The Montana Trip - Day 4

Posting this a day late, wi-fi access to the Internet is a bit of a hike from the house we're staying at.

We left Missoula, MT after a hearty breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel restaurant.  Taking US 93, we headed out and away from Missoula and soon were enjoying a sight of what I believe to be the Mission Mountain Wilderness.

 One's view of the mountain ranges north of Missoula, MT

After St Ignatius, I found some county dirt roads that were both fun to ride on and brought me closer to the nearby mountain ranges.

Flathead Lake is quite a large lake with lots of houses bordering it on both sides.  Still, it was a pleasant ride up for the most part.  Going through Kalispell was a bit of a bore what with the heat and the traffic.

 Flathead Lake, from the North side

I forget which town this was, but the view is quite nice

Had an unexpected battery issue, where all of a sudden I had less than 10 volts and of course the starter would not crank the engine!  After some thought, I realized I had the deep cycle battery in the sidecar's trunk acting as ballast!  So, I got out the jumper cables and bang, got the engine going and recharging.  I even bought a $27 1 amp trickle charger for use later but it turned out to be a loose bolt on the battery I think.

I was also experiencing some perplexing chain slack/tightening issues but that turned out to be user error!  I really should not be allowed near tools sometimes.  Let's just say I was missing a couple of key steps in the "check the chain tightness" process and leave it at that.  Ron and Bobskoot squared me away on this process thankfully.

Bobkoot, Bluekat (Kari) and her husband Ron showed up just a bit before 5PM, I flagged them down and after some coordination, led them to the cabin where we would be staying.

The cabins, which had appeared a bit rustic in the brochue, were indeed "basic" in terms of accomodations.  My family and I ended up in the bunkhouse, as you can see, it has ready access to the facilities.

No wandering around in the dark to find the outhouse here.....

This is the "Mickey House", not named after the rodent but after the man who built the house back in 1910 or so.

 Mickey's House

It has "indoor plumbing"

 Kari (Bluekat) and husband Ron

Being further up in the Northern Hemisphere, sunset didn't come along until around 9PM I think

Will all the confusion and greetings and getting to know everyone all around, not much in the way of pictures was taken as you can see.  I promise though, more to come.

The Montana Trip - Day 3

A long day on the slabs today, making rapid progress on the I-90 Super Slab towards the city of Missoula, Montana, our destination for the night.

We elected to ride together and stay on I-90 as it had been described as "scenic" by motorcycleroads.us.  I will admit to it being somewhat scenic,with distant views of mountain ranges.  However, we were moving at a "brisk" pace and the views just didn't rate a stop.  There was also the plan to ride Lolo Pass after dropping the family off at the hotel, I figured the shots for the day would come from that ride.

358 miles later, we arrived at Missoula, MT and got settled into the hotel.  After resting for a bit, I rode out by myself and eventually found my way to Lolo Pass on MT State Rd 12.  I say eventually because I missed the turn on southbound US 93 for State Rd 12 and ended up with a 34 mile detour before heading in the right direction!

This should have been my omen that the motorcycling gods had decided to not provide scenery for pictures today.  Sure, there was plenty of nicely curving roads, bordered closely by thickly forested lands.  Sure, the weather was pretty nice in the forested areas, with a cool wind blowing nicely as one gained altitude.

And yet, I rode right through the pass before even realizing it.  Lolo Pass is located at the border with the state of Idaho.  I probably should have known better, after all the pass is at 5233 ft above sea level, my house in Centennial is at 5880 ft!  It's a two laned paved road, surrounded on both sides by hills covered in trees.  Not a view of mountain peaks to be had.  I rode into Idaho a couple of miles, saw a sign warning: "Winding roads next 99 miles".

So, it was this way I discovered why Lolo Pass is favored by motorcyclists.  Not for the views one usually associates with mountain passes, but with a long length of twisting roads.  I should have done my research and now paid for this failure.

I didn't have time, inclination or the right motorcycle for these 99 twisting miles and so I disappointedly took the pictures of the signs and headed the 47 miles back to the hotel.  In all, it added 129 miles to the 358 already ridden for the day.  487 miles = a long day in the saddle, with no good pics to show for it.

 For whatever reasons, Montana doesn't post signs on its mountain passes.

So if you're westbound on MT 12, here's your sign that you're there.

There was a small visitor center nearby, with the closest thing one can use

as the requisite Pass Sign.

