Day 11 - Grand Teton National Park - Riverton, WY to Victor, ID

Our first stop this morning was Dubois, Wyoming for breakfast at the Cowboy Cafe.  Yum!  My dad had eaten there several times before but we had no idea what to expect.  It was wonderful!  I had an omelet filled with veggies, cheese, and smoked buffalo sausage and covered with green chili, and I gave Margo my toast in exchange for her spicy elk sausage.  (You've got to love being able to swap toast for sausage and then both think you got the better part of the deal!)  I knew after breakfast that I was not going to need to eat lunch but it was worth it.  From there it was on to Moran Junction and the north entrance to Grand Teton National Park.  Along the way we saw a number of gorgeous buttes and layered rock formations, but when we rounded a bend and the Grand Tetons came into view, we both said "Whoa!"  As we got closer, we stopped at a pull off next to the Snake River so we could take some pictures and then entered the park and aimed for Colter Bay Visitor Center, named for John Colter, one of the first white explorers to set eyes on the Tetons.  We got a good view of the mountains and Jackson Lake from there, and inside the visitor center saw all of the different types of horns and antlers from the area wildlife.  I asked the cashier in the gift shop how many people they were expecting next Monday for the eclipse and she said, "Oh, a million?"  It would normally be her day off but everyone has to work at least a 4 hour shift on Monday to help deal with the expected crowds, since GTNP is smack in the middle of the path of totality. 

From Colter Bay we went south to Jenny Lake and got a better view of the southern peaks.  There were lots of signs to watch out for wildlife - deer, elk, moose, bears, cougars - but we didn't see any.  We continued south past the elk reserve (they were all hiding somewhere else) and parked at the visitor center in Jackson so we could check out the town and get some ice cream (lunch).  Jackson is a very upscale town - kind of like Aspen North, or maybe Aspen is Jackson South.  There was a Sotheby's and many pricey art galleries and stores, as well as outdoor outfitters and such.  We found some ice cream at Moo's Gourmet and did a little shopping before heading out to go over Teton Pass and down into Victor, ID for the night.  Teton Pass was an experience - it's a 10% grade going up and down with lots of looping curves.  We got down the other side and into Victor and found our motel, at which point Margo got off the bike and said "What's this?" and picked up my CB antenna from behind the bike, which had obviously been dragging on the ground for at least a little while.  I looked to see how it came off and realized that I had lost my license plate too!  Both had been bolted to the back of the bike together.  Crap!  Margo and I went back out and retraced our steps for several miles but we couldn't find it, and I was not going back over Teton Pass twice just to look for it.  I ordered a new one from the MVA and made a temporary plate out of cardboard, and Margo schmoozed our waitress at dinner (who happened to be from Annapolis originally) for some plastic wrap so we could weather-proof it, and we'll pick up some hardware in the morning to mount it.  Oh well!  Like Margo always tells me, "if nothing ever went wrong, you wouldn't have any good stories to tell!"

Dad chats with his buddy Einstein

 Margo helps Smokey with his PR campaign

 Tetons over Snake River

 Grand Teton

 Ice cream from Moo's Gourmet

 Dinner at Big Hole BBQ

I found a moose...too bad it's stuffed :'-(

Day 10 - Loveland, CO to Riverton, WY

This morning the 4 of us, Dad, Ellen, Margo, and I, set off for the first day of our group trip.  It was a beautiful morning, in the low 60's and sunny, as we went north to Fort Collins and then west-northwest along Poudre Canyon Road.  Poudre Canyon surrounds the Cache la Poudre River, which flows from up in the mountains down into Fort Collins, eventually flowing into the South Platte River east of Greeley, CO.  My dad says that French trappers once hid a stash of gunpowder near there and marked it on a map as "cache a la poudre" and the name stuck.  We rode the winding roads up through the canyon until we reached the top at Cameron Pass (elevation 10, 276 feet), north of Rocky Mountain National Park and then started the descent towards Gould and then Walden.  Gould is known to have a population of moose, so I was hesitantly hopeful even though we were passing through there later than they would usually be seen.  I've been hoping to see a moose somewhere since the upper peninsula of Michigan, but no luck so far.  We stopped briefly in Walden for gas and coffee and then pressed on into Wyoming, passing through Saratoga and Walcott to take Interstate 80 west 20 miles to Rawlins, where we stopped for lunch.  There were some dark clouds on the horizon when we arrived in Rawlins so I checked the weather map on my phone and, sure enough, there was a thunderstorm coming our way, but the road we were going to take to the north from there seemed like it was mostly clear of the rain.  We did not get out the door and on the road quickly enough though.  As soon as we walked outside to put our rain gear on, it started to pour and there was a deafening thunderclap.  Back under the overhang we went.  The wind kicked up and then it started to hail!  Back inside to wait it out.  Fortunately for us, the worst of it passed quickly and we were able to get going again, albeit with a little rain still falling, but that only lasted about a half hour before things started to dry out again.

We rode north on route 287 through Muddy Gap and Jeffrey City to Sweetwater Station, where we took a quick break before the last 37 miles to Riverton, our end of the road for today.  Along the way, we saw signs for the Chief Washakie Trail, the Wind River Reservation, and at Sweetwater Station, information about the Oregon Trail, which made me look for more information on all of them.  This area has traditionally been home to several tribes of Plains Indians, including Eastern Shoshone (Sacagawea of Lewis and Clark fame was a Lemhi Shoshone from Idaho) and Northern Arapahoe.  Chief Washakie was a highly regarded Shoshone leader who led a delegation to the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851, where the US agreed to territories laid out for 8 different tribes, agreeing that it was all native American lands, and the tribes all agreed to allow safe passage through their lands for people traveling the Oregon Trail west.  The path of the Oregon Trail passes just 2 miles south of Sweetwater Station and goes on to Lander to the west.  To the west of our travels today, also of note, was the Great continental Divide Basin, and area that does not drain into any ocean.  Instead, all of the precipitation that falls there, west of Rawlins and south of the Sweetwater River, simply evaporates as it has nowhere to drain.  It is also called the red desert for how arid it is, and the Oregon Trail detoured north of it in order to avoid the inhospitable conditions - probably a good idea for a wagon train that probably traveled as far in a day as we can today in about 15 minutes.

Tomorrow we will head for Dubois and then Grand Teton National Park.

 Rest stop along the Cache la Poudre River

 The Oregon Trail across Wyoming

 Sweetwater Station

Day 9 - Ready to roll!

The first task of the day was getting out to the motorcycle dealership to see if they had a tire in stock and could install it today.  We had been brainstorming multiple contingency plans if we couldn't get it fixed today - this was the only shop in the area that was open today.  All of our worries were for naught though; we hit the jackpot and they had a tire in stock and an open bay to work on it!  We had an hour and a half to kill until it would be done so Dad, Margo, and I went to Starbucks for coffee and then took a brief tour of the area - lots of development going on, which doesn't always go over well with the locals.  Some people here want to preserve the Colorado they grew up with and have taken to putting (Colorado) "Native" decals on their cars, along with "No Vacancy" decals that look like the green and white Colorado license plates.

We were a little early getting back to the shop so we browsed a bit - I was hoping to find a 3/4 length riding jacket like the one I borrowed (thanks LaVerne Miers-Bond!) but most of what they had was shorter racing-style jackets, and none in the hi-viz yellow I wanted.  I had ordered a Tourmaster jacket on the way out here and had it shipped to my dad's but it was too small and I had to send it back to exchange it.  It won't be here in time for this trip, but it might be waiting for me by the time I get back home to Maryland.

When my bike was done, I followed Dad and Margo back to the house, and shortly afterwards Margo and I took the truck and left for Johnstown, CO to visit with her Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob.  We had not realized the last time we were out here how close they lived to my dad, and when we saw them in June for their daughter's wedding, we had made plans to get together on this trip.  We had a lovely lunch with them at their house in Johnstown, with the added bonus of visiting with their grandkids, Caden (12) and Grace (4), whom we had met at the wedding in June.  Grace immediately took to Margo and wanted her to read a story, more than once!  So adorable!  A quick stop at the Johnstown post office to mail my jacket back and we were on our way back to Loveland.  Now we are all packed and ready to roll tomorrow morning!  Next stop...Riverton, WY.

 Ty, the very friendly Brittany spaniel

 Margo and Grace reading The Little Mermaid

 Definitely checking tire tread and pressure!!!

 Picked up some heat sensitive eclipse stamps!  Check out the moon in the lower left corner!

Margo and Grace read Beauty and the Beast

Day 8 - Estes Park, CO and the flat tire

Today's plan was to take the motorcycles, Dad and Ellen on their Goldwing and Margo and I on my V-Star, up through Estes Park to Rocky Mountain National Park and ride up Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor's Center.  This is a ride that my dad and I did once before, and we have also been there by car.  The Alpine Visitor's Center is up above the tree line at over 11,000 feet elevation and you can see the whole valley below.  It's a breathtaking view, well worth the ride, and it's a challenging ride, with no shoulder on much of the road and steep drop offs on one side of the road as it winds higher and higher.  We entered RMNP at the Fall River entrance and started working our way up, past Sheep Lake, where there were a few bighorn sheep hanging out, the Alluvial Fan, Hidden Valley, and Many Parks Curve.  But prior to reaching Rainbow Curve, right around 10,000 feet elevation, my back tire started to fishtail.  I wasn't sure at first what was happening but there was nowhere to pull over so I had to just stick with it until we could reach a pull off.  It seemed to take forever to find a pull off and my heart was pounding!  We finally got off the road and saw the flat, and I managed to call my dad on the CB to let him know we had stopped.  The irony of the situation was that I had just asked dad the night before about what to do if you get a flat and he had shown me his plug kit and told me about carrying a small compressor.  Unfortunately, the tire was trashed and there was no way we were going to be able to repair it so we needed to find a tow truck, but there was no cell signal where we were.  Dad took Ellen down to wait just outside the park, but they still had no cell signal, so he came back up for me and I went down into Estes Park to the visitor's center there to call AAA.  It took 15-20 minutes on the phone to find out that my AAA coverage did not include my motorcycle so I would be paying out of pocket for the towing.  Ugh!  But Bob's Towing and Repair, if you're ever in need in Estes Park, is the place to go.  They picked me up at the visitor's center, took me back up to where Margo was waiting with the bike, and got it strapped on the trailer before the afternoon thunderstorms rolled in.  Then they drove us all the way back to Loveland and dropped the bike at a repair shop that opens at 9am tomorrow.  Hopefully the shop, a Yamaha dealer, will have the right tire in stock so we can have it fixed tomorrow, since we're supposed to leave Tuesday for our trip through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.

 Bob and David from Bob's Towing - thanks guys!

 Margo relaxes while waiting for the tow truck

 Thunderstorms causing mist in Big Thompson Canyon

 The view of the Big Thompson River from the tow truck

Still smiling...

Day 7 - Broomfield, CO

Saturday was my niece Kayla's 6th birthday party.  Dad, Ellen, and I arrived early to help set up and then we all went down the street to the park where the party was to be held.  My brother and sister in law, Steve and Gina, had hired Renaissance Adventures to run the party for the kids.  They were to go on a "hero's quest", which meant that they would try to collect packets of "gold" from the cave of the dragons (me, my brother, his brother in law, and his best friend) while the dragons tried to protect the treasure.  The kids all chose to be elves (who can turn invisible), fairies (who can heal teammates), or archers (who got to throw beanbags at the dragons) and they had to work together to defeat the dragons.  All of us were armed with foam swords and instructions to only lightly tap each other, and if anyone got tagged, then that limb was out of commission until healed by a fairy, except for the dragons, who could heal themselves.  Suffice it to say, there were a lot of instructions for 6-year-olds, and even adults, to remember!  But we had a blast!  The kids were amazing and really did a fantastic job helping each other and working as a team.  There was a LOT of giggling and laughing throughout the first 2 rounds of play.  I was cracking up because when the kids were told "time in" to start the game, they all put their swords in the air, screamed and hollered at us, and ran straight at us, like they were reenacting a battle scene from Braveheart - hilarious!  When we got to the 3rd round, I was ready with my camera to catch the battle charge, but they had decided to come out and try to make peace with the dragons, which was completely surprising to me.  They said they would share their gold with us and give use food, to which we replied "which one of you do we get to eat?" while surrounding them.  We adults definitely provoked a 3rd round of fighting, but the kids stuck with the "make peace" initiative and came out again to call a truce and this time we accepted.  What a riot!  That's the most fun I've had at a birthday party in a long time.  And I got to see all of my Colorado peeps - Steve, Gina, Jayden, and Kayla, and all of Gina's family.  Once the party was over, we all went back to the house for a late lunch, and dad arrived from picking Margo up at the airport so we could all watch Kayla open her remaining gifts.

 My sister in law Gina and nephew Jayden

 My dad tries on Kayla's new unicorn helmet

 Niece Kayla and nephew Jayden at the party

 All of the kids get briefed on the rules

 My fellow dragons, Steven, Paul, and my brother Steve

 Making a plan to attack the dragons

 Blowing out the candles

Ready to try out her new scooter

Day 6 - Deadwood, SD to Loveland, CO

Last day of the first leg of my trip...  I made plans to meet my dad in Scottsbluff, NE at noon, so I left Deadwood at 7:30 intending to take a pretty direct route south through Custer.  But in looking at the map one last time, I noticed that Needles Highway intersected with route 385 twice and realized that I could check that road out on the way.  Eight years ago I had met my dad and stepmom in Spearfish and we rode to Loveland this way, taking Iron Mountain Highway instead, but I knew Needles was a similar type of road and wanted to try it.  It couldn't add that much time to my trip, right?  Well, it turned out to be a very challenging road with many sharp switchbacks, climbs, descents, and loop overs, not to mention the wildlife.  It was slow going but gorgeous and exhilarating and scary at the same time.  You know it's going to be a bit of a challenge when there are signs posted saying Motorcyclists Use Extreme Caution!  I saw some mountain goats near Cathedral Spires, a mule deer doe and her still-spotted fawn, and later, going through part of the Custer State Park wildlife loop, several herds of bison with multiple young calves, numerous prairie dogs, many on sentry duty, and a coyote.  Needles added more time to my trip than I had expected, and I was late meeting my dad in Nebraska, but it was worth it!

After a quick lunch, dad and I rode to Scotts Bluff National Monument.  These huge bluffs jutting out of the ground were landmarks for the pioneers traveling west and the pony express rode through Mitchell's Pass at Scotts Bluff as well.  The bluff sits over 4600 feet above sea level and rises 800 feet above the North Platte River, with geologic strata exposed providing insight into the conditions 33 to 22 million years ago.  For $3, the National Park Service will let you drive the winding road up to the top of the bluff so you can look down on the city of Scottsbluff and the surrounding North Platte River valley.  After a quick selfie, we headed back down and made for Loveland, running into a thunderstorm in southern Wyoming.  Luckily we just skirted the south edge of it and then turned south towards Cheyenne, putting safe distance between us and the lightning that was visible in the distance.  We passed some pronghorn antelope on the way, and made it into Loveland just after 6:00.  After 2770 miles, I was finally going to get a day where I didn't have to sit on the bike!  On Tuesday we leave for Wyoming again, heading to Grand Tetons National Park, followed by Yellowstone.  Stay tuned!

 Mountain goats in Custer State Park

Looking down from Scotts Bluff

 After passing through Needle's Eye Tunnel, behind me to the right

 Buffalo herd in Custer

 Dad and me atop Scotts Bluff

Buddy, the Loveland welcoming committee

Day 5 - Fargo, ND to Deadwood, SD

I got into Fargo so late that I didn't really get a chance to see any of it, but I wasn't willing to hang around in the morning again after how the previous day turned out so I was on the road again by 7:30, headed west on the interstate.  I made a stop in Jamestown for breakfast and then another brief stop in Bismarck before heading south.  Today's ride took me across the Missouri River and through the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River reservation lands.  It was a beautiful ride, with very little in the way of development anywhere along the way.  In fact, it made me think that I'd be kind of screwed if I ran out of gas or broke down!  But that's been true of quite a few areas on this trip.  Lots of fields of endless corn, wheat, and sunflowers - what a sight to see sunflowers covering acres and acres of land!  I just meandered through south-central North Dakota into South Dakota, gradually making my way to the southwest and STURGIS!  This wasn't originally on my itinerary, but how could I pass up the chance to see the legendary Black Hills motorcycle rally when it was going on right where I was headed?!  I had been in Sturgis on my first motorcycle trip out west, but that was earlier in the summer when nothing was going on.  This was completely different!  My dad had told me that motorcycles at Sturgis were like ants streaming in and out of their anthill and that's a really good analogy.  Any possible type of motorcycle and rider you can imagine is here - every iteration of 2, 3, and even 4 wheels.  Parking lots jammed with bikes in Sturgis and in every nearby town, including Deadwood, where I'm staying tonight!  I rode through Sturgis with my jaw hanging open inside my helmet, just in awe of everything.  Unfortunately I didn't see any easy place to park and I never really got a chance to pull my phone out and take pictures.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a few on the way out in the morning.

Lastly, I was able to catch up with one of my mom's childhood friends who lives in nearby Spearfish.  She and her husband were kind enough to buy me dinner and we had a wonderful time catching each other up on everything that's been going on in our lives since the last time I stopped to see them 8 years ago. 

 Just a sampling of some of the bikes in Deadwood

 Catching up with Peggy and Bill

 Sunflowers for miles!