Making the Run From Almo, Idaho to the Canyon Rim at Flaming Gorge

I wasn't looking forward to the ride out of City of Rocks that next morning. After that washboardy hammering of the earlier afternoon, it wasn't what I figured to be a good start to a day of Highballin'!

But, I fretted on that road out the east side all for nuthin'...

*Elephant Rock, City of Rocks, Idaho*

*The Road out the East side of City of Rocks*

While the west side coming in from Oakley is a 1st gear washboardy ride, rough as most would want to roll a road bike over, the east side going back out to Almo is a nice, smooth rollin' hardpacked  trip. No Worries!

I soon caught Hwy 30 running east and linked up with I-84 near Snowville, Utah.

The plan was to race down that chunk of slab about as quick as I could. I really have little use for 'em and avoid interstates as much as possible. I'd catch I-80 east at Echo and jump the hell off that boring slab of asphalt as soon as possible at Fort Bridger to take Hwy 414 down through Manila and then take Hwy 44 to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

Along the way, I got to feeling a lil' sorry for myself 'cause I'd felt the need to cut my trip a few days shorter than I'd hoped. I was standing in a mens room at a fuel stop and I came across this lil' picture...

Kinda refreshed the knowledge that a lot has to do with perspective! ;) I expect there's quite a few folks toilin' away in their cubicles that'd give most of their right leg to enjoy the Freedoms I do have! So quit my whinin' right? :)

I'd fiddled around enjoying the morning back in Idaho so I wasn't riding into the Flaming Gorge area until nigh on to suppertime.

*First Color near Flaming Gorge*

 ... only to discover... all the campgrounds were already closed and locked up! Geeze... I'm so weary of this crap. The forest service has handed over most of the country's campgrounds to be run by private corporations.

If they can't turn a profit they lock 'em up as if they own 'em!

When the traffic falls off in the fall, so that they can't turn a profit, they leave and go home... locking gates that never used to exist when I was a kid. The Forest Service didn't seem to have a problem running the camps then... arrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh

When you take into consideration that all those mgmt. corps pay is something around 4% of the take in "Rent" on their contracts... My wife and I still own a small store in Fort Collins. I wish to hell we could have rent of only 4%!!!

...and a company can run those camps at a profit... while only paying that 4% or so... Why can't the Forest Service run the places themselves, since it is their chartered job... considering they don't have to turn a "Profit"... and the fact... that they'd be getting 100% of the take... not 4% or so? Just Sayin'.

Here it was gorgeous September weather and the camps were all locked up! Why'n hell do you need a padlock on an outhouse?

Last I heard the responsibility of the Forest Service was to manage the Nations Forests for the benefit of the people... NOT ... the profit of a corporation... ok... end of rant...

Well... at the Canyon Rim campground, the bozo's hung the gate in past several tent campsites... So closed or not... I set up my tent and enjoyed myself. Since they failed to leave any way to pay for the night, and didn't come around to collect the rent... they didn't get it... or that from the several other folks who camped on OUR land anyway. ;)

I know a "few" fellas that just roll their scooters around the gates and pitch their tents... Kind of a Thoreauean exercise in civil disobedience! ;)

That was another dark, beautiful night...

*Moonrise over Flaming Gorge*

Layin' there in my bag with the ends of the tent fly rolled up I watched the stars and the moonrise... as the coyotes howled... and then long after sunset the Bull Elk started bugling. Awesome!

Got up the next morning early, and enjoyed another sunrise over some of the prettiest country we have to live in. Was a little melancholy though... It'd be the day I had to ride on back home...

"Going Home" and Splitting the Wind on the Road... It makes me mindful of the line in that song; "Torn Beween Two Lovers..."

But the end of the ride will have to wait for tomorrow!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

Making Adjustments in Cody Wyoming

So... first things first... I fought with that lil' whisperlite stove for another few minutes and nearly started another local fire! The thing was either an out of control inferno or dead...

*deceased 20 year old whisperlite backpacking stove*

After chucking it in the dumpster I climbed on the packed up bike and headed for Mickey D's. Figured I could have an egg McMuffin' while I used their WiFi... except... took me twenty minutes to even get their WiFi to let me on... and when it did Blogger wouldn't let me log in to build the post!

