End of a Great Ride

Got home at 4:30 and beat the rain except for a few slight drizzles.  Total mileage was 2376.

Today was awesome.  It started out with the same freezing temps, but with the new battery I could run my heated grips and the vest both, so it was not a problem.  It quickly warmed up to mid 70's and stayed that way all day.

Central Oregon is hard to beat, and the stretch from Spray to Fossil, to Antelope and Shaniko is at least 100 miles of biker heaven.  To top it off, I had the road pretty much all to myself and I made the most of it.  I didn't stop to take pictures......I was too much in the groove plus trying to beat the rain, but what is a blog without pictures?  So here is the only one I took:

Road hazards; they leave slippery stuff too.

One thing about being on a motorcycle for six days is that by the seventh, you are about as comfortable with riding as you can be.  The bike and I become a unit, and my riding goes up a level.  It couldn't have happened on better roads, either, and I set a new personal best for using the edges of my tires.

The Stars Allign

I've had a couple of rough days of riding, but today made up for it.  It started out not too promising....the temp gauge on my motorcycle read 0 degrees Celsius (freezing) when I went to breakfast, and by the time I got underway it was 39 Fahrenheit .  But it wasn't so bad.  I was headed down to lower elevations and the sun was shining.  I was afraid to use my heated vest, but I did use the grip heaters and the battery gauge looked OK as long as I was moving.  The big relief was that the bike started at all.  It was a little slow to crank in that cold, but good old Kawasaki electrics got the job done.  I did decide to head in to the Boise area and get a new battery.  I had found a Cycle Gear store in Meridian when I was searching online last night, and as soon as I had cell service I gave them a call and found they had the right battery and would put it on a charger until I arrived.  When I got there I did some parking lot mechanics:

Old battery out:

New battery in:

It solved the problem.  Battery status light is happy.  Took about an hour total, but I gained that hour back when I went to Pacific time later in the day.  The battery is a maintenance free gel type that is guaranteed for life. 

The battery change caused a detour from my planned route but it wasn't far, and I caught back up to the planned route just as it was headed into the Hell's Canyon section that I was looking forward to riding.  Carolyn and I did this ride a couple of years ago and I new it was worth repeating.  By this time the temps had warmed up into the 70's, where they stayed for the rest of the day.......perfect for riding.  Hell's Canyon follows the Snake river and has some really nice curvy sections.  I had the road pretty much to myself and it was great.  Pretty scenic too:

Then after a few miles I got to another road that I was looking forward to.  I think it is known as the "Little Dragon" or something like that.  It is highway 245 between Baker City Oregon and Unity.  It is supposed to have more curves that the famous 'Tail of the Dragon" in South Carolina.  I don't know about that, but I do know it has far less traffic and some really great curves.  I had the road all to myself and was loving it.  It's a shame I can't show a good picture of it.....maybe Google Earth would  be the way to go.  I did take this Zumo screen shot:

Then I got to Unity, Oregon, where I am staying tonight.  Got a cute little room in the only motel in town:

Unity is an interesting burg.  I had dinner in the local bar where the bartender serves drinks and retrieves empties and money with this device:

He really didn't want me taking pictures that showed any of the local's faces.......I guess in case I was a government agent. 

Then I took a tour of the main street.  Half of Unity is dying and the other half is dead.  Take a look:

When is the last time you saw a phone booth?

Orv's next project?

These people probably moved out of the old house into the school bus:

Another project?

Well, tomorrow I head for the barn.  Still some Good Roads to ride, but all of them pretty familiar.  Carolyn tells me there is rain predicted for the last part of the ride, but I can handle that. 

Covering all the weather bases

Its hard to believe that four days ago I was riding in 100 degree heat.  Today was borderline cold, with temps down to the mid 40's, and high winds (predicted to be 40mph). So I have had heat, cold, rain, and wind.   The front that I rode through yesterday left some fresh snow on the mountains:

I passed through some pretty country that I hadn't seen before, though.  The section of highway 20 leading to Stanley, Idaho was particularly nice as the road travels along the Salmon river canyon.  Then when I got to Stanley, there were views of the Sawtooth mountains:

As I got closer to my destination for the day, Lowman, Id, I got higher and got into some clouds and slight drizzle.  I don't think I have been below 5000 feet since I entered Yellowstone park three days ago.  However, the place where I am staying had a feature that made everything fine:

A little store that sold individual beers and snacks to go with the hot tub. 

