"Fly-ride West ride Canada to Mexico & points between

[Rockin Rollin]

Oct. 12
Well I just want to interupt this report, to report, as I am trying really hard to catch up on the ride reporting re finish this report. I'm actually flying back out to Denver. Finding it very difficult working with a full laptop here in this cramped seat. Thinkin maybe one those Netbooks might be better to take along. Gonna have to finish later.
Hello from Denver

[Rockin Rollin]

Well it's a problem when I'm trying type on my laptop, the cursor keeps blipping around and enters the text willy nilly anywhere. So I have to keep correcting, this is driving me crazy. Anyway I just took the time to set up speech recognition and actually talking to the laptop to enter this text.
Cool!

[Rockin Rollin]

Left Jackson Hole heading east to Casper Wyoming, came across hells half acre.
An alien planet landscape. The landscape is so alien that part of the movie "Starship Troopers" was filmed in this local. Hell's Half Acre was the backdrop for the alien planet Klendathu inhabited by gargantuan, vicious, fighting war bugs.

I was heading for Casper to visit fellow ADV rider Don Robinson with whom I had become friends with at Westfest. He was the very first person I met at Westfest in Colorado last year when I showed up to the campfire out of the pitch dark. He had mentioned being from Wyoming.I mentioned I'd be passing thru there next year. So he says "you should stop by". After meeting up this year again it became a part of my plan.
Enjoyed a very pleasant evening and a wonderful dinner with Don & his wife Cathy. In the morning I met daughter Christine who is a major adventurer & journalist. She has been to both Central America & Alaska among other places so it was a very informative & interesting conversation.
It really is great to make new friends across the country & really cool to be able to stop by & visit with them at their home.
Here I am in the morning with Don & Cathy. Nice people, nice place. Thanks Don & Cathy!

I also had setup a delivery of some things I needed/wanted, great to be able to get them on the road in the states.
Before leaving I also took the opportunity to remove my front wheel as it was bouncing quite a bit. I used my new ballpeen hammer to bang out the dent in the rim. Tire aired up fine. Then I rebalanced it, but back on the road it was still bouncing. I now had Dynabeads & put those in but that still did not help. So I'm worried the rim may be out of round.
Leaving Casper I was headed for the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The terrain both west & east of Casper was pretty much just like this, monotenous & very windy. Did see a lot of Prong horned Antelope however. & a lot blood stains on the road. Hmm...

[Rockin Rollin]

Got to South Dakota & Custer State Park


Just north of the town of Custer is the Crazy Horse memorial & Indian museum.
The Memorial is a mountain monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the form of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. The memorial was commissioned by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski.
The memorial consists of the mountain carving (monument), the Indian Museum of North America, and the Native American Cultural Center. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain on land considered sacred by some Native Americans, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 17 miles away from Mount Rushmore.
The It is huge! The sculpture's final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet (195 m) wide and 563 feet (172 m) high. The head of Crazy Horse will be 87 feet (27 m) high; by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each 60 feet (18 m) high.
The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is still far from completion.[1] If completed, it may become the world's largest sculpture.

[Rockin Rollin]

The needles highway. Beautiful!




Went on a hike on the Cathedral trail. It was spectacular!



Eye of the needle.

[Truenorth2005]

Roland
Really enjoyed your pictures of the ride from Kimberly over Gray Creek pass and on to Nakusp. We took the same route to the Horizons Rally on Aug 12th. Did you see a green Triumph Tiger and an Orange Strom parked at the top of the pass when you went through? We hiked up to the top. Great veiw of Kootney lake. Great bike roads. Can't wait to return.
We were to the Black Hills in 1984 and from what I see in your pictures it has taken 26 years to complete 25% of the project. Doesn't look like I will plan on seeing it completed in my lifetime.
Great RR.
Looking forward to more.
Bill

[Rockin Rollin]

Originally Posted by Truenorth2005

Roland
Really enjoyed your pictures of the ride from Kimberly over Gray Creek pass and on to Nakusp. We took the same route to the Horizons Rally on Aug 12th. Did you see a green Triumph Tiger and an Orange Strom parked at the top of the pass when you went through? We hiked up to the top. Great veiw of Kootney lake. Great bike roads. Can't wait to return.
We were to the Black Hills in 1984 and from what I see in your pictures it has taken 26 years to complete 25% of the project. Doesn't look like I will plan on seeing it completed in my lifetime.
Great RR.
Looking forward to more.
Bill

Thanks for the reply Bill. Didn't see your bikes. I passed a BMW rider on the way back to kimberley who told to a Horizons rally yet.
Hello from Mcdonalds in Moab. Was a big KTM rally here on the weekend. Met a few other ADV riders. 3 that rescued me on a hill climb & 2 more that escorted me across Shaefer pass in the dark. More on that & pics next report.
Gotta go, Sun gonna come up in Arches National park shortly.

[racedesert_]

Hey Rockin Rollin, nice to hear you enjoyed Moab. I was one of the three who pulled you over the rocks. This is funny, but the next day I pulled Rex, on the R100 BMW out of the same spot. I saw a pic of him and his bike on one of your earlier post. It is a small world.

[Rockin Rollin]

Originally Posted by racedesert_

Hey Rockin Rollin, nice to hear you enjoyed Moab. I was one of the three who pulled you over the rocks. This is funny, but the next day I pulled Rex, on the R100 BMW out of the same spot. I saw a pic of him and his bike on one of your earlier post. It is a small world.

Wow that is truly amazing!!!
I couldn't believe my luck when you guys came along. I saw no other riders on that trail till that moment & I had just got stopped/hungup when you guys came.
Unfortunately I only remember the one name right now. That's Steve, is that you. Remind me the names of the other 2 & nicknames so i can include in the report with the picture.

[Rockin Rollin]

Hello from Monument Valley Utah.
Well I've been camping a lot on right now & am not able to complete the fly -ride 9 report yet, but here is at least a preview of Fly-ride 10.
My camp spot last nite:


What I saw this morning when I opened the tent. Had to scramble for the camera.


I'm lovin it!!!

[advtenn]

[quote=Rockin Rollin]Hello from Monument Valley Utah.
Well I've been camping a lot on right now & am not able to complete the fly -ride 9 report yet, but here is at least a preview of Fly-ride 10.
My camp spot last nite:




Hi Roland, I am nominating this photo for the front page.

[Rockin Rollin]

Well thank you my friend, thank you very much.
So check this out, Tennessee dude.
At the Colorado National Monument last week.
to you.

[advtenn]

Dang man, nice shirt!
Keep on, keeping on!

[Rockin Rollin]

I'm back. On with RR#9. 10 pending! WooHoo!
So anyhoo,
What is wrong with this picture???


Mount Rushmore. Looks different somehow than I remember in pictures.



Custer State Park in South Dakota. Tons of wildlife.
These are Pronghorn Antelope.


Wadda you lookin at?


Wild Burros.


Really Wild Burro!


Prairie dogs. Pretty cool animals really.


Well on my way to Colorado via Nebraska I was threatened by wind & rain for a good # of hours. Changed direction enough that i only got slightly wet. It's certainly part of the adventure, chasing sunshine & fleeing rain!

[Rotten Ronnie]

What is wrong with that picture Roland?

There's nothing wrong with bike taking a rest once in a while, but that's not what happened, is it?