Into The Unknown - An Anti-Ride Report.

[puppychow]

Into The Unknown, because some of the territory that I covered, I had never been to before, so technically it was unknown to me. Why Anti-Ride? No, it doesn't mean I am against riding, but simply because the journey comprised of the "opposite of" riding - namely driving. Why would I do that? Well, because of an FJR which has been unreliable as of late.

Anyhow, the link is below pointing to some pictures that I took, and by comparison to my previous ride reports, I hardly took any..

https://motorcyclewanderings.blogspot.com/2013/09/into-unknown-in-idaho-montana-and.html

Thank you for looking!

 

[Fred W]

Nice photo work. It's a shame that you didn't get to ride that trip, but it probably made it easier to carry more photographic gear.

International Harvester was a combination of two farm machinery companies at the turn of the 19th century (McCormack and someone else). They also made some hella good light duty pickup trucks and all wheel drive vehicles. Later on they concentrated on larger truck frames and I think they still do business as Navistar

My Dad owned a 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive pickup back in the '70s. We called it big red. He bought it used when they first moved up to Maine. I believe it was a late 60's model year and had 30-40k miles when he bought it. He had a pretty long gravel driveway to plow and that truck was an awesome bruiser. The bed got rusty after a while so my Dad yanked it off and replaced it with oak. Then the cab floor rusted through so some strategic patching was required. The last few years he owned it he didn't bother registering it, just kept it on the property.

After plowing with that truck for 20 years, when they decided to move into Portland to be closer to hospitals and doctors he sold it off to a local (country) guy for almost what he originally paid, and the new owner was ecstatic. It's probably still running, and plowing, now. They were damn good trucks.

 

[GeorgiaRoller]

TFS!...Nicely done!

Jenny Lake and hiking up into the Tetons and visiting the remote alpine lakes in the higher elevations is on my short list of things to do. I hoping to take my son to do just that next summer for his 16th birthday.

 

[rogdeb]

Excellent Sam

Did the Tetons, etc a couple of months ago and got to see Jenny Lake ourselves -- beautiful

 

[gixxerjasen]

Beautiful photos. If you had not have included pictures of the car I wouldn't have known.

 

[Spud]

Jenny's lake is really nice. If you get over there, plan on stopping a few hours. The park runs shuttle boats to the other side of the lake, and there is a spectacular waterfall and view point about 1 1/2 miles hike from the shore. I was just there last weekend...90 miles of twisty mountain roads get me there from home

 

[Bugnatr]

Very nice indeed Sam.

Your car is too clean.

 

[puppychow]

Nice photo work. It's a shame that you didn't get to ride that trip, but it probably made it easier to carry more photographic gear.

International Harvester

........

........

They were damn good trucks.

Thanks Fred! Yes, it was a real bummer that I couldn't take the FJR. I felt a little defeated by it, you know how it goes when the bike isn't working as it should, and you can't figure out exactly why? Thanks for the information about International trucks. This was the first time I had seen one in any kind of condition. I wish I had the time to take some more pictures of it and some of the mining equipment strewn around it, but seconds after that shot, the skies opened up with some heavy rain and I had to cover the camera and run...

TFS!...Nicely done!
Jenny Lake and hiking up into the Tetons and visiting the remote alpine lakes in the higher elevations is on my short list of things to do. I hoping to take my son to do just that next summer for his 16th birthday.

Thanks Nathan! It is some of the most dramatically beautiful country that I had seen. I didn't have time for much hiking. It was a whirlwind spin through the area, I spent a lot of time in Big Sky itself instead of roaming around aimlessly, I was volunteering at an LD rally event and prioritize that and the people I hadn't seen in a long time over the vanishing to see the sights.

When I did however take a day to tour a little, I had a traveling companion, with whom I had some mis-communication as to how long of a day this would be, and she wasn't a happy camper at all as the day grew long, so my stops to hike or find the perfect spot to photograph were very limited as I sprinted us back to base camp.

I see this as a scouting trip, I will be back for more and as you say TFS!

Excellent Sam

Did the Tetons, etc a couple of months ago and got to see Jenny Lake ourselves -- beautiful

Thank you! Indeed it is a very pretty area, I just wish I had at least a couple days to spend in the park. To take pictures at different times of day. I was there just one afternoon, and the Tetons were already in the shadow..

Beautiful photos. If you had not have included pictures of the car I wouldn't have known.

Thanks Jason! It was a car trip, there were no secrets about it, I got enough **** for showing up at a motorcycle rally in a car. No point pretending I was on a motorcycle in the ARR (Anit-Ride Report).