It's called the Sourdough Lodge, and it ain't fancy:

It also has no cell phone service or WiFi in the room.  I am writing this blog from the lodge restaurant. 

I may be developing some sort of electrical issues.  I have a voltmeter type of device I installed on the bike that shows the battery status.  It is a light that shows green when the battery is being charged and then yellow and red when the battery voltage is low or not being charged.  Today it would not stay green unless I had a lot of revs.  It caused me to shut off my heated vest when I wanted it on.  However, this evening I discovered I have at some time switched the high beam on, which adds another bulb and about the same wattage drain as the vest.  I'm  going to try disconnecting the low beam bulb, which is on all the time and see how it goes.  I would really like to have my heated grips and especially the vest since the temps tomorrow morning are supposed to be in the 30's.  I can always switch the high beam on temporarily if I want to make sure I am more visible to an oncoming car or one that might pull out in front of me.  The battery on the bike is the original, and is almost 7 years old and 98,000 miles, which is far beyond what my experience has been with motorcycle batteries. 

Museum of the West and other Adventures

This morning I  spent three and a half hours in this museum:

 
Most of the time was spent in the firearms museum, but there are three other parts that I also checked out......western art, native peoples (i.e., Indians), and Bill Cody's life and career. 

There are over 1500 firearms displayed on the main floor, and more in the lower floor that I didn't get to.  Here is a picture of the entrance:

One of the rifles in this display is the Marlin 39A that I bought when I was 14.  It wasn't my first gun, either. Different times, then.

The had a room full of hunting trophies:

And firearm displays consisting of almost every model made by every American gun manufacturer:

These are all Winchester model 94s, except for that one second from right, and I have one of those. 

They had some presentation firearms that were given to presidents.  Somehow I don't think the current president is going to get one.

And some of the machinery used to make firearms in the early 20th century.  There were some huge factories employing thousands of workers:

After I left the museum I went back through Yellowstone, but this time through the middle instead of the northern roads.  As I approached the park I could see some really dark clouds ahead, so I stopped to put on my rain gear.  Then, just inside the park I camp upon this guy:

I think that's a Griz, but Carolyn says she thinks there aren't any in Yellowstone.  At least he didn't pull this trick on me:

As I rode through the park there were some brief thundershowers with intense rain and even some hail.  And it got worse.  On the way from West Yellowstone to Idaho Falls, which is about 100 miles,  it rained almost constantly as I passed through cells of thunderstorms.  At one time the wind and rain were so intense I just couldn't ride.....I was afraid I would get blown over or hydroplane.  I pulled over to the side of the road and just sat there until it passed and got back to a simple steady rain.  By the time I got to Idaho Falls at just after 6pm I had definitely had enough for the day.

But, tomorrow is another day and it is supposed to be dry and relatively cool.  More Good Roads  ahead!

Yellowstone and the Beartooth Highway

On my way to Cody I went through the northern tip of Yellowstone park in order to ride the Beartooth  highway.  I had done this road several years ago and the ride was somewhat spoiled by road construction over a large portion of the road.  I figured this time it should be perfect with all that new pavement.......wrong again!  They were still doing construction and there were several delays, one right after the other.  But I managed to pass most of the traffic after the last delay and had a good ride with nobody in front of me all the way into Red Lodge.  I took a few pictures today but the only one worth showing was the obligatory Bison shot.  I have seen buffalo every time I have been in Yellowstone but never so many as this time.  I think the northern area of the park is most favorable for them as it is less forested:

Of course, every place there were bison visible from the road, everybody had to stop, and if I hadn't been on a motorcycle I wouldn't have been able to get past.  I only stopped to take this picture because the critters were crossing the road in front of me and I didn't want to piss them off and get gored by an angry momma buffalo. 

So now I am in Cody and planning on visiting the Western Museum tomorrow.

Lewiston ID to Helena Mt

The main reason for ever staying in Lewiston is the Old Spiral Highway.  I'm always saying this road or that road is my favorite, but I really mean it when I say the Old Spiral Highway is the best motorcycle road ever!  It has all the ingredients;  no traffic, good pavement, tons of curves, and good sight lines around the corners.  Check out this pic I took of my Zumo display:

That is a picture of only a small part of the highway. 

