You can read the story and follow along with the pictures and view the map of the trip (it may be split into multiple pages).

Westward!

My good friend, ‘Beard’, has been experiencing some health issues, related to the climate in Ohio. He and his wife, ‘Peanut’, are going to be moving to Phoenix. Before they move, all of us (Wagz included) want to do one big road trip together, back to Sturgis. We had such a fun trip when we did this as a group in 2003.

Beard asks if he could haul his bike in my truck, since his health will prevent him from riding the entire distance. Of course. Peanut announces that she’s not going to Sturgis by truck, and that she’s going to ride with me. Fun!

We get a late start out of Columbus, getting on the road in the early afternoon. We load up the truck, and Peanut climbs on the back of my bike, and we set off. She is an experienced rider, and a perfect passenger. I cannot even tell that she’s on the back of the bike. At one point, I get startled, as I see an elbow in each of my mirrors, as she adjusts her bandana. I had completely forgotten that she was there!

We head through Indianapolis, then towards Peoria, Illinois. With the road heading directly into the setting sun, trying to tip the brim of my cap to block the sun. We finally find a motel near Galesburg, Illinois, just after sunset.

The next morning, continue west, and cross the mighty Mississippi River, stopping to snap a few pictures. In Iowa, we head north towards Cedar Rapids, then to Minnesota, welcoming the change from interstate to highway. Just inside Minnesota, we are back on interstate, on the road to Sturgis.

At one particular gas stop in Minnesota, one of the cashiers was taking a smoke break, quetly admiring our bikes. He watches Peanut give Beard a kiss, then watched as he climbed in the truck, and she climbed on the back of my bike. The cashier looked so confused. I look up in the truck at Beard, and I say “If you’re good today, I’ll let you sleep with her tonight.” (Of course I will: she’s his wife). The cashier just looks astonished, as if everything he learned in those grade-B biker movies was really true.

The trip across South Dakota was hot. Very hot. And dry. The pavement just radiates heat. The temperature at one stop was 107F. We stop twice an hour to drink fluids, and soak our shirts in cold water. We’re bone dry five minutes later. It’s no surprise that the Badlands are just south of the highway. We reach the Black Hills, and the temperatures finally get tolerable.

Arriving at the new campground

Our traditional campground at Sturgis, Glencoe, has decided to triple their camping fee this year, to $300 per person. To camp in a tent. About 700,000 people come to Sturgis each year for the mother-of-all motorcycle rallys. The Black Hills provide many scenic roads and sites, like Mount Rushmore. The closer you are to Sturgis, the higher the demand there is for nearby camping. To attract more customers, Glencoe added a stage, and promises of big name bands to draw people to camp there. Thus, the prices go up.

This drives us to find more reasonably priced camping, and we find it about twenty miles away, outside the town of Deadwood. The campground has a small general store, with a tiny bar, and a few tables. The owners are very friendly, and we find the campsites to be priced fairly.

Our group of friends, from around the country, meet up at the new campground. It’s great to see everyone again, and we agree that our new location is good. While there is little protection from the sun, the campsite is high in the mountains, and offers more moderate temperatures, than the hot valley of Glencoe. And it’s really nice to be away from the crowds of Sturgis. Nice to visit, but wouldn’t want to live there, even during the rally.

When we used to stay at Glencoe, most every trip out of the campground required us to ride through the heavy traffic in downtown Sturgis. Just to go for a ride required about 45 minutes to go the first four miles, through the throngs of bikes, cars, and RV’s.

It was really nice to be just six miles from Deadwood, a quaint town with a significant history in the Old West. In 1876, Black Hills gold was discovered here, and the Dakota Territory instantly attracted thousands of potential millionaires. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane were among the more famous residents of this gold rush town.

Beard is relieved to be in the Black Hills, so we can unload his bike from the truck, and he can do what makes him happy: Ride.

About twenty of our group head down to Crazy Horse, the amazing sculpture still being built (and won’t be done for 150 years). It’s tremendously huge, and makes Mount Rushmore look puny, in comparison.

We ride through with wildlife loop at Custer State Park. This year, there is a huge herd of bison (often called ‘buffalo’) on both sides of the road. The cars and SUVs stop to watch the magnificent beasts, and this forces us to stop. Right in the middle of the herd.

Bison are huge animals, and are deceptively fast. They are protective of the herd, and they can go from docile to angry with little motivation. Earlier this morning we heard rumor of a biker that was gored by one just the previous day. And we’re stuck in the road, just feet away from a large herd of them, with nothing for protection. Yikes!

A park ranger finally breaks up the traffic jam, and we’re able to move. Half of our group leaves, when a mother bison wants to get her calf to the other side of the road. Right in front of Wagz. There are two males watching us closely as the mother walks across our path. We don’t make a move. She decides that it is safe, and crosses back to get the calf. They make it across the road, and the mama, calf, and the two males wander off to graze. (I guess that grass IS greener on the other side of the road, eh?)