Jenny's lake is really nice. If you get over there, plan on stopping a few hours. The park runs shuttle boats to the other side of the lake, and there is a spectacular waterfall and view point about 1 1/2 miles hike from the shore. I was just there last weekend...90 miles of twisty mountain roads get me there from home

Thanks Spud! Your touring tips helped me a lot last time I was in the area, but never got the chance to get into the parks. Something always came up this year it seems. I heard about the waterfall and the hike when we had lunch at one of the lodges, I don't recall which one. Although, my traveling companion for the day was having none of it, she isn't coming with next time! LOL.

Very nice indeed Sam.
Your car is too clean.

Thanks Dougie bear, you should have seen it by the time it got home..it wasn't so pretty then!

 

[dcarver]

Either your camera is improving or you read a book?

 

[puppychow]

I am in the market for a new camera Don. This one has me working so hard and failing me in low light conditions.

A Canon 70D might fit the bill, but it is so darn new, I am waiting for it to officially come out this month so people can get some real reviews out there...otherwise a Nikon might do, but I didnt really like the Nikon user interface..in manual mode, and I don't want to buy it and put it in auto mode and end up with a glorified point and shoot.

 

[GeorgiaRoller]

This one has me working so hard and failing me in low light conditions.

Just a thought. But in low light a suggestion would be to increase your camera exposure setting up to allow more light to enter. Sometimes just a 1/3 or 1/2 of a stop can make a big difference. Also having a tri-pod (not sure if you use one or not) is really key so you can do longer exposures without handheld camera shake. It can be almost dark outside but a 1/2 sec exposure or more will make it look quite bright.

I use "Aperture Priority" mode during the daylight hours almost exclusively and in early morning or late evening low light hours I switch to "Shutter Priority" mode with a tri-pod for longer exposures & to increase light when shooting moving water scenes. Once you start using a tri-pod you'll very rarely take hand held shots again.

Also watch your White Balance setting. "Auto" does a decent job most of the time, but in dim light or overcast skies I always switch the WB mode to "Cloudy" and the landscape colors POP much better.

In the next year or so I'm looking to add a nice DSLR setup to my current bridge camera...$$$$

...but in the meantime the bridge camera still takes some pretty good shots. I've just been trying to learn to maximize it's ability while I have it.

Awesome "scouting trip" man!!!

 

[puppychow]

Thanks Nathan! I will try your suggestions. Although, I am not alone in complaining about this camera's low-light performance. I think Panasonic did it's customers a great dis-service when it crammed 14.1MP into a sensor barely adequate for 12MP. More is not always better, so this camera suffers from some image quality issues except in good lighting. Panasonic went back to 12MP for it's successors.

I hadn't been playing with any WB settings. I will try your suggestions, the next time around. Fall is coming soon and that makes for some spectacular skies and sunsets here in the Sierra mountains. A good time to try your suggestions.

Thanks again!

 

[Tyler]

I love your photos, Sam... whether in a car or on the bike... and the Teton shots reminded me I need to put that on my list of places to visit! B)

 

[GeorgiaRoller]

Thanks Nathan! I will try your suggestions. Although, I am not alone in complaining about this camera's low-light performance. I think Panasonic did it's customers a great dis-service when it crammed 14.1MP into a sensor barely adequate for 12MP. More is not always better, so this camera suffers from some image quality issues except in good lighting. Panasonic went back to 12MP for it's successors.
I hadn't been playing with any WB settings. I will try your suggestions, the next time around. Fall is coming soon and that makes for some spectacular skies and sunsets here in the Sierra mountains. A good time to try your suggestions.

Thanks again!

10-4

Fall is by far my most favorite time of year. I've been looking at some blogs for the High Sierra's...absolutely epic. Looks like you guys get some foliage color the end of Sept in the high elevations. I'll be ready to see your shots of the beautiful west that you call home.

 

[puppychow]

I love your photos, Sam... whether in a car or on the bike... and the Teton shots reminded me I need to put that on my list of places to visit!

Thanks Tyler! :hugs: You would love the Tetons! Be careful, if you wander off into the countryside, it is Bear country, well basically Big animal country..

Thanks Nathan! I will try your suggestions. Although, I am not alone in complaining about this camera's low-light performance. I think Panasonic did it's customers a great dis-service when it crammed 14.1MP into a sensor barely adequate for 12MP. More is not always better, so this camera suffers from some image quality issues except in good lighting. Panasonic went back to 12MP for it's successors.
I hadn't been playing with any WB settings. I will try your suggestions, the next time around. Fall is coming soon and that makes for some spectacular skies and sunsets here in the Sierra mountains. A good time to try your suggestions.

Thanks again!

10-4

Fall is by far my most favorite time of year. I've been looking at some blogs for the High Sierra's...absolutely epic. Looks like you guys get some foliage color the end of Sept in the high elevations. I'll be ready to see your shots of the beautiful west that you call home.

Come visit sometime! Seriously!