May 21 2008

The Lake Yellowstone Lodge is a fantastic place. But old. The lobby areas are terrific. The views of the lake are terrifice. The rooms are very small. Dinner in the dining room was awful and expensive. Breakfast buffet was adequate (certainly better than the dinner). I guess when you're feeding the world and know the tourists won't be coming back soon there is no reason to provide an adequate meal. We found this true at each of the park restaurants visited with the exception of the Snow Lodge dining room. With that out of the way, I can only say the staff was one of the best compared to any hotel or restaurant I've ever visited.

We were booked into the Lodge for two nights, but after the awful dinner and knowing we were headed to Old Faithful in the morning, we found a room at the Snow Lodge. This is a more contemporary hotel and turned out to be a terrific choice.

It started snowing about 9pm at the Lake Lodge and didn't stop until early evening the next day. Parts of the park had over 12". Note the picture at the Continental Divide on the way to Old Faithful. I'm glad we left the bike in Jackson and had all wheel drive to tour.

The entire day was for touring and ogling the park. The Old Faithful side is completely different than the Hayden Valley/Canyon side of the park. There are many books with much better descriptions than we can ever provide about the contrast between classic mountain vistas of pine, aspen and rivers juxtaposed against steam vents, boiling pools of water and multicolored mineral crusts over barren and moonlike landscapes. I'm thinking of the Mountain Men first vistiing the area without the benefit of novels, pictures and Disney movies of Old Faithful and geyser areas. I'm probably the classic tourist. I've seen hundreds of pictures of Old Faithful and thought "that's cool. I want to see that". But, in fact, Old Faithful is a letdown. Been there, done that. Then you start walking around the geyser basin and you can't believe how big an area and how many steam vents/geysers are around. Then you drive north towards Madison and you pass miles and miles and miles of steam vents. And you keep thinking about the mud pots and vents you saw yesterday on the Hayden Valley side of the park. You realize you're on top of a rocket ready to take off.

Again, the Xanterra folks ran a great operation at the Old Faithful Lodge for dinner. But the food is below mediocre. A big disappointment. The historic lodge is an architectural wonder and a must see. Overall, this was a terrific day.

Disappointment

Weather Channel, May 19 evening: The weather report for NW Wyoming is bad. Very cold temps and rain. In Yellowstone, highs in the mid 30's with snow and rain and slush and sleet. Not good motorcycling weather. I'm worrying about this report all night and finally fall asleep thinking we need to head home on the last good day of weather and stay ahead of this crummy front.
We're not real scared riding in the rain and cold. We have all the right gear for this. But now we're talking snow and high winds. I have a fully loaded bike with a high profile t-bag. And Terri is with me. My decision is not to chance riding with Terri in this weather. But instead of heading home, we decide to rent a car and go spend our 3 days in Yellowstone anyway. Our innkeeper, Sherrie Jern, of the Wildflower Inn says we can keep the bike parked at her house We can also use their Hertz discount to rent a car. So that's what we do. Heck, it's only taken us 50 years to get out here so lets stay and see what happens.
So it's off to Yellowstone on May 20 in a car. You can say I wimped out. I feel like I wimped out. But when you read my next post and see the weather pictures from the park on Wednesday I think you'll agree it was a good decision.
So Tuesday, May 20 was another beautiful day for vacationing. Yellowstone is everything it's cracked up to be. With snow moving in that nightwe decide to head for the mud pots along Lake Yellowstone, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, upper and lower falls and Hayden Valley. Then off to check in at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge for, we hope, a nice relaxing eveing watching the snow roll in over the lake.

Grand Teton National Park

May 19, 2008:
Here we are standing in front of the Wildflower Inn. Its a couple miles south of Teton Village. This picture was taken about 3 minutes after I finished taking 20 moose pictures from the front yard (see previous blog). It turned out to be another fine day in Jackson Hole.
The frozen, but thawing, lake pictures are from Jenny Lake. There's so much snow that we couldn't do the Hidden Falls hike I'd been planning all winter. But we did have a great couple of hours walking in the sun and hanging around the lake and Cottonwood Creek.
Back on the bike and up to Jackson Lake, over the dam and about 1 mile further north. The road runs directdly along the lake with a huge turnout. It's no wonder. This is the place most of the pictures of the Tetons reflecting on Jackson Lake are taken. And I had to get my own pictures. The water was perfectly still, but there is still a lot of ice. So the pictures aren't perfect. But there were no crowds anywhere so I think we won on that.
The Signal Mountain restaurant just south of this turnout and the dam turned out to be our best meal of the trip. We only had lunch but the quality was terrific and the choices were unexpected. We sat by the windows looking over the lake and off to the Tetons. Very pleasant. Then another hour walking along the gravel strewn beach in the shadow of the mountains.
Did I mention the Tetons are completely snow covered? Take a look at the pictures above.

