Way Out West

Thanks for the great RR. Very nice pic’s and information. Enjoy your ride to the Tetons.

Hope you don't miss Bisbee and Tombstone! Ride Charleston Road from Sierra Vista to Tombstone, then leave Tombstone towards Gleeson and hit the Rattlesnake Ranch right before Gleeson on the right, then on to Bisbee. Also, a nice ride from Tucson to Sierra Vista thru, the back road sorry can't remember the name of the town, goes toward Patagonia. Nice Pics so Far. Also, back way from Phoenix to Tucson thru Globe.

August 21
Left Afton ,Wyoming this morning headed for the Tetons. Before leaving I made arrangements for a badly needed rear tire to be installed in Cody on Friday at Mountain Valley Motorsports.

Rafting on the Snake River outside Jackson Hole


Beginning of Teton Pass


Wyoming art- small caliber rifle on road sign

The Tetons






I rode Teton Pass to see how the GoPro would do. No luck. I need more practice finding the controls at speed with gloves on. I'll download the app for my phone that allows preview and control with the phone when I have a signal.
I camped in Teton National Park just outside the border of Yellowstone. I am camped next to another solo woman motorcyclist. She owns a B& B in Gardner Montana and slipped away for some solo hiking leaving her KLR to mind the campsite.
There is Wifi in the laudromat but it is too overtaxed to upload photos or get the app for my Gopro. Maybe tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will do as much of Yellowstone as time allows and then get closer to Cody to stop for the night.

Thanks for the tips. I'm taking notes for a Southwest trip to be taken in cooler weather. August didn't seem like the best time to go to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. So I'm staying high on this trip.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Rocky Mountain Seafood ... I assume they serve regional "oysters" as well.

I appreciate the tip!

August 22
Got up early and went for a run. Came back and packed up.
Met a neighbor, Sjoerd, who was from Holland. He quit his job and is riding a bicycle from Alaska to Chile.Then to Australia.
He took a photo of me because he thought the bike was so big and I so small.
Rode through the southeastern corner of Yellowstone.



Mud geyser


I was off schedule from Old Faithful and rain was coming.
Rte 212 (the Beartooth Highway) was closed due to a fire. Much of the park that I saw showed signs of heavy fire damage.
This area was regenerating well.




Rode through Shoshone National park on the way to Cody.



I had thought I might camp there but the campgrounds were all posted hard sided campers only because of Grizzly bears.
Checked into the Best Western and went to see about my tire. It had not yet arrived. I will call in the morning.
I went home took a dip in the pool, had a shower and did laundry.
I bought a ticket for the Rodeo.



If you are in town it is a good show.

Thanks for the great RR. Been enjoying the great pic’s as well.

August 23
Rode Chief Joseph Highway today.




Since the Beartooth was still closed I just rode out and back. On the way back just before the road gets interesting I spied a couple of 600 sport bikes in my mirror. I moved over and waved them by as I figured I'd only hold them up on my big ol' adventure bike with semi-knobbie tires. They quickly got out of sight. After about the 4th hairpin there they are right in front of me. Those TKC 80s have really surprised me with the amount of blacktop grip they offer. I think it kind of surprised those two on the 600s, too. I stayed on them until the road straightened out and then they disappeared again. I have it on video but its very long and I need to edit it (maybe hide the speedo).



I took some footage with the Go Pro Hero 3. Found a great fire road to ride, Antelope Mountain Road. Click on the photo- its a link to the video.



Good fun but had to turn around after 5 minutes because I had to get back to town to get my new tire put on. Of course after aborting my ride I got to the shop and they weren't ready for me yet. So I went to Napa and bought a cigarette lighter plug and some wire,terminals, and fuse holder so I can run my tire pump off the battery.
Went back to get tire installed. I had ordered a Heidenau K60 Scout to see if it would last better than the TKC80 that only made it 4000 miles. Had lunch next door while they were mounting it. Salad was delicious. Fresh greens with lots of fresh fruit: blackberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, and strawberries.
The first thing I noticed about the K60 is a lot more low speed vibration than the TKC80. It is also noisier at speed.
I got back to the motel with enough time to wire the plug in before dark. Yay! Now I can fill my tires.
Went to the rodeo again; this time with my camera. Here is a video of a bronc rider at the rodeo.

keep it up ma'am.

Thanks for the prompt, Siyeh!

I met Eric from Vermont who had ridden his $600 Gold Wing to Cody on his way to California. Now that is an adventure!


The Beartooth was still closed due to fires so I left Cody this morning going east to Lovell to look for wild horses in the Pryor Mountains.
East of Cody- Rte 14 heading for the Bighorn Mountains


I took Rte 32 up to Lovell to the Wild Horse Center to get directions and leave a donation.
Along Hwy 37 going to the Pryor Mountains


I found a red roan stallion with 2 black mares and a 2 year old grulla fillly. Snapped a few shots of them and then headed over to Bighorn Canyon. My sister-in -law later sent me a link where this stallion is identified as Fool's Crow. He had just recently started a band of his own by acquiring the black mare (Jewell) and her grulla filly (Mercuria) from another stallion. He had added two more since last seen. The other two black mares are Icara and her filly Morgana.




Barry's Landing in Bighorn Canyon National Park






Devil's Canyon








This lovely off road playground went on for miles on the west side of Hwy 37.


Went back to Lovell to fuel up then headed east out Rte 14A fleeing a storm.

Fabulous ride through the Bighorn Mountains on Hwy 14A (thanks for the tip Siyeh).




Went through the Bighorn National Forest but didn't camp as the rain was still at my heels.
I stayed at a KOA in Sheridan 150' from I90. Why would anyone put a campground here? The woman at the desk asked if I was here for the concert. I said no. She said "Yes you are." There was concert by some obscure rock groups about 2500 feet away that went from 9 until 2 AM.
As I was pitching my tent a fellow ADVer came over and introduced himself and offered a beer. Al and Deb are from Portland Oregon on their way to riding in the Black Hills around Rapid City on his KTM 990. We swapped some stories while their Burmese cat and Shitzu dog wrestled like best buddies.

Well there you are! I was wondering where you ended up going after WestFest. Now I know. It was a pleasure meeting you and riding with you at WF. See you next time.

Eddyturn-
Nice to have you along.
Thanks for the great rides you led at Westfest. It was a really nice start to my trip having someone with area knowledge in the lead.

August 25
The Sheridan, Wyoming KOA was a very special camping experience. My tent site was about 300' from I 90 across an open field which was the dog walk area. The exit has a truck stop so I was listening to jake brakes all night. I didn't really notice them until the ROCK CONCERT ended across the road. There was also a train crossing near enough that every hour I was woken from sleep thinking I was about to be struck by a train. Wifi didn't work either. I was out of there by 9- early for me.
Headed back over 14A to Lovell and on to Red Lodge,Montana. I stopped and hiked the 3 mile trip to the Bighorn Medicine Wheel.

Very cool. It is an ancient sacred ceremonial and vision quest site for many Native American peoples. It is still in use today.

This Poorwhill caught my attention pantomiming injury to lead me away from her nest.


Fire burning on the Beartooth Highway


Continued to Red Lodge but no acceptable lodging there. So I took off on Hwy 212, the Beartooth Highway. About 5 miles out of town I came across the fire I had been seeing from a distance. There were 3 helicopters carrying huge buckets of water they were filling at nearby lakes and dumping them on the fire. I had put my camera away but said "Is it worth dropping my camera to get this shot?" Apparently it was because I did. Fortunately I got back to it before anyone ran it over. I could not get my bike on the kickstand where the camera was because of the road grade. So I kicked it out of the road and made another u-turn and parked across the road.The camera had come open ejecting it's battery. I re-installed it and slipped it's strap back around my neck. It has a bit of road rash on one corner but so far is working fine. It is a Sony Cybershot; rugged little thing.
So here are the shots I dropped my camera to get.




I nixed the first campground as all the tent sites were next to a running stream. It didn't seem like a good idea in bear country. So I continued on the Beartooth to the height of the land where I took these.




I thought I would try to make one of the major service areas in the park but stopped at a store/ campground/motel called Top of the World.
They did not have tent sites but did have a room in the motel; $55 and it is quiet. Nothing fancy but seems serviceable and clean. I didn't even ask about wifi but there is a network. Too late to ask if guests can use it; the owners have gone fishing. They were trying to close the store early to go fishing when I arrived so I grabbed a ham sandwich and 2 Bud Lights for dinner. I sat on the porch and rocked and watched the sun go down while I ate my dinner. There were deer tracks right in front of the door to my room. Tomorrow I'm going to Ennis, MT.

Love the Red Lodge area! My wife's grandmother had a cabin about three miles toward Beartooth Pass from Red Lodge - haven't stayed in the cabin for awhile because one of her uncles (wifey doesn't get along with this guy) basically moved into a "summer" cabin year round and he doesn't allow other members of the family to utilize it.

Loving your ride report! Keep it up!!!

Wow. Great pics. thanks for sharing your adventure with us Mary!

Ennis, MT? Well, I hope you snuck up the dead ender to Pony. It has one of the last true Montana places. The Pony Bar.

I had a few too many there one night, the owner let me sleep on the ground beside my motorcycle behind the bar.
And even woke me up in the morning.