Day 1. Going to the Sun (from the sun), with a Saddlesore and BunBurner thrown in.

[Timba]

Don and I had missed a chance to ride to Yellowstone back in 2004, so we planned a trip to Glacier National park for this year. Since San Antonio has been hotter than the surface of the sun lately, it seemed appropriate to go as far north as possible, and what could be better than Going to the Sun Highway? We planned to do a Saddelsore 1000 on our first day to get the trip off to a good start.

Day 1.

Just before departure, at 4:00 a.m. near San Antonio, Texas. Next stop, Pueblo, Colorado, 1005 miles away!
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Near the windpower farms in west Texas.
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Don, just North of Van Horn, Texas... From all the greenery, it appears that West Texas has been getting the rain we haven't!
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Almost halfway, in the Guadalupe Mountains...
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And finally, the Pueblo Econolodge! And our End Witness!
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Do we look like we just rode a thousand miles at one sitting?
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To be continued .... :)

[LRider]

Nicely done!! Congrats!!

[Timba]

A fairly boring day, mostly superslab, with a bit of interesting road on the last part. High point of the day came early, with breakfast at Rosie's Diner in Colorado Springs.
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We continued north, and I showed Don Crazy Horse, although we didn't stop in for a closer look.
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Don had never seen Mt. Rushmore, and wanted to do a quick ride-by. This was really quick.
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Say, doesn't that guy look like the guy on the quarter?
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(I love my 10x optical zoom!)

We finally stopped at Bear Butte campground in Sturgis, after another 570-ish miles. We didn't go for the BunBurner on this leg, saving that for the sprint home.
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We set up our tents next to a nice couple from Montreal, Stan and France. Chatting with them gave me a chance to exercise my long dormant french vocabulary (all thirty words). Judging from the depth of the lake, it looks like South Dakota has had weather similar to San Antonio--i.e. no rain to speak of for months.
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To be continued ...

[Timba]

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We abandoned Sturgis early in the morning, being sure to make enough noise to wake our neighbors from the north, Stan and France :snore (they had asked us to, since they neglected to bring along an alarm clock).

We found a nice little fixer-upper on the way to Billings, but it was too close to the highway.
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We arrived at the Billings airport to pick up Amy, and she was just walking out. That little bit of serendipity coincided with Don's valve stem splitting and causing a rear flat tire that's rather difficult to fix on the road.

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I dug out my Anonymous book and called the first number in it.

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The savior at the other end offered trailering assistance, but, thanks to his assistance with phone numbers, we we able to find a bike shop to come pick him up and replace the tire.

While waiting, I noticed these crazy little carnivorous wasps that were going nuts over the dragonflies in my oil cooler. Apparently, they are a delicacy in Montana...
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We had a little trouble getting Don's RT over the high spot in the ramp...

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... Opting for the "brute force" method of overcoming it...

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With fresh rubber on Don's bike, we checked in to the Billings Super 8, ready for the Beartooth Pass tomorrow...

To be continued...

[Timba]

Amy, Don, and I left Billings for Red Lodge, the Beartooth Highway, and the Chief Joseph Highway.

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Breakfast in Red Lodge was excellent, including the waitress who sassed us for being Texans... :eat

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The newspaper headlines were ... unusual.

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The switchbacks up to the top of the Beartooth were so-so, nothing like the hype I had heard prior to the visit.

The first thing we noticed upon reaching the top of the Beartooth was the ubiquitous chipmunks.

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The second thing we noticed is that the views are pretty nice:

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Seems like I always find a little bit of Texas wherever we go:

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The "Bear's tooth:"

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Amy looking over the edge...

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We had an excellent lunch at the Buns n Beds eatery in Cooke City. Amy highly recommends the Cheddar Bomb...

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Then, off to the Chief Joseph Highway, which for my dollar offers much better riding, and comparable views...

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And at the bridge, who should we run into but our Sturgis camp-mates from Montreal, Stan and France! Small world, n'est-ce pas?

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On the way back to Billings, we passed through the town of Belfry, and their interesting school mascot:

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After that, it was off to an Italian dinner at Bruno's.

[kbasa]

Outstanding! :lurk

[jwhite518]

Great post! Lovely pics too. I agree with you on Chief Jo vs. Beartooth. Both are nice but Chief Jo is nicer.

[riderR1150GSAdv]

Cool report!! Really nice riding out there!!!!! :heart :heart :D

[SNC1923]

Fun report with great pictures. Glad you guys are having such a good time, flat tires aside. Keep the posts coming! :thumb

[Montana]

Geez, these folks are riding into the first snow of the season for us; I hope it goes well.

[Timba]

Actually, we're back home safe and sound, I'm just slow as molasses on my ride reports. :uhoh

I'll get cracking on posting 'em.

[Timba]

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Amy was feeling the onset of a cold, so we decided on a low-milage day, visiting some scenic back roads on the way to Red Lodge. Just how scenic we soon discovered.

I programmed the Garmin 2730 to take us from Billings, then Joliet, then Fishtail, then Red Lodge, and off we went.

