My planned departure time for this first day was 5:00 AM. I wanted to leave early enough and try an make good time across South Dakota and eastern Wyoming so that I would arrive at Sheridan by early afternoon. This would then allow me to slow down and cross the Bighorn mountains at a leisurely pace and arrive in Red Lodge, Montana in time for supper and well before dark.
My alarm was set for 4:15. I woke up at 4:00. Knowing I needed all the rest I could get, I tried to go back to sleep for those fifteen minutes. At 4:05 I realized my attempt would be futile, so I just got up. This allowed me to be a little less rushed while I dressed, attended to my personal needs (which is a polite way of saying "pooping") and ate some breakfast. At 4:59 AM I walked into the garage, snapped this picture, then climbed on the Road Star. Once the bike was running and I was pulling out of the driveway the clock on my speedometer read 5:01.
It was still quite dark when I left, and the temperature was a little bit colder than I had anticipated. The nights temps hadn't cooled down much during the last week, so I hadn't expected it to be in the mid '50s. In addition, the humidity was extremely high which made the chill go right through me. I had on an extra sweatshirt, a jacket and chaps so I wasn't freezing, but I was on the cool side of comfortable.
My first planned stop was Chamberlain, SD which was 150 miles down interstate 90. At 75 mph, this would get me there around 7 AM. The sun rose around 6:00 and was very beautiful, although I had to watch it through my mirrors as I was heading west. The bugs were getting a jump on the day as well, and by the time I got to Chamberlain my windshield was nice and smeared.
After using the restroom, filling up with gas, having a snack and chatting with a couple on a Goldwing heading east, it was time to hit the road again. On my itinerary I had planned for 20 minute gas stops, and this one had worked out to 22 minutes. I made a note to tighten things up a bit at the next stop, which was scheduled at Wall, SD at 817 AM.
About 20 miles down the road, I had my first (and really only) incident. I normally wear a half helmet. During heavy rains, however, a full face helmet makes life a lot more pleasant so I had a second helmet strapped to my pillion pad. Apparently I didn't have something fastened down tight enough. I heard a noise and looked in the mirror to see my helmet bouncing down the interstate and flying into the ditch. I slowed down quickly and pulled over to the shoulder to begin the walk back to find where the helmet had come to rest. Several cars saw me walking and stopped to see if I needed help (I love South Dakota!) Nearly a quarter mile away I found the helmet laying in the weeds in the ditch. Once I saw it, I kind of wished I hadn't wasted the time to go back and pick it up, as it was in rough shape after the tumble down the pavement. The visor was scratched beyond use, the two plastic covers that hold the visor in place were shattered and the helmet had a good crack in the lower part of the front. Not wanting to be a litterbug, I picked it up and brought it back to the bike. This time I strapped it down extra tight.
Outside of the valuable visual demonstration of how a helmet could protect your head (what would my melon look like if it bounced off the pavement at 75 mph?) this little incident cost me about 10 minutes. Then the road construction started. I am not making it up when I say that nearly every overpass between Chamberlain and Rapid City had a construction zone that required me to slow down to 45 mph. In addition, there was a 10 mile stretch of two-lane construction that dropped the speed to 65 mph. I clearly wasn't making good time on this stretch of the trip.
At least the weather was beautiful. The temps had rose into the 70s and there was no wind. Once I hit the Badlands, it gave me a little something to look at.
I arrived in Wall for my second gas stop eighteen minutes later than I had planned. However, I made more efficient use of my time and got back on the road after only 16 minutes. This included about five minutes chatting with another couple on a Heritage Softtail heading to Chicago. They gave me warning about some bad weather up ahead.
Once I was back on the interstate, the wind picked up a bit. It came out of the south and would slowly grow stronger and stronger as I headed west. The clouds were slowly growing darker, but the rain seemed to be holding off. This section of the journey was much less eventful than the previous one. The only real noteworthy item was that as I went by Ellsworth Air Force base outside of Rapid City, a B1 bomber went right over my head. Those are really cool looking planes.
My next scheduled stop was in Spearfish, SD. There were three exits that I could take, and I decided to get to the far end of the town and take the last exit. This turned out to be a poor choice, as when I got off on the third exit I had to backtrack a couple of miles back into town before I found a gas station. As it turns out, this gas station (the Loaf 'n Jug!) was only a couple of blocks from the 2nd exit, had I decided to take it.
This stop took me twenty two minutes. I spent some extra time removing my extra sweatshirt (temps were rising into the 80's by now), grabbing a sandwich from the cooler and switching from my beaded seat cover to a sheep skin cover I borrowed from my buddy Dan. I wanted to compare how sheepskin worked versus the beads.
Back on the road, it was just 9 miles to the Wyoming border. The clouds were starting to look like I was going to get wet, and the crosswind was blowing pretty hard by now.
Through the east part of Wyoming I hit some rain showers here and there, but nothing too heavy. At one point the road was very wet and it looked like a heavy rain had just come through. Perhaps if I had been right on schedule I might have hit the storm?
