Day 4 -505 miles- Boise, WY to Kalispell, MT

The temperature fluctuations and accumulated miles from day three had made me pretty tired and I slept great that night. I think we rode through about a 40 degree swing from the upper 50s to the upper 90s, from rain and overcast to bright-sun-in-your-face-sucking energy-out-of-your-sweat-soaked-bones. Luckily my AST and a bottle of water I could squeeze into my vents as I rode kept me cool in the hot stretches.

Day 4 promised to be different.

The continental breakfast was pretty good. I had fresh waffle (made it myself) covered with strawberries and whipped cream. As I was stuffing my pie hole with all that goodness Carlton was upstairs watching the local new and weather. I think that kind of takes the fun out of it. I mean we’re going where were going anyway, right?

As it turns out, a fire started in the night right along our planned exit route. I learned this from Carlton as we were mounting up. They hadn’t closed the road yet but it was a possibility. Since we really wanted that road we decided to head on and hope we made it through before it closed.

We headed out and when we reached the top of the pass we could see that the valley ahead was full of smoke. I took a picture but it really doesn’t show the smoke that well:


I didn’t have my camera out as we headed into the valley and I really should have, Carlton got some great shots. I wanted to get a shot of the fire I could post on the blog from the road, not knowing at the time that my friend at work couldn’t see my pictures anyway. I could post pictures from my phone but not from my camera but I couldn’t use my phone as a camera while riding so had to stop. Had I watched the news, I’d have known hat this is one of things you are not supposed to do but I didn’t get caught so I was able to post the picture nobody could see.

Here are some of Carlton’s (kind of):




After the fire things got really nice.


The road was wide and lonely, the speed limit was high enough to be fun and the turns were wide enough to sail a ship through.



Somewhere before Hwy55 intersected with Hwy95 we passed through the little town of Donnelly, ID. In and of itself this is rather insignificant. We didn’t stop although I wish I had long enough to get a picture of the sign in front of the local café. It read:

Buffalo Gal’s Diner
World Cuisine
&
Sushi

That struck me as one of the funniest sites I’d seen. I could just imagine a bunch of farmers in Podunk Idaho bellying up to the Sushi Bar in their overalls. I kick myself for not getting that picture.

Shortly after that we turned on to Hwy 95 and cruise into Grangeville where we picked up 13 to Kooskia, ID, the gateway to Motorcycle Heaven.

But first a spot of lunch.

In the small town of Lowell there was a small Inn, Ryan’s wilderness Inn, with an attached diner that evidently people come from all over the country to enjoy:


There is a quest book on the table beneath the map and a little dish of pin flags for customers to use to add their home town to the list. Mine was already pinned so I just took the picture and signed the book.

(Lunch was good too. Bonus. I had the tuna on wheat toast and cheddar/broccoli soup)

Hwy 12 is also know as the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway. It supposedly unchanged since Lewis and Clark first saw it (I assume they mean other than the asphalt).

Back to Motorcycle Heaven:

All that squigelliness on the map is what motorcycle riders live for. It happens to come right after this sign:


And in this case the sign does not lie. What followed was an uninterrupted hour of some of the best riding on the trip. The turns were great big, high speed sweepers that didn’t take so much concentration that we missed the scenery which was spectacular. It was the best of both worlds; scenic and great fun to ride.






As we started to climb the pass (Lolo Pass) the turns began to tighten up but still not so tight we couldn’t enjoy the scenery.



At the top of the pass we crossed the state line.


And we relaxed for the rest of the cruise into Kalispell.


I had put my camera away at our last fuel stop as the sun had started to set and I figured it would be too dark soon. Once again, it was a mistake. The first sight you get of Flathead Lake as you head north on Hwy93 is absolutely breathtaking. I didn’t take the picture because we thought we would be back that way the next day at around the same time but we never made it and so there is no picture and it’s your loss. I got to see it and it will
remain with me for a long time. I know that sounds kind of harsh but there it is. All I can say is, “Go see it!” I know I’ll be back.

Day 3 -637 miles- Rawlins to Boise

My notes for day 3 take up about three lines in my notebook and pretty much consist of departure time/miles/city – arrival time/mileage/city. Actually day 3 was a lot more than that and it started the night before.

After we got checked in to the hotel and got the bugs off our bikes. We retired to Fat Boys Bar and Grill, a rather seedy place inside the hotel, to plan Jason’s return route to Lubbock and enjoy a cold beer.

I asked the waitress what she had on tap because I greatly prefer draft beer to any other kind and she replied “Easy Street”, a beer I was unfamiliar with. I decided to try it, as I almost always do if it’s something new, and asked her if it was a local brew. She didn’t know.

Come to find out it’s brewed not from home at the Odell Brewing Company in Fort Collins, CO.

We did not want to eat a big meal since it was pretty late in the evening so we ordered a couple of appetizers to pass around. Then got out the maps and started tracing a different, but still fun, return route for Jason since he had accompanied us as far as his time would allow for this trip. We decided that since he had to go right by it anyway he should run down Poudre Canyon. Then head west from Denver and wiggle down through the mountains again. I gave him my house keys so he could spend the night there instead of a hotel. Then make his way back to Lubbock.

I have to take a moment here to jump way ahead in the story. When I got home the following Saturday there was a 12pack of beer in my fridge that was ice cold and ready for consumption. That was a very thoughtful gesture on Jason’s part especially considering I don’t think he could have just stopped and got it on the way in. He would have to either have unloaded his bike and gone to get it then loaded his bike back up or walked to the store and got it. Either way, it took more effort than you would, at first, think and I greatly appreciated it.

OK. Back to the story. We got the route planned out after much deliberation and then began to wonder where our food was. Shortly after that we began to wonder where our waitress was. She had been sitting with one of the customers and then all of a sudden they were gone. Carlton went to the bar tender and asked if our food order was ready and the barkeep went to check on it. It arrived shortly thereafter and it only seemed like it had been prepared the day before and left on the counter over night. Surely that wasn’t the case. You think? Nah…We had ordered potato skins and nachos and, you know how when you eat something and you think, “this might have been pretty good if I’d gotten it fresh out of the oven…” well, that was what this was like. But the beer was pretty good and I’d just finished my first day of what was going to be a long trip. Life was good and I wasn’t going to let anything spoil it.

In the morning it was time to say good-bye and head west for the long haul to Boise. Jason had really taken advantage of the opportunities this trip gave him to learn the ins and outs of being a “real” biker, as evidenced by his new doo-ragged countenance.

Lol

We went our separate ways, Jason to fun in the twisties and us to the interstate and a long hot day. We can see, of in the distance as we’re riding along that there are some rain clouds in front of us. We can see the rain falling and we can see that it’s relatively clear on the far side. As the Interstate turns and meanders this way and that the clouds are alternately dead ahead, off to our left, or off to our right and I’m thinking, “If we’re really lucky we can thread this needle and get around this little rain storm without getting wet.” No sooner had I completed the thought when out of nowhere, we are drenched. There is not a cloud anywhere near us, we can still see the rain shower ahead of us, and yet it is raining hard and we are on top of an overpass having just passed the off ramp.

Carlton is in front and immediately signals to pull over and I’m thinking, “Where is he going?” He keeps on going with his turn signal on and I’m thinking, “Stop already, it’s raining back here!” Then he slows way down and makes a u-turn to the right and proceeds down the on ramp the wrong way and ducks under the overpass we were just on.



By the time I got my vents closed on my Olympia AST (All Season Touring) Jacket and got it sealed up it had all but stopped raining. It was a little cool anyway and we still had that other shower in front of us so we just left the rain gear as it was and kept going.

We stopped for gas and a little breakfast in Green River, WY. It was starting to warm up and we had missed the rain so I opened my gear back up. I had a breakfast burrito out of the warmer with a couple of packets of picante sauce and a large OJ, topped of the fuel tank and hit the road.
I did a lot of “topping off” on this trip as the range on my bike was not tested at all. Carlton was ecstatic to get 160 miles on one tank while I was happy to use over half a tank before stopping. My tank holds 5.8 gallons and I only put over three gallons in one time on the entire trip. Usually it was two and half or two and three quarters.

We left the interstate after breakfast and took Hwy30 north and west toward Idaho.


Not much happening in this part of Wyoming. Then we crossed the state line.

And (after a while) things started to look up.


