We left on Sunday, June 20 at about 11:15 and immediately ran into a glitch when the connector to my Garmin GPS didn’t have power from the bike. I fiddled around with the wiring and got it working and we were finally off at about 11:30. There was another annoyance when we ran into heavy traffic on the Bay Bridge, which we later saw was caused by an accident on the east side of the Treasure Island tunnel. It was stop and go in first gear for a couple of miles and my bike’s oil temperature gauge was showing two bars above normal when I finally resorted to splitting lanes - legal in California, but something I don’t like to do on the Bay Bridge with its narrow lanes. The bike was loaded down and top heavy and Carol said that she just closed her eyes. Many car drivers were very accommodating and eased aside to let us through. Once past the cause of the mess, which had just been removed as we got there, the road was clear and we sped to an exit in El Cerrito where I stopped at a Home Depot to use their washroom and to pick up a few things to effect electrical repairs if needed later. Below is the approach to the Bay Bridge on the Central Freeway.
We followed I-80 to the I-505 cutoff in Vacaville with only minor slow traffic in Fairfield where the road goes from five lanes to four. I split lanes again for a few miles, but I-80 lanes are wide at that point so it is not a problem. The temperature was the usual fifty nine degrees in San Francisco, but once past Vallejo it climbed up into the 80s, and on I-505 into the nineties. By the time we reached I-5 it was up to 95 when we stopped at Granzella’s in Williams for lunch. This is a very good deli, gift shop and restaurant, but the service was slow and it took us an hour and a half. Wherever we stop we see Help Wanted signs in the windows. We continued on I-5 to Redding, where we stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge, which is nice enough but nothing special. The highest temperature I saw on the bike’s outside air thermometer, which is quite accurate, was 109. Northern California was taking the first day of Summer very seriously, even though the solstice wasn’t official until 8:20 PM.
(Tuesday, June 22) There was a Keurig coffee machine in the hotel and I had coffee and the leftover half sandwich from last night’s dinner for a snack. John went to a nearby NAPA and found some Gorilla tape to repair Karen’s boot - the bright yellow, 500 degree (claimed) super tape had melted to a twisted mass. I also visited NAPA and purchased tape to patch Carol’s boot, which was wearing a hole in the upper behind the toes. We left the hotel at 8:45 and on our way out of town noticed that Burns isn’t such a bad place - nice city park at the north end, a coffee shop, and various antique and artist’s stores. Here are John and Karen loaded up and ready to go.
The day was warm - mid-70s when we left Burns - and cloudy so good riding weather. We followed US 20 over Stinkingwater Pass, then Drinkingwater Pass (both about 4500 feet and named after nearby rivers) for 60 miles to Juntura, where we had a slow breakfast at the Oasis café. Back on the road we stopped in Vale so Karen could take a picture of the Bates Motel sign, then through Ontario and into Idaho and then north on US 95. The day had warmed to the mid-90s and the traffic thinned but this is a somewhat busy road, being the only north-south road in the area. The scenery improved and in New Meadows became very pretty all the way through Riggins along the Salmon River and the Hell’s Canyon area. It was periodically cloudy, which gave the sky a certain drama, and the road was interesting enough to demand concentration.
We arrived at the Gateway Inn in Grangeville at 4:30, checked in, and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant across the street. There’s a gas station next door, an espresso drive-thru in the parking lot, and an emergency clinic next door to the restaurant, so all the essentials close at hand. John called two BMW shops nearby (well, within 100 miles) but neither had boots for Karen. The tape is holding up so far (after another repair at a rest area) so we may wait until we get to the rally, where there will be many vendors with footwear. At the same rest area where John played cobbler, a truck driver advised us that there was road construction with up to an hour’s delay on ID 13 between Grangeville and Kooskia, and suggested a detour to avoid it, and we will probably take his advice in the morning. (307 miles)
(Wednesday, June 23) We are seeing more and more motorcycles, many of which are headed to the BMW rally in Great Falls. I spent time in the morning talking with a few of the owners, but we were still on the road at 8:30. We followed US 95 towards Lewiston, but after about two miles turned onto Old Highway 7 for 10 miles, and then went east on ID 162. The roads go through farm country and the yellow fields of rapeseed (canola) were beautiful as was the rolling landscape.
