WA, ID, MT in one day

Sorry, My computer died this year and I lost all my Photos from the trip. Never trust a computer.
Sidecar RoadTrip
June 2008
June 9, 2006 to June , 2006
Motorvation Sidecar
941 Fourth Ave
Sibley, IA. 51249



June 9, 2006
Seattle to Missoula, MT. 482 miles

Drive out of Seattle and turn east on Hwy 90 – it will take me all the way to Sibley, IA, except for the last 24.9 miles. As I leave Seattle it is cloudy but no rain as I travel over Snoqualmie Pass, through Vantage and Moses Lake. June is a great time of the year to ride on the East side of the Cascades. The farms in the valleys are so green and fresh smelling. That is something that I have always enjoyed about a motorcycle, you can smell the new grass in the fields as you drive past them. As I approach Spokane, WA. I could see an incredible dark gray wall of storm clouds stretching from the earth to the sky just south of the city. I thought that I might get lucky and skirt just north of them on the highway. NO SUCH LUCK, soon as I crossed into Idaho it started to rain, rain and rain all the way to Missoula, MT. Highway 90 as it leaves Idaho into Montana goes down a long gently twisting valley. As I was heading down this hill in the dumping rain a black car with tinted windows pulls up beside me, the passenger’s window rolls down and this totally tattooed arm comes out and gives me a thumbs-up! I wonder how the rad dude in the car would feel if he knew that he had just given the cool sign to a 40 something, izod wearing, living in suburbia type dude? Find a hotel in Missoula and head out for dinner at Fuddruckers for an awesome burger.

Freezing rain

June 10, 2006
Missoula to Sheridan, WY. 471 mi

Wake up and look out the window, puddles of water in the parking lot with hundreds of raindrop ripples on their surfaces. I play with of the ides of staying dry and warm for a day but pack up and go anyway. After the first one hundred and nineteen miles I am chilled to the bone and my fingers are starting to get stiff. I pull out my heated gloves and jacket. I have never used them before and I feel like they are like cheating if I’m on the motorcycle. I plug them into the bike and within 20 miles I am toasty warm and have lost any guilt on using them, they are great. It stops raining by Bozeman and I dry out by Billings, MT. I stop at a rest stop on the Wyoming boarder and get of the bike this Schnauzer dog goes crazy and starts barking at me. This elderly couple comes over with the barking dog to say hello. It turns out that their kid has the same bike as me and the dog loves him, so every time he hears my type of bike he goes crazy because he thinks its his buddy. It is strange how much bikers are accepted now. I remember 20 years ago when I started ridding that no elderly couple would come near me if I was on a black bike with black leather on. Now they will come over and spend 20 minutes talking with you and offer you food and sodas. To finish the day I ride down to Sheridan, WY. and stay the night. I stop at the Visitor Info Center and pick up maps. On the grass next to the front door I see 3 baby bunnies just sitting there and looking cute and fuzzy. I check the weather on the computer and find out there is a hail-sleet storm up ahead on the highway that is so bad that it has stopped traffic, I hope it clears by tomorrow. Find a hotel and walk downtown to stretch my legs and get dinner at Pablo’s. The waitress sees me reading the book Lake Woebegone, a story of a small town in Minnesota. She loves the book and has read it several times. Her daughter even went to a book signing and had the author sign a poster for her. She loves the book because it reminds her of the town she came from. For me it would be a prison that I would have to escape from. As I walk back from dinner I see more bunnies on the grass lawns and wonder why this town has so many of them.

MPG?

June 11, 2006
Sheridan to Sibley, OH. 667 mi

No rain, just clouds. As I drove across Wyoming and South Dakota my average GPM dropped to under 34. My GPM had been averaging just above 39 for the last 900 miles, why was it dropping? Was there something wrong with my bike? At first I thought that I had recorded the mileage wrong. The next tank full showed the same results. I checked the motor and added oil to the bike and the next tank was still the same. I was worried that something was wrong with the bike because of the sudden drop in mileage – a cracked cylinder head, a leak in the fuel system, a bad widget within the motor? I had been averaging 85 mph over the open expanses of Wyoming. As a last resort I dropped my speed to 65 – 70 mph – WOW, my mpg jumped right back up to 40. The wind friction at 85 mph kills my fuel efficiency. What a relief, my motorcycle is fine and I drive into Sibley, OH at 8:55 pm

Total 1620 miles in 3 days


MPG – it turns out that if I drive at grater than 82 mph that my fuel consumption is greatly increased. I drop from 39 to 34 MPG, a huge 5 miles per gallon drop. I have to stay off the throttle or just pay for more gas.