Over the pass to Jackson Hole

Sunday, May 18: We left Dubois to head to Jackson. Up and over Togwotee Pass on HWY 26. This is definitely the payoff. It was 75 degrees in Dubois. 10 miles out of town we stopped to put on our coat liners. There were about 50 cars on top of the pass with snowmobilers having a great time in the meadow. On May 18th!
then 15 miles later we stopped to take the liners off again and take a picture of our first view of the Tetons. Oh my goodness. I've seen the pictures, but having a full horizon to horizon view is breathtaking.
On into Jackson and the obligatory Snake River Pale Ale (I discovered it in Dubois last night) while sitting on a saddle at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. This was Dana's suggestion as a "must do". One drink and we were out of there. But where else can you view a 'Spurs' collection?
Unfortunately, we rode into town too late to eat lunch at the Chili Cookoff Fair. Darn it. Terri had a good time checking out the stores. She especially wanted me to try on the $900 leather windbreaker in one store. I respectfully declined :-)
After lunch and some more walking around we headed for the Wildflower Inn Bed and Breakfast. What a wonderful place. Now I feel like I'm on vacation. Yes, that moose above was 50' from the driveway. I got as close as 20' to take pictures but Sherrie, the innkeeper, yelled that it wasn't a very good idea to get too close. Good idea.

May 17 2008

You'll have to sift thru the pictures. 3 or 4 from Scotts Bluff, one from downtown Casper and then the bear Dubois Bear picture.
Dubois is small western town surrounded by mountains. The Wind River is high and muddy. Must be huge amounts of snowmelt.
Yesterday was a long day of travel, even though it was less miles. We started out at the Scottsbluff National Monument. Another one of those Pioneer things. Great views of the North Platte valley but a long way from Dubois.
The trip to Casper was uneventful. Scenic farm and ranching country. We got to Casper right at lunch time and ate at the Wonder Bar and Brewery. I actually had some of the best fish tacos ever. My only regret was limiting myself to ice tea. This is a place I want to come back to when I can sample a few beers. We walked around a very pleasant downtown in the 80 degree sun. Very nice respite from the trip. But this pleasantness was the prelude to a fall.
Hwy 26 from Casper to Shoshoni has to be the longest 90 miles on earth. Ok, thats an exageration but you get the picture. This stretch is literally the middle of noplace. The promise of mountains are far in the distance (and you can see the snow covered peaks thru the haze). But this is only a temptation. The price to get there is this drive. I could feel Terri's helmet laying on my back as she nodded off. At least she got a chance to snooze. Yes, this country is beautiful. It's hilly and green. But it is Wyoming nothingness.
After a 1/2 hour nap in Shoshoni, gas, a couple cups of coffee and a walk around, we were ready for the final 90 miles of the day. A local on an Ultra pulled up next to me at the pump and confirmed a shortcut around Riverton for me. This was terrific Wind River farm country. After about 45 miles we started seeing new geology. Rock, hills, badlands, curves (only a few at the start), etc. This last few miles into Dubois was terrific and a great end to the day.
JW

