The Zipsicle

I rode to Monroe, Washington yesterday for a meeting. Friends invited me to ride along with them but as they had decided to take the freeway and I, not being one to pass up an opportunity to take a more scenic route anytime the chance presents itself, decided to take the back roads there and back again…

I headed south on Highway 9 where I enjoyed the sweepers through Clear Lake and Lake McMurray from Burlington to Arlington. In Arlington I picked up the Jordan Road for a ways before making my turn onto the Burn Road. Traffic was light to near non-existent and the sun was just beginning to peer over the ridges to the east turning the light fog in the valleys into a rosy, glowing mist. Temperatures were in the low 40s giving me occasion to thank my heated gear once again as I banked the bike around yet another curve.

At Granite Falls I found the Mentzel Lake Road and continued my southerly course. Here the speed limit drops to 35 mph giving one a greater chance to admire the scenery alongside the route. Lawns, pasture and forest fall behind and more of the same appears ahead. At Lake Roesiger I catch Woods Creek Road and ride it on into Monroe. There are some interesting farms along the way here with all manner of Alpaca and Llama and other strange creatures so the lower speed limit just adds to the enjoyment of this route.

After reaching Monroe I spend the next 45 minutes searching for my destination before realizing that I can have the directions downloaded to my Blackberry handheld. However, even after the Blackberry begins route finding for me, I find myself unable to believe that it actually knows where to go so I spend some more time driving around Monroe fighting and disregarding the turns the device is recommending. At last I give it up and realize that my “bump of direction” will never be as smart as modern science and I give in and make the turns as suggested and, in short order, find myself where I needed to be. And only an hour later than planned!

After the meeting and some visiting I headed back to the Woods Creek Road and turned north. I stopped briefly at Lake Roesiger Park where I took this image and visited the porta-john. Not much here in the Park but some picnic tables and a swimming area, which I’m sure is very popular in the summer, but it’s utterly deserted now:

 

When I reach Granite Falls instead of turning left onto the route I traveled earlier I carry on straight which leads me onto the Mountain Loop Highway and, hopefully onto Darrington, Washington. The first 12 or 15 miles of my route wind though second or third growth forest plots and then carry me alongside of the river. I stopped in for a quick look at Turlo Campground. Turlo is a nice little campground on the small section between the highway and the river. Many of the campsites are right on the river and it’s quite noisy here this time of year as the water level is higher than normal.

 

Carrying on I see that there’s lots of Alder alongside the river which, at this time of year, is leafless but carrying its requisite loads of moss.

 

It’s mostly cloudy out now but the clouds lift long enough for me to get a picture of the “Four Peaks Mountain” from this picnic and day use area.

 

Soon I reach the end of the pavement and the road becomes one lane of packed dirt and gravel. I wanted to see how the Bulgesicle would handle on this kind of unimproved forest road so this seemed like a great time to try it out. The next fourteen miles are the same narrow, winding, and sometimes wet sand and dirt road that you can see here. Some of the route is along a very pretty and noisy creek.

 

The Mountain Loop Highway is designated as a National Forest Scenic Byway and it truly lives up to its name:

 

The Bulgesicle handled well (maybe even better than I anticipated) on the sometimes slippery road but I was glad, once again to reach pavement and increase my speed. Shortly, I reached Darrington and from there was but a short and often ridden route to Rockport and Highway 20 back to Burlington. The bike and I logged another 220 miles for the day and were pleased to arrive safely at home once more.

My Sunday will be spent washing twenty pounds of dirt from the bike and anticipating when I might again take a ride on the beautiful Mountain Loop Highway.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

We rode, last Saturday, down to Snoqualmie Falls with some folks from the local STAR Chapter #154, Northwest Cascades. We joined five other bikes on this ride and we had a pretty good time. We left Bob’s Burger and Brew in the morning after breakfast and a chapter meeting and rode west on Cook Road to Sedro Woolley. The temperature was in the low fifties and it was just a might cold. We were glad we’d put extra clothing under our protective clothing this morning. Back roads were the order of the day and we rode some very nice and twisty ones south to Granite Falls where we stopped for a ten minute butt break. After some visiting and moving around to warm up a bit we were back on our way. More winding backroads and we arrived at Snoqualmie Falls. After parking and making use of the washrooms we walked over to the lookout for a glimpse of the falls

