The Zipsicle

Once more over Lolo Pass and it was lovely, as always. Traffic was pretty light for a Friday and we made very good time. We spent the night at the Best Western in Clarkston and, since it was my birthday, we headed out to BoJacks Boiler Pit for dinner. Really an excellent place to eat and they serve one of the best steaks I’ve ever had in a restaurant. We ate here a couple of years ago and the food is simply superb. If you get a chance to stop in you should definitely do so – you’re going to love it.

This is our last night on the road. Tomorrow we head out for the last stretch on our homeward bound journey. We’ve had a great time but are starting to miss our cats (I know – it sounds delusional) but there you go.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Day 14 — I wrote last night that Idaho Falls doesn’t really have any redeeming features but I take it back – it does have a “Jaker’s” restaurant. A very good place to eat if you’re ever around one. We ate at the same restaurant a couple of years ago on our First Annual Ride of a Lifetime and it was great then. It still is…

Today we rode from Idaho Falls, ID to Hamilton, Mt. The weather started out nice but deteriorated around Salmon, Idaho. Here’s what it looked like as we rode into the lightening, thunder, and rain:

We always enjoy the ride along the Salmon River on Highway 93. Here’s what it looked like today:

Some pretty mountains along our route earlier:

The weather has really been making us feel at home but we’ve been lucky, so far, and have managed to skirt around the edges of most of the storms and around here – unlike at home – the storms pass quickly and soon the sun is out again.

Tomorrow we are headed back over Lolo Pass yet again and bound for Clarkston, Washington. It’ll be our last night on the road.

Total mileage to date – 3129.3

Ride safe
Zippo and Jax

Day 13 — Today we rode from West Yellowstone, Montana to Idaho Falls – a distance of about 110 miles. After so many days in the saddle 110 miles hardly feels like we were on the bike at all. Of course, since we had such a short day we had to go shopping. Jax had been wanting to visit a yarn shop so that’s what we did. She does so much for me it was nice to be able to return the favor!

Today was our warmest day yet with temps briefly reaching 80 degrees so of course we had to spend most of it inside the motel room with the air conditioning on… I’ve never been real fond of Idaho Falls, the few times we’ve passed though it. No offense to thos of you who may live here but I just don’t find it a very attactive town – except for Jaker’s which is a fine restaurant and one we always visit when we’re here. Other than Jaker’s I’d be just as happy passing right on through it on my way to somewhere else. Tomorrow that somewhere else is Hamilton, Montana.

Here’s a few flower images Jax got along the way today:

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Day 12 — Woke up to a pretty lovely day with some blue skies and scattered clouds. After breakfast we headed back to the east gate of Yellowstone National Park where our parks pass got us through the gate at no extra cost. That thing has sure paid for itself after last year’s ride to Utah and this year’s ride.

It wasn’t too long after entering the park before we encountered our first buffalo. There’s something about being 10 feet from a wild, 1500 pound animal with a temper like an ex-wife that tends to raise the pucker factor. We were in one lane of a narrow 2 lane road and the bison was coming at us at a very lazy walk in the other lane. I began planning my exit strategy with involved cross country dirt biking – something that the Goldwing is not really known for performing very well. Still, it seemed a pereferable option to becoming and horn ornament on a smelly and shaggy bison. Unfortunately, and very surprisingly, my photographer was taking pictures of the buffsbeside the road and missed shooting the one right next to her! Probably a good thing as I don’t think the bike seat could have stood up to the abuse of 2 pucker factors!

At the Madison junction we turned north towards Mammoth. We stopped a few times on the way to view a few elk and some more buffalo. WWe spent some time in Yellowstone a couple of years ago so much of the route was familar and our plan was to circle the park in a clockwise direction and see what we could see. At Mammoth we stopped and got ice cream but it was pretty crowded so we didn’t stay very long. In fact, there were much larger crowds during this visit than our September visit a couple of years ago. We like Yellowstone but we don’t especially enjoy crowds.

We carried on towards Tower Junction and began seeing snow banks again as we wounbd our way around Mount Washburn at the higher elevations. Jax was again glad for her heated gear but we both ageed that our next visit would take place later in the year when the snow was gone and the temps were higher. We didn’t see as many animals as we had hoped to see. We did see a river otter but that was abnout it other than elk and bison. We didn’t even see a deer! We’re pretty sure we missed seeing a bear by not very long as we came around a corner to a lot of cars (with people beginning to get back in their vehicles and leaving) and 2 park ranger vehicles. You can usually find rangers wherever there are bears as the rangers tend to try and keep the people back and away from the bears.

