Westward Ho!!

[grnarrowe]

DAY 9 Continued

Tree along the rocks at the Sunlight Bridge.

We left the Sunlight bridge and continued towards Coocke City, MT for lunch. They say to allow an hour for the Chief but after an hour we may have gotten to the overlook, figure on 3 hours if you plan on stopping often, which we did.

With views like these you just HAVE to stop.

Here it is July and there's still snow up there! COOL!!! or cold.

Vickis FJR at the "you are here" sign. How do they know where I'm at?? :blink:

My 05, same place.

SEE!!! They have an arrow pointing to where we're at!! They're watching us.

The Beartooth.

There's even a river that runs along side of the Chief Joseph. You know, the entire time we were out west and with all the rivers that were along side the roads we were on, not once did I put a hand into the water. Now I'm wondering just how cold is that water?

Well just after these photos we got into Cooke City where we stopped for lunch at the Soda Butte Lodge again. We got the same waitress and had a different selection from their menu, bison I believe.

Chili came along..

Ate our food and didn't pay up. Little guy can eat too!!

The Yellowstone trading post where we had picked up a few things the day before.

It was then time to head back to Cody back down the Chief Joseph. I had seen a few spots where I wanted to stop for more photos.

This was one of those spots.

Same spot.

Leaving the Beartooth behind.

But there are more curves ahead of us yet to come.

One last look at the Beartooth.

More falls


Then it was back towards the Dead Indian overlook. The corners up until then were mostly sweepers you could take a t a good clip.

BUt as you start to really climb you need to slow down just a tad.

Actually you can take this at 30, and if you have a good front tire, maybe 40. Lots-O-fun here.

We stopped at the overlook again just to use the restrooms then it was back to Cody for dinner.

Leaving the Chief Joseph.

Me taking a picture of Vicki.

Where? I couldn't see where the road had been damaged.

Doesn't look damaged from here.

Or here.

Thus ended our ride of the Chief Joseph.

 

[grnarrowe]

DAY 9 Continued
We then headed back to Cody and the Irma Hotel for dinner. The Irma was built by Buffalo Bill Cody and named after his daughter. We had the prime rib buffette, it was okay not stellar. But the dinning area and bar were really cool. As we were leaving the hotel to go for dinner this pickup truck, Toyota Tundra, pulls in, they were from Alaska! And I thought we were a long way from home.

Dining area and bar at the Irma.

The old switchboard at the hotel.

The Irma hotel in Cody, WY.

After this we went back to our hotel and packed our gear and just got ready for tomorrows ride. I had plans but once again time & some road construction got in the way. Tomorrows route would take us to Spearfish SD.


More to come. Stay tuned.........

 

[Murph]

Oh yea! That definitely looks like fun.

Great road pic!

This is a great report! :thumbsup:

 

[grnarrowe]

Lets continue with

DAY 10
Today's route.

Today would actually start us on our way home.

After breakfast we got ice for the thermoses(sp?) or thermi then got gas water and air for the tires then it was east on US14A. I had looked at a map for a route home ward and decided that 14A to 14 to I-90 to US-212 then down to Devils Tower then east on I-90 to Spearfish, SD would be a good route for the day. So we head east on US-14A out of Cody, WY at first it's a fairly staright road but that all changed as we got closer to the Yellowtail Reservoir. Here the road started to climb and twist.

Now for some reason this bothered me, it may have been a combination of the 7% grade and that the road had been repaired or in need of repair. It looks like a slide had damaged the road and there was rock on one side of the road and AIR on the other side. The Beartooth did not bug me at all but this road did!

But the views from up here were something else.

US-14A in WY. You may be able to see the steepness in this road.

DO NOT miss a turn here!

We were close to the tree line here as well. We found a spot to take a break,

I think it was near Bald Mountain, we then found ourselves on a high plain. There was snow in some spots and there was barely any traffic here. For some reason I did not stop for photos, it was so peaceful here that I just wanted to keep going. It was also a bit chilly up here but not bad. After a while 14A became US-14 and we started down the other side of the mountain we were on. This did not bother me at all, don't know why but it was no big deal.

We stopped at this turn out for a few photos.

