So on to the final leg of the trek. My primary route of travel, a total of 2159 miles, is shown in the following Google Map. Not all of my travels are indicated in the route. There seems to be a limitation on the number of waypoints that will display in a Google embedded map and I didn’t feel like making this a five part diatribe.
Part 4 Route: La Junta, CO to Renton, WA
So it’s Monday morning, Labor Day, and I am back on US-50 heading towards Pueblo, CO. It looks to be a beautiful day and I can see the Rocky Mountains jutting up from the horizon. My route for today, approximately 244 miles, should get me into some scenic splendor and some spirited riding. At Pueblo I turned South for a brief stint on I-25 then I turned East on CO-165 at Colorado City, CO.
CO-165 goes right through Colorado City and right past the Hollydot Golf Course. I think there were more four legged course hazards on the course than two legged golfers. The elk were all over the place. The traffic was moving pretty slow because there were elk along and in the street. I was tempted to stop and take pictures but opted to keep moving. CO-165 is one leg of the Frontier Pathways Scenic Byway.
CO-165 starts climbing right out of Colorado City. I was thoroughly enjoying the scenery and the road was interesting enough to be fun. This road follows a number of ridge lines that afforded some very nice views. I’d been riding it for about 30 
minutes when I saw a lot of cars and trucks parked on both sides of the road. As I was going by I saw a very unusual structure on the left side of the road. I pulled over an parked at the end of the line of vehicles that were on the right side of the road. What I had stumbled upon was Bishop’s Castle. Somehow my research had failed to discover this little piece of Americana.
This is the 40+ year effort of one man, Jim Bishop, to build his own castle with his own hands. His interactions with local and state government would probably put him at the top of the Libertarian top achievers list. It is certainly an amazing structure. He even has enclosed walkways on the exterior of the structure. He opens it to visitors for free and only asks for donations. His primary goal is just to 
finish it before he dies. I’ve often wished my life goals were so clearly defined.
After spending a little time at the castle I headed back towards the highway so I could get back to Rufus and head on down the road. I took a side path and I came to a spot where I could see that there was some kind of construction going on. I took a picture and walked around the end of it. 
Low and behold there was Jim Bishop doing what he has been doing for so very long. His building materials were rock, mortar, wrought iron and some occasional rebar. We shook hands and had a nice little chat. He actually did most of the talking and I’m sure he would have been happy for me to camp out there all day and just listen. I can certainly see why the local politicians have their hands full in their efforts to shut him down. A gallery of the picture I took can be viewed HERE.
Past Bishop’s Castle there were some interesting sweepers and and a few tight switchbacks that livened things up a little. At McKenzie Junction CO-165 merges with CO-96. I headed East on CO-96 and onto another leg of the Frontier Pathways Scenic Byway. This highway follows another ridge line and drops rapidly back to the plain at around Wetmore, CO. The upper half of this stretch has some very nice sweepers.
At Wetmore CO-96 turns East but I continued North on CO-67. This is a fairly strait stretch of highway all the way to Florence, CO. To bypass most of Florence I turned East on CO-115 and skirted the South side of town. I then picked up US-50 North on the East side of Florence.
This is also one of the Gold Belt Tour Scenic Byway routes of which there are three. After about five miles I turned onto CO-9 to follow the Gold Belt Tour route. I turned again in another five miles onto CO-11. I have studied the various Gold Belt Tour routes and the one I was on probably had the least fun factor as far as twisties were concerned. I picked this route because I needed to get to the Cripple Creek area and the KOA I had planned to use for the next three nights.
So I continued on CO-11 then turned toward Cripple Creek on CO-1. CO-1 was actually some of the most interesting road I had been on that day and it is still part of the Gold Belt Tour. I created a waypoint for this KOA literally months earlier when planning my trip. It was out of the way and I had to go by the crummy map on the KOA site because the address didn’t work on any of the mapping tools I use. So I get to the waypoint, then pass it, but I don’t see a house let alone a KOA campground. I drove back and forth over about a five mile stretch looking for signs. Nothing, zip, nada. I gave up after convincing myself it wasn’t where I thought it was. I couldn’t get any cell connection either so I went with plan B.
