Photos

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'......

06/19/08
With the hour's time difference, getting up at 0700 was ez to do. Shower and pack, and roll down the road...... one block to "The Grounds" coffee-shop for breakfast croissant, internet fix, and (duh) coffee. Then on down to I-80 West to Rawlings WY.



Interstate is Interstate, even when there are mountains in the distance, and northern plains all about you. Try not to get killed, that's my motto. One highlight was passing through Sinclair WY, complete with the Sinclair dinosaur!
Turning north at Rawlings we're on US287 again (Really Dad? Yup.) and it's two lane and empty. Now's the time to think of Indians, er, Native Americans, Cowboys -ah - horseback herding specialists, and all that 1860's stuff. I think Em is enjoying things so far, but it's hard to tell. She, like her brother, John, makes a point of not holding on to me at all, so I cannot feel if she is shifting around in discomfort or what. We dismount to check out Split Rock, a landmark for the Pony Express and stagecoach line.

For lunch we are in Landers WY, and enjoy a leisurely meal at a family diner (GREAT milkshakes) and stroll up mainstreet. No less than 3 bookstores grab our attention. Neat town.
Back on the road through Dubois (also a neat town, much smaller than Landers, and really tucked into the mountainsides) toward the entrance to Teton National Park. We've been riding about 5 hours now, and though I know Emily must be getting weary (I certainly am) she is still not complaining or demanding. Atta Girl!
FINALLY, after 6 hours, we enter Teton NP, and all I can say is WOW. Snow on the peaks, snow on the ground in the passes, and the smell of clean, cool mountain air. I'm eating it up.

At the entrance I pay 20$ for the privilege of riding through both Yellowstone and Teton for the next week, and inquire about camping. Seems the sites are filling up, and then I misunderstand about the place I'm planning to throw down my gear tonight. I asked if I paid him (the ranger) and he said no, do it at the campsite. My confusion is in the fact that where I'm heading, Spalding Bay, is considered backcountry (I guess because it is unimproved) and I'm required to get a permit. We press on, trying not to get a strained neck or cross the double yellow while gawking at the razor sharp peaks.
As the guidebook said, 2 miles south of the Moran Mountain Turn-out, on the right (west) side of the park road is an unmarked dirt road, which we follow back about 2 miles. It dead ends at Jenny Lake, with but 2 campsites and a boat put-in. Again, WOW is all I can muster. It is late in the day, and the sun is low behind the mountains, bathing the scene in soft light. As we pull our gear off the bike and begin to set up camp, all we can think is MOSQUITOES!!!!! Yikes! It is like a feeding frenzy as millions and millions of the blood suckers attack. Luckily I kept the bug spray in my tank bag, and we are spraying down before the helmets are off.
Our only neighbors are nice, but somewhat detached, as good campground neighbors should be. They do, however, enlighten me about the permit, and the fact that a properly documented camper will be able to ask us to leave. Great. I don't think either of us would be very gracious if forced back onto the saddle. Sure enough, later on a Mercedes Benz station wagon bumps slowly down the road, turns around, and stops in front of us. A woman wearing capri pants and sandals gets out and we begin to discuss the situation. I think it was the fact that after a short paragraph each her ankles were covered in mosquitoes that convinced her to kindly allow us to spend the night.
The night. It got down to 34 degrees sometime around 0130, and it finally occurred to me why I have such a tough time in a sleeping bag. I've been approaching it as though the temp was not going to change overnight, that is, I simply prepare for the lowest temp I expect, and go with that. I start off too hot, work my way through comfortable, and wind up cold when my expectations are exceeded. What I need to do is set out layers for the various conditions in order (wearing pants and shirt while having long-johns set out nearby doesn't make much sense, whereas putting on longjohns first, laying out pants/shirt and riding liners, makes it easy to layer up as necessary). Better still would be something to pull over the bags to trap warmth.

It was a really, really long day for Emily, about 6 hours/350 miles, and I don't think the view overcame that and the bugs and the cold.

A little slow out of the blocks....