After a break for lunch, we leave the park and ride the wonderful Iron Mountain Road. This is a truly scenic road that provides incredible views of Mount Rushmore, and puts you in the middle of the Black Hills.

A few days later, we visit Mount Moriah Cemetery, high above Deadwood. This is where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried. There is much history in this cemetery, as well as an incredible view of the town.

Yellowstone

After a few more days, Beard, Peanut, Wagz, and I pack up camp and head towards Yellowstone. This year, we ride up to Sheridan, Wyoming, and cross the Big Horn Mountains, towards Cody. Immediately out of Sheridan, the highway climbs the mountains. At the top, there are long meadows and pine trees. It stays like this for awhile, before we begin our descent. We stop at Shell Falls, with an incredible view of the mountainous terrain. There are signs all along this highway that list the periods of the earth’s development that produces the mountain rock, and vast cliffs reveal the colored lines of the rock during each period.

The highway descends quickly, following a river down through the cliffs. It’s an incredible journey out of the mountains, to the town of Greybull, then crossing the plains to Cody. From there, we return to the mountains on the Chief Joseph Highway. This is named after the Native American who led his people into the mountains, to escape the military forces.

This is a road I have travelled each time I’ve been to Yellowstone, and it’s a favorite, with many switchbacks and canyons. Just last year, Wagz and I were on this road. The last few miles into the town of Cooke City, Montana, were under construction, and down to gravel last year. It was slow going, with huge chunks of rock that catch the tires. This year, that section was paved. For the first few miles. Then all of a sudden, with only a sign indicating a ‘bump’, the pavement ends and we’re dropped 4 or 5 inches into gravel. Thanks for the warning, Montana. Needless to say, we were wide awake when we arrived in Cooke City.

This is a very small town that survives on tourism. Just a dozen miles from the north-east entrace to Yellowstone, they have hunters in the winter and tourists in the summer. Usually, we get a cabin at the Antler Lodge, but when we called ahead, they had no vacancies. We find the last room in town, just across the street. This is the night of the town’s fish fry, to benefit their local volunteer fire department. It’s about 8pm when we arrive, and they are out of fish, so we walk down the street for dinner. Afterwards, Beard and Peanut head to the room, while Wagz and I head back to the fish fry. They have a band and beer. We’re happy. We start conversation with some of the locals, and it seems that we are the only tourists in attendance. They certainly welcome us, and we have fun listening to stories of the area. The town was once a mining town, and what’s left is alongside the half-mile stretch of road. We meet some of the townspeople working on the highway project, and ‘thank’ them for the surprise section of gravel road. They were scheduled to pave that section the following day.

The next day, we plan is to head into Yellowstone, see the sights, then get to Jackson, Wyoming, by nightfall.

Basically, the highway through Yellowstone is a large figure-eight. We enter the park at the north-east side, and work our way across the top, then down the west side of the park. This is where you find the majority of the geysers, and Yellowstone has two-thirds of the world’s geysers inside its boundaries. If you are interested, the road down the east side of the park has an incredible number of waterfalls, canyons, and scenic vistas. If you have time, it is certainly worth seeing, but we’re here to see the geysers!

The road into the park follows a river through the mountains. The dark rocks of the mountains are jagged and rough. As you drive about ten miles into the park, the hard edges soften and are covered in grass. We’re surrounded by meadows, with bison, just tiny specs in the distance. At one point, just alongside the road, is a large mound of rock and grass, about 15 feet tall, and about 20 feet around the base. This is Soda Butte, and it’s a geyser formation.

Underneath Yellowstone is one of the seven super-volcanoes in the world, estimated to erupt about every 600,000 years (we’re actually about due for one, within a few tens of thousands of years). This is an area where the earth’s crust is a little as a mile thick, so underground water is heated by the magma, and boils to the earth’s surface as a geyser. As the water gets super-heated, it disolves the limestone in the rock, carrying this up to the surface. As the water cools, the limestone is deposited. In the case of Soda Butte, the mound is the result.

Crossing to the northwest side of the figure-eight through the park, we come to Mammoth Hot Springs. This is the entire side of a mountain that is covered in white deposits. It looks like it just snowed. As you get closer, you can see the steam coming off the side of the mountain, from geysers. The road climbs the mountainside, and there are excellent vantage points to get an appreciation for the size of this formation.

As we head south through the park, I spot a plume of steam alongside the road, and we pull off. There is a small stream, just about two inches deep, that is at full boil. It’s mind-numbing. Just a few feet from where we are standing, the ground is so incredibly hot that the water passing over it is rapidly boiling!

