23 Days of whatever I want

ColininKodiak · May 14, 2010

This is a living ride report. I'm installing this first bit from the Bozeman Brewing Company bar in MT, waiting for a long lost friend to arrive on foot. Basically I'm riding my GSPD from Salt Lake to Kodiak AK over the course of 23 days. I write a bit here and there when I'm camping and will install them whenever I find wifi.

Enjoy,

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style> Day 1 May 7<sup>th</sup> 2010
<o> </o>
Colin! came a voice I had heard over the phone several times leading up to the trip. I turned to meet Andy the service guy at the BMW shop in Sandy Utah. Hey man the bike isnt here yet, the truck driver called and said 11:30 tomorrow
<o> </o>
Shit I thought to myself, well better find something to do. The folks at the shop were very helpful and gave me a spot to put my stuff while I waited around trying to think of stuff to do. Im always game for looking at new bikes so I started to browse the new Beemers. A couple of the sales guys including the owner came over to chat for a while, they had all known about my fly and ride for a few weeks. The manager told me in typical salesman fashion I see you riding out of here on one of these instead of the Paris Dakar. I shrugged it off but he was insetent. Come on go get your gear on, I got one ready to go. I hesitsated for a while since dropping a 15,000 dollart bike would pretty much ruin me. Dont worry I got one with a low seat you can try. I geared up and hopped on a 2010 2100GS with 100 miles on it. One of the sales guys hopped on a GSA and off we went. What a machine, I was almost ready to pull the trigger after the ride when my brain kicked in.
<o> </o>
The guys at the shop got me a great rate at a local hotel and after a shower to wash off the stench of 3 red eye flights from Kodiak I wandered over to REI and bought some supplies. The phone rang a while later and it was one of the guys from the shop Sir your R100 just arrived, would you like to come see it? I was there in about 10 minutes and we had our first meeting.

ColininKodiak · May 14, 2010

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style> Background:

I bought the bike back in November after my dad found it in a weird way. He was cruising one of the land rover forums (were both rover nuts as well) when he found an ad WTT nice BMW R100GSPD for Series Rover Dad had a nice old rover he used for hauling his maple sap collection tank around and he just finished restoring a smaller one and was talking about selling the big one anyway. A trade was made and I scored the GSPD for the ridiculous price of $3800. It sat in dads barn for several months while I contemplated how I would ship it to Kodiak. My last bike shipping experience was mixed, the truckers for the lesser 48 half of the trip were awesome but the barge company took forever and then wouldnt give me the bike until I paid them $200 more than they quoted me. Im such a loser that I had managed to save up 74 days of leave from work so I put in for all of May off. After booking the shipping I took care of the rest of the paperwork and the bike was scheduled to be serviced in Salt Lake right before I arrived.

