Epilogue: The sum is greater than the parts.

I have added photos to most of the blog entries going back to 8/1/2010 - if you don't get the email updates. you may want to visit the blog. I've also uploaded all of my photos to my photobucket account (link on the left ... in 2010_BigWestern).

This was a great trip! Thanks to Paul, Chuck and Ron for making it so. Also, thanks to Deb and Abbie for places to stay, and to Fred's Honda in Corvallis for changing out that crappy Avon Storm rear tire on short notice.

We covered just under 6500 miles, in Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California. We didn't make it to Banff, but we got to hike in Glacier, Yellowstone, Portland and Helena. Temperatures ranged from a low of 41F in Yellowstone to a high of 99F in the deserts of eastern Oregon. Saw lots of roadkill, including a horse. Horses were included in the living, too, of course, along with bears (black and grizzly), elk, deer, antelope, and lots of thrill-seeking chipmunks running into the road in front of us.

We had no accidents and kept the rubber side down the whole trip. We had three bike-related equipment failures: The short-lived Avon Storm rear, the defective Avon Storm front, and Paul's exhaust bracket breaking. Otherwise the machines performed extremely well, providing comfortable and reliable transportation yet responding telepathically to our inputs when pushed close to the limits in northern California.

Which brings me to the question of high's and low's of the trip.

The 'low' would definitely be the hail storm in Wyoming. But what is the "high" ? If I were to list a single item, it would be getting a day and a half to ride the awesome roads between Redding, Eureka and Yreka in California. A close second would be our hike in Glacier. But on a trip like this, the sum is greater than the parts. Looking back there are so many excellent things experienced in the context of the whole which elevates their value. For example, while the roads in California were awesome, they were bracketed by a day of blasting through the hot and dry desert, and a ride up the a mild coastline.

The riding, scenery and all that is one thing. There's also the comaradiere experienced in our group. In particular, Paul and I had lots of time to think about a new business venture. We're still working on the details and feasibility, so I won't say much about it at this time.

Now the planning starts for next year's trip .. initial thoughts are to the northeast.

Back in the Midwest

I will not turn this blog into a list of complaints about why it sucks to ride in Minnesota and South Dakota. Instead, I will list the "good things" that happened today.

We woke up in Rapid City, SD. It wasn't raining. The KOA had a $3 pancake breakfast. We had lunch at Subway in Sioux Falls. I arrived safely home to Jenn.

Most scenic byway in the US

Jeebus this Friday morning was even colder! 41f. But that didn't stop us from making coffee, oatmeal, and hitting the road by 7:30am - when most of the parks' visitors were still in their sleeping bags. This was planned - our escape from yellowstone was hampered only slightly by photographers looking to take advantage of the early morning light shining on a herd of bison and a grizzly waaaay off in the distance.
Our exit was via the northeast Cooke City entrance, then over Beartooth Pass again. This was the fourth time over, and it was the most spectacular yet. With a nearly cloudless sky and cool temps, there was nearly no moisture in the air to create haze. We were able to see mountains on the horizon 50-75 miles away which we couldn't see before. The angle of the morning sun brought out the details and colors shrouded later in the day. The views (and lack of congestion) are magnificent. I took a number of panoramic photos i will upload when I have the means.
It remained cool (below 60f) until we reached Red Lodge. My Skullcandy titans were unable to tame windnoise above 65mph and I decided it was better to protect my hearing and listen to podcasts on one ear.
Our planned lunch stop was at Montana Brewing co. In Billings preceded by a trip to Target to get stuff to make the Titans tolerable: different sized tips and a glue gun. The tip modification was OK until we got to Crow Agency but there still too much wind noise. When we left I-90 for US Hwy 212 I switched to the much quieter but one-side-only Etymotics with hearing aid tips.
212 is shortcut to Spearfish,SD. we reached Rapid City as the sun was setting and checked into a KOA. We thought we had hit the jackpot: the KOA store stocked good beer (New Belgium's Hoptober) and ice cream for dessert. Alas as we cooked dinner the mosquitoes came out in force, making it impossible to be outside. We sucked down the opened brews, wolfed down our soups and retired to our tents before 9pm. To add insult to injury, the increased humidity prevented a comfortable sleep until it had cooled off somewhat. Just another reminder that tomorrow's 600 hot and humid and featureless miles will suck even more.

