Pic Heavy 2016 Ride Report - 40 Days Following the Front Wheel

[Ed Hobgood]

Beartooth highway is breathtaking and the chipmunks are fun to watch. We were there last June and had a great snowball fight on the top, just to the right of the altitude sign in one of your photos. The highway has some of the best sights seeing pull off's I've ever seen. Can't wait for some of your Yellowstone photosThumbUpThumbUp

 

[Gorilla]

Okay I've got to say it Kevin THAT IS A MIGHTY FINE PICTURE OF MARY AT RED LODGE. You are one lucky man. Great pic's

 

[DK Custom Products]

Amazing...breath taking...

Thanks Kevin and Mary.

+1 ... and through your ride posts we get to share it .... thanks for taking us along.

The beauty of Montana and Wyoming is absolutely breathtaking. One of the most scenic places on earth IMHO. Thanks for sharing your ride with us all.

Ride safe!

Beartooth highway is breathtaking and the chipmunks are fun to watch. We were there last June and had a great snowball fight on the top, just to the right of the altitude sign in one of your photos. The highway has some of the best sights seeing pull off's I've ever seen. Can't wait for some of your Yellowstone photosThumbUpThumbUp

Glad you are enjoying! Lots more to come.

Okay I've got to say it Kevin THAT IS A MIGHTY FINE PICTURE OF MARY AT RED LODGE. You are one lucky man. Great pic's

You, sir, are correct on all three points.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 26- Part II


We were a bit surprised...

...by how little snow there was...

...we've been here later in the summer the last few years, and there was much more snow that this.

Three levels of curves...

...this is a riders paradise!

Looking over the guardrail at what's ahead!

Awesome views everywhere...

...I am cutting out so many great pics, but even this abridged version is going to end up 80-100 photo's just for this one day!


We're down to around 8000' now.

One of the many lakes we passed...

...and one of the streams we crossed as we near "The Top of The World".

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 26- Part II Continued




"Top of The World" is a motel, store and gas station in the "middle of nowhere". Between Red Lodge & Cooke City, this is it.

Getting close to...

...Beartooth Lake. There are thousands of lakes in the mountains along this road, I'm not sure whey this one is called Beartooth Lake, but it is.

Soon after the road narrows...

...and gets even more fun!

Water rushing down the side of the mountain!

Years ago, Mary gave up asking why I speed up in curves... never have given her a good answer, I don't really know myself, I just know that it is fun, and I remember it being fun even when I was 8 years old!

Getting close...

...to crossing back into Montana and arriving in Cooke City.

More on Day 26 coming soon.


Kevin

 

[desertclassic]

You are killing me with the photos, but I like it. Weather is so hot here in the southwest, usually no riding from 10am-8pm. As to the speeding up in the turns, if I need a little pain therapy on the shoulders, I just speed up when coming out of the turns. My therapist just beats on the shoulders and I know I must hold it down a bit. Sweetie tells me, it causes her to lose her focus on things. Keep on riding and posting pics. I need them for evidence when I am planning our next trip. Jim

 

[DK Custom Products]

You are killing me with the photos, but I like it. Weather is so hot here in the southwest, usually no riding from 10am-8pm. As to the speeding up in the turns, if I need a little pain therapy on the shoulders, I just speed up when coming out of the turns. My therapist just beats on the shoulders and I know I must hold it down a bit. Sweetie tells me, it causes her to lose her focus on things. Keep on riding and posting pics. I need them for evidence when I am planning our next trip. Jim

Glad you're liking them! Lot's more to come.

I know our summer is your off-season...crazy how hot it gets your way!

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 26 Part III


Cooke City, Mt. It is right outside the NE entrance to Yellowstone.

We've eaten lunch at the same place the last 2 times we've been thru here...so it's the beginning of a little tradition, and we stop again.

Sitting, waiting for the food....

...this is the view I have from that little table above.

Last time we were here, as we were leaving we had a 20 minute wait for the bison to move out of the road...they were blocking both lanes.


Today, as we are leaving I see a couple of bison in a yard right up the road from where we are parked.


Look to the left of Mary (her right)...no, she is not 100% comfortable, even though they're 100 yards away, she'd rather be on the trike.

...here's a close up.

On our way to Yellowstone out of Cooke City...

...amazing place to live!

Entering Yellowstone. We are only here for the afternoon as we cut thru part of the park on our way to Cody...

...we are due to meet Scott & Karin in Colorado Springs in 36 hours to start a 10 hour ride!


Traveling via Yellowstone is a scenic way to get there.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 26- Part III Continued


Fellow Travelers-

We saw hundreds of bison. Some were close...

...some were crossing a stream, but most were quite a ways from the road.

Cloud pic!

Fellow travelers that we followed for quite a while...

...right into a traffic jam. It took about 30 minutes to go half a mile. Everyone was stopped...

...looking at some bears. By the time we got there, they were quite a ways down the hill. You can see a couple of brown blurs in this pic...that's them.

Back rolling, climbind toward the east entrance/exit of the park- fellow Triker coming the opposite direction.

Mary in the mirror, we are still climbing and seeing some big variety in the scenery.

This bison was very close to the road, and Way bigger than the TG.

We visited the mud volcano. It was a bit disconcerting to see so much internal pressure of the earth just bubbling thru to the surface.


Click HERE to see a short video.




More pics of the mud volcano area and the ride to Cody coming soon.


Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 26 Concluded- Part IV




Mary in the mirror, some fellow travelers ahead, and for you hunters...check out the monster rubs!

We're in a part of Yellowstone we have not traveled before...as always, this place never ceases to amaze us with the beauty!

This place was a bit disconcerting to me...did not seem to bother Mary....

Hot water, mud, steam, sulfur & ??? are all rumbling out of the earth...you could actually feel it shaking the ground...

...there is a walkway around this area where stuff that (to me) should be staying inside the earths crust is leaking out all over...but the bison are inside the walkway and don't seem bothered by it at all.

They obviously don't read the signs!

As we left this viewing area, along the road we saw more places where the earth was leaking!

Yellowstone Lake is HUGE!

There were a bunch more places where the earth was leaking, right next to the lake!

As we started climbing toward the east entrance, away from the lake, we were following this guy on his Harley. He would speed up, well past the speed limit when the road was straight....

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 26 Concluded- Part IV




...It did not bother me how fast he went in the straights, but coming to every curve he would slow to almost a crawl. He was doing his best to go thru every curve without having the bike lean at all.

Finally got passed him so we could do the limit, or thereabouts, in the straights, and Speed UP in the curves.

We're outside the park now...

...but the views are just as spectacular!

Winding alongside the river and mountains...

...on a great road, with very little traffic...

...taking in all the sights and enjoying the relaxed "flight" thru the curves...

...made this a perfect way to end up as close to a perfect day of making memories as it gets!

As we neared Cody, there was a lake (not pictured) surrounded by mountains...I kept looking for a break, some way to get between or over the mountains, not seeing any. Then when we got close to this tunnel, I realized why I had not seen a way out.


There are actually 3 tunnels, but the big one is 3200 feet long!

We're in Cody. What a day!

Tomorrow is on to Loveland, CO.


Kevin

 

[ol' school]

ThumbUp More amazingly beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[Ed Hobgood]

Looks like another great day of ridingepper:

 

[DK Custom Products]

ThumbUp More amazingly beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing your trip!

Thanks man! Good to know you're enjoying.

Looks like another great day of ridingepper:

Yes, it was an amazing day, full of memory making moments!

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 27-


This morning, as we were packing up, there was a 20-something on a BMW ADV bike packing up next to us.


He was headed toward Yellowstone, and then after that he was going to ride Beartooth Pass into Red Lodge. Basically the opposite of what we did yesterday.


He's from Florida and this is his first road trip....he's already addicted! Been on the road less than 2 weeks, and needs to be back at work in about a week. He's already trying to work out in his mind how to do another trip as soon as he can.


We shared our Yellowstone map with him, and he's contemplating taking a couple of days in Yellowstone now...no way to really see all of it in one day...before doing Beartooth.


It was good to see him enjoying his ride so much!




As we were warming up Mary took a pic. The TG is running great! I'm also getting used to the quieter exhaust. 45 mpg over the last 80 or so miles. Can't complain about that. About half at 45 mph, and half at 65 mph, pretty much the same amount of uphill as downhill.

This was the motel we stayed in (The Super 8 was sold out).

Today was very different than our ride yesterday...

...not much in the way of varying views. We see mountains, but they are a long way off...

...a look behind us. Speed most of the day was at 80 mph, and relatively straight.

But it was a relaxing day, giving us a chance to digest all we saw yesterday, anticipate what we're going to be seeing in Colorado, and just cruise, enjoying the open road and the exhaust note.

We did have this one section of road...

...Wind River Indian Reservation...

...winding thru the canyon, alongside the river...

More in next post.

 

[DblTrbl]

Kevin, do you book your hotel in advance or just stop and get what's available?

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 27- Continued








...the photo's do not do justice to how inspiring this section of road is...

...besides being a fun road to ride, the views are just phenomenal...

...these few pictures only show a fraction of what we saw...

...while only 15 or so miles, it made a lasting impression!

A look back- Wow!

Soon after a series of tunnels...

...we were back in 80 mph cruising mode, eating up the miles. A look ahead-

A look behind-

A look to the side. We did see a good number of deer today.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 27- Continued




There were a lot of miles of this...

...then the road ended at a T, we made a left turn...

...after the left turn, there were a lot of miles of this...

... with the occasional fellow traveler...

...or need to pass a slow truck or car...

...but mostly just a lot of miles of this.

Then this road ended too. We took a right.

For a good part of the rest of the ride today (480 miles total) we barely missed a bunch of storm cells.

While straight roads, and chewing up miles is not typically our preferred riding, today was stunning, & in its' own way, very relaxing!

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 27- Continued






We pulled off the road here for gas. Ate our sandwiches, called the shop, and by the time we were back on the bike it was just starting to sprinkle from that storm headed our way.

We gassed it out of there and were soon well clear of it.


One finger is all it takes to keep the TG between the lines at 80 mph.

Colorado! We are starting to anticipate the next 4 days of riding the mountains here! Of meeting Scott & Karin who are going to show us around, & of meeting up with Alan in Ouray!

The rain had come & gone before we got here.

Shadow pic-

Getting close to Ft. Collins/Loveland

This reminded me of Banff, Canada!

We are in Loveland now, there are more than a few antique cars rolling down the road. Some sort of get together going on.

We are staying in Loveland tonight. Tomorrow Scott & Karin are riding up from Colorado Springs to meet with us in the morning and takes us on some mountainous roads!


Kevin

 

[Ed Hobgood]

The days you don't get to see much on the road makes the days you do seem even better. You guys do a great job letting us travel with you Thanks!