So Day 5 started with getting Kyle Sr. off to the airport in a torrential down pour. Because I used my brains (and didn’t want to ride 40 miles in a storm we got him off in a taxi. That allowed us to sleep in somewhat then we packed up and headed for Gillette, WY.
The ride started out wet with a little rain but nothing we couldn’t deal with.
Up route 16 across Wyoming and up to I90.
The rally (for me) was somewhat disappointing… One of the reasons you go to these things is for the vendor pavilion. Lots of Motorcycle gadget stuff that you can always get on the Internet but you get to touch it, feel it, etc. It’s not like the Iron Pony super store, because we don’t tend to be the chrome cruiser types that are only looking to make our bikes louder and/or shinier.
In my opinion there were only 1/3rd the vendors that were at the Vermont Rally in 06. I can imagine the cost of getting a crew and inventory out this far was prohibitive expensive and kept a number of vendors out of the show.
So I spent $45 to get in (non-member price), and only bought a couple things… An extra pair of rock straps, a key chain and something else I can’t remember. I spent maybe $30 total, not including food and beer.
We did get to see the BMW stunt rider, he was pretty good. I almost bought a new Zumo, as mine had crapped out the day before. But it turned out to be water logged from the storm and after it dried out and worked when I went back to the bike to check. So that saved me $700 for now. The XM is still broken so I’m stuck with my 380 backup tunes. They are getting kind of old. I almost bought a new jacket and tank bag but passed on both. I didn’t like the tank bag enough to justify the cost, and the jacked wasn’t a deal. I’ll get one later.
Kyle went crazy and bought a bunch of stuff including a new helmet.
Overall the show was OK. So it was off to Buffalo, WY
The ride was good, mostly slab though. We had an excellent steak at The Winchester. Good Wyoming beef.
The night at the Roadway Inn was uneventful. We chilled out with a couple beers and cheep cigars.
Saturday took us up through Bear Tooth Pass. 10962 feet. The views were spectacular. Then down into Lovell for lunch at the switchback cafe. A good small town restaurant. The owner Walt had recently save a small child’s life who had choked on a life saver and delivered a baby in a broken down car on his way to doing his Christmas shopping in Billings.
On in through a corner of yellow stone to get go Cody.
In Cody we lucked into a small two bedroom cabin for $111. We were advised to attend the rodeo, since allegedly Cody is the rodeo capital of the west. They have a rodeo every night from June through August. Saturday night was supposed to be the best show. The bulls won. Only one cowboy rode a bull for 8 seconds.
Another night of beer and cigars before we turned in.
The plan for Sunday was Yellowstone to see the geyser and then to Jackson Hole, if not further. We wanted to pass over the Tetons but there wasn’t a route that we could get to, so we may hit that Monday.
The trip through Yellowstone was fairly uneventful. We saw some wildlife. A couple elk, a few deer, and buffalo. No bears though 🙂
Mexican for dinner in Jackson, it was great, and fairly affordable. The beer and cigars… not so much. All good beers were $10 a six pack.
We decided to take a white water rafting trip on the snake river. We’re doing that tomorrow at 8am.
More photos uploaded to: http://picasaweb.google.com/mdisher/2008Trip