I pressed on to Gillette, WY for my next scheduled stop. I had never been to Gillette before. On the east side of town there's an open-pit coal mine, which is not a pretty site at all. I stopped for gas again, downed a jalapeno polish dog and some Gatorade, and hit the road again 25 minutes later. Also, the last 100 miles had convinced me that beads are superior to sheep skin, so I switched back.
As I headed west out of Gillette towards Buffalo, I started to catch glimpses of the Bighorn mountains in the distance.
I also was running into occasional showers, and the temp was going up and down. I finally stopped and put my jacket back on as I decided I would rather be hot than freezing.
As I got closer and closer to Sheridan, the mountains were getting bigger.
I noticed that there were tons of motorcycles on the interstate. I must've waved a thousand times on this trip. Nearly all of them waved back. As a side observation, I noticed that there was a much higher percentage of riders who were wearing helmets versus not. This surprised me, as back in Sioux Falls I'm in the minority of riders that do wear a lid.
At Sheridan I made my last gas stop before I got off the interstate and entered the Bighorn mountains. The weather was still cold and rainy at this point, so I left my jacket and gloves on. I spoke with a rider who had just come down from the mountains and told me of a bull moose he saw on the side of the road. I made a note to keep my eye out for this beast.
As I was buying a snack (I was eating snacks at each gas stop versus taking the time to stop for a proper meal) the cashier at the gas station thought she had a person fill up with gas and drive off. She moaned that she'd already had two that day, and was quite relieved when I pointed out the guy walking in the door. I had spoken with him while filling up, so I remembered his face. It surprised me that drive-offs are that big of a problem. I couldn't imagine filling up with gas and not paying for it.
I headed north on my last stretch of interstate until I got to Ranchester, WY where I turned onto highway 14. This is where my ride really began, as the 600 miles I'd logged so far were really just to get me to this point. In the few miles since Sheridan the clouds had cleared up, the sun came out and it was hot again, so I removed my jacket and gloves.
The mountains looked like they were just on the other side of the town. As I rode, I realized that they were still 20 miles away and that their enormous size made them look closer than they were. They really started on the other side of a small town called Dayton.
About five seconds after I snapped this picture on the west side of Dayton, a logging truck came whizzing by at full speed. I swear the rear trailer wheel was less than a foot from my leg. I wasn't happy at all.
I began the ascent into the mountains. It was beautiful.
As I climbed higher and higher on switchbacks, I realized just how tall these mountains were.
As I neared the peak, the town of Dayton is barely visible in the valley.
The scenery was beautiful. I started snapping lots of pictures.
Here's a section up in the mountains called Falling City where large square shaped rocks look like they are falling down the hill.
The lakes and ponds that I encountered were amazingly clear and beautiful.
At Burgess Junction, the road forked and I took the northern 14A route, which was supposed to be more scenic. This brought me through more mountains. I was starting to get cold again, so out came the jacket and gloves. I snapped this picture while I was stopped.
The descent down the mountain was steep and breathtaking. I didn't know which was better: the scenery or the great twisties I got to wrap the bike around on each corner.
I came across this small waterfall. The water poured out of a crack in the wall of the mountain, fell about 10 feet, then disappeared in a crack in the ground. Curious little thing. I was about six feet away when I snapped this picture.
Once I had come down the back side of the Bighorn mountains, the clouds had come out again. However, it was very hot again (in the 90's) so I once again stopped and took off my jacket and gloves. Also the wind had shifted again and was coming very strong out of the north. These pictures show the other side of the mountains I had just come through.
In the town of Lovell, WY I made my last gas stop prior to reaching my nights destination in Red Lodge, MT. The mountains are just barely visible in the distance.
I headed north out of Lovell and into Montana. I had never been to Montana before, so this was a new state to add to my list!
Finally at 5:45 PM I arrive in Red Lodge. I found my hotel on the north side of town and checked in, looking forward to showering and relaxing in some air conditioning. Much to my initial dismay, there was no A/C at this motel. As it turns out, the night was cooling down quickly and it wasn't needed. By the time I got out of the shower it was about 75 in my room, with hardly any humidity.
I called my wife to report that I was till alive, then went downtown and ate supper at a pub called "Fosters & Logans". After supper I walked around main street and had an ice cream, as I reflected on the day.
I had never previously ridden more than 350 miles in a single day, and on this day I had logged more than 780. It was quite a feeling of accomplishment, and I was pretty certain that I could pull off an IBA Saddle Sore 1000 ride (1000 documented miles in 24 hours) without too much trouble, especially if I stuck strictly to the interstate where I could log more miles in the same amount of time.
I went back to my hotel and prepared to settle down for the night. Around 8:30 there was a knock at the door and a teenage girl was there asking if I wanted a cookie. Apparently she's the daughter of the motel owners and delivered home-made cookies to each room every night. How cool!
I meant to be asleep by 9:30 PM, but got to watching a stupid movie on TV. Of course, I had to stay up and see how it ended, so it was 11 PM before I officially called it lights out.
I slept well.
Miles Logged: 788.4
Time In Saddle: 13.75 hours
Gallons of gas used: 22.437
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This page last updated on 06/28/2018