Plan B was the KOA in Colorado Springs. In hindsight I should have stopped in Cripple Creek and asked for directions but I am getting ahead of myself. 
So I took CO-67 out of Cripple Creek and ran into a few nice stretches of road on my way to US-24. I rode US-24 into Colorado Springs and then I-25 to the Colorado Springs KOA that is South of the city. I think it is actually in Fountain, CO. I sprung for one of their deluxe camp site seeing as how I was going to spend three nights there. The accommodations were nice and the location was convenient but the noise at this location was a problem for me. It had it all including trains, planes and automobiles. You could even hear the artillery practice from an Army firing range. There was a stream 100 feet from my campsite and I couldn’t hear it over the freeway noise. The planes were bad but the worst thing was the railroad tracks on the other side of the stream. The trains were passing about every 30 minutes 24 hours a day. There were two road crossing just across from the campground area so they were blasting their horns at the crossings. Like I already said I should have ask for directions in Cripple Creek 
.
There are a lot of tourist activities in the Colorado Springs area and I had to pick relatively few of them for the time I allotted to be there. The next day I chose to do some area riding and to take the train to the top of Pikes Peak. On the last day I visited Cripple Creek, rode the Cripple Creek Railroad, visited the Royal Gorge area and eventually went to Buckskin Joe’s to ride 
yet another train. At Buckskin Joe’s I was the only passenger on the small train ride that takes you out to a spectacular view of the Royal Gorge. Well if you don’t count the dog I was the only passenger 
. I got to chat with the "engineer" who is a long time local of the area. He shared some of his gold panning stories in the gorge with me. I have a gallery of my Pikes Peak pictures HERE and other pictures in the Colorado Springs area HERE.
I had actually planned to spend one more night in this area but the weather reports were turning ugly for the Rockies and I wasn’t getting a good nights rest at the KOA with the noise issues. So Thursday morning I was packed up and heading North on I-25. I turned West on US-24 and headed back into the mountains. US-24 turns Northward at Buena Vista. At Balltown US-24 also become part of the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway. 
At Leadville I turned onto CO-91 to follow that leg of the scenic byway. When I got to I-70 I heading East towards Denver.
Just past Idaho Springs I turned North on CO-119. At Nederland I continued North on CO-72 and at Raymond I again continued North on CO-7. At Estes Park I headed NW to get onto US-34 and through the East entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park.
So far the day had been overcast with temperatures in the mid 50′s. The riding had been excellent but I was a little concerned with the darkening skies and intermittent rain I was encountering as I neared the Park. I had originally planned to spend the night in Estes Park so I could spend some time in the Park the next day. The weather report was predicting even worse weather for tomorrow so I decided it would be better to push on and get through the Park before things turned any worse. It was a good decision because when I went through the park the temperature dropped to near freezing and I encountered sleet on a number of occasions.
On the other side of the Park US-34 becomes US-40 at Granby. The weather actually improved a little after I got out of the park. I headed West on US-40 and eventually stopped for the night at Steamboat Springs, CO. The mileage for the day was 412 miles. As I pulled into the parking lot there was a hot air balloon passing right overhead. I took a couple pictures and exchanged a couple of waves as they floated on their way.
The next morning I was on the road early because I want to spend some time at the Dinosaur National Monument which was just a couple hours West on US-40. There was a heavy overcast and the temperature was in the low 40′s. I went into the South Entrance of the Monument because I was hoping to get up into the canyon to get some pictures. I stopped at the small visitors center there. I looked around and then talked with a Park Ranger. That was when I learned the main visitors center was closed. Not only closed but condemned because of earthquake damage. That was where all the major exhibits were and my next stop after my planned photography side trip. Bummer 
!
A couple came in and I heard them say that they had just come down from the canyon area. I asked them how it was and they said it was solid fog as soon as you get 1/4 mile into the park. They said they couldn’t see anything. With that news I guess it was time to just get back on the road. I regretted not having more time in Colorado. I just barely scratched the surface of what there is to see there. I have already been thinking about a trek to the SW with a good deal of time in Colorado thrown in for good measure.