1st Day

NOTE: Trip 1st day is May 16. Blog post date is listed above.
This was planned as the longest day. We're fresh, excited and ready to go. See Terri ready to hit the road in the attached photo. Packing was a real fun experience (as always). Plenty of complaints about how little she can take but mostly in good fun. It's a right of passage on these MC trips for her to comment on the lack of stuff she can take. I did a pre-pack the nite before and discovered our lists were pretty darn close to right. I only had to shuffle a few things and pull out 3 shirts and a couple pair of shorts. Now we're both down to our zip off pants if we need shorts :-)
450 miles and 9.5 hours later we landed in Scottsbluff, NE at the Holiday Inn Express. Actually it wasn't too bad. I listened to XM talk radio, the George Strait channel (17), my beloved bluegrass (14) and the first Crosby, Stills and Nash. The new IMC 7mm speakers fit great in the Shoei.It's always fun traveling I-80 on a motorcycle. You get in those 10 truck-15 cars jam-ups with everyone slowing to 70 behind the one slow truck and RV blocking both lanes. There were strong gusts out of the NE at about 35mph combined with the dirty air behind these crowds leading to lots of fun keeping the bike on the road in a straight line. I kept playing tag with 2 or 3 cars between Lincoln and Ogallala. You know this type of driver: it's light traffic, they could easily pass, I'm at 79 on cruise control and they're at 79.25. So they never quite pass and they're always too close at just that time you need to pass that slow moving truck. I speed up, pass the truck, settle back into the right lane, and this other driver just stays right where they are. It would be so easy for these folks to speed up to 81, pass me and stay out front. But NOOOOOO!
US 26 past Lake McConaughy is very nice after the 300+ miles of interstate. After a long hard winter, it's still a few days early to get the beautiful green springtime grasses. A break at the Oregon Trail Trading Post in Lewellen led to a great cheese/braut and lots of coffee for the final push to S-bluff. The trading post was making plans for the Horse-Bike Festival. Now that could be a good time! Chimney Rock looms out of the plain after several miles. I am fascinated with the history of this location. Almost every pioneer diarist mentions this place. This is an icon of the american pioneer migration. Some say the St. Louis arch is the gateway to the west. I say it's Chimney Rock.
After a soak in the whirlpool we went for margarita's at Ole Mexican next door to the hotel. These were some strong drinks and kicked my butt. Terri ordered somethinig with a star. We asked the waitress what the star meant and she said "it's extra popular". Well she didn't tell us it was habanero based. It was fantastic, but Terri just couldn't handle it. The fried ice cream cooled here down.
Today is about 350 miles to Dubois. We'll see our first mountains. And we'll get into town in mid afternoon with plenty of time to explore and rest.

It's almost time to go

A lot has happened since my last post. I've spent more than enough hours preparing the route, reviewing optional routes on google earth, finalizing the route, making hotel reservations, researching gear on the internet, buying gear on the internet, etc. etc. etc.
Here's the route;
1, May 16: Omaha to Scottsbluff
2. May 17th: Dubois, WY
3. May 18th & 19th: Jackson (Wildflower Inn www.jacksonholewildflower.com)
4. May 20, 21 and 22: Lake Yellowstone Lodge
5. May 23: Billings, Mt

6. May 24, 25: Return to Omaha

Beartooth pass is scheduled to open May 23, the same day as Dunraven Pass inside the park. That just happens to be the day we need to go over both passes to get to Red Lodge and on to Billings. I've been following the snow clearing operations on the Montana roads dept video. There is a heck of a lot of snow to clear. When you hear the plow operator say "The snow is 16' deep here" and "We had a 5' storm last night and we have to go over the same area we cleared yesterday" then you know everything is tentative. My hope that Global Warming would continue seems to be misplaced :-) I'm looking at the road options to get to Billings from Lake Yellowtone. Terri will fly home out of Billings and I'll spend a couple days driving back. This will give me a chance to check out the Little Big Horn Memorial, Black Hills, Bad Lands and Hwy 2 in Nebraska.

You'd think that with a new bike you wouldn't need a thing. But you'd be wrong!!! Since the garage door wouldn't open without hitting the Screaming Eagle antennae, I had to get some J&M shorty's. I finally found an IMC helmet speaker system that hooks up to the ultra's 7-pin plug ins and has 7mm thick speakers. This was an experiment that worked. The J&M speakers and microphone system wouldn't let us get our helmets on. I called J&M and they said The Shark and Shoei were the 2 full face helmets that had the most complaints and they no longer wanted to work on them.

The OEM 9" windshield on the new Ultra is too short. The slip stream hit the top of my helmet and knocked me all over. I found lots of good reviews on the CVO Owners Forum for the Clearview. I ordered the 12" clear recurve and it's perfect.

I picked up a Stop & Go Pocket Tire Plugger kit with CO2 (just in case).

