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Motorcycles, tools, and garages! A little bit of everything mechanical and technical.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

What REAL winding road's look like!

Day 4.

Got a pretty late start today. My brother had to take his son in for a dentist appt., so we didn't end up leaving Rigby until about 11:00 a.m. I was running on fumes, but it was all good- went 5 miles to Ririe, got gas, and got on our way up to Jackson.

Yes, that is my low fuel light on...



Really love this part of the ride- the rolling wheat fields remind me of home, except for the rolling part.



Somewhere near the summit of the road to Jackson, WY.





Not sure if this vid will work but we'll give it a try.



Not bad for an over-the-shoulder without looking shot, eh?





Made it in to Jackson, bought some lunch to go at the grocery store, and stopped at the Harley store so my bother could hardley-ize my bike...



Gremlin bell! Should be safe now.

Hey! I can see your Teton's from here!



That's me.



Entrance to Teton National Park.



Lotsa pretty scenery.



Another over the shoulder shot, but I got the camera right side up for this one.





Ah yes, Yellowstone park. I think it's more fun to watch the people watching the animals than it is to stop and watch the animals.



Yellowstone Lake, on the West side.



Yellowstone lake somewhere over on the East side...



Aaannnnndddd, more road construction. This was the longest, slowest and probably most boring part of the entire trip- going through the parks. We stopped somewhere in Teton Park for lunch near a lake. Met some fellow riders who had ridden all the way from Quebec and were tooling around the park. Had a decent visit with them, but I really wanted to "Le meillier bonjour" them. Having grown up in Canada, the limit of my French was what I read off of the cereal box every morning.

FINALLY starting to get FUN again. Nearing the East Yellowstone park entrance (exit).





That'd be fun to climb!



I should also mention that by this point, my brother, who had not worn his jacket or any sunscreen for the first 5 hours of riding, was pretty sun burnt. His face looked like a red racoon, and his elbow-pits were bright pink and apparently very sore.



Stopped at some random gas station just outside of the park. See? Even the DOG likes my bike more than Harley's!



'Bout to get more fun. Buffalo Bill state park near Cody, WY.



And then a looooonnnnggg tunnel, with 2 more short ones right after it! Of course my brother had to braaappp the Harley the entire way through. Longshots are loud.









Those didn't work out so great but you get the idea.

What would a trip be to Wyoming with a stop for fireworks?



We stopped several different places in Cody- and made sure to pick up sunscreen and aloe vera for my poor burnt bro.

Only in Wyoming...



Wild West shoot out.



One of these bikes just aint like the others, one of them bikes just isn't the same...



Gettin late. TIME TO GO!

Here's where it gets REALLLLL fun.

Chief Joseph Highway outside of Cody.









At the top!



What we're about to go through.



Made it down through most of the fun stuff. Did I mention the speed limit on this road is 70 mph!?



Sun's settin, need to get there!





Whew. Finally there, at 8:00 in the evening. Stayed at Lake Creek campground, right at the base of Chief Joseph Highway where it joins the Beartooth Highway.






No water at this campsite, but they do have bear boxes. We had a few different forms of deterrent with us anyways so we weren't all that worried.

Beautiful creek roaring by the campground.









Moonrise again. Few bikes went by after dark but it got reaaalll quite.



We made freeze dried dinners for our meal. I left my fork in the package, then used the package as a garbage can, then threw it out. Realized what I'd done but figured I was done cooking meals anyways, so no big loss. Steveo decided that the fork HAD to be rescued.

Sound's good. You climb in the dumpster, I'll take pics!





Attempted some long exposure shots.





Moonlit bridge.



End of the day.



Map of the days trip:



and in case you missed the awesome-ness of Chief Joseph Highway, here it is:




Totals for the day:

Odo start: 57,837
Odo end: 58,173
Total Day 3: 336 miles.
TOTAL: 1,478 miles.

Money spent (Gas, Lunch, Gas, Campground, Park Entry, Map): $87.51

Ouch. Expensive day.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Getting lost, Klim, and Hardley Ableson's.


Day 3.

Woke up early, kind of excited for the day. Ate, broke camp, loaded up and was on the road by 8.

The Hog Catcher was rarin' to go.



While I was bumbling around in the dark the previous night I found a very small very dead tree. It didn't like me much...



The ride into Salmon was pretty good. Neat little town. Got out of town and was a 'goin...



And a goin...



and a goin some more... but wait. Ain't I sposed to be on the OTHER side of those mountains?!



DANG IT. I missed the turn back in Salmon, and now I'm in Leadore. 44 miles wrong. I could go on, I'm more than half way to my destination and this road will definitely get me there, but the road is looong and straight.

I'm going back.

Made it back to Salmon, filled up with gas, and got on the RIGHT road.

Thats better!





The Hog Catcher strikes again...



Mountains and me.



Fun!



THAT'S the side of the mountains I'm sposed to be on!



And then it got boring.



Miles and miles of desert.



There was NOTHING and NO ONE around. Turns out the Hog Catcher has some pretty long legs.

Saw this thing out on the desert- It's HUGE.



Turns out it was a hanger for the nuclear jet they were building back in the 60's(?). Now it's where they manufacture the depleted uranium armor for tanks.

Made it to Rigby pretty early even with the 90 mile detour, so I stopped at the Klim plant to see an old friend that works there. He took me on a tour and tried to sell me some new gear.

One of his bosses walked into the showroom while we were there- Told me I was a brave man to show up at a Klim factory wearing MSR pants. Good thing he didn't see my jacket or gloves!

It was plenty cool. Got a stack of free stickers too. I'll explain the Hardley in a minute... Took this picture on the way back when the parking lot was empty.



After the tour I headed over to my Brother's house. He lives about a a mile away. He was still at work so I got to hang out with Ridge, who was having a hard time letting me take a picture of him...



So my brother "won" a Hardley rental at a benefit auction. I rode in to meet him at the dealership. Should have seen the looks I got when I parked the Hog Catcher in the special motorcycle parking. Then I put on my propeller head hat and got outright laughter.



My brother with the dealer guy checking out his new ride.



He may be taller than me but I'm much better looking.

Got it figured out, and after the Harley guy and some other random dude got done drooling over my bike (What the H$&* is it?!) we headed back to his house.



Map of the day. Notice the big long spur out to the east. Whups.



Day's done!



Totals for the day:

Odo start: 57,394
Odo end: 57,837
Total Day 3: 443 miles.
TOTAL: 1,142 miles.

Money spent (Gas, Lunch, Gas, Campground): $25.69

Lots cheaper today for a couple of reasons- Only bought one tank of gas (barely), and didn't have to pay for a campground because I got to sleep in a bed!