Eventually we got on I-15 south to Great Falls and followed the GPS to the Expo Center and the rally. We checked in, checked out the vendors, Karen bought new boots, and Carol and Karen went to the Newbie building for a complimentary drink for those attending their first MOA national rally. It rained a bit, but we were indoors for the most part. The MOA wasn’t sure the rally would even be held until a few months ago, so the attendance seemed to me to be quite good - one of the organizers said they were expecting 5000 people. There weren’t quite as many vendors as usual, probably due to the short notice and understandable vendor skepticism that there would be enough people to support the work and expense of setting up a booth.
(Friday, June 25) Following a light breakfast at the hotel, we rode 3 miles to the Expo Park (fairgrounds) where the rally is being held. Most of the vendors are indoors in a large building with a dozen or so outside under canopies. There is some food inside the Pavilion (the large building) and half a dozen food vendors outdoors with areas to sit down. The seminars are held in three or four other, smaller buildings. Beyond those is the large tent area, with tents packed closely together. The rally attendance was expected to be about 5000 people, and probably 3500-4000 motorcycles.
Note the aggressive rear tire on this on/off road bike.
Some people carry a lot of stuff.
(The bike above has a sidecar attached, which isn’t obvious due to the huge box on the back.)
The guy in the picture below shows up at BMW rallies and he was enjoying the show. He carries a trumpet that he blows every now and then.
Most of the people at the rally were at least in their 60s with many my age and older, but everyone enjoyed the show, which ran late and with the encore I didn’t get back to the hotel until 11:30.
(You may have noticed that many of the pictures on this trip feature cloud formations. Carol has become the official photographer of the trip, and she takes pictures of clouds because she likes to paint them.)
In Riverton we stopped for gas because there didn’t appear to be any towns that would have a real gas station on our route to Rawlins, and as it turned out I was right. In the morning we’d quickly climbed up to 5000-6000 feet, and later to 6000-7000 feet and it stayed that way until Rawlins. Billings was about 75 degrees when we left in the morning, Cody was 70 degrees, and Rawlins 65 when we arrived. It was very windy at the higher elevations with the temperature dropping to below 60 at times, and that and the wind made for a tiring day.
The nearby Conoco where I purchased gas had an interesting mid-50s Cadillac in front.
Since we’d had an early breakfast and just coffee and pastry for lunch, we were both quite hungry, but the two restaurants close to the motel were both closed. One had a sign in the window that said they were closing at 4 PM due to shortage of staff. We asked at the Conoco station about a restaurant, and were told that Buck’s right downtown (about two miles away) was open, so we got back on the bike and went there. They were open and busy, and while we were waiting for a table to become available we walked around the downtown area, which was quite nice in a typical old western town sort of way.
Tomorrow promises to be more of the same unseasonably cold weather with a good chance of rain as we get further into Colorado. (370 miles today)
We walked around town looking for someplace else, but Duke’s was closed (it’s a bar/cafe and probably doesn’t open until later) as was the Hotel Wolf dining room - in fact it was closed for two weeks. We walked into the hotel and went upstairs so Carol could see room 9, which is the Joe Pickett room (named after the main character in C. J. Box’s popular thriller series who stayed at the Hotel Wolf once). We finally both had Cowboy Croissants (an egg sandwich, but in a croissant) at the sandwich shop, which were fine and very filling. I have to wonder how many old cowboys actually ate croissants.
The sun had come out but it looked threatening to the south where we were headed, so we put on all our rain gear, and indeed we did hit a few light showers in the next 100 miles. It was also quite cold - 45 to 50 degrees - with skies that became dramatically threatening.