After pictures we headed to the Twin Peaks Double R Diner in North Bend, Washington. This place is famous, apparently, as the Twin Peaks Café in a television show called “Twin Peaks”. Of course, Jax and I have never watched this show but we were pleased to hear that it was supposed to have the “world’s best” cherry pie. Unfortunately, after a very tasty burger, we were too full to attempt the pie so we got two slices to take home with us. Here’s Zippo holding the pie. A fellow rider – JimP – is in this image as well.

The weather had warmed up a mite and another rider took the lead. He knew some roads heading in the direction that we wanted to go that we hadn’t ridden on before. Very nice! After another wonderful ride, and a total of 212 miles for the day, Jax and I were again home with the kitties (who didn’t seem in the least glad to see us!). We’re looking forward to our next adventure although Jax says that hers might have to wait until the weather has warmed up more!

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Ahhh… A day we’ve been both dreading and looking forward to reaching – the last day of our trip. Bittersweet. We’ve traveled almost 4,600 miles, so far, and have seen a lot of beautiful country and many places we’d love to spend more time visiting. But, we miss our six (yes that’s 6) cats and we know our lawn has become a hayfield. We briefly discuss just chucking it all and turning south but, of course, that’s not what we do. We carry on with our

We head westward out of Omak and begin to climb into the hills. It’s beautiful country here, although dry, but we’ve been here several times before so the scenery doesn’t hold our attention as much as it has recently. As we’re descending into the Methow Valley we come up behind this intriguing trike.

We follow it down the curving mountain road and learn that the trike can really move out as we see it pass a car or two ahead of us. We’ve got to really work the Zipsicle to keep up. Fortunately, as we pull into Twisp, Washington we see the thing pull into a gas station and we quickly follow where we meet the fellow driving it. He built it himself and it is powered by a Volkswagon engine with a motorcycle front end. The handlebars (and attached dash unit) lift up to allow him to enter and exit the vehicle. Note the sidewinder missiles and the rotating cannon on the front. Quite a nice job! After talking with him a bit and admiring his ingenuity and craftsmanship we’re on our way again.

We head west back over Washington and Rainy Passes where we encounter very hazy conditions from forest fires in the area. Still, the mountains around here are very beautiful; no denying it.

It’s time for another butt break so we stop in at the overlook above Diablo Lake. The green, glacial waters always look great and we know that we’re getting closer to home.

Sure enough, we arrive home safely where we’re greeted with large yawns from our cats. Jax and I congratulate ourselves on a safe and wonderful trip (4,282 miles all told) and wonder if it’s too soon to start planning next year’s trip….

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Sorry for the delay in finishing off our travel tale. So much to do, so little time…
Anyway, we’re on the next to the last day of our trip and today we ride from Clarkston, Washington to Omak, Washington. It’s another hot day and we’re again wearing our Coolvests and glad to have them. We’re riding most of the day through rolling grainfields. Here’s a look at them with the combines running:

Jax spends much of the day taking pictures of the barns we pass. Some of them are in great shape, such as this typical “Big, Red, Barn”:

Others have a rather non-typical shape!

And other barns have just plain seen better days:

Jax spotted this fine, antique tractor in Uniontown, Washington. Shortly after this we stopped for a break along side the road and managed to lose one of our Alaska Leather’s Sheepskin buttpads. Oh, well. Our buns are much tougher now than they were when we started this trip:

In Colfax, Washington Jax caught a quick image of “The Codger Pole”. I looked it up online and it’s pretty interesting. You can read about it here

We crossed the bridge next to the Grand Coulee Dam and continued our journey north to Omak. They have a pretty good laser light show on the dam face in the evenings:

Just outside of Omak, Jax managed to catch this Sasquatch on film (digitally speaking!):