These were taken at Fallen City. The rock formation that broke away here is said to look like buildings that have toppled over, looks like rocks to me. We pressed on down the twisty road where we got stuck behind a pick up truck. He eventualy pulled over so we got to do most of the switch backs at a fairly good pace.

We pulled into Ranchester, WY about 11AM or so. We found a gas stop with a cafe right next door so we gassed up the bikes then went to get our own gas. I noticed a VFR with FJR bags on it AND it had Illinois plates on it. After gassing up we headed west on I-90, that's what the sign said but we were actually going north to Crow Agency, MT.

Crossing back in to Montana for the 735th time, or so it seemed, we were heading here,

The Little Bighorn Battlefield.

Where the troopers of the 7th Cav fell that day in June.

Gen Custer fell here. He was reburied elsewhere, I forget where they said he is buried.

There are other markers further away from where the last stand took place.

There are also markers where some of the Indian warriors fell.

And a memorial to the horses of the 7th Cav.

There was also this piece of art. I don't remember what it was for but it was a beautiful work of art. Pictures don't do it justice. If you have not seen this I recomend you go. It is quite a special place.

There also is a cemetery here for those who helped "tame the west".

No P.C. bs here.

 

[grnarrowe]

DAY 10 Continued
After leaving the Little Bighorn we turned east onto US-212 the plan was to head to Alzada, MT then turn south to Devils Tower. We had missed going here last year and had wanted to get to it this year but not more that 50 yards after the Little Bighorn was a sign that said road construction motorcycles consider alternate route. Well Hell! what to do? I pulled over and had Vicki come up beside me I asked what she wanted to do and she left it up to me.

Not knowing what the road was like and not wanting to chance a flat tire I doubled back to I-90 and headed east. We then crossed back into Wyoming for the 863rd time, or so it seemed.

Chili even wondered why we crossed back.

Along I-90 in WY.

We continued east to Gilette where we stopped for gas, ice, water and a bathroom break. We decied to skip Devils Tower again as it would be late by the time we got there and by the time we got to the exit for Devils Tower it was about 6PM so we missed it again. We continued on to Spearfish, SD uneventfully and got to the hotel about 7:30PM or so. There was a Mexican resteraunt next door so that was dinner, then back to the hotel for a shower and some much needed sleep. Tomorrow we would be doing Spearfish Canyaon, Needles Hwy, Custer State Park and the Badlands.

So until next time...........

 

[grnarrowe]

DAY 11
Today's route..

Today would turn out to be a long day, I had made a few minor changes to our route and after breakfast at the hotel we got going about 8AM. We made a stop at Wal-E-World for some water and a few other things. Then we headed on to 14A and the Spearfish Canyon. We had not done this last year and we wanted to do it this year, one of the reasons I stopped in Spearfish,SD.

US-14A in Spearfish Canyon.

The speed limt thru here was posted at 35 I believe. This is unbelievably slow, we and the other traffic thru here, which wasn't much , were doing 45 which is just right. It was also cooler as the sun had not cleared the Black Hills yet

By the time we got to this point the sun had risen enough to start to heat things up.

We conntinued south on 14A to US-85 which we followed to Deadwood, SD. We really did not see any reason to stop here so we then headed south on US-385 through the Black Hills National Forest. It was mid morning by the time we stopped here for a break.

It was quite peaceful here until several underpowered, overly noisey and overl priced V-twins sputtered in.

US-385, back to Deadwood that way.

US-385, Keystone, SD this way. And this is the way we went, US-385 is not as twisty as some of the roads we were on but it is a fun ride.

We got into Keystone and headed into Custer Stae Park and Iron Mountian Road. We had done Iron Mountain Rd last year but we did it at dusk. :blink: I wouldn't advise doing it at dusk but late morning is a :yahoo: . Because of this...

You start down here and to get up above you have to go up and around, a pig tail. There were a couple of these and it is a hoot.

You have to keep turring to the left. I couldn't get a better view of this but it is a long left hand turn.

From underneath the bridge.

We continued through the park but got caught behind an Murano and a 300M. The 300 had Illinois plates on it, small world. But the SUV had a temp tag and every corner this fool would slow almost to a stop. AND if a car was coming the other way he'd do the same thing. All I could think of was "A fool and his Murano...." Well he did pull over and the 300 and us were able to get moving, for a little while. Not sure why but the 300M was moving along nicely then he starts slowing up in the corners, WTF?! Well we pulled over because it was HOT and both bikes were running half way up the temp gauges so we took some time to stop and sniff the..

Even with the cloud cover it was hot.

Iron Mountain Road

We did, and we enjoyed it.

The bikes enjoy the break.

We then headed on to US-16A then to SD-87, the Needles Highway. We had ridden this last year but wanted to do it again. We also ended up catching up to the fool and his Murano at the ranger station on US-16, but we were able to pass him as we left. I thought we were clear of this type but there were a few more in front of us whiile on 16, 2 motor homes and an HD. The motor homes did pull off but the HD was in the way until we turned off onto SD-87. There were a couple of times where had I wanted to I could have passed him on the inside as he couldn't corner worth a damm but I held back, no need for me to be an asshat here.

We turned off onto SD-87 and there was no one in front of us, :yahoo: . So we streached the legs for a bit, they also had repaved 87 and you should never pass up the opportunity to ride fresh pavement. All was fine untill we came upon a Prius. This rocket scientist had no clue about corners, he would slow for each one! AND if there was a car coming the other way, forget it, he'd pull to the side as far as he could and slow down even more. At one point he did this in mid corner! Luckily for me I had my visor up and he had his window down so I yelled some nice words of encouragment to him, something like "YOU DON'T STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF A CORNER YOU F*@*#*!!*@# A*@*#*!E, MOVE!!!!!" Well he took these kind words to heart an continued. We had planned to stop at the Visitors Center at SD-87 & 89 and wouldn't you know it, Mr Prius also decides to pull in as well, but I don't think he stuck around, he may have seen us pull in as well and decided to leave, don't know, don't care.

We met DrewemanRacing here, talked a bit and then went in to help stimulate the economy a bit more. We bought 2 sweat shirts then went south on SD-87 back to US-16 back south on SD-87 to BlueBell for lunch. We had stopped here for lunch once last year and we wanted to stop here again.

After turning onto SD-87 we found only one car in front of us, he pulled over and let us by, Thank you!. Now there was NO ONE in front of us and since SD-87 is a nice twisty road we streached our legs a bit. Well at one point I thought we may have over streached our selves. Several factors come into play here,

1) No traffic in front of us.
2) We've been on some of the best twisty roads there are and WE LIKE THEM! And to go fast on them as well.
3) Kings X, Over my Head was playing on my Ipod. This song will get me into trouble if I'm on a twisty bit-o-tarmac, and I was.

Well we're doing about 50 coming into this left hand turn. I missjudged the turn and my speed and for a brief second had an OH S#$! moment. But I remained calm after the initial panic and just thought lean, lean, LEAN into the curve and LOOK where I want to go and power, power, POWER my way throug it. And wouldn't you know it, IT WORKED!!! Vicki had pretty much the same experience. Now this wouldn't have been a big deal but both front tires were cupped and made for some interesting moments while cornering, this being the most intresting one of them.

Well we got to the Bluebell resort and had a fine lunch. The bison burgers here were very good. We finished lunch and now we needed to get to Mitchell SD. It was about 2PM at this point so we had to get a move on, we were buring daylight.

The bar at the BlueBell resort where you can "Saddle up" to the bar for a drink. No drinks for Chili today we need to move along!

 

[grnarrowe]

DAY 11 Continued
After leaving BlueBell we doubled back to US-16 and headed east to SD-79 then north to I-90 where we headed east. We made one final detour to this place

We had been to The Badlands last year but this time we went west to east. It was VERY HOT here. We had our water and it was needed.

After entering the park we got behind an HD with a trailer, and as there were no passing zones we were stuck behind him for a bit. After a while he pulled to the right as much as possible and waved us through, thanks.

Another place with some dramatic views.

We continued on thru the park and the heat, did I mention it was HOT? We then got back onto I-90 and headed east towards Mitchell, SD. We made one last stop for gas, we only did 2 gas stops today.

Gas stop in SD at sunset. And it was still hot.

We got into Mitchell, SD about 9PM and being hungry and to tired to go anywhere we had a pizza delivered, from Dominos. Not bad but it beats starving, just. Then a nice long cool shower and some much needed sleep. We would actully sllep in as tomorrow would be a short trip to Sparta, WI.


To be continued............

 

[TCMike]

Great report! You hit some great spots.

 

[Murph]

Kings X, Over my Head was playing on my Ipod. This song will get me into trouble if I'm on a twisty bit-o-tarmac, and I was.

Nice obscure music reference! :thumbsupsmiley: You don't hear much about Kings X. Never did.

Of course, now I can't get the chorus to that tune out of my head!

"Music, Music.

I hear music...."

(BTW - I'm starting to get disappointed that this trip report will be ending soon. :glare: )

 

[vabrzn]

Thanks for the ride report and all the great pics!

 

[grnarrowe]

Let us see if I can finish this up today..

DAY 12
Today's route..

Today we would just be slabbin it to Sparta WI., so we did not take many photos as a result.

We left Mitchell, SD about 8AM after our usual routine of breakfast, ice, gas & water. We then headed east on I-90 and by noon time we crossed into MN, and it was hot again today. We made a pit stop at one of the rest areas after entering MN and found the rest area manned. We talked to the guy there and he said that most of the major stops have an attendent on duty. I did take a few photos here, mainly the bug kill on the front of my FJR.

Most of this was from the begining of the trip. Not very many bugs in the higher elevations, or I just didn't notice them.

Then it was time to hit the road again so we got back on 90 heading east and still it was hot. No clouds in the sky for shade today. We did make 2 more stops, one for lunch and gas and another at a second rest area. It was still a hot afternoon and all I could think of was the pool at the hotel in Sparta. I figured I would check in then walk into the deep end of the pool to cool off.

As we were nearing the MN/WI border we could see clouds up ahead, big nasty looking clouds. Just before we got to the border we got under the clouds and the temps dropped about 15 to 20 degrees, no need to walk into the pool. I actually had to zip up my jacket. It looked as if it might storm on us but it never did. We got to the hotel in Sparta about 6PM and missed the rain. It rained a little while we were at dinner but nothing major by us but Lacrosse got hit hard.

I got the key to our room and when I walked in I thought they made a mistake. I dropped my jacket on the chair and put my helmet on the table and looked around the front room.

Then I went into the bedroom

And I thought no this cant be right! The bill said $68 plus tax! So I went to get the rest of my gear from the bike and found Vicki and brought her into the room, she was as suprised as I was. After getting our gear Vicki found a card on the back of the door that said this room goes for $225 a night, and we paid with taxes $78! This is at the Super 8 in Sparta, WI.

There was also a hot tub in the bedroom.

Chili and Blue await the hot bubbly water.

And a fireplace

We then dropped our gear in the room and went to dinner across the street from the hotel. We also made use of the hot tub to soak our weary bodies then off to bed for a good nights sleep...

CHILI!!!!!!!!!

DAY 13
Today's rpoute...

I had planed on taking the back roads home today but with the storms that had passed thru last night we just took I-90 to US-12 and home. We exited the interstate system at US-12 east, seems we were just on US-12 but it wasn't like this at all.

Now we knew we were home when we got stuck behind a slow moving cage that did not move to the right lane as the sign suggested all slower traffic keep right. SO we passed him on the right and continuned to our lunch stop in LaGrange, WI. The Back Yard Bicycle shop. They sell/rent bikes for the trails around there and they have some really GREAT sammiches!

Chili trys a different type of cycle

Gets a bite to eat

Shares a smoothie. These are good by the way, stop in if you're in the area.

has some dessert for later

Trys another bike

And also approves of the county road system in WI.

We then headed home and at 1:30 PM on 17 July 2008 we pulled into our driveway.

We had made it home WITHOUT the use of a truck!! :yahoo:

Overall I say this is the BEST vacation we have taken. It may be the last big trip we do as it did cost a bit much with the pet/house siters thrown in and having to get 2 new front tires. But you better believe I'd do this again if I could.

If you have not been out west to Glacier or Yellowstone you really should GO!

Haven't been to the Beartooth? GO!

Chief Joseph? GO!

What are ya waiting for?

Thank you for looking and reading and I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them.

 

[Murph]

I've been awaiting the dramatic conclusion for awhile now. Thanks for sharing.

Gald to see your indulging in the "Fair Trade" chocolate. :clapping:

has some dessert for later