After getting back on US-40 I crossed almost immediately into Utah. When I reached Vernal I turned North on US-191 heading for Flaming Gorge. By the time I got to Flaming Gorge the weather had still not improved. The few views I had of the Gorge were nothing worth photographing. I had originally thought I would be camping in the Flaming Gorge area for the night but with most of my sightseeing plans getting short circuited I decided to put some miles on before I stopped for the night.
At the Flaming Gorge I turned West on UT-44 and crossing through the West side of the Flaming Gorge Recreation Area. At Manila, UT I turned West on UT-43 which crosses into Wyoming a short distance later and becomes WY-414. This took me to I-80 where I again turned West. I was about another 30 minutes to Evanston, WY where I stayed for the night. The mileage for the day was 317 miles.
The next morning I headed North out of Evanston on WY-89. This crosses back into Utah after about 10 miles and becomes 
UT-16. At Woodruff, UT I turned west on UT-39. This is the high road route to Ogden, UT and there was some good riding on this highway. UT-39 eventually crosses the North side of Ogden and connects with I-84. I turned North on I-84 and rode the slab all the way to Jerome, ID where I spent the night. This was a relatively short riding day of 270 miles.
The next morning I headed North on US-93. I planned on taking another high road but this time it was to Boise. I wanted to ride both the Sawtooth Scenic Byway and the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. At Shoshone, ID US-93 turns into ID-75 and the 
start of the Sawtooth Scenic Byway. This is a beautiful highway but there is only one interesting section of motorcycle road about half way between Sun Valley and Stanley.
At Stanley I headed NW on ID-21. ID-21 is also the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway. This is another beautiful highway and it had a lot more fun factor then the trip up into the mountains. The highway comes out just South of Boise and intersects with I-84. I went North on I-84 and stopped at Caldwell, ID to spend the night. The mileage for the day was 355 miles.
The next morning I was back on I-84 heading North. I crossed into Oregon and turned NE on Vandecar Rd. at Durkee, OR. This is a fun little road that twists it’s way past Sheep Mountain and is one of the back ways into Hell’s Canyon. I turned East on OR-86 
and entered Hell’s Canyon. Unfortunately there were a lot of forest fires in the general vicinity and the smoke was pretty heavy everywhere. A gallery of some of the pictures I took in Hell’s Canyon can be viewed HERE.
To make a long story short I finished up the hot and smoky day in Pendleton, OR after riding a 313 mile day. I had originally planned to spend at least another night in Oregon but I made the command decision to make the 330 mile sprint for home the next day.
In the morning I rode the freeways all the way to Yakima, WA. I like riding through 
Ranier National Park whenever there is an opportunity so I headed West on WA-12 from there. I turned North at WA-123 towards and into the Park. I continued North on WA-410 which is part of the Chinook Scenic Byway. The weather was cooperating and I had a few picture opportunities which can be viewed HERE. I rode WA-410 to Auburn, WA and then WA-167 to Renton.
I made it home in the early afternoon. The total mileage including side trips was 9453 miles. Here are the major statistics from my trip, but they do not include some of the side trips where I was staying multiple days at a location:
|
Total Travel Miles |
8900 |
|
Total Days |
28 |
|
Days Actually Riding |
23 |
|
Total Daily Miles Avg |
317.9 |
|
Travel Day Miles Avg |
386.9 |
|
Longest Day Miles |
1080 |
|
Longest Day Hours |
20.0 |
|
Total Gallons of Gas |
199.2 |
|
Total Cost of Gas |
$568.34 |
|
Average Cost Per Gallon |
$2.85 |
|
Average Miles Per Gallon |
44.7 |
Of course a few blog pages are totally inadequate to describe a month long motorcycle trek. You will probably need to do one of your own to get a real feeling of what a trip like this is like.
Th-th-th-that’s all folks!
Filed under Diary by 
Like Part 2 this installment only covers two days of travel. Not that there was any shortage of miles driven, but I am getting ahead of myself. Here is a map of this parts travels.
Part 3 Route: Braselton, GA to La Junta, CO
My goal for the day was to get to Hot Springs, AR., which is about a 620 mile day if I was heading strait there. My pre-trip research had only dug up a single side trip that seemed interesting. That was the Talladega Scenic Drive. While I hadn’t seen anything on the web that really looked inviting to me, it would only add about 50 miles to the days route. Besides I had never seen the Talladega Superspeedway so what the heck.
