Mount St. Helens Ride

One of the advantages of being unemployed is that I have time to do stuff, like going for a ride on a whim.

So I did.

I'd ridden most of this route before with the "Sweet Ride Saturday Night" crew, but we didn't go all the way up to Windy Ridge, and part of it was after dark, so the scenery wasn't the best. (i.e., only what was lit by my headlights, directly in front of me.) It was a nice day (by Oregon/Washington standards) in that it wasn't raining, and there were patches of sun. I headed out about noon. It was supposed to be about 5 hours, but I guess I was going slower and taking more time along the way taking pictures. Over all it was closer to 7 hours.

No real traffic, unless you count the chipmonks. Those suckers were everywhere, dashing across the road. One even raced me for a few feet. I saw a few elk, and a fawn. Momma must have been close, but I never saw her.

All in all, a nice way to spend the day. If I were only getting paid for it too......

My route.

From an overlook area about 40 miles to the South.

Looking back on my way out.

View from the Windy Ridge viewing area on the East side.

The Mountain.

Another view.

One of the lakes along the way

Portland Stuff

Ahhhhh, it's good to be home.

Here's a recent article on Portland:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8244079 - Can a place be too perfect?

"In recent years, Portland, Oregon, has acquired a reputation as a big city with a small-town quality of life: The air is fresh, the food is organic, the streets are paved with good intentions."

5866

miles from start to finish, over a period of 17 days. That works out to 345 miles per day, average. Considering that I spent 3 days in MN not riding much, and 3 days in MT hanging out at Paul & Kim's cabin, that's pretty darn good.

I'm home now - I made it home yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon. I'm tired, happy to be home, and happy for how the trip went.

Tuesday started off cold - there was ice on my tent when I packed it up. No wonder I was shivering in my 30 degree sleeping bag! I lay awake for a couple hourse, before getting up as the eastern sky was starting to lighten. It was about 5:30 by the time I had my bike packed and hit the road. I'd spent the night off a dirt road in a national forest about 50 miles south of West Yellowstone in Idaho. From there I headed north towards Missoula, then west towards Lewiston.

Highway 12 between Missoula and Lewiston, over Lolo Pass, is truly amazing. Almost 200 miles of curvy mountain roads. The only downside is that it came at the end of a 500-mile day, and I was a bit tired. It also took a bit longer than I expected. I think my speeds were closer to 45-50 mph, than the 75 I'd been doing elsewhere.

In any case, I finally made it to Lewiston, and met one of Dad's cousins for the first time. Mona and her husband Bill graciously offered me a bed for the night, despite the fact that they were busy with Mona's mother. Avis (Mona's mother, Dad's aunt) fell and broke her hip the day before I got to Lewiston, so their schedule was a bit hectic. In any cace, I had a wonderful time talking to them over dinner, had a restful sleep, and a great breakfast before getting back on the bike.

Since I was a bit road-weary, I scrapped my planned route by Mount Ranier, and headed directly towards Portland. I think it was a good idea - the weather turned nasty, and I had heavy winds all day, and an hour or so of rain. Ugh. I was beat by the time I made it home.

All in all, it was a great trip. I wasn't as lonely as I'd feared, and my body was adjusting fairly well by the time it ended. The advil was still needed, though.....

Thank you all, those who supported me both directly and indirectly on this trip. It was much less lonely on the road due to you. And Dad, I hope this didn't take too many years off, or cost you much hair.....

It's good to be home. Did I say that already?

A view of the lower portion of Highway 12. It was much tighter/steeper in the upper portions of the road.

A sign that motorcycle riders like to see. It was actually closer to 200 miles of winding roads along Highway 12 from Missoula, MT to Lewiston, ID. Wow.

The Tetons rise straight from the prarie much like the mountains up in Banff. Pretty impressive, eh?

Looking at the Tetons across the lake.

Getting closer to Yellowstone. 

Along the Chief Joseph Highway between Cody and Yellowstone NP.  