ColininKodiak · May 14, 2010

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CColin%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style> Day 2 May 8<sup>th</sup> 2010
I bummed around the hotel until noon when they kicked me out and then headed down to the shop, anxious to get on the road. When I arrived the mechanic was standing at the parts counter giving them a list of stuff he needed. I asked him how the bike was and he said Well we got your tires mounted like you wanted but I have to change the transmission.. and final driveoil. My heart skipped a beat but luckily it was just him talking slowly. He said they had water in them and that the bike looked like it had sat outside for a while. He told me to come back in a couple hours so I walked around the whitest (most non diverse) town I have ever seen in the sun and came back later in the afternoon. The news wasnt what I wanted to hear as I entered. Your battery is shot, it was on the charger all night but went flat after one crank. The bike fired but then went dead so I had to troubleshoot, found a loose wire going to your ecu. Ive got a new battery charging but I dont want to give you the bike til closing, and even then it wont be fully charged. I was used to bumming around the shop now so I continued to do the same. It was busy so I got to see a lot of neat bikes come and go, and even contemplated trading the PD in for a very nice 03 1150GSA with a low seat that fit me like butter. I started looking at Triumphs, and took a new 10 Bonneville out for a long test ride to kill time. Its now on my short list of new bikes in the next year or two. A couple guys rolled up on R90s, one a /6 and the other an S and so I BSd with them for a while. Turns out the S owner is from CT also and hes also a Land Rover nut, I think I met him at a meet a few years ago, but I got to add another to my list of Its a small world after all stories. Finally at quitting time the PD rolled out of the shop, went for its checkout ride and was given a clean bill of health. An $840 service and parts bill and a bit of packing later and I was headed south towards Moab to meet one of my best friends who was camping down there.
I15 was a parking lot so I took the surface roads through Sandy until I saw the highway was clear. I noticed the bike liked to wander back and forth, and when I pushed it one way it was worse coming back the other way. I had heard of the dreaded tank slapper, but never experienced it before. I should add now that this was the first time I had ever ridden a motorcycle outside of Kodiak Island AK, and that my PD is only the 4<sup>th</sup> bike I have ever ridden. (My F650, the Demo R1200, demo Boneville and now the PD) I got on the highway and found the bike had really long legs. Traffic was light so I decided to stretch them out and enjoy my newfound freedom. Andy had told me that Rt6 was the most fun but also the most dangerous road in Utah so when I hit it I backed off a bit, but I was the only vehicle on the road so I had a chance to get to know the bike a bit better. I was was sweeping back and forth lazily, trying to wear in the new tires and I found the bike really likes to overcorrect. I figured it was because it was so top heavy so the rest of the ride was a bit more reserved, though I still let it all hang out a couple times in some irresistable twisties. I recognized the road from a vacation I took as a kid 14 years ago so it was good to see some familiar ground.
Drew called me about an hour out of Price and said he was headed that way so we arranged a meeting place. No sooner had I pulled in Drew and some friends rolled up. I hadnt seen Drew in about 3 years and when I was done bearhugging him I got a nice surprise when his friends Bill and Jared walked around from behind the truck. They were all roommates in college and we had some pretty fun times raising hell in the woods of Vt so I was thrilled to see them too. I also met Drews frtiend Jim who had an old Range Rover, so he couldnt be that bad of a guy. After stocking up on Little Ceasers $5 pizzas and Killians we headed back into Nine Mile Canyon. Drew had camped here before and so he knew of a nice spot. We got there and he told me it was pretty gnarly going up to it. I got off and walked it and we scouted a line, something he and I used to do all the time together when we wheeled our land rovers all over New England. After moving some big rocks out of the way I headed up, my high beam lighting the way as my low beam was burned out. I stalled twice, and got stuck at one point and couldnt figure out why. Drew came upo and said I was high centered on a rock. After moving it I hauled ass up to the top and parked the bike, something which I am become increasingly comfortable doing now but was deathly afraid of the first few days. I just want to say whoever designed the R100GS sidestand needs to be shot.
We set up camp and Jared and I slammed a couple beers while the other guys who dont really drink just bummed around and we told old time stories from our college, and Drews and my high school days. I passed out that night under the tail of Haleys Comet

ColininKodiak · May 14, 2010

Day 3 May 9<sup>th</sup> 2010
I woke up feeling pretty rested after only my second night in my new tent. KodiakFrank loaned me his Big Agnes sleeping pad and Im determined to get my own now. Most of the guys slept under the stars despite scorpions and snakes, but after the trip they had just done those hazards seemed miniscule. They had just finished a 3 day off road expedition through the Maze District and originally I was supposed to meet them on their last night but since my bike arrived late we changed plans to our current camping spot. I was th last to strike camp, I chocked it up to my new setup and unfamiliarity with the bike. When it was time to go I rolled down to the hill I had just come up the night before and about shit my pants. I realized then why the other guys were so pumped to see me go up, as the trail I had done in the dark was something I might even think twice about doing in my rovers. I opted to walk the bike down and Drew and I carefully piloted it to the road, almost dumping it several times. Crashing here would have been a disaster.
Once on the road we decided to head off into the wildenress and check out some back roads of Nine Mile Canyon, which really goes on for a lot more. I got in the middle of Jareds Jeep and Jims Ranbge Rover and we spent the day cruising through the canyon. I realized somewhere about half way through the trip how dumb it was to be taking an untested and unfamiliar, way too big and heavy bike into the back country like this, but fuck it I was having fun. We ended up doing 100 miles of dirt trails and roads in some of the most beautiful country I have seen in a long time. The exit brought us to the top of a mountain, where the road dropped 2000 vertical feet through ninstop twisties. I plugged in some Afro Celt Sound System into the ipod and rocked it hard through the canyon. I dont think I had ever ridden so hard in my life as I had that day. I almost went back and did it again at the bottom but it was getting late so we decieded to head back to Drews house in SLC. We jumped on Rt6 and Jared blasted out of sight in his Jeep while Jim followed me. I picked up the speed a bit fromk the previous days pace and quickly found that a big top heavy bike and wind dont get along. At one point the bars became uncommanded and started to slap pretty hard. I didnt know what to do so I hit the brakes and it got worse, to the point of almost throwing me. I figured ok braking makes it worse, so Ill do the opposite I dropped 2 gears and pinned it and the bike instantly straightened up. The rest of the trip home was spent cruising in the slow lane at 60mph. When I got to Drews I popped the bike onto the center stand, something which proved to be impossible to do while loaded, and dropped the fork stanchions as far as I could, about 3/8. I dumped my bag out on Drews floor and started pitching useless weight like a huge mess kit among other things.
Drews roommate Max was really cool and offered to give my stuff to a good home. Max is a professional skiier and has people passing through on their way to all kinds of backcountry trips all the time. We spent the evening framing Maxs basement for drywall and watching Creed and Nickelback parody videos on youtube.

