After trailering to Ogallala Nebraska, we unloaded the ST1300 for this 7,000 mile trip. The red bit we took together on the way out (actually, the bit on the California coast should also be red), to see the MotoGP races at Laguna Seca. Jane had to fly home for work after the race, so the green bit is my solo ride back to Ogallala. We spent 11 days riding out, and I took 7 days coming back.
Ogalalla Nebraska, where they let me park my truck and trailer behind the motel for nearly a month. Thanks!
This is in Merriman Nebraska on Hwy 61. It's just north of the stunning Niobrara River valley, an odd non-sequitur that surprises those traveling north/south through the sand hills region. Hwy 61 might just be my favorite non-twisty road on the planet. Desolate and remote, but eerily beautiful.
Badlands National Park South Dakota
The Game Lodge at Custer State Park, South Dakota. Great dinner. If I was a girl I'd say the rooms were 'charming'. Interesting historic building, built by the same guy that built the pigtail bridges on the nearby Iron Mountain Highway leading to Mt. Rushmore. President Calvin Coolidge used this as his Summer White House one year. See historic-hotels-lodges.com/south-dakota/state-game-lodge for more photos and info.
Chillin on the veranda at the Game Lodge (warning... this and the next couple dozen photos are in the park, off the bike, mostly widlife shots. Skip ahead if you like...)
This was a really beautiful sunset. A decent camera or a skilled photographer could have done a much better job.
This guy just destroyed that little pine. This was about the peak of the breeding season for Bison, and the boys were wound up.The park offers 2 hour "Buffalo Jeep Tours" along the "Wildlife Loop" road, from 8AM-6PM. I wanted to try it, but trips that time of day miss the peak of animal activity at dawn and dusk. So I arranged ahead of time to have a special tour start before sunrise. When the alarm went off, Jane opted to skip the tour, and nobody else showed up, so it was my own private tour. It was spectacular.These next couple dozen pics were taken from the tour jeep, not the bike. When you see the burro, we're back on the bike.
Couple of elk.
I saw lots of Pronghorn.
Mule deer bucks. You would rarely see these guys mid-day. What a neat experience. This was why I opted for an early morning tour.
Lost of bison. The park is huge and has no interior fences. These are basically wild, free-ranging bison. They do have a round-up once a year to cull the herd, do research, and apply medicines, but other than that these are wild. Apparently the round-up is quite a show, taking place on a grand scale.
Mule deer does
Pronghorn buck. These unusual critters are native only to North America. They are their own species, unrelated to deer or to 'antelope' species, none of which are native to North America. In fact, Pronghorn are more closely related to the giraffe. They are unique in the animal kingdom. In animals that have hard headgear, there are two distinct types - antler, and horn. Antler is made of bone, and is shed and regrown annually. This is what you see on animals in the deer family, like moose, caribou, elk, and deer. Horns are more like hair or fingernail (made of keratin), which grow continuously and are not shed. That is what cattle, goats, and the various true antelope species have. The Pronghorn is the only exception in the world to this rule. Their rack is true horn, keratin grown over a living core of bone, but unlike any other horn growing animal, it is shed annually and regrown. Now go forth and win a bar bet with this valuable knowledge.
Several pronhorn had these tracking collars, used for a research project.
Three nice elk bulls
Pronghorn doe with collar
A young bison bull. You have to be careful around these things especially during the rut. You never know what will set them off, and they are huge.
You have to be extra careful around momma when calves are nearby. The slightest thing can set her off and she will turn you to mulch if given a chance.
OK, now we're back on the bike and on our way.There is a remnant herd of wild burros in the park, left over from pack animals abandoned after the Black Hills gold rush petered out. These guys are professional moochers, and will just about climb in your minivan for a Snickers bar. They don't seem to care for motorcycles though...
We got there just as the pronghorn were blowing their summer coats. In a week or two their winter coats would start to grow.
One of my favorite pictures ever
Halfway across the road these guys lost their minds and couldn't decide what to do. It took momma a few moments to get them back with the program.