Things are By God Lookin' Up! :)

So, all I could do was choke down that McDonalds Breakfast and roll by Walmart to see if they'd have some sort of an acceptable, if temporary alternative to my broken stove. Got one... Named Sterno... but that's sort of a story for a lil' later. ;)

Word was that there were Health Warnings out in Missoula and the area for all the smoke up that way. I finally found a map on my phone that showed locations of active fires...

... and yup... right through where all those dots look like a pin cushion is where I'd wanted to roll... So... I opted to change course and cut straight west across Yellowstone National Park. My hope was to slip 'tween number eleven and twelve... as that was the only remaining good road without having to detour too far south going west...

It was cool early but with light traffic making only one Buffalo Jam it made for a pretty easy transit of the park. Only saw that one buffalo who was takin' a stroll down the middle of the lane with twenty pilgrims dutifully followin' along behind...

... until some GUY :) on a Red Yamaha leaned over onto the center stripe and passed up the whole mess.

I guess that remembered some folks what that round thing in front of the driver is for... when I looked back in my mirror they'd all started passing the Buffalo Stroller. 

The haze from all the fires was pretty heavy which kinda got in the way of photography... but it was still, as always an awful pretty place to roll through.

Stopped in West Yellowstone for gas, coffee and chocolate to fuel another hundred miles or so. By then it was into the afternoon and I was dodgin' not only fires but now storms as well...

*Storm chasing me west of West Yellowstone*

This one chased me for half a tank. :) A couple of times the road would turn and I'd think of stopping to climb into rain gear... and then the road would turn again so I'd just keep rollin'.

*A Good Omen or a Warning? West of Yellowstone"

The last time I thought it had me... the sun finally broke out just as I thought I was gonna get wet... Nice.

Well, I thought I had another fifty miles or so to get to a camp when up came a county park in Madison county Idaho. Didn't get the scoop on it but with the name of Beaver Dick... I'm guessing it was named for some old mountain man.

It sits on highway 33 just west a ways from Rexburg, Idaho.

*Beaver Dick County park in Madison County Idaho*

Now... with another storm brewin'... I started my supper on the table there...

*Sterno Stove*

 Looks like a likely setup don't it? A fold up stove box with a can of sterno and some fine vittles for a Not-so-picky hungry Biker Cowboy...

... and discovered some of the short comings of tryin' to Cook... with sterno. It just ain't got enough btu's in it I'm guessin' to overcome the design flaws of the system... AND... the wind. more on that in a later post. ;)

So, though I started the cookin' on the table...

T'was dead calm right until I lit the fire, and then up came the wind. Whipping mu supper the whole time it was heating.

*trying to beat the wind with a sterno stove*

 I ended up... Sittin' on a big rock with that sterno stove cradled 'twixt my feet... with me huddled over it with my fleece spread like a 160 lb. bat trying to ward off the wind so I could have a hot supper!

I really ended up... squatting behind that big rock... eating forkfull by forkfull out of the can as it heated. Ah sweet adventure, eh? :)

Guess what happened as I shoveled the last forkful of stew 'tween my teeth? ... uh huh... dead calm!!!

Now Ara the Beemer Chef might can make you some Five Star camp cuisine... but it takes a cowboy biker to eat this fine! :)

... and I'm sorta awesome at doin' the dishes after supper as well!

*Slurp Slurp! Ah... Dishes all done! :) *

Had a good conversation with a Motorhome traveler out of Las Vegas that night and the next morning. That's one of the best parts of wandering and this trip... visiting with folks along the way from other places and ways... and gaining a lil' different perspective of the world about.

I've had more visiting on this trip than is normal for me. hmmm... maybe I'm finally growin' up! ... Say it ain't so!

The only difficulty I had all day was... um... other people "On the road"... I sure wish "Folks" would pay attention to what they're doin' and its affect on the other people they share the roads with... and it AIN'T just cagers!