kodiakfrank · May 15, 2010

What?

No Pictures?

You can't tell me that somewhere in that 853 pounds of gear strapped to your bike you don't have a camera.:ddog

Great report, Colin.

BTW, Love the hill climb in the dark!

ColininKodiak · May 15, 2010

Lots of pics to come, just waiting to get them on the computer and be stopped long enough to get Wifi.

kodiakfrank · May 16, 2010

ColininKodiak · May 18, 2010

Here are some pics to go with the first few installments. I'm in 1/4 of the way up the Cassiar now. I just discovered that my camera is basically a POS but I'll continue adding pics anyway.

The bike in Camp, first night:

Drew and Bill discuss the days route:

We found some petroglyphs in 9 mile Canyon, Drew found some arrowheads but left them there:

Even the Ancients knew how to impress the ladies :

The GSPD loaded down:

The desert has some breathtaking terrain:

The bike moves on:

ColininKodiak · May 18, 2010

Day 4 May 10th 2010:

I got up after sleeping on a giant beanbag in Drews basement and started packing up. Bill had gotten up super early and had all the outlets wired by the time I was up. We went to breakfast at a trendy little place that used to be a garage and then after saying some goodbyes I was on my way. Max had told me about a road up through a canyon with lots of twisties and after getting lost on a college campus for almost 45 minutes I finally found the Emigration Canyon road.

While it wasn't as long as I was expecting, I did get to throw the bike through some twisties and I found that lowering the forks 1cm the night before had worked wonders for the handling. No more wobbling and it tracked straight as an arrow. I got on I15 after going through the mountains and saw my first GS heading the other way. I was so excited I stood up and waved my hand over my head. After a while I started thinking about it and realized I had pretty much given the other BMW rider the Nazi salute. If you're reading this that's not what I meant. :huh

About an hour into the ride I discovered that my rear pegs were in a perfect spot to allow me to stretch out, get behind the windshield and rest my helmet on the tank bag and ride superbike style. This cut down on the wind tremendously and I actually saw some fuel savings after doing it for a long time. I got on Rt 89 and rode up through the emptiness that is western Wyoming, most of this ride was pretty much a blur. I started to zone out after I'd set 5000 rpm's in 5th gear and the road stayed straight for miles. Most of the terrain looked like this:

About half way through the day I started seeing black sky ahead and knew I was in for my first rough weather. Sure enough it finally found me about an hour south of Jackson. With the grip heaters on high and the tank bag cover on I entered the black hole and everything went dark almost instantly. Snow was beginning to stick to my visor and I throttled back to lessen the sting on my neck. My body was beginning to go numb, despite my capilene long johns, steatshirt and First Gear Rainier all doing their jobs.The Rainier is a great jacket but my BMW summer pants leave a lot to be desired, particularly since they aren't waterproof.

After an hour of snow riding I stopped for gas and what felt like a ton of shush sloughed off me as I dismounted. I should add that by this time I was becoming somewhat of a natural at high kicks, which are necessary for a guy of 5' 7" to get on and off a GS. Finally the snow subsided as I entered the national forest south of Jackson. I pulled off and warmed my hands on the jugs for about 15 minutes to get the feeling back. The sun was setting as I rode the final hour into Jackson.