Walking through Norris Geyser Basin is like being on another planet. The ground everywhere is white from the limestone, and steam is erupting all around. This is one of the most active areas in the park, and there is always some activity. Steamboat Geyser erupts very irregularly, often years apart, but when it does, it is the tallest geyser in the world. Nearby, Emerald Spring, is a pool 27 feet deep by 27 feet around, and it is a brilliant emerald color from the chemicals in the water and the bacteria that thrive in the bubbling waters.

Of course, wildlife in the park is another attraction. When you see a few cars, stopped or pulled off to the side of the road, there is often a sighting of wildlife. We found such a group of cars, and pulled over to see an elk, sitting near a river. As we looked closer, we were able to spot additional elk in the nearby woods.

Not all of the geysers spout water and steam. There are some that blow hot air, and there are pools that were probably once fed by water, that contain so much limestone silt, that they are just bubbling mud. Near each feature, there are colorful algea living in the hot, acidic, water. They refer to a set of these colorful mud pits as the ‘paint pots’.

Firehole Canyon is a popular site for swimming. The geysers under the river keep the water a nice warm temperature. There are some scenic waterfalls in this area, as well.

Of course, the most well known geyser in the world is Old Faithful. Its eruptions are at fairly regular intervals, and quite tall, so that helps make it the largest single tourist attraction in the park. I agree that is one of those sites you need to see, but frankly, the paint pots impress me more.

For all of the times I have been to Yellowstone, and Old Faithful, I had never had a chance to visit the Old Faithful Lodge. Even though it was getting late in the day, I insisted on seeing this building. It is truly a remarkable structure, built in 1903 from area timber, it is seven-stories tall, and has a most impressive lobby. The structure still serves as a hotel for park visitors, and it usually requires reservations a full year in advance (so, I have not stayed there). Compared to all of the other natural wonders in the park, this one is man-made, but is still impressive.

By this point in the day, it is starting to get late, and we still need to travel another hundred miles to Jackson, Wyoming (the next place will be able to get rooms for the night). Of course, being a National Park, the speed limit is a strict 45MPH. After heading south, and out of the park, you immediately come upon the Grand Teton National Park, also with a 45MPH speed limit.

As we’re riding south, the sun is beginning to set. I want to hurry to get to Jackson, before it gets dark and cold, but they watch the speed through the park, and there are elk all around. My desire to hurry is quickly ended when the car in front of us swerves around an elk. OK, now I don’t mind going ‘slow’. Now there is a new concern: a storm is heading towards Jackson from the east. Still not daring to go fast, it turns into a race between sunset, the storm, or getting to Jackson. We can’t resist the opportunity to get pictures of sunset over the Tetons, but we make it a fast stop.

We get to Jackson and the only motel we spot with a vacancy has $600 per night rooms (designed for eight to ten people). As the storm is getting very close, we’re looking for options. Beard spots a small motel on a side street, and I ride over there and get their last room. As we’re unloading our gear into the room, the storm hits. Hard. We’re exhausted and exhilarated and hungry, all at the same time. There’s no way we’re going to ride to get food. I take the truck and find a Wendy’s. It’s food. As I drive through town, every hotel has no vacancy. We really did get one of the last rooms in town. We sleep well.

Heading to Utah

Until this point, we had planned on Sturgis and Yellowstone as destinations. Now, we had no plans, and about six days to play with. After studying the map and checking distances, we had a plan. Head south.

We stop for gas in Pinedale, Wyoming. I remember that this is the home of the Mountain Men Museum. This is a very interesting museum that presents the history, and impact, of trappers on the exploration and settlement of the West. Beaver-skin hats were quite the style in the day, and the hides meant good money for those that could find them. The beaver populations in the east and mid-west were easy targets, pushing the hunters to the west. They would meet up with fur buyers at scheduled meeting points, who would pay for the hides and sell supplies back to the mountain men. In the end, styles changed, and there was no more market for the hides. Out of work, many of the mountain men began careers leading pioneers from Missouri to the West. Since they knew the trails, the terrain, and often had a good relationship with the natives, the mountain men were very much responsible for the expansion across the Rocky Mountains.

We head through Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, staying outside the gorge, itself. The Flaming Gorge Dam holds back the Green River, forming a lake that is a popular boating area. We cross into Utah, and cross over the dam.

For the past hour, we’ve been watching a storm coming in from the west. With the twists and turns of the road, it’s difficult to tell if it’s in our path. As we descend into Utah, it becomes obvious that we’re going to meet up soon. It was just yesterday that we were trying to beat a storm into Jackson, and today is another storm.

We reach Vernal, Utah. As we reach the main crossroad in town, the storm is almost upon us. Strong winds are blowing down the cross-street, and the traffic signals are swinging furiously, while a wall of sand blows down the street. It was surreal. There are plenty of motels, but they are all booked for a state senate convention. Even the little roadside motels left over from the 1960’s are full. We ask for the nearest town that has rooms available, but that is 45 miles into the storm. Not an option.

Wagz remembers seeing a KOA campground, and while camping in a storm doesn’t sound fun, it was the only option. I was frazzled by this point, and Wagz arranged for a campsite. We get to the assigned site, and there’s another family camped there. We go back to the desk, and they assign us another site. We get our tents set up, and batten down the hatches. We spotted a restaurant as we came into town where we decide to have dinner. Rain comes in, but it’s almost gone by the time we’re done eating. The storm ’emergency’ has passed.

Vernal is the home of Dinosaur National Monument, named for the various bones that have been discovered in the area. We aren’t able to find the park, so we continue on our way south, to Moab, Utah.

It’s another hot day and we arrive in Moab early in the afternoon. This is very close to Arches National Park, and we’re definitely going to visit, but not in the extreme heat. I’ve been here before, and return to the small motel off the main street. Because of road construction, there is no direct access from the main street, so the hotel offers us a room for about $50. They have a pool, and that’s where we spend our afternoon. There are plenty of good restaurants in Moab, and we have an excellent dinner, sitting in the shade on their patio.

Arches is beautiful at sunset, but Wagz’ bike is having trouble with the battery. We check, and one of the connectors has broken off. It’s too late for the auto parts store, but we find a local bike shop, Lone Rider, that was still open. He has the part and we’re back on our way to Arches. We head directly to a scenic spot I know, and get some incredible sunset photos. After the sunset, we note that the moon is close to full, which gives the rock formations an entirely different appearance.

The next morning, we wake early to return to the park. It looks like a different place in the daylight. We tour many of the sites and as the heat begins to be a problem, we notice another incoming storm. This one has lightning.

Towards Home

We begin our trip back to Ohio, by making a turn north out of Arches. We reach I70 and turn east for the first time in over a week. Columbus, Ohio, is less than 1,600 miles directly in front of us.

As we get enter Colorado, the storm catches up to us, with lightning striking nearby. There’s another bike on the road, and we all pull under a bridge. The other biker lives in the area, and he doesn’t wait long to make a run for his home. We know that the storm is going to remain directly in our path, so we hold out for awhile.

People often tell me about bikers they see hiding from the weather under a bridge. To me, it is about the most boring thing you can do. If it’s not raining too hard, and there’s no lightning, I prefer to ride through it. It seems better to be making forward progress than sitting in one place, bored.

The storm blows through quickly, and we are able to get back on the road. We make it Golden, Colorado, home of Coors Beer, to look for a room for the night. We end up in West Denver, far from downtown, and get a room.

The next morning, our bikes start up just fine. We head out of Denver, and just east of the airport, Wagz begins having problems with his bike. Battery problems, once again. We don’t know if there was damage to the battery from the new connector, or if the battery just died. We call around, and the only place to get a new one is 30 miles back towards Denver. Instead, we decide to ‘borrow’ the battery from Beard’s bike, since it’s just riding in the back of the truck. A few minutes later, we’re back on the road. Although the battery is just a little too big for Wagz’ bike, we bungee it securely. The next Harley dealership in our direction is in Hays, Kansas, 350 miles ahead.

By the time we get to Hays, it’s about 6pm. The dealership was closed, so we decide to stay for the night. We find a room, and look for food. Peanut has cravings for a burger, and we have cravings for alcohol. Hays is the home of a university, and we find a campus bar that had incredible burgers. Everyone wins.

The next morning, Wagz wakes up and gets to the Harley dealership when they open. He gets a new battery and we head down the road. Not fifty miles down the road, Wagz indicates that he’s very low on gas. We pass two exits, neither with a gas station. We pull off the road and check out the situation. His tank has had a slow leak, but since we refilled the night before, quite a bit has apparently leaked overnight. Since we’ve already removed the battery from Beard’s bike, we drain gas from it, into our stainless steel coffee pot. We transfer the gas into Wagz’ gas tank, and we’re ready to get down the road.

We get into Kansas City, Missouri, right at rush hour. As in most cities, the freeway system was not designed for today’s levels of traffic. Highways merge then separate in very tight spaces. We almost get separated ourselves, but luckily, everyone is able to get through the city together. We stop for gas, and hear that there is a major accident blocking all lanes, just a few miles ahead of us. We check a map and find some lesser highways that will take us to the state capital, Jefferson City, Missouri. It’s a pleasant drive, and it’s really nice to be off the interstate. This route takes us through several small towns, and it’s really nice to see the midwest towns.

The next day on the road, we get as far as Indianapolis, Indiana, just three hours from home, but we’re not in a hurry to end the vacation. We get a room and order a movie, and celebrate the successful road trip.

A month later, Beard and Peanut moved to Phoenix. His health is looking great, and his lungs really love the dry Arizona climate. This was a great trip with great friends.