Home

We are home. We had a really good day. We got a phone call from our vet early in the morning, and she let us know where Jazz, our yellow lab was going to spend the day. That got us going at a faster rate than we were planning. We missed Jazz, and she is a good dog. She wasn't mistreated at all, but she is usually hard to get a hold of when we get home. This time it was going to be easy, so we had incentive to get home. No better feeling than having your vet board your dog.

Part of the incentive meant we rode a little harder, and a little faster than we had been. The 500 does very, very, well on the highway. It also uses more gas than the Nomad when we push the speeds. Between Buffalo and Moorcroft, WY Melanie passed me and led for most of those hundred miles of I-90. She was typically running about 80, where I was going maybe 70, because of the wind. She also had to go to reserve at only 80 miles on the tank of gas. The 500 started bucking a little as we pulled into the gas station. 33 mpg.

Getting home wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Normally when we go on vacation, I hate going home. This time, when we got close to the Black Hills, I could appreciate the beauty of them, and was thankful I lived there. That doesn't help my wanderlust. I want to go again. Melanie has a 650 mile round trip to make this weekend, and she is going to take her bike. I can't go with her, and I am jealous that she can go and I can't.

Today was 301 miles. The trip total was 3,605 according to the gps. I didn't have it on for beer runs, or Sherms supper ride, so it was a little more, but that is the official number I am quoting. Melanie needed to get another break, but with some seat work on her 500, she would be good to go for even longer rides. We will both post another entry, and I will go through and add some pictures and a little more commentary too.

Our last night on the road.

This is our last night on the road. It was a great day all around though. We changed our plans of going to Thermopolis, WY, and went through the Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone National Park instead. We made a brief stop in Cody, Wy, to pick up a few things for future trips, and Melanie did a very brief stint at clothes shopping. If you know Melanie at all, brief stints is all she ever does. At times I will force her to do more, but she didn't look like she was in the mood for more today.

We are in Greybull, WY right now, and will have a short ride home tomorrow. I have always wanted to try long distance touring, and at 3,300 miles so far, I think this qualifies. I didn't know how Melanie would handle it, but she has loved it. Her bike definitely needs seat work, and if she decides to keep it, it will get done. The days we have battled wind has her thinking about a bigger bike. The 500 has been incredible, but actually gets worse mileage than my 'Nad in the wind.

I took pictures today since I have really been bad about that. I apologize for not taking any at the rally, but there were cameras everywhere, so I don't think I would have taken any that someone else didn't. As we crossed the border into Wyoming, Melanie commented that the most beautiful parts of this country are closest to home. That is why we live where we do. Remember, the pictures get bigger if you click on them.

This is the Swan Valley in Idaho, and the Snake river. We are just about to climb into the Tetons from the west here.

I love these kind of pictures. The beginning of the Tetons in front of me, and you can see Melanie and Purple500 in the mirror.

On the way up the Tetons, I wanted to pull over and let traffic pass. Little did I know, it was a weigh station pull off, and the scale was on. This was Purple500 fully loaded for 12 days on the road. The Nomad and I weighed in at an even 1100 pounds. I was shocked it was that high. It gets good mileage, and the power isn't bad for that kind of weight.

Here we are climbing higher into the Tetons. This was over 7600 feet.

At the summit, Melanie wanted a picture of this sign, and yes that is Jackson Hole, and the town of Jackson, WY in the background.


Here the bikes windshields are cleaned, and they are tucked away for the last night. It was sad doing this chore, as we have enjoyed this trip more than we can put in words. We will wash the road grime off them tomorrow afternoon when we get home. They won't need to be covered, and will sleep in the garage.
It has been a great trip, and all the many months of planning has been worth it. The only problem is, we don't have another one to plan for now. It will be back to real life, and reading the blogs of people who can do this as their real life.

Today was 321 miles, the shortest day of the ride home so far. But, we did deal with the parks traffic, and if you have never been to Yellowstone, you don't know how slow traffic can be at times. Tomorrow will be shorter, and we will get home. It will be bittersweet.

Still on the road home.

We stuck to US highway 20 today. We started from Burns, Or. at the Days Inn and would recommend it to anyone. Very friendly folks. We ended up in Idaho Falls, ID. The traveling was good until the last 50 miles, when we got some strong side winds, and took all the fun out of the day. We passed the Craters of the Moon National Monument, and I forgot to take pictures. It is the most unique landscape I have ever seen. It is lava from some volcanic activity about 2000 years ago. There is very little plant life, and the rock is still black, very rough, and sharp. I regretted not getting pictures of this, but they couldn't convey the starkness of this place. We didn't go to the visitors information center, because it was getting very hot, and we wanted the day over, but this is also now on my list of places to go.
Idaho Falls waterfalls were definitely a disappointment from a photography standpoint. I guess that is why there was a post on VROC a while back about another falls that was more impressive, and I meant to look it up on our ride home, but forgot it.