We stopped in Twin Falls for a late lunch at what tuned out to be a regional chain I hadn’t heard of called the Artic Circle. Nothing to write home about, but the outfit next door was sure trying to drum up some business:


We had been back on the interstate for a while before we stopped for lunch and continued on it the rest of the way. It was approaching dark pretty fast when we got to Boise and we decided to head up on the north side of down and find a hotel so we didn’t have to fight rush hour traffic to get out of town in the morning. Sounds good in theory anyway.

I had a decent state map and an atlas but neither of them had an inset of Boise. I could kind of see on the map where we needed to be but there just wasn’t enough detail to tell for sure. I rolled up to a traffic light and the car beside me had the window down so I thought I’d ask if we were headed the right direction.

Looking back, I probably should have done something to gently get the attention of the young girl in the passenger seat before leaning over and practically shouting, “Is Hwy55 up this way?” That poor girl liked to have jumped out of her skin. And that was before she saw me. Imagine this poking in your window, in the dark, at a stop light and shouting:


I know her heart stopped and I’m sorry, but I can’t help it, I rode around and giggled for an hour.

We found the highway and rode for 10 minutes in each direction without finding a hotel so we decided to head back toward the interstate where we finally found the Shilo Inn Hotel and after 637 miles, settled down for the night. I walked down the street to the gas station a bought an oversize can of Heineken that I nursed while I cleaned all the bugs off my bike and got ready for the next day which promised to be a lot more fun.

Day 2 -360 miles- Colorado Springs, CO to Rawlins, WY

Day 2 started with maintenance. I know what you’re thinking, why wait to the last minute to do that kind of stuff when the trip has been planned for a year?

To that I can only say, “I just watched.”

My stuff was ready to go, had been for quite some time. In all fairness I should point out that the trip was a bit last minute for Jason and he is rather new, and he did take his bike to the BMW Dealer to have it checked out. And I guess Carlton kind of has an excuse in that he spent the last 6 months leading up to the trip helping put his oldest daughter’s wedding together. But still, he should know better than to make major changes (adding driving lights) just before a big trip.

So I made coffee and then stood around and drank it while Jason installed his brand new battery and spark plugs and Carlton replaced his driving light and I tried to not tap my foot. I did help a little I guess. I trimmed the melted plastic off of Jason’s side panel so it would mount.

Jason replacing battery

Carlton's driving lights

Finally it’s time to go.

We had originally planned to blast up to Glacier on the interstate and after playing there to wiggle our way back home through the mountains slow and easy. We changed our plans when we learned that although Jason would be able to join us, he could only be able to stay for a day or so as he had to get back home for a job interview. So we just turned our trip around and headed out west and through the mountains. Otherwise Jason would only get about 4 highway days and no fun stuff. We figured if we headed out the fun way, he could take a couple of days to get back to Lubbock and will have had 2 highway days and 2 mountain days, much better.

First stop: Breakfast.



One of the best local motorcycle roads is Hwy 24 up the Ute pass to Hwy 67 north to Deckers. While Deckers leaves a little to be desired as a breakfast spot, it is a beautiful spot to stop and catch your breath, and the coffee is pretty good too.

From there we took 126 through Pine up to 285. I’m cruising up 126 and I get to straight spot and check my mirror…nothing. My heart skips a beat as I slow to a crawl and my mirror remains empty of motorcycles.

See, on last year’s trip we started out accompanied by my little brother who decided to test the guard rail in the Arkansas River Canyon. It was the exact same thing, I was cruising along Hwy 50, got to straight stretch, checked my mirror… nothing. I had gone back to find his Roadstar totaled and him lying in the dirt awaiting an ambulance. But he’s fine and that’s another story.

I pull a u-turn and roll on the throttle to get back to who knows what? I don’t get very far when I find the two of them parked on the side of the road taking pictures. That thought had not crossed my mind at that point because I am basically in my back yard still. This is scenery I see all the time and I guess I take it for granted. It helps to see it through someone else’s eyes to realize it’s pretty special.





We continued up Hwy126 to Hwy 285 and took that north to Hwy 73 which we took to Evergreen. After cruising through Bear Creek Canyon (Hwy 74) we picked up 93 in Morrison and headed north to I70 and headed west.