We arrived in the late afternoon in Omak and quickly checked into our hotel. Out total mileage for the day was only about 240 miles – a very easy day. Dinner tonight was a pizza delivered to our air-conditioned room while we watched something called “Extreme Logging” on TV. No wonder we don’t watch TV at home!:

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

If you ever stay at the Best Western in Hamilton, Montana be sure to walk across the street and down a bit to the “Coffee Cup Cafe”. The Coffee Cup Cafe is a terrific place where most all of the food is homemade; as is the pie. And, ooooh, the pie! Simply wonderful. Jax had a piece of the “Sawdust Pie” with a scoop of ice cream and simply sighed with pleasure as she ate it. I had a Mountain Berry pie, also a la mode, and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. This place is sure worth a visit if you’re in the neighborhood and like good eats. We head north and, once again, were quickly headed up and over Lolo Pass. The summit is soon reached when approaching from East to West and we stopped again for pictures at the summit.

From the summit we head downstream and west. This time over we have to stop several times for road construction. Our longest wait was probably 10 minutes and we got to visit with another cycle rider who was returning to California from a trip up to Banff National Park in Canada. Nice fellow. The day was hot and we were again glad for our Colorado Coolvests. The road twists and turns along the stream and we again enjoyed the fine riding.

Jackie managed to get a few shots, while flying along on the back of the Zipsicle, that show how clear and pretty the river is along here.

As we got close to the west end of Lolo Pass, we pulled into the same rest area we’d stopped in a couple of weeks ago and were pleased to learn that we were still on the Blue Star Memorial Highway.

Today was a short day for us, only 243 miles or so, but we were still glad to see the bridge welcoming us back into Washington State.

We drove back over the bridge into Idaho and had a terrific steak dinner at Bojack’s Broiler Pit in Lewiston, Idaho. They feature huge steaks at reasonable prices with the meat done to perfection. Wow! Highly recommended. After jamming in the steak we retired for the night in another Best Western in Clarkston, Idaho.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

We left Rock Springs, Wyoming under another, mostly sunny, sky. This day, I put Ashton, Idaho into the GPS as our destination and I would later wonder why I did so. Ahhh well, for now it’s another nice day and we’re on the bike riding so what does it matter?

I seem to be paying close attention to the road, this morning, and it’s a good thing I am as 20 miles or so north of Rock Springs on Highway 191 an antelope decides that the sagebrush is grayer on the other side of the road and chooses this moment of our ride to cross the road. A quick and hard application of the brakes causes our headings to diverge and, after Jax peels herself off of my back, I hear her exclaim, “Wow! I’ve never been that close to an antelope before!”

At Farson, Wyoming we stop and take a look at the historical markers near the site of the Pony Express stop at “Big Sandy Station”.

We gas up in Fallon and, after a short break, are on our way again. In Pinedale, we enjoy the many sculptures and statues. This bronze sculpture of a fur trapper is in front of the Sublette County Visitor Center and was very nicely done:

As we head north out of Pinedale bound for Jackson the road begins to wind through some beautiful countryside and canyons.

We spot this moose in a field but, as we ride closer, we can see that it’s another statue…

In Jackson we stop at a nice Mexican food restaurant for lunch where we discuss our route. We’re heading for Lolo Pass in Montana, again but, for some reason, I leave our next destination as Ashton, Idaho. Our route takes us over Teton Pass and more beautiful scenery. Here we impose on a kind stranger to take our picture…

Jax takes some pictures of the local flora while we’re stopped up here.

And she takes this picture of me and the Zipsicle overlooking Jackson, Wyoming

Soon, we leave Wyoming behind as we head into Idaho. Jax and I decided that the “back side” of the Tetons looks almost as good as the “front” side:

Our route to Ashton, Idaho, While beautiful, takes us about 60 miles north of where we really needed to end up today so we decide to spend the night in Idaho Falls. Here, we find another Best Western with room for us and we decide on dinner across the street at “Jaker’s Restaurant”. Very good food and we ate too much but still decided on a desert “to go”…

Day 13 -

In the morning we decide, since it’s going to be so close to our planned route, that a visit to Craters of the Moon National Monument is in order. We have a cat named “Rumble” who can purr loudly for hours so Jax just has to take a picture when she sees this sign:

As we draw closer to Arco, Idaho the day heats up under a beating sun. We decide to pull over at a rest area to wet and don our Colorado CoolVests. The rest area has a couple of interesting marker signs – one about Idaho National Laboratory and the other about “Lost River”:

Jax and I are always looking for places that we might like to live but it’s not often that we find one that we think we can afford. This “fixer upper” near Arco, Idaho looks like it might be affordable!

Soon we reach Craters of the Moon. Jax and I visited here just last year but it’s nice to be able to ride through on the bike this year.

Here’s the Zipsicle in front of a cinder cone in the park. Note the people climbing the cone in the background. This part of the Craters of the Moon National Monument is close to 6,000 in elevation and I find it a bit difficult to breathe if I walk very far so I stick rather close to the bike this trip.

This place is very aptly named and the lava flows do look as if they belong on the moon.

The lava here is very beautiful with different shapes and textures. If you get a chance to visit Craters of the Moon you really should take it – it’s a wonderful place. Of course, we bought more patches and pins so you may want to wait until they’ve had a chance to restock….

From Craters of the Moon we return to Arco, Idaho and then head north on Highway 93 towards Salmon, Idaho. The road here near Arco is wide and open, two lane and smooth. Soon, though, those mountains ahead will grow and appear alongside of us and the road will begin to bend and twist; just the way we like them!

Soon, Mount Brorah, Idaho’s tallest peak, is to our right and we’re in a beautiful valley. This is the scene of a tremendous earthquake in 1983. The ridge just in front of Mt Borah rose about 6 inches while the valley floor dropped about 9 feet! We fervently hope this doesn’t occur again while we’re visiting! There’s a “spectacular” fracture we could view just to the east of here but it’s down a gravel road and time is passing…

As move on the road continues to disappear into beautiful canyon walls while winding its way ever north.

The mountains to the east of us lower and become more rounded but don’t seem to lose any of their beauty.

Soon, we’re twisting our way along the Salmon river. This stretch of Highway 93 should be one of the great motorcycle roads, Jax and I agree. Two lane, winding road with very little traffic and tons of beautiful scenery.

As we travel north we reach the 45th Parallel – halfway between the equator and the north pole.

We reach Salmon, Idaho where we find another wonderful, bronze, sculpture of a grizzly bear after a meal of salmon.

It’s starting to get late in the afternoon and we decide that we’ll spend the night in Hamilton, Montana; about 92 more miles to go. By now we’re getting used to traveling a bit later into the day and our route along the Lewis and Clark trail has been spectacular today. We still have another pass to climb and descend at the Idaho-Montana border and the road bends even more than it has, so far, if that’s possible. As we come down the north side of the pass into Montana we spot some more animals on the road. This young Bighorn Sheep ram moves off the road as we approach on the bike.

There’s around 15 to 20 sheep here on both sides of the road and we get a good look at them. Jax is busy taking pictures and enjoying the view of these sheep so close to us.

It’s been a wonderful day with lots to see. Our butts are tired but we’ve arrived safely in Hamilton, Montana and soon we’ll be doing it again tomorrow as we ride Lolo Pass from east to west.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

After a restful evening at the Cliffside Inn Motel in Kremmling, Colorado we were ready to hit the road again. Our original route plan had us heading southwestward through Colorado to Moab, Utah where we’d visit Deadhorse Point State Park and Arches State Park. From Arches we planned to go westward through Utah and Nevada and California where we’d hit 101 north and home. After much soul-searching, map perusing and talking, we realized that we just simply did not have enough time left on our vacations to make that route possible so we agreed on an alternative; we’d run to Steamboat Springs where we’d replace my lost phone and have breakfast. Then we’d head for Dinosaur National Park and into Utah where we’d point north through Flaming Gorge in Wyoming.

We head north on 40 out of Kremmling and soon we’re climbing over the Rabbit Ears Pass in the Routt National Forest. Beautiful country up here and, once again, we’re crossing the Continental Divide.