After the Spiral Highway I took highway 12 over Lolo pass and then into Missoula.  There is a lot of raving about this road in motorcycle websites.  One sign that people often post is one that says "curves next 99 miles".  I saw that sign and I took this picture of another one:

However, in my opinion it is overrated.  There are lots of gentle, sweeping curves, but mainly just enough to keep it interesting and not very challenging.  The scenery, though, is really nice, as the road follows the Clearwater river for much of the way.  It looks like this:

When I got to Missoula I had a short visit with my nephew's daughter (grand niece?) Emily.  Emily and her fiancé are just graduated from the University in Missoula and are starting full time jobs.  They first spent a fascinating summer backpacking in Colorado, Utah, and California.  They kept a blog of their adventures and I recommend it to anyone who thinks blogs are just boring like this one.  They hiked a bunch of peaks above 14,000  ft  in Colorado and did a 7 day tour of the John Muir trail in California.  The pictures alone are worth the visit.  Aaron is a really, really good photographer.  Anyway, the blog is RambleontoSingMySong.wordpress.com.  It is fun to hear from these two young, fit, bright people in the prime of their lives.  Here is a pic of them in front of their new digs:

And here is one Aaron took of the three of us:

I believe Emily was named after my mother.  Mom would be very proud of her. 

After leaving Missoula, I took some back roads over to Helena where I am staying tonight.  It was Montana Big Sky country:

What it also was, was pretty unpopulated country and I damn near ran out of gas.  I had been running at 80 to 85 mph (I was running late due to the visit and losing an hour from the time change to mountain time) and my low fuel light came on way earlier than normal.  By the time I got gas I had a half gallon left in the tank. 

Another good ride today, with much more pleasant temperatures......and a road beyond being a Good Road, the Old Spiral Highway is a Great Road. 

The Summer's Long Ride

I like to do at least one long road ride each summer, and my excuse for the one I started today is to see the Buffalo Bill Western Museum in Cody Wyoming.  Of course, I don't go straight there, but instead ride all the Good Roads that I can get to on the way.  Big Mike and I had planned this ride together, but his chronic back problems caused him to need to cancel.  Hang in there Mike, we still have plenty of time. 

The plan was to leave on Monday, 16 September, but the forecast for Western Washington was for a rainy week, starting Sunday, so  I decided to leave on Saturday the 14th.  I just bought  all new leathers after Carolyn told me my jacket was looking really tacky and my pants have gone three years without washing.  Check my new gear, or "kit" as the Brits say.  

 

I really like the way everything fits, especially the jacket, and the jacket turned out to be perfect for the first day of the ride because it was HOT.  Tonight I am staying in Clarkston, Washington at the Idaho state line, and it was predicted to be 96 degrees.......wrong!  It was 100!  I had to stop a couple of times to get a cold drink and cool off in some air conditioning.  My new jacket saved me because it has vented leather in the chest and back and I could feel it drafting air through.  Still, when the ambient air temp is greater than body temp, there is not a lot of cooling from that.  The next test will be when it is cold.  Will the removable liner keep the cold air from getting to me?  I have a heated vest if all else fails. 

 

This first day also reinforced my desire to not ride on weekends......there was a lot more traffic, and it got particularly bad on hwy 12 between Packwood and Naches.  First, they were letting the water out of Rimrock reservoir in preparation for the winter rains and snow, and this causes huge rapids on the river below the dam; perfect for rafting I guess, because there were hundreds of people rafting the river.  All these people needed transportation from the take-out point back to the put-in point, so there were lots of buses towing rafts up the hill and pulling empty trailers back down the hill.  This whole mess was compounded by road re-surfacing in two places that caused massive delays.  The consequence of all this was that I didn't get halfway through my day's route until about 1 pm.   Here is a pic of the typical waiting line:

 

 

I was waiting a little ways back in order to stay in the shade.  I tried to get some pictures of the rafters but only got this one:

 





Seems like I've done a lot of complaining, but actually it was a nice ride and I enjoyed many parts of it.  I love to ride through the forests of the Cascade mountains, and I also got to see some new territory between Yakima and the Idaho line.  Lots of agriculture going on there, including hops, corn, apples and grapes.  Here is the obligatory pic of Mt Rainer:

Today was 390 miles.  The bike ran great in the hot temps.  The only equipment problem I have is that the Garmin Zumo is not talking to my Senna SMH10 headset, so I don't get voice prompts.  It just means I have to pay more attention to the screen for warning of upcoming turns.  I recently downloaded new updated maps for the Zumo, and it hasn't worked well since.  Time to call Garmin when I get home.