In Granby, CO we went east on I-40 through town where I got gas, and then continued through Winter Park, which impressed Carol with its level of development with new condominium buildings everywhere and more under construction. Then over Berthoud Pass (11,300 feet) and east on I-70 to Idaho Springs where we stopped for coffee and pastries at a Starbucks. By now it had warmed up into the 60s, so we were quite comfortable after the cold weather in the morning. The backroads of the morning were very lightly traveled, and US 40 had more traffic, but still everything moved along. We followed the GPS on I-70 into Denver, where we went from three lanes to one due to road construction (as usual, no actual constructing taking place) and it was stop and go for several miles until the construction cleared just before we went south on I-25 and exited on Park Ave. and downtown Denver. We went by Coors Field, where a Rockies game had just begun, and then found our way to the Ramble Hotel on 25th St. where we are spending the night. It is an upscale place with laid back vibe and quite nice. We checked in, walked to Vanya’s place, where she and Rocky greeted us enthusiastically. Vanya had just returned from a month in Baja near Todos Santos, and we hadn’t seen her for a year and a half and what with our trip, her trip, and the long time between actual visits, we had a lot to talk about. We walked back towards our hotel on Larimer St., which is sort of an outdoors arts area with many murals on the buildings. We ate at an Italian restaurant, went back to Vanya’s, and then Carol and I walked back to the hotel.
And here is how the bike looks loaded down with our stuff. The panniers, tank bag, and tail bag are all official BMW gear and they work very well.
We followed I-80 to the I-505 cutoff in Vacaville with only minor slow traffic in Fairfield where the road goes from five lanes to four. I split lanes again for a few miles, but I-80 lanes are wide at that point so it is not a problem. The temperature was the usual fifty nine degrees in San Francisco, but once past Vallejo it climbed up into the 80s, and on I-505 into the nineties. By the time we reached I-5 it was up to 95 when we stopped at Granzella’s in Williams for lunch. This is a very good deli, gift shop and restaurant, but the service was slow and it took us an hour and a half. Wherever we stop we see Help Wanted signs in the windows. We continued on I-5 to Redding, where we stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge, which is nice enough but nothing special. The highest temperature I saw on the bike’s outside air thermometer, which is quite accurate, was 109. Northern California was taking the first day of Summer very seriously, even though the solstice wasn’t official until 8:20 PM.
We met our friends, John and Karen, who were in the room next to ours and who had arrived in mid-afternoon. They had gone to Sacramento on Saturday (John on the bike, Karen in her car) where they dropped off the car and Karen’s two dogs with Karen’s sister and spent the night at her place. In Redding John and Karen spent two hours in a movie theater at a showing of Spirit, a kid’s movie. I asked John how the movie was, and he replied that it was indoors, air-conditioned, and that was all they cared about. We’d planned to hike to the Sundial Bridge, a local attraction that I’ve reported on previously (see the 2019 blog entry Riding with Nikki to Colorado), but it was too hot for the mile plus hike so we just had dinner at a good Japanese restaurant nearby and turned in. (220 miles)
(Monday, June 21) We left the hotel at 8:30 after a snack of coffee and donuts from nearby shop and immediately stopped at Turtle Bay so Carol, Karen and I could walk across the Sundial Bridge. John (who has been there before) stayed in the parking lot and attempted to repair one of Karen’s boots with tape. The sole of the boot had become unglued and was flopping around. Back on the road we went east on CA 44, which wasn’t our original planned route, which would have taken us east on CA 299 with a stop at Burney Falls. Nikki had texted us with a suggestion to visit the Subway Cave and Lava Tube where we could hike about a third of a mile underground in a lava tube where the temperature was a constant 46 degrees. Since it was already over 90 when we left in the morning, this sounded good, and I put in “Subway Cave Lava Tube” in my GPS and followed that to the turn north on US 89 and then to a wide area in the road, which we later figured out was a parking area for the trailhead to the Subway Cave. We had passed a Subway Cave exit several miles before that, and weren’t inclined to go back so we continued on to CA 299 where we went west for five miles to Burney, not having walked in a cool lava tube, not having seen Burney Falls, and adding 35 miles to our day’s ride. However, we had a good but very slow breakfast at The Blackberry Patch, and did I mention that wherever we went we saw “Help Wanted” signs? An hour and a half later we were back on the road and rode through northern California (the future site of The State of Jefferson, if you believe the signs that we saw), a very pleasant ride. In Alturas we went north on US 395, by Goose Lake, which was off to the west, and into Oregon and through Lakeview, which - isn’t much to see. The ride was hot, the scenery was bleak, and we were stopped for up to 20 minutes a time at road construction sites. Did I mention that it was hot - in the mid-high 90s?
We finally reached Riley at US 20 where we turned east and stopped in Burns, Oregon at the Historic Central Hotel, where we spent the night. The motel dates back to the early part of the last century and a couple purchased it several years ago and restored and remodeled it and added many period artifacts, repurposed old building pieces, and fun posters and artwork. The hotel runs without onsite staff - they send a key code a few days before your stay that gets you into the hotel and your room, and this works quite well. It would have been nice to arrive at three in the afternoon and wander around the hotel, visit some of the shops in town, and relax in the pleasant outside patio, but as it was we arrived at 7:30 hot, hungry, and tired. The 1920s era music in the lobby cheered us up a bit, and we found a pizza place that was open about a half mile away, so Carol and I ordered a pizza, walked there to pick it up, and on the way back I stopped at a Safeway for drinks, picnic utensils, and a salad and sandwich. We ate on the patio and as the hunger eased we agreed that it all worked out quite well. Below is a picture of our room, the “Hop Gold”, which was the name of a brewing company back in the day. I wouldn’t mind going back there, but perhaps by a different route. (370 miles)
(Tuesday, June 22) There was a Keurig coffee machine in the hotel and I had coffee and the leftover half sandwich from last night’s dinner for a snack. John went to a nearby NAPA and found some Gorilla tape to repair Karen’s boot - the bright yellow, 500 degree (claimed) super tape had melted to a twisted mass. I also visited NAPA and purchased tape to patch Carol’s boot, which was wearing a hole in the upper behind the toes. We left the hotel at 8:45 and on our way out of town noticed that Burns isn’t such a bad place - nice city park at the north end, a coffee shop, and various antique and artist’s stores. Here are John and Karen loaded up and ready to go.
The day was warm - mid-70s when we left Burns - and cloudy so good riding weather. We followed US 20 over Stinkingwater Pass, then Drinkingwater Pass (both about 4500 feet and named after nearby rivers) for 60 miles to Juntura, where we had a slow breakfast at the Oasis café. Back on the road we stopped in Vale so Karen could take a picture of the Bates Motel sign, then through Ontario and into Idaho and then north on US 95. The day had warmed to the mid-90s and the traffic thinned but this is a somewhat busy road, being the only north-south road in the area. The scenery improved and in New Meadows became very pretty all the way through Riggins along the Salmon River and the Hell’s Canyon area. It was periodically cloudy, which gave the sky a certain drama, and the road was interesting enough to demand concentration.
We arrived at the Gateway Inn in Grangeville at 4:30, checked in, and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant across the street. There’s a gas station next door, an espresso drive-thru in the parking lot, and an emergency clinic next door to the restaurant, so all the essentials close at hand. John called two BMW shops nearby (well, within 100 miles) but neither had boots for Karen. The tape is holding up so far (after another repair at a rest area) so we may wait until we get to the rally, where there will be many vendors with footwear. At the same rest area where John played cobbler, a truck driver advised us that there was road construction with up to an hour’s delay on ID 13 between Grangeville and Kooskia, and suggested a detour to avoid it, and we will probably take his advice in the morning. (307 miles)
(Wednesday, June 23) We are seeing more and more motorcycles, many of which are headed to the BMW rally in Great Falls. I spent time in the morning talking with a few of the owners, but we were still on the road at 8:30. We followed US 95 towards Lewiston, but after about two miles turned onto Old Highway 7 for 10 miles, and then went east on ID 162. The roads go through farm country and the yellow fields of rapeseed (canola) were beautiful as was the rolling landscape.
In Kamiah we went east on US 12, passed the turnoff for Kooskia, and headed towards Lolo Pass. This road is part of the Lewis and Clark Trail and it follows the Lochsa River. There isn’t much along the road except woods and the river with occasional turnouts for fishermen. There is one small town, Syringa, with a motel and café, and a lodge, which also has a café. The day was cool and somewhat overcast and we enjoyed the almost empty road. There are mostly gentle curves at the lower elevations and many places to pass.
