Day 47

Today was pretty much a day of riding; getting from point A to point B. Turns out there’s not much to see when driving through central South Dakota. Got a late start, leaving Belle Fourche, SD around 10:15 am after swinging by the post office and the super market. Headed east on 212, but after about 60 miles of stiff winds blowing out of the south/southwest, I decided to turn south on route 63 to see if it would be any better. No such luck, but at least the road was a little more interesting. Eventually I turned east on route 34, going through Pierre and crossing over the Missouri River. I continued on east along 34 all the way into Minnesota. Along the way I was able to get some pictures of a small herd of buffalo that I came across, and I was even able to get one picture of ring-necked pheasant; I saw a bunch, but whenever I’d stop to try and get a picture, they fly off the little buggers!

Well that’s about it. Here are the few pictures from today:

Day 46

Had another great day of riding today. Left Townsend, MT around 9:15am and kept heading east along route 212 all the way to Billings. There I had to jump onto I-90 for a bit, and eventually turned off onto route 212 to go and check out the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument where Custer made his last stand. One thing that I found out while I was there was that there are grave markers strewn all over the place and this is because in the days after the battle, the union soldier where buried pretty much where they died on the field of battle. It wasn’t until 1881 that they were reinterred in a mass grave under a large memorial marker. I even found the marker of General Custer. From here I continued east on route 212. I was a bit unsure of this decision because not half a mile down the road there was a huge, blaze orange sign stating that there were unpaved sections of road up ahead and motorcycles should consider alternate route. I looked at my map, but any other route was a serious detour, so I decided to just press on; after all, how bad can it be!? Well, after about 80 miles I figured the sign must be mistaken, but just 10 miles outside of Broadus, MT I finally hit the road construction. It started of lightly with 7 miles of freshly torn up asphalt. Now, if you’ve ever ridden a motorcycle you know exactly how nerve racking this can be; the groves continually pull your motorcycle left and right, making for a very uneasy feeling. Now, this of course was not the end; the main course was 2 miles of somewhat compacted dirt and gravel! Yeah! I finally pulled in to Broadus and stopped to get some gas along with this other motorcycle that I’d been trying to keep up with for the past 60 miles or so (a Kawasaki Concourse if I remember correctly). So I struck up a conversation with the guy, Bradford is his name, and it turned out he was in the process of doing a similar trip around the country, but a little faster than myself. So of course we swapped stories of our respective trips so far and about the roads we were planning on taking from here. Check out his blog, http://blog.bidnick.com/ . From Broadus we road together down route 212 for a while until he turned off to head towards Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. I myself continued on 212 all the way to Belle Fourche, SD where I am spending the night. Tomorrow I hope to make it through South Dakota.

Here are the few pictures from the day:

Day 45

Wow, what a great day today! Started off with beautiful weather, and it just got better from there! From Moscow, I headed down 95 to Lewiston, Idaho. Upon reaching the outskirts of Lewiston, I picked up Frontage Road, check out the pictures; this was 7 miles of pure, unadulterated twisties and sweeping curves. In Lewiston I picked up route 12 going through the Nez Perce Indian reservation, and following along the Lochsa river. This road was amazing; while it did not have any hardcore curves, it was about 180 miles of pure joy, with soft rolling curves and slowly getting higher and higher in elevation, until crossing the Rocky Mountains via Lolo pass. Did I mention that I saw another bald eagle!? And, this time I got pictures! Anyways, after Lolo pass I was now in Montana, and so I continued on 12 into Misoula. And guess what, I saw another bald eagle, and got pictures again! This one was even closer, but unfortunately did not stick around for very long. From Misoula I picked up I-90 for a little ways, until route 12 split off from I-90 again. From there I continued on route 12 headed east. I can’t tell you the number of mule deers I saw this afternoon in Montana; it must have easily been over 100! Anyways, I am spending the night in Townsend, MT.

Tomorrow I’ll continue on east. Here are the pictures:

Note pour Patrick et Deborah

Tres heureux d'entendre que vous etes bien rentre chez vous et que le voyage c'est bien passe. De mon cote, je suis dans l'Idaho pour le moment. Un peu froid dans ce coin des Etats Unis, mais tousjours tres beaux. En regardant a la carte, je pense que je passerai bien dans le Canada, et de votre cote si l'invitation est tousjours bonne apres mon passage dans le Michigan. J'ai tousjours votre carte, et je vous donnerai un coup de fil quand je serai dans le coin.

