Category: Motorcycling

Well crap…  We show up at the rafting place at 7am as instructed for our 8am rafting trip.  The raft guide was there opening up the place then he looked at us like we had 3 heads.  What are you doing here? he asked.  Uh, we’re here for the breakfast and the 8 am river ride.  Then he looked befuddled.  We uh, canceled that trip..  We checked our phones and apparently we didn’t get a call, so they refunded our money.  We couldn’t hang for the 10am trip.

From there we tried to locate a pass over the Tetons but it wasn’t going to be as good as we thought and was in the wrong direction.  So we headed south towards Mount Evans.

After a good day of riding and some long boring roads we decided to stop for the night at Steamboat Springs.  We had a little trouble locating a room and the rains were coming.  We stopped at the Best Western and they told us they were booked as were all the other hotels in the town.  It was peak season after all.   After calling about 12 hotels we found rooms at the Bristol Inn, another historic hotel in downtown Steamboat Springs.  We also ran into a single guy riding a Harley.  "Harley Mike", he too needed a room, and we told him to follow us to the Bristol.   We booked our rooms, unpacked and had dinner with Mike at the Italian restaurant beneath the hotel.

Tuesday morning, we got up early and made the round about run down to Mount Evans…  Which is the highest paved road in America, higher than Pikes Peak, which is also on our list.

About 30 minutes out we stop for a pee break, and Kyle notices the screw sticking out of my rear tire.  This is exactly what we need to round off this trip.  Luckily it’s not on a sidewall and we’re equipped with plugs so we put some air in the tire and head off to a gas station that has a real air compressor.  We locate said gas station and plug the tire with my stop and go plugger (thanks for getting the for me for Christmas Claudine)

We get there and make the accent.  It takes for ever but the views are spectacular (pictures forthcoming).

Kyle doesn’t like heights much.  And really doesn’t like looking over switchbacks that have 3000 feet drop offs without guard rails.  I find that extremely ironic since he’s a pilot 😉

After about an hour at the top we’re all feeling a bit funny from the high altitude so we head down the mountain.  The altitude has taken it’s toll so we decide to look for a room and find a great deal at the Best Western in Frisco.  Again a room that sleeps 3 (in three separate beds) for the bargain rate of $91…  Can’t beat that.  Although they are all in the same room.  This will be snor-a-polooza 2008.

In Frisco we find a really good meal at some high end restaurant in a strip mall. A little rich for my tastes but the food was excellent.  Think of Hell’s Kitchen in a strip mall.

After dinner we finally get the opportunity to rest our tired bones in the Best Western Hot Tub.

Wednesday morning we head out for Pikes Peak.   But the weather is chasing us.  We stop about 30 minutes short for lunch and it’s starting to rain by the time we get going.   When we get to Pikes Peak the recommend we don’t go up because of the weather.  So we choose Plan B, which is a run in the rain to Cripple Creek, an old mining town that is now Casino heaven.  We stop at a historic jail and take a quick tour.  Then off to Starbucks.  We’re supposed to meet Frank Frederick at a Greek restaurant for dinner.   We get there on time but the restaurant is closed, like for good.  So we punt and meet Frank in Manatou Springs.   Again another great meal.  After dinner we start the hunt for a hotel.  We tried the Cliff house but were informed by the valet that the rooms are $199-$450 per night.  Just a tad out of our budget so we settle for Pike’s Peak Motel.  $89

We check in and hit their hot tub by the creek and have an interesting conversation with a family from Texas.

Tomorrow, Thursday is another light day.  We’ll try to cram some stuff in, the make the decision if I’m going top stay behind and hang with my FJR brethren at their national meet for a couple days.

More later…

Current photos are being posted now… http://picasaweb.google.com/mdisher/2008Trip

So Day 5 started with getting Kyle Sr. off to the airport in a torrential down pour.  Because I used my brains (and didn’t want to ride 40 miles in a storm we got him off in a taxi.   That allowed us to sleep in somewhat then we packed up and headed for Gillette, WY.

The ride started out wet with a little rain but nothing we couldn’t deal with.

Up route 16 across Wyoming and up to I90.

The rally (for me) was somewhat disappointing…  One of the reasons you go to these things is for the vendor pavilion.  Lots of Motorcycle gadget stuff that you can always get on the Internet but you get to touch it, feel it, etc.  It’s not like the Iron Pony super store, because we don’t tend to be the chrome cruiser types that are only looking to make our bikes louder and/or shinier.

In my opinion there were only 1/3rd the vendors that were at the Vermont Rally in 06.   I can imagine the cost of getting a crew and inventory out this far was prohibitive expensive and kept a number of vendors out of the show.

So I spent $45 to get in (non-member price), and only bought a couple things…  An extra pair of rock straps, a key chain and something else I can’t remember.  I spent maybe $30 total, not including food and beer.

We did get to see the BMW stunt rider, he was pretty good.   I almost bought a new Zumo, as mine had crapped out the day before.  But it turned out to be water logged from the storm and after it dried out and worked when I went back to the bike to check.  So that saved me $700 for now.  The XM is still broken so I’m stuck with my 380 backup tunes.   They are getting kind of old.  I almost bought a new jacket and tank bag but passed on both.  I didn’t like the tank bag enough to justify the cost, and the jacked wasn’t a deal.  I’ll get one later.

Kyle went crazy and bought a bunch of stuff including a new helmet.

Overall the show was OK.   So it was off to Buffalo, WY

The ride was good, mostly slab though.   We had an excellent steak at The Winchester.  Good Wyoming beef.

The night at the Roadway Inn was uneventful.  We chilled out with a couple beers and cheep cigars.

Saturday took us up through Bear Tooth Pass.  10962 feet.  The views were spectacular.  Then down into Lovell for lunch at the switchback cafe.  A good small town restaurant.  The owner Walt had recently save a small child’s life who had choked on a life saver and delivered a baby in a broken down car on his way to doing his Christmas shopping in Billings.

On in through a corner of yellow stone to get go Cody.

In Cody we lucked into a small two bedroom cabin for $111.  We were advised to attend the rodeo, since allegedly Cody is the rodeo capital of the west.  They have a rodeo every night from June through August.  Saturday night was supposed to be the best show.  The bulls won.  Only one cowboy rode a bull for 8 seconds.

Another night of beer and cigars before we turned in.

The plan for Sunday was Yellowstone to see the geyser and then to Jackson Hole, if not further.  We wanted to pass over the Tetons but there wasn’t a route that we could get to, so we may hit that Monday.

The trip through Yellowstone was fairly uneventful.  We saw some wildlife.  A couple elk, a few deer, and buffalo.  No bears though 🙂

Mexican for dinner in Jackson, it was great, and fairly affordable.  The beer and cigars… not so much.  All good beers were $10 a six pack.

We decided to take a white water rafting trip on the snake river.  We’re doing that tomorrow at 8am.

More photos uploaded to: http://picasaweb.google.com/mdisher/2008Trip

Wednesday morning started with rear brake job using the pads we had picked up in Sioux City, IA.

Kyle Jr. attempted to change the rear pads on his dads RT.  It should be a 25 minute job but we couldn’t get the caliper pistons to compress.  We needed a big pair of channel locks that we didn’t have.

Luckily there was a napa tow blocks down the road and I headed down to buy a set.  As you’d expect in a small town they were more than happy to loan us a set.  No questions asked, nothing left for a deposit, etc.

With the brakes completed we headed out for breakfast.  It’s usually good to ask a local where to eat.  We found a nice breakfast a couple miles down the road.

After breakfast I chatted with an elderly lady in the parking lot who had lots of questions about our bikes and our trip.  She was in her 80’s and gave us a few things to see if we had time.

We mounted up to head out, but my bike wouldn’t start.  The battery was deader than dead.  I have no idea how that happened.  I assume I left the key on and lights on while Kyle did the brake job.  Then a couple starts to leave, get gas, etc, just killed it.

Push starting a 600lb bike that’s loaded with 80+ lbs of crap isn’t really an option.   We had the brilliant idea to jump the bikes between our power outlets.   That didn’t work out, so we headed to Nappa to get a set of jumper cables.   They loaned us a booster box and we were able to get it running.  Now worried that I had a bad battery we picked up a set of jumper cables anyway.  The last thing we need is for me to kill the battery again somewhere in the middle of nowhere, 200 miles from anything useful.

One more thing to pack.

We finally got on our way to the Bad Lands national park on our way to our Hotel reservations in Custer, SD.

All I can say is ‘Wow’…

The photos I took won’t do it justice, we’re going to have to come back with the kids.   The scenery out here is amazing…  I mean absolutely beautiful. 

Photos are located here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mdisher/2008Trip

Through the Bad Lands on to Custer where our hotel is for the night.

Think of Custer as Gatlinburg just south of Mount Rushmore only prettier.

On our way in, this is where things got interesting…  Our YouTube Moment if you will.

Kyle Sr. hit a big rock and broke the front end of his bike.  Wrecked his forks.  Of course out here those parts just aren’t available.   So we got a tow into Custer, checked into a hotel and went to dinner. It was already late and we figured we’d discuss what to do at dinner.

The Best Western was very clean and up-to date.  We had a great dinner at the Captains Table, the restaurant just outside of the hotel.

The following morning we spent a number of futile hours trying to locate a rental truck or van to take Kyle’s bike to the dealer in Sturgis.  We figured we’d drop it off there and he could shadow us in a rental car and meet us at different places.  The other option was a one way rental for him to head home to Pensecolla Florida.  Like I said that effort was futile.  There were no vans or trucks anywhere, and nothing one-way.

We did find one truck that was going to run $1200 just for the rental.  That didn’t include fuel, the per mile charge, hotels meals, etc. that he’d have to pay to get home.

