Cody to Red Lodge

9/10

must have been somewhere northwest of Missoula when I stopped for gas and went to check the trailer straps.  For some reason I looked at the rear tire of the BMW and HOLeY RUBBER there was none! The chords of the tire were showing....a lot! I had just gone thru glacier Park in a huge mileage loop and lost all the rubber on the tire in the process.  In the Northwest, with all the rain and slick roads we have a tendency to put grippy tires on bikes.  Problem is they wear really fast....but I didn't clue into that.  the tires were brand new in my perspective.  So again, here teknowlgy kame inn....

I was someplace close to no where but I had my lap top (supplied by others!) and my jet pack (supplied by and paid for thru Verizon) and was able run a search on motorcycle shops in Bozeman, MT.  Got a number and GPS address for a shop who had tires and got there by 4:30 (they closed at 6).  I had planned on a two day trip from Trout Creek to Cody, WY and that was really fortunate.  The guys at "The Bike Shack" had a new tire on by 6 and one that might last more than 2 or 3 thousand miles. (note to self, after contacting BMW where I had the tires put on I discovered that I had put 7,900 miles on a tire rated for about 4,000.....oops).

  Next stop is Cody as a parking spot for the behemoth and then a bike ride thru Yellowstone that would have ended in...........catastrophy....if not for brand new rubber!  Tonight.....I belong to Walmart Bozman parking lot but I have a full tummy by way of 'Famous Dave's' Barbeeque and the local micro Porter.  I'll be off tomorrow for Cody and the pic's that follow!!

9/11

Smoke on the horizon.  Seems like southwestern Montana has pretty much ignited. Haze for miles from Missoula to Bozeman and past and the wind isn't helping.  Speed limits in Montana are 75 day 65 nite. Heading south toward Cody I was passed by a sheriff, just cruising and after he passed me a herd of deer ran across the highway.  Sheriff didn't even slow down and barely missed the last one as it leaped across.  Guess he figured his 'cattle' guard on the SUV front would protect him and that the dear had no rights.

Looked like a video game.

Made it to the camp west of Cody.  Funny how things looked familiar and I'm pretty sure this is the road we saw a moose on in 1975 when I was with high school buddies Jeff and Tom.  So dejavu?

 

9/12

Remember back a few days when I said I was helping Dean and Gina with the trusses on their new house?  I'm glad Dean was runnin' the show or I think it would have turned out like 

THIS!

 

This is what I look a out my window at the RV park.....but I don't know what it is.....or if it is on purpose!!  Someone had fun building it!

Cody to Yellowstone

 First fun day I took Hwy 296 north of Cody, it is called the Chief Joseph Hwy.

 It intersects with the Bear Tooth Hwy 212

Smoke!

 

 The Bear Tooth Hwy has a Pass at 10,947 ft called "The top of the World"

 and it crosses over from Wyoming to Montana and is VERY FUN!

Top Of The World

And SCARRY

 

Once back up in Montana I arrive at Red Lodge, a Ski town, tourist town now

 

 

but back in the day it must have been pretty cool too.

Stopped for some energy

 There was construction at the end of Bear Tooth and at 10k' it was on the brisk side of 40 F so I decided not to retrace 'cause tomorrow I wll do Yellowstone and catch the west part of it.  Instead I headed east.  On the trip in with the motor-home I came down 72 along the Yellowstone River so on the bike I decided to take the next road to the east which was just north of Belfry a zig and a jog. 

The Belfry Bats......how cool is that?

 

Ya well, tripple 'A' maps suck.  I started out fine, but then the road turned to gravel and I figured ok, for a little while.......10 miles later I found 295 but the map didn't show things that way. I did see oil fields and cows and cows on the road and when I finall got to pavement again it was a fun ride to Powell and then back to Cody in some pretty wide open territory.  Stopped and gave the bike a bath and I'm all ready for day two.

Your going to get a lot of this for a while but trust me, it's a lot of work doing this blog thing and sooner or later I'm going to slow down on the riding and do some visiting and just lolling around so you'll get a break too.