Mt Washburn

Crikey it was cold! It was also slopey so I didn't sleep all that great.
We're camped on Canyon Village for a night, then grants village tomorrow night. We really don't want to move so we keep checking for cancellations. By 11am we know if we need to move, and filled the morning with a hike to inspiration point and the north rim trail. When we got back a site and become available - yay!
Unfortunately the new site was on the other side of the campground. Ah well, better than 40 miles away. With some creative use of motorcycles and the car of our neighbor campers we ferried our stuff to our new site.
With that out of the way, we got our hiking stuff together and rode to the Dunraven pass trailhead and hiked up to the Mt Washburn watchtower at 10,423 feet. From there we had an excellent view of the entire park. On our way down it was cold, windy and threatening to rain.
We made it back to our site dry, but it sprinkled a little and we smelled bad so it was time for a shower. Since neither of us like cooking in the rain we has dinner in the lodge ... A tasteless Bozone Amber, a decent (but not great) pork chop, and an unassuming IPA from the Red Lodge brewing co. At least Paul's bison asada was excellent.

Yellowstone

We slept on the porch again. Such a nice evening that cooled down to the 50's with no humidity (i.e. dew) or bugs made it irresistable. If I slept on our deck in August in Minnesota, the mosquitoes would make me look like a teenager with bad acne and I would be soaked from the dew.

Deb made pancakes while we downloaded fresh podcasts and we were on the road by 10am.

First destination was Pickle Barrel in Bozeman. Instead of taking 289 and I90 we took a longer, more desolate route around the Bridger mountains. This is also the more scenic and curvy route. We even got to see a black bear run across the road!

The Pickel Barrel served up an awesome sammich and ice cream. We also got a second one for dinner. There was a carpet retailer with a sign that said '$37 whole house installation' and a block later another sign proclamed 'we fix $37 installations'

The temps went from 75f to 85f over lunch, and they had reached 91f by Livingston. On the way to Gardner they climbed to 95 with a stiff wind from the north. So stiff, in fact, that it overcame the velcro holding the stitch closed. That had a clip holding the wire to my headphones. The hard tug was enough to sever the cord, and now i only have sound on one side.

Once on the park the temps cooled off. We got a site, ate our Bobcat, found some beer, listened to a ranger talk and went to bed.

Mt Helena

Instead of going to Yellowstone today, we stayed an extra day on Helena. We climbed Mt Helena and downloaded podcasts and made plans to open our own taproom. I also got a call from work, which proves i am indispensible and the corporation cannot survive without me.
Tomorrow we go to Pickel barrel and Yellowstone.

Re-tracing our tire-tracks

Another cool morning - especially 4am as I had to get up early to remove some excess beer from my system (bridgeport IPA and Moose Drool). I fell back asleep and didn't wake until 8am. It was still cold (55f).

Coffee, oatmeal, yadda yadda, on the road at 9am. Since we had decided to return to Helena we went north on hwy 95. It wasn't as nice as last week due to construction and an angry Lexis pilot, which means i let him pass by. He can go 20 over the limit and rouse the law on us. None the less, we enjoyed the canyon the second time around.

Once again we experienced the 99 miles of Lolo Pass (highway 12) but this time it was in the sun and not hot with less traffic. Then it was through Missoula to Helena for the night.

Left turn Clyde!

Our campsite from the night before was on the John Day river, on BLM land and thus cheap and primitive. It was cold in the morning; after coffee and oatmeal we were on our way.
Eastern Oregon is dry. Either high desert or arid juniper forests. Following the river through Kimberly then to Long Creek, there was nearly no traffic this Sunday morning. In Long Creek the GPS said go right. Ok. I did and went five miles before I figured out we should have taken a left on Long Creek. No idea why the Zumo decided to ignore all the via points and take us to Baker city... So we turned around and went up to Ukiah on an extremely scenic and curvey river road.

