The Great Birthday Ride

The Great Birthday Ride

July 29 - August 2, 2020

It was past time for a ride. Three weeks is too long to wait between rides and besides that, I have new stuff on my bike to try out. Well really, I need to be on the bike, have an adventure, feel the wind, and clear my mind is the real reason.

I haven’t added much to my bike over the past year and she needed a few items, you know how women are. Here are the adds for the bike: New SiriusXM module, I have been moving my old XM from bike to bike, but with the new Boom Box GTS infotainment system in the 2019 bikes the old module does not work. After many months of cussing it, I finally did some research and found why it wasn’t working. The next update/add was the removal of the catalytic converter. I am so tired of the excess heat and I don’t have to worry about bike emissions testing here in southern Utah. The final update is a DynoJet Power Vision, again to help reduce the heat by adding a little more fuel and other ECM tweaks.

This ride is to also work on my IBA National Park tour and the H.O.G. Ride 365 destination rides.  HOG rides: 50 Rides, One Nation: Lolo Pass; Dealer Check-In: Boise, Lewiston, Missoula, Butte, Belgrade, and Jackson Hole. The IBA N.P. Tour: Great Basin N.P., Three Island Crossing, Nez Pearce National Historic Park (ended up closed for COVID), Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS, and Yellowstone Gateway Museum (ended up closed for COVID).

The ride will be five days and will hit Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It will be the wife and I and will cover approximately 2,200 miles, maybe a little more.

We got an early start and headed to Great Basin National Park. Great Basin is just off the border of Utah and Nevada and we had never been there. It was worth the trip! Besides, it was on the way. Anyhow, the scenic drive is about 5 or 6 miles and it winds up the mountain from Baker, NV to over 10,00 feet, that’s about two-thousand feet per mile. As you ride you can see out over the desert valley and the bright green sections from the few ranches in the area, Wheeler Peak is quite spectacular and even has a glacier on it. Ya, that’s what I thought, here in the middle of the desert! On our way down we stopped at the café inside the park and talked with the waitress. She’s in her first year at Southern Utah University and lives nearby. After work, she was headed home to haul hay. Her family's ranch was one we could see out in the flat. The university is at least 2 ½ hours away and is the closest “big” city to them.

We took off for Ely, Nevada for gas and lunch. It was already hot and had been since 10 am. I guess we have been lucky in Utah, the COVID crap has not been too bad and ya you need to wear a mask in most places, the restaurants are open and you can sit down and eat. Here in the middle of nowhere, they are pretty closed up, take out only, and signs on the doors – “No Mask No Service.” So, we sat on the grass under a tree and ate our Mcdonald's feast.

We headed north and stopped next in downtown Wells, Nevada. If you are in Wells, you are in downtown Wells. Not much to see here, but we got a drink and soak our cool vests for the next section to Jackpot, Nevada. Jackpot looks to be on its last leg. Cactus Pete’s Casino and a Chevron look to do about 90% of the business in town…

The next morning, we had some short legs to Twin Falls, Three Island Crossing State Park, and Mountain Home, ID. Twins Falls is a beautiful little town and the bridge over the Snake River is very impressive. Where ever there is water the farms and ranches are quite the contrast to the high desert. If you want to see some impressive church buildings and grounds, check out the Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Beautiful.

The Three Island Crossing State Park was pretty interesting. The Oregon Trail crossed the Snake River here and used the three islands to make the crossing. In July and August, they could ford the river and at other times there were ferries between the islands. The campground here was in total shade from all the trees and the visitor center was out in the sagebrush. More realistic for the outside displays, I guess.

By the time we got to Cascade, we were more than ready for lunch and to find some air conditioning. Grandma’s Takeout took care of us.

The ride from Cascade to Lewiston is a beautiful mountainous, farm, and ranch country. Very enjoyable riding, until you get close to Lewiston and the heat was back. We stopped at the Nez Perce Nation Historic Park was closed when we got there around 6:30 pm so we decided to hit it again in the morning, it was still closed. There is a unique smell to Lewiston and it took a minute to figure out it was the large paper mill in town.

Today would be one of the best days, Highway 12 that runs alongside the Clearwater river most of the way to Lolo, Montana. This is where the famous road sign is, “Winding Road Next 99 Miles.” Winding it is. Big sweepers and tight curves along with awesome scenery. And best of all, the temperature was great, until Lolo. The visitor center at Lolo Pass is a large log building, but being the national forest service it was all but closed down. A volunteer was inside a window with a small opening trying to answer questions for the visitors.

Lolo, Montana was 100 degrees and we had to eat our McDonald's feast leaning against the building in the only shade around. Missoula is right next to Lolo and we headed to the Harley-Davidson dealership. We about fried in the stoplight to stoplight run. The temp on the bike showed 107 and it felt worse than that. Then into the road construction for the next hour of stop and go and we felt like the rest at the HD store was in vain. Finally, sailing down the freeway to Deer Lodge. No matter the temperature, Montana has some beautiful country to travel through. Finally, Deer Lodge and just in time to see the Grant-Kohrs Ranch, a National Historic Site. The cowboys had a huge hand in the settling of Montana and this ranch outlines their role. This was our lowest mileage day of the trip, 308 miles, tomorrow will be the biggest, 605 miles.

The day starts at 55 degrees, what a relief. I guess the temperature does matter because the scenery is spectacular today as the sun rises and Montana shows off her beauty. We stop at a couple of HD stores and make our way to Livingston. I was looking forward to seeing the Yellowstone Gateway Museum but no chance, it looks very closed down.  We got some breakfast and headed towards Yellowstone. We stop and go through the Roosevelt Arch and then wait in line to enter the park, not sure what the holdup was? But unfortunately, it continued through the park. There were a ton of people. I have never been to Yellowstone when it was 96 degrees! At every turnout, cars were parked and people were playing in the river. We saw almost no wildlife; I think we did see one buffalo. Once past West Thumb, the traffic started to go the speed limit at least.

We stopped at Flag Ranch, which is between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We each got a chicken sandwich and side salad, $35.00 with a small tip! We stayed out on the highway as we went through the Tetons trying to make some time up, knowing the long day we would have. A quick stop in Jackson Hole for gas and then HD store then off again.

I can’t think of anywhere in the U.S. where you could have a prettier ride than where we traveled today. The winding roads, canyons, mountains, farms and ranches, and just plain relaxing riding, all the way to Cache Valley and Nibley, Utah.

The final day today to get home. After seeing some family, we headed south. It was the hottest day so far. I don’t know why we never used our cool vests, but we did get off the freeway for about half of the trip and rode some two-lane down Highway 89, another scenic road. It was 109 degrees when we pulled into our home. All of the new updates worked great! Beat from the heat and bummed that the trip was over. Just under 2,300 miles of hot fun and a great birthday ride.