I left Braselton, GA very early Saturday morning, that’s September 2nd, because I wanted to beat the traffic going through Atlanta. I took I-85 South to Atlanta and picked up I-20 East. Traffic was light and I made very good time. 
I crossed into Alabama and about 20 miles later turned South on US-431 and then on to AL-281. I followed some nice scenic country roads and eventually got to the end of the scenic drive at Chandler, AL.. At that point I would have needed to go North back to I-20 if I wanted to see the speedway. During my trip research I had also found a road that some folks liked to ride but it wasn’t in that direction. So I chose a little fun factor over more long strait stretches of tree lined roads and a view of the speedway. So I continued West to Childersburg then NW to Harpersville. North of Harpersville I eventually picked up AL-25 and some of the only 
interesting road I would find until I reached Arkansas. AL-25 took me back to I-20 which I took to Birmingham, AL. I didn’t want to spend the whole way on the super slabs so I headed NW from Birmingham on US-78. While slower it was a much more pleasant ride.
US-78 took me out of Alabama, across the NE corner of Mississippi and all the way into Memphis, TN. I picked up I-40 West and ran it to Little Rock, AR and then on to I-30 to head towards Hot Springs. Just past Benton, AR I turn off on US-70. 20 minutes later I was in Hot Springs.
I had been noticing a lot of motorcycles on the road ever since I got to Nashville, TN. This was Labor Day weekend but this was a lot more than what I would have expected for even a holiday weekend. Most of it seemed to be heading West. When I turned off onto US-70 the alarm bells started ringing because there was a lot of other motorcycles turning off there as well. Once again my trip research came up a little short. As it turned out this was the weekend for the annual Hot Springs Motorcycle Rally.
Now normally this would have been an unexpected bonus but I had no reservation for the night. I even thought about changing my plan and spend the next day at the Rally. After two hours and almost 100 miles of driving around looking for a room for the night I finally had to give it up. The sun had already set so I just forged on and figured I could find a room somewhere a little further on my planned route. So with the light fading fast I headed for the Talimena Scenic Byway with my eye on every motel looking for a vacancy sign.
I got about half way through the scenic drive and there wasn’t a motel room to be had anywhere. I decided to turn North on US-259 seeing as how scenery kind of looses it’s attraction at night. At this point I figured I would just get as far as I could towards my next destination. I wish I could have made that run in the day because there was some very challenging road that I had to run at very slow speeds at night. There weren’t any streetlights along any of it and even with all my lighting it was not easy going. I suppose having already ridden 750 miles that day had something to do with it as well 
.
To make a long story short I finally found a room in Henryetta, OK. My mileage for the day was 1080 miles. I was pretty worn out and even that Economy Inn looked pretty good at midnight when I pulled in. This day of riding is the event that eventually got me thinking about the Iron Butt Association. If I could ride a 1000 mile day without planning or preparing for it I should be able to complete some of the qualifying rides for the IBA.
In the morning I got onto I-40 and started out for my next destination which was La Junta, CO. I got through Oklahoma City early enough to beat the traffic and continued on for another half hour. I turn North on US-281 and headed for Kansas. At Selling, OK I picked up US-270. At Fort Supply, OK I continued North on US-183 then turned West on US-160. A little past Ashland, OK I turn North and this took me all the way into Dodge City, KS.
The windmill in the above picture is probably one of the more scenic shots I got that morning. Most of the way it looked like this 
.
At Dodge City I turned East on US-50 and took it all the way into La Junta, CO. I have to admit I was pretty bored driving across the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas. The topology changes that were starting as I approached La Junta were encouraging. I was looking forward to getting back into mountain country again.
I didn’t have much in the way of photo opportunities during this part of my trip but I did get 1600 miles of fairly boring travel behind me. I would like an opportunity to get back to Hot Springs, AK, with a motel reservation of course . I would like to check out more of the roads in the area especially in the daylight .
This ends part 3 of my Summer Solo Ride About.
Filed under Diary by
Part 1 left off at the KOA in Perryville, MO. This segment is actually only going to cover two days travel. It was a busy two days of travel however. I have biker friend named "Doc" who was in my chapter of Combat Veterans International. He was a Navy corpsman and that is how he picked up his road name. He and his family decided they wanted to move back to their home town, which is McKenzie, TN, when he retired from the Navy. He did so they did 
. He went from being a corpsman to a long haul truck driver.
When I got to Perryville, MO I didn’t really know if I was going to stop at their new home on the way to Braselton or on the return trip. I had prearranged to call them when I got close to see which option was best. As it turned out the next day , Saturday, would work out the best. I had already mapped and programmed my GPS with the alternate routes so I was good to go one way or the other. I didn’t need to be there until about 4:00 PM so I could still fit in a little more of the Ohio River Scenic Byway. The days route would end up being 470 miles. Here is a map of the next two days of my trip.
Part 2 Route: Perryville, MO to Brazelton, GA
I got up in the morning and an hopped on I-55 South. After about a half an hour I turned East on US-60. I briefly picked up I-24 North in Paducah, KY to cross over the Ohio River then picked up IL-145 North. Then I just followed the scenic route signs along the Ohio River. There actually were not all that many scenic views of the river along the route and I even did a number of jogs towards the river on local streets to see if I could see more of it. I eventually worked my way into Indiana and continued on to Evansville, IN. I turned South on US-41 and rode it all the way through Kentucky and into Tennessee where I turned West on US-79. US-79 passes through McKenzie, TN.
I made it to Doc’s at the appointed hour and I enjoyed some good BBQ burgers and all the trimmings. Doc took me out for a little tour of his home town. 
He couldn’t resist showing me his big rig. I got to see his High School and some of the local points of interest. We stopped at the town square where they have a small Veteran’s memorial and we walked around for a little while. Back at his place we did some relaxing and caught up what we had been doing since he moved to Tennessee. I got a soft spot on the couch for the night. I hit the road early in the morning because I was meeting my wife in Braselton, GA tomorrow and I still had a lot of riding ahead of me. My goal for today would be Deals Gap, a 411 mile leg, but things don’t always work out the way you plan.
I rode South on TN-22 to I-40 East. I rode I-40 through Nashville and picked up I-24 East. At Chattanooga I turned North on I-75 and eventually got off the slabs near Sweetwater, TN onto TN-68. I ran TN-68 South to Tellico Plains, TN and then onto TN-185 and the Cherohala Skyway. Finally I was back on some interesting motorcycle roads and some great mountain country. The Cherohala was awesome and I was looking forward to Deal’s Gap and the opportunity to run the Dragon a few times, especially without my trailer dragging behind me. Don’t get me wrong, it pulls like a dream but it does reduce the fun factor a bit.
TN-165 turns into SC-143 and eventually merges with US-129 South or Tapaco Road, as it was originally known. Deal’s Gap is North from this junction so I turned North on US-129. Deal’s Gap is less than half a mile South of the Tennessee border on US-129. I arrived at about 1:00 PM and the parking lot was just jammed with motorcycles. I had difficulty finding a spot to park my bike and trailer. Eventually I found a spot but the alarm bells had already started ringing as soon as I saw the parking lot 
. I had not made any reservations at the motel . Sure enough there wasn’t a room to be had.
At least I managed to picked up a Tail of the Dragon hat, t-shirt and pin to show that I had been there. So with that out of the way I started thinking . My wife would be arriving at the Chateau Elan later on this afternoon. Why not surprise her and show up a day earlier. So after a short break I headed out on what was supposed to be tomorrows route and another 258 miles to Braselton, GA.
Rather than getting several runs of the Dragon, I ended up settling for one run North pulling the trailer. Looking back on things it was probably good enough seeing as how insane that stretch of US-129 is on the weekends. The Dragon is certainly an intense 11 mile stretch of highway. The traffic was heavy and I had a very close call with a BMW M3 that decided to pass on a blind corner and the hell with whoever was coming the other direction. A common occurrence on the weekends. There are several photographers that make a pretty good living taking pictures of people running the Dragon. They are set up along the Dragon seven days a week all 
year around. The pictures can be purchased on the Internet. The two shown here are of me riding the Dragon. One is from Killboy and the other is from Zee Photo. Dragon Slayer Photos, Moonshine Photos, US129 Photos and 129 Pics are some other sources for your pictures on the Dragon.