From Ukiah to Baker City we took the back roads which the GPS thought was gravel... A more recent and accurate map showed it to be paved. At first this turned out to be a barren road through a new forest consisting of mostly sweepers. I took this opportunity to work on my form - getting my shoulders off the centerline of the bike and relaxing my arms. By the time we reached the Anthony Lakes ski area the road had narrowed and was undergoing construction, and we were encountering bicyclists. We followed one for a couple miles and clocked him at 45 mph!
In Baker City we went to the Safeway Bakery for bread, then to Fungs for unorthodox chinese. The egg roll was huge, deep fried several times, and then sliced. It had no flavor other than batter and grease. The sesame chicken was breaded and deep fried too. We were not impressed.
After lunch we rode down to Hells Canyon then up ID71, hugging the Brown Lee lake with constant 25 mph hairpins for ten miles. We stopped to read a plaque about gold mining and a ferry. For some reason we just couldn't get into a rhythm like on California - maybe it was the 94f or how the curves were linked. Maybe is the squaring off of tires, or the cupping or pulsing from the front Avon tire, or lack of feedback from the read Dunlop.
When we got to a rest area we turned right and took a break and set our clocks to mountain time and refilled our camelbacks. Leaving the rest area with a left turn, we had more 25 mph hairpins. For some reason Idaho put up a second set of historical plaques about gold mining and a ferry. Several miles later my GPS indicated I needed to take a u-turn - once again it was confused. We crossed the Snake river and were greeted as we entered Oregon. It wasn't until we passed the utility company barracks that I realized something wasn't right, and Paul confirmed I should have turned RIGHT out of the rest area. Doh! So we turned around and went the right way.

We had a route planned out to go across Idaho which brought us through 95 for a second time, which is fine with me as it is a very nice road, and on this Sunday afternoon traffic was light. Traffic enforcement was heavy though, so we took it easy until we reached the Payette national forest, saw a sign for a campground and followed a road full of coarse gravel to a secluded camp. No showers today either, but I can't smell myself yet, despite two hot days of riding.
After dinner we discussed tomorrow's route and realized were within an easy day's riding of the Pickle Barrel... And also Helena, where Chuck, Deb Jim and Ab were. We decided to make a stop on Helena tomorrow night and push the Grand Tetons stop out a day. That would mean we would ride hwy 12 over Lolo pass again, but that is no punishment.

Homeward Bound

With one week left of our trip, we climbed aboard the bikes and pointed them east. We were going to ride with Ron for a couple days, so we met at his place and he served up flaky biscuits and copious amounts of sausage gravy.
First we rode 224 to Detroit. This is always a great road, despite the elevated levels of lake traffic. Once in Detroit I was happy to see the reservoir was full - when we were here in March it was nearly dry.

Next we rode down to 242 and up to the lava fields, then to Sisters for lunch and gas. The temps were climbing into the 90s and no cloud in sight.
After lunch it was through Prineville, Spray and Kimberly. The terrain is more like the arid southwest than anything else, with few trees and little green. Traffic is light. At the end of the day we stopped at a campsite along the John Day river.

Another day in Portland

And a hot one at that.

We took the Max from our hotel to Rose's Deli on 23rd for breakfast, then went up to Washington park and hiked back down. Lunch, coffee, some shopping, etc all occurred as the temps rose towards 90f. Since the humidity was low it was quite comfortable. We were going to get sushi for dinner, but ended up at Typhoon (thai) instead, followed by a movie at the mcmenamin's mission pub.

Did you think we went without beer? We had a beer and a sampler at Deschutes. The IPA with Citra hops was excellent. This is a new breed of hops, it tastes like a tangerine with a strong chipotle smokiness. Of the sampler, all the brews were excellent, but the black butte XXII really stood out. This brew had strong oveetones of chocolate, dark chocolate and nibs, orange zest, and some spicey peppers. Truly an exceptional beer!

Windy Ridge

Behind Mt St Helens is Windy Ridge and there are a ton of great roads back there, so Paul and I met in Randle for lunch and rode them roads.

Unfortunately the roads have deteriorated. There are sunken grades all over the place, including the corners, which made sport riding dangerous so we took it easy. I even had to dial back compression damping to deal with it.
The weather, however, was spectacular. The morning started overcast, then as I rounded Mt. Rainier it cleared up to reveal the giant in all it's glory.

