Author Topic: June Trip  (Read 9535 times)

Offline ShadowJack

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Re: June Trip
« Reply #20 on: July 19, 2016, 08:52:16 PM »
Today was a long long loooonnnng boring ride on 90. From Polson to Missoula on 93, then 5 hours on 90 to Billings.

Just riding.

On the slab.

Squaring off the tire.

80 mph though.

Still

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

On the plus side, until Big Timber, the temps were mid 70's then the last hour or so temps increased to 84 before we stopped in Billings.

We did make a stop about 2:30 to take a break. One of a few actually.



In Billings it again took a bit of wandering until we found the hotel. Once unpacked, we wandered and headed over to the first fast food place on the trip.



We checked out the new and used cars in the lot next door, mainly looking at convertibles. We'd been talking about renting a car in Florida for our trip next year and I was thinking about the 300Z I had years back and that I did like the 300Z Convertible. So maybe a 370Z Convertible for Florida next year. :)

Offline ShadowJack

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Re: June Trip
« Reply #21 on: July 19, 2016, 08:54:04 PM »
Bailed Billings at 7:15 as a roughly long day was expected. We are headed for Bear Tooth Pass and The Medicine Wheel.

General riding is good. Comfortable temps and light traffic. At one point a guy on a Harley came up behind me. I gestured to him to pass and he moved up a little then kept at the same pace I was going. Eventually we got behind a long run of cars and an RV. He passed when he could but he didn't have the speed in a couple of places. Eventually at a long straight where he'd hung back, I pulled out to pass, passing him and two cars, an RV, a guy pulling a boat, and three more cars. :) We stopped in Red Lodge for gas before heading up and he waved as he went by :)

The ride up Bear Tooth was cool, down to 48, with construction in places. I almost undercut a curve and forced the bike into the right direction. The bike just doesn't quite handle like the busa. It's a bit tall and the front seems to be a little unstable at times. Probably partly due to the amount of stuff we have loaded as well. I need to take the bike up into the hills without much of a load.

Anyway, got to the top and wandered around for pictures of the scenery and of course, the local fauna (chipmunks :) ). We chatted with a few riders about distance and direction.



Nice panoramic shot with Jeanne



"Got any nuts?"



On the way again and we were behind an RV but they pulled over at the first curve.

Up and over the top. Snow in many places. We saw mountain goats. Really nice scenery. At one point I saw a nice lake and stopped the bike for a look.



Sure enough, nice view and a guy was out there fishing.



Down the other side and to the bridge over the gorge. Chatted with another group of riders before heading off again.

Bird in a tree.



This was the ride up before heading down into Cody, and could have been a bit more fun. Got behind a couple of Harleys, woman on the back bike. She seemed a bit tentative in the corners and barely, from my vantage point, kept from dragging her floorboards. They pulled off at the pass for a few pics as we did.



The ride down to the intersection to Cody was less fun. Lots of tar snakes. One of the first curves and the bike danced all around. So I kept it slow until the end. Just before Cody, we stopped for gas and the same group we met at the bridge pulled in as we were resting and we chatted a bit more. One of the guys pulled up on a Goldwing so there was a mixture of bikes.

After, we headed east on Alternative 14 for Medicine Wheel. On the way I spotted a dead deer. There have been a lot over the trip but this was followed up about 20' later by a white minivan on the side of the road with the front caved in! Need to watch out for the wildlife.

At the top of the Big Horns, we pulled in to the Medicine Wheel park, locked up the gear, and started walking. This is a 3 mile round trip to the wheel. It's uphill, downhill, and uphill again to the Medicine Wheel.



I've been here several times to visit. It's been here for an estimated 10,000 years and is a sacred site. I've seen vehicles from Florida.

"Are we done here?" Jeanne is a bit tired of riding I think. It's been a long trip so far and she's dealing with it pretty well but occasionally I can see she's tired :)



The Medicine Wheel.





Still pretty cool. As we started back, it started raining a little, then hail!



We just walked back to the bike but gear was wet so it was a cold ride. We made it to the lodge, signed in, got our room.



Lunch snack and dinner (dinner's not until 5). I must say the food was very lightly seasoned.

Humorously, the place is for sale, $700,000. Jeanne and I discussed selling our houses, unnecessary gear, and buying this place. :) It would satisfy my need for a mountain place and Jeanne's need for water as there's a small lake next to the place.

