Best Ride Ever - 273 miles - then get Lucky

Folks, if you never do anything else in your life, get to USA, get a motorcycle and ride the Beartooth Pass. Include the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway just for good measure.

It will be worth it.

Now that rant is out of the way, we can get on with the travelogue.

Woke early with a sore throat. My turn for a bit of a cold. Too many cold nights in tents I guess.

We were gone by 7am and had a hearty breakfast in Cody. First excitement for the day was just out of town. A deer decided to cross the road in front of us. Gets the adrenalin going for the day.

Not long after we turned on to the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. What a beautiful part of the world and steeped in tragic history. We topped Dead Indian Pass and learned the story of the Indian tribe who, knowing they were going to be slaughtered by the US Cavalry, climbed this big mountain and made it through the pass. Many of them died, thus the name.

That aside, the scenery is magnificent. And the roads almost perfect.

Down the other side of the pass we soon joined the Beartooth Pass Hwy and climbed up and up, marveling at the vista at every turn. Stopping for photos was the only problem. Mosquitoes. Millions of 'em.

Eventually we made it to 10,947ft at West Beartooth Pass. Not a record, but breathtaking nonetheless. There were heaps of motorcycles on the pass today as there is a rally being run at nearby Red Canyon, a prelude to the famous Sturgis Rally. Needless to say, GoldWings were serously outnumbered by Harley Davidsons. There was the occasional sports bike, but not many.

Down the other side of Beartooth, at a racing pace we went (apologies to Banjo) and even overtook a couple of pushies, having fun barrelling down after the hard ride up.

We stopped in Red Canyon for a couple of milkshakes, then headed out for a very special place, Lovell, Wyoming. But first we had to endure a 20 minute wait at a roadworks. We ended up being the leader of a group of about 30 motorcycles all the way to the next town, but they all turned off back towards Cody for the rally.

In Lovell, WY we took the obligatory photos and wondered if we should stay the night. After all it was only 99 miles from our intended stop. But the town's three motels did not look inviting so we declined and continued on. Good thing too.

Just a few miles out of town we suddenly went up. And up. And up. From 3600ft at Lovell to 9472ft in a very short time. BRed did not like it, especially when we got caught behind a caravan going slowly, and the temp gauge went very high. But at the top, it quickly cooled back to normal.

We traveled for a while in what is known as Wyoming High Country and it was very pretty, with large expanses of green with miriad wildflowers and "eyebrows" of snow just below the ridges.

Down the other side was a lot of roadworks including the dreaded gravel sections. But the water truck was nowhere in sight and we were safe.

Finally, we arrived at a small town called Ranchester and spied a nice looking motel. We decided to motel it one more time just 10 miles short of our intended KOA campsite. Turned out to be a fortuitious decision.

BRed was a bit dirty so we started out to find a carwash to give her a good clean. As we left, Charleen noticed an oily patch under the bike. Under a Honda? Never!

Turned out we had picked up a piece of metal that had pierced the radiator reservoir. A small hole had fluid dripping alarmingly quickly on the pavement. I tried taping up the hole with racing tape, but the fluid just bypassed the tape and continued dripping.

We got out all our paperwork for emergency breakdown assistance, then decided to try the old method of soap. Grabbed the motel bar and rubbed it over the hole. Leak stopped. But how long is this going to last?

Just one block away was a mechanic's shop so I walked down there to ask if we gould get something to permanently plug the hole. They pointed me to the panel beater next door. I rode the bike to his shop and he mixed up a potion which I pasted on to the plastic container. It set in 10 minutes and no more worries. We'll keep an eye on it.

The panel beater refused any payment. "Pass it on" is the go. Doncha just love small country towns?

That all fixed, large expenditure avoided, we went out for tea to the only cafe in town. What a treat that was. The chef would be welcome in any large city restaurant and the waitstaff were just delightful. I had the bestest ever Garlic-Encrusted Rack of Lamb and Charleen the Asian Ginger Soy Grilled Salmon. Just the best to cap off a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday Tim. Hope you had a great day too.

We took over 200 photos today, so here are just a few of them:-

Start the day right with a deer crossing adrenalin rush

Then catch this epitome of cute

View from the top of Dead Indian Pass on Chief Joseph Hwy

In remembrance of the Indians at Dead Indian Pass on Chief Joseph Hwy

A bit of an idea how the GPS saw the road ahead

Near the top of Beartooth. The mozzies here were incredible.

and in the distance, Clay Butte

Reflected snow in a lake

Cornering

Feeling on top of the world

Hard slog up for these guys

More cornering

An automatic V-Twin with very low seat height. Ridley is the brand.

Yeee Haw! The reward for the hard ride up.

Well, I had to didn't I?

My bank? Is not big.

Check out the cuttings on the road ahead.

Cattle herding on the Wyoming High Country