Not too long after we’re in Steamboat Springs. It’s another favorite tourist haven. We planned on replacing my phone here so we pulled into a Verizon shop off the main drag. After talking with the fellow we also decided to replace Jax’s phone as well. Of course, the whole process took almost 2 hours… Finally, we’re done and, fortunately, there’s a breakfast spot right next door so off we go. Lots of sculptures in town and Jax catches an image of this one as we’re leaving Steamboat Springs:

After Maybell, Colorado Highway 40 begins to stretch out. I don’t want to call it boring but let’s just say that I was very glad for the cruise control.

Soon enough we’re approaching the entrance to Dinosaur National Monument. Unfortunately, the Rotunda Building, where one can see dinosaur fossils being dug, was damaged by ground movement and is now closed to visitors. They expect it to be open sometime in 2011. We decide not to wait…

We did (surprise!) buy patches and pins at the Visitor Center. Looks like we’ll be visiting another UPS Store soon to make another shipment of treasures home…

Not too much farther on down the road, in the town of Dinosaur, Colorado we came upon this fearsome beast. The beast looked like it ate Zipsicles for breakfast so we stayed clear. Here’s an image of it and another beast close by:

Soon we’re at the Colorado-Utah border where we learn that we’ve been traveling on the “Blue Star Memorial Highway” which is “A tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended America”. A fine tribute and well deserved, we think.

As is usually the case wherever we seem to go, the scenery is beautiful around here. The mountains we see to the north of us are in the Dinosaur National Monument. We eye them with a small bit of dread. There are some dark rain clouds to the north and soon we’ll be turning north as well.

Next stop is Vernal, Utah where we’ll gas up before turning north to Wyoming. There’s dinosaurs here, too, but this one doesn’t seem so fearsome, somehow.

As we left Vernal northbound on highway 191 we came upon this accident which had occurred only minutes before we arrived. Fortunately, although there was one heck of a mess on the road, no one was hurt. We again got to practice our gravel driving skills as we were directed around the accident onto the shoulder of the highway.

Soon it began to rain again so we pulled over one more time to don our raingear. Not long afterwards the road began twisting its way up through the Ashley National Forest. Jax grabbed this nice image of a rock formation known as “The Battleships” as we flew by.

Before long we were looking back south over the Steinaker Reservoir and State Park.

Next we came upon the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Flaming Gorge (in fact, this whole area) is simply one more place in a long list of places that we’d like to come back and visit again.

The rain had stopped so we pulled over yet again to remove raingear and proceed down into the Flaming Gorge valley.

There’s a nice suspension bridge we cross and then another stop at another visitor center for more patches and pins. I think I can hear the Zipsicle groaning faintly in the background and I’m reasonably sure we’re single-handedly supporting the national economy with our purchases!

Back on the road we begin to leave the gorge behind and soon find ourselves on more road cut through towering rock.

We cross into Wyoming for what seems like the umpteenth time this trip.

Sometimes the road ahead is so picturesque it almost makes your heart ache to look at it and you just want to keep on riding through it.

All too soon (or very late in the day) we pull into another Best Western in Rock Springs, Wyoming for the night. It’s been a very nice day and we’ve been treated to some fantastic country and sights.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

We woke up to a pretty nice day in Lusk, Wyoming. Today we’re southbound to Colorado where we plan to ride westbound over the famed, Trail Ridge Road. It’s our policy to avoid freeways whenever time and distance and circumstances permit so we headed south out of Lusk on 85. Here’s our route. I’ll explain some of the side journeys as we go…

But, first, we need some breakfast…

Unlike other “Continental” breakfasts available at many motels and hotels where we stayed, this Best Western features a breakfast with all the items we enjoy; fresh scrambled eggs, hash browns, link sausage and, Lo and Behold!, waffles! Yaaaay! After eating some great food and drinking some tasty orange juice it was back to the room for a final check and suit up before leaving. As you can see, the weather here at the Best Western in Lusk promises to be a pretty nice one for riding.

As we’re headed south on 85 we spot this rock formation off in the distance. It looked amazingly like the Virgin Mary and we speculated on how we might remove it and sell it on eBay!