When I arrived I puttered through town looking for a place to stop, and found a public restroom. Inside was a shirtless man shaving in the sink so to kill the akwardness I asked if he knew of any spots to camp. He proceeded to talk to me for about ten minutes, then finally mentioned a KOA about 12 miles south. I headed back south in the dark, failing to take in any of Jackson, a move I now regret.

I pulled into the KOA, paid my $26.50 and set up camp. The owner came over and started looking the GS over, then told me about his KLR and said the neighbor across the street was a sponsored KTM rider. We parted ways and just as I laid down to bed the sky unleashed a torrent.

ColininKodiak · May 18, 2010

Day 5 May 11th 2010:

I woke up early that morning, mostly because I was freezing but also because I had to piss pretty bad. My 5 year old EMS 20 degree sleeping bag is on its last legs and had all kinds of dead spots where cold soaked right in. I had to get up in the middle of the night and wrap up in the small fleece blanket I had brought, but it wasn't much help.

The ground was muddy and saturated as I wandered over to the bathrooms for a shower. While I was packing up a guy came up from the whitewater rafting place down the hill and went "Whoa Sick Enduro!!!" We talked for a bit and he asked me my route. I said I wanted to go through Jackson and enter Yellowstone. He replied with a "No can do" and said the south entrance was still snowed in. My only way through was over the pass. Not being real familiar with the area I consulted the atlas Drew had given me and saw that Teton pass was something like 8900 feet. "Eh, it's only like 2500 feet higher than here, can't be too bad" I thought. Boy was I wrong. About half way up the road disappeared into a fog and I started seeing cars coming down covered with snow and the wipers blasting on high. "Oh great, well it is an adventure so fuck it" I thought. Having nowhere to turn around also influenced my decision to keep going. I thought of Drew and Bill and how much crazy stuff they do all the time and decided I didn't have a hair on my ass if I didn't keep going. By the time I reached the summit my left hand was numb from taking it off the grip heater to wipe my visor every 10 seconds. It made the previous days snow ride seem like a gentle flurry. I looked to one side and saw people skiing on the hill next to the road. By the time I reached the summit there was 6" of snow on the road and I was in first gear with my turn signal and high beam on so I wouldn't get run over. I thought about stopping for a picture, but then I noticed the turn offs were even deeper snow and dropping the PD up here would just about ruin my ride.

I coasted down the hill at about 5mph until I was in the clear, and then something snapped in my head and I started giggling like a little girl and slammed the throttle wide open until I was doing 70 through the twisties passing through the Idaho state line. I remembered to stop and take some pictures before I got too far down the mountain.

At the bottom of Teton Pass lies a little town called Victor. The streets are wide like an old west town and there were little cafe's everywhere. I decided to stop in to one for lunch. No sooner had I opened the door that I knew I had picked the right one. A cutie of about 6' with long curly hair greeted me with a smile and I replied with the same. I stripped my snowy jacket off and sat down and we started chatting. I told her about the trip a little bit and then ordered a Turkey and Cheese. She went off and started texting in the corner and then came back and started looking at the GS sitting out in the street. "Whats with the tires?" I ended up telling her the whole story of my trip so far and we talked so much that I was to the point where I normally would have asked the girl out and probably would have had I not just been passing through. She said she had just finished college with two bachelors degrees and now she was a full time ski bum in Idaho.

After lunch I hopped back on and rode for several hours with pretty much a blank mind. I got into my superbike pose and zoned out until I reached a turn off which led to a farm road. It was the first of many farm roads which would become a recurring theme as the trip went on. By this time I was getting really comfortable on the old GS. As the road went on, it got better and better, and I went faster and faster. I passed a new 1200GS and rider decked out in what looked like the entire Aerostitch and touratech catalogue. The road went on for about an hour until I reached the road leading into west Yellowstone. It wound up into another national forest, and finally ended on a huge plain.

I bundled up as the mercury dropped and rolled into West Yellowstone at about 2PM. While putting through town, as I had now begun to do in every town I stopped in I passed a new 1200GSA and turned around to follow it. The rider eluded me and finally I found it parked in the Imax theater lot.

It had all kinds of decals on the panniers from Australia, and I recognized the plate as being from there as well, though I didn't recognize the letters on top. They were WA and the only place I can think of is Waikato New Zealand, can someone fill me in on where this cool GS was from?