Note to Mr. & Mrs. Withrow

Thank you for the invitation, but it just didn't work out timming wise. I hope all is well with you both though; you live in a beautiful part of the country.

Day 44

Started by taking the ferry across the Puget Sound, from Kingston to Edmonds. From there I headed north on I-5 towards Blaine and stopped not to long after getting on I-5 at an information center to get some info about the roads headed back east. Lucky I did because I found out that route 20 which I was planning on taking back east was still closed because of snow. So, if I went to Blaine, I’d either had to travel east across parts of Canada, or back track miles down I-5 to get to I-90 east. So, instead of going all the way north to Blaine, I decided to just head back south to I-90 and start heading east. Going over Snoqualmie pass was quite chilly, but very pretty; I could even see it snowing up on the mountain sides to the north of me! The best part of all was once I got east of the mountains the sun came out! While it did not warm up the temperatures, atleast I did not have to worry about rain any more for the day. I eventually turned off of I-90 and onto route 26 east. This was a nice two lane road which took me through miles and miles of farm land as far as the eye could see. Now I’m in Moscow, Idaho. I found out that Glacier National Park in Montana is still closed due to snow, so I will unfortunately have to miss it. Instead I’ll just try and head through southern Montana.

Here are the pictures from today:

Day 43

A good day of ridding today, I made up all the way up to Townsend Port, WA where I had planned to spend the night, but when I got there, I found the motel rates were just too high. Also, the ferry over the continuation of route 20 was closed due to high winds. So I backtracked a bit and headed to Kingston where I planned to take the ferry back to the mainland. In the end I ended up spending the night in a reasonably priced motel in Kingston.
The roads today were great and scenic, however, I didn’t stop very often to take pictures because it was either raining or sprinkling almost all day long. Got to love the pacific northwest! Also, temperature wise it was only in the low 40’s! Thank god for heated gloves and foot warmers. It was pretty cool though going up through forests of Douglas firs where every now and then I’d come across a section that had been clear cut, and then at other spots I’d see signs saying that this section had been replanted in the 80’s, or 90’s, or just a few years ago.

Here are the few pictures that I did take today:

Day 42

Well today turned out to be an expensive day! Spent the entire morning hanging out around the Harley dealership in Eugene while they performed a 5K service on the bike, and as it turned out I also was in need of a new front AND rear tire! Ouch! Well, you got to do, what you got to do! Also, as luck would have it, by the time I was loaded up and ready to leave Eugene, it had started to rain and I was even blessed with some light hail! Woohoo! Well, I had no choice, so I just put on my rain gear and hit the road; slowly. Luckily, about 45 minutes later the rain gave up, but it remained bitterly cold for the rest of the day. I followed route 126 to the coast, where I got back onto the 101. I don’t know what it is, but I love riding along the coast; the views are just amazing. Around 6:00pm I arrived in Lincoln city and decided to spend the night here because I had read about a place where you can try your hand at glass blowing, and figured I’d swing by tomorrow morning. After checking in to a motel, I went and did a little shopping at the local grocery store and then hung out down by the beach and watched the sun set.

Here are the pictures from today:

Day 41

Got up and went with Ezra to have breakfast in town with some of his friends before taking off. It made for a great, relaxed start to the day. I eventually got on the road around 1:00pm, said goodbye and thanks to Ezra and headed northeast towards Crater Lake. The road there was awesome. The weather today was beautiful and not too cold. It’s kind of a weird feeling driving down a road where there are 4 to 10 feet snow drifts along either side of the road! Anyway Crater Lake was pretty amazing. As I got there, I found out the road around the lake and out the north entrance was closed, due to snow of course!  So I had to make a change of plan. It actually turned out to be a good thing. After talking with a park ranger, I found out that the road that I had planned to take going back towards Eugene was not advisable, as in late afternoon and early evening it became rather icy due to snow melts that re-froze. So instead I backtracked out the south entrance to route 62, then onto route 230, to 138 south/east, to 97 north, to 58 west into Eugene. The road to Eugene was pretty nice. I found the Harley dealership with no problem and set up my tent next to their building as they suggested. Then I made some dinner and with nothing else to do, I called it an early night.

Here are the pictures from today: