Day 7 -362 miles- Columbus, MT to Buffalo, WY

The Super 8 we spent the night in had a business center so since we had been out of touch for several days I went downstairs to update the blog while sleeping beauty got his rest. They had a continental breakfast set up but I refrained because we had a planned breakfast stop in Red Lodge. I did attempt the coffee though and it was pretty nasty so I laid off that too. Lucky for me I packed some extra strength Excedrin that has 25mg of caffeine and in a coffeeless emergency one will generally hold me over.

I had suggested the route change that brought us to Columbus instead of Laurel based solely on the squigglieness of the road on the map.

This:

Simply looked like more fun than this:


I think choosing roads may have something to do with what kind of bike you ride.

On a clear day, it would have been an excellent choice. On a clear day…

Lucky for me (and I have to say, some luck you just have to make for yourself) I had the right gear for where we were headed.


This fog:


Eventually limited visibility to less than 100 feet and made for pretty slow going in spots. It’s never a good idea to outride your line of sight and we were in and out of “open range” and smacking into a cow at highway speed that suddenly appeared in front of me out of the fog (100 feet is pretty sudden at 70mph) did not sound like a pleasant experience. Besides, I would hate to have had to ride home some 900 miles on the back of the Valk.

Right before we got into Red Lodge the fog lifted like it was never there. We pulled into the Café for an eagerly anticipated cup of coffee and a spot of breakfast. I was somewhat disappointed that there was no Eggs Benedict on the menu but the coffee was good, the service was great, and breakfast was not bad at all.

As I was making my way to the restroom after the meal a gentleman seated at a neighboring table asked me if that was my Vstrom out front. I said that it was and he invited me to sit with him and his wife and discuss it. How could I say no? By the time Carlton tapped me on the back and said we needed to get going (another couple was waiting for our table and some of my gear was still stacked there) the distinguished gentleman had pretty much decided he was going to go look at a new Vstrom. I wished them well and Carlton and I resumed our journey.

The road up Beartooth pass was a serious bit of road and I didn’t take any pictures. Carlton, not being saddled with a motorcycle that leans over too far in the curves, was able to snap a few.




Standing on top of that pass was like standing on top of the world. Usually when you go over a “pass” there is still some mountain on either side of you, not in this case. I think that road went right over the top of that mountain. We could see for 100 miles in any direction. Awesome!


The way down was just as much fun as the way up, hence, no pictures. Sorry. After we got to the bottom I let Carlton Lead. He likes to lead and I don’t mind on the straight stuff.

You’ll notice that throughout this trip I have lots of pictures from behind him as he leans into a turn and he has none of me in the same position. That’s because when I’m in front on a road that lends itself to that style of riding, I’m way in front. The lens required to capture that shot is a little too cumbersome to use from a moving motorcycle. His close-ups of me riding are generally more like this:


We headed down 120 through Cody and somewhere just north of Thermopolis we cut over on 431 to Worland and the start of the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and lunch.

On our second pass through Worland we found a little Mexican place that, while it didn’t look like much, at least had some cars in the parking lot (always a good sign). It was OK but a little on the bland side, nothing to write home about.

The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway was anything but bland.


Too bad there’s not a picture of me in this turn because I look better than that even with one hand on the camera.

This is a shot of Meadowlark Lake on the back side of Powder River Pass.

We ran into a couple of interesting groups throughout the day. At one point we crossed paths with a couple of guys from England who had rented Harley’s to tackle Beartooth and explore Yellowstone. They were having a great time and were in awe of the sheer size of the open country. A guy in another group had trailered his Goldwing to Wyoming from Minnesota to ride through Yellowstone. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

We ran into several more bikers at the hotel. They were either on their way from or going to all parts of the country. I was beginning to think Buffalo, Wyoming was a major travel hub.


Bonus time for Kevin.

I have grandkids that live with their Mom and Other Grandparents in Buffalo. I had called earlier in the week to let them know I would be in town. So when we got checked in I headed out to hook up.


I spent a great evening playing baseball with Brandon and then getting a tour of the house from Whitney and seeing all her artwork. Their other Grandparents, Benny and Patty, along with the kid’s Mom, Denise, were gracious hosts and would have fed me everything in the kitchen but I settled for some Coconut Cream Pie and some Tang Patty had bought on a whim because she hadn’t seen it in years and I hadn’t had any in years so I drank some.

The kids were as happy to see me as I was to see them and the visit was much too short but it kept me smiling through most of the next day.