As we passed through Torrington, and a gas station, I glanced at the trip meter briefly. I don’t recall what the trip meter indicated but I do remember thinking that we probably had enough gas to make it to the next station. About 20 miles later I see that we still have 60 miles or so to go and our gas situation is looking bleak. I figure we have around 30 miles or so before Jax has to start pushing. Then, we spot a sign that says “Gas – Open 24 hours only 4 miles. Next left” so we seize the chance and head for the station. Four miles later we’re parked in front of the pumps and breathing a sigh of relief. Then I try to pay at the pump using my card. “ping” the pump chimes. I look at the display and it says, “Please pay attendant inside”. I look around… There is no inside… I start pushing buttons on the pump and the only response I get is, “Ping”…. There’s a house close by and I notice someone working on the roof so I walk over and ask, “Excuse me. Do you know anything about these pumps? They aren’t working and there’s no one around.” After a bit more talking she helpfully telephones the number she has for the pump owner. No response; only an answering machine. I ask her if there’s any other gas around and she directs us “Down this road about 5 miles and then turn left and go about 17 miles to Albin. There’s gas there…”

Jax and I discuss it for a bit. 22 miles and we have maybe 30 left (I’m guessing). Not much room for error but we take off anyway heading east. 7 miles later we’re approaching the Nebraska border and we realize that we must have missed the turn.

Back around and sure enough, a couple of miles back there’s a gravel road heading south and a sign (only visible from this direction) indicating “Albin”, so off we go. After some miles we notice a pickup truck following us. Since the road is gravel and our bike handles on gravel something like a drunken hog in a mud wallow I pull over to the right and wave them by. As they go by Jax says, “Oh. I was kind of liking having them behind us in case we ran out of gas…” A few more miles and the road surface improves to broken asphalt and concrete and we pick up the speed a bit. For some reason, my eyes keep getting drawn to the trip meter slowing winding down the remaining fuel in our tank but it’s hard to look away. Like a deer in the headlights my attention gets drawn to disaster… 17 miles later, though, we see a welcome sight – a gas station in the town of Albin and we can breathe easily again. Shortly we’re back on our way to 85 and points south.

We stopped at a Subway in Wellington, Wyoming to get lunch and a welcome break for our tushes. While there a couple of fellows admired our bike and we struck up a conversation with them. They were local riders and, after we told them that we were headed south to do the Trail Ridge Road, they suggested that we take some back roads from here to there which would lessen the traffic we’d have to deal with as well as give us a look at some nice, local riding roads.

After finishing our sandwiches, some kind directions (which I quickly plugged into the GPS), and a thank you we were on our way. There directions were great and we soon found ourselves riding along through some wonderful scenery alongside of the Horsetooth Reservoir in Colorado. Beautiful country. Somehow, though, I managed to miss our turn onto Highway 34 to Estes Park (unbeknown to me at the time) and we began a ride up a gorgeous canyon. It soon began raining and hailing heavily. I began dreading what I was going hear from Jax about the weather but what did I hear from her through the intercom? “Gosh, it sure is beautiful around here!” Made my day and I was very proud of her for seeing through the miserable weather to the joy of the country we were lucky enough to be riding through even if it was raining… Eventually we hit the end of the road, realized my mistake and got turned around and back on the correct route. I’ll remember those words from my wife for a very long time, though…

Here’s how it looked along the Horsetooth reservoir (before the rain and hail hit):

As we began the drive up 34 to Estes Park the rain began letting up and the canyon walls closed in. It was absolutely gorgeous and was to remain so, more or less, for the next 60 miles.

Estes Park, Colorado is another one of those tourist towns at the base of the ski slopes and it was very busy even at this time of year. We stopped long enough for fuel and a break. Jackie caught a picture of this rabbit – we think it was hitching a lift to the “bunny” slopes…

Soon enough we found our way out of town and began heading up the east side of the Trail Ridge Road. Wow. Superb country and 48 miles of winding mountain road with a speed limit of 35 miles an hour. Perfect!

