Day 24 July 28 2022: Over 6,600 Miles On Two Wheels and One Pacific Ocean

Disclaimer: You may want to scroll down to Day 23 to start reading, to stay in chronological order, it took a couple days to catch up. Stick

Day 24 and this ride is in the history books. 

The 4 riders had a complete blast riding the back roads of America, and exploring the small towns and cities along the way.  We saw incredible sights, sights that we would never had experienced on a typical road ride whether by bike or passenger vehicle.

Our plan the entire time, was no plan.  We would make it up as we went.  We didn’t have a hard schedule, just a general time line of upto 30 days on the road.  It wound up being completed in just 24 days. 

And while we didn’t see everything that we talked and discussed in our casual conversations along the way, such as Moab, or the Glacial Highway in Northern Montana, we don’t feel as if we missed a thing.  The spontaneous route changes ensured  we saw more than we could have expected.  Besides, you always have to have something to look forward to on the next ride!

I would like to give the Rand McNally award to our GPS guru and Ride Captain Ski Doo Matt.  Each night as we sat around sipping cold rocky mountains, the 4 of us looking at our google maps and throwing out suggestions for the next night’s host city, Matt would look up mileage, sights along the way, and the back roads we would need to travel, and pick out the next town to pumble.  Thank you Matt from all of us for your patience, your guidance and overall excellent trip.  To Infinity And Beyond (inside joke, while at dinner at the Brass Rail, Julie couldn’t figure out who Matt reminded her of.  As her and Monkey discussed it, they said he looks like Buzz Lightyear.  Matt overheard their conversation, and exuberantly proclaimed in his best rendition of Buzz “To Infinity And Beyond! And we all had a good laugh).

To Hedge Hog, Hedgie, and a host of other names I called you over the last 23 days that are not suitable for print, thank you for your friendship.  You are great company on the road, and we can always count on you to engage in conversation with the locals at each stop thru out the day.   To you out there still following this stupid blog, I am going to take a minute and explain where HedgeHog came from.  A few years ago we were on a snowmobile trip during Ground Hogs day.  Since the ground hog is named Phil, I proclaimed him our ride ground hog, but he couldn’t be ground hog because there’s already one named Phil, and he would have to be our hedgehog.  It’s all in love and he has begrudgingly accepted it.  Love ya my brother.

To The Monkey, who had never owned a road bike before this trip, just a lot of motorcross experience, you were a great Wing Man, and co-habitant of a room each night.  I know he was thoroughly overwhelmed, in a good way, with the experience and the sights seen.  What a way to take your first multi day rode trip on a bike.  You started at the top of ride experiences and I know you are already mulling your next adventure.  Since I’m discussing how nick names came about, may as well explain Rod’s moniker.    We were out in Sacramento back in 2016 with a big group of people for an AMA flat track race, and we had 2 window licker vans.  He was the driver of one, and our buddy Toldo was the driver of the other.  We were leaving the local H-D dealer, Monkey in the front van and getting directions from a passenger back to the hotel, and Toldo was behind him at the intersection.  Toldo already knew to turn right, but Rod turned left.  This led Toldo to blurt out, I don’t know where that Monkey is going, but we ain’t following him!  Hence, Monkey has stuck, appropriately so.

For 4 guys that have never spent multiple mornings, lunches, dinners, and evenings around a tailgate for an extended period of time, you guys were the best.  Never a disagreement, a temper flare up, or fist a cuff situation.  There’s something to be said for that, and I look forward to our next adventure together.  Here’s a final “fist bump” to you, my friends.

Thank you to our wives, Julie, Shannon, Kim and Jen.  Without your support of our crazy endeavors, we wouldn’t be able to even contemplate these crazy adventures we cook up.  Thank you for your patience and support, it is appreciated from the entire group, to each of you.

I would like to thank Terry Rhymer in Rapid City SD for his friendship and your tour guide expertise around Sturgis and the Black Hills.  You took us to see more in the area in just a day and a half than we could have seen on our own in 5 days.  Your hospitality was over the top for just meeting most of us on this journey, and you can cook me another Rib Eye on the Big Green Egg anytime, my friend.

Thank you to Truck/Trailer Driver Brian for being the support on the road that came in handy for us all.  And also for setting a high bar for the next driver, by making sure the cooler was heavily iced and stocked. And also for being sure we had good accommodations each night, lol.

Thank you to Monkey Brother Rick for jumping in when Brian’s tour of duty was over.  With only about 72 hours notice/request to fly from Vegas to Jackson Hole and take over the wheel. You were a quick study of the duties of the role, and filled the shoes to a tee.

To all the people we met at gas stations, restaurants and Harley Stores that inquired about our ride, where we came from, where we are going (to the Pacific Ocean was our standard reply) and quizzical looks when we said what day of 30 we were on, THANK YOU for your well wishes and conversations.  It made the trip great for us to receive your warm well wishes.

Thursday night found Monkey & I back in Michigan, him resting on his couch for the afternoon.  But first he stopped by the local bar Scooters, where him & I met on Day 1, and got a selfie. We had planned to arrive together on 2 wheels, but the gremlins couldn’t keep their claws off my HD. 

I spent the evening at my favorite local Italian joint with a couple of close friends and my Daughter, Britanie, enjoying some carbs and 2 or 4 Belvedere Martini’s with one blue cheese olive for garnishment.  Followed up with a nice boat ride down the lake and back.

Matt had a Zack Brown Band concert to attend in Indianapolis.  He had 4 primo tickets and was ready for an evening of live, in your face music.

I’m not sure what Phil did on Thursday, probably getting his bike to the HD Dealer to get resolved some issues he had on his Panamerica.

Thank you to our 7 followers, for your comments and encouragement along the way.  While I bitch a lot about writing this stupid blog, I do enjoy having the digital diary that it will allow us all to look back on in the coming years, and bring back thoughts and memories of the stupid little things that we saw, and did, each day.

We are four dudes that experienced a great adventure, and are bonded for life by the experience.

Some may be asking what the next crazy adventure may be.  And we have had some light conversations, at our tailgate parties, about what we would like to do next… One that sticks out involves riding 2 wheels to the Arctic Circle thru Alaska in 2024.

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick

PS: I think Monkey Brother Rick must have made his flight back to Las Vegas, I would hope so, it was a straight thru flight, no layover to miss.

Day 23 July 27 2022, Behind The Windshield Of A Ford F-250

It’s Wednesday evening in Plymouth, Indiana, and I had the pleasure of riding on 4 wheels into our destination today.  That is sarcastic, if you can’t tell by the written word.

