Day 9 August 10th

Today was my last day on the road.  I started by trying to get my free breakfast at the motel.  They weren't up and the office was still locked, so I just left.  It was 6:10 (for cry'n out loud).  I got onto Hwy 20 and stayed there until I got on the ferry on Whidbey Island.  Here is the stuff I saw between here and there:

                       I ate breakfast in Omak. I checked my phone and this is the first place I got service on it in a week.  I had been "out of area" all week. Apparently Nextel is phasing out.  I retrieved several messages that were days old. Some were time sensetive.  What a pain.

They had a poster on the window.  The Omak Stampede was going on this weekend (today in the 10th).

I went to the fairgrounds to see where they do the Suicide Race.  The race starts at the top of the hill, then the horses swim across the river (can't see the river here) and the first one into the arena is the winner.  They do it after the rodeo each of the 4 nights.  I have heard about this for years.  Never seen it.

This is the arena where they have the rodeos.  It's a crappy angle, but you can see how far the Suicide Hill is from it.  

I got back on the Hwy and stated into the cascades after passing Winthrop.

Here is a shot at Washington Pass. Its the top the N Cascades Hwy.

The road up there is fun with several switchbacks

Here is a shot from the back side of the overlook 

Coming down the back side is pretty scenic also.  It was a fun ride with no rain and few cars 

Ross Lake is always a good sight to see up there.  It makes me want to go fishing.

I made my way to Whidbey Island 

This is Deception Pass from the bridge in the picture above.

Jets at the Navel Air Station.  The sun was at a bad angle for a good picture.  

At the end of the Hwy I came to the Ferry dock.  I took it over to Port Townsend then rode the last little bit home (about 70 miles).  

And now its time for a serious bike wash.  I put  about 3550 miles on "Babe" this last week. Not too serious.

I tucked her into her garage.  You can see my jacket and canteen piled on the boat behind her.  I will wash her and put all my stuff away tomorrow.  

I started with 10 of these.  You can see this was only a "6 pepperoni run."  Most serious runs take about 15. 

One thing I did to improve my bike over last years ride was to put the air ride "police seat" system on it.  That turned out to be well worth the money.  That air bladder makes a world of difference as well the seat being wider.  The extra width helps support the back of the tighs and takes some weight off of the seat (tail bone).  All in all, this was a pretty fun run.  Jerry was an excellent tour giude as he knew several good places to see and stop at along the way.  My return trip was fun for me also as I travelled alone and did not have to coordinate things with anyone.  I could ride or stop as I liked.  I had no rain on this trip.  That is something of a rarity for me.  Usually I get soaked at least one day on these things... sometimes more.

I hope you liked following along with my nonsence. I can now scratch "Sturgis"  off of my bucket list.

Day 8 August 9th

 Today I twisted through the Rockies from Helena to Republic.  About 570  miles.  Lots of scenery with my favorite being in the area of Flathead Lake.  I think I could retire there.




                 This was near Helena.  I am no longer on the flats.

This is a shot along I-90

This is also along I-90, near Missoula 

I am on US 93 here north of Missoula about 50 miles 

This was on the Flathead Reservation.  Its a bridge for animals. 

I have no idea what the top of this sign says.  I assume its "Flathead" 

This is Flathead Lake.  Its huge.

I ate lunch in Kalispel.  Yankee Pot Roast.

Here I am re-entering Idaho. 

And about an hour and a helf later, Washington.  I gassed up before I got here (less taxes).

Of course I had to have my daily dose of road construction.  

Here is a shot near the top of Sherman Pass.  

There were a lot of dead trees mixed in with the live ones.  I have no idea what caused it. There were millions of them.  

I got the last room in this place in Republic, where I will stay the night. 

Tomorrow I will go home over the N Cascades Hwy.  I haven't been there for a while.

Day 7 August 8th

Today was petty much of a stay in the saddle kind of day.  I went from Rapid City to Helena.  About 550 miles.  Easy in a car, more arduous on a bike.... with road construction thrown in here and there.  My GPS took a dump so I had to resort to a map.  Not much harder really, I travelled many years without one anyway.  Its all good.

Mel left on his own for California and I had breakfast with Dennis.  Jerry was still in the rack.  I packed up my bike and hit Interstate 90 for a short ways... to Spearfish where I turned north and took US 212 to the Little Big Horn.  I didn't stop in this time.  Last time I got into an argument with some of the Indians there about getting even.  Anyway, I-90 and US 212 use the same route for a bit and I took it to just short of Billings where I got into HWY 3, which took me to US 12. I stayed on that to Helena (did I make you dizzy there?).

I started in the Great Plains so the scenery was like this for quite a while. I saw bisen, antilope, chipmonks, a dead fox, some sheep, a real stinky deer on the shoulder of the road and lots of horses.  Some of the horses were in a guys front yard eating his lawn.  No fence, no teathers, they were just standing there eating his lawn.  I didn't get a picture of them, but now I wish  had stopped to take it.

After about 250 miles or so I came to about 20 miles of this 

Which maded lots of dust

and more dust

But then I started to get into some hills

and back onto some pavement so I could make some time (and stop eating dust)

I got into Helena right at 6:30 and checked in.

After my shower, I decided it was laundry day. 

Then I got something to eat here.  Don't ever eat here. It's crappy.   

Tomorrow I will be crossing the Rockies again. So I should have more spectacular pictures.

(I didn't see any dinosaurs today)

Day 6 August 7th

Today Mel and I decided to go and see the signts.  We rode the Needle's Highway, saw Mt Rushmore and went to the badlands (Mel skipped that last part).  We saw lots of animals today. Chipmonks, birds, cattle, dinosaurs, goats and long horns.

We started with our free breakfast while we cooked up our plot for the day.  We began at Custer State Park...  and a $10 fee (worth every penny).

Mel decided to fix up his camera.

By sticking it on his windshield.  It worked prety well.

We took the Needles Highway loop

There was plenty to see there and some fun things to ride through.

Of course they felt they needed to remind us about the animals again.

No duh!

This was pretty much our first glimpse of the Needles.

Here it is again on "zoom."  Don't you just love technology?

But wait, there are more!

...and a thing called the Needle's eye.  Even I could thread that one!

The black Hills were actually sewen together with some of those needles (I think).

After the sewing bee, we went to see George and the boys.

Still standing proudly!

You didn't believe I saw a dinosaur, did you?

This guy was along the way to the bad lands.  Maybe he has been bad too?  Not sure.

Initially, we passed by a gas station thinking there would be another further down the road.  We were wrong and my GPS took a dump on me.   I commonly use that thing to find gas, food or lodging when I am in unfaniliar territory (like today).  So we had to backtrack about 15 miles for a fill up.  By this time it was getting hot (about 100 degrees) so Mel threw in the towel and I rode on to the Badlands on my own.  I emptied my canteen and it was about 2 PM so I stopped for lunch and ordeed a Buffalo burger at this place.

They had a long horn there.  I was warned not to get too close (what do they know?)

After lunch I arrived at the Badlands. 

Of course they won't let you in until you give this lady $10.

The Badlands are a little more pink then they appear in these photos.  Up close it just looks like sand and gravel piled up on various shapes.  According to "Google" the Badlands were cut from deep alluvial and volcanic ash deposits that had been sculptured and carved into fantastic forms by the continuous action of wind and water falling in infrequent but torrential downpours (there you have it). I just thought they had been naughty....

It's really something to see. 

There were several goats on either side of the roadway which almost caused a collision when people began slamming on the brakes.  I was further back and just watched the fools.  The goats didn't show me their "good" sides.

I could see this storm coming from a long way off.... 

Here is one last shot of the Badlands before I left the park and headed to.....

Wall Drug and got my free icewater  (I needed it too).

When I got back to the Motel, all the other guys were lying around in their rooms.  I guess it's my turn for that now.  And its dinner time anyway.

Tomorrow I hit the road out of here.  I will head up into Montana to see what I can find up there. Hope you enjoyed my day  today.