As we headed up forest road 90 a black sportbike flew past us in a corner. we continued to the Spirit lake lookout.
Half an hour later we retraced FR90 to FR25 and saw someone telling us to slow down. Then we noticed a black motorcycle in several parts, and people helping a body on the ground. There was a guy in an orange vest with a walkie talkie ...
In a way I felt guilty just riding by, but since I lacked any EMT knowledge, and they had the communinations facilities, there wasn't much I could do, so I got out of the way.
After a short ride we arrived at Ape Cave, which is a lava tunnel. However, once we descended we discovered our headlamps were crappy and we were unable see our toes much less the cave around us.
Once back in Portland we showered up and headed over to India House for dinner. As usual their tandoori halibut was excellent!
Back in February Rob and I managed to hit four brewpubs in one day. Then Chuck and I did five. Paul and I decided to raise the bar, but by midnight we were only at five. Most interesting was Tugboat and the sour brown they served. Not sure I liked it... It tasted like an uncarbonated Moose Drool with a lot of grapefruit zest added.

Sundry Day

Not much going on today (Tuesday). Picked up the bike from Fred's Honda, and they even cleaned it! This is the first Dunlop I've run since a d220 I had years ago. The new RoadSmart has to better than the Avon junk I had on the rear, which lasted less than 5000 miles and 4 of 5 front Avons I have mounted have been defective after 2000 miles.
Then it was a quick ride north to Portland for a Santa fe Taquiero caribbean seafood burrito, and on to McChord AFB to visit Jenn working there for a week.

Cat Pee

Today was not very interesting. Firat we had a good ride down 199 to Crescent City, then 101 north to Waldport. That's where we picked up 34 to Corvallis - a wonderfully twisty bit of tarmac. However, it was ruined by too much traffic.
In Corvallis I dropped off my bike to get a new rear tire... the Avon Storm only has 4500 miles on it and fading fast ... I usually get 8,000 to 10,000 miles out of a rear. The front is wearing funny, but has enough to get me home. So far, four of five Avon's I have mounted have been defective... What can I say, they are crap and I will not buy another.
Oh... Cat pee... We're sharing a Ninkasi Total Domination IPA - good in all respects except that the simcoe hops they uses make it smell like stale cat pee. Time to open the Abyss.

Rode a buncha roads today

And then I wrote a buncha words for my blog too. Then I got a text message which interrupted my composition and I lost it all. So i woll just say this:
We rode hwy 36 to 3 to Yreka where Chuck split off and went to Corvallis. Then Paul and I went west on 96, north on 41 into Oregon, back to Cali on 199, and found a campground for the night.

A Taste of whats to come

A cool morning greeted us, and that was the point: to get up early and ride through the desert before it got hot. From Burns to its Junction, then south on 395 the temps stayed below 60. The problem was that we were dressed for a warm day and were a bit cold.
Wagontire is a 'town' in Oregon which is slowly going to dust. I went through it eight years ago on my first sport-touring ride in the pacific northwest, back when someone lived there, sold us gas and let us use the bathroom, while informing us Wagontire was for sale, including the international airport. The town itself is just a couple buildings.
Continuing across the desert we passed cinder cones, alkali lakes and the Abert rim. By 10am we had reached Alturas, were out of the desert, and hungry so we grabbed breakfast at what used to be the Black Bear diner. Great breakfast!
Since we had made such good progress today, we decided to continue to the coast. That means hwy 299! Long one of my favorites, this road from Redding to Euraka is over one hundreds miles of sweepers, twisties, mountains, perfect pavement and 55 mph speed limit, and it is challenging to maintain that pace.
The end of the road came at a campground in Fortuna. To get there we had to go through Eureka, and that appears to be the home of wierdos. The people we saw were either scruffy hippie-wanna-bes, Che Geuvara emulators, homeless, or deranged. Perhaps a combo of them all.
So anyway, the campground was nice and right next to the Eel river brewpub. Besides sampling their beer (the Triple Exultation was excellent - aged in a whiskey barrel) the food was excellent too. Paul and I ate too much of our smoked tri-tip sandwhi hes, while Chuck ate saltines.

On the edge of whitespace

Friday night there was anger in the sky. The clouds argued and rumbled, lashing out at each other with bursts of lightning. With the arrival of the sun it had simmered to a discussion with occasional outbursts of spittle.
Oatmeal. Coffee. Pack tents, go ride. Today we rode highway 12 across Idaho, in the footsteps of Merriwether and William 206 years ago. I feel sorry for them - they didn't have 99 miles of smooth twisty tarmac. Then again, they didn't have a community organizer for a president.
At Kooskia we had a decision to make: go north through a very hot and direct route to Portland, or go south to Hell's Canyon.

We went south. But then after some discussion and looking at timing with friends in Portland, we decided to continue south, all the way to Ontario, Oregon. On the way we enjoyed a very curvy six miles of highway before laying tracks on Hwy 95. Hot 95. 95f. The highway snakes along the Salmon river, bringing us to Riggins for an elk sammich.
We entered eastern Oregon at Ontario on hwy 20. This roads goes into the wilderness, over some mountains, and traverses the northern edge of whitespace until Burns. Whitespace. Go look at a map of Oregon. Look at the southeastern corner. Hwy 20 to the north, 95 to the east, 395 to the west. South? Nevada. I-80. A great big whitespace in there. 68 miles of hillocks and buttes, streams and marshes, and one home with junk strewn about. And 97f.
Harney county calls most of the whitespace 'home'. Despite occupying 20÷ of Oregon, there are about 2400 registered voters. I don't know why they bother ... Benton an Multnomah counties dictate politics in this state and I bet most of those votera couldn't tell you where Frenchglen is.

As we approached Burns the temps dropped quickly into the 60's and we pulled into the first campground we saw, and paid $29 for site - turns out there was no picnic table there, but they did have showers. No table means no stove which means MRE before sleep.

No pictures?

There are no pictures on my blog because I cannot upload them from my phone. When I get access to a computer I will go back and insert some ... but Paul can add photos to his blog, so head on over to his blog too - there's a link to it on the left. I mean right.

Purple Mountain Majesty

The crisp clear mountain air was a pleasure to wake to. With the sun rising in the east, no shadows hid the peaks to the west.
The Moores from Wabasha had offered to percolate coffee for us so we did everything we normally would, except make coffee, which we enjoyed at their site. After that we rode west on the Going To The Sun Highway. Today the mountains were spectacular, with nary a cloud to obscure them. There was some traffic and construction.

From Glacier NP we had planned to go north and spend a day hiking at lake louise. However, the forecast indicated clouds which means we wouldn't be able to see much. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain there, and we had planned a hike, so that would have been a wash. Besides, Paul still has blisters and my muscles are still sore from yesterday's six hour hike.
Therefore we went south instead. First along the western shore of Flathead lake, then south on 93, with the Mission Mountains as backdrop the entire way.
When Lewis Clark crossed Idaho they followed the Clearwater river. So did we. Whereas they sought the Pacific Passage with a mandate from president Thomas Jefferson, 200 years later we sought scenery and twisty roads. They did not succeed; we did.

Highway 12 starts south of Missoula, Montana and follows the Clearwater river nearly all the way across Idaho. On the Montana side of Lolo pass the road is steep, curvey and the speed limit is 70 mph. The only detriment is that it was freshly chipsealed. The chipseal does not continue on the Idaho side of the pass, and neither does the speed limit (it goes down to 50mph). This continues for 99 miles!
But we needed to shower, and the only campgrounds are national forest service which means they don't have showers. However, the lolo pass campground is next to Lochsa Lodge where we paid a small fee for showers. We also had beer and cooked up chili, broke bread, and polished it off with Norwegian candy (seigmenn) sent along by mother.
The mosquitoes fierce so we retired (ie. wimped out) early to our tents. Not long after, a thunderstorm passed overhead, dropping copious amounts of water as I fell asleep.