Hmmmmm

Tomorrow, home.

Offline ShadowJack

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Re: June Trip
« Reply #22 on: July 19, 2016, 08:55:29 PM »
I must say, the bed at the hotel was probably the worst night's sleep I've had in some years. I was tossing and turning and getting up and laying down. I was tempted to grab the top cover and wrap up in the chair or on the floor.

Okay, food at this place is pretty mild in general. We had the breakfast buffet. They supply some condiments so you can add spices but marinating the steak last night might have been good. It was like they simply cut a slab off the cow and cooked it. The chef was nice enough though.

We had a discussion this morning over breakfast about the Resort as well. $700k would be about double our current house payment (either of us; although we don't know how such business type loans would go of course). We estimated about 10 folks working there, a 100 room motel, several cabins, four wheelers, paddle boats, BBQs, and even dual gas pumps.

We'd be curious as to what the expenses vs income plus clientele, how many per month, how's it work in the winter months, what assets and debts come with the purchase, what maintenance needs to be done, and the big question;

Why are you selling?

I did want to bail and be home before it was too late. It's a straight run down the mountain to 90 and then south on 25 home but it's a fairly long and uninteresting ride through Wyoming.

As we checked out, I commented that it looked as if no one has cleaned under the front of the toilet seats. It was a quarter inch wide layer of dark yellow grime. I was trying to describe it and Jeanne told me to stop as the woman hadn't had breakfast yet :)

Heading down the mountain was interesting. Nice and fast in general however there were fallen rocks and gravel in several turns keeping me on my toes again.

Coming out on the straight, we headed on to Dayton, then out to 90 and headed south.

Generally a basic freeway ride. I did miss the cutoff for 25 so had to loop around at the next exit. Then we basically rode for 2 hours to Casper before filling up.

Casper to Wheatland for gas. Then Cheyenne again for gas. As we got to Colorado, we stopped for a photo shot at the sign then continued on.



Somewhere near Ft Collins, it started sprinkling and then raining. I raised the windshield and tucked my knees in and basically kept dry. Jeanne tucked in behind me. Since it was only a few miles of rain (including some pretty heavy bits), we simply pushed on through to the other side. The bike does pretty well in keeping most of the rain off.

We were watching the gigantic rainstorm that seemed centered over Longmont. At the turnoff for Longmont (66), I could see it was just a touch south and that we might get the tail end of it. We did get a few drops but generally missed the bulk of the rain.



Pulled into the driveway, got a couple of final shots of the bike, pulled in, unpacked, started the laundry, took a shower, and grabbed dinner.





I'm importing the pics from my iPhone and have 90 gigs of Video (103 files) from the GoPro. I'm trying to get Jeanne's pics as well but the Android doesn't appear to work well with Windows 10. I had to run the troubleshooter in order to recognize the GoPro and I've run it again for Jeanne's Android. I'll be rebooting here in a sec to try and get her pics.

Later!

Offline ShadowJack

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Re: June Trip
« Reply #23 on: July 19, 2016, 08:57:58 PM »
Here are the final details of the trip with the map plus the actual costs and such.



Miles: 5,022. Remember we bailed on Canada due to rain expectations.

Rooms: $1,140.96

Gas: $375.06

Food (meals): $768.52

This didn't include snacks when we stopped for gas including water and sodas. ($316.06)

Total: $2,600.82

Misc stuff. Jeanne spent $184.87. I spent $344.75. This would be wine, park passes, aquarium fee, parking fees, etc.

Jeanne paid all room fees as she had a hotels.com deal, 9 stays and the 10th is free. She also snagged a few others (like gas and snacks) before I realized how much she would be paying for rooms so I'll be giving her $287.70 to cover that.

I think the costs would be just a little higher, mainly gas and snacks, had we headed to Canada but it wouldn't have changed it a great deal.

Offline Rhino

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Re: June Trip
« Reply #24 on: July 20, 2016, 07:41:25 AM »
Looked like a truly epic ride! Thanks for sharing!

Offline kwakrider

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Re: June Trip
« Reply #25 on: July 21, 2016, 01:19:36 AM »
Absolutely awesome pics and ride discription! Very well done, and thanks for sharing mate!!