The small two-lane roads on the way from Joliet to Fishtail were lovely and empty. Then, as we approached the Cooney Resevoir, they turned to dirt roads. Don and Amy both asked, "How far until they're paved again?"

Puzzled, I replied, "Dunno, according to the GPS they're the same as all the other roads we've ridden." :dunno

Don, on his RT was the deciding factor, and he said, "Let's go for a while." That turned into 17 miles and about one hour. At the beginning, he had a death grip on the bars, and a top speed of about ten miles an hour. However, by the end of it he was relaxed and zipping along at twenty or thirty miles an hour.

The leaning tower of ... Fishtail?
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"Oh look! An eagle!"
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Don finds the religion of Dirt:
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Don: "Hey, this dirt stuff is kind of fun!" Vrrooooom!
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At first, I thought this house was up on jacks, getting the tranny checked and the oil changed, but later realized it was getting another floor installed underneath the existing two!
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Does this Red Lodge man have enough satellite TV channels? You be the judge.
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I'd never heard of these jeans before...
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I close this segment with another eagle... ;)
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Next up: Amy flies home and Don and I head to Glacier NP.

[knary]

:lurk

[PacWestGS]

:lurk

:lurk :lurk (DITTO)

[Timba]

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We got up at zero dark-thirty to have Amy to the Billings in time for her flight back to SAT. We'd prepacked the night before, so there wasn't too much frantic fumbling involved.

After our sweet sorrow, Don and I started racking up miles on the way to Glacier NP. We stopped at a cool little restaurant on the outskirts of Harlowton (named after Jean?) and penned a bunch of postcards over breakfast.
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Back on the road, Don mentioned over the bike-to-bike radio that his bike seemed to run poorly at lower rpms, but fine at higher ones. I suggested a fouled spark plug, and we planned to investigate at camp the next morning.

We passed Montana's first wind farm:
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No comment:
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Since we were so close to the Canada Border, we popped up to the edge for a look around, but didn't go over. (Contraband, you know? :evil)
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We then stopped at the Two Sisters cafe for a delicious late lunch (excellent Gardenburgers there!) (this is a before picture, and we are hungry/grumpy/looking into the sun)
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At least one of the residents of the town of Babb has a sense of humor:
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Beautiful views as we approached from the North:
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Even the first few miles of Glacier were stunning, and we pulled into a campsite not too far from the East entrance.

As soon as we picked a spot, the camp host (civilian) was there telling us about food and toiletry storage controls due to bears. In the ten minutes we chatted, the distant thunder we heard got closer and closer, with the skies finally opening up with rain and soft little hail, and us with our tents still packed.
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The next day got really exciting...

[BradfordBenn]

Rock On!!!

[Timba]

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It was a crisp 47.3 degrees when I got up on day 7.

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Foolish me, I thought that was cold!

Don and I dressed, and he wandered off to brush his teeth.
While he was gone, a ranger came looking for him.
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Just kidding, he was looking for a mama bear and cubs that had been spotted in camp early that morning. He said his shotgun was loaded with rubber slugs, ostensibly to “discourage” the bears’ presence in camp.

Because of his engine problems yesterday, we checked Don's spark plugs, and one was a nice milk chocolate brown, the other dark and sooty. We cleaned it and hoped that that was the cause of the low-speed stumble.
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We broke camp and loaded the bikes, then walked the half-mile to a nearby diner. After a tasty breakfast, we got on Going to the Sun Highway, only to discover that Don’s bike was still only running on one cylinder. We pulled over at an extremely windy overlook—so windy that I feared it would blow our bikes right over. Here's me posing with bike, but actually holding on to it to keep it stable...
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As Don troubleshot the problem, some folks walked by and told us of a bear eating in the bushes down by the lake. I left Don to his work and wandered over. I love my 10x zoom!
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I have to say, as impromptu roadside workshops go, this one had the best view ever:
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Don found some cracks in one of his spark plug wires, and deduced that the bike only ran on one cylinder at low speeds, but at high speeds produced enough spark to jump the gap and run on both heads. We decided to head for Big Sky BMW in Missoula for a replacement wire. Don had his hands full with the bike trying to die anytime the throttle was less than about one quarter open.

The views on Going to the Sun Highway were amazing, and we actually enjoyed the stops for construction as they gave us a chance for photos and gawking.
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The Garmin was a little confused as to the road name though:
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The folks at the BMW dealership took a look at Don's bike, and told us they didn't have a plug wire availble, but one employee would check his stash of used parts. We agreed to come back the next day, and we headed to our digs for the night, a circa-1800s cabin on a ranch belonging to some friends.
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Our friends told us the temps over the next few days were supposed to drop to the low 20's, and we said, "We'd better head South then!"

We planned to get Don's bike fixed the next morning, then head South into Idaho's Sawtooth wilderness.

To be continued...

[DocEdkin]

The written report along with the outstanding pics makes this read one of the best! Thanks for sharing.

[wmubrown]

Beautiful up there, isn't it?!! I know JUST where you were too... it does get VERY windy up there at different times of the day! It blew my helmet off the seat of the bike and down a cliff. Fortunatly some brush caught the helmet and I was able to climb down a bit and retrieve the helmet with a long limb I found. Did you see any mountain goats? I didn't get to see bear.