Still patchy snow in the Fishing Bridge area and quite a bit more snow around the southern end of the park; particularly when crossing the Continental Divide headed west towards Old Faithful.

Here’s a snowbank just south of Mount Washburn:

Here’s one of the small geyers over in the Old Faithful area of the park:

We have enjoyed our time in the park but will be glad to move to some lower elevations as tomorrow we leave for Idaho Falls – a nice, short, ride for a change.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Day 11 — Skies were blue when we departed Thermopolis but it clouded up like a teenager denied a new cell phone and the temperature dropped like my aging belly before too long. Even Jax started to mention just how uncomfortable it was wearing 12 layers of clothing including her heated vest. We both looked like penguins dipped in a key lime pie.

As we headed westerly our of Dubois, Wyoming things went from dismal to depressing as we began to climb yet another mountain pass. As we reached what we both figured must be the summit (for some reason neither of the 2 passes we’ve crossed in Wyoming has had a name of elevation marker – I guess they don’t want us bikers feeling worse than we imagined we were feeling). The snow piled higher alongside of the road, a few small flakes fell like dandruff from our cat, and the fog closed in like a clam at low tide. Fortunately, none of this lasted more than a few miles as we began descending the eastern slopes where we encoutered road construction and a wait for a pilot car. We were about third in line when the flagger came back to us and told us that she’d spotted her first cross-dresser in a pickup truck ahead of us. She was laughing about it and mentioned that cross-dressers in pickup trucks were not something she’d seen before in her 3 years as a Wyoming flagger. She then proceeded to move us to the front of the line for the 5 minute wait for the pilot car.

We proceeded north along the Tetons which were apparently so embarrassed by our presence near them that they hid their heads in the clouds. Here’s what it looked like from the bike:

Jackie spotted a herd of elk crossing a stream so we stopped to take a break and watch them cross a field of sagebrush. As we entered the southern end of Yellowstone Park the snow deepened again beside the road. Jax took this image of a bright green penguin on the bike:

Fortunately, as we moved north into the park the snow disappeared like a friend who owes you money and the sun even came out of hiding. Jax got this image of a pretty yellow flower:

As we rode into the eastern section of the park on the way to our lodgings at the Best Western in West Yellowstone we met this fellow sauntering down the road towards us like he owned in followed by a long string of cars. We weren’t about to argue with him and gave his as wide a berth as we were able to given our desire to both stay on the road and not attract undue attention from this extremely large bison:

We managed to make it to our room safely once again where we enjoyed hot and long showers. Tomorrow we spend the day riding around Yellowstone National Park. Should be a lot of fun.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Day 10 — We left Custer with a light sprinkling rain. Our route was northwesterly to Gillette, Wyoming. No pictures today due to the rain. After an hour or so of riding it had quit raining so we removed our rain gear but 30 minutes later we stopped to put it back on. We hit I-90 about Moorcroft and then left it again at Buffalo, Wyoming. Raining pretty steadily in Buffalo. From Buffalo we began climbing through the southern end of the Bighorn National Forest. As the road climbed I began to wonder if the pass we were headed over might have snow on the road so I was glad to wave at the other bikes I saw coming down the pass.

The road continued to climb and soon there were snowbanks alongside of the road and a light snow was falling as we topped out on the pass and began heading down the otherside. I never did see a sign giving us the elevation or the name of the pass we’d just crossed but I we were pleased when the snow turned back to rain. As the road descended it pass through some very beautiful canyonland – at least, what we could see through our rain splattered face shields looked like it was beautiful.

The rain gradually lessened to a light sprinkle until we were about 10 miels from Thermopolis where it began to rain seriously. Of course, just as we reached out motel for the night the rain stopped. Oh well. Another successful day on the bike and we acutally enjoyed it in spite of the weather.

We’re spending the night at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Thermopolis. Nice place except for the sulpher smell from the hot springs. Tomorrow we’re off for the Tetons and our room in West Yellowstone where we’ll spend the next day touring Yellowstone National Park on the bike.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Day 9 — Today we took a ride down through Custer State Park to the Mammouth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Another very nice day – a bit cool to start but warmed up to mid 70s later. Saw lots of buffalo (or Bison, for the purists), antelope. prairie dogs, turkeys, and a few deer along the way. Traffic was very light for a Saturday and the roads were nicely bent. Seems like lately we’ve been spending much more time on the sides of the tires than the middles. Just the way it should be!