After checking with an outfitter who didn't have any 0 degree sleeping bags in stock I bought a park pass and headed into Yellowstone.

I stopped in at the Madison campground to confirm they had space and then rode down to see Old Faithful. It wasn't expected to go off for a while so I walked over to the store and bought a bottle of Moose Drool ( best brown ale ever) ad a 22 ouncer of Rogue Yellowstne ale which was quite good as well. I wish I had bought another to save for later. I headed back over to Old Faithful and sat there in front while hoards of Japanese tourists swarmed around me. An old Navy Vet and his wife were sitting next to me and I could hear him grumbling to himself as swarms of teenagers screamed and were generally annoying little assholes all around us, I watched the geyser steam for about half an hour and then it spat a little bit of water, which I filmed, but by this time I could take no more and got up and left. I saw another geyser go off in the distance and figured that was good enough.

As I was putting on my helmet I heard the crowd go "OOOOOOOOOHHHHH" The sound of the Airhead firing up drowned it out as I sped off to the campsite.

ColininKodiak · May 18, 2010

Day 6 May 12th 2010:

While I was registering my campsite the night before, chatting with the park attendant who had a R69S, I noticed the weather forecast said lows that night were 16. Waking up the next morning I found they were right. "Fuck this sleeping bag" I thought as I got up quickly and ran to the heated bathroom to take a baby wipe bath before holding my clothes against the heater so I wouldn't scream like a little girl when I put them on. I packed up camp as the sun came out and watched some elk down in the field below the campground. I left the GS on the sidestand that night and it was a bitch to start. The upper cylinder fired and was able to sustain the engine without the starter but it took a good 30 seconds and lots of smoke before it was on song. I rode north and hit construction soon after. Can someone fill me in on the rules, or courtesies regarding letting motorcycles through construction areas first, because I have never eaten so much dust in my life and the signal people yelled at me when I tried to get to the front.

When the construction cleared I pulled off to eat a clif bar next to a huge meadow while a constant stream of minivans and SUV's rolled by for 5 minutes. When I was done I had the whole road to myself and decided to head up further north. The snow was still very much in country in Yellowstone yet the roads were clear.

I stopped at another store and bought some more beer and a big hunk of salami. The woman there said I was the first bike in the park this year, and the icesickles hanging off the roof were a clear reminder of why. I rode east until I got to the lake and then turned around. The evidence of the fires was still there and I can only imagine what people must have thought when they were raging.

I must have passed at least a dozen Bison in the road, which were no big deal to me since we have a huge herd in Kodiak and I have been scared by them enough to know not to fly around blind corners lest one be in the road.

I rode back to the falls and hiked around for a bit, until several tour buses showed up and the place became mobbed.

I found out that if I waited 'til the buses showed up, then left I had the long narrow and twisty exit roads to myself, and they were a blast to rip around on in 3rd gear. I took every exit I could find, even if I didn't stop to see the attraction just so I could blast around on them.
North Yellowstone was much more beautiful than the southern parts I saw, though half the park was still closed due to snow.

I rolled into Mammoth Hot Springs and chatted with the nice couple running the campground, who also told me I was the first bike they had seen this year. They gave me the motorcycle only spot which was at the edge of the site and looked out at least 40 miles into Montana. I drank some beers and wrote the first three installments of this ride report in my tent before spending my last miserably cold night in my old sleeping bag.

Spicy McHaggis · May 18, 2010

Looking good so far man. Ride safe, and we'll see ya in a few weeks!

Alcan Rider · May 18, 2010

Good one! Keep it coming.

kodiakfrank · May 19, 2010

Great Report!

prometheus rising · May 19, 2010

Enjoying "tagging along" with you, great writing dude. Be safe, have a blast

Joe

SauS TaR-TaR · May 19, 2010

misterk · May 19, 2010

Awesome, thanks for writing this report. I am riding to yellowstone this summer during sturgis week.

JetWrench · May 21, 2010

Thanks for the ride report. Sounds like a great trip. Look me up whenever you come to Dothan.

