The alarm went off on Saturday morning at 6:00 AM. Thankfully, my body was still on CST which means it thought it was 7:00 AM. I dressed and packed up my bag, and was out on the bike by 6:30. The hotel lobby didn't open until 7:00, which means I couldn't check out prior to then. I knew about this situation before hand, however, so I had planned to go get some breakfast, then swing by the hotel on the way out of town to check out.
It was a beautiful morning, with temps in the mid 60s and the sun shining. I rode downtown to main street where all the casinos are located. Not much was happening yet at this time of the morning.
My favorite breakfast spot in Deadwood is the buffet at the Tin Lizzie. Much to my dismay, I discovered that they had raised their price a dollar. Also, on prior visits my hotel had provided a additional "dollar off" coupon for the buffet, which they no longer do. So, I was expecting to pay $1.99 for breakfast and wound up shelling out $3.99. (Have I mentioned I'm cheap?) Oh well, it was tasty and filling. I ate until I was quite full, but stopped short of making myself sick. That way I would be fueled for the ride, but not miserable.
After breakfast, I headed back up highway 85 and swung by the hotel to check out. From there, I went up through Deadwood's sister city, Lead. They're called the twin cities of the Black Hills as they're only about a mile apart.
Lead is famous for the Homestake gold mine, which was the major source for Black Hills gold over the years. I stopped at the old open-pit mine and took some pictures. The pictures don't really point out how big this hole is. Looking at the mine I was torn; it was impressive how large the excavation was, yet it was disturbing that we would dig out a huge chunk of the mountain just for some shiny metal.
From Lead, I headed down highway 85 to highway 14A, also known as the Spearfish Canyon road. This stretch of highway is probably the most scenic stretch in South Dakota, and among the nicest in the world.
About a mile into the canyon, I was feeling a little chilly so I stopped and put on my jacket.
Lots of curves and scenery make for some fun riding, and at this time of the morning traffic was sparse.
Highway 14A ends in Spearfish, where I was scheduled for my first gas stop. I rode over to the Loaf 'n Jug (I just like that name) and gassed up. While I was there, I noticed it was starting to warm up so I removed the jacket I had donned just a few minutes before.
As I was leaving Spearfish heading towards Belle Fouche, SD, two Model Ts and a Model A came rolling by in the opposite direction. You don't see that every day. I wish I'd had my camera out in time to snap a picture.
On the south side of Bell Fouche I headed west on highway 24 into Wyoming. I had been on this road as a child but at the time didn't appreciate how pretty the drive is from Belle Fouche to Devils Tower. I find it interesting that Wyoming has some of the most beautiful scenery (Devils Tower area, Yellowstone, Chief Joseph Highway, Beartooth Highway, Bighorn Mountains, Grand Tetons) and some of the most dull drives (everywhere else in the state).
Many parts of this area have beautiful areas of red clay exposed in the hill sides.
As I came over a hill, I caught my first glimpse of Devils Tower. Even though I've seen it several times, it is always a little freaky looking. This unnatural looking natural wonder jutting upwards across the plains. I couldn't help but think what the first pioneers thought about when they saw that menacing figure in the distance.
You can't hear the William Tell Overture without thinking about the Lone Ranger, and in the same way I can't see Devils Tower without having the Close Encounters theme running through my head.
The tower is visible for many miles before you actually get to the entrance.
In my original itinerary, I had planned on going into the park for an hour or so. When I arrived at the entrance, I was a little behind schedule. That fact coupled with the $20 entry fee persuaded me to just take a short break at the trading post outside the gate and continue down the road. I have been inside the park a couple times before, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything.
When I returned to my bike after browsing the gift shop and taking a bathroom break, there was a disturbing puddle underneath. At first glance I thought it was a pool of oil. I dipped my finger in it and it came up clear, it only looked black because of the blacktop. My next guess was gasoline, but the smell test didn't indicate that it was fuel. My bike is air-cooled, so it wasn't coolant. To this day I have no guess as to what the puddle was from, except perhaps a breather line that expelled a bunch of condensation. It seemed like a lot of water just from condensation, though.