6/18/08
We got it all together for an early (0540) departure from home for the DFW airport, only to sit through the first 2 flights from DFW to DEN (Dallas-Ft Worth to Denver). Third time's the charm, as they say, and we had seats side by side in which to doze on the 2 hour flight to the mile high city. Already Emily is a trooper - no whining at the early go or missed flights. We just picked up our bags and moved from gate to gate.





Once in Denver, it was a simple and pleasant transfer to the bus system RTD down to the Aurora Park n Ride, where we missed our intended bus due to some confusion on Daddy's part, and waited half an hour for the next one. So it took about 45 minutes and 12$ to get from the airport to the storage unit; not bad.
A little bit of a squeeze, getting things stowed - I'm packing an extra set of hiking boots in anticipation of the National Parks, and there are the bags we brought on the plane, etc, but in the end, it all fit and off we go into traffic on I-25 north to Wyoming.
Passing Ft Collins I took the US287 cut-off (yes, Emily, the same US287 that passes our house!) with the intention of doing a little out and back on CO14 into the Colorado State Forrest State Park (no typo, that's what it's called), but I got turned around at the gas station and missed the exit. All's well though, as the clouds were thickening up and congealing like something nasty and as we headed towards I-80 at increasing altitude and decreasing cover, there were numerous lightening strikes and micro-bursts. As the evening was approaching and the weather was getting worse, not better, I opted to roll into Laramie, Wy and call it a night.

The intersection of 287 and 80 offers many choices in accommodations, from Holiday Inn, to Motel 6, to local establishments. I picked the later, though I'm not sure exactly what attracted me to the Ranger Motel, Bar & Discount Package Store (yup, all in one. If it'd had a whore house and a grocery attached I'm not sure anyone would ever leave). We dumped our stuff and went to explore.

Emily's keen eye noted a 'Hemp Clothing Store' near-by, so there was our first stop. Interesting. I hadn't been in a head shop since my Navy days in Key West nearly 30 years ago. I think the same woman was working there. After checking out the equipment and posters (same and same) Em selected a couple of beads and hemp twine with the intent of making souvenir bracelets. Then it was across the street to Kmart for aisle walking, and over to Qubota for, as Emily put it, Subway gone Mexican burritoes. Burritos. Whatever.

Not a long day in the saddle, but a long trail from DFW to Laramie WY

and a longer one tomorrow.

Home Movies

New helmet cam. We'll see how it loads.
Lower your sound setting - it's rather loud when I hit the michrophone by accident!

This is the entry into Capulin NM, and my first attempt at using the helmet cam. It is an ATC2K from Oregon Scientific $129 and they're coming out with upgrades soon. It is waterproof (rainproof) to 10ft, holds about an hour on a 2Gb SD chip (same as my camera), and has a handlebar mount (which I broke in a minor brush on the Texas Adventure Ride in Junction TX a month ago.....) and another bayonet mount I glued to a visor button for my Nolan helmet, hence the scene of removing the tinted visor. You'll also note the self image camera shot.

I have footage (archaic term! I have mega bits...?) of the ride up the volcano as well as a section of NM72. The transfer rate onto Blogger is slow, so those are too big to move.

Just don't come to my house or you'll be forced to watch "home movies" and "slides" of my trip!

Phase 1 Complete (ish)

When a plan comes together......


Up a little early, 0600. It got down to 46 degrees last night. Bag barely held it's own (with liner), but I was bare as well, so I suspect with clothes, socks, and hat it'd do 30-ish ok. Took an hour to clean up, pack up, and get gone, then had to wait for a train crossing in T-dad. I-25 had light traffic, there was light wind (FINALLY), and though cool the liner top and bottom, t-shirt and shirt made me comfortable and not over dressed.


Lots of construction on I-25, and I could see potential bottlenecks in each of Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver, but fortunately none today. I have to be back in Dallas tomorrow, so I have to catch a flight today. Made it to Kangaroo Self-Storage, where they are just happy to have a bike, by 11:30. Two blocks away are a gas station, bank, Albertsons, and Checkers auto parts store. I bought some oil and a pan, and did a quick oil change (knew it was coming, just didn't get it done before leaving) in the storage unit, changed in the office restroom, and was waiting for the city bus by 12:30.