Motorvation in Sibley, IA

June 12, 2006
Sibley, OH
Motorvation Sidecar
941 Fourth Ave
Sibley, IA. 51249
Gary – attaches the sidecars
Mary – owner
Chris – Mary’s son and employee

8:30 am – show up and meet the two employees inside, the owner and the person that will be installing my sidecar will be in later, maybe 10 am. I borrow a clean sponge and bucket of soapy water and spend 40 minutes washing my bike. Gary shows up at 10:30 and starts working on attaching my sidecar. Nothing rushes in Ohio, he finishes at 6 pm and then takes me out for a test drive. His big advise is to put 100 lbs of sand bags in the sidecar if I’m going to be driving on the highway, that will keep it from bouncing up and becoming airborne at high speeds.



Smokers – everyone in the shop smokes, it’s a different world out here.

Spend the day walking around Sibley
• Small town of 2500
• Well maintained but not rich
• Friendly people
• Spent my time reading motorcycle magazines and listening to Mary talk

6 pm test drive with Gary
Buy 120 lbs of salt (cheaper than sand) for ballast in the sidecar

Plan the trip home:
➢ Badlands
➢ Blackhills
➢ Sturgis
➢ Devil’s Tower
➢ Cody
➢ Yellowstone
➢ Grand Tetons

The Sidecar, Hack, Tub

June 13, 2006
Sibley to Badlands, SD 398 mi

Start of the great adventure – driving across the mid-west with a sidecar. It is time to learn how to drive with a sidecar attached. I take Hwy 9 to Sioux Falls so I can test drive at high speeds without driving on the Interstate. Learning to drive with a sidecar is interesting.
- the slope of the road to the ditch on the right and left determines how much or how little the side car will pull. If I’m on the right side of the road where it slopes down to my right the sidecar wants to pull me to that side. I have to push and pull the handlebars to make the bike go straight. On the left side of the crown of the road I can go in a straight line with only two fingers on the handle bars.
- Top comfortable speed = 65 mph
- 120 lbs of ballast works great
- Turning left is easy, the sidecar acts as an outrigger and makes it very stable
- Turning right, here is the tricky part, you must lean out of the seat into the turn. As you lean you shift the center of gravity towards the sidecar to keep it on the ground.
- Buy a 5 gal gas can, I don’t know what type of mileage I’ll be getting and this is my safety net if I’m out in the middle of nowhere.

Up at 7am and it is already hot and humid.
Stop in the middle of South Dakota for lunch. While I’m having a burger for lunch I meet a couple of Motorcycle Touring Grandparents form Texas. They warn me to avoid “Beartooth Pass” near Yellowstone Park, it is under construction and has 20 miles of dirt and gravel. After lunch I wonder into the tourist trap store next door and meet Christine the clerk. The store was empty and she was bored and wanted someone to talk to, we talked about her husbands ranch, that the roundup was still done on horseback. Christine likes to rock climb and has tried Ice Climbing. We talk about how she could set up an irrigation hose on an old silo next winter and have her own private ice climbing wall.



Drive out to Badlands National Park and it is hot. Find a KOA campground that is close to the park and has a Pool, Yahooooo – clean, cool water. Drive back to the bark to try the “Famous Indian Fry Bread Buffalo Tacos”. What crap – they tast like Hornel canned chili on fried dough, whoever wrote the review never ate there. Spend the evening up in the badlands taking pictures till sunset. The night was hot and buggy, I had to sleep inside the bivy bag, a long night of little sleep.

Badlands, Black Hills, Devils Tower

June 14, 2006
Badlands to Morecroft, WY 318 mi


Get up before sunrise, try to take early morning pictures of the Badlands but the sun and clouds don’t cooperate. Take the back road into WALL DRUG, and what a store it is. The store takes up more than a city block and has all types of stuff, from old fashion hard candy to taxidermied Turduckins. This thing was a mix of turkey tail, duck body and chicken head all taxidermied into one bird.
Black Hills
Head down to the road to the Black Hills where I cruzed a long lazy loop to the south then back up the center on small roads. There were wild mules feeding in the woods, Buffalo walking the hill tops. Drive through solid stone tunnels in the hillside on winding, twisting roads. As I head up past Mt. Rushmore I see a guy on the side of the road hiking back up the hill trying to hitch a ride and carrying a full gas can. No one s stopping for him so I stop and asks if he wants a ride in the sidecar. His face lights up in a big smile and he said that he always wanted to ride in a sidecar. I gave him a ride to his car about 4 miles way, he thought it was pretty cool to show up to where his wife and kids were waiting for him on a motorcycle.