After “Surviving the Dragon” I headed NE on the Foothills Parkway. I then turned SE on US-321 to enter the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. 
I guess I should have guessed the reason they are called the Smokey Mountains was because they look …ummm.. smokey. Folks from Los Angeles would feel right at home . Now living out West I have probably become desensitized to the proportions of geological formations. I see mountains, I mean real mountains, every day . But I digress, it was still a very nice ride through the park and it is very beautiful. I guess it just wasn’t what I was expecting 
.
US-321 and US-441 provided some interesting riding though the traffic was rather heavy so the fun factor was muted to some extent. I turned off US-441 onto US-64 at Franklin, NC. I had heard that NC-28 was a good motorcycle road and US-64 would take me to the start of it at Highlands, NC. The reports were not wrong. Though less technically challenging I enjoyed it more than the Dragon because it was very lightly trafficked. I even rode it again with my wife as one of our side trips during the CCR. I only had one motorcycle pass me the whole way from Highlands to Mountain Rest, SC. I did pass a few motorcycles and a number of cars but compared to the Dragon it was practically deserted.
From Mountain Rest I took US-76 West and then picked up US-23 at Clayton, GA. This took me most of the way to Braselton then it turned into I-985 at Gainsville, GA. A couple miles later I turned South on the Winder Highway and a short distance more to my destination, the Chateau Elan Resort.
I got to the resort at dusk and even though it was only 669 miles I was pretty darned tired. I had certainly wrangled more than my fair share of curves for one day. The heat and humidity had taken it’s toll too. My wife was already checked in and she was certainly glad to see me arrive safely. We enjoyed the weeks activities and managed a couple of side trips. 
We did Stone Mountain one day, which is one of the better attractions in the area. There were some good informational seminars and the accommodations and food were top rate. There were a good number of vendors and Blue Moon Cycle, the BMW dealer from Norcross, GA, had set up to do service for those that needed it. I had them do a fluid change on Rufus. I picked up a few odds and ends as well.
The week went by very quickly and we had a great time. That brings me to the end of Part 2 of my 2006 Summer Solo Ride About.
Filed under Diary by
In the winter of 2005 I started planning for a month long “Solo Ride About” across the country. I had been participating on the BMW Luxury Touring Forum since before I bought Rufus, my 2000 BMW K1200LT, in July of 2005. This is a forum that was at that time mostly dedicated to K1200LT. They host an annual event called the Curve Cowboy Reunion (CCR). It is not your usual biker gathering. They find first class resorts all over the country and put on a week long luxury touring event. CCR 2006 was being held on August 29-Sep 1, 2006 at the Chateau Elan in Braselton, GA.
I wanted to change or add some things to Rufus to be better prepared for what would eventually become an 8900 mile trek. In true engineering fashion I had already studied things to death. Over about an eight month period I purchased a number of accessories and made several mods.
The list at the right shows many of the changes and most items have links to more information.
I also wanted to have a cargo trailer to haul all my photo equipment, clothing, camping equipment, etc. without looking like some kind of circus act rolling down the highway. I initially ordered a Uni-go Trailer. but the company had just been sold and moved from New Zealand to Monroe, Ohio. They strung me along for five months and just couldn’t deliver what I ordered in time for my trip. I had ordered it through one of their distributors, Dauntless Motors, who happen to be located just a few miles from my home. Jay Giese and his wife are the owners and they went above and beyond helping me get a trailer in time for my trip. I would highly recommend their products with two thumbs up for their customer service.
I ended up buying a Zenith trailer that is manufactured by Dauntless Motors. I also purchased their excellent K1200LT trailer hitch. I had already installed the trailer hitch and wiring harness and I took delivery of the trailer on August 14th. I would leave on my trek the next day after I got off work 
.
Here is a picture my wife took of me in front of our house as I was leaving. She didn’t ride with me on the trip but she would fly to Atlanta and spend the week with me at the CCR.
I had spent many hours planning my route and researching points of interest that I would want to see along the way. My actual route stuck to the plan surprisingly well.
Here is the route for this Part 1 of the 2006 Ride About.