I bought the Gerbing/Harley Davidson heated liner when I got the bike. After much research I bought Terri a Warm-N-Safe Gen 2 liner that fits perfect under her riding jacket. They also make heat-trollers's that work darn good. Lot's of adjustment, unlike the Harley/Gerbing On or Off switch. The Warm N Safe is much thinner than my Gerbing and seems to be better made. We'll see which on works better when we're at 8,000 feet!

This isn't our first long-distance, multi day trip. We've got along OK with just the tour-pak before. But I decided to supplement with a T-Bag, Dekker Supreme just to have little more room. This fits on the luggage rack and has 4 tie down straps that hook up to the luggage rack.

Finally, I got my 1,000 mile service today so everything is set to go for Friday.

Our packing lists are made up, the gear is in the extra bedroom near the tour pak liner and t-bag, and it still looks like too much stuff. We'll start packing tomorrow and see what has to be left behind. Anyone who's done this before has to know that in May in the mountains, you don't want to be caught without enough warm weather gear. But I'll make it fit.

Planning and Itinerary

We travel by motorcycle to feel like we're in the picture not looking at a picture. But it's important to stop and explore the beautiful places we finally get to. So it's a conundrum. How much do we ride and how much do we just hang around and enjoy where we are.
I made reservations at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge for 2 nites when I first started thinking about this trip 3 months ago. As I've got to know more about the park I've been toying with the idea of staying an extra nite. Today I sprung for a 3rd nite.

The reasoning: We'll be at 7500 feet or more (altitude issues), we like hiking, there's plenty of riding in the park, we'll be able to get back to our rooms for the vacation nap easily, etc. And who says you have to travel 400 miles a day on a motorcycle tour.

Everything else is still up in the air. Questions like: Jackson, Cody or Red Lodge? How many nights? What about the weather and roads in May? I'm leaning towards a couple nights in Jackson so we can goof around in the city and the Tetons and then going to Yellowstone.

New CVO Ultra Shows Up

2004 Road King Classic
2008 FLHTCUSE3 (CVO Ultra Classic)


Cory from Roosters Harley-Davidson of Sioux City delivered our new 2008 CVO 105th edition Ultra (FLHTCUSE3) last week. What a beautiful bike. I couldn't find this limited edition in Omaha so last October I sent out an email to every dealer within 250 miles. Roosters had one scheduled in and I got my deposit down immediately. Cory knew his business, loved motorcycles and was a pleasure to work with. I read a lot of compaints about Harley service and personnel on various forums. But I've never had a problem with anyone at any dealership.

It was a bittersweet moment when I helped Cory tie down our treasured 2004 Road King Classic in the delivery trailer (traded it in). Terri and I had tons of fun on the RKC, but it's time for a new model. And Terri wants a radio.

Omaha has been snow covered since late November, so very limited riding. We're both suffering cabin fever bigtime. The high mileage motorcyclist will know what I mean. If you don't get at least a hundred miles or so under your belt every week, you get cranky, edgy and generally stressed out. It's tough walking thru my garage every night, ogling the new ride, knowing it's not broken in yet and wondering when we'll have a day without snow, slush or ice!

The CVO was upgraded with some front and rear fender doo-dads, the LCD tail light, V&H megaphone slip-ons, SERT, Screaming Eagle high flow air filter and the new Harley air horn. THIS HORN IS LOUD. It'll be nice to blast it at the next unconcious and uncaring motorist who thinks they own my lane.

It was dynoed stock and with the upgrades: 94.5 HP , +10 over stock;, 116 Torque, +11 over stock. (Does this mean anything on a bike that isn't even broken in? I'd be interested in your opinions.) I rented a 110 CI Ultra before buying this CVO and really liked the extra power. And the 6-speed transmission is terrific compared to my Road King. It'll be interesting to see how this bike rides once the weather breaks.

Neither of us have ever been to Yellowstone, so thats the first overnight trip, and the reason for this blog. The itinerary will include nights in Yellowstone, Jackson, Cody, Dubois and Red Lodge, MT in late May. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Beartooth Pass will be open. But the weather is always iffy at high altitude passes and especially on the highest pass in the lower 48. I've ridden thru 6' deep side road snow drifts in July in Wyoming. So we'll have to be really lucky to catch Beartooth open.

Riding in the mountains in late spring means we'll need to pack most of our cold weather gear. More about trip planning in future blogs.