A quick gourmet meal at a Wichita Falls truck stop

We made a detour off the main route Hwy 87 through northeast New Mexico onto hwy 72, near Capulin Volcano. 

Another nice road find was hwy 165 just west of Colorado City.  This road was lightly-traveled and very winding over the mountains into Westcliffe.

Tomorrow starts the run through some of the best mountain scenery of Colorado and into Wyominq.

As Tom just said, "Life is good..."


Day 2 - July 16, 2008 - Westcliffe, CO to Dubois, WY

Blogging live tonight from Dubois, Wyoming listening to the Prairie Grass bluegrass band performing some excellent music with 12-year old Tori Anderson leading the vocals. We just had a wonderful steak and salmon dinner at the Rustic Pine Steakhouse and Tavern.

Our waitress, Cathy told us about the concert right next door.

This morning at breakfast, we met up with Jon Wiggins, Richard Neas, and Kurt and Angie Gibson who were on an off-road excursion through the Trans American Trail. They are from Springfield, MO and started their all-dirt ride in Arkansas and will finish around Ouray, CO.

Today's ride took us 546 miles through central Colorado and through the windy high plains of Wyoming. We left Westcliffe early in the morning and immediately spotted Elk in the valley just below the road.  In fact, we couldn't go more than a few miles before spotting more wildlife along the highway.

Along the Arkansas River we came up on a Harley sidecar rig with a dog wearing goggles. He (the dog) kept turning around to check us out as we were passing them.

We had to stop in Wyoming  this time for a cattle drive.  The cows were complaing at us like we were messing up their road crossing.

	We met up with Matthew in Lander, WY at a fuel stop. He has been on the road for over a month riding his R1100S through the eastern states. He was on his way back home to Dubois.
We rode with him for the last 80 miles of today's leg into Dubois and he led us through the canyon sweepers into his home town.  It was cool watching him wave to the locals once we entered town. But, he said he was just returning to pack and get the heck out of Dubois.

We decided to live on the edge and went into this biker bar.

Tomorrow is a ride to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone with a stay overnight in Cooke City, MT.


Day 3 - July 17, 2008 - Dubois, WY to Cooke City, MT

I'm starting today's post while waiting on the pilot truck to lead me through some road construction just outside of Silver Gate, MT. It's only 2.5 miles to the hotel in Cooke City, but the road construction is holding things up for around 20 minutes.  There's a light rain falling and the temperature has dropped into the 50's. 

Kristen, the flag person, says her hands are so cold she can hardly hold the camera steady while she snaps a pic of me.

I see the pilot truck heading in my direction, so I must get ready to ride.

I'm resuming the journal now in our room listening to the soothing sound of the Soda Butte Creek that is just below our window.

Tom, Paul and Marilyn split off from me at the top of the falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone so they could head on to the Soda Butte Hotel. I spent another couple of hours riding the 60 miles of beautiful northern Yellowstone shooting way too many photos, but you know I had a great time.

We started out early this morning riding through the Grand Tetons.  Carolyn, a very friendly park ranger, struck up conversation with us at the Snake River Overlook.
I removed myself and remembered the times when I was very young in this very spot with my parents. I owe so much to them for introducing me to this beautiful country of the West.

In Yellowstone, we visited Old Faithful but were surprised by the number of people. We decided to not wait for an eruption after seeing the traffic of the previous as we were arriving. After a quick lunch, we moved on. We enjoyed the sweeping and twisty turns of the park and listened in on the French visitors using the same radio channel as ours. We couldn't understand a lot, but Tom corrected their "Continental Devine".

While now on my solo ride, I had to put on rain gear at the top of a mountain when the temperature dropped 15 degrees and the sky darkened.
	The rain was short-lived, and the afternoon light was spectacular on all of the flowers covering the valley below me.  My ride into Cooke City was stopped many times for wildlife and wonderful lighting on the Sage and hills around me.

So once I got through the final 2.5 miles of road rebuilding, I rolled up to the hotel to see Tom sitting in the timber-ceiling lobby window.  We had dinner and a brew later and listened to a chap telling a story about a camper  that was attacked by a bear the night before just outside of Cooke City. We were trying to figure out if the story was legit and later found it to be true after meeting Adrian in the lobby.  She is an empty-nester from California and spending time hiking here where she once lived. She was at the same camp last night when the attack happened. The rangers made everyone break camp and either leave or sleep in their cars.

Next up is Beartooth Pass and on to Gillette.


Day 4 - July 18, 2008 - Cooke City, MT to Gillette, WY

The Grizzly attack stories continued with the Cooke City locals this morning at the fuel station. Tom and I loaded up with fuel and headed out at 7:00 towards Beartooth Highway. How appropriate. Early morning is the most favorite part of the day for wildlife, so that fact and the 36-degree air kept us a bit under the posted limit. The cool air and spectacular scenery woke me up quickly and made the slower ride very pleasing. We saw a couple of moose, plenty of deer, Pronghorn and some random marmot for good measure.

We stopped for a SLR moment at a still pond with the mountains rising from the far side. The water vapors were rising from the grass as the morning sun first hit.
	On up Beartooth Highway, the road rose near 11,000 feet and above tree line. As we ascended the pass, ten-foot snow drifts lined the side of the road that twisted tightly and demanded attention to keep the bike on pavement. This has to be one of the best mountain rides in the States.

We rode through Red Lodge and out in the high rolling sage hills of Montana to highway 14A over the Bighorn range.  This section was an exciting surprise that rose out of the dry scrub. Once down in elevation, we shared ride stories with another group from Arizona and Seattle at the Sinclair. The rider said he was "still on the high".

We got off of the short stretch of interstate quickly, rode the back roads of hwy 14 and entered the MOA rally site in Gillette. We went through registration and chose a grassy area to pitch the tents.

I took my bike over to a washing area to get the Texas rain and Montana forest road construction grime off of my bike in prep of tomorrow's 25th anniversary BMW K-Bike Koncours celebration. And who rolls up to wash his bike but Greg Feeler with my bike's sister serial number K75S. We exchanged greetings and I held both bike's handlebars. It was a touching moment. "Separated at birth and reunited in Gillette."

I'm finishing this post listening to the New Riders of the Purple Sage playing Panama Red outside the Beemer Saloon and having an Odells Pale Ale microbrew from Ft. Collins, CO.

The big thunderstorm earlier this afternoon rained lightly on us, flattened a few tents, and nicely cooled things down. The music is good, evening air is good, ale is good, company is good and today's ride was a dream. Life is definitely good.


Day 5 - July 19, 2008 - BMWMOA Rally in Gillette, WY

The sun is shining bright today in a blue sky above Gillette. Last night's temperature was cool and perfect for a good sleep in the tent.

The K-Koncours bike judging continues as I am starting this post. Our sister bikes are drawing a lot of attention, and it's been fun meeting and talking with Greg. The bikes have been spending some quality time together in the show and are likely swapping stories from the road.

Greg's bike took honors in our class, and is well-deserved. It was a blast watching all of the K-bike fans looking over the fine machinery.  BMW presented a great history of the K-bikes, with Andy Sills present.  Andy set a world land speed record of 173.57 on a K1200S at the Salt Flats.

Chris McNiel tearing it up at the stunt show.

Kilts gone wild.

We met up with Tom Mamic from British Columbia, who is on a world ride on his F800GS that he had shipped from South Africa to Argentina. He made his way down to Tierra del Fuego, and is now on his way through the United States. He has ridden 74,000 Kilometers so far, and has just been presented a MOA distance award for that effort.

Ben Lower was introduced at the closing ceremony as one of the directors of the MOA. There are 5,103 rally-goers here this week from all over the country and internationally. Nintey percent of the 4,000 bikes here are BMW's.

The David Swisher million-mile award has just been presented to Ken McHugh. Bob's BMW has given a whole riding suit with gloves and boots as a door prize. Many other door prizes and awards were handed out.
The grand prize bike is a new R1200GS which has just been won by Howard Morgan from Longmont, CO.  Next year's rally will be held in Johnson City, Tennesee. There will be trees and grass.  If you have never attended a MOA national rally, start planning now for next year.  I'll see you there.

Tomorrow we head to Devil's Tower, the Black Hills and the Badlands in South Dakota.