Montana to Idaho..

Had a short day today because we got up late after drinking beer and watching the lighting storm until two in the morning last night.  Beds and showers were a welcomed addition to the trip after 3 nights of camping.  We are back to camping again tonight at a ghetto gas station camp ground just outside of Sandpoint, ID.  All the good campgrounds near the lake were booked up - guess that's what we get for rolling in on a Saturday night at 7pm with no reservations.  But that's how we roll on this trip as we don't really have exact plans and routes set in advance.  Tomorrow we ride to Seattle where we will be staying our with friends Stoney and Nichole for three days.  They have a three month old baby Owen who we will get to see in person for the first time.  We also get to use Stoney's shop to do final maintenance on the bikes and swap tires to knobbies.  And he has a kegerator!!!

Here are a few pics from the road...

Yellowstone...

Wow, what a cool ride through the Bighorns coming out of Buffalo, WY!  Twisty, smooth road up over a 9600 ft. pass dropping into a beautiful valley to the town of Ten Sleep. We stopped at a cool little cafe for breakfast in Ten Sleep.  First morning cup of coffee of the trip.  It was delicious!

We got to the east entrance of Yellowstone just west of Cody around noon.  It was Ken's first visit to Yellowstone, my 3rd - but it's impossible to get bored of this national park.  It's size and diversity is simple awesome.  We rode around a couple of the loops, stopping to snap a few photos and exited out the north entrance to Bozeman.  I had never been in that area north of the falls.  The views into the canyon and dropping down the river drainage made for a scenic ride.  There was plenty of time to look around as it was raining and the gapers were driving down at a snails pace.  There was a minivan a couple cars ahead of us that was actually riding his brakes on the uphill sections.  We could smell them burning the whole way down.  No possible way to pass due to the wet roads and amount of blind corners, so we just crawled down and enjoyed the views.

We stayed the night at a Greg & Cassidy's - Greg is friend of Ken's from Virgina who now lives in Bozeman.  They have a beautiful house in a neighborhood high on a bluff and we enjoyed some burgers, beers and good conversation.  Thanks for the generous hospitality, beds and showers!  We also got to witness on of the coolest lightening storms I've ever seen.  My first time in Montana and I definitely need to come back and explore more.  So far it looks like a super cool state.

Tomorrow we cross Montana and plan to stay in Sandpoint, ID...

Cafe in Ten Sleep.

Ken with Yellowstone Lake behind.

Yellowstone Falls.

Cassidy, Greg and the little one.

The Badlands, Black Hills & Mt. Rushmore...

Today was supposed to be a short sightseeing day but somehow we rode another 600 miles.  The 80 mile per hour speed limit once we hit Wyoming moved things along in the afternoon.  We are camping tonight in Buffalo, WY.  Cool little town in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains.  We had some good BBQ for dinner after enjoying gas station breakfast/lunch earlier and found a nice campground away from the highway.  As we pulled up the camp host who looked just like Uncle Jesse from Dukes of Hazard, told us a racist joke (and later several more) before we even got off the bikes.  Classic.

We also got on our first dirt/gravel roads first coming out of the Badlands and one more time coming out of the Black Hills near the Wyoming boarder.  Tomorrow Yellowstone...

Badlands.

Rushmore.

Storm over the Black Hills.

Departure and Day One on the Road - When in Doubt, Throttle Out...

Made it 700 miles today to somewhere in Illinois.  We found a nice campground for $10 each and grabbed some pizza at a little dive Italian joint - decent, but super greasy.  Nice clear cool night, so sleeping under the stars should be nice.  A friend of Ken's, Wes from Harrisonburg, joined for the first day on his RT, so we had 3 big BMW's rolling.

We had a nice ride through West Virginia where the roads were hilly, twisty and smooth.  Of the four states we road through today, WV definitely had the best roads.  We hit a rain storm as soon as we crossed into Ohio and had to wait it out a bit under an overpass.  It was coming down pretty hard.  After it he rain let up a bit we pushed on only to run into another smaller band of showers that we rode through.  The rain shorted out the "push to talk" button on my comm unit a bit, but luckily it dried out later and it worked fine.  I have to remember to detach it and stash it in my tank bag the next time we hit rain.  Being able to communicate while riding is pretty crucial and I don't want to fry out the unit before we even get out of the US.  

Most of the ride was pretty uneventful until I almost got taken out by a tire from a semi.  I was passing on the left on the interstate just past the Illinois line when I noticed dozens of smallish black particles spitting into my lane out from underneath the truck.  When one hit my helmet as I was directly alongside, I realized it was pieces of tire.  My first instinct was to brake, but instead I hammered the throttle to get past.  Good thing I did because the 18 wheeler became 17 when the tire spun off the rim and shot across the lane two bike lengths behind me.  If I had hit the brakes, I would have either been taken out or had to try to avoid a spinning and tumbling death cookie in front of me.  I think the saying "when in doubt, throttle out" that Ken always says was in my subconscious, so that's what I did.  I will be eying trucks closely while passing from here on out.  

There is no relaxing behind the handlebars when traveling by motorbike...

First camp.

Heading out from the farm on departure day.

1 Day to Departure...

What a scramble on the day before leaving on a 3+ month trip!  Funny how you think of so many things to do at the last minute.  Luckily the bikes were ready several days ago.  We are leaving on Tuesday morning bright and early and will hopefully get some miles covered on day one.

Not really looking at sightseeing across the US as we both have "been there, done that" over most of the route.  I am looking forward to Montana as that is the one state on the route west that I have yet to visit.  Hoping to hit the west coast by Saturday afternoon.  We are spending a few days with friends in Seattle to visit, switch tires and take care of any issues on the bikes that come up during the ride.

Here is a picture of the bikes put back together and ready to go.