Heading south from Devils Tower towards Newcastle, WY, I hit swarms of bugs like I've never seen before. Usually during the day bugs aren't too bad; they tend to get thick at night. Today however, the bugs were out in full force. My windshield was peppered with thousands of their dead bodies. One of them managed to bypass my windshield and my sunglasses and struck me hard in the left eye. Real hard. Searing pain welled up forcing me to close my left eye and make my way over to the edge of the road.
The pain wasn't subsiding, but was manageable if I kept that eye shut. In this area of Wyoming, there was nowhere to stop and try to deal with the situation. I came to the conclusion that I could sit on the side of the road with one eye shut, or I could keep riding with one eye shut and either the pain would subside or I could get to a bathroom where I could possibly deal with the problem. I voted to press on. Thankfully, in about 40 miles the pain had reduced to where I could have both eyes open again. My depth perception is a lot better with two eyes.
As I was approaching Newcastle, I could see something burning in the distance. As I got closer, I realized it was a small forest fire. I stopped and snapped a picture of the smoke. As I went by the grove of trees, I saw that there were emergency vehicles attending to the problem, so I didn't bother trying to report it.
One thing I noticed about Wyoming is they have some of the longest trains I've ever seen, and a lot of them. There was a train parked along the side of the highway as I went by, so I looked at my odometer as I passed the first car, and measured how long the train was. That one was 1.7 miles long. Amazing!
I arrived in Newcastle shortly behind my itinerary's schedule. My plans were to get gas, and maybe pick up a snack in lieu of a full lunch. However, as I was coming through town a railroad light started flashing and one of these monstrous trains started to roll through. I decided that if I was going to sit and wait, I might as well eat some lunch so I pulled into a Taco Johns that was a block from the railroad crossing.
I ordered my food, then went into the restroom to check my eye. To the left of my pupil was a huge welt on my eyeball. Whatever hit me had done so at a high rate of speed. I didn't see any bug particles floating around, and by this time the pain had sustantially reduced so I decided to just leave it alone.
I quickly ate my lunch, then rode up a few blocks to a gas station. Some festival was going on in the downtown area, so traffic was moving slow. I filled up, reapplied my sunscreen, and prepared myself for probably the dullest stretch of highway on the whole trip.
When I removed the gas cap from my tank, I was greeted with a disturbing sound: whoooosh! I had not personally heard this sound before, but I was aware of what it means. Yamaha Road Stars are known to occasionally have their rollover valve fail. This is a one-way valve that supposedly prevents fuel from spilling on the ground if the bike goes down. Unfortunately these valves have proven themselves unreliable, and when they stick they cut off the vent tube from the gas tank. As fuel is burned, the pressure in the tank lowers. If the pressure imbalance gets too great, the gas tank can implode.
The usual solution for this problem is to remove the rollover valve from the bike and hope that you never get in a position (literally) to need it. I didn't have the means (or the time) to mess with this valve while on the road, so I came up with an alternate plan. For the rest of the trip, about every fourty miles or so, I would remove the gas cap for a brief moment as I rode. This would equalize the pressure in the tank and prevent implosion.
The only trick in doing this was that I have a locking gas cap. So I would have to pull in the clutch, shut off the ignition, remove the key, insert it into the gas cap, remove the gas cap, put it back, remove the key, put the key back into the ignition and restart the bike. I got to where I could do all this and only lose about 20 mph off my speed before I was back on the road. I also tried not to think about what would happen were I to drop my key while I was speeding down the highway.
I'd driven the stretch of highway from Newcastle to Lusk, then from Lusk to I-25 several times. This, however was the first time I'd ridden it on a bike. I must say that it's more interesting on a bike, but not much more so. I likened it to the back of my hand; about the same color and terrain.
It was at this point in the ride when I noticed my left shoulder and upper back were starting to get very sore. About six years previous I had been in a bad motorcycle accident and had dislocated this shoulder, and it felt like some of the old injury was reminding me that things in that joint aren't 100%. I tried to shift positions frequently, which would help for a few minutes but then the pain would set back in.
East of Lusk, I came across the town of Lost Springs. The last time I'd been through the area this little town had a population of 5. Well, apparently the last few years haven't been prosperous for Lost Springs, as when I arrived the sign now said population 1. I had to take a picture. It's not very clear in the photo, but the sign in the background says "city park". Also, there may be only one person living there, but they do have a bar. I'm guessing the resident is the bartender.
Once I made it to I-25, I headed south and the scenery improved slightly. As I rode along the interstate, I suddenly felt a tremendous WHACK on the right side of my glasses, then heard a loud buzzing noise. I whipped off my sunglasses to find a bee had hit me and lodged itself between my temple and the earpiece. I think the impact would prove to be fatal (for the bee, that is), as the stunned bee fell from my glasses and onto the road somewhere along the interstate. Thankfully the bee must have been too stunned to sting me.
At Wheatland I stopped for gas and a glass of iced tea. The heat, pain and dull scenery was starting to wear on me and I was ready for the day's journey to end. I began to have concerns about my ability to pull off the IBA ride on the way home, as it would be approximately 2.5 times the length of this day's ride, and across Kansas which also isn't well known for its breathtaking views.
Nothing I could do but press on, which I did. I took some asprin to try and alleviate my shoulder pain, and headed south towards Cheyenne.
Around the Colorado border the clouds were getting dark and threatening. I was keeping and eye on them, half expecting it to start raining any minute. Thankfully, other than a few sprinkles that I could count on one hand, the rain held off.
Once in Colorado, the traffic started to pick up substantially. I rode I-25 to the Loveland exit, then headed east to Greely where my friend Bucket with whom I was staying lives. I didn't have his address, or know how to get to his house, so my plan was to find a pay phone somewhere in Greely and call him. I don't have a cell phone (nor do I want one, most days). I found a gas station and gave Bucket a call. After explaining where I was, he told me to hold on and he'd come get me. I bought another iced tea and relaxed in the shade. The plan was we were going to go to the Saturday night service at his church in Loveland.
The church Bucket attends is called "New Freedom". Last summer a group of people from their church rode to Sioux Falls to help us get our Set Free church started. Part of my trip to Colorado was to reunite with some of the friends I made that previous summer.
About 15 minutes later Bucket and his family arrived in a car. They said I could just follow them over to the church. Well, I didn't know Greely very well (at all, actually) but it didn't seem to me that we were heading towards Loveland. After cruising through various back-streets, we pulled up at a house. When they got out of the car they decided that it seemed funny that I was riding and they were in a cage, so they changed their minds and were going to ride along with me.
I dropped off my luggage at the house, and we all mounted up and rode over to the church in Loveland. I snapped this picture at a stoplight. This is Bucket. The girl on the back of the bike is the daughter of another friend, Tank, who passed away last winter. Bucket has pretty much adopted her as a granddaughter.
This is Bucket's wife, Denise, with another one of their granddaughters on the back.
We arrived at the church at about 6:00, and as soon as Bucket got off his bike he was surrounded by young children giving him hugs. He's the children's minister, and it's obvious that all the children love him.
I spent the evening catching up with friends and attending the service. Before the service they run a "coffee house". Big Mike makes the best strawberry smoothies in Colorado.
The church band played during the service, and was kind enough to ask me to sit in on guitar on a song.
This is Perry. He's the president of the Diakonos motorcycle ministry.
This photo of Halftrack is a message for my friend Roger: Roger, Halftrack wants you to call him.
We stayed at the church until well past 10:00, when we rode back to Bucket's house. I gave my wife a call to let her know I was still alive. I hadn't eaten anything since noon, so Denise was gracious enough to make a whole ton of blueberry pancakes. Bucket and I sat and ate pancakes and talked until 12:30, when I finally had to call it a night.
Good ride, good food, good friends, good day.
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This page last updated on 06/28/2018