The Mammouth Site was pretty interresting. Apparently, a very long time ago, a limestone cave collapsed causing a sinkhole which subsequently filled with warm spring water creating a small lake. This warm water didn’t freeze in the wintertime providing an attractive location for mammouths and other animals of the time. They’d fall into the water and, because the sides were steep and slippery, they couldn’t climb back out leading to death by drowning. Over a period of 700 years or so bones and sediment became a hardened rock and the area around the rock eroded away. The bones were initially found by the owner who was having the location bulldozed for a development. Work stopped quickly and the owner sold the land, for what he paid for it, to South Dakota for all to enjoy. A great place to visit.

As we drove back to our motel we decided to take the Wildlife Loop Road in Custer State Park to view some more bison and other wildlife and we were also hoping we’d locate the famous “Begging Burros” in the Park. More twisty roads and lots of stops for pictures of animals and flowers.

Here’s one of the Begging Burros:

Here’s the author reaching out to touch one of the young burros:

A small herd of antelope crossed the road ahead of us and this young fellow came over to check us out:

Of course, what trip though the park would be complete without bison?

We stopped and watched mama turkey lead her little chicks away from us:

A reminder that Jax took most of these photos from the back of the bike. I’m very lucky to have her!

All and all we had a very good day. Tomorrow we’re off for Yellowstone and will be spending the night in Thermopolis, Wyoming.

Total mileage, so far, stands at 2146…

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Day 8 — Woke up to a beautiful but plenty cool day. Temps in the low 50s and the wind was blowing. Turned out to be a lovely day though so that’s a good thing.

I put the new Ultimate seat on the bike. The bolts seemed to be a bit short so had to remove the armrests to get the seat mounted. Will try mounting the armrests again in the morning. Seat felt pretty darn good and really helped to remove some of the bun ache I was getting from the stock seat – even with a seat pad.

After breaKfast we headed out for the Badlands. It’s about 115 miles but we stopped in Wall, SD for a visit. Quite a touristy place it is – ‘course, since we’re tourists, I suppose that’s a good thing. We picked up a couple of things for family back home and headed back onto the freeway for the rest of the ride to the Badlands.

The Badlands, of course, are simply beautiful. The colors and patterns are another of nature’s wonderments. We completely enjoyed riding through the park. I was a bit surprised we didn’t see more animals than we did, though. The grasslands are as lush and as green as can be at this time of year so I would have thought we have seen more than we did. As it’s a Friday, traffic was a bit heavy through the park but not bad at all.

Here’s a picture of the author dude on the Bulgesicle in the Badlands:

Forgot to get an exact mileage today but we did break 2,000 for the trip so far. Tomorrow, we’re headed south through Custer State Park, Wind Caves, and the Mammouth Site in Hot Springs, SD.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Day 7 — Today we toured the Crazy Horse National Monument (which is still some assembly required), the Needles Road and Iron Mountain Road in Custer State Park. The Needles is twisty and scenic with lots of very tight turns. Exquisite riding and the Iron Mountain Road is even better with tunnels ending in pigtails and tunnels ending in views of Mount Rushmore. It’s even more twisty than the Needles – something that’s difficult to imagine until you’ve rode it. The speed limit is mostly 35 mph but, with all of the sights to see along the way and the very sharp turns actual speed traveled is considerably less. We saw a turkey, an antelope, and a couple of very large buffalo. We also stopped several times so that Jax could take some flower pictures along the way.

Weather was terrific for most of the day but it started raining after we returned to Custer and as we were eating our dinner. Fortunately, we were only a few blocks from the motel so not too bad at all. We ate dinner at the Cattleman’s Restaurant. Food is OK.

As a side note, when we were in Deadwood a couple of days ago, we stopped at a chocolate making place called the Chubby Chipmunk and purchased some truffels. As I sit here writing this we each had one and they are simply delicious! A quick check of the Internet tells us
that we can order online so I think we’re in big trouble. If you’re ever in Deadwood and you like chocolate you really owe it to yourself to stop and taste…

As another side note, Jax bought us a new seat for the Goldwing for my upcoming birthday and it arrived at the motel today so looks like I’ll be installing the new seat before we ride tomorrow. My buns are really looking forward to it, I can tell you.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’re off to tour the Badlands. Should be another very fun and interesting day!

Here’s a picture of Mount Rushmore through the trees taken from along the Iron Mountain Road:

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax