Colorado Rally Travel Follies

[JeffH]

Beartooth

Rode the Beartooth early this morning.
I stayed over in Cooke City at the base so before it got busy I though
"hey, why not go back and ride it again".
So I did.

Hit snow at 10,000 feet. Was 52 degrees on top. Some red snow up there so late in the season. Had been up there before in a car but this was way better. Having lunch in Harlowtown (never head of it) on US191 heading to Malta. 200 miles to go. A nice day 84 degrees and sunny. Just getting into the severe drought zone all NE Montana I guess.

May try and arm wrestle with a few pics at the motel. It's a real pita as you know. Especially with bad wifi.

Jeff

[XJOK2PLAY]

Hey Jeff,
That's awesome, and all...
But, please don't forget... you're still posting on a world wide forum,
and some of us were able to fry our breakfast eggs and bacon on our sidewalks today!

All this talk about mountains, snow and 50 degree days...
and all those pretty pictures...

Agony, man!



Just kidding... enjoy while you can. The rest of us will swelter on...
Lol!!

Do I sound jealous now??

[BA80]

Rode the Beartooth early this morning.
I stayed over in Cooke City at the base so before it got busy I though
"hey, why not go back and ride it again".
So I did.

Hit snow at 10,000 feet. Was 52 degrees on top. Some red snow up there so late in the season. Had been up there before in a car but this was way better. Having lunch in Harlowtown (never head of it) on US191 heading to Malta. 200 miles to go. A nice day 84 degrees and sunny. Just getting into the severe drought zone all NE Montana I guess.

May try and arm wrestle with a few pics at the motel. It's a real pita as you know. Especially with bad wifi.

Jeff

Harlow is a bit North and West of Billings. Great deer hunting there.

[JeffH]

Malta Montana

I enjoyed my stay in Malta. It is a nice town.
Greg: the Ottinger's said HELLO. They remember your family
She's running the Maltana. and I guess they have a cattle ranch.

Got up this morning and microwaved a Jimmy Dean's sausage breakfast.
Never tried it before and it was actually good. Brewed a pot too since I'm packing '

Pulled out of the Maltana Motel on US191 ending my northerly heading. US191 is a good road. Southerly end in AZ is real good too. btdt Made that right turn on US 2 to start my journey east. A good day. Low humidity. Never got over 88 degrees. I'll update on the head wind later.

Jeff

[BA80]

The name does sound familiar but as I said, I was very young when I lived there.

My dad had his barber shop in the old Great Northern Hotel lobby. The hotel was on the south east corner south of the underpass, gone now. He knew pretty much everyone in town.

[JeffH]

Oil change time. As luck would have it there was an O'Reilly's Auto across from the motel. Bought the stuff and did the change. Poor selections on shelf but they had Valvoline Motorcycle 10-40 so that's what I put in. Then Recycled the old oil and gave funnel and cheapo pan to the clerk to take home.

So far I've gone 3,647 miles on this trip. A bunch to go too since I'm in Minot North Dakota.
Atlanta north on the Dixie Hwy to Illinois then west to Fort Collins was 1,726 miles. Then the mile high travel from Fort Collins to the Rally, the Rally rides then north to Wyoming the Grand Teton then Yellowstone then Beartooth out to below 5,000 Ft was 1,278 miles. Out to Malta then now east to Minot has been another 643 miles. Was time for an oil change.

So far no rain gear required ...........
oh btw, after 3,600 miles the Wing oil was only down 1/2 quart.
Not bad.

Jeff

[JeffH]

Ride Plan going well. Stay North, Stay COOL. 68 degrees the first 100 miles today. Then mid 70's. Whopping 84 right now. Still on US 2 running just south of the Canadian border.

Having lunch at the Ness Cafe in Erskine Minnesota (wherever that is). Must be in farm country because they serve a slice of white bread with butter and two volcano scoops of home made mashed potatoes filled with gravy in the crater, for lunch.
and 58¢ for a diet coke.

Hope to post a few pics this evening.

Jeff

[motoman]

Riding that northern route going east sounds like it was the better option.

[JeffH]

Riding that northern route going east sounds like it was the better option.

A big YES to that. Going across the USA further south would have put me right in severe weather and flooding, every day.

Right now I'm on the shores of Lake Superior. Ridden 230 miles so far today. Temps stuck at a wonderful 68 degrees with an overcast sky. Right now in Ashland Wisconsin . Heading for Iron Mountain Michigan tonight.

Thought I had a rear flat but it wasn't. Pavement changed and speed limit lowered. Rear felt flat or like driving on cork (like on those running tracks or kids area in a park). All mushy. Tire aok just now has some wear in the middle (no curves since the Beartooth).

If power is on in Iron Mtn I will try again to post pics tonight. (or get a better motel). Long ride ............

Jeff

[JeffH]

Beartooth Highway

Beartooth is a great ride. An out of the way place to get to

Pavement is in great condition for 11,000 ft elevation.
As I had mentioned, rode it eastbound. Had so much fun I turned around and went back and did it again NO TRAFFIC
Great curves, awesome scenery, some neat hair raising hairpins and did I say No Traffic ...................












Jeff

[dbbrian]

WOW! Looks absolutely amazing Jeff

You are literally all over the map. Planning to enter Ontario?

[JeffH]

Sunday ride i got WET.
Well, after 14 days of riding without putting on any rain gear I knew I was pushing my luck.

Stayed in Iron Mountain (not sure if it was in WI or U.P. ) and hit about 15 miles of rain on the way to Escanaba. Then driving along the north shore of Lake Michigan to the Mackinac Bridge, KABAM .........

Rained heavy mile after mile. Dark grey clouds all the way to the waters of Lake Michigan. (Is pretty ride along the shore line) Rained all the way to Mackinac Bridge. Then it really started to dump. Paid the $4 to cross in rain (of course Sunday traffic backed up heading into MI). Then some nimrod ran out of gas on the high portion of the bridge which snarled up traffic. So I got Lake Michigan on the right, Lake Huron on the left, up 200 feet above the water on the grate metal surface, lighting going off, looking straight below me at white caps way below me. Getting soaked. Tow truck finally hooks strap to the out of gas car and drags it along.

Then next hour on i-75 southbound in MI was torrential rain. Dark grey clouds down to the ground and raining hard. Traffic backups and slow downs. Totally soaked to the core. Rain gear worthless when your stopped.

On off heavy rain bands all the way to Ohio. 11 hours on the bike to make 560 miles. ouch with wet clothes & gear. Part of the riding adventure.

Jeff

[BillyRok]

Sorry about the bad weather you hit today Jeff but trust me, you are still the envy of everybody following your epic journey. I rode Bear Tooth 3 summers back, just breath taking scenery. I do remember that when the posted speed limit around some of those hairpins was 20mph they weren't kidding! Ride safely and enjoy the rest of your trip home. And thanks for taking time to chronicle the trip, great story and pics (Are you still using Photobucket or did you switch to something else?)

[JeffH]

YES, your epic (we thought you were nuts) flight west to pick up that xs11 in Idaho. The Beartooth as you experienced is a great ride. Turning around and riding it again a second pass was a hoot. Twice eastbound and once westbound all in one morning. I had a blast.


Fortunately on your adventure it all worked out great for you and machine. And your nice trip reports & pics about the journey back to NY.

I'm still wrestling with Photo bucket but plan to change. So far for me it is still working OK.

I've got a couple more pics to post tomorrow and a couple Rally pics for the Rally thread too.


Jeff

[XJOK2PLAY]

Hey Jeff!
You're actually somewhere I've been before!
Been on that bridge, and took the ferry ride out to Mackinac Island there in Mackinaw City. Beautiful there.

Sorry to hear about the rain.
Like they say, though... "If you don't ride in the rain, you don't ride."
Know all to well what that's like!

Enjoy those awesome temps and the scenery!
While you do, remember... you could be riding through Kansas or Oklahoma where it's been triple digits with high humidity.

Sure did miss seeing you this time and riding with ya!
Thanks for those sweet pics! I love it when the roads curve like that.
Safe journey, my friend!
Bob