Getting to the airport was a simple matter of waiting for the bus to the park n ride (every 1/2 hour) and then the pnr to the airport (again, every 1/2 hour, right after the first bus arrives) for 6$ total. WHEN will the DFW MetroMess get the hang of mass transit? Superbowl traffic, anyone? Olympics (hahaha)? Flights were delayed due to weather systems, but I got on the first I tried, and was home having a beer and chicken sandwich with my friend John Blackstone who kindly dropped everything to give me a ride to the house.

Now if Wyoming weather will just warm up a bit.......

So, Where am I?

I APOLOGIZE: THIS POST IS OUT OF ORDER. IT BELONGS BEFORE THE WILLIE NELSON ENTRY. I RETURNED HOME THEN WENT BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN.

After arriving home to everyone's surprise, I began to assess my options. The object of this drill was to position a bike up north to ride with Emily over the summer. Did it have to be the R80ST? or could it be the G/S. Obviously either would do. I had even taken the precaution of reshoe-ing the G/S with Avon Distanzia tires before I left and doing a tune up.
So, after a night in my own bed, I transferred bags and baggage from ST to G/S, and headed up TX287 just twenty-four hours after I'd come down it.

I left in the afternoon of the 7th, with the intent of getting up past Wichita Falls and then spending the night at one of two TX SP's, winding up just south of Quanah at Copper Breaks SP, which has a nice little 10acre lake and lots of campsites. It is 10 miles south of the road, so you have to know it's there and plan on it. You won't just fall upon it.

It was Indy Car Race week at TMS, so there was some traffic on 820 and I-35, but not much considering. Phaedrus certainly felt he'd been this way before..... like yesterday. New rule: if you are going to make your destination by dark - fine, press on. However, if you think you are going to bail out, do so while it's still daylight and you can see what you are doing. I could have pitched the night at several camping/rest stops along the way yesterday and saved the 50$.

Copper Breaks is a nice park, except for BUBBA and his family. Jes back that Suburban up into the campsite, set up two big campfires, and break off branches from the trees to hand up a Coleman lantern set for "cook" intensity. Don't forget the dog, which roams free to sniff and pee on the tents of others. Oh, I hope they don't drink and yodel all night long.

After a shower I came back to the sound of frogs in the lake, lightning bugs blinking and hard country & western from the Suburban's tape-deck. Hard like Hank SR. Well, earplugs and some scotch should work, just please let them be thoughtful enough to wake me up when the wind (still 20mph) takes a spark into the woods and starts the fire.

Like a (good) pilot, I assessed the bike in New Mexico and made a conservative decision. Very conservative. But - if it'd crapped out in the mountains, with Emily, that'd been very bad. Mighta made it further, maybe not. Now it's home and I'm on a 'good' bike and nearly back on track.

We'll see.

Like Willie Nelson - I'm On the Road, AGAIN....

6/08/08



I got worried when the music went from SR to JR, but about midnight they turned the music down to where the earplugs shut it off completely and there was no gunplay or yodeling, so it was ok. Very warm, though. It would have been nice to sleep without the fly, but there'd have been precious little privacy.



Up at 0730, showered and on the road by 0830, with a stop by the office to admit cowardice and suggest some education for the family before they left. Funny how the names matched the ages: Baby, T.R., Lynda Sue, Mamma, and Daddy. Still a south wind of 25-30mph.



Stopped in Clarendon for gas, and breakfast at the Clarendon Steakhouse - a great cafeteria place with a wide open floorplan and vinyl seats. No credit cards and closed on Wednesdays.













End of the day in Trinidad SP CO as planned. Same ol' Same ol' up 287 to Amarillo and I-40W, then at Bushland veered north per Maps.Google on 2381 to 1061. Whoa! GREAT roads, NO traffic, and did I mention the slowly dropping temps? In Dalhart the bank said it was only 82, and in TexLine a mere 77!



Route 84 from Texline to Raton passes through some eerie geography. The whole area was covered in venting magma 3 times in the past, resulting in the mounds and mounts you see as you ride through. The most recent and perfect is Capuline Volcano National Monument. A real pity I haven't had (taken/made) time for this before. I guess the headstart up to Quanah helped. 5$ fee to ride a corkscrew around a perfect volcano cone, then hike 1 mile around it's rim and .2 into the vent! Wow! Hope the film/photo's turn out!

I headed out 84 again, still beautiful and all, but straight to Raton, then noticed on the edge of the GPS a little squiggly line - NM72 starting at Folum, which I'd seen on a post leaving Capuline. Should I go back or go on? It was a Loggins & Messina moment (like: "we may never pass this way again...."). Fortunately I chose to go back past Capuline entrance through the cow grates and the cows on a road NOT on the GPS into Folsum, and when I got there couldn't find the connection to NM72!! The Folsum Museum curator, a sweet little old lady, gave directions (as you come into 'town' turn left just before the museum, cross the bridge, and left again on 72).
Wow, oh, Wow. Just the kind of road I love - unmarked, smooth, clean asphalt twisting through and diving through absolutely gorgeous high plains scenery. Breath-taking! Clouds moving through patches of BRIGHT sunlight, prairie pastures and rock cliffs, streams and trees. It went on that way for miles and miles to Raton, just 25 miles south of Trinidad, 225 south of Denver, making tomorrow (hopefully) a piece of cake.

In writing that I have sealed my fate to dead battery, flat tire and rain.

Trinidad SP is a little pricey at 20$, but most CO SP's are the same. Instead of T.R. and Baby I got a family with children actually making Indian 'Whoo-Whoo-Whoo" noises as they moved around the pine trees, an old geezer (careful, that might be me behind those whiskers) in a VW Camper (see what I mean?), and a couple on a Goldwing pulling one of those 4x8 trailers that sets up into the Taj Mahall. All were quiet by 7pm

Dinner in T-dad was to be a treat, and I found the Italian place in the old Church Bruce D had noted years ago. It was very nice, but pricier than I care to spend if I'm not gonna get 'lucky' later. Sunday night much of town was either Closed or Out of Business, so KFC it was.

Back in camp watching the sunset and clouds, drinking scotch and wondering how cold it's going to get - Presently 68 oops, 66.

A very good day.

Day 2 and "Houston, we have a problem"

Well, the tent was nice and airey - no fly (no chance of rain). Also no stakes! the ground was rock. Not rock hard, just, ah, rock. I held the tent in place in the (thankfully) diminishing wind with my hard bags and helmet. Started the night off laying atop my therma-rest, then inside the silk bag liner, then finally inside the sleeping bag itself. 64 degrees before morning.

16 miles back into Ft Sumner for breakfast... was that a hint of a stutter? Hmmmmm. This will either drive me nuts or make me let it go. Although Hico Texas claims to have the grave of Billy the Kid, folks around here know that it's really in the Ft Sumner graveyard out back. So I go check it out. Seems to be right, as he is still behind bars, along with a couple of his best buddies. I should wish the same for some folks I know.

Again, the vastness and solitude are nearly frightening. Need to put a bottle of water in the kit and bring the Camelback. Had breakfast at the re-opened Sadies on the advise of the Allsup attendant. In Texas it's 7/11's, NM its Allsup's, and further north it'll be Jug n' Loaf.


Starting to miss friends and family and conversation. You have to work to start up interaction out here on the road. Stopped in Clines Corner on I-40 heading west. Man the wind! Even the trucks were slowed down - though still passing me. Some little girl went into a screaming fit at the souvenier shop and her dad took her outside saying they just didn't have the money for whatever it was. From the tone of his voice one could tell he just didn't want to buy it. Screaming continued unabaited, and actually rising in pitch until Mom went back for candy. This undercut Dad, and to cap it off, the little vixen shrieked that it wasn't the right candy!!!

Kept trying to get a weather report from people, but no one was bothering to find out or monitor. We feel invincible in our steel cages, why worry about Mother Nature? Literally, the only time people seemed aware was the 10 yards between the car and the shop. Finally a BLM guy arrived with a report, followed by 2 riders on V-stroms reporting a low passing through dropping snow in Sante Fe and high winds. Duh.

Passed through Albuqurque no problem, and north on I-25. Got off at NM550 for my run into the Jemez mountains and stopped at a Burger d'Roi for lunch. Was attracted by a young-ish woman in long skirts (NM, remember) working on her radiator. I wandered over to watch and maybe help, and noted her putting in water and pepper. Pepper? Yes, it swells and stopps the leaks. She said she drove this old car because she could 'fix' it and didn't want to be stranded with the kids. Fixed? with Pepper? Patched, maybe.

After my sumptious repast I headed up 550 towards my turn-off into the reward for the ride at San Ysidro. BUT I began to feel the stutter and stumble again.

I think.

No, I'm sure.

Not like before for Wolf or me where the rpms and speed would drop, but something amiss. So I pulled into an AutoZone (incase I need a tool) to change the Ignition Module - the last of the original ignitions system. Must've been an impressive sight, seat and tank off, tools layed out, removing electrical components, etc. About 30 min later I'm back in business, riding up 550 trying to convince myself it wasn't STILL doing it.

But I can't.

I'm less than 1/2 way through the first 1/3 of the first 1/2 (got that???) of the trip to Canada and on remote roads with my daughter on a bike that has had issues before. If this were a 777 enroute Moscow over the Pacific it would be the same decision. At agas station filling up I give Bruce Davidson, BMW guru, one last call and we got no ideas between us. So,
back down NM550
back across I-40
back down TX287
to Clarendon. All at 70mph with no problems and the only stutter at low speeds.



I stopped at the Western Skies Motel, circa 1960, for a restless night, then back to the MetroMess where Bruce couldn't feel the problem, and, after 2 beers and a couple hours decompressing with Jeff Buehner, neither could I.

So, now what?????

"So far, so good"

Not the earliest start, but I filled up at the corner station at 0730 and was on I-20 heading west with rush hour traffic. Continued past town and out to Thurber and the old Thurber Brick Factory ruins. It once was a thriving company town, complete with schools, company store, etc, but all that remains now is a tall brick chimney and the New York Hill Cafe, where I stopped for breakfast. I feel like I have too much stuff - every packing place is full, and I know I'm only going to use half of it. Need to pare down at first campsite. Bike is running fine - so far, though the left valve cover is leaking just a tad. Wonder why I was so slow out of the blocks this morning - daunted by the over all plan of Calgary Canada and back? Old? Tired? I think if it worked, leaving the night before and stopping at the first State Park (SP) along the way would be a good idea.




The wind is unbelievable. I was to find out later it blew hard enough to suspend traffic at the DFW airport for a time, and I know it was 35-45kts out here on the road. I hopped off I20 onto TX180 for a change of pace. Had lunch in Post with a former Marine named Gene who was enroute from Oregon to Bryan Tx for his 50th highschool reunion.

On to Snyder, where the blowing red earth brought back that black and white dustbowl photograph of a mother holding her child. Visibility would go down in a flash to less than 3/4 mile, allowing a semi to virtually disappear before my eyes. Bike seems to be ok, but the wind makes it really hard to be sure. It's like riding a bucking bronco in slow motion.

Stopping every 100 miles for water, and every other stop for gas. 48oz of water each stop. Copious and Clear, Sarge, Copious and Clear!





Made it to Sumner Lake SP in New Mexico by 2030. 10$ for the night, and though it's a ways out of town (10 miles out, 6 miles over) it is a treat to camp next to a lake in the middle of nowhere. Cannot get over the wind/temp/dust. If I have to pay this price to leave Tx, then this will be a heck of a trip!!

When I hit the wide open spaces west of Lubbock it was eerie at first. After the crunch of the metromess, being alone for mile after mile kinda puts you ill at ease, like setting sail into the ocean, but feeling better and better.