The Boys on bikes from Indiana, are now home, safe and sound after about 6,600 miles on 2 wheels and 22 days on the road.  They had an uneventful ride in from Peoria, IL, to the best of my knowledge.  They only had about 240 miles to do today, and they pretty much hot lapped it in by 2pm, with a minimum of stops.  The horses were headed to the barn, so to speak.

My bride, Julie the “ On Reserve” Search & Rescue truck and trailer, arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Plymouth around 4 pm, and about a 3.5 hour ride from Flint, MI.   Pretty impressed with this young lady, while she enjoys driving my “zombie apocalypse” truck, she had never pulled a trailer before.  I assured her that “you won’t even know that trailer is behind you” and she took the reigns and ran with it.

Funny story about that, as I was awaiting her arrival under the portico of the hotel, she rolled in, and I expected her to jump out and say “here take it” instead she said, in true trucker fashion, “ Where you want me to put it!”  I chuckled out loud, and said, well just park it over there by that other truck & trailer.

Monkey & I dropped the trailer gate, loaded up my dead Panamerica and our gear and other odds & ends, like the 2 dozen tshirts, each, we bought along the journey. After a quick clean up from the loading process, Julie, Monkey, Monkey Brother Rick and myself unhooked the zombie truck, and headed to the Brass Rail, where we met the rest of the crew.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that the guys all brought their wives with them for our final dinner as a group.  It was a great way to have a celebratory dinner with Jen Coffel and Kim Phillips joining us for our raucous final meal, and to share their perspectives of our ride, and rehash our stories from the road.  In addition, Truck/Trailer Brian rejoined us with his wife Stephanie, and it was great had by all, putting faces to names, and so on and such.

After our dinner, Ski Doo took me, Monkey, Monkey Brother and Julie to his Wings Etc. restaurant for a couple of night caps and an order of wings and hot poppers to finish us out.  He got Monkey and I a few beers to go for his and my final tailgate party back in the parking lot of the hotel. 

Monkey Brother and Ski Doo drove the truck/trailer to Ski Doo’s home that evening, as Monkey Brother has a flight out tomorrow, Thursday, from Ft Wayne IN back to Las Vegas, and Ski Doo will ensure that he gets to the airport, but it will be up to Brother Rick to be sure he doesn’t miss the flight… again.

Tomorrow morning it will be just Monkey on his KTM making the final leg to home in Michigan.  Julie & I will be in the zombie truck, and running about an hour behind him, as his support vehicle, just in case.

We shall see.

Bye for now

Stick

Day 22 July 26 2022; You May Have Started On 2 Wheels, But You're Not Finishing On 2 Wheels

Day 22, and we have landed in Peoria IL, at the Baymont Hotel.  Another dump of a location, but about the only thing available with 3 rooms.  Apparently there is a girls soft ball or volley ball tournament going on in the area, taking up all the good rooms!  Our room door had black duct tape holding the dead bolt recessed, and had to hit the door with your shoulder to enter.  And to close the door when you left, you had to use the key card to unlock the door before closing, turn the handle to release the latch, and then slam the door shut.  5 stars here, baby.

My morning started at 7:30 am for our scheduled departure time of 8am.  Last night I thought the dealer opened at 9am.  However that was the dealer I was talking to in Lincoln NE, not the one in Omaha NE, that is now the closer dealer and also on the route towards east and home.  Nope, Defiance HD in Omaha doesn’t open until 10am.  So we will be early, it’s worked our for us in the past.

Brother Rick & I arrived in Omaha, a few miles from Defiance HD, about 9:15am, so we stopped at the local diner for a breakfast for Rick, I had already eaten the complimentary corn flakes in the hotel lobby.  But the place advertised the best pies’ in the world.  Now how could I just let this opportunity slip by.  I ordered the apple pie ala mode as a little snack.  The first slice of warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream had a nice long black hair on top.  I sent that piece back.  Soon after the replacement pie arrived, and I’d say best in the world is a stretch, probably not even the best on the street.

Anywho, Ski Doo led Monkey and Hedgie out on the road at I’m not sure what time because I wasn’t there, and nobody really volunteered much information to me.  I only know they had a lightly overcast day of riding with comfortable temperatures that went from 65-75 degrees, and apparently they had smooth sailing.  I know they put in one of the longest days yet, I think it was around 420 miles and they got in around 5:30pm local time.

Rick & I arrived at the HD Dealer right about 10am, and they were opening the doors and moving bikes outside for display.  I was first in line at the Service write up counter, and the young man got my Panamerica right in for diagnostics.

I used the down time to finish this stupid blog in the showroom with the free wifi.  Then I did some real work on my laptop, then I made phone calls to people I haven’t talked to in 3 weeks.  That killed about an hour and a ½.  I hadn’t heard from the service department, do it couldn’t hurt to inquire, right?

I was told the diagnostics came up low voltage on the battery, and many error codes had been thrown out.  They were in the process of charging and testing the battery and that had about 45 more minutes to go.

So I gave them until 1pm before I inquired again.  I killed this hour buying my tshirt shot glass and a sticker for everybody.  I also spent the time telling myself I was riding out of this dealer on 2 wheels, and I was going to catch up with the boys if they get me out of here by 3pm.

At 1pm, time for my pestering inquiry as to what is the current status.  The battery is good, and the technician is now the phone with Harley Tech Support to help proceed  Great, I can still ride on 2 wheels today, I keep telling myself.

I sat with Rick in the service lobby, with a tv in the corner playing 50 year old reruns of Gunsmoke.  Really, it’s 2022, can’t we get into the current century of rerun tv!  Maybe some Two & ½ men or something.

Anyway around 1:30 I was getting hungry, so Rick drove me around town in circles with the truck and trailer, trying to find a place we could pull into for some takeout.  Just when we located a Burger King, my phone rings with a local number from Omaha.  The service writer tells me that Harley Support wants them to take the starter off, run a volt test on that, and work backwards from there.  And there are a lot of parts to take off to get to the starter. 

I interrupt him and tell him to get it ready to load, I’m not staying the night in Omaha, especially with still not a guarantee that the bike will be fixed after all this.  I’ll take it to Ray’Cs HD in Lapeer MI for this.  So we skipped the Burger King, hightailed it back to the dealer, loaded and strapped the bike down, and off to Peoria IL to catch up with the others.  It was around 2:30 pm.  My ride on 2 wheels is over.  The rest of my trip is looking thru the windshield of this Ford Super Duty 250, from the passenger seat.

