Pointing East via West

We packed up the base camp and have started the journey home. We crossed Wyoming in one day and have ended our stay a little West as I just had to visit Laramie, where Nathan went to school. The campus is really unimpressive...but here we are.
A couple of hats were lost along the way, one was found and one was not. Things have a tendency to fly off the bikes when your doing 80mph. Yes that's legal here.
Steve (the lone wolf) broke off early and headed due east to get home. We have six more days and plan to make the most of it. Interstate time for a day or two and then we are dropping down to ride the Blue Ridge if the weather is good. Otherwise we will alter our plans a little.
Sorry folks, no photos today...too tired after riding 500 miles. We'll catch up with you soon.
Becky if you are reading this, Leroy says "Hi and that he got you a shirt. My email isn't working and phone service is sporadic".

Yellowstone National Park

Hang on Fred Flintstone....those buffalo are bigger than you think. As we headed towards the exit we had a little delay of about an hour due to a very large herd of buffalo. Two males were butting heads in the middle of the road one vehicle in front of us. The bigger of the two had shoulders higher than the car beside it. Jerry took a great photo of them. I really didn't want to ride past these two. Backing up, we saw elk, pelicans (no kidding), an eagle fishing (i got the photo in the air but not when it pulled the fish out of the river). The lone wolf saw a grizzly, but he wasn't riding with us so Leroy, Jerry and I were happy to miss that one.

Old Faithful didn't let us down, and Castle really put on a show for us. Castle only erupts every 14 hours and 20 minutes so we were told. Our lucky day. Well except for the fact that it was probably in the high 30s for temps. Brrrrrr! I thought it was warm in the West. Not in Wyoming. While waiting for Old Faithful, Leroy got to talking with a couple of bikers and before the conversation ended we found out they were from Morrisville, VT. Small world indeed. I can't forget to tell you that surprise of all surprises was this very large lake at top of the park. You can see how big the beach is as Jerry races across it (kidding, it was all loose stone and more of a challenge just keeping the bike upright).

And the reason I thought I was coming down with a cold...I forgot about all the sulpher here and I tend to be allergic to that stuff. Benadryl and a good nights sleep cured that.

The next day at Cody Leroy, Jerry and I stayed close to the base camp. Some of us napped, others went into town to shop before heading home.

Cody Wyoming and Bear Tooth Pass

We have bunked down in Cody for the last several days at a little campground called the Ponderrosa. Our tents are right next to the main drag so the traffic keeps waking us up. That and it's cold here...especially at night.
Bear Tooth Pass was INTENSE to say the least. I chickened out on riding my own and hopped on the back of Jerry's bike. Come to find out he is afraid of heights as well. It didn't take long for the temperature to drop and the top of the pass still had snow. It was in the 30s there and not much warmer on the way up or down. The pinnacle was roughly 11,000 feet high! I don't think the photos really do it justice so come on down and take a ride.
After we got back safe, sound, with our nerves barely intact, we decided a Rodeo was the perfect place to regroup. We sat above the gates and could see them prepping the animals prior to the rides. While the bull riding was quite impressive, it was the 12 and under age class that really caught my attention. Some of those kids weren't waist high.
I woke up the next morning with what I thought was the beginning of a cold. Coughing, dry sore throat, stuffy nose. But I was so wrong, you'll have to read about Yellowstone to find the cause.

Sturgis

A rally is a raly, is a rally...only Sturgis is on a much larger scale. I have never seen so many bikes in one place. And hot! The temperatures are warm early in the day and grow to scorching by the end of the day.

We rode in and found a shady place to park on a side street. It wasn't so bad until the heat grew and it was time to go. Steve stayed late and pulled into the campground just before we went to bed, so he didn't wake us up! He got some great shots of custom bikes, and the bikes on the strip. And yes there were scantily clad girls....those photos will have to wait till we get home for those of you interested.

We returned to Sturgis the next morning for pins at the HOG booths. The 2011s were on display and they look fantastic. The speakers in the Street Glide will blow any music fan away! Jerry just had to sit on one....I'm surprised he isn't coming home with it. We had custom patches made up and went back to the campground to load up the gear. It didn't take long to reach Wyoming,

We saw one nasty accident on the way to Worland. We rode across 16 West through the Big Horn National Forest. Talk about mountains! I did fine until I looked down and saw just how far up we really were. We met a couple of folks here from Austrailia (love the accents). They have been touring for five weeks from the east coast to the west. We also rescued a biker who ran out of fuel. I won't say who rode this guy "bitch", but it wasn't me! He was very appreciative...guess I would be too if I was alone and in the middle of nowhere.

I know why they call this Big Sky country. Not only are the storms impressive, so are the sunsets. So here we are at the little campground and getting ready to call it a night. Finally a campground with electricity and WIFI! Night all. Tomorrow Cody and heading to Bear Tooth Pass and Yellowstone.

Mt Rushmore and Needles Highway

Base camp for a couple of days in Belle Fourche to visit the area. We camped by the river, kinda. The climb to Mt Rushmore took my breath away. It was quite high up, and at the time I didn't realize there was so much more of this to come.

We then entered Custer state park and Needles highway. Right after we paid to get into the park we stopped at a gift shop. There was this great lake that we hiked around. We walked through a very narrow tunnel, found a great waterfall, and climbed hills that sparkled like diamonds. I could just see in my imagination a tribe of Native's walking this same path...and you could almost hear them whisper in the wind.

On Needles the tunnels were very narrow. You'd come around a corner and everything just dropped away. Once at the top, were took the Wilderness loop and saw many different types of wildlife. The bison were up close and personal...and a little intimidating. I was impressed with the critters, not the hairpin turns. I can't wait for Bear tooth pass (sarcastic thought here). I'm getting the jitters just thinking about it. Ok, off to Sturgis.

Spearfish Canyon

We left the badlands and again pointed our front fenders West. We decided to take a little shortcut to get to the road we wanted. Mistake! Carol and Jack warned us about this...pavement to crushed gravel, to really soft, deep sandy gravel and all in the middle of nowhere. It was far from everything, yet we all fared well. Off to Rapid City for some fuel, and the canyon road.

After leaving Rapid City, it was on o spearfsh canyon. Although crowded this week, it is a beautiful motorcycle road. The canyon narrows down to little more than a road and brooks width, with many twists and curves. Looking up at the canyon walls can be a little distracting, but well worth the effort. Near the upper end, it opens up just before the city of Spearfish, at the western end of the city. A nice place for a DQ refreshment stop!

The Badlands

Our first big stop was in the badlands. It's like the Grand Canyon, on a smaller version. It amazed me that you can just walk out into the badlands at all the pullouts, anywhere you wish. What appears to be rock from a distance, is just hard-packed, dry dirt. We arrived late in the day, and decided to stop for the night.

Setting up the tents was quite the challenge, as the winds were strong across the flat prarie. It never seems to stop blowing. Fires were not allowed, so we ate at the little restaurant just donw the road, then took a short ride. As you can see I am trying things I normally wouldn't do, like walking out on this very narrow ledge. It's higher up than it looks folks. I wasn't brave enough to go to the edge, but Steve made it out there. Later in the night, when Steve went to the bathrooms, we decided to move his tent. I knew that I would pay later, since it was my idea.

We watched a thunderstorm from a great distance that night. Early the next morning, Jerry and I got up and rode up to get some sunrise photos as we were told the colors pop at that time of day. We weren't dissapointed. After getting back to camp and starting to break down the tents, Jerry had a visitor on the outside of his tent. It's hard to tell from this photo, but this guy was as big as the palm of my hand....creeeepppyyyy!

So far it just keeps getting better and better!