[Timba]

Thanks for all the kind comments!

Didn't see any goats until we got to Idaho...

[Timba]

We departed Deb & Jerry's ranch after a wonderful hot breakfast.

Don got his daily dose of off-road practice in, and gave more thought to trading the RT in on a GS <grin>.
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We returned to Big Sky BMW for the spark plug wire replaced. While Don's bike was on the stand, I laid the tent that was still soaked from Glacier out to dry. It took about ten minutes.
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The mechanics told Don that his throttle bodies were worn out, and it would take a couple of days to get replacements in. Don elected to ride on, and replace them when we got home..

We rode into Idaho, and the smoke from the forest fires made the sky red...
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We set up camp at Holman creek.
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As the moon rose, we took some artistic photos...
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The night got cold, and we turned in...

Just how cold, we would soon discover...

[Timba]

Sawtooth Recreation area to Salt Lake City
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Inside my tent at the campsite, I awoke to 25 degree temperatures.

Actually, “awoke” is not the correct term. It was more like, “came to a gradual awareness of my surroundings that included more than thinking, “this is the coldest I have ever been in my life, and trying to sleep in all my clothes including a sweater wrapped around my head is futile” sort of “awakening.” Trying to break down tentpoles while wearing mittens proved to be a challenge. Trying to do it after removing the mitts proved to be a different kind of challenge as I raced to break one down, then put them back on long enough to get some feeling back in my fingers, and repeating the process.
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Don opened a new bottle of water, and it froze the moment he opened it.
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I found where a bear had been snacking nearby:
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Anyway, after a campsite breakdown that took three times longer than normal, we were on the road south again. The temps were, ahhh, brisk and soon I was thanking the ghost of Thomas Edison for electric grips and jacket liners. After only minutes, Don’s voice came over the radio saying, “Something’s wrong—my bike’s only running on one cylinder again.” I thought I had smelled gasoline as I followed him.

We headed on into the town of Mackay to grab some breakfast, and do some troubleshooting. My latest technique for picking a place to dine involves looking for a reasonable number of cars or bikes outside a local mom & pop type of eatery. As we pulled into Mackay, the most obvious spot was Amy Lou’s Steakhouse. I poked my head inside to ensure that they served breakfast, and was assaulted by the most wonderful smells. Don and I got inside as soon as we could.
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The photo on the menu was a little … strange, but we dealt with the strangeness and had a great breakfast.
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After fiddling with the bike out front, all we could tell was that exactly opposite the bad spark plug wire symptoms, the bike idled fine, but ran on only one of its two cylinders at any higher rpms. We decided to press on to the nearest big BMW dealer, in Salt Lake City. We made it to Salt Lake BMW in late afternoon. They didn’t have a part for it, but they did agree to give Don a Loaner bike he could keep until the part came. Reeee-sult! Traveling Utah on someone else’s bike! (Even if it is only a F650CS (cs=city slicker?))
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Sunset with the Great Salt Lake in the background.
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We checked into a Best Western and I started catching up on the blogging.
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[kbasa]

Outstanding! :thumb








:lurk

[Colt03]

Glad I caught this thread, excellent pics and commentary !

Keep it coming !

[Timba]

Salt Lake City to Zion National Park
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The Temple of Manti. (Are the worshipers therein known as "Praying Mantis" ???) :D
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Departing the wonderful Flying M, after a great lunch. The food here was so good we came back for more the next day. The skies are opening up...Glad to have our Aerostich suits. We'd have been in and out of rainsuits dozens of times on this trip otherwise.
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Arrival at the fabled Zion... I knew the name of the park, but nothing about it. I was amazed at its beauty.
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The nice folks who let us share their site at the full-up campground. They were driving around the country in their Bluebird camper/bus. They even gave us each a beer after we finished pitching our tents! True nobility.
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The ominous mammatus clouds as we set up camp. They never delivered on their promise of rain though.
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Tim and the ranger discussing how to find the shuttle that takes you all throughout the park, allowing you to stop and hike or linger as you choose. Very cool setup.
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The graybeards in the Court of Patriarchs... In order, they are Abraham, Don, Isaac, Tim, and Jacob.
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Looking out from the Weeping Wall. I thought this was the coolest place in the park. It's a place where water soaks into the top of this stone formation, then seeps down for ten thousand years until it hits a non-permeable layer which forces it to go sideways until it comes out of a cliff face.
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Ghostly wildlife...
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[pairowheels]

I've gone over Beartooth Pass in late August and was equally disappointed, but glad that I had to go through Chief Joseph Trail (which many riders in Wyoming, myself included, call "mystical") to get to Beartooth. But this year, on a trip to Canada in May, I finally understood why Charles Kuralt called Beartooth "the most beautiful highway in America". When there is still snowmelt running off Beartooth, the experience is incredible! Unfortunately, when I arrived at Glacier, Logan Pass was closed so I had to circumvent the Road to the Sun. Maybe next time!

[ian408]

nicely done!

Went through Bryce and Zion this summer--beautiful!