Hey everyone,
Chalk up that I’ve managed only one group ride this year and have attended none of the Notte nights to my two little ones, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been riding. A friend of mine who rides a BMW R1150R and I have been taking extended motorcycle trips for the past six years and this year we headed out for 4 days of riding in Wyoming and southern Montana. For everyone who is thinking about something like this, I can only say to find the time to do it if you can! There is nothing like spending the days riding hundreds of miles on your Monster through an endless variety of terrain. Some quick highlights from the trip:
Day 1: We decided to trailer the bikes out to Rapid City rather than face 600 miles of going in a straight line. The 11 hour trip was fine until about 150 miles outside of Rapid City when my friend snapped me out of my lull by saying, “I think your bike is leaning over in the trailer.” Sure enough, it was not only leaning but was resting on his bike. We quickly pulled over and to my amazement discovered that the “heavy-duty” ratchet strap I had used to secure the left side of the forks had failed at the stitching. I now have a scuff in the tank paint as a permanent reminder of the trip
Day 2: After a good night of rest, we loaded up the bikes, left the truck and trailer at the hotel, and headed north out of Rapid City. The ride brought us up through northern South Dakota and on across Devil’s Tower:
Up through the Big Horn Mountains, down out across the basin into Cody, Wyoming, the town we would call home for the next two nights. Checking in I couldn’t help but notice what looked to be a wedding reception at the hotel that night – name look familiar?!
Day 3: With a full day of riding and a stomach full from the prime rib buffet at the Irma Hotel, I slept well and we got an early start on the day. We began the day finding the Chief Joseph Highway, then up the Beartooth Highway into Montana. As it happened, this day saw a lot of construction on the Beartooth that cooled what had otherwise been high hopes for riding this road - beautiful scenery nonetheless:
We made it into Montana and stopped in town for a late lunch:
After gassing up, we headed back down into Wyoming and made it to Cody as the day was ending. That night we checked out a few of the bars in town ending up listening to some local talent in the area enjoying some local beers.
Day 4:
We spent the day doubling back across the Big Horn Mountains, heading west to east across the big wide basin, up the mountain, south, then east across the mountains again. The basin area was hot, dry and provided a great straight road up to the mountains that allowed you to lean on the throttle a bit, while we ran into some rain in the mountains after stopping a bit to enjoy the scenery:
Day 5:
With about 550 miles to cover this day with Rapid City as our destination, we packed up the bikes and left early after breakfast in Cody. Weather was rolling in from the southwest and we could see rain clouds and lightening off in the distance after cutting again across the mountains and hooking up with I-90. Thankfully, we endured only about 30 minutes in the rain before it let up and we were dry by the time we made it to Rapid City.
With the bike running beautifully and the weather pretty much on our side, the trip was a great one and we're already planning for next year (Ross we might need to compare notes as a trip through Missouri into Arkansas looks interesting...). I also bought a new toy before the trip, the vHoldr helmet cam
http://www.vholdr.com/) that took some amazing HD video that I'll mash up into a brief highlights reel once I find the time. Until then, I hoping this riding season is a long one!