We found him a relatively cheap flight and we figured we’d leave the bike here and make arrangements to ship it or come back and get it later.

We boxed up some of his stuff and took him to the Drug store which is also the local UPS shipping point here in Custer.

When I pulled up there was a car with a motorcycle trailer with one bike on it.  It had Florida plates.  I thought "I bet this guy will take it home for some cash, I know I’d do that for someone."   As fate would have it, he was heading back to Florida in a round about way and after some negotiation we reached an accord and  he agreed to haul it back with him for $600.

We bought some tie downs, and loaded up the broken Beemer.

We grabbed some lunch, took Kyle back to the room, and the rest of headed out for a short ride to Mt. Rushmore and around the Black Hills.  Again, amazing scenery.  More of those photos later.

The plan this morning was to get up and get Kyle Sr. to the airport for his 6 am flight.  That meant kickstands up at 4am to get him there by 5am.

The sky’s opened up around 2am.  The thought of riding 60 miles in a killer thunderstorm over loaded because Dad and I would have to carry their gear so they could ride two up wasn’t very appealing.

So using the power of Google 411 I found a cab at the 11th hour to come get Kyle and get him to the airport. 

Our plan today is to hit the rally in Gillette then off to Buffalo on our way to Yellowstone.

It looks like the rain isn’t going to stop anytime soon, so I’m going back to bed for a couple hours.

 

More later.

I’m having trouble finding time to blog and check mail.  iPhone has been spotty as hell out here and wifi can be hard to come by.

We started off at meeting Kyle at 9am on Monday morning.  A little later than expected because Kyle’s inbound flight to home on Sunday was delayed.  He also needed to see if he could pick up some brake pads for his dad’s RT.  Apparently he’s in McFall, MO with no rear brakes.

We met Kyle in Eaton and headed west.  We got to Hannibal, MO, just west of Illinois around 6pm.  Most of the day and the ride was enjoyable.  But toward the evening it was in the low 90’s and we were toast.  So we started looking for a hotel.

We ended up at the Hannibal inn.  Think of it as a the Holidome that was in Sharonville for years.   This place got a new owner recently and is in the process of being revived.  Still it’s vintage 70’s with a good size indoor pool.  Rates were super cheap.  $59 for a double, $49 for a single, though they allowed Kyle to have the double room next to us for the same price.  The pool was a tad suspect.  Most hotel pools are very over clorinated.  If you got within two blocks of the Holidome you could smell the pool.  No so here, and the water was a tad green.  We didn’t care we were tired and hot and needed to cool off.  So if I end up with ebolla I know where it came from.

Tuesday morning we set off to pick up Kyle Sr. in McFall and hopefully deal with his brakes.  We located a set of pads in Sioux City, IA, and it was somewhat on our way.  We weren’t sure if we’d make it before they closed so we prepaid for them and asked them to put them outside where we could find them.  We ended up there with 15 minutes to spare.

Now where too?  We’re on our way over to the Badlands National park, but aren’t going to make it tonight.  Kyle Sr’s range is about 500 miles a day and I’m fine with that.  So we look out about 100 miles and locate O’Neill, NE on the way.   That’s where we’ll stay tonight.

The ride into O’Neill was spectacular.  Route 20 wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.  IT was mostly straight but at least it was rolling.  We picked that direction because O’Neill was at least 2000 feet above sea-level.

Riding through Nebraska on 20 was sweet.  To the north it was beautiful, blue skys, rolling crops as far as you could see.   To the south was a wonderful thunderstorm, and we were right in between.  The two hour ride peaked at 95 degrees and sank as low as 66 degrees.  We got sprinkled on a bit but never really rained on.  We beat the storm to O’Neil where we couldn’t find a room.  Seems every construction crew in the area is staying in this town. 

We stopped and had Chinese for dinner.  It was somewhat suspect.  But was right next door to the Historic Golden Hotel.  Very much like the Golden lamb.  They however didn’t have room for us either.  Only 2 single rooms, one mini room (which is where I’m writing this from now).  But they offered a cot for $10 extra to get 4 of us in these three rooms.  We decided to pass, but if the rains rolled in while we were eating we’d reconsider.

While at dinner the manager called over to the Chinese restraunt the manager of the Golden hotel called to let us know he had rooms for all four of us.  One of which was an very small single.  It had a sink but the bathroom for this room was down the hall.  I volunteered to sleep in this room.  I’ve seen jail cells that are larger.

(photos soon when I get a decent connection).

After unpacking into the hotel we visited ‘The Office’ the neighborhood bar for a couple brewskies.  An interesting place to say the least.   After two beers we hit it.

We roll out tomorrow bright and early.

Side cases packed with clothes and moto-stuff.  Top case with laptop, heated gear shoes, with a little room to spare.  Big blue bag has all the camping gear.  Tank bag has my camelback and other need to get to items.

I hope to maintain 40mpg, maybe better.   This should be fun.  I plan to update the blog as often as I can (probably daily or when ever we have wifi-access).