ColininKodiak · May 23, 2010

Day 7 May 13th 2010:

After striking camp I decided I'd head east out of Mammoth Hot Springs and check out the rest of the park. I hit the road early and ride back towards the south a ways since I rushed through the day before. Going south I got a totally different perspective of the park. Instead of riding hard on a nice road I was back into the scenery and slowed way down. I spent most of the morning on a ten mile stretch of road stopping at every turn off to sit and observe. Once I rode up to a gaggle of cars sitting at the turn off. I shut the bike down and a guy asked me "Did you see it? It's right through the bushes over there." I assumed he meant a bear so I said no then started walking slowly down the road whistling as I went. When I came to a clearing there were 5 or 6 guys standing off about 50 yards so I walked over and they told me they hadn't seen anything, but when they stopped some people had told them there was a bear. I watched for a bit and didn't see anything so I figured I was just part of a continuing cycle of people who were told of a bear as they passed. I doubt there was really a bear anywhere nearby, but as I left I told the elderly couple who stopped that there was and they headed into the field. I'm sure they probably told the next people they saw that there was a bear also, though they didn't see it either.

I stopped again at a little clearing that had a stream running through it, nothing particularly special looking but I always like seeing natural clearings so I had to check it out. Upon closer inspection the stream was bubbling, I wonder if this was why there were no trees around.

Heading further south I stopped at Roaring Mountain, a feature I had completely missed the day before. I figured I was probably more focused on finding a passing line for the line of tourists in front of me. It took me a while to figure out why they called it Roaring Mountain. I could see steam, rising out all over it but the only sound I heard was the constant whoosh of cars passing by. Finally just before I was about to give up the cars stopped coming and I could hear the steam roaring out of the mountain, I wonder how much more of the park I missed due to cars passing by.

I turned around at Roaring Mountain and rode back to Mammoth Hot Springs, stopping at the falls just past the high meadow before the road dropped through some fun twisties through boulder gardens.

Past Mammoth the road wound East and I tried out my video camera mount on the bike, It ended in failure as the picture was so shaky I couldn't make anything out. The sound however was great once I figured out the wind block feature. Metzeler Sahara 3's are some noisy tires as they drowned out the sound of the engine in my videos. I came to a large meadow to the North of the road and the largest bison herd I have ever seen was grazing there.

After watching them for some time I rode on, enjoying the open highway and really stretching the GSPD's legs. After about half an hour I came to a huge mess of cars all over the road. I stopped to see what the commotion was about and someone pointed out a Sow black bear and two cubs by the river. I tried to get some pictures but they kept going behind some trees. Heading another quarter mile up the road there was another mess of cars so I stopped again, and this time was greeted by a herd of bighorn sheep.

Looking further up the hill I could see a Grizzly digging so I cranked the zoom on my camera up to 70x and set up the tripod. Normally seeing bears isn't that exciting for me, living among them daily in Kodiak, but for some reason my brain went into tourist mode and I watched it for half an hour.

I turned to head back to where the bike was parked but there was something in my way.

By mid day I was anxious to get back on the road so I headed back to Mammoth and rode north to Gardiner, then headed out towards Bozeman. Several hours of superbike pose later with nothing particularly noteworthy except the little town at the junction of the two roads which I rode through just to slow down a bit and observe. I had arrived back at I90 and took it into Bozeman. I wandered up and down mainstreet trying to find a shop that had sleeping bags and finally was told of one nearby that had a huge selection. Two hours later I had found the place, as I am horrible with directions, and I had actually passed it three times before seeing it. After BS'ing with the sales guy and telling him all about my trip and bike I had picked out a new Western Mountaineering 20 degree down bag and was back out at the bike. I called my friend Tony who I went to high school with because I remembered hm saying he was living in Bozeman. I left a message saying I'd be camping within an hour of town and I'd love to see him. I don't think we had seen each other for eight years.

Hopping back on I90 I headed west, looking for the campgrounds the guy in the store had shown me on the map. I saw a sign for Madison Buffalo Jump state park so I took the exit. After riding down a seven mile dirt road through horse pastures and farm country I found the park and checked in at the visitor sign. I pulled the GS around and realized the park was a lot smaller than I had thought. It was only about a mile square and had two camp sights but it would do. The view was amazing. I set up camp, cracked a beer and called my dad to update him on the trip. I hung up and went to shut my phone off for the night when it started buzzing. The caller ID said it was Tony and he was excited that I was nearby. He offered me his couch for the night but I refused saying I wouldn't give up my spot for the world right now, but we'd get breakfast in the morning in Bozeman. I went to bed staring off into Big Sky Country, and what a sky it was.