We’ve already shown you a lot of beautiful mountain vistas so I’ll only post a few of the highlights here. Here’s traffic halting to let a pair of grouse saunter across the roadway. They did take their own, sweet time crossing the road:

Here’s me and Jax at just another dang, great scenic vista and what we saw there…

There’s a whole lot of places on this road where, if you miss the turn, it’s a looooong ways down.

We’re now over 2 miles in altitude and I’m feeling the effects. Moving around very much makes me very short of breath; the consequences of 45 years of smoking, I suppose. Jax and I quit around 6 years ago but that was 34 years too late for me. So Jax walked over to this lookout to see if there was a photo opportunity…

We’re well above tree line, here, and you can see the road snaking off into the distance over the alpine meadows:

After buying more patches and t-shirts at the “Alpine Visitors Center” and taking a picture of this young Elk way above tree line we were on our way again.

As we descended the west side of the Trail Ridge Road we ran into more hail and pouring rain. We also had another 5 miles or so of construction and muddy road. We got a thumbs up from one motorist who probably had a hard time believing anyone would be out in this kind of weather let alone riding 2-up on a motorcycle over muddy road construction! By the time we got to the junction of 34 and 40 near Grandby, Colorado the rain had stopped. We were treated to the sight of a beautiful rainbow over the portapotties at this gas station. There’s something you don’t see every day!

We still had 25 miles or so to go to Kremmling, Colorado but it was through some very beautiful country.

When we arrived at Kremmling we drove through town (it was pretty small) and found a couple of motels that looked like they might be decent. As we pulled into the first one and before we even got off of the bike a young fellow came running out to tell us they didn’t have any rooms available. Jax and I looked around the almost empty parking lot and at each other and shrugged. If they didn’t want us then we didn’t want them either so we headed back to the other place that looked decent. I asked the gal at the desk if she had a room available and she replied, “I do have one with a king bed and Jacuzzi, if that’ll work.” For the second time on this trip I thought Jax was going to fling herself across the counter and hug the clerk! We got settled and walked across the street for some very fine Mexican food and back to our room for some much needed rest…

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

The day dawned bright on us in Deadwood. After a crummy, “Continental” breakfast at the “Super 8″ in Deadwood, Jax and I were glad to get on the road again. Our change in plans had the five of us taking a detour over to visit Sturgis before heading off to Mt Rushmore. We were just too close to not ride over and visit Sturgis. Fortunately, it was the week before “Bike Week” so we were going to miss the crowds and wildness that can and does happen in Sturgis…

As we left town leading our small pack of bikes, Jax reminded me that we hadn’t had a chance to ride through Deadwood and get some pictures so we pulled everyone off to the side of the road and let our friends know that we were headed back for pictures but would try to find them in either Sturgis or Mt Rushmore and back around we went:

Deadwood, as most of you know from the HBO show of the same name, was born from the Gold Rush days in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There’s a lot of history here and it’s another place where we’d love to spend a few days poking around. Here’s a look at the “Bullock Hotel”. Nice old buildings abound here in Deadwood.

Here’s a look down the street:

And here’s the Deadwood History and Information Center:

After viewing and shooting a few more of the sights we’re off to:

You guessed it – Sturgis, South Dakota. A place as steeped in motorcycle tradition as… as… well, as Harley Davidson! We rode our Yamahas into Sturgis with our heads held high (knowing full well that bike week wasn’t until next week!). We’re not saying that it gets wild during Bike Week here in Sturgis but check out one of the official sponsors:

And, how would you like to get invited to the “Knuckle Saloon”?

And they probably don’t really need to call in troops so this image is probably just a coincidence!

Anyway, after purchasing the required T-Shirts and patches we were off to new adventures; Mt Rushmore! Due to the (often misplaced) confidence our fellow travelers had in our TomTom GPS, Jax and I were again in the lead…

Somehow, though, we managed to find the place and get paid and parked. Mt Rushmore was pretty crowded with tourists as might be expected, I suppose. And we’d all seen tons of photos and descriptions of the place. Still, it’s one of those places that you just have to experience for yourself and we’re glad we did. The sculptures were somehow both bigger and smaller than we’d expected. Sometimes, when you’ve heard so much about a place, it can seem less when you actually get there. Not so with Mt Rushmore. It looked exactly like we expected it would and the day was just beautiful. Of course we had to get the requisite pictures and then stop in at the gift shop for t-shirts and patches!

After lunch with our friends we finally parted ways. They were headed home and Jax and I were off to ride the Needles Highway and points south. The Needles Highway is one of the most beautiful and twistiest rides we’d hit yet on our trip. Beautiful rock formations, a road that pigtailed back over itself, and narrow tunnels through high rock walls abound on this highway. A definite must ride, in our book. Here’s the Zipsicle in front of one of the “Needles”.

People were actually “Bouldering” or climbing these rocks! Why don’t they choose a nice, safe, sport; like Motorcycling!!??

Where this car is we’re going to go, too… Looks like a very tight fit:

We figured it’d be best to follow this jeep – let them clear the way!

Definitely not the place for our 35 foot motorhome but the bike fits in just fine…

Many curves ahead and terrific scenery:

And, more tunnels:

Then, the pigtail. A road sign like this one really captures your attention when you’re riding a bike!

Yep, that one lane bridge is where we’ll be shortly:

 

Simply wonderful landscapes abound here and and this is an extremely fun motorcycle road. If you get the chance you really should ride this road (just leave your RV at
home, like we did!).

As we were leaving The Needles Highway we got our first, few sprinkles of rain. Not enough to really wet the windshield or make us don our raingear but just a taste of what it might have been like had it really rained. We drove on down through Custer National Park where we saw a beaver cross the road, a turkey alongside of the road, as well as numerous antelope. We also saw our first Bison beside the road:

From CNP we rode on down into Wind Caves National Park where we bought some more t-shirts and patches (UPS is our friend!).  We also hope to return and visit both of these parks in more detail…

We rode south through the park and down into Nebraska. In Nebraska, we again turned west to Lusk, Wyoming where we spent the night in a great Best Western Motel. It was pretty nice. While we only rode 243 miles today we’d spent a lot of time stopped and looking and it was growing late and we were tired. As we finished registering, the lady behind the desk asked, “Can I get you each a cold bottle of water?” I thought Jax was going to leap over the desk and hug her! The owners of the motel had also recently installed a motorcycle wash station. If you get a chance to spend the night in Lusk, Wyoming we can highly recommend the Best Western there…

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Today we left Billings, Montana and began the second part of our trip. We had three other riders with us for this portion.

First, we stopped in and did a quick visit at Little Big Horn National Monument. Very interesting place and we’re looking forward to coming back when we can spend a bit more time here. Of course, we took the time to visit the spot where Custer fell during his infamous, “Last Stand”

There’s a National Cemetery here containing the remains from many other conflicts, as well, so we paid our respects:

There are also monuments to the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors who fell while defending their way of life:

There’s a museum here with many very nice exhibits. Here’s a typical Sioux or Cheyenne warrior as he might have looked back then:

Here’s a typical soldier as he might have looked under Custer’s command (notice that he doesn’t own a Blackberry):

After a quick diagnosis and repair to our friend’s cruise control we’re off to the next stop on our trip; Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Note that, after looking in a mirror, Zippo decided that he wouldn’t have to worry about aliens kidnapping him for nefarious sexual experiments! Here’s a picture of Zipsicle and her riders at the tower:

Jax took this inspiring image of our flag waving in front of the tower:

Around the base of the tower live these fat prairie dogs:

The countryside around Devil’s Tower is beautiful. Here’s an old cabin that Jax managed to get a picture of as we whipped by at 60 mph:

Now we’re off to our next stop at our motel in Deadwood, South Dakota (A Super 8 and I can recommend that you NOT stay there). Before we get to our room for the night we have the distinct pleasure of riding through Spearfish Canyon. Spearfish Canyon is another one of those “must ride” motorcycle roads. It’s getting close to dark as we ride into the canyon but the road is nice and twisty and the canyon walls are tall and beautiful:

Ahhh, another great day of riding in some very beautiful country. Life is good.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax