The alarm went off at 5:30 AM. We had a long day of riding ahead of us. Today's route would take us up the Chief Joseph highway, over Beartooth Pass into Red Lodge, then back across the Bighorn Mountains on highway 14A before we stopped in Deadwood, SD for the night. The lobby of the hotel in Deadwood closed at 7:30 PM, which meant we needed to finish the 530+ miles of riding in a timely fashion else we wind up having to find somewhere else to stay.
We proceeded to dress and pack everything up. Today the temperature in Cody was 48, a full five degrees warmer than the previous morning. However the sky was overcast and we were heading back into the mountains so we knew once again it was going to get cold. In Yellowstone the mountains topped out at about 8,500 feet. Today going over Beartooth we would top out close to 11,000 so there would be a noticeable temperature swing. Taking this into consideration, we dressed the same way we did the previous day: thermal underwear, extra shirts, chaps, balaclava, etc. I even went ahead and put on my rain gear right away. Even if we didn't hit rain I reasoned it would block the cold wind a bit. Once again I was regretting leaving my heavy leather jacket at home in the closet.
The newspaper in my boots helped a great deal with drying them out. They were left with just a hint of moisture, but way better than they were when I put the newspaper in the previous evening.
Jon still wasn't interested in breakfast, so I nuked and ate the last two slices of pizza we had stashed in the fridge. In exchange I let him finish off the remaining Pepsi.
With my backrest broken and lashed to the rear rack, I didn't have much for back support. I was a little sore from the previous day of riding without it. I decided to try putting my luggage on the bike backwards, so that it was sitting on the passenger seat instead of the rack. I was hoping I could then lean back on it so I could relax a little. It kind of worked. I say "kind of" because I had to lean back a little farther than I'd like, and then after a few minutes the bag would slowly compress until I was leaning much farther back than comfortable. If I'd brought a small pillow to place between me and the bag it probably would have worked. I left the bag on backwards just because I didn't feel like undoing everything and re-attaching it.
With our bikes packed and the room cleaned up we were ready to hit the road. A car had parked in front of our bikes which were up under the covered porch, so we had to play a little bit of Tetris to roll them out. Once the bikes were free, we were ready to hit the road right on time at 7 AM.
Cody was pretty quiet. We headed up the highway north out of town. Looking at the mountains we could see them disappear in the clouds, which meant we were going to ride through fog and probably some rain. I was hoping for a sunny day so Jon could truly experience the scenery. Oh well, life gave us some lemons and we were going to make some lemonade. By the way, if life doesn't also give you sugar and water your lemonade is going to suck.
We turned onto highway 296, also known as the Chief Joseph Highway, and began our climb into the mountains.
This route is a very nice ride. I recommend it to anyone in the area.
As expected, the fog settled in and along with it drizzle and cold. I had the same concerns as the previous morning with my gloves getting soaked. I really didn't want to lose digits to frostbite.
We saw a sign that said, "Open Range Watch For Livestock On Road." They weren't kidding. We came around a foggy corner and there was a herd of cattle standing there. Thankfully we weren't going very fast, otherwise it would have been death by steak.
Traffic was very light. I attribute this to being later in the tourist season, but mostly due to the weather. Later on this morning as the temps improved I noticed more people were out on the road.
About halfway through highway 296 there is a scenic overlook. I stopped to snap some pictures. I mentioned to a shivering Jon that we were about halfway to Beartooth and he said, "What? I thought we were already on Beartooth! Brrr...."
On the second half of highway 296 we started running through a lot of road construction. The construction areas were literally 20 feet long as they were just resurfacing the road around the cattle guards, but they would occur about once per mile.
One of the more entertaining parts of the trip happened as we came around a corner and found a very large wild turkey staring us down. For those who aren't experienced with them, turkeys are mean and can be dangerous. They can bite and spur. This turkey saw us as we stopped about 50 feet back. I pulled out my camera to get a picture. Unfortunately I still had my gloves on and kept fumbling with the buttons. The turkey kept coming and I kept taking pictures of my gloved fingers instead of the turkey. As I tried to get one good shot I told Jon to get ready to honk and rev his engine in an attempt to scare off the bird after I got my photo.
I snapped the picture and then yelled, "Now!" The turkey was just a few feet away by this point, but he was completely unfazed by all the noise Jon was making. We gunned our engines and went around each side of the bird as it came after us. I looked behind me to see the turkey running at full speed trying to catch us. Obviously, a turkey can't match a motorcycle for speed but it was pretty funny to watch that bird running as fast as it could in a vain attempt at pursuit.
Once it was all said and done I never did get a good picture without some part of my glove in the way. Here are the best two pics I snapped:
After roughly 70 very cold miles we reached highway 212. Going west would have taken us back into Yellowstone. Today we were heading northeast over the Beartooth Pass and down into Red Lodge. I had been on this stretch of highway twice prior to this, but both times I was coming from the Montana side south. This would be the first time I rode it the other direction.
As we began the climb, the fog got thicker and thicker. I stopped and apologized to Jon, because the main reason we were taking this road was for the scenery, and we weren't seeing anything but the inside of a cloud.
At one point I pulled over to take the following picture of the fog. Because we were on a curve I didn't want a car to come around the corner and take us out, so I dropped the bike off the road a couple feet. I didn't anticipate how difficult it was going to be to get the bike back on the road. My front wheel went up over the lip onto the pavement just fine, but when my rear wheel hit the lip it just slid. It took me a couple tries of backing down and trying to pull out again before I finally got the bike back on the road. Thankfully I didn't dump it or Jon wouldn't have ever let me live that one down.
The fog grew thicker and we started taking corners slower and slower. Occasionally a car would appear out of the soup and my worry was that with no real center line an oncoming vehicle would stray over onto our side and suddenly materialize in front of us. Thankfully that didn't happen, and even more thankfully we came up a hill and suddenly came out of the clouds. We had climbed high enough that we were above the cloud producing the fog and looking down at the top of it. Beartooth became scenic again!
We rode along enjoying the newfound scenery and arrived at the "Top Of The World" store. It's basically a gift shop, and isn't correctly named because we would ascend probably a thousand more feet before we went over the pass. In any event, we stopped. I used the restroom and Jon found a heavier pair of gloves. I joked that most people buy souvenirs on vacation, but Jon buys gloves.
After we had warmed up inside for a couple minutes we were ready to continue on. The temp was now in the low 30s but actually with the sun out and while we weren't moving it was quite comfortable outside.
We rode along, pulling over frequently to take pictures. The temp really dropped up on the mountain peaks, and was probably down in the 20s. There were some clouds in the sky and a lot of snow on the ground. Rather than trying to describe everything I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
At the top of the mountain we crossed into Montana. Jon had never been to this state before so he got to add a new one to his list. After I took this picture we went to take off and Jon accidentally shifted his bike into gear without using the clutch, which caused it to lunge forward and then die. We both busted up laughing over that one. Pretty funny.
We continued on into Montana. We were on the descent now, and experienced the same thing we had on the ascent: we dropped down into a layer of cloud which caused things to get pretty foggy, and then we came out of the bottom. The only difference this time is once we came out of the bottom it was no longer raining.
Once in Red Lodge we were out of the mountains and the sun came out. We stopped at a gas station to fuel up and use the restroom. We also grabbed a soda and a candy bar as our next planned stop would be Sheridan which was about 4 hours away. It was 10:30 now, which was too early for lunch.
After topping off our tanks we rode down main street looking for the Beartooth Pass Harley Davidson store so Jon could get his chip. As we putted along I started thinking about something else, and I vaguely remember hearing a horn. Pretty soon I was on the north end of town and realized that Jon was no longer behind me. I turned around and sheepishly rode back to the Harley store where Jon was parked and waiting for me. So Jon got a laugh at my expense.
I say "store" because that's all this was. They basically sold clothes. I'm guessing if you wanted to buy a motorcycle or any accessories you'd have to drive to Billings.
Chip in hand, we departed Red Lodge heading east on highway 308. The next couple hours were going to be rather dull, as we were out of the mountains and riding along a pretty sparse and comparably flat stretch of highway until we hit the Bighorn Mountains.
Just a few miles east of Red Lodge is a little town called "Bear Creek". And when I say little, I mean maybe a block long. Four years ago when I came through I saw a sign that read, "World Famous Banana Cream Pie". We didn't stop at that time and ever since then I've always somewhat regretted that decision. Well, as we passed through I saw the sign again. Unfortunately being on a motorcycle I didn't have any way to transport a pie without turning it into a mass of pudding desert. So once again I passed on by and continued with my regret. Someday I'm going to try that thing.
Highway 308 comes to a "T" intersection at highway 72. From there we headed north about 10 miles to just south of Bridger, MT where we caught highway 310 heading south to Lovell, WY.
Along this stretch of highway we encountered one of my pet peeves: states with speed limits where trucks have a lower limit than cars. In my opinion the speed difference in traffic causes more headaches and danger than when all traffic is flowing at the same rate. We found ourselves buzzing along and then having to slow down for trucks and try to find clear places to pass them. I like to think that we always passed as safely as possible, but I did witness some vehicles from the other direction making unsafe passes around trucks.
In the town of Lovell there was some road construction that took us on a detour through a residential section. When we got back on the road there was a cop sitting there in a speed trap. We weren't speeding, but because I was focused on the officer I missed our turn onto highway 14A. Thankfully I realized it right away and just had to ride far enough to be out of the cop's line of sight before we pulled a "U" turn and got back on track.
Heading east we could see the Bighorn Mountains in the distance. Similar to the Beartooth Highway, I had been on highway 14A before but always heading west. This would be my first time riding through it in this direction.
For the last hour or so I had been struggling with sunscreen in my eyes. They would burn and water and I would do my best to try and wipe it away while we were moving. We were about 20 miles from the mountains when suddenly the pain got so intense I had to pull over for a couple minutes and deal with the situation. This seems to happen whenever I put sunscreen on my face and ride. I suspect that the wind slowly blows it off my face and into my eyes. No matter how careful I am to keep it away, it always manages to find its way into my eyes. The alternative is to not wear sunscreen but I've learned that is equally painful, just a day or two later and in a different way.
We spent the next couple of hours slowly making our way through the mountains and stopping to take a lot of pictures. While it was a bit colder than when we came through two days prior, the sky was clearer which meant better views. At one point Jon remarked, "We're taking so many photos, we must look like a couple of tourists!" I replied that, "We ARE tourists!" We just happened to be riding motorcycles.
At the top of the mountain there's a bit of a plateau, which meant we could pick up a little more speed before we began our descent down the other side.
On the east side of the mountains we picked up interstate 90 and rode that down to Sheridan where we stopped for gas. Jon suggested that we just grab a sandwich at the gas station and keep pressing on, but I wanted to get off the bike for a couple of minutes. I needed to remove my rain gear because it was getting a little warmer and we were pretty much out of the rain for the day. Plus my lack of a backrest was making me a bit sore and I needed to lean on something for a few minutes. There was a Taco Johns next to the gas station so we headed over there to take a short break.
When I took off my helmet I found that at some point I'd hit a dragonfly and it had lodged itself between the lining and my head. Sorry Mr. Drangonfly dude.
We were planning on eating at an all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet for supper, so I really didn't want to stuff myself at 2:30 in the afternoon. I ordered some Potato Oles and a bowl of refried beans. When I received my order I first ate the beans (with a little extra hot sauce stirred in - yum!) By the time I finished them I realized that I should have just ordered the beans, as that was plenty of food. I'm too much of a glutton to walk away from a plate of untouched potatos, so I ate those too. I immediately regretted how full I was, and things weren't settling real well.
It was a quick stop and we were back on the road in about half an hour. The temp was now in the low 60s. I still had all my cold weather clothing on, but when we were buzzing down the interstate at 75 mph it was comfortable.
There's not much to see from Sheridan to Gillette (and not much beyond Gillette either.) Once we got east of Buffalo the speed limit raised to 80 and Jon got tired of looking at my behind, so he took the lead for a while.
Our next stop was in Gillette to fill up our tanks. We pulled into a gas station right off the interstate. It was quite busy with only one pump unoccupied. I pulled in first and tried my credit card. No go. I tried it again. Still got the "please see cashier" message. Then the guy on the pump across from me said that this station's card readers were down and that everyone has to go inside to pay. Jon suggested we just ride down the street to a different station and I agreed.
About six blocks away we found a much less busy station, and their credit card readers were working fine. We topped off our tanks and hit the road again. Even having to ride to two different gas stations this stop only took 12 minutes. Not much time to refresh and recharge our bodies, but this was to be our last stop until Deadwood and we figured we'd have plenty of time to relax at the hotel.
Heading east on I-90 Jon took the lead again. At the town of Sundance he motioned for me to take the lead, and we got off the interstate where we would take the highway the rest of the way. There are two exits to Sundance and I accidentally got off on the wrong one, which meant we had to ride through town to get to highway 585 south.
When I pulled away from a stop sign, after I rode a few blocks I looked in the rear view mirror and Jon wasn't behind me. I pulled over and after a minute he caught up. He too had gotten sunscreen in his eye and had stopped to deal with it. He had been honking but with my ear plugs in I hadn't heard him.
As long as we were stopped I suggested we swing by the Harley shop so he could get a chip. Jon opted not to. I think he was getting tired and just wanted to get off the bike in Deadwood and stay off the bike. So we headed on down highway 585 toward Four Corners.
When I originally mapped out the route I made a mistake in my distances, as from Sundance I calculated we had about 40 miles to ride until Deadwood. In reality, it was closer to 65 miles. Oops. This wasn't a welcome mistake but there wasn't anything I could do about it. As a bonus, the temp was dropping fast and it was now back down in the low 50s and falling.
The last 40 mile stretch from Four Corners (which actually only has two corners) into Deadwood is really a pretty ride with lots of curves. It would have been a welcomed ride at the beginning of the day, but at the end of day four with about 1600 miles behind you, it's less interesting. I passed the time counting down audibly in increments of five from forty to zero until we finally arrived at our hotel in Deadwood.
The hotel lobby closed at 7:30 PM. We arrived at 6:45 PM. Plenty of time.
After checking in we discussed our plans for the evening. I suggested we leave the bikes parked and take the trolley downtown for supper. I thought Jon was going to kiss me right there on the street. Apparently he really was done riding for the day.
We went up to our room and called our families. I spent more time than I had planned talking to mine, as I was helping my son with his homework. More or less I was just listening to him read the essay he wrote and giving him my feedback. While I was talking with him my brother beeped in. So after I got done speaking with my wife and son I called him back. We were chatting when suddenly I realized we had three minutes to catch the next trolley, else we would be sitting for another half hour.
I hastily bid my brother goodbye and quick changed my shoes and shirt. We got down to the front of the hotel with about 30 seconds to spare.
We rode the trolley downtown to the Silverado casino. In the basement they have a buffet that serves prime rib. Jon ate two pieces and I ate three. Apparently I wasn't too sick from Taco Johns four hours earlier.
After supper we walked down main street for a few minutes until the trolley came and took us back to the hotel. We did our usual ritual of taking turns showering and then getting ready for bed. We both agreed that we weren't in any big hurry to hit the road in the morning so we wouldn't set the alarm clock.
I drifted off to sleep pretty quick and slept well all night. Unfortunately Jon was feeling sick for the first part of the night and was up and down and in the bathroom fairly often. I was so wiped out tired that I didn't even know until morning.
Return To The Main Motorcycle Gallery
This page last updated on 06/28/2018