Sturgis
A dead town with many empty stores – if not for the annual Harley Motorcycle rally I don’t think that it would even be on the map. Pick up some Sturgis Fire Department T-Shirts.
Another hot day
Lunch of a Cesar salad and a bottomless cup of ice cold lemon aid.

Devils Tower
Mary Lou and I had climbed Devils Tower years ago. I had to stop by and take a look at it again. The lady at the entry gate was a grandmother that had taken this summer job to keep busy and she wanted a ride in the side car but she still had to work another hour till closing. I almost got her to sneak off the job and go for a ride to the top with me.


Find a small motel in Morecroft, the hotel owner had a hyperactive puppy called Banjo, who loved everyone. To my surprise when I go out for a walk around the corner to the store I found myself in the same town that I had stopped in last Sunday morning.

Buffalo Burger

June 15, 2006
Morecroft to Cody River Camp, WY 311 mi

Up early and head west on Hwy 90. I love early morning riding with the sun at my back and no one on the road. Make good time to Buffalo, WY. Take HWY 16 through Big Horn National Forest. In Worland a blue Crystler pulls up to me at a stoplight. The guy rolls down his window and asks me if I have a Motovation Sidecar. We pull over into a farming center parking lot to talk about motorcycles and sidecars. His name is Lee and he is a preacher in town and would like a sidecar. He even stopped off at Motorvation in Sibley, IA last year. How cool would be to see a Priest in full robes riding down the road on a motorcycle?
Meeteese
From there I took the Gooseberry Hwy (Hwy 431) to Meeteetse where I get the best Buffalo Burger & Buffalo Chip Fries ever. Next store over is a cowboy, hat, boots and all making chocolate truffles. I had to try them – nothing exceptional. But then again I am comparing them to homemade Truffles.
Cody
Cody, Wy. I walk the main street and play tourist in the shops. I find a real cowboy store two blocks off he main drag and buy a straw cowboy hat. Drive up the North Fork river road towards Yellowstone Park. Camp on the river at a small state park. I met Jurgan & Turesa, a couple from Germany who have rented a RV and are spending 8 weeks touring the Rockies. They invite me to join them for a salad and beer. They are amazed and worried that I camp on the ground without a tent. They have been to Oaxaca, Mexico (20 years ago) and loved it. They speak a little English and I speak a little German, a nice couple enjoying a vacation.

Grand Tetons

June 16, 2006
River Camp to Grand Tetons Climbers Ranch, WY 264 mi

Yellowstone National Park
What can I say – Amazing – Buffalo, elk, bear, bears having sex, geysers, fumaroles, hot springs, mud pots, twisty curvy roads.





I would say it is the best National park in the country. Meet a couple from New Zealland touring America on motorcycles with our visas. They are climbers without gear looking for American climber to hook up with.

Grand Tetons Climbers Ranch
Go back to the Climbers Ranch and get a bunk. It is great to be back. The people here are all so friendly.

I go into Jackson Hole for applewood, fire roasted pizza and a “Old Stinky” beer at the Snake River Brewery. At the bar the waitress talks smack to me so I give it right back to her, then she talks smack to a local girl next to me. End up talking to Jamie, she has live in Jackson Hole for five years, moved there to climb, hike, snowboard and snowshoe (her favorite). But what she really loves is Sea Kayaking. She had done some 10 day trips. Well I blew her out of the water with my story of my solo kayak trip of the Inside Passage. But she got me back, when she was 19 she went and lived in La Perez, Oaxaca for a year. Back at the climbers ranch I was tempted to sleep outside because the stars were so incredible.

Homing pigeon

June 17, 2006
Grand Tetons Climbers Ranch to Missoula, MT 410 mi

Shower and a slow breakfast at the ranch, write up notes. Shop in Jackson Hole and buy a cowboy hat. Drive secondary Hwys to Interstate 15 and head north to Butte, MT. Lots of wide open space in Montana. Almost ran out of gas trying to make it to Butte, I had only 0.12 gal left in the reserve tank. Stay in the Thunder Inn in Missoula.


June 18, 2006
Missoula to Seattle(Home) 480 mi
Home is close but not to close, a long haul day all the way back to Seattle. After driving 470 miles I get stuck in Mariners Game traffic jam. Finally make it home, it is good to be home.