Once back at the hotel, I set about oiling my drive chain for the first time since the start of the trip.  Here's where I learned one should check the chain more often when doing a lot of high speed highway riding!  It was quite loose!  I tightened it down by one graduation mark on each side and then lubed it up.  I'm going to be checking that chain more often, I can tell you that!

Still, other than my failure to check more often, Vikki continues to do great on this trip!  Her mileage, since the winds were not bad at all today, was in the low to mid 30s today.  That's pretty good considering I held her at at least 70 mph most of the way with bursts to 80s.

Though disappointed at the hoped for views of Lolo Pass, it was still a good day of riding, and everyone remains safe....can't really ask for much more huh?

Tomorrow, we'll ride about three hours to the outskirts of Martin City, our home base for the next five days or so.  Looking forward to rendezvous with my father-in-law, Richard and his Norwegian friend Jan.  Also looking forward to meeting in person Bobskoot and Bluekat along with Bluekat's husband.  Ride safe my fellow moto-bloggers.

The Montana Trip - Day 2

After a bit of a debacle involving lost cell phones and wallets, finally exited Cody with all appropriate belongings with the family.

Martha and the boys would be perusing the tourist sights at Cody, I would be headed up to the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway enroute to the famed Beartooth Pass Highway.

I have to admit, I was not exactly overwhelmed with the sights initially presented by the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, and was thinking perhaps I was too jaded from the glorious sights of Colorado's mountains.  This perception however would steadily disappear and be replaced with an appreciation of the beauty of this byway and eventually the sights of Beartooth Pass Highway.

At the start of the byway akaWyoming State Road 120 aka the Belfry Highway

A little natual symmetry for starters.

 A bit of colored rock strata formations

 There are several hairpin turns going up down the first mountain ranges 

comprising the Chief Joseph scenic byway and once can see distant snow-capped peaks

 As this overlook, I posed my steed next to the metal sculptures honoring the Nez-Perce Indians

Note the flat-topped mesa in the distance, right above Vikki

 Making my way down to the valley, my first view of the rock formation I'd eventually

end up nicknaming Ship Rock.  I think it's actually called Sugarloaf Mountain.

 To me, the houses in this valley reminded me a little bit of Switzerland

I found a county dirt road called Sunshine Road, which would lead me to near the

base of the large formations on the right.  You can see the road, over to the left,
leading off towards the mountains.

 On the Sunshine Road, nicely graded dirt and gravel, I was able to get up to

50 mph on Vikki as I rode to the above rock formations

 Now across the valley from Sunshine Road, you can hopefully see why

I named the rock formation above "Ship Rock"

 The views of distant mountain peaks, with snow per Irondad's wishes, kept 

getting closer as I rode further north towards Montana State Rd 212, aka the Beartooth Highway

 The view as one approaches MT Hwy 212

 My first view of the spectacular rocky peak which is named Pilot's Peak

 Here's a closeup for you of Pilot's Peak, pretty awesome isn't it?

 Motoring closer to Pilot's Peak.

Once I reached Hwy 212, I turned west to let a cargo rig carrying a big piece of construction equipment move east on the road towards the construction sites on the way to Beartooth Pass.  This led me towards Yellowstone National Park and Vikki's second state border crossing:

 Montana, unsurprisingly, has her own gorgeous mountains and scenery to please the motorists' eye

I went west on MT212 through the small towns of Cooke City and Silver Gate, noting the plethora of harley riders out for some scenic riding.  I turned around at the east entrance of Yellowstone park as there was no time or inclination on my part to battle the crowds at what is described as "the world's largest petting zoo".

I'd love to someday make it up to Yellowstone, in the middle of Winter perhaps, when the crowds would be much less and the scenery "snow-capped".

Now heading westward on MT 212, I chose to try out this dirt trail with a "Lulu Pass" sign.  I didn't get very far, a couple of miles perhaps of rocky trail until I hit a stretch of deep snow blocking the road:

Riding alone, I chose not to try and traverse the snow patch and perhaps get stuck.  Had I been with my fellow Uralisti, it would have been a different story.  Still, all was not lost, since this is the view that was present to me as I turned Vikki around to head back down to the paved road:

Panoramic shot of the view of the peaks from somewhere on Lulu Pass Road

 On Lulu Pass Road, before turning back towards Hwy 212

 Here's Vikki ascending away from the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and heading towards

Beartooth Pass

There was construction soon after I turned eastward on Hwy 212 but I lucked out in only having to wait a few minutes.  There was this small waterfall providing some nice scenery while we waited.

Vikki by the waterfall

After construction crews let the line of vehicles of which I was a part through, I turned off at this Shoshone National Park campground side to see how close  I could get to a rock formation I'd been admiring for some time from the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway:

You can see the topmost portion of this mountain from quite a distance while riding in 

the area of the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway

As I gained altitude, things were getting much windiers and a bit "brisk"

I stopped here to don my windproof riding jacket liner and heavier gloves, I was 

all set and warm after that.  The above picture was taken just after the "Top of the World" store area.

One of several somewhat frozen over lakes up at altitude.

As one climbs further up towards Beartooth Pass, the views of the surrounding 

peaks keep causing one to stop at the many turnoff points to take a picture or two.

Hey Irondad, so, enough snow-capped peaks for ya?

Curiously, never spotted the usual sign designating a spot as "Beartooth Pass"

I did spot the above sign though, and went with it

Here's a closeup view of the distant peaks visible from Beartooth Highway

Taken as Vikki and I started descending down the mountain hugging paved road

that takes one down to Red Lodge, Montana.

This shot should give you an idea of the terrain that the Beartooth Highway Loop 

is cut from, affording its visitors some pretty impressive views.

I arrived safely at Red Lodge, Montana and located our hotel room just a few minutes before Martha and the boys showed up in the Bimmer.  Quite a day's worth of riding today, lots of nice views and a salve for my soul after a rocky morning's start.

Only 161 miles ridden today, but what scenery!  Vikki again did great!

The Montana Trip - Day 1

Today was the first day of a motorcycle/car trip to northwest Montana and the Glacier National Park.

My family, in the car and me on Vikki the V-Strom Sidecar rig, took off from our home at 06:05AM and took mainly superslabs out of the great state of Colorado, heading north into Wyoming.

As I neared the border, I realized this was the first time I'd ridden Vikki across the state borders!  As I took this picture below, I also thought I'd made it farther out of state than last Fall when I'd attempted a ride on Natasha, my Ural Sportsman sidecar rig to Monument Valley!

Along the way out of town, I discovered something.  If you get your wife a car crafted by the Teutonic elves of Bavaria, and it comes with a 4.4 liter V8 engine and finally it was designed to effortlessly cruise the no-speed-limit parts of the famed Autobahn.....she's bound to like using the accelerator!

Despite the sidecar attached, my V-Strom has a damn good power to weight ratio with its powerful 1000cc engine.  Yet I was finding it hard to keep up with the X5 Bimmer SUV she'd recently acquired, replacing the Pontiac Montana minivan she'd driven for over 12 years.

The winds of Wyoming, where gas mileages go down the toilet.  My V-Strom tends to average around 34-36mpg, but with the strong head and crosswinds I encountered through damn near the entire day of riding in Wyoming caused my MPG to fall to 26 MPG!  These same winds caused, depending on which direction they hit me from, caused different parts of the rig to drag as if things were not aligned correctly.  So there were long stretches where I was fighting a tendency of the rig to track to the left or to the right.  Kind of tiring in a way but nothing I could not handle.

Still it made for a long day.  The banality that is Wyoming scenery along the interstate highway and the WY state road 20 all the way to Shoshoni didn't help time pass either.

North of Shoshoni though, and before Thermopolis, there was a brief stretch of very scenic canyon walls formed by the Wind River, all contained within the Wind River Indian Reservation.  Not many pictures though, it was either no safe place to stop or damn cagers following so close I could not stop slow to stop.  Still, I managed one stop:

I'll have to see if my return path back to Colorado takes me through this canyon again, some of its rocky formations were quite beautiful.

It was hot and sunny most of the way through Wyoming but bearable for the most part.  11 hours of riding/driving later, we pulled into the tourist town of Cody, Wyoming where we were staying the night.

One note about evening entertainment in Cody, during the summer months, the Irma Hotel (of Buffalo Bill Cody fame) sponsors a "western shoot-out" skit.  We thought it'd be good entertainment for the boys.  I recommend you skip it if ever in Cody.  It was a bit "hokey", though the gun noises were quite loud, none of us were impressed.

507 miles ridden by Vikki today, she did absolutely awesome, pulling strongly whenever I needed her to do so.  Keeping up with traffic with no issues except lousy mileage when going faster than 75 mph.  Whether it was because during that same period I was fighting strong winds, not sure.  More riding tomorrow, with the main objective being Beartooth Pass!