Apparently Hedgie had a few problems with his Panamerica on his ride as well.  While cruising down a busy state highway, at speed, his bike went into “limp”mode, and dramatically slowed to 25 mph. Not fun when there is a loaded down concrete truck rolling behind you, and blaring the horn as your bike has no concern that it is putting you into peril.  I hear this limp mode was activated twice during his travels yesterday.  Not a fun situation to be in.

Rick & I hot lapped the truck & trailer into Peoria, about 420 miles out.  We got into town around 8:40pm and had to pick Monkey, Ski Doo and Hedge up at the restaurant they had just finished dinner at, because the Uber driver that dropped them off, was going off shift after that drop off, and their Uber app didn’t show any other drivers available for the return trip to the hotel.

After we parked the truck and trailer out front of the hotel, we proceeded to tailgate with the iced down cooler, until that was drained by about 11pm.  One by one we meandered off to our respective rooms.

Tomorrow, Wednesday July 27, 2022, our destination is Plymouth Indiana.  This is the nearest town to where Hedge and Ski Doo live, that has a Holiday Inn Express.  Their ride will be complete at the end of the day. We are planning on having dinner and celebratory drinks at the Wings Etc in Plymouth tonight, if anybody would like to join us.

Monkey & my plan is that my wife, Julie, is going to leave Flint and drive my truck and motorcycle trailer to the Holiday Inn in Plymouth, and join us for dinner and drinks, and I will load my bike and gear in my own trailer to get my crap home.  I will be the support vehicle for Monkey on his final leg of the ride tomorrow, Wednesday July 28, 2022, to get home.  Not that he will need the support, the KTM’s have performed flawlessly on this trip, and I fully expect that to continue.

We shall see,

Bye for now,

Stick

Day 21 July 25 2022: The Gremlin Bells Are Not Working

Day 21 and we have landed in Syracuse Nebraska at around 6pm local time.  The only sights we passed today was just about every John Deere farming implement dealer in the world.  Makes sense, because other than every farm equipment dealer in the world, we also passed billions or acres of corn and other crops. 

Anywho, last night we hung out in the hotel lounge where Jysicca (yes, I did spell that correctly) was not only the front desk attendant but also our bar tender.  She also had a heavy hand when it came to pouring the Russian corn juice.  By the time we had finished doing what I hope is our last load of laundry on the road, it was approaching 8pm.  It was Sunday night in the metropolis of McCook Nebraska, and there was not many choices for dining out.  Jysicca recommended a favorite local pizza joint for us to get take out, but when we called, they were not taking orders due to being booked for a comedy show that evening. Ok, Pizza Hut it is.

We took our paper plates of pizza and wings to the outside patio space that was blockaded with a white aluminum stockade fence, and enjoyed the very pleasant evening outdoors.  We continued our conversations for the rest of the evening around that table, and it was a great evening with friends.  Sorry, I was wrapped up in the moment, and didn’t think to get any pictures of our night.

From the weather reports we were looking at Sunday night, we knew we would not be having an early departure on Monday.  There was a big rain cell moving in over night, and it was moving in the same direction we need to be moving… East. 

Around 9:30am, I was done catching up with my real work on my tablet, the bag was packed, and we were showered and ready, but the rain was still falling, but getting lighter.  I called Hedgie to get their opinion, and we all agreed to a roughly 10:30am start time.  Rain or shine, this circus has to move to the next town.

We were on the road before 11am, with a light drizzle heavy mist falling on our windscreens.  The rain would intermittently be light or misty thru out the day, and our ride.  No biggie, we have the proper gear for the occasion, and quite honestly it was enjoyable to me for these conditions.  It wasn’t the high desert heat melting us, and there sure wasn’t anything to look at riding thru Nebraska, might as well enjoy the cool temperatures of 63 degrees and rain.

I guess it was around 2:30/3pm when we got to Hastings Nebraska and found the Goldenrod Café.  It was a good time to stop, we had caught up with the heaviest part of the rain cell in front of us, and a grilled cheese and bowl of chili would be good right about now.   So, 4 grilled cheeses and bowls of chili were ordered and delivered.  Brother Rick came thru town not much longer after our arrival, so we ordered him a cheeseburger all dressed, and he joined us for our lunch stop.  Wish I could say we warmed up and dried out at the little café, but we sat right under the air conditioning vents and it felt like they had the air on blast.   But the food was good, can’t have everything.

After lunch, we topped off the fuel tanks, and headed back in to the land of John Deere.  We stopped occasionally for quick rest, but pretty much kept rolling.  What else are you going to do in Nebraska?

After about 220 miles, we came across a small one bar town, and stopped in at the one bar, for another quick rest.  After everybody that ordered a soft drink consumed their soft drink, back on the road we were.  Most of them anyways.

I mounted my bike, and turned the power switch on.  My Bluetooth helmet had not been synching for most of the day and I wanted to see if it would finally synch this time.  Nope.  So I put my riding gloves on and fired up the bike.  Put it in gear and began to roll out the clutch when it shut down.  The kickstand was still down, and as a safety feature, it shuts the bike down.  Ok, kickstand up, push the fire up button.  Nothing. Notta, zilch. 

The guys rallied around me and my dead bike.  We tried different scenarios to get it to fire with no luck.  We put a battery pack on the positive cable to see if that would help. Nothing. Notta, zilch.

Brother Rick, get the trailer over here, it’s getting loaded up, I’m not holding up the guys and their ride. It was around 5:15pm and as I rode shot gun in the truck with Brother Rick, I started calling the local HD dealership to see how late the service department will be open.  6pm is the closing time, but they gave me a few ideas to try when we get in, to do a hard reset of the ignition and such.

Brother Rick & I got into the Syracuse Inn & Suites around 6:15pm, just behind the boys on bikes.  They already had our rooms checked in, so after unloading our gear, the time came to crack a few cold ones and try the suggestions to get my bike back up and running.  I did the quick on/off of the power switch 3 times with a 3 second pause between offs, as suggested by the HD service department.  No luck.  Still dead.  Monkey and Ski Doo took the skid plate off for access to the battery to disconnect it and attempt to reset whatever is defaulting.  While doing that, there is a 15 amp fuse that monkey pulled out to check, and broke while replacing it.  Ski Doo and I walked over the local gas station/convenience store across the parking lot and got a fresh pack of fuses.

While checking out, Ski Doo noticed the display case with the shooter bottles of different liquors, and we made the joint decision that this called for a FireBall for each of us.  We stepped out on the sidewalk cracked the shooter bottles, toasted each other and laughed our way back to the trailer where Monkey was impatiently waiting for us. 

Fuse replace, battery disconnected, and re-connected and still Nothing. Notta, zilch.  We tied the bike back down and Ski Doo and I proceeded to drain the cooler of the cold rocky mountains.  Hedgie and Monkey bounced in and out of our session, and that was the rest of our night. 

