Summary:
- Trip - Plano TX to Poteau OK to Monet MO to Central
City NE to Lusk WY to
Cody WY to Big Timber MT to Sheridan WY to Sturgis to Salina KS
to Plano TX
- Pack - Runt/X, met by Shadow, then met by OldPeople, then
shunned by
Shadow, then shunned by OldPeople
- Date - Fri 07/30 @ 1:45 PM till Wed 08/11 @ 3:45 PM
=> 12.5 days
- Miles - 4734 = ~379 per day
Fri:
- Plano to Poteau OK
- 75 N, 121 NW, 82 E, 37 N, 259 N , 59 N
- 01:45 PM to 6:15 PM
- 272 miles
- Standard route, 259 is sweeper pleasing as always.
- Plan #1 to leave Sun with OldPeople is scrapped. Plan #2
to leave Wed
and play in CO is scrapped. Final plan is end up in
Central City Sun
night to meet the OldPeople.
- Depart work ~ 9:30. I love vacation.
- Claw feels a bit heavy with the full T-Bag, saddlebags, and
duffels. Runt
refuses to leave the kitchen sink at home. Hope
Progressive has
new shock before next trip.
- Hornswaggled at Western Sizzler into paying for steak when
buffet bar
was sufficient.
- Best Western
Sat
- Poteau OK to Wichita KS
- 59 NW, 51 NW, 62/59 W, 10 N, 20 E, 43 N, 90 E, 37 N, 126 W, 69
S,
400 W
- 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM
- 488 miles
- Route very pleasing, especially 90 until 37. 37 etc into
Wichita is flat.
- A nice chilly fog cause Runt start wrapping X's spare shirt
around her
legs. Suggestion she put on her chaps is
rejected. ('Suggestion
rejected' turns out to be a common occurance.)
- After multiple phone call meet Shadow in Fredonia KS.
Shadow is
all atwitter since he had just seen his first curve since
leaving Dallas.
- Best Western has ping pong table and shuffleboard. X
blames
- lighting
- uneven table
- nonround ball
- unbalanced shuffles
- the bottle of wine
for Shadow's victories.
- Good day
- Best Western (recommended)
Sun
- Wichita KS to Central City NE
- 35 N, 80 W, 14 N
- 8:30 AM to 1:30
- 280 miles
- Wasted day. OldPeople are trailering in, there are no
good roads, let's
get there and hang at the pool.
- Arrival. Super 8 in Central City on a Sunday turns out to
be a good place
not to be. No pool and no alcohol on Sunday.
Team retires to Dairy Queen
and back to the room for a nap.
- OldPeople arrive, Oldman has his 'I am going to Sturgis and I
like it very
much' goofy look on. (Takes years of interaction to
distinguish this from his
normal goofy look.)
- Upon return from Pizza Hut, Runt explains to X in a clear voice
that she wanted
to stop and help the guy laying outside the gas station
since he seemed to be
having convulsions. (X thought he heard 'I have gas,
get me back to the room
before there is combustion.) Return to gas station
revealed guy shakily
standing/okay.
- Super 8 (no pool)
Mon
- Central City NE to Lusk WY
- 14 N, 92 W, 2 NW, 27 N, 20 W
- 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM (gained 1 hour)
- 455 miles
- 2 is the best NE has to offer, 27 was pleasing. Slash
lead the pack and
maintained bracing pace the whole way.
- Neck drippers came out followed by clouds followed by a light
spritzing
outside Lusk.
- Runt scored well with the train engineers, getting 4 of 6 to
honk. (X's
comment regarding prairie dogs 'they are too small to see
that far away'
somehow got misconstrued and a severe headwrap was
administered.
- The Nebraska National Forest has added a fourth tree.
- Covered Wagon (recommended)
Tues
- Lusk WY to Cody WY
- 20 W, I25 W, 20 W, 120 NW
- ???
- 333 miles
- Another travel day. Last part of 20 was pleasing but
after 800 miles of
being the only vehicles around, we found a bunch of
tourists. Heavy
snacking occurred. (Note: LOTR used classic 'I
am accelerating to pass
the car (said car being just within curvature of earth
sight distance) to
great effectiveness.)
- Runt wanted to stop to take picture of pink roads. X
suggested
a rolling picture. Headwrap.
- Population signs of 50, 10, and 4 poor souls were sited.
Cafe in
town of 50 has exotic dancers. Pack wisely proceeded
down road
to next lunch spot.
- Pack spends 5 minutes changing into rain gear in the middle of a
hail storm and then rides 10 miles to clear sky.
Hail hurts.
- Shadow notices that Slash's tire is showing cord.
Multiple phone calls
later, Old has a plan to get it replaced Wed in
Cody. Onward.
- Runt finds a lovely cabin retreat with 2 guest houses. 6
million and it
is yours.
- Outstanding prime rib buffet @ someplace followed by 'Old
Fashioned
Pictures'. Runt looked good in fishnets, X looked ..
well you know how X
looks.
- In preplanning session, Shadow proposed Old Lodge Cottage over
Runt's Ameritech Lodge. Shadow is rewarded with the
cottage the size of
a closet. The 13 inch TV looked like a big
screen. Old failed to close the
central air conditioning vent and awoke with ice on his
eyebrows. Pack
chuckled.
- Some cottage
Wed
- Cody WY to Big Timber MO
- 120 N, 308 W, 212 SW, 296 SE, meet OldPeople and turn around,
296 NW,
212 NE, 78 NW, I90 W
- 8:15 AM to 4:30 PM
- 328 miles
- Very pleasing day. Shadow and Runt/X rolled out to
Beartooth Pass while
Old got tire changed. We then did it again.
Very pleasing. 78 was pleasing
as well.
- Chilly on the top of the mountain.
- After major gear change and replacking for run to Livingston,
pack rolled
50 yards across parking lot and called it a night.
Onlookers scoffed.
- 12 oz Hamburger Steak in Big Timber looked like a quarter
pounder.
Waitress educated us that things weigh heavier at
altitude. Tip was samll.
- Met a MO Game Commission guy who flies around in a helicopter
dropping
fish into ponds. Attempted to escape story time by
getting Old to trade
flying stories. Old refused bait, X escaped hours
later.
- Beautiful country. Storms look much better when safely
under awning and
not out on bike.
- Super 8
Thur
- Big Timber MO to Sheridan WY
- I90 W, 89 S, around western side of Yellowstone, 14 E, Alt 14
E, I90 E
- 8:15 AM to 6:10 PM
- 425 miles
- Great day. 89 and Alt 14 were outstanding. Endless
30 MPH curves down the
mountain.
- Shadow turned motocross rider when he came up on the pegs over
some
construction bumps. X slowed and watched pack make
like Jeremy McGrath.
Claw purred happily.
- Good Buffalo Ribeye @ Rib & Chop House in Sheridan.
- Did I mentioned it was a good day?
- Super 8
Fri
- Sheridan WY to Spearfish SD
- I90 W, 343 N along intersate, 212 E, 112 S, 24/34 E, 85 S
- 8:15 AM to 4:30
- 329 miles
- Old was atwitter all day. The long awaited trip to Battle
of Little Bighorn.
Apparently his brother fought there. Summary:
Yyyaaaawwwwwwwwnnnner.
- Six miles of construction on 212 was not pleasing. Post
construction
sweepers on 212 and 112 was very very very pleasing.
- X/Runt ran sweep the whole trip. Standard passing
technique was
Slash or Old or Shadow to blast passee off the road and
then Claw would
meander by. On 212, passee drifted into wrong lane
(that would be in
front of Claw) with no warning. Flawless
brake/swerve technique saved the day.
- X points out a bear in the field to Runt. Runt rejects
the ID and claims it
is a cow. X points out that cows do not stand
on on 2 legs. Runt then
chuckles herself by pointing at hippos, gators,
rhinos, etc. X finds no humor in
these actions.
- Pack arrived in Broadus Cafe ready for quick lunch and more
miles. Pack
noticed:
- 21 tables
- 1 87 year old waitress moving a glacier (on a cold
day) speed
and proceeded down th strret to a different eating
establishment.
- Into Sturgis. Many T-shirts purchased for nonattendees
and no
wild women found.
- Super 8
Sat/Sun/Mon
- Spearfish SD
- 681 miles
- Shadow shunned pack and departed Sat morning. Reports
received
that some officer of the law did chat with him about
excessive speeds.
- Spearfish Canyon to 385 to Custer to greet Sue and add some
paint to
the helmet
- Discussion on 'does Runt need new Frog Toggs' ends in 'we will
get them
later cause old ones are fine'. "Later" comes
2 days later when old toggs
rip. Another trip to Custer
- 89 to 385 for porchtime in Deadwood
- Timed both rain/hail storms such that we were under cover both
times.
- Quality porch time in Keystone sandwiched by Sheridan Lake Road
and 17 out to Deerfield Lake. Ver very nice.
323 is not recommended.
- Runt decides she is tired of the Sturgis Black
nailpolish. X spends
1 hour bike watching as nails are fixed.
Unacceptable for a biker chick.
- Runt rejected Monday's 'Shopping Day' and called for Needles
Highway and
the Wildlife Loop. Previous year's record of 10
burros and 50 prairie dogs
is topped. We saw some goats. Runt claims to
have pictures of a buffalo.
X claims it was stuffed since it did not breath.
They should call it the
'Devoid of Wildlife Loop' . (The 2 buffalos chained
to a tree where we
ate buffalo burgers do not count.)
- Bullet Caps previously found only in Eureka Springs are now in
general
ciculation. Purple skull one stalked and found.
- VN2000s seen:
- 3 Red while porching in Keystone
- 1` Blue in Custer
- 2 Red at Spearfish Canyon (includes Claw)
Disappointing
- Sanford's (??) in Spearfish is outstanding dinner place.
Tues
- Spearfish SD to Salina KS
- I90 E, 83 S, 2 E, I80 W, 81 S
- 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM (lost 1 hour)
- 683 miles
- Plan to ship 110 lbs of gear back (Claw sighs) runs into
trouble when
X realizes there is no way to transport said box to
shipping area.
Runt's cousin Denny saves the day with his Moto Guzzi
sidecar.
- OldPeople shun X/Runt and depart while shipping still in
progress.
8:30 opening becomes 8:50 opening leading to late
departure.
- Snacked on some Harley, irritated him and he became blocker for
next
100 miles. Blocker needed on 83 since cops were
funding county budgets
in multiple areas.
- Full gear goes on north of Thedford and stays on whole
way. Misty and
chilly.
- OldPeople successfully recover trailer and are behind Claw.
- 8:00 PM in Concordia NE. Given:
- 600 mile day
- it is getting dark
- big dark clouds and lightning
obvious decision is to push on to Salina. Bad
move. Construction zones
were especially challenging. It was a long 50
miles. Discovered a 5 year old
oiled canvas duster absorbs more water than it sheds.
- Runt create minor disturbance when she turns on heater in
room. Resultant smoke
sets off smoke detector.
- Super 8
Wed
- Salina SD to Plano TX
- 35 S, 380 E, 75 S
- 8:00 AM to 3:45 PM
- 460 miles
- Final push home. More time spent putting on gear, taking
it off/packing it,
putting on gear, etc. Excellent time can be made at
90.
|
