getting to the cabin at Flathead Lake for the next two nights.

Badlands to the Bone

start 9:00, 12526 end 17:45 12794

What a perfect start to the day. We woke up at 6:15. It was pitch black out. But we went outside and the temperature was fantastic. By 6:30 we were on the cowboy trail, an abandoned train track that has been converted to a run/walk/bike trail.  We started at the hotel and ran an easy 4.5 miles to a gorgeous train bridge that has been rebuilt to accommodate foot traffic. We took some incredible sunrise  pictures. It was then that I knew why I started running. It is to see that kind of thing. If I wasn't a runner I'd've been in bed sleeping the beautiful day away.  

We got back to the hotel for a breakfast that was totally decent for a budget lodge in Valentine, SD, but seriously lacked fresh fruit, or any fresh items. The proprietor was a chatty man. I learned all sorts of things in the 10 minutes of conservation I had with him.... Two weeks ago there was a hail storm, there was a huge wedding in town, there is road construction going on all around and be on the look out for road workers! He was a talker!

After breakfast we set off for the Badlands. It was not a far ride from Valentine. Once we arrived in the Badlands the scenery was amazing. It was not really what I expected. Although, I'm not sure what I thought it would be. It was much smaller, but still, what geological formations do are incredible. I took 100 pictures, literally. But all of them are on an old school camera and I will upload them when I get home. One of the cutest things we saw was the millions of prairie dogs all over the area. They are the preferred food of the black footed ferret, and their multitude have brought the ferrets out of extinction. It's a shame they are just there for food because dang they are cute.

As soon as we exited the Badlands National Park, the first sign we saw was for Wall Drug in Wall, SD. I'd never heard of the store, but apparently it is a marketing marvel. We had time, so we stopped. It was an emporium for all things roadside kitsch. I had a blast. We had a lunch and milkshake from one of the three different restaurants inside the store

After Wall  it was a quick ride on I-90, just after a thunderstorm, which cooled things considerably, through Rapid City and then to Sturgis.  Sturgis was empty! We are two weeks past the rally so there is nothing going on. But we got some great deals on t-shirts and saw the town. Oddly, there were about 20 European folks in Harley Davidson Sturgis. It was unusual to here something other than English being spoken by most of the people in an HD shop in the midwest.

After Sturgis we made our way to Belle Fourche, SD for the night. (the "r" isn't pronounced. it is bell foo-shhhh) It was a short day of riding, but much needed as tomorrow is the longest day of our trip. 

Tonight we are staying at Wyatt's (no relation to the Earps) hideaway campground in a shelter half provided by the Army. It is close quarters. We'll see how it goes. Tomorrow is lots of riding and no sightseeing.

Running Against the wind...

Day 1, departed 9:45a at 12060 miles on the odometer. Arrived in Valentine, NE at 7:00p  with 12486  on the odometer.

Today we spent the day getting miles away from home. Kansas and Nebraska lived up to their windy reputation. Riding west was brutally windy. Passing the numerous cattle transport trucks nearly blew us over. Luckily we have a bog bike! Not much sightseeing. Most of the Kansas area we rode through is the area where I work. There is not much to see in Nebraska where we rode. It was 89% boring. From my time in Nebraska,  I can report the corn looks healthy and cows are crazy. That is all.

On one of our rest stops we happened upon a lovely little garden on the side of US-281, in Bartlett, Nebraska. It was a welcome relief. Nice and shady with pump water fountain. There were pretty rosebushes surrounding the park. Someone took great care of the area. One of the highlights of the day.

As we arrived in Valentine dinner was necessary before going to the campground. We stopped at what looked like a great place to get a quick meal, Jordan's Sports Bar and Grill. The parking lot was half full, which is generally a good sign. When we walked in there was NO ONE else in the restaurant! So we walked two doors down to the Peppermill Steakhouse (their parking lot overflowed into Jordan's - oops) and had a great steak. It was advertised as locally raised beef. I'm certain it was one of the crazy cows from earlier in the day.

Feeling full and ready for a shower we headed off to the campground. Almost as quickly as we pulled into the Riverside Campground's gravel road and mini go-kart track, Ryan suggested we find a hotel for the night. Score! Like I'm going to turn down a bed and indoor plumbing for a shelter half and sleeping on the ground! So here I sit in a very basic but spotlessly clean room in the Trade Winds Motel.

Tomorrow is an early start. We are running the cowboy trail, heading to the Badlands and Sturgis!

And they're off...

It's been a while, four years really, since we've blogged. Now we are off on another motorcycle adventure we'd like to share with friends and family. In a few hours we take off for Glacier National Park for round two of the National Parks tours. We'll ride through the Badlands and Sturgis enroute to Glacier. We have a cabin reserved on Flathead Lake MT for two days mid trip. Really looking forward to that. On the return trip we will go back through Yellowstone to see the other side of the Park. We are hoping for some oddities, good food and beautiful runs along the way. In prep for the trip there was a mile long list of "to-do's". Of course, I started that a 4:00 this afternoon. One was making food for Maggie for 10 days since she only eats people food! I also had a ton of tomatoes and cucumbers to can so they didn't spoil while we are away.  There's a picture of the kitchen that pretty well sums up the chaos of the night's prep! Please join us for the ride! Now I've got to get some sleep. Someone wants to be on the road by 8:00!!!