They run along, in a long string... fluctuating their speed 10-15 miles an hour, and tailgating so close it's a misery to get past their rolling road block safely. It's just plain rude... and that includes that string of 8 ... um... bikes that shall remain nameless...that were spaced so close you couldn't pass one at a time in the short passing zones... and them goin' waaaay under the limit... and not being able to even hold that speed consistent... arrrrrrggggghhhhhh.... there's still a part of me that can get grumpy! ;)

They tailgate along so close you just can't pass one at a time... and the road is generally such that you seldom have space to take the whole bunch in a Gang Pass, so you waddle along waiting patiently for a safe place...

That's one nice thing about this Yamaha Raider... when confronted by rude "drivers" who disregard ever'body else on the road... it don't take nearly as much passing zone to get clear. :)

Just twist the throttle on Red Sonja and let 'er flap in the breeze. HooYa!

There's a few more days of updates comin' along... but windy as I am I'll put 'em up one day at a time!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Getting the Rust Knocked off by a Ural Hack

A bit over a week ago we were camped in the Utah, Goosenecks State Park...

*RV's Top Right... Boats on the San Juan River... Bottom left*

It was hot, pushing 90 and we were getting ready to move to higher ground.

A couple rolled in riding a Ural Hack. The he side of the pair has kept a pretty detailed Ride report of their comings and goings on the ADV ride forum... that lil' link above...

They'd flown out of Upstate New York to land in Seattle to pick up their new Ride. They already had 3,000 miles on the odometer of their new sidecar rig on the ride home.

They rode out the next morning bound for new roads and the sweet wind of Freedom on a Ribbon of Asphalt.

Made me stop and look at what I've been doing for two years now... and I came to the conclusion that I've been slipping. I got careful... and I got lazy.

You know what careful breeds? ... Complacency... and a whole hell of a lot fewer stories to tell when old age conquers your kiester and you're relegated to sitting on the porch zingin' the neighborhood kids with your wrist rocket as they ride their damned bicycles across your front grass!

So... the upstart is...that though I've ridden my Raider all over the west in the past two years... I've been doing that riding too... careful... too... comfortable... and too... Little.

Watching those folks ride off... with nothing but their bike, their camp gear and the Open Road in front of them made me stop and think... 

It's time to shake things up a lil' bit... this summer... though I might get a slow start at it... I'm working to do just that... Get back to pushing the envelope a bit.. and splitting the wind a lot!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

P.S. I checked last night and the mileage he's wracked up since I saw him ten days or so ago in Utah had climbed up well over 6,000... and included trips over the Moki Dugway... and down The Tail of the Dragon a couple of thousand miles east! just stirs something in a Biker... Don't it?

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Visit our sister site goin' RV Boondocking

Share your stories and opinions;
*Tell us Which you think is the... The Best Touring Motorcycle
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Gonna be Making a Motorcycle Touring Ride Through the Black Hills in a Couple Days... What Have You Been Up To?

We've been occupying the camp we're in, for two weeks and more... so today, the 4th of July we're gonna break camp and move up to somewhere NE of Missoula, likely around Seeley Lake.

My thinkin' is... all the long weekend folks will be packin' up and goin' home today... so... the camp we're intending to use... should be emptyin' out... Let's hope my calculatin' ain't faulty! :)

There's a lil' pressure on 'cause I'll be takin' off for an Old Guys Ride to the Black Hills... Wednesday or Thursday... as soon as I get word from the guys I'm meeting... when and where I'll be linkin' up with 'em! :)

... and since we've been in this Boondocking camp a touch over the maximum allowed :) we can't just stay here... Have to move!

... and, since I'll be gone for a week or so... I gotta set the rig for herself and the dogs to hang with some convenience... for the time I'll be in the wind...

In the mean time, while I'm off wandering around on my Raider... and hopefully finding a fine new Motorcycle road or two... have you got any of your own? or maybe a story about your favorite bike?... Maybe you'd like to share your own motorcycle philosophy?

For sure and for certain, there's other riders who want to hear your opinion, be it Bikes, Roads or the "Way" you live. You can share a picture and a story of that with other readers here...

But, for now... I've got to get back to work, gettin' ready to move this camp... and get my gear together for this coming ride...

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

Return to the Home page of Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road
Visit our sister site goin' RV Boondocking

Share your stories and opinions;
*Tell us Which you think is the... The Best Touring Motorcycle
*Share...  Your Personal Motorcycle Philosophy with us!
*Tell us about your...  Great Motorcycle Roads