Some where in here we were supposed to go over Mount Evans, the highest paved road in the world, but I missed the turn and by the time we got back to the interstate I decided we would just press on. We were scheduled to do that road two years ago and missed it then too (tire issue on Carlton’s Goldwing). One day though, I’m going to do it.

We pressed on to Hwy 40 and headed north through Empire to Winterpark where we took a bathroom break.





From there it was on to Granby and Lunch.



Now, because food is a big part of travel of any kind in that you step out of your routine and experience new things, we try to make it a point to avoid national chains of any kind while we travel. That being said, I had the Green Chili at Mad Munchies in Granby and I gotta tell you, it was pretty awesome. It was served steaming hot with a four tortilla on the side along with piles of chopped onions, tomatoes, and grated cheese. You could mix a little of each with each bite of chili or mix it up, or stir it in, or, or, or…

From there we took 125 north to Walden where we stopped at the some little gas station we stopped at two years ago after Poudre Canyon and had and ice cream cone. You’re probably thinking, “Ice cream cone at a gas station? Big deal.” Well, this is not just any ice cream and I don’t know what brand it is but its good stuff.



After Ice Cream we hit some pretty challenging road.





We pulled off in the dirt (Carlton’s favorite thing) and made a few pictures:



125 turned into 230 as we crossed the state line:


We, of course, had to stop for the obligatory state line photos.



Then it was more of this:



Until we rolled into Riverside which, strangely enough, doesn’t appear to be anywhere near a river.



We reached Rawlins a short time later and after losing Jason briefly:



(We found him hanging out with the local wildlife and seeing the sights)



We found the biggest hotel room I’ve ever seen.





I slept good that night after cleaning the bugs of my windscreen. It was great to be on the road again.

The joy of riding a motorcycle on a trip like this is hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it. Being able to share it with people you love yet being alone at the same time is a truly unique occurrence. While you are riding you are isolated from your companions except visually. You are alone with your thoughts and there are few distractions, yet you are all together experiencing the same path in the same way. At stops you can interact and discuss that leg of the journey, or anything at all really, but once you remount you are alone together again. I know its kind of a contradiction to cherish your solitude so much that you want to share it but that’s kind of what riding a motorcycle in a small group is like.

Day 1 (for some)

The Third Annual Whitlock Brothers Motorcycle Trip started for my brother (as usual) the day before it started for me. Saturday September first, he loaded up his gear and headed west before sunrise and I got up at my usual time and headed to work.

The plan was for Carlton (brother) to hook up with Jason (friend) in Tulia, TX around lunch time and then ride together to my house in Colorado Springs. That was the longest workday I can remember in a long time. They were out riding, having a good time, enjoying life the universe and everything and I was at work… waiting.

The schedule for the evening was pretty tight for me as I was scheduled to work until five then I was to stop by Jennifer’s (daughter) house for a baby shower she was throwing for Michelle (son’s girlfriend). Carlton and Jason were scheduled to arrive around 6:30 and I was torn between telling them to let themselves in and we would be home after the shower or leaving the shower early enough to greet them on arrival. I had pretty much decided to leave the shower in time to be home by 6:30 (I had no fear Carlton would be early, I’ve ridden with him before).

– I need to interject here my absolute loathing for whoever not only decided, but made it a social expectation, that men should attend baby showers. This goes against all tradition and I’m against it.-

Back to the story.

At about 4:15PM I’m thinking Carlton and Jason are just crossing the Raton Pass on schedule for a 6:30 arrival and the phone rings. Its Carlton telling me that they are broke down on Hwy 87 just outside of Des Moines, NM. It seems Jason’s Beamer (97 F650 – recently aquired and inspected and given the thumbs up from the BMW dealer in Santa Fe) Will barely run. Jason was able to call the Dealership and the guy he talked to said it sounded like bad gas and suggested choking it a little and seeing if that would get him to Raton. When the catalytic converter got cherry red and melted the plastic panel under the seat they decided to rethink that. That’s when I got the call. Carlton figured out that the problem was electrical and not fuel related as inspection revealed that all the cells in the battery were dry. He said they had put water in the battery and push started it and that seemed to fix it so they were going to head on.