Greetings from Hamilton, MT

Well, I finally left the comfort of Paul & Kim's cabin. I headed through Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP, and stopped briefly in Jackson, WY. All in all, I went from Montana to Wyoming, back into MT, back into WY, before landing in Idaho for the night.

Yellowstone was nice. Parts of it, at least. Between the Beartooth Highway being closed, and one of the Northwestern park roads, there wasn't much traffic in the Northwestern part of the park. Tons of traffic elsewhere, though. Major traffic jams to see a few tame buffalo.

Grand Teton was spectacular. Much like Banff, the prarie comes right to the bottom of some major mountians, with a lake right there for added emphasis. Pretty cool.

From there I dropped down into Jackson, of Jackson Hole fame. Wow, Jackson has some money. There's some money in that town. Lots of places to shop for whatever you like. I checked my phone messages, and headed out. I had an elkburger at a small locals grill the next town over, and headed back north.

I crossed over into Idaho, and started looking for a campground in the National Forest. I didn't find much, so as the sun was setting, I turned off onto a forest service road, and pitched the tent in a meadow. I wasn't prepared for the cold. I shivered in my sleeping bag for a couple hours, then got up as there was a bit of light in the east. No wonder I was cold - there was ice on my tent and motorcycle. And here I was prepared to curse my 30 degree sleeping bag - It was comfy at 40, so I guess it's doing it's job.....

Today I headed north into Montana again. I'll head through the Missoula region, and head on West over to Lewiston, ID. I've got some distant relatives that I'll impose on for tonight, if things work out.

Well, time to hit the road again.

Take care.

Cowboy Bob on Bear. Look at the mountains, not the gut..... 

The Paul & Kim's cabin at the base of the mountains, just outside of Red Lodge, MT 

Driving into Cody, WY 

The Buckhorn Mountains east of Buffalo, WY 

Montana

has been a nice change of pace. I've been hanging out here at Kim & Paul's for the last couple of days. I got here Thursday evening, went into Billings Friday with Paul to get the topper for his pickup, and Saturday we went down to Cody to see the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. Today I went horseback riding on Kim's horse Bear. It was a beautiful day for a ride, with perfect weather. We rode with Paul's friend Linda, who runs trips out of her ranch. She's got almost 700 acres herself, with permission to use an adjacent 10,000 acres. We were out for about 2 hours, which was a nice length. I don't think my ass could have taken much more. The motorcycle and horse saddles are shaped very differently! The horse is a bit wider, too.......

I'm probably headed out tomorrow. I'm ready to be home, I think. The traveling has been fun, but tiring.

I'll probably head down through Yellowstone tomorrow, and will try for a campsite in the Grand Teton National Park. From there I'll head up towards Lewiston, ID, where I've got some distant relatives. I haven't met them, but Dad says they're pretty good folks. I'll probably try to make it to Portland on Wednesday. We'll see, though, if something else strikes my fancy along the way....

Hopefully I'll be able to find someplace to post pictures from - right now I'm using Paul & Kim's computer, so can't post some of the shots of Montana.

Take care.

Sturgis

is a zoo. I pulled into the area Tuesday afternoon, and wandered over to see Badlands National Park. Tons of bikers, or so I thought at the time. From there I headed over towards Mt. Rushmore, and grabbed a campsite in a small national forest campground. I got my tent up just before the rains came, and spent the evening hanging out, reading, and relaxing in the comfort of my tent. I think I finally crashed about 8pm. Of course, this meant I was awake at 5:30. Given that, I got up, broke camp, and hit the road by 6:30 am. I was only a couple miles from Mt. Rushmore, and got there before 7am. Almost no one was around. Niiiice.

From there I headed south, and toured the scenic backroads south of Sturgis. I headed down to Custer State Park, up to Deadwood via the Needles Highway, then over to the Spearfish Canyon. By then it was closing on noon, and all the bikers were awake and flooding the road. THe only yhing that goes slower than RVs on those twisty roads is herds of bikers. 45 mph in a 55 zone was typical. Ugggggh.

From there I headed over to Sturgis itself. My intention was to hang out a bit, and try to find a sorta cousin that I've never met. Geoffery is my mother's partner's nephew, and Dee just found out that he'd be in Sturgis when I was headed through. Camp 2 or something. However, it only took minutes on the roads of Sturgis to make me head for the nearest exit. Wall to wall people, and stuff for sale everwhere. It was an amazing monument to capitalism, with everything you could possible need or want for a harley for sale someplace. I swear, I think there must have been a t-shirt booth for every person. I couldn't take it, and left as soon as I could find a road leading out of town. I didn't even get a picture!

From there I headed to Devil's Tower National Monument. Prettyu cool, despite the herds of roaming bikers. From there I headed west. I'm now in "Java Joe's" in Gillette, WY, and I'll head a couple hours west of here to try to find a campsite for the night. Tomorrow I'll probably head towards Montana, to see some friends. That is, if I can ever get any cell phone reception, and be able to call for directions....

Well, time to hit the road again.

Devils Tower. What a zoo with all the bikers around. And that's only a small taste to what the town of Sturgis was like..... 

Spearfish Creek, in Spearfish Canyon. I had a nice little plunge bath here. Felt good to get clean, but *MAN* that water was cooooold. 

More of the Black Hills, taken along the Needles Highway. Pretty cool. 

One of the locals. I saw lots of them a *huge* herd of buffalo, wild turkeys, and deer in Custer SP. I also saw Mountain goats outside of Mt. Rushmore, and a mink/weasel someplace in Iowa. Quite the trip for wildlife. 

The Black Hills down around Custer State Park in South Dakota. 

Yours truly at Mt. Rushmore. 7am is probably one of the few times that it isn't mobbed, especially during Sturgis. 

An overvier of the Badlands. As always with large areas, the pictures only hint of the scale. 

Typical road in the Badlands NP. 

Dad & Martha on Uncle Trav's pontoon boat 

Family

is an amazing thing. Even though I haven't seen most of these folks for 10+ years, I feel right at home, and wonder why it's been so far between visits.

I've had a great weekend so far. We started off Friday with some shopping at the Mall of America. Wow. What a cathedral to consumerism. More stuff than I could ever imagine. I walked 2 of the 4 levels, not going into any shops, and it still took me an hour. I did, though, stop by the Apple store, and get a better set of ear-plug style headphones. Etymotic ER6. They come highly recommended on Sport-Touring.net, so I'm hoping they'll be more comfortable under my helmet.

After the MoA, we headed over to Tom and Michelle Ray's house. Tom's my cousin, but I'd never spent much time with him. What wonderful people, and a great place for a party. Much of the Ray clan gathered there eventually, and I had a great time reconnecting with my family.

Saturday we headed out to the Wirth's (Rosie and Trav) cabin near Pine City. It's right on a great lake, about an hour and a half north of the Twin Cities. Rosie is one of my Dad's older sisters. It's a wonderful cabin, and a great place to spend the day. The kids played in the water most of the day, Trav took us out on the pontoon boat a couple times, and the adults hung out, played games, and enjoyed some great food. Glorious weather, too. You couldn't have asked for a nicer day. It was wierd, though, not to be one of the kids anymore. I've become one of the old folks. Wow. At least I'm not responsible.

Today we're off to a Twins game with a smaller group, then Tim (my brother), his family and I will head down to Albert Lea, MN, for the night before heading on down to Clearfield IA tomorrow. From there I'll head back out on the road by myself. I'd planned on seeing the Black Hills, and it looks like I'll be there in the middle of Sturgis Bike Week. Since I won't be able to avoid it, I'll have to embrace it.

Woooweee! I'm headed to Sturgis on a jap bike!

Typical Canadian backroad. Kinda crappy in spots, and not much traffic. Not much to stop the wind, either. 

The 4 guys I met in Glacier in front of our bikes. 

Windfarms in Alberta. At least *something* positive comes from all that wind. 

Mountains on the Canadian side 

Some lake on the other side of the pass