To the Rockies we go!

[Just_Peekn]

I have been itching to get out west and find some good twisty-curvies for some time now, I also had a few parks i wanted to visit. Thankfully the planets aligned this year and i was able to escape on a 5200 mile, 13 Day, 10 State, adventure out west. Even better i talked my good friend Steve in to tagging along. I believe i told him it would be easy and cheap, or something like that . I will get each day up with far too many photos asap. Below is an overview map of the trip. Each day will get a detail map.

Trip Overview


Trip planning started with much web research, map scouring, and google street view interviewing. I do have to say the that the Rand McNally "Harley-Davidson" Ride Atlas was a great tool with "good" roads highlighted in yellow to easy the planning process. I then would interview each road with google street view to make sure it was worthy of the adventure .

The Office and Adventure planning central..


Prep also included doing the 24k service on the Triumph before departure. She would have nearly 30k on her when we returned home.


I switched to a Pelican 1650 topcase for this trip and was very happy with how it worked out on the trip. Triumph sure didn't intend on this being a touring bike but it really is an amazing do it all machine.


Putting these hooks and net on top proven invaluable in the trip and even function as a close dryer.


Meanwhile Steve had loaded his Vulcan up with what we estimated was 700lbs of tools and gear . Those tools came in handy more then once.

[cyclebabble]

 

[kendenton]

 

I love the Rockies!

[Mastros2]

Looks great!  

[prosqtor]

 


Looking forward to reading about this!

[1000lbs]

Sounds great!  Looking forward to the upcoming posts.

[Just_Peekn]

I'll get days 1 and 2 up by tonight.

Highlights Include
-Going to the sun road
-Lolo pass
-Lowman Pass
-Chief Joseph memorial highway
-The Bear Tooth
-Sturgis :P
-Yellowstone
-Blackhills
-Million other cool things!

[twotrackhero]

Defintly will watch this one   I wan't to try and pull off a trip close to this in the fall.

[verboten1]

Wish i could have made this trip....but....money was necessary! lol

[Just_Peekn]

Alright lets get this party started

Day 1
July 24, 2010
Pinckney, MI to Iron River, MI
529 Miles



I woke up at 4am excited as can be in preparation for meeting up with Jon and Steve. Jon was going to do a saddle sore 1000 around lake Michigan and was to tag along with us for as long as possible. Originally we had planned to do the 94/90 route through Chicago with a goal of meeting my friend Anthony in Minneapolis. Well imagine my fear when i opened weather underground and saw this approaching....

Actual image from 4am


Being that i live between Howell and Chelsea northward bound was a far better/dryer solution. I also had not ridden the westward portion of the UP which was beautiful. After contacting the guys we decided to meet up at us23 at 6:30am. The weather was nipping at our butts and i wanted to boogie. As i went to leave my bike wouldn't start  ! After a minute or two and second guessing my very simple radar detector install and wondering how in the hell that would have caused this my wonderful girlfriend advised my that my bike was in gear. Sometime i wonder why they let me ride a bike . After meeting with the guys we hit us23 to I75 and went north as fast as possible. It drizzled consistently until around Saginaw and after Grayling it was getting sunny with only spotted drizzle. After crossing the bridge we headed to Clyde's Drive-in where i had the buffalo burger and Steve and Jon took down the 3/4LB "Big C".

At Clyde's




Buffalo Bacon Burger


Mutilated "Big C"


After a bit more riding down US 2 it was time for Steve and i to head North towards Duluth and for Jon to loop back in the the rainstorm. We fueled up at the good old rusty Marathon and split up.





Shortly after splitting up Steve bike must of missed Jon because it started to disassemble itself. An exhaust stud snapped a bolt wiggled off but he was lucky enough to find the flange a few miles down the road. The bummer was that the exhaust gasket was MIA (An issue later).





A temporary solution 20 miles to the nearest hardware store.


Ace the place for impromptu repairs.




I talked him into a little liquid insurance.


Half a flange later we were good to go. The limited threads meant we could not get both flanges on there.


After making it as far as our stomachs would take us we asked a local for a good restaurant and he directed us to the Riverside Pizzeria. Limited but good food and they sell beer to go.





Shortly after this we located a cheap hotel not feeling like busting out the camping gear. The story here was that when we pulled up to this place there was a note to call a number for service. I called the said number and the woman told me where she had hid all of the keys and to "Take the one for room 9" she then instructed me to leave $55 on the refrigerator when we left. The room was clean and we never saw her even in the am.



Finlly after taking care of the room we walked to a  bar where we witnessed a local run out of the bar with his beer in hand. We also decided to do a bit of shopping for breakfast after "a few" beers. We cam up with an interesting assortment of breakfast sandwiches, no name orange juice, and yogurts.



Btw photos get much better as the trip goes on!

[Just_Peekn]

Day 2
July 25, 2010
Iron River, MI to Aprox 22 miles west of GrandForks, ND
489 Miles

There were two parts of day 2, slow and fast. We woke up promptly at 6am and made our "breakfast" purchased after the bar excursion. The morning was slow riding from iron river through Duluth. The afternoon do to speed limit and roads opening up was much faster.

Morning pack up


Off we go!




Playing around with shooting and riding.

We then got to Wisconsin where Steve grew a foot or two and i turned into a little person.




Then it was off to Duluth, MN. We ate lunch there at a sub chain we had never heard of.







After lunch we dropped by a store im quite fond of. They were closed but it was neat to get a picture there. I really liked their old building.



After that we wicked it up to the standard 5 over and set the throttle locks. After Duluth the roads would become significantly less exciting for a bit.









Woo! North Dakota





After entering North Dakota we had our first Taco John experience. My quick impression was small portions, good quality, and more expensive then expected. We called a local private campground and we displeased with the standard $20 per tent line. After seeing a state park we continued down to until we arrived at the first sign with a picture of a tent on it. It turned out to be a nice clean campground with Very read Very hot showers as well as full hookups for a total of $20. Besides a short sprinkle in the am camping was perfect.

I finally got the SLR out and took better shots.


The trunk was working out nicely.

[Just_Peekn]

Day 3 "Whats Turning?"
July 26, 2010
Aprox 22 miles west of GrandForks, ND to Havre, MT
619 Miles



Day 3 started off a little slower then the previous two do to some am sprinkles slowing down us breaking up camp. Breakfast some Mountain House Breakfast (Not Bad!) and some grainy bars of some type. . After we broke it down and packed it up we hit two with a goal of making it as far as possible with our late start.

We had endless miles of little to no traffic so we started to play around with the camera. Steve came in for the pass!









Steve even took this nice self portrait


After awhile cows and oil fields took over US 2. It almost felt like some Alaska oil town (not that I've been to one) around  Stanley, ND.



Zing!




When we got to Stanley we decided to poke around the town and look for some food and A/C as it was 97 out. The entire main strip was torn up so we parked behind a building and walked around. A curious character was handing out between the buildings and we asked him where a good place was for lunch. He replied "Well Jazye's! I own the place". We proceeded to eat several items off the menu and chat it up about how he ended up in the town, he was quite a story teller. The "Jazey Burger was amazing.

Mules in Stanley


Menu at Jazey's


Amazing Meatloaf "Jazey" Burger


He was excited to take our photo


After leaving i noticed the start of a trend...


Then came more mindless throttle lock (It was worth it)






Yep Bugs!


Once we arrived in Harvey we tried to get a hotel room and they sent us down the street. This was great because down the street was a time machine that transported us back to the 1970's. Say hello to the Siesta Motel! The place was clean and in great shape just strait out of the 70's or something.







We took a hike around the town, fetched food, and retired for the night.

[birdrunner]

N. Dakoa and E. Montana are like a different universe.  ...  But in a good way.

[Tyrroneous]

Great report, can't wait to read the rest.  I hope the Kawi makes it!

[D-Mac]

Awesome! I gotta go on the next trip. I broke in the RT with a 1000 mile trip to Pennsylvania/Maryland, but it was nothing like the roads you've been on.

Keep it coming!

[Just_Peekn]

Thanks for the comments guys. It's really a blast putting the ride report together and reliving the trip.

[Just_Peekn]

New page Bump!

[Just_Peekn]

New page Bump! #2 (Don't want too many photos on each page)

[Just_Peekn]

Bump

[Just_Peekn]

Bump