Taken along Hwy87 in Wind Cave National Park
After a spectacular ride on the Iron Mountain Highway, we arrived at Mt. Rushmore. Where we turned around and rode the Iron Mountain again.
One of the famous pigtail bridges
We stayed in Hulett, a nifty little town near Devils Tower. Remind me to tell you the post office story.
Our motel room in Hullet. We felt lucky to be there. We'd stopped in Sturgis for gas, and saw what looked like a storm to the west. We were so sick of the heat, a little rain sounded good to us, so off we went. Well, we wound up in a hail and wind storm that truly scared the hell out of me. We were lucky to find the only overpass for miles, and crammed under it with a bunch of other like-minded travelers... including one guy on a Gold Wing riding with a tshirt and no helmet, who had a brand new idea about hail and riding. The wind was scary before we got to the overpass, then it ramped up to what I would guess was 80 or 90 MPH, with hail mounding up on the ground, coming down nearly horizonally. Yikes! Then the sun popped out and it was like it never happened.
The view from our Hullet motel room.
Stopping at a dealer in Gillette Wyoming to find out why we had a front wheel vibration at higher speeds. Long story, but I didn't find out it was just a bad tire until we got to California.
Looking at the little numbered yellow boxes, the bits between 103 and 117 (the Bighorn Mountains), and between 126 and 129 (theChief Joseph Hwy, and the Beartooth Hwy) are some of the best, most scenic, most enjoyable riding I have ever had in my life. Simply spectacular.
A stop along Highway 14 up into the Bighorn Mountains, between Ranchester and Burgess Junction.
This guy was enjoying an evening meal along Hwy 14A just west of Burgess Junction.
This is the 'Shiras' moose subspecies, a.k.a. Wyoming Moose. They are the smallest subspecies of moose. I'd still prefer not to hit one thanks.
On Wyoming Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Highway. This is on everyones top 10 list for best motorcycle rides in the US. It might be on my top 5.
Wyoming Highway 212, the Beartooth Pass Road. This also is on everyones top 10 best roads. Check ahead first for weather... you can get in real trouble on this road.
Ahh... now here we are about 10,600 feet in altitude. The temperature was delicious... it was nice to finally not be roasting. This was mid-July.
She says it was just a scratch, I say it was a pick...
Coming down on the Montana side... about 9,200 feet.
We had recently been watching 'Red Dwarf' reruns, so the name of this gas station in Columbus, Montana cracked us up.
Flesher Pass on Montana Hwy 279, north of Helena.
'Going to the Sun Road' in Glacier National Park.
Yep, it was beatiful, but the highest elevation you get to on the road is about 6,500 feet... not high enough to beat the heat. I think 85 was about as cool as it got... and the traffic was pretty abysmal. Endless tourist busses. Blech.
A glacier. Supposedly much reduced from its former splendor. The TV tells me Republicans are stealing our glaciers.Well... I've slaughtered much ice in the management of single-malt beverages, so who am I to point fingers.
Thinking of holding a caption contest for this...
The Blue and White motel in Kalispell. An interesting place. I love when we find a nice spot that is not part of a chain.
Ahh... breakfast right across the street.
Along Idaho Hwy 12, the Lolo Pass Road, between Missoula MT and Lewiston ID. The road with the famous twisty roads 'next 77 miles' sign. Also on everyone's top 10 best motorcycle roads. I'd ridden it once before when traffic was bad, this day it was almost like we had it to ourselves. PERFECT!
Atop the Lewiston Grade, a.k.a the Spiral Highway. Just spectacular. This road is in gorgeous shape, and will get the little red guy on your shoulder whispering in your ear. Unless you are riding it 'off hours', don't listen to him or you will likely collect a performance award. The local constabulary apparently treats this road like an ATM when the bikes show up on nice weekends.
Smoky haze was the rule for the next several days. There were multiple fires burning in Oregon and Idaho, in fact when we came in to Lewiston the previous evening, we rode near a brush fire that was being actively battled on both sides of the highway. The bit between the highway and the river was burning quite hot at one point not far out of town... I could hardly believe they left the highway open.
The Rattlesnake Grade, a.k.a. Enterprise-Lewiston Hwy, ID Hwy 129 and OR Hwy 3. Really beautiful. It's on my top 10.
Hell's Canyon National Recreation area, where it was HOT that day my brothers and sisters. Time to re-arrange the seating accommodations to forestall monkey butt.
The Scenic Overlook of Hell's Canyon. It was so hot we didn't take much time for pictures... needed to keep moving.
A few miles later we descended into the canyon, stopping for gas and a break from the heat at Scotty's near Oxbow. It was 108 degrees, and we broke out the sahara vests and soaked them down for the ride to Baker. We ran into a nice couple on a pair of new 2007 Harley Nightsters with the olive drab paint scheme. I'm not a big Harley fan, but I liked the way they looked. Here's a picture: tinyurl.com/nightster. But they were in serious heat trouble, and not much prepared to deal with it. They just cooled off inside Scotty's, and hit the highway to Baker with t-shirts and jeans. I tried to explain to them the benefits of full coverage in that sort of heat, but I was apparently speaking Martian. Anyway, we passed them on the way to Baker, feeling comfortable (relatively) and maybe a little smug with our soaked hydro-vests making the heat tolerable.
Jim and Penny, a couple we ran into at the motel. They were on a year long meandering ride around the country, just having a blast. Neat folks. We struck up a conversation in the morning while brushing fine covering of ash from our bikes. The closest big fire was probably 40 miles away or so, but you could smell it.
A firefighter camp in Seneca Oregon, on 395 a little south of John Day. Check out this satellite photo of the fires: earthtoday.net/news/viewsr.html?pid=24805, or this collection of photos taken by firefighters in one of the bigger blazes: usmotogpfans.com/2007trip/egley_fire.pdf. A few miles down the road, we passed through the aptly named town of Burns. While gassing up I spoke with a fellow who said the area he normally elk hunted was burning, and that the high desert habitat can take decades to recover from a fire like this. During some of the day the smoke/haze was so thick it was almost like twilight, the sun just a dim purple disk high in the sky. Spooky.
A small fire in Oregon, near Goose Lake. We were just coming down out of the Oregon high desert. I love desert, Jane hates it, but we both hated the heat. A couple of hours earlier we stopped in Wagonwheel, a dot on the map on Hwy 395 about 55 miles south of Burns. Wagonwheel has a population of 2, and "sports cafe". And nothing else. The fires had interfered with their normal supplies, so they apologized that all they could offer was a burger on white bread, and baked beans. Well now, what more does a body need. The beans were quite good.
Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
Jane stretching her legs while we were stopped for construction
Stopped for a nice leisurely early dinner at the Riverside Bar and Grill overlooking the Sacramento River in Red Bluff CA. We were (well, I was) excited about the road that would finish our day out, Hwy 36 from Red Bluff to the Coast, what some consider the best motorcycle road in the USA. Tough to disagree, and yes, I have ridden the Tail of the Dragon (it might not even make my top 10)
Ahhh... made it to Dr. Gill and Beckzuki's Sport-Touring B and B on the coast. There's the good Dr., and Elizabeth.
And Beckzuki.
And I think that was Kipper, a Manx.
Gas station in Fortuna CA, the site of the best breakfast burrito I have ever eaten in my life. And I have eaten a few.Made to order in a little cooking area, using quality ingredients and care. It was fantastic!
Breakfast of Champions
OK, this is the bridge over the Mattole River, on the Mattole Road. We had descended out of Humbolt Redwoods State Park into the 'Lost Coast' area of California, a remote and lightly traveled gem.
So foul and fair a road I have not seen. (sorry Bill). Anyway, it's easy to figure out why the 'Lost Coast' gets so little traffic. This road is clearly maintained by psychotic anti-tourism locals. Sure, it's paved... but you better have your suspension dialed in or you will be seeing your dentist and your chiropractor soon after. Not the ideal route for a 2-up ride loaded to the gills. This was the roughest paved road I have ever been on in my life. Would I do it again? You bet. 1 up anyway. It is quite special!