Ugh

5:30 came too early. 9:00am would have been too early too, those imperial IPAs last night were that good. But we wanted a campsite at swiftcurrent in glacier and it usually fills by noon, so 5:30 it is.
No oatmeal today. We had pickle barrel leftovers... Just to give you an idea of the sandwich size, half a sandwich is good for two meals. We needed the energy cuz when we left the house at 7am it 58f, it got colder, especially in the exceptionally scenic wolf creek canyon. We stopped to add more layers when it became apparent it was not going to get warmer and the pregnant clouds might deliver.
Back on the road (287 now) Paul noticed Something fly off my bike and didn't think much of it. Then a plastic bag flew off, which prompted him to pass me and pull over and tell me what he saw. I checked my stuff and sure enough, the side pocket of the motofizz bag was open ... Right where i keep my hearing aids. The $5000 aids were gone!
We turned around. As I slowed to get the plastic bag, Paul sped on to where the aids flew off. In the meantime I was thinking about insurance, managing without, getting a new pair, etc. As I reached where Paul was walking through the grass, he bent over and found the white plastic jar I keep the aids in. Whew!
Back on the road to Glacier. We gassed up in Augusta where some friends had a cabin. We passed (slowly) through the Blackfeet reservation where there was a dead horse on the shoulder. Browning came and went. The roads got progressively more twisty, however the road got bumpier too. Besides, the dreary weather and clouds hiding the mountain put a damper on my spirits.
Arrival at St Mary's was welcome. More clothes and less pee was in order followed by a discussion on where to eat. Turns out some friends from Wabasha are camping in Glacier too, with their kids, so we visit with them and decide to stay in the same campground as them. The only problem is that all are full. In fact, some were full at 8am! All the lodges were full too. At any rate we needed food so we lunched at the Park Cafe (two thumbs up!) Our friends offered us to put our tents on their site, but when we arrived there were empty sites so we got our site. YAAY!

The remainder of the day was spent well. We took a shuttle and hiked most of the way to Virginia Falls before dinner, then off to bed.

Glacier National Park

I was surprised that there wasn't any ice on my tent in the morning. It was 41f though... At least the sky was clear, wIth a little fog in the valley.
We were going hiking today, and that means food and bear spray. I have a small canister of pepper spray.... at home. After breakfast at the Park Cafe we checked out the spray at the store outside the park, but for $60 we passed on it.

The shuttle took us to the Piegan Pass trailhead, which we took to the Siyeh pass cutoff and continued down to the Sunrift Gorge trailhead. For 4.6 miles the trail climbed 2400 feet out of a valley, above the treeline, and up to a rocky outcropping with magnificent views of a second, northen valley.

From there the trail dropped 3400 feet for 5.7 miles into another valley.

These 10.3 miles are the furthest I have ever hiked - it wasn't easy but somehow I managed to keep up the hiking machine that runs on acorns and a marathon runner who eats ten miles for breakfast.

On our walk back to our camp we stopped by our friends for a beer, heated some soup, and hit the sack.

Sandwiches and beer

Morning in Columbus came quick. Oats n coffee, pack up, ride.

Todays first stop was for groceries, then lunch at the legendary Pickel Barrel in Bozeman. Second stop was Helena, MT where Chuck's mom lives. It was a short day, ended with a trip to the Blackfoot River Brewinb Company which didn't have any stellar brews. Coincidentally Karsten, a good friend from Minnesota who grew up in Montana next to Chuck, was visiting so he joined us. Since Montana has a wierd law about three brews per person, we walked over to the Brewhouse and enjoyed their stellar beer and food.

Bliss

Absolutely perfect mixed with a sense of homecoming.
It is hard to describe the euphoria I experienced this morning. After breakfast and packing we got onto 14 west up the Bighorns. Traffic was light and we hustled quickly around what little there was. This road is one of the highlights of the trip, containing lots of corners and scenery as it scaled the mountainside. It traverses the bighorn plateau and that's where the combination of scenery, open road, temperature and music made it a blissfull experience. Along for the ride was a feeling of homecoming, of returning to the mountains, fulfilling a yearning. Just ... Perfect.

As we approached the western edge of the Bighorns we stopped at a final overlook near 9000 feet and talked to a couple from Wisconsin. There are many travelers here from the midwest, we also met a couple who rode their Harley from Minneapolis.

Cody was a good place to stop for lunch and i had pancakes at a little cafe we found, and some coffee too. Then we were off to chief joseph scenic byway and while traffic was heavier, the scenery was good enough to slow down for. There was a group of harley's who could actually take the corners above the posted speeds, and they wore protective gear. We were duly impressed, except that the last one burned a lot of oil.
If you know this area then you know that chief joseph connects to heartily pass on the way to Red Lodge. In my opinion this is the most scenic highway in North America. Alpine meadows and lakes, snow covered peaks, craggy summits, exposed geological features... Yes, I will upload photos at some point.
From Red Lodge to Columbus was mostly uneventful. Chuck almost collided with a bicycling riding against traffic wearing all grey clothing, then narrowly missed a turkey family, turklings and all.
All in all, it was day with lots of riding but all of it great.
Our campsite was at a free county park, and that is reflected in the clientel. Shortly after we set up camp and dinner (I had an MRE, Paul soup, and Chuck a can of peaches, a camp neighbor came over and told a bunch of stories about himself which he either believed or expected us to believe. Personally I think he was a poor white skinhead. Eventually Paul and Chuck feigned interest in the river nearby and i said something about cleaning up the site and went away. Paul and Chuck returned when texted that the coast was clear, and Chuck produced Oreos. When the Oreos ran out, the skeeters became aggressive, and we retired for the night.

Escape from the midwest

Now that I am in a better mood I will describe yesterday in more detail. At least until the touchscreen on my Instinct phone pisses me off too much, or if the storm raging around me blows the tent - and me with it - away into the Bighorns.
Last night we camped at a KOA in Mitchell, SD. The mosquitoes weren't too bad after we sprayed ourselves, but as the sun set the gnats teamed up with them and broke through our defenses. We retreated to our tents, and discovered everything was wet. You see, the forecast did not call for rain so we left off the rainfly. However, the dewpoint was so high that as it cooled the moisture in the air condensed on everything - including our tents, and anything toiching the tents got wet. Grrrr.
This was to be my first night on a new mattress and it went very well. In the past i had used an inflatable mattress which is good for 2-5 nights before the seams leak. Now i have an Exped Synmat with built in pump. The goal is to get a better mattress, one which i would be comfy on as a side-sleeper, and also eliminate the need to find a Walmart a couple times a week. As a bonus, i no longer need to bring a pump, and this also opens the possibilities of overnight backpacking trips.
Morning brought sunshine, bigger mosquitoes, and such extreme humidity that there was no chance of drying out. We made some coffee and oatmeal, packed and hit the road.
And it was a foggy road. After half an hour the fog burned off and we were treated to Wall Drug signs. We laughed at the '24 Hour Toe Service' consistently misspelled on several signs. We got gas. We saw a camel near the 1880's town (there has to be cameltoe joke in there but i can't find it). It reached 97 degrees, but we had escaped the midwest and it's humidity so it wasn't too bad.
We also passed two eastbound cyclists, one in a red shirt another in yellow. The Bishops? Nah, can't be, they're supposed to be on the highline in North Dakota.
In Rapid City we found lunch at the Firehouse brewpub. The three of us shared two samplers - the wheat was like a refreshing kolsch, their red and the stout were excellent. The rest of the brews were good, as was the food. We weren't done riding for the day, so limited ourselves to the samplers and moved on.
The next interesting bit was spearfish canyon, a 20 mile stretch of smooth asphalt which gently meandered between 500 foot cliffs. Thereafter our planned route turned to gravel, but envisioning 20 miles of gravel at slow speeds at 97f prompted us to retrace our tracks back to I-90 and on to Devil's Tower.
As hwy 14 lead us towards the tower we spied ominous clouds and got a little wet. From the tower to Moorcraft we rode right under that cloud and got pelted with sideways rain. Considering the heat, it felt good.
Our goal for the night was to reach Sheridan but first we had to get to Gillette. To do so we had to go west, and to the west was a large thunderhead zapping the ridges on each side of the interstate. Lacking protective Faraday cages like the cars around us, I led our little group towards the storm like the stubborn Norwegian I am. It started to rain so I zipped up the Aerostich. We passed two motorcyclists under an overpass and dismissed them as wimps. The lightning was impressive, less than a mile away, less than ten seconds between each strike. The rain and wind got harder, I dismissed the next group of bikers huddled under an overpass as lacking proper raingear.
But what we needed was hailgear. As the dime-sized hail fell at terminal velocity we raced into it at 80mph. Figuring I could decrease the impact pain by slowing down, I slowed down and desparately looked for an underpass to cower beneath. And found none. Fotunately the ordeal lasted mere minutes.
The remainder of the ride to Sheridan was uneventful, including a beer run then culminating with an MRE (beef patty) and an ice cream social at the KOA. Paul and I compared welts from the hail, and our dewey tents were dry within minutes.
The storm has passed, the thunder and lightning producing little more than high winds and rain.
Tomorrow we enter the Rocky Mountains!