The mesh jackets are worth there weight in gold. Having armoured protection that protects from the sun and breathes actually keeps you cooler than just a t shirt. I am not a hot weather person, and was surprised when we went through a town that showed the temperature. I wouldn't have guessed that it was that hot. Later, when it got even warmer, we would wet down our t shirts under the mesh jackets and the amount of cooling is amazing. I want to look into the cooling vests for future rides.

448 miles today. It was mostly a good day, even with the mid 90 temperatures. The last 50 miles the wind switched and made things miserable, but it was under an hour.

We had to leave sometime.....

but didn't want it to be yet. We had a great time, but work calls. We have a couple spots we wanted to see yet, and they are on the way home. The first, and main reason I took my big camera instead of a small point and shoot was Crater Lake. I have seen this so many times in print that I was almost aching to see it. Well, with all the fires, it was way to hazy to be able to shoot it well. I took an obligatory shot, and left. It is still on my list of places to go. Here is what it looked like. You can see how deep blue the water is. There are also fish in it. They were planted, and I thought there were still no fish in it, so I learned something else about it. It wasn't a wasted trip, it is still awe inspiring, but It is one place I want to photograph, so I'll be back.



We did 433 miles today, and it was a hard day. Next stop is Idaho Falls, for more pictures.

Sherms Ride

We went on Sherms ride yesterday. It was a lot of fun, with a great group. We toured some of the twisty local roads, had a great lunch at a place fit for a king, and stopped at Sherms Cycle in Reedsport, OR. Guy had a couple projects in there, and it looked very interesting. I know I will be calling them for some things on the Nomad. Here are a couple of pictures from the ride. Remember, you can click the pictures to see the larger version.

Here was our lunch stop.

Here are the bikes lined up at a lighthouse stop we made. Sherm took some pictures of the whole group. I will link to his blog when I am done with this blog.

Here is a picture of Sherm getting ready to take the group picture at the lighthouse.

COOS BAY!!!! We are finally here!

We made it! It was a good day today. Great scenery always helps. The riding was good, we did a lighthouse tour, and stopped at the Oregon Aquarium, which shouldn't be missed for any reason. It is good to be here with the people we traveled so far to see. Once the bikes were unpacked, we proceeded to get some "provisions" which mainly meant some of Colorados most advertised adult light beverage.

This is the Yaquina Head lighthouse. You can actually tour the inside of this one, and see the lense and light. Glad we waited in line to see it.

Here Melanie is checking out some fish from the inside of an aquarium.

This is the Heceta Head lighthouse, in the Newport area. We have a thing for lighthouses!
Here are some of the locals sunning themselves. Notice the wave on the lower left sneeking up on these guys.

Here they are after the quick shower. A couple of them look as surprised as we would be!


Today was the final leg getting to the 2008 Oregon Trail International - Vulcan Riders and Owners Club - Wolfmans Wandering Rally. Long name for lots of folks getting together to have a great time with great people. Today was 222 miles, bringing our total up to 1963 miles so far.

Day 5, not a good day.

We were getting a late start, and went out to get the bikes ready for the day, and the Nomad wouldn't start. Dead battery. The previous owner had enough LEDs on the bike to make a "light happy" Goldwinger jealous. I took 5 50 LED strips off the bike before we left. That left only 7 50 LED strips. Yep, I bumped the switch putting the cover on the night before. We borrowed a set of jumper cables, and had to use Purple500 to provide the power. It took about a half an hour to get enough juice into the battery to start the Nomad. As a side note, the 500 was putting out about 12.6 volts at idle, the Nomad put out over 14.2 into the dead battery at idle once it started.

Once we got under way, the ride was nice along US 101 westbound in Washington. The ride along Crescent Lake on 101 was beautiful. We were trying to make up time, so we didn't stop for pictures. Then we left that area, and 101 through the rest of Washington is definitely a road to be avoided. It gets close to the shoreline a couple of times, but you can't see it because it is very overgrown. Yes, we are spoiled living in the Black Hills in South Dakota, which has some of the best and most scenic roads in the country. But still, 101 stinks. I would choose the Columbia River over Washington 101 if you have a choice. You won't miss anything.

That out of the way, we got into Oregon, and 101 is a fantastic road. scenery is great, many stops, but we were tired, and got a motel room 12 miles short of our destination, in the town shown on the beach in this picture. Only downside was, we didn't ask about wireless, and they didn't have it.

Today was only 294 miles, but seemed like a lot more than that. It was a combination of traffic, lack of scenery, and not making water stops along with our gas stops.

North Cascades Highway, and a ferry ride

Today started slower than what we have been doing. It was a nice relaxing, very scenic ride.
This was a stop at Ross Lake, along Washington highway 20, the north Cascades highway. We started the day a little late for any really good photo ops, but I would recommend this highway to anyone who is going to be in the area. The start from Omak was a little slow, with scenery similar to the Black Hills area we live in, but soon changed dramatically. There isn't any one road in the Black Hills that is as varied and scenic as this one is.

After the ride on highway 20 we decided to take a ferry across from Whidby Island to get on Highway 101. This was in the waiting line for the ferry. We had reservations for the 4:30 crossing, but were able to go on the 3:00 crossing. The time saved was a bonus for us, and we used it to enjoy the area.

Here the ferry was coming in so we could load. It was a fun ride.

Here were the bikes in the ferry crossing.

We decided to splurge on a motel room, and got one on the water so we could watch the boats go by. This is the view, and a small boat with a bigger one in the background. We had another day of good weather, cooler than previous days, but part of that was the area we were riding through. It was another memorable day for sure. 284 very enjoyable miles.

EDIT: forgot to add, as we were climbing into the Cascades, a bird flew up and hit my handlebar, exploding all over me. I started laughing and had to stop. When Melanie got to me, she was laughing also. She said all she could think of was the scene from Wild Hogs. If you have seen it, you know. She asked me what it was, and I told her I was pretty sure it was a Spotted Owl!

From Montana to Washington

Today was an awesome day of riding. We had fun, stunning scenery, and made good time. Leaving Kalispell was bittersweet. We were getting onto roads we have never been on before. That was the good part. This was the first time we have been in Kalispell and didn't go into Glacier Nat. Park. It is always sad leaving there, as the company is even better than the spectacular scenery in that area. That is the sad part. We traveled along the Clarks Fork river, and I highly recommend it. From there we traveled on I-90 to Spokane, with a stop at Cruisers bar. It was a neat spot with good food, but not a place I would hang out regularly.

We signed the VROC fence, and took a picture for posterity, and those who won't be able to make it.

Here Melanie and Purple500 are getting ready to go through Spokane, and then into better scenery. Idaho was very pretty, but it was on interstate, so it wasn't alot of fun.

This is the top of the Grand Coulee dam. We had never been there, and it was hot, mid 90 F temperatures. We needed a break, and the visitor center was air conditioned, so it provided a nice break.

This is the bottom of the dam. Again, pictures don't do the size justice, but it is big.

Here the bikes are put away for the night in Omak Washington. It was a nice 387 mile day, it was hot, on the windy side, but it was a beautiful days ride.

Day two, no problems, and no wind.

We stopped at this overlook just west of Helena Montana this morning. It was a very good view, one of those that the pictures never do justice to.

Here were the bikes at the overlook. It was over 6000 feet in elevation, and was well worth the stop. The morning was a little cool, and there was no wind today. It was a very welcome change from yesterday!

Also not wanting to have a repeat of yesterdays gas crisis, we stopped early for gas. What we found was a quaint little town named Ovando, Montana. We have passed by this town several times and didn't know what was here. I told Melanie I would love to eat at the little cafe, but we had just eaten a while ago.

This was the gas stop that we made, 15 miles before our planned gas stop. It was worth it not to have one of us not check her gas gauge often enough! In the spirit of full disclosure, the 500 Vulcans don't have gas gauges, but it is sure fun giving her a bad time for running out. The gas was only $4.75 a gallon, so we put in enough to know we could get up the road farther than we needed to.

We ended up in Kalispell Montana, and stayed with Melanies sisters family, and we always have a good time with them. Today was a very easy day, 230 miles, and some of the most spectacular scenery the United States has to offer.

The first day, and what a day.

The sun hasn't hit the bikes yet, but the bikes are ready to hit the road.

This was at a rest stop on I90 in Montana east of Billing. It was also taken shortly before Purple500 ran out of gas. Melanie made it to less than 5 miles from Billings and the bike quit. Normally she would have noticed when she hit reserve, but the wind was so bad that her bike wouldn't run without being on the "prime" position, and with that, ya use up your reserve as we found out. I told her later I wish I had gotten the camera out when I returned, but didn't know how her mood would have been. She took it in stride though, because we don't have a schedule, and don't have to be anywhere the first day.

The busy motel in Townsend Montana. Found a place with good food a block away, but walked there and didn't carry the camera. First day, 546 miles. Not bad considering the gas delays, fighting extremely strong head and side winds, and it is Melanies new longest day. This town has a great bakery that we are going to get a bite, and then head to Kalispell, MT.

The bikes are packed, we are excited to get going. This is going to be a great adventure, and I don't know how well we will sleep tonight. The wind is going to be stronger than Melanie wanted tomorrow, so we are taking our "southern route" to get started. This means I-90 to Billings, then north to Glacier. We are pushing hard to get there, then we will take it easy to the Pacific Northwest. When we wake up in the morning, we are leaving. Next post will be from somewhere in the middle of Montana.

Final stages of planning and packing

It's getting close. All these many months of planning, looking at routes, planning some more, looking at different routes...... you get the picture. Thursday will be the day to make it all final, we are leaving on Friday morning. We have been planning so long, I will hate when it is over. I have loved the anticipation of planning this, but I won't let Melanie make any reservations, except when we are at the rally. She is a planner, and I like to keep my options open. This is making it even more of an adventure for her, not knowing where we will sleep, but I have done this for many years, and enjoy it. Keep watching, I will update this as often as possible on the way to Coos Bay, while we are there, and on the trip home. We are treating this as the trip of a lifetime, but hope it isn't. There are many places we want to see, but there are many we have been to and want to see again. It's getting close.......