I was moving along at what I thought was a brisk but prudent pace, but at one point we were passed by a group of five or six riders who were in much more of a hurry than we were. As we began the climb to Lolo Pass (only 5500 feet or so) the curves became tighter, the road surface deteriorated a bit, and there were several passing lanes. A few miles before the visitors’ center at the top of the pass we passed by a dead deer on the side of the road, a motorcycle parked in the road, and what looked like an emergency response vehicle. Off to the left we could see a couple of other bikes and one guy standing up against a low wall with his arm in a sling. We surmised that he’d hit the deer, his bike was off somewhere else, his friends had stopped, and he was being attended to. We stopped briefly at the visitors’ center, then continued on down the somewhat steeper descent to Lolo and Missoula. We’d planned to stop in Lolo for gas and food, but couldn’t see any restaurants that looked enticing, so we went through Missoula on US 93 north. All the traffic we’d left in the Bay Area seemed to have found us again, and every restaurant we saw was part of a fast food chain. The businesses that weren’t fast food restaurants were cannabis shop or casinos - Missoula does not present its best side on Highway 93. We finally had an early lunch at a Famous Dave’s Barbeque, which was OK and we were happy for the break by this time.
Back on US 93 we went west on I-90 for one exit and then went north again on 93 through a few small towns and along the west side of Flathead Lake, a major recreation area. Carol and I have been by the lake a couple of times, but on the east side, which isn’t as developed.
We came into Kalispell, found our luxury accommodations (an Econo Lodge), and checked in. When I checked in I overheard the desk clerk explaining to someone over the phone that there were no rooms available within 50 miles.
In the morning we had learned that Glacier Park was limiting the number of vehicles on Going-To-The-Sun road, which we had planned to take. In addition to your park pass, you need to secure a temporary travel pass, available online or by phone. John and I had both attempted to get passes via phone and website, but they were all sold out. In Kalispell John tried again with the same result. Over dinner at the nearby Montana Club, we discussed our options. The very helpful person at the front desk at the motel had suggested going around the south end of the park, then up past Saint Mary to Babbs and heading east for 13 miles to the Many Glacier hotel where we could get a meal, sit on the patio, and enjoy just as good a view as we could at Logan Pass at the top of going to the sun. I’d checked out the map and did some arithmetic and determined that this would add 82 miles and about 2-3 hours to our ride. All of us except Karen had been through Glacier Park, and she wasn’t that interested in more miles and hours on the road, so in the end we decided to just go straight to Great Falls from Kalispell. (303 miles)
(Thursday, June 24) We were out of the motel at 8 and headed north on 93 to downtown Kalispell, where we went east on US 2 to West Glacier and then along a river and RR tracks through a canyon to East Glacier. The road was narrow and rough in spots, but the speed limit was still 70 MPH, not that many people were keeping up with that, although some tried to. There was some traffic and not many places to pass. We followed this orange truck for quite a while before we were able to get around it.
The locals were trying to go 70 because they were familiar with the road and the visitors were trundling along at 55 and slowing down for the gentle curves. We rode by East Glacier and stopped for gas in Browning, which is on the Blackfeet Indian reservation. The gas station was also a grocery store, fast food place, and the local hangout. The temperature had started off at 58 degrees and stayed there most of the morning, gradually rising to 65. It sprinkled a bit, but not enough to get us wet - just enough to get the bike dirty from road spray. In Browning we went south on US 89 and 70 miles later pulled off in Choteau, a pleasant little town with a museum and rest area across from a deli/restaurant where we had lunch. Back on the road we discovered that the rest of the town had two or three other restaurants and what looked like a charming downtown area.
US 89 was mostly deserted and went through very small towns every 50 miles or so. The landscape consisted of rolling ranch land with small clusters of cows, very pleasant to someone who is used to dealing with constant traffic and people everywhere.
Eventually we got on I-15 south to Great Falls and followed the GPS to the Expo Center and the rally. We checked in, checked out the vendors, Karen bought new boots, and Carol and Karen went to the Newbie building for a complimentary drink for those attending their first MOA national rally. It rained a bit, but we were indoors for the most part. The MOA wasn’t sure the rally would even be held until a few months ago, so the attendance seemed to me to be quite good - one of the organizers said they were expecting 5000 people. There weren’t quite as many vendors as usual, probably due to the short notice and understandable vendor skepticism that there would be enough people to support the work and expense of setting up a booth.
You see all sorts of rigs at the rally. (240 miles) Friday will be spent all day at the rally and listening to rock ‘n’ roll in the evening!
(Friday, June 25) Following a light breakfast at the hotel, we rode 3 miles to the Expo Park (fairgrounds) where the rally is being held. Most of the vendors are indoors in a large building with a dozen or so outside under canopies. There is some food inside the Pavilion (the large building) and half a dozen food vendors outdoors with areas to sit down. The seminars are held in three or four other, smaller buildings. Beyond those is the large tent area, with tents packed closely together. The rally attendance was expected to be about 5000 people, and probably 3500-4000 motorcycles.
(the guy in the center of the picture above looks half there because it was a panoramic shot and he was moving. There is another parking area to the left with as many bikes.)
There were about 50 vendors in the Pavilion along with the very large MOA store which sold mostly clothing but other items as well. The vendors ranged from jewelry to custom fitted ear plugs (three of those), tire companies, helmets, motorcycle clothing, luggage, and very specialized motorcycle
“farkles” - things that you add onto your bike that may or may not actually be useful. One of the People’s Choice awards is for the most farkled bike. We walked around the vendors, a couple of times and attended a seminar on organized tours (basically an infomercial for a tour company - but worthwhile) and one about touring Greece and Italy. The latter seminar was basically a home slide show by one of the key MOA members who keeps two older BMWs in Heidelberg, Germany. He also makes an annual tour to Mexico in late Winter (he lives in Colorado Springs, CO).
There were about 50 vendors in the Pavilion along with the very large MOA store which sold mostly clothing but other items as well. The vendors ranged from jewelry to custom fitted ear plugs (three of those), tire companies, helmets, motorcycle clothing, luggage, and very specialized motorcycle
“farkles” - things that you add onto your bike that may or may not actually be useful. One of the People’s Choice awards is for the most farkled bike. We walked around the vendors, a couple of times and attended a seminar on organized tours (basically an infomercial for a tour company - but worthwhile) and one about touring Greece and Italy. The latter seminar was basically a home slide show by one of the key MOA members who keeps two older BMWs in Heidelberg, Germany. He also makes an annual tour to Mexico in late Winter (he lives in Colorado Springs, CO).
John and I spotted this customized mid-80s BMW. The color scheme isn’t something I’d choose, but I had to admire the workmanship that went into the build - the owner said that he’d started out with someone’s abandoned project and that he’d painted everything himself in a homemade paint booth.
Note the aggressive rear tire on this on/off road bike.
Some people carry a lot of stuff.
(The bike above has a sidecar attached, which isn’t obvious due to the huge box on the back.)
Carol and Karen were not interested in the evening entertainment, so John and I dropped them off at the hotel where they dined on leftover pizza from the previous night. John and I returned to the rally site and ate there - I think that we had the better end of that deal. First up was Joanne Shaw Taylor, a blues rocker who is originally from England, but has been living in Detroit for some time. She is a great guitarist and vocalist, and the crowd enjoyed the show. Samantha Fish (check out some of her Youtube videos) was next and she came on and lit the place up. She did an encore of Shake ‘Em On Down with Ms. Taylor that was fantastic)
(Shaw and Fish in the pictures below)
The guy in the picture below shows up at BMW rallies and he was enjoying the show. He carries a trumpet that he blows every now and then.
Most of the people at the rally were at least in their 60s with many my age and older, but everyone enjoyed the show, which ran late and with the encore I didn’t get back to the hotel until 11:30.
(Saturday, June 26) We were all out of the hotel by 8:30 and arrived at the rally just after 9 due to an unexpected tour of Great Falls caused by my argument with my GPS. We said our goodbyes to Karen and John who planned to attend a couple of seminars and were spending another night at the hotel before heading back to Tiburon. Just before the vendors shut down on Friday I’d order a set of custom ear plugs, and since they needed to cure for at least two hours (the vendor building shut down at 6) I was there to pick them up. Carol searched the MOA shop for a light jacket that suited her, but couldn’t find one, and eventually my ear plugs were ready and we got back on the bike, but not before I spotted this Honda Africa Twin that was parked nearby. The bike had a Mexican license plate and the owner (or someone) had crafted handsome plywood panniers for the bike.
We were on the road out of town at 10:30, headed south and east for Billings. We followed US 89 (which at that point is also US 87, MT 200 and MT 3) for 20 miles and then went south on US 89 through Clark National Forest. The road mostly follows the Belt River, and after and hour and a half we stopped at a bar/restaurant in Neilhart for lunch. We spent some time talking with a couple at the next table who were a couple of years older than us. They used to travel all over on a Honda Gold Wing pulling a small camper trailer. They lived in Great Falls but were returning after a long road trip and hadn’t known about the rally, and when I told him about it he said that explained all the BMWs he’d seen on the road. Back on the bike we continued south on 89, over Kings Hill Pass (7400 feet - there is a ski area there) and gradually descended to White Sulphur Springs where we went east on US 12.
It was a great ride on 89 through the forest and along the river, but now we were back in plains and ranch land.
(You may have noticed that many of the pictures on this trip feature cloud formations. Carol has become the official photographer of the trip, and she takes pictures of clouds because she likes to paint them.)
It had been cold at the higher elevation on US 89, and on US 12 it was warmer but with a strong crosswind from the north. We followed 12 to Lavina where we went south on MT 3 to Billings and the Clock Tower Inn, where we are spending the night. Dinner was at Jake’s Steak House, which was good, and we split a crème brûlée for dessert. (220 miles)
(Sunday, June 27) Breakfast is included at the Clocktower Inn, but we had been warned that Stella’s, the bakery/restaurant next door that supplies the breakfast, would be crowded, but there is a takeout option, which we chose. It was fine, and the coffee was good and we were on our way by 8:45. We rode west on I-94 for 15 miles and then went south on US 310 to Bridget, where we where we took MT 72 to the Wyoming border where it became WY 120, which we followed into Cody where I got gas. It had warmed up into the mid-70s and Cody was crowded with vacationers, most of whom were probably headed to Yellowstone. Good luck with that - we’d heard there were long lines of cars in the park and access to get in was limited. We continued on 120, which shows on the map as a scenic route, but Carol has a dispute with their definition of scenic. We stopped in Thermopolis (hot springs nearby) for coffee and a muffins (quite good) at Elle’s bar and restaurant, which was very quiet compared to the crunchy places on the other side of the street. I’ve been through Thermopolis half a dozen times over the years and this time was the busiest and coolest. Back on the bike we rode through Wind River Canyon, which actually is scenic, past the Boysen Reservoir, where Andrew and I camped out on our motorcycle trip to Missoula when he was nine.
In Riverton we stopped for gas because there didn’t appear to be any towns that would have a real gas station on our route to Rawlins, and as it turned out I was right. In the morning we’d quickly climbed up to 5000-6000 feet, and later to 6000-7000 feet and it stayed that way until Rawlins. Billings was about 75 degrees when we left in the morning, Cody was 70 degrees, and Rawlins 65 when we arrived. It was very windy at the higher elevations with the temperature dropping to below 60 at times, and that and the wind made for a tiring day.
In Rawlins we quickly found the La Bella Motel, which Carol quickly pointed out was my kind of place, not hers.
The nearby Conoco where I purchased gas had an interesting mid-50s Cadillac in front.
Since we’d had an early breakfast and just coffee and pastry for lunch, we were both quite hungry, but the two restaurants close to the motel were both closed. One had a sign in the window that said they were closing at 4 PM due to shortage of staff. We asked at the Conoco station about a restaurant, and were told that Buck’s right downtown (about two miles away) was open, so we got back on the bike and went there. They were open and busy, and while we were waiting for a table to become available we walked around the downtown area, which was quite nice in a typical old western town sort of way.
Carol is standing in front of an old church. The train depot has a small park next to it and there seems to be a constant flow of freight trains.
Tomorrow promises to be more of the same unseasonably cold weather with a good chance of rain as we get further into Colorado. (370 miles today)
(Monday, June 28) In the morning I added a little oil to the bike and a little air to the front tire. We left La Bella at 8:10 and it was 56 degrees and misting (it had rained overnight). We went east on I-80 for a few miles (where it was 52 degrees) then south on WY 230 to Saratoga, WY and our anticipated breakfast at Sweet Marie’s restaurant and bakery where we saw this sign posted in the window.
We walked around town looking for someplace else, but Duke’s was closed (it’s a bar/cafe and probably doesn’t open until later) as was the Hotel Wolf dining room - in fact it was closed for two weeks. We walked into the hotel and went upstairs so Carol could see room 9, which is the Joe Pickett room (named after the main character in C. J. Box’s popular thriller series who stayed at the Hotel Wolf once). We finally both had Cowboy Croissants (an egg sandwich, but in a croissant) at the sandwich shop, which were fine and very filling. I have to wonder how many old cowboys actually ate croissants.
The sun had come out but it looked threatening to the south where we were headed, so we put on all our rain gear, and indeed we did hit a few light showers in the next 100 miles. It was also quite cold - 45 to 50 degrees - with skies that became dramatically threatening.
We had been at 6-7000 feet, but we climbed up to 7-8000 feet as we rode south and into Colorado where WY 230 became CO 125. We rode through Walden (Andrew and I camped there many years ago on a motorcycle trip) and went over a 9600 foot pass in the Routt National Forest. The pine beetle infestation and last year’s fire have taken a heavy toll on what I remember as a beautiful forest.
In Granby, CO we went east on I-40 through town where I got gas, and then continued through Winter Park, which impressed Carol with its level of development with new condominium buildings everywhere and more under construction. Then over Berthoud Pass (11,300 feet) and east on I-70 to Idaho Springs where we stopped for coffee and pastries at a Starbucks. By now it had warmed up into the 60s, so we were quite comfortable after the cold weather in the morning. The backroads of the morning were very lightly traveled, and US 40 had more traffic, but still everything moved along. We followed the GPS on I-70 into Denver, where we went from three lanes to one due to road construction (as usual, no actual constructing taking place) and it was stop and go for several miles until the construction cleared just before we went south on I-25 and exited on Park Ave. and downtown Denver. We went by Coors Field, where a Rockies game had just begun, and then found our way to the Ramble Hotel on 25th St. where we are spending the night. It is an upscale place with laid back vibe and quite nice. We checked in, walked to Vanya’s place, where she and Rocky greeted us enthusiastically. Vanya had just returned from a month in Baja near Todos Santos, and we hadn’t seen her for a year and a half and what with our trip, her trip, and the long time between actual visits, we had a lot to talk about. We walked back towards our hotel on Larimer St., which is sort of an outdoors arts area with many murals on the buildings. We ate at an Italian restaurant, went back to Vanya’s, and then Carol and I walked back to the hotel.
Carol’s part in this motorcycle adventure ends in Denver. She will stay until Wednesday and then fly home to San Francisco to get ready for a trip to Maine to stay at Alden Camps and see family. Nikki and Vanya are also flying to Maine - I will be at home attending to Walter the dog and Joey, Nikki’s cat. This is the first motorcycle trip Carol has been on since 2015, so jumping right into an eight day, 2300 mile ride with grueling heat as well as cold temperatures was real test, which she passed with no complaints, and she is still talking to me.
Carol had been to a couple of small, local BMW club rallies before (attendance about 500), and also a couple of vintage motorcycle shows, but never to a national rally with its 5000 attendees. I asked her what she thought of the rally, and she said that she always felt that she was surrounded by large men. (255 miles today)
As always I love reading your blog and enjoying the photos. I feel like I'm sitting on Carol's lap on the back of the bike. The picture of the "rig" is great��
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