While we were having our session, a friendly fella by the name of Dave, who owns a mobile “hardware” for the farmers around the midwest, joined us for a few cold ones and lively conversation as well. He was quite the hoot, and even I can remember his wedding date: June 9; get it 6/9. Enjoyed his company and I think he enjoyed ours as well.

Dinner was exceptional. Before bed we decided we better do better than the pork chops in a can we had been consuming. The only options left open was the same convenience store/gas station across the parking lot. We wound getting premade/prepackaged sandwiches from the cooler. Chicken salad, ham and cheese and turkey and cheese. Oh boy. After chowing those down in the hotel lobby, and a few quick spins on the lobby slot machine and we were DUN, done.

Brother Rick & I headed to the HD dealer in Omaha, that opens at 9am, we have a departure time of 8am.  Hopefully I will be back on 2 wheels before noon.

We shall see,

Bye for now Stick

Day 20 July 24 2022... Welcome to Nebraska

Day 20 is in the book, and we are in McCook Nebraska, at the Cobblestone Hotel.  Fortunately there is a bar in the lobby, and there are cold rocky mountains in the cooler and Monkey is the last to show, so that means he gets the bar tab!

This morning Ski Doo, Hedgie and Brother Rick found the Waffle House next to the hotel for breakfast. Good choice compared to the “complimentary” breakfast bar that was available at the Clarion.  I should have had the All Star Breakfast with hashbrowns all the way (hashbrowns with ham, mushrooms, green peppers cheese, chili and breakfast gravy) them, instead of the imitation eggs and sausage links that were offered.

Anywho, we had agreed last night that we were not setting a hard departure time this morning.  We were ready for a bit of rest, and a more leisurely take off.  I took the time to write yesterday’s stupid blog, and I don’t know what the others did with their time off.  I know Hedgie didn’t do any of the prep work he wanted to do on his bike, because he waited until about 10 minutes before we decided to leave to do the maintenance.  His exhaust pipe puts off so much heat on his HD Panamerica that he coolant hose had started to get some heat damage.  Him & Monkey rode down to the local auto parts store to get some exhaust tape to wrap it.

It was about 11:45am when we finally departed Ft Collins, in the eastbound direction, towards Nebraska.  While Hedgie and Monkey were gone on a parts run, we stood by the bikes and bantered about what our goals were for the day.  We both agreed we’d be happy if we just got 150-180 miles down the road, and called it good.

About 100 miles in, we stopped in Sterling, CO, for a bite bit of lunch at the River City Grill.  We took the time to download the Idaho State Lottery Commission app so I could scan the 110 or so Mega Millions tickets we had.  We turned 400$ into 14$. We also discussed our continued path, and decided the extra rest this morning did wonders for us, and we all felt we should run more about 250 miles today.

Ski Doo got his techno fingers working on his cell phone and determined that McCook Nebraska fit the ticket, so to speak.  We switched time zones again, and are now in the Central time zone, and got in right around 6pm.

We stopped at the Welcome to Nebraska sign for the obligatory photo op, and proceeded on from there down the long straight roads thru more crop fields and so on and such.  We got a little excitement after we started our progression.  Ski Doo & Hedgie lined up on the paved, deserted, road and a little full throttle blast, KTM vs Harley.  Looked pretty close for me to judge.  But I got to have a little fun too.  They didn’t see me twist the throttle behind them and I jumped into the un-coming traffic lane (oxymoron, there was no oncoming traffic) and when they shut down, I stayed in it and blasted right past Ski Doo.  As we got back to normal running speed he pulled up beside me and gave me the thumbs up, and said I got him good on that one, he had no idea I was out there until I blew by him and scared the bejeezus our of him. 

But the excitement was not done yet.  Ski Doo & I were out front, when we realized Monkey & Hedgie were no longer behind us.  We pulled over in a deserted old drive, and just then Monkey was calling Ski Doo on the blue tooth.  We had to turn around and go back.  Hedgie’s dash had lit up like the northern lights and his bike was in limp mode again.  Oh boy.

By the time we got back on the scene, Hedge had already turned off and reset his bike and the dash went back to normal.  We took a couple minutes to figure out how to clear the error codes in the diagnostic screen, and down the boring road we went.

Not much to write about since then, the roads are boring and much like North Dakota.  The weather is favorable, high of about 91 my dash told me.  There is a storm front behind us, that will determine our departure in the morning.

We are pretty much in get home mode, I believe.  There is not much scenery here or Griswaldy things to do between here and there.  Now don’t confuse that with we are going to rush or anything, we have the attention span of a pack of squirrels, we could change direction at any moment.

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick

Day 19 July 23 2022... Just Another Beautiful Ride Thru Wyoming

Day 19 and when you think you can’t see anything new or better than you already have, you get a surprise.  We are landed in Fort Collins Colorado at the Clarion Hotel.  I’m sure this was quite a place… in the 1980’s.

Last night we hopped across the busy 4 lane road out front of our hotel, to the Mexican joint attached to the hotel across the road.  Pretty decent Mexican fare, with wet burritos, enchiladas, and chips, cheese salsa and Hedgie had an extra order of jalapeno’s.  For the life of me I can’t figure out how he keeps ordering jalapenos on this ride. A couple margaritas, and we sat in the adjoining bar to finish our drinks before heading home to bed.

We were also discussing the ways we were going to spend the $630 million we were planning on winning in that evening’s Mega Millions. We each bought $100 worth of easy picks in Idaho, and SP, our buddy and fellow degenerate lottery player back home, put together a group of 4 that each thru $100 in to buy some easy picks!  We were for sure going to be renting a jet to fly the eight of us back to Idaho to collect our winnings, and then we are going to drop in to Vegas on our return trip for a night of high rolling time.  We beat the system!

This morning, we are headed to Fort Collins, and our path out is State Road 430.  I don’t know about you, but when I envision a motorcycle ride out west, this is the vision in my head.  A lonely 2 lane road, the only traffic is 4 weary motorcycle riders, beautiful rock faced mountains on both sides, in the distance, mostly sunny skies, with partial clouds, temperatures in the high 60’s (storm clouds in the far off distance, opposite direction) and the Eagles playing in your Bluetooth helmet speakers.  This is the ride we had.  Picture perfect.

We came across County Road 4 about 40 miles down 430, and took that dirt/gravel road for about 40 miles into Baggs Wyoming for fuel.  The county road 4 was so barren, it was eerie.  We stopped for a short rest, and I told the guys, if I hear a banjo start playing the Deliverance tune, I am the eff out of here!

A quick fueling, and a short rest in Baggs, and back on the road.  Many more miles of smiles as we traveled these perfect “out west” roads.  We came across the small village of Encampment Wyoming, and found the 2 bar/restaurants in town;  The Mangy Moose and the Bear Trap, right next to each other. 

We pulled in to the fenced in, grassy/gravel parking lot next to the Mangy Moose, saw the sign stating Mangy Moose parking only, and were about to begin a conversation amongst ourselves about which restaurant we were going in to.  Before we could start the decision making, a tiny lady hung her head out of the sliding window on the side of the Mangy Moose, and said, “You’re finally here, come in get your cheeseburgers, the best in town!”  The decision was made for us. 

I’m pretty sure it was her husband who had the cooking station set up on the front covered deck, with a Blackstone Griddle for cooking the best burgers in town.  We enjoyed our short lunch visit with the husband/wife proprietors. Bought a couple long sleeve t-shirts from her, gave her our home addresses so she could  mail us a couple stickers when she get’s them restocked, and he engaged with us on the local riding scene and how he is in the market for an HD Panamerica.  Great stop, and I highly recommend it if you find yourself near Encampment WY.

Thru out the day we intermittently stopped to put our rain gear on, take our rain gear off, put our rain gear on, as the showers were sporadic all day.  Nothing really heavy ever hit, even though it looked like a wall of rain we were running into several times, as it dispersed usually be the time we reach the weather cell.

We saddled back up, and continued down the road, to Colorado.  Thanks to a recommendation from the friendly cook at the Mangy Moose we took the path thru the Roosevelt National Park. I really can’t even put into words how majestic the ride thru this national park is.  The road travels along the river, with just unbelievable rock faced mountains on the other side of you.  There are lots of camping sites, that looked pretty full on this Saturday in July, as well as the fly fisherman, and white water rapids inflatables braving the rapids.  Unfortunately, my description is all your going to get.  During the last rain gear strip down, I left my phone in my rain gear,  strapped to the back of my bike, and I was not able to get any pictures from the phone mount on my handlebars.  I am just as aggravated, you really are missing out on what we saw from the saddle!

But I better back up to our entry into Colorado.  We saw the Welcome to Colorado sign, and needed to get our group picture.  As the other 3 were positioning their bikes in front of the sign, I was trying to position my bike as the camera stand.  As I was doing that, I stopped in a low spot in the median, and my short legs couldn’t adequately square up on the uneven terrain, let alone try and get the kickstand down, and  I wasn’t going to fight it, as it was leaning to the left, I just said screw it, and jumped out before I smashed a toe again.  No harm no foul.

We finally arrived in Fort Collins around 4:30pm.  Fort Collings is a cool little Colorado college town, with an a bustling down town with plenty of restaurants and bars and night life.  After quick showers, and short rests, Stick, Hedgie and Ski Doo were ready to uber from the expressway located hotel to the nicer part of town.  Monkey and Brother Rick took the truck to visit a pal of his in the area, and would meet up with us later for dinner and a ride home.

But I better back up again.  As we pulled under the portico of the Clarion Hotel, everybody was disembarking from their machines, and I hear a hustle and bustle behind me.  I look back and see Hedgie getting pictures of Monkey and his bike, leaning on it’s left side. I inquired with the Monk about what happened, did the curb get in the way?  No. He just forgot to put the kickstand down!  That’s our Monkey.

We uber-ed to College Street and got dropped off at, of all things, The Whiskey Bar.  The friendly young man behind the counter made up 3 Old Fashions with his choice of flavors.  I’m not much of a whiskey consumers, but these were pretty darn good.  He must’ve enjoyed our company as well, as gave us each a free shot of whiskey while we were waiting for our drinks to be prepared.  Thank you young man.

As we were finishing up our tasty beverage, Monkey and Brother Rick arrived.  Monkey had his obligatory Old Fashioned, the rest of us downshifted to a draft beer to maintain our wits, off to dinner we went.

We walked down about 2 blocks, and across the street, to Austin’s American Grill. I saw a couple Bison meatloafs come out, and I think Hedgie and I shared the cobb salad with grilled chicken.  I also tried the French Onion Soup as a starter.  To Truck Driver Vinnie from the Frostbytes edition, the Onion Soup was a .5 star at best.  No comparison to our Onion Soup tastings in Quebec.

Anywho, we are over 5,100 miles in on this ride, and we are starting late tomorrow, Sunday the 24th of July 2022.  We have had several over 350 mile days the last few days, and are ready for a leisurely start to our day.

And, in case you were wondering, don’t book that private jet to Idaho just yet.  Our numbers didn’t hit on the Mega Millions.  But we still have alot of tickets to scan Ski Doo has apparently never bought a lottery ticket before and bought 50 easy picks, all on separate print out slips! I am sure our luck will be better on the next drawing!

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick

Day 18 July 22 2022; You Left On 2 Wheels, You're Coming In On 2 Wheels

Day 18 is complete after about 373 miles today.  Much better weather conditions, and the end, for a few days, of highway riding.  We are back in Wyoming, in Rock Springs at the Rock Springs Baymont motel.  The boys are out front talking smack, and having a couple cold ones, with a couple other Harley riders that are in for the night.  And I am writing this stupid blog again.

Last night in Jerome, Idaho, we went to dinner at Fat Clarence’s Grille.  Simple bar fare was had, and a couple tall, large rocky mountains.  Not to much to write about that, hot wings and salads is what went around.

Back to the hotel by 9pm, and your writer turned in.  I believe the rest of them hung out in the pool area, having a couple night caps.  Call time was for between 7am and 7:30.  It was closer to 7:30 when Ski Doo Matt came out of hibernation, and we were ready to launch.  Got off to a smooth start, until we didn’t.

As we came off the entrance ramp of I-84 headed east, Stick looked in his rear view mirror and couldn’t see Hedgie anywhere to be.  I rolled up next to Ski Doo and game him the slow down hand motion, and pointed behind us.  After another mile of no Hedgie in sight, we pulled over on the shoulder of the busy highway, and called him.  His bike had gone into “limp”mode, and would not accelerate beyond 25 mph. 

We were pulled over just past an exit ramp, and he finally appeared, and exited the highway behind us.  We cut thru the grassy median, and followed him down the exit ramp.  He shut down, and restarted the bike and the dash lights were now now longer flashing every color in the rainbow.  He tried to accelerate up the entrance ramp directly in front of us, and it shut down again. 

We decided to call Monkey Brother back, he had just passed us as we sat on the exit ramp, on the highway above us.  Once we knew Monkey Brother was in route for pick up, the remaining 3 of us decided the only thing for us to do was to continue on towards our destination.  The other 2 would go to the Golden Spike H-D dealer in Riverdale Utah.  It was the closest dealer without backtracking, and keeping them going in a forward direction. 

Anywho, our day continued on.  The temps were much more moderate, and we trucked along without issue for a good spell. 

After I don’t recall how many miles, we were done with I-84 and back on to the one & two lane roads we prefer.  Interstate 30 was our road for the majority of our day.  We crossed back into Wyoming, and the scenery was just beautiful all day. 

When we stopped for our group picture at the Wyoming sign, we looked back at the road we had just traveled and saw the welcome to Idaho sign.  So we rolled Monkey over there to get his picture with the Idaho sign because he missed the group photo the day we crossed into Idaho, because he was driving the truck/trailer and picking Monkey Brother Rick up in Jackson Hole.

Time to move on, we’ve got quite a few miles to knock down still.  As we were travelling the somewhat curvy roads we came across a horrendous accident that involved a semi and mini van.  The Semi was across the oncoming traffic lane, and had a mini van pinned into the side of the mountain.  It did not look good, but our prayers are to those involved.

We continued on, the temps in the mid 80’s and comfortable today.  We ran thru a few areas where the roads were wet from a recent shower, and when we came around another curve, we could see a wall of rain about 5 miles in front of us.  We pulled over into a roadside pull out, put our rain gear, talked for a moment, and as we were about to remount our bikes, we looked forward and it looked like the dark cloud storm front was actually 2 separate storm clouds, and there appeared to be a split in between them.  We hustled our departure, with any luck we will split the clouds and evade the down pour of rain.

Luck was with us, we got a few big drops on helmet shields, but nothing too bad.  Onward we went until we came across Little America at the cross roads of I-30 and I-80.  It was time for refueling, and a quick bite to eat.

Little America is just a big tourist catch, that has a cafeteria walk up counter to order your food, wait for your number to be called (not very quickly either) and go back and grab your puke and choke.  We quickly departed the crowded facility and got our gear on and ready.  But not so quick, usually Ski Doo is one of the first ready to mount up and go.  He wasn’t so quick after lunch.  I inquired in the only manner I know and asked what was up? You ready? He replied, I am not real excited about getting my arse back on this bike right now!  I laughed out loud, because I cleaned up his response dramatically for this blog, and his actual words would be inappropriate for you kids at home.  He finally came to terms with the promise that one more mount up and the next stop would be a cold rocky mountain when he got in.  You just got to know what motivates your crowd.

As we re-entered I-80 for the remaining 30 or so miles in to Rock Springs, the first billboard I see is for the Flaming Gorge H-D dealer that is at the exit about 11 miles from our destination.  I let Ski Doo continue down the highway un-aware that I was planning on stopping in for a t-shirt, shot glass and sticker, until the final mile when I passed him and led him and Monkey down the exit ramp.  At the stop sign he inquired in not quite these terms, what are you doing?  I said, Harley dealer this exit!  He replied, Oh, you saw the sign. Yes, yes I did.  And it turned out to be a good stop too.

As we were pulling into the parking lot of the strip plaza that the dealer is located in, Hedgie was calling my phone wanting to know if we wanted them to stop at Flaming Gorge H-D for the t-shirt, shot glass and sticker!  I inquired where exactly was their location and he said they were 1 mile from the exit.  Perfect, I exclaimed.  We just pulled into the parking lot, and to meet us here, and he can unload his bike and ride in the last 11 miles with us! Perfect!

Ski Doo even enjoyed his visit at the HD dealer, as they offered each of us a cold Bud Light while we browsed for our desired t-shirts.  As we checking out, Hedgie came thru the door and we all fist bumped his return to the pack.

His trip to Golden Spike HD was a success.  His Technician, BS, was extremely helpful and accommodating to this traveling Harley Rider.  BS quickly diagnosed the problem as a plug wire that connects to the ECM (electronic computer module) was routed incorrectly, and was routed over the clutch cable, and should have been under the clutch cable.  The continuous use of the clutch eventually dislodged the plug wire enough to put the bike into limp mode.  BS took the bike for a quick test run, ran it thru it’s paces, and turned it back over to Hedgehog. 

After our purchases at Flaming Gorge HD, we unloaded Hedgie’s bike, threw his helmet at him, and said get on, you started today on 2 wheels, you’re finishing on 2 wheels. 

After the quick 11 miles in, we were in for the night. 

Tomorrow’s target city is Fort Collins, Colorado.  I hear rumors we may even have a double night in Fort Collins.

We shall see.

And, again, today was not a good picture day for me but I got a few.

Bye for now,

Stick

Day 17 July 21 2022; Have I Told You It's Hot Out Here?

Day 17 complete after about 340 miles.  We are at a trip total of around 4,400 miles.  We have landed in Jerome, Idaho.  The convection oven heat continues.

Last night was a great experience in Pendleton Oregon.  Quite a nice town, with a population of around 17,000.  We were told by our friendly bartender/server that number swells to 80,000 the 2nd week of September when the rodeo comes to town.

Our Dinner was at the Hamley Steakhouse & Saloon.  What a gem to find.  A classic turn of the century saloon converted into a fine dining establishment.  And a beautiful Brunswick wood bar back and top.  Just amazing to see the craftsmanship and ornateness of the place.  And the dinner, oh boy, the friendly and chatty bar tender recommended the soft ball cut house sirloin.  Make it 5 of them, sir.  It was absolutely the best sirloin we have had, with a few peppercorn kernels garnished on top, a side of mashed taters with brown gravy and the bacon cooked green beans.  Oh boy, it was an excellent recommendation.  Even better, Ski Doo Matt lost the Rock, Paper, Scissors match between himself and Hedgie, and dinner is always better when someone else gets the tab!

After dinner, we had to venture into the Rainbow Bar, another establishment that has been in continuous operation for over 115 years if I remember correctly.  A lively mix of locals had the place hopping on a Wednesday night. Both of the above establishments are worth the visit if you just so happen to be near Pendleton, OR.

We were turned in pretty early, as we wanted to get on the road by 7-7:30am this morning to try and beat the heat the best we could.  Mission accomplished, after our quick continental breakfast, but after 40 miles on the road, we came to a dead stop on I-84 due to an accident on the highway.  The rumor, from the friendly truck driver parked in the slow lane next to us, was that some one was being pursued in a highspeed chase, lost control, and was splattered across the highway.  His description, not mine. 

As we shut the bikes off and put the kickstands down, a grumble was felt, and sweat begin to bead on my forehead, and anxiety set in.  Nature was calling, and we are stuck on the expressway.  I quickly ran options thru my head about how to solve this problem.  I grabbed the handy nature paper out of my emergency saddlebag, like American Express, never leave home without it.  And started to play scenarios thru my head about how this was going to go.  The least of my concerns was the 3 camera phones that would inevitably be trained on me if I just used the side of the road median without abandon.  But after a quick look around for my options, at the top of the hill of the median, there was a fenced in electrical box.  With a walk thru gate.  Now, just make it there.  I get to the gate, it’s chained shut, but it didn’t take long for me to climb the ladder like rungs and take privacy on the back side of the screened fence.  And the only pictures are of my trek to privacy, thankfully.  Other than a few comical remarks from the friendly truck driver, my dilemma was resolved, and all was right in my little world again.

Anywho, after about 30-40 minutes, a few laughs, a few selfie pictures, and we were back headed South East to where, we still didn’t know yet.  Just somewhere on the other side of Boise, Idaho.  When the heat becomes overwhelming, we will find a layover place.

Not much else to talk about, we ran I-84 all day because we are just trying to get on a path headed back east, towards home, and we didn’t want to run roads, or go thru towns we have already traveled.  Around 2pm local time, we are now back in the Mountain time zone, we stopped at gas station/Burger King to start figuring out our overnight town.  The heat had climbed to about 96 degrees, and rising.  While eating our whoppers/chicken sandwiches with onion rings, Monkey Brother Rick found us a place about 80 miles further south, just short of Twin Falls, ID.  We were hoping for only about 40 miles, but apparently motels are filling up around here from some reason we can’t determine. The Best Western in Jerome, ID is our first available.  Book it, Dano.

We got in around 3:15pm, hot and wore out from the heat.  The heat is taking it’s toll on us, but we just keep telling ourselves that ice cold chest of rocky mountains will solve our problems.  While the weather is heated, our companionship is not.  We are having a blast thru it all.

After check in, Monkey and Hedgie took a dip in the indoor pool, Ski Doo took his customary hot shower (we still can’t figure that one out, the rest of us are taking cold showers),  and I’m working on this stupid blog for my 7 followers… if you are still there? 

I am in the lobby at the computer station, Monkey & Ski Doo are sitting in the wood and fabric lounge chairs working on tomorrow’s destination.  We will probably try and leave even earlier tomorrow, because the heat forecast for tomorrow is a high of 105… gross.

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick

Day 16 July 20 2022...Out of the cool refreshing flora of Oregon, and back in to convection oven of Oregon

Day 16 started off at a brisk 58 degrees, with my sweatshirt on under my riding jacket.  May have even turned the handwarmers on for a minute, you never know.  But boy oh boy, by the time we got in to Pendleton, Oregon, our overnight stay tonight, the temps were back up over 100 degrees.  But not to fear, Monkey Brother Rick has the ice chest filled with some cold tasty beverage for our cool down.

Yesterday afternoon, after Hedgehog and Monkey Brother mounted his new hard side box on his PanAm, which only took them 3 attempts, because “the paper instructions are useless”, we proceeded to tail gate in the parking lot.  While the 5 of us conversed and consumed, we noticed a couple of young men, guests of the same hotel, were setting up their Webber Smokey Joe Portable charcoal grill in the parking lot behind their car.  We were envious.  We bought a cheapo gas grill, actually Truck/Trail Brian purchased it for us, in case we were in some bodunk place for the night and we needed to cook our own dinner, and we have yet to use it.  Anywho, we struck up a conversation with the kind young men, discovered they were from up north near Portland, but are union electricians, and they were working with another Local in area, assisting with the rewire of the local hospital, and they were tired of eating fast food, so this was how they prepared dinner each night!  And boy, did they do it up right.  They had a big slab of fresh local salmon, and some great looking pork chops.  They generously offered us a taste of their salmon, and the boys ooohed and ahhed about how good it was.  We continued to banter with the young men for their entire cooking time, shared a few of our cold rocky mountains with them, and it was nice afternoon in the parking lot!

After tailgating the afternoon away, it was time for dinner.  Ski Doo had a liquid dinner and missed the dinner bell, the rest of us went about a ½ mile away to a local sports bar.  There was a 30-45 minute wait, and we weren’t really in the mood for a wait.  So we grabbed some McDonalds’s value meals and headed back to Stick and Monkey’s room for our gourmet dinner.  We ordered a couple cheeseburgers meal for Ski Doo in case he woke up hungry in the night, but apparently the bag was never opened.  We ate, and off to bed we were, the afternoon had taken it’s toll on our group.

This morning our call time was around 8:30am, but it was closer to 9:15am when we departed the parking lot.  It was nice cool morning for a ride, much desirable from the heat of the prior days.  We rolled north to outside Portland, stopped at the local Paradise H-D dealer for our t-shirt, shot glass and sticker.  While we were there, Hedgie had a conversation with the service manager about some cupping in his front tire.  This has been progressing since Rapid City SD. They got it documented, and gave him a reference number so he can get it taken care of with his local dealer when he gets back to Indiana.  So after about an hour, we were back on the trail.

The temps were now t-shirt weather, about 82 degrees and comfortable.  But that would change as we progressed east and along the Columbia River.  At some point, we crossed a steel grate bridge from Oregon into Washington state.  We grabbed some lunch at Carmens Restaurant, in Bingen WA.  We arrived when they were closing at about 1:45pm, but they were kind enough to stay open to feed us.  During lunch, we looked at our plotted route to Pendleton, and determined that we were going to stay in Washington and run about 90 miles along the Columbia River, before we crossed back into Oregon, and this would allow us to avoid the busy I-84 expressway.

It wound up being a great choice of road to journey.  To our left was the rocky mountains and pastures, to our right and below was a rail way, where we saw a locomotive hauling about 200 cars of coal going west, and below that the Columbia River, and below that the busy I-84 expressway.  It was a great ride and view for us.  The 2 lane road we were on was mostly desolate, with the occasional semi blowing by us, going west.  And we did pass two friendly State Patrol officers who chose to remain parked when we blew by them.  I am sure we were going the speed limit, is why (wink wink).

The temps were rising, my dash bounced from 99 to 103 degrees thru out the afternoon.  We found a last stop convenience store about ½ way thru the 99 mile trek thru Washington, and took advantage of some A/C, fresh water for thermoses, and Ski Doo & Hedgie stood in the walk in cooler for a few  minutes, at no extra charge.

Back on the road and about 90 miles to get in to Pendleton, OR around 5:20pm local time.  And it was hot, we were hot, the asphalt was hot… it’s just plain hot.

Monkey Brother Rick had the room A/C’s on blast for us, in our adjoining rooms.  I’m pretty sure Truck/trailer Brian would not be impressed with our local tonight.  The horseshoe parking court, with out door pool near the entrance, and drive up rooms with outside door access reminds me of what, back home in Flint, MI, would rent for by the hour.  But for Pendleton, this is the Hyatt Regency, baby.

There’s a bar around the corner that Hedgie said we have to visit this evening, the Rainbow Bar.  I’ll get some pictures when there.  We haven’t really discussed tomorrow’s destination, but I am pretty sure it’s going to be a hot ride for the next couple of days.

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick

Day 14 & 15 July 18/19 2022; Big Day On The Oregon Trail

Days 14 & 15 and something exciting has happened. 

Sunday night we were in Burns, Oregon, if you recall.  We found out pretty quickly that nothing much is happening on a Sunday night in the metropolis of Burns.  The town is pretty much shut down.  Good thing Monkey Brother Rick has the cooler overstocked with cold rocky mountains and lots of ice.  The only thing we could find for dinner was a local pizza joint, that closed at 8pm.  And it was 6:30pm, we better get on getting some pizza, boys. 

It was one of the nights on the road that I love the most. The 4 of us (Ski Doo was power napping after his afternoon at the pool) sat in Monkey’s & Stick’s room, put ice in the sink to keep our beers cold (the cooler was in Ski Doo’s room, this was to prevent any additional walking to the room next door, if you know what I mean), put the two extra large pizzas and some wings on the desk, turned on the Bluetooth speaker I carry for a night like this,  some classic rock playing in the back ground, and enjoyed our comradery hanging out in our room for the evening.  Nights like these are what you remember on a trip like this.

Yesterday morning’s call time was 7am, we are trying to beat the stifling heat we encounter each afternoon.  It was a brisk 58 degrees when we headed west on 20, thru even more High Desert.  We fueled up before leaving town, which was a good thing, because the first sign on our right said “Next Fuel 99 miles”.  More mountain plain riding for those first 84 miles, when we came across a small rest area on the right side.  A break was warranted, and their was a friendly gentleman from the town 40 miles up the road, that had set up a small folding table with hot coffee, still brewing in the pots and snacks available for a small donation. 

Suited back up and west we went. Our destination is Newport Oregon.  We were booked for about 325 miles for the day.  As we approach Bends, OR, the terrain evolved into the terrain we were expecting to see in Oregon.  Flush flora and many large trees along the road.  A welcome change and a beautiful sight.

We chose to take the Oregon Hwy Scenic route thru the Cascade Mountains.  About 15 miles into the passage, Ski Doo realized that we had about 100 miles of range for fuel on our bikes, but it was 130 miles to the first gas station.  Not much of a decision, a quick turn around, and back to Bends for fuel, and we saw all of the Scenic Bypass we were going to see, as we then took the direct route out of Bends.

Beautiful riding all afternoon, lots of beautiful scenery, went thru the tourist town of Sisters, OR, and more great riding conditions, as the temps were now more moderate and in the low 80’s unless you were at elevation, when they would dip to the low 70’s.  We came out of the mountain rode into a town I can’t remember, and found a restaurant, who’s name I can’t remember, across from a beautiful lake, who’s name I can’t remember  The lunch was excellent though, all made fresh.  No soup out of a can at that joint!

We now had about 80 miles to get to Newport.  And the wicks were turned up, when we got about 20 miles outside of Newport.  We hit a passing lane, I was riding beside Ski Doo, I gave him a head nod implying lets let her rip and get around these cars (there really was no question this was going to happen as we’ve been passing cars everywhere and anywhere for 14 days now).  He apparently took my head nod as to throttle up all the way in, because that’s what him & I did for 20 miles, running hot and having a blast on the curvy mountain roads.  Exhilarating ride in for him & I.  Monkey and Hedghog caught us at the first light in Newport, but it wasn’t for their lack of trying, we just made quicker moves around cars on our path.

At that first light, we looked to our left, and there she lay…

WE MADE IT TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our overnight stay was at the Hallmark Resort right on the beach that was right in front of the Pacific Ocean.  We quickly checked in, and took our bikes to ocean overlook between buildings for our picture with the Pacific in the background.  We were exhilarated.  14 days and neary 3,800 miles later, with no set agenda for where of when we would hit the Pacific, and there we were!  Our next night stays are usually discussed over a couple cold ones either at the tail gate or in a hotel room, before dinner.  We just estimate how many miles we want to ride the next day, start looking at google maps and SkiDoo’s GPS unit and find a town that is close to the mileage we want to do.  Then start looking for a hotel, and make the room reservation.  No planning more than 24 hours in advance.

After a few quick photos for the record books, and it we were unpacking and gathering in Hedghog’s and SkiDoo’s room where the cooler had been delivered.  As were unpacking the bikes, Nick, the hotel restaurant manager, struck up a conversation with us about our journey, and 1) suggested a scenic route out of town that we should take, and 2) offered to buy our first round at his bar/restaurant.  Very kind chap, that Nick.

Our phone text that our table was ready chimed in around 7:45pm local time, and we had one of the best dinners.  Large prawn shrimp cocktails, a dozen oyster shooters, some extremely strong horse radish that cleaned our nostrils out really good, and halibut fish & chips, crusted chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella and spinach, and I don’t remember the rest.  An excellent dinner with a view of the Pacific with the sun setting in the distance.  Can’t beat it.

This morning, Tuesday the 19th of July, we didn’t have a call time.  We celebrated our arrival to the Pacific in high fashion, retired to the room with the cooler, had a few and decided we were going to enjoy the evening and luxurious accommodations.  They booted us out of our rooms at noon, and by 12:15 we were on the road to the suggested scenic route to Lincoln Oregon. 

We were planning a short ride today, but I don’t think any of us expected it to be 46.4 miles short.  Anywho, we are taking advantage of the short ride day, got to our hotel at about 2:15pm, checked in and are doing preventative maintenance on the bikes.  Hedgehog is finally getting the time to install the hard sided top box on his H-D Panamerica, that he purchased last week at Black Hills H-D.  Monkey is doing oil changes, I am writing this stupid blog, and Ski Doo is doing what he does best (you’ll see in the picture)

I have no idea where our destination will be tomorrow, but I know we will be spending the next day or two riding the coastline into northern Washington State.

But if I didn’t tell you already…WE MADE IT TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!!!!!!!!!!

We shall see.

Bye for now,

Stick