Part 1 Route: Renton, WA to Perryville, MO
My goal for the evening was to get to Lewiston, ID, a 302 mile run. I wanted to ride US-12 from there through Lolo Pass in the daylight. I have ridden this route a number of times and is a very beautiful stretch of highway. There is also about 140 miles of great mountain road between Kamiah, ID and Lolo, MT. I stayed at a hotel that night and headed out early the next morning.
The ride through Lolo was great but all good things must come to an end. When I reached Missoula, MT I hopped on I-90 for one of the relatively few super slab sections that I would have on my trek. I stayed on I-90 a little ways past Butte and then turned South on MT-359. I continued South after this merged into US-287 . US-287 eventually turns East and that is where I briefly zigged into Idaho on MT-87/ID-87. ID-87 merges with US-20 and I headed NE towards Yellowstone Park. The highlights of this 475 mile leg of the trip was running the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway and the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway .
Yellowstone National Park was to be the first of many places I would visit that I had never been to before. Don’t ask me how I could live my whole life 740 miles from one of the most popular tourist areas in the country and never been there . I stayed at the KOA located four miles West of West Yellowstone, MT on US-20. The tent sites were assigned spaces that were almost private with fences and trees on three sides of most sites.
My schedule was pretty tight so I could only afford to spend two days at Yellowstone Park. I wouldn’t really be able to spend much quality time at any of the incredible sites to be found around the park. I even made a sprint down to see Grand Teton National Park. To say my site seeing was rather spirited is an under statement. I still managed to 
take almost 600 pictures. Some of them are in this gallery album.
The KOA I stayed in was very nice and I meet a couple of riders, one was riding BMW R1150GS and the other an R1150GSA. They were staying a couple of sites away from mine. They were traveling together and on the tail end of a two week trek of their own. That was probably my first real examination of a GS. It was surely the moment that the seed was planted that eventually led me to buying an R1200GS. I had a very nice stay there and there really wasn’t much in the way of crowds either at the campground or at the park.
I left West Yellowstone very early on Saturday morning, August 19th, and headed East through Yellowstone Park on US-20. Actually this highway is US-20, US-16 and US-14 combined but who is counting . I left early because I wanted to be ahead of the bulk of the tourists that might be coming into the park. This route would put me on the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway. Once I was out of the park I stayed on US-20/16/14, passing through Cody, WY and eventually reaching Greybull, WY. I then continued East on US-14 and passed through the Bighorn National Forest. I picked up I-90 East at Ranchester, WY. I turned North off I-90 at Moorcroft, WY and found myself back on US-14. US-14 turns East at Carlile and I again turned North at Carlile Junction onto WY-24.
From there it was a short distance to the KOA at the entrance of Devils Tower National Monument. The run from Yellowstone was a total of 464 miles. The camping area was pretty much just a large open field but there were a few trees in the middle and around the periphery. There was almost nobody there so I had a lot of area to choose from. I picked a spot that I could set up and take pictures of Devil’s Tower without having to move from my camp. My intent was to get up before sunrise and take a series of pictures as the light changed. The visible side of Devil’s Tower would have the morning sun on it. This gallery album has a sampling of the pictures of my run from Yellowstone and at Devil’s Tower. I didn’t manage to capture any strange lights or experience any close encounters. I only spent one night there and after I took my sunrise shots I went on into the park. I forgot to mention that I purchased a National Parks Pass before I left and I managed to save some money with it on this trip.
The visitors center wasn’t open when I got to the parking lot so I went ahead and walked the Tower Trail. This is the shortest trail, 1.3 miles, and goes completely around the base of the tower. It is a beautiful walk and there are many great viewpoints of the tower. It is not a difficult walk and I highly recommend it. I didn’t see anyone as I walked the first half of the loop. The visitor center was on the shadowed side of the tower at that time of the morning so I walked fairly quickly to get around to where the lighting was better. I wanted to get a variety of pictures with different lighting and shadows. The trail meanders around through wooded as well as more open areas. There were no sounds of civilization and the all I could hear beyond the birds and the slight breeze through the trees were my foot steps on the walkway. I would stop when a picture opportunity presented itself and then move on.
When I got about half way around I heard voices. I didn’t see anyone at first but I moved down the trail a little and I got a good view of the tower. I finally spotted a rock climber on an ascent. This picture was taken with a 400mm lens. I continued around the loop and got a lot of great pictures. I did see a few people as I was walking the second half of the loop. There was considerably more activity in the parking lot then when I had arrived.
I went to the visitors center and spent a little time there. Then I was packing my camera gear and getting ready for a relatively short distance run, 139 miles, to my next destination. I had wanted to spend a little time in the Black Hills because there was just so many things that I had never seen before. I had decided not to camp while I was there and I researched various accommodations in the areas. I eventually made reservations at the Hillside Country Cabins located fairly close to Mount Rushmore on US-16.
When I left Devil’s Tower I went South and picked up US-14 East. When I got to I-90 I headed East for the short run to Spearfish, SD. I turned South on US-14A and onto the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. As luck would have it there was a women’s marathon race being held in the canyon so traffic was a little slow. Unfortunately there wasn’t any place to pull off and take pictures because of all the activity. It is a beautiful canyon.
I continued on US-14A to Lead, SD and then turned SE on US-395. I stayed on US-395 to the junction of US-16, which is also Mt. Rushmore Rd., and then to the Hillside Country Cabins. These are log cabins that are set up very nicely at a reasonable price. I spent four nights at the cabins so I could do a little sightseeing. I will only touch on some of the highlights. You could probably spend months in the Black Hills and never see it all.
The next day was a very full one. I managed to visit Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, ride the 1880 Railroad in Hill City and fit in a ride on the Needles Highway. This gallery album has some of the pictures from this day’s travels.
On the second day I visited the Badlands National Park and the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Yes I did make an obligatory stop at Wall Drugs 
. This Gallery Album has some of the pictures from this days travels.
On my third day at the cabin I decided I needed to do a little laundry and take a little break from the frantic pace I had been keeping. This was supposed to be a vacation after all 
. I did get out and take a look around Keystone, SD and I made a quick trip into Rapid City as well. On the way back from Rapid City I spotted Landstroms which is a large Black Hills Gold jewelry maker and store. I ended up buying a watch.
When I got back to the cabin I packed up everything except what I needed for the morning and hooked up the trailer. I got to bed at a reasonable time so I could get an early start in the morning. I wanted to beat the heat running past the Badlands if at all possible.
It was Thursday morning and I was on the road by 5:30AM. I was back on US-16 heading for Rapid City. I picked up I-90 East at Rapid City and settled in for a 525 mile travel day. By 6:30AM I was North of the Badlands just past Wall, SD. There was a stiff cross wind and it was still 85 degrees. So much for beating the heat 
. I ran a little ways past the Badlands and then turned South toward Nebraska on US-83. I realized there wasn’t going to be a lot of scenic wonder in my route today. I did find on the Internet that there was a scenic route called the Outlaw Trail in NE Nebraska so I figured I would check it out.
I crossed into Nebraska and turned East on NE-12, supposedly part of the scenic Outlaw Trail. I followed NE-12 until it merged with US-20 just West of Sioux City, IA. I must have blinked for a little over two hours because all I saw was corn fields and pastures filled with cattle the whole way. I guess I am a little spoiled living in the Northwest.
I crossed over into Iowa and picked up a piece of the Ohio River Scenic Byway. It was only a short distance from there to Onawa, IA and the KOA located there. The goals for today and the next two days are basically just putting miles on to get someplace else. The next morning I hit the road and continued to follow some back roads heading South. I eventually picked up I-29 South around Council Bluffs, IA.
As I drove towards Kansas City I could see some serious thunder storms and lightning moving in from the East. I kept thinking I was going to get hammered with bad weather but I just kept skirting the edge of the storm. I eventually headed East on I-70 at Kansas City and I was thinking that I had really dodged a bullet. Wishful thinking on my part. Shortly after turning East I ended up in a real gully washer complete with some awesome lightning displays. I got Rufus and myself grunged up pretty well with all the rain and the nasty 18 wheeler spray. A less dedicated rider would probably have found some place to hole up and try to wait the storm out. If there is one thing that is for certain, I am a dedicated rider.
The storm didn’t start to let up until I got to St. Louis, MO. That was were I turned South on I-55. About an hour later I arrived at that day’s destination, the KOA at Perryville, MO. This leg ended up being about 610 miles.
This finishes up Part 1 of 4 of my 2006 Solo Ride About.
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