We rolled into Ferndale, relieved yet a little sad to have the Lost Coast behind us. Not sure what is up with these trees...
After that ride, we needed a break. Curley's was just the ticket.
What IS up with these trees?
Them are some big trees!
This was along the PCH (CA Hwy 1) near Point Arena. Somebody came boiling out of the house out of frame to the right, apparently upset we were taking a picture of their tree. Huh. Not sure what that was all about.
Ahh, Occidental California. Home of Tom Waits. When I was a kid growing up a couple of hours south of here, my family used to come and dine at the three Italian restaurants that were in fierce competition ... Fiori's, Negri's, and the Union Hotel. Fiori's is long gone, but the other two live on. We sneaked into Negri's just as they were closing. I wished I had time to spend there... I would love to bump into Tom Waits.
This was a torturously planned route to exploer the Marin Headlands and then follow the famous '49 mile drive' in San Francisco. We'd made arrangements to get our big banner signed by Nicky Hayden on Thursday, but unfortunately I got the word that it would have to be Wednesday instead, so I had to cut this out of our Wednesday ride in order to get to Laguna Seca in time.
Yep, had to sacrifice this bit too. From Occidental we headed back to the Pacific Coast Highway (cool kids call it the PCH) and rode it to the Golden Gate Bridge, but then It was straightfast roads all the way to Monterey. This still kind of bums me out. I'd planned on us having lunch at Alices Restaurant.
Well, ya know, we just HAD to take that picture...
WARNING! The next several dozen photos were taken at the MotoGP weekend at Laguna Seca, where from 2006-2008 I ran the Nicky Hayden Fans suite. So if you were just here for the road trip, you'll need to skip ahead a bit.
Casey Stoner
A rare smile from Dani Pedrosa. Doesn't even look natural, does it? Perhaps with practice... I heard an odd theory about him, that he suffers slightly from dextrophobia, a rare abnormal fear of objects to the right of the body. Supposedly reviews of his riding shows that if someone passes him on the left, no problem. But if someone passes him on the right, he gets very unsettled for a few moments. Interesting, if true...
The Texas Tornado, Colin Edwards
Roger Lee Hayden
I just love that paint job
The new Concours is a nice ride, but man, that pipe!
That swingarm is interesting...
Randy Mamola
Colin Edwards Dad
Alex Barros sharing a word with Colin Edwards' dad
Does Colin's dad look like James Cromwell or what? imdb.com/media/rm2698614016/nm0000342
Alex Hofmann. He was about to have a bad weekend. Sylvain Guintoli t-boned Alex in practice, knocking him out and leaving him with a horrific hand injury. He eventually recovered, but for a while it was suspected to be a career ending injury.
Chris Vermeulen
Alex Barros. His hand was pretty boogered up.
Ben Spies
Ben, back in his AMA days. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiVCbMlXxNM for his secret.
Mat Mladin
Pedrosa and Puig
Nicky Hayden
I wonder who is in the middle of this mess...
Oh, it's Valentio Rossi
Tenth highest paid athlete on the planet
John Hopkins
Nicky again
That had to be a little creepy
Me and Nicky... his manager arranged a moment for me to get the banner for our suite signed.
Colin and his t-shirt cannon
This poor girl has lost her goldfish...
The synchronized Repsol umbrella twirling marching band practicing in the paddock...
Roger again
A sea of sport bikes
Duh
Getting ready for the parade lap
Garry McCoy, subtly lurking around outside the Pramac D'Antin Ducati garage after Hoffman was injured in a practice crash.
Well...
... tell me you don't want to bring her home with you...
Mat at the office
Tommy Hayden
That's right... it's a creepy fat old man grope...Actually that's Morgan, a friend from the Nicky Hayden Fans suite, moonlighting a bit for the Ducati team. It's funny, no matter where we go to dinner, at Lagana Seca or even at the Indy MotoGP, my wife and I run into Morgan. I wish I could pretend she was stalking me, but even my imagination doesn't work that good...
There is lots of tire kickin...
The rear fender signed by the Bostrom Brothers. A hilarious video starring the Boz bros can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwlFrn7b6F8. It will be 3 and a half minutes well spent.
Disturbing, but I want to ride it...
Before...
...After
These next few were in our suite...
The Gamay Rose monster...
It was somebody's birthday...
The factory Suzuki team, set up right in front of our window.
The birthday boy, in mid clothing malfunction (what is it with the loose pants thing anyway...)
This guy came to the race from Italy
Ahh... back on the road. This was on San Antonio Valley Road, Hwy 130, east of Mt. Hamilton. What a road!
4,000 foot pass near Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton. Some amazing photos of the observatory at lauriehatch.com/Gallery.asp?GalleryID=35877&AKey=6Q457TBG
Oooohh.... a panorama!
Felter Road. The view in the distance to the left is the southeastern San Francisco Bay Area. The view to the right is Calaveras reservoir. Even though I think this is one of the better pictures I have ever taken, it doesn't do justice to the real view.
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe
Hwy 36, between Red Bluff and Lassen Volcanic NP
Some ocean, just north of Florence Oregon
My buddy John and his wife, near La Center Washington
It seems that everyone on a trip that includes Portland points east, takes the Columbia gorge. I've done so myself in the past, and enjoyed it greatly. But this time I decided to drop one tier of roads south and had some of the best riding of my life. Sometimes the road was fantastic, sometimes the scenery, often both and rarely neither. I can't wait to get back there.
The Clackamas River, along Oregon Hwy 224 out of Estacada.
The view of Timothy Lake, from Abbote Road (NF-58).
Mt. Hood. The parking lot was at about 5,800 feet. It was warm, but there were kids with snowboards riding the lifts up to the snow.
Oooh! Another panorama!
A nifty view of Mt. Hood from NF-43... on the way to Tygh Valley.
Throughout this trip I was struck by the vast amount of water management going on for agricultural purposes in arid regions. I'm not saying I had some sort of problem solving revelation, but I believe there are some areas we are not handling our resources well. Not surprising, since what happens on the ground is the product of the will of a few individuals and their lawers, not any sort of a plan. I'm no tree hugger, and believe that land owners can and should profit from their land, but I believe the topic of western water management should be bumped up on the political landscape.
The view approaching Tygh Valley from the Wamick Market Road.
The Deschutes River in White River Falls State Park
A little farther down Hwy 286
Between Heppner and Vinson, on Hwy, 74, the Heppner Hwy
It had been a long day, and I expected to get a room in Ukiah. But it turns out Ukiah is an odd, unhappy little town. Everything was closed... no source of food or lodging available. So, I backtracked to Hwy 395 and headed south. This photo opp came up... I so wish I had a decent camera, it was really nice.
Back on the road the next day, my route took me back through Ukiah. The chamber of commerce clearly has their work cut out for them.
Anthony Lakes Road headed towards North Powder Oregon.
Hwy 245 crossing the Burnt River headed towards the Unity Reservoir
Hwy 26, headed towards Vale Oregon
Black Canyon Reservoir Dam, near Emmett Idaho
The Payett river, on the Banks-Lowman road headed towards Lowman.
NF-24, almost to Lowman.
Highway 21, headed towards Stanley Idaho. The Sawtooth mountains are on the right.
The Salmon River Valley, from Highway 75 headed towards Sun Valley
Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Descending into Jackson Wyoming, via Hwy 22.
Idaho Highway 34, near Blackfoot Reservoir
Highway 30 headed to Granger Wyoming. I had planned 2 or 3 more days of frivolity down in Colorado, but Highway 80 was just a few miles ahead, and suddenly getting home to see Jane and re-introduce myself to the animals seemed more important. So I made the 470 mile I-80 dash to Ogallalla. I got rained on a bit (I had been VERY lucky about rain on this trip), getting there a little after 11 that night. That made it a 725 mile day. In the morning, I loaded up the trailer and headed home. It was a great trip, thanks for joining us! If you feel like reading more about my adventures on the road, see http://ridetoeat.com/ferry and scroll down to the bottom right.