I thought that either the battery was low to start with or the charging system was over charging the battery and boiling off the acid. Either way I figured a new battery would be a good idea since we were heading off on a rather long trip. So at 4:30 on the Saturday afternoon of Labor Day weekend I find myself hunting frantically for a battery before everything shuts down for the holiday weekend in just over an hour. But hey, I’m a parts guy. That’s what I do. I thought if they had been running it choked long enough to melt the side panel the plugs are probably fouled also so I located a pair of those too. I also made contingency plans to rent a trailer in case I had to go to New Mexico to get them. I found a trailer and reserved it but they (U-Haul) didn’t close until 7 so I had plenty of time to get that if I needed it.

The problem was the only place that had the battery was Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza our local multi-bike dealer and they closed at 6:00…and there was the shower… and I still had to close the store… and it was already after 5:00…and the phone rang. Carlton again, this time they arrived in Raton and the bike was running good but there was a big storm moving in and they were going to grab a bite to eat and wait it out…oh, and by the way, my Walmart driving lights have quit and could you get me another set so I can replace them before we head out tomorrow?

While I was relieved to hear that the bike was running good. I still wanted the new battery and plugs before we headed out so I closed the store and headed to the shower because it was on the way to the bike store and I thought the least I could do was make an appearance. When I got there I discussed the situation with Brenda (my lovely wife) and headed on to the bike store. Greg, the parts guy at Rocky Mountain, was nice enough to have filled the battery for me and have it and the plugs and a charger all bagged up and waiting for me (Parts guys are awesome.) I secured my purchases in my new bags and since Carlton and Jason were not going to be here anytime soon I headed back to the shower.

I had forgotten about the driving lights so after I got home I went back out to Walmart to get the lights and I went by Big Lots because I had seen a set there earlier in the week for $12 that looked pretty cool.

I personally love to ride in the rain and I know Carlton has all the right gear so I assumed Jason’s gear was the hold up. I later found out that wasn’t the case.



Carlton’s bike/car thing has a wind screen the size of a barn door and he has to look through it because he can’t see over it. And it doesn’t have quite enough curve to shed the water as it hits so he can’t see where he’s going in the rain.



Carlton, two words: Rain-X

They finally came rolling in around 11:00 and after catching up for a little while we all went to bed in anticipation of the real beginning of the Third Annual Whitlock Brother’s Motorcycle Trip the following morning.

Sorry, not many pics for day 1. I wasn’t really there.

PS. Carlton's pictures are too big for Photobucket so I had to upload them to the blog. That means if you work for Phil Long you won't be able to see them or you'll have to try from home. Sorry.

First Day Back

I'm a little disappointed that after all the effort I went through to take some pictures with my phone instead of my camera so I could post them to my blog from the road and they don't show up on our screens at work. Our IT department has them blocked somehow. That's kind of weird but the whole this is a little weird. I can view the blog from work but I can't edit it and I can't see the pictures.

I'm going to try to load them a different way and see if I can get around that block. Instead of uploading them to the blog. I'll upload them to Photobucket and link them to the blog. If this works, I'll go back and edit the previous pictures.

Here goes:

Now before y'all freak out and say I'm across the line, we are in a one way at a time construction zone and all the oncoming traffic is held up at the far end.

All right. I'll check these at work tomorrow and see if they show up.

Home Safe

We arrived home yesterday afternoon just ahead of the rain. I should say "I" arrived home. Carlton has 750 miles to go today and it looks like he may get wet. He left just over an hour ago for Garland. The temperature was in the upper 40s so he was bundled up:

That's pretty much how we started the last two mornings. We were sure glad we brought that winter gear especially at the top of Beartooth pass Friday morning. That was more than a bit nippy:

I realize you can't see how cold it is in the picture so you'll just have to take my word for it. 43F with a 40mph wind is cold enough; add a 70mph speed limit and you start to looking forward to those hairpins for the reduced wind of lower speed as well as the fun factor.

I haven't really started my ride report yet but I wanted to share these pictures, they're some of my favorites. I think that between the two of us we took over three hundred pictures so we have a lot to choose from:

It may be a while before I get my trip report done but I'll continue to post little snippets here in the mean time.

It was a great trip and I'd do it again in a minute! In the just over three thousand miles I rode just under one thousand of it was interstate and the over two thousand that was not was almost all curvy to one extent or another. Even some of the interstate was more fun than you would think.

This little bit of I90 just east of Missoula is a lot curvier than it looks.

More Later