(Touring MT and WY on XT to avoid heat and smoke in Spokane so will be out of touch for awhile. Camping out at 9000 ft tomorrow and it better not be hot in the Big Horns! Then off to Cody. Chris
Touring the west
- Thread starter Coyote Chris
- Start date
Have fun compadre! Be safe too.....
Chris, Don't you live in Washington State?
Any further west and you'd be in the Pacific Ocean. Do you plan on mounting pontoons on your bike?
Late time I checked, neither Montana or Wyoming is west of Washington.
Any further west and you'd be in the Pacific Ocean. Do you plan on mounting pontoons on your bike?
Late time I checked, neither Montana or Wyoming is west of Washington.
They call my stompin' grounds the midwest, so everything 1800 miles west of here must be west-west.
Nope... We're called the "Wild West" for a reason.
[video=youtube;CXE25V5p9nY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXE25V5p9nY[/video]
Yep. California is a giant cereal bowl. It's the land of Fruits, Nuts, and Flakes...
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Chris, Don't you live in Washington State?
Any further west and you'd be in the Pacific Ocean. Do you plan on mounting pontoons on your bike?
Late time I checked, neither Montana or Wyoming is west of Washington.
So the point does become, is western WA "The West"? Probably a matter of semantics.
This is definately the West.
Thanks for the pictures Chris. You can't imagine how envious I am or you and your trip even though I did get to attend the Aerostich Very Boring Rally (more talking than riding). The west is a special place for motorcycling. The technical riding is probably better in the eastern mountains, but the scenery just doesn't compare. And I, for one, am not up to an all-day effort of super technical riding any more. It requires more effort on my part and it just wears me out. I'd rather enjoy the west.
You made your Suzi into a Coyote Chris bike. Why don't you put some of that load into the panniers - it would be a lower center of gravity.
You made your Suzi into a Coyote Chris bike. Why don't you put some of that load into the panniers - it would be a lower center of gravity.
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You read my mind, Jim. See my report in the Suzuki section. I was going to take seven miles of washboard forest service road to Ten sleep lake but after a half mile decided to turn around and take one mile of good gravel road to Sitting bull campgound, which is my new treasure. The XT and me really dont handle washborard road and the ten sleep road only gets graded every 3 years. (This is odd as on the seven miles of FS road to the lake and its extensive trail system, there are 58 marked, free, dispersed campsights and a campground at the end as well as two others along the way. And a very large trail head parking lot. Why dont they maintain it better?) The Standard XT panniers, like the NT's, are not very spacious inside. I would be better off with some larger panniers for touring and switch to the Suzuki panniers for every day. I will see what I can do. I am with you about the technical riding...the Big Horns have an extensive system of ORV trails. I am too old! The nice thing about this new camp site is you can view moose and elk and deer at the same place....
Phil Tarman
Site Supporter
I'm enjoying your tour, Chris. You're in my old black-powder hunting area. Keep it up!
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Arent the Bighorns wonderful? As Yellowstone gets more crowded, people are discovering the Bighorns.....
Phil Tarman
Site Supporter
I had never been on US-16 west of Tensleep until I rode from Worland to Buffalo during the How the West Was Won Rally last year. That day there was some kind of big Harley presence in Tensleep (maybe a post-Sturgis thing when I think back to the date) and traffic was high for a few miles east and west of Sturgis, but nice otherwise. I saw the immediate aftermath of what looked like a pretty serious motorcycle wreck right in downtown Tensleep. There was nowhere to stop and plenty of people involved, so I don't know what happened or the outcome. Kinda' looked like a non-helmeted rider had pulled out in front of a truck. There was lots of evidence of a lot of people drinking and riding and driving, so it was good to clear of Tensleep.
The eastern foothills of the Big Horns between Buffalo and Sheridan have some really good riding, too. I've done that stretch on a tandem bicycle back in the day.
US-14 and 14A between Ranchester, Lovell, and Greybull are outstanding. Shell Canyon from Greybull to Burgess Junction is absolutely spectacular, as is the view from Bald Mountain before you start the plunge down to Yellowtail Reservoir and Lovell. I need to get back up there.
The eastern foothills of the Big Horns between Buffalo and Sheridan have some really good riding, too. I've done that stretch on a tandem bicycle back in the day.
US-14 and 14A between Ranchester, Lovell, and Greybull are outstanding. Shell Canyon from Greybull to Burgess Junction is absolutely spectacular, as is the view from Bald Mountain before you start the plunge down to Yellowtail Reservoir and Lovell. I need to get back up there.
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I am with you about the region...not a bad road to be had. I havent seen the Harley clutter effect after Sturgis here in the Bighorns yet so maybe my timing is wrong. I can certainly see how the timing is important. I did hear there was a higher than normal Harley wreck rate at Sturgis this year, but when you mix up 500,000 bikes, booze and no helmets, stuff happens...reported or not. I do meet lots of interesting folk on Harleys. One guy stayed at my fav motel in Cody. He was from Switzerland and was going to store the bike here for the winter and come back next year and finish his tour. Frosty and I met a whole bushelbasket full of Germans on Harleys Near Gillete but they had protective gear and IIRC, mufflers....
(There is a cute girl handling the desk at the Greybull Air Tanker Museum now so If you see her ask her if she remembers that tall, handsome guy who looks like Teddy Roosevelt...
She really knows her planes...I got a recruiter email today from Harley-Davidson looking to fill a Sr. Design Engineering position in Milwaukee. I was born there, and was raised in Madison, ~1.5 hrs away, where my aging parents still are. So it's tempting. I'm already a Cheesehead, so I'm good there. But the becoming a Harley rider.....I don't know if I could manage that....
Phil Tarman
Site Supporter
What's the museum like these days? Joanne and I visited it back in 2001 and met Mr. Hawkins of Hawkins and Powers, back when they were still one of the largest fire-bomber contractors in the country.
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Hope your parents did ok during the recent flood. My family is from Janesville. You could have a Harley modified to look as good as an NT! Good enough for the ride to work, anyway. Wait...you are still working? I had a job 14 years ago...it was the worst 30 years of my life!
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After the infamous PB4Y and early model C-130 crashes (the wings came off on the pullout) the US Govt stopped contracting with people using old aeroplanes. H and P auctioned off its assets.....a signal wide trailer was put up and about 10 planes were put up by the trailer. At about the one minute point, you can read how HP re engined the PB4Ys.
(There is still a large boneyard of C130s, Neptunes, DC4,6s, et al sitting out there. )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhl1A8KEaQ
Phil Tarman
Site Supporter
I learned to fly in '77-'78 while I was working in the oil field in Healdsburg, CA. I learned to fly at Sonoma County International airport in Santa Rosa. It was a fire bomber base and they flew mostly converted DC-7s, with a few DC-6s. They also had, but never flew, at least when I was there, two F7F Tigercats that had huge drum tamks under their bellies for fire retardant. Plus there was a B-17. One day after my son and I had done some touch and go landings and flown out to Bodega Bay in a 152, I walked over to the fire bomber pilot lounge and asked who was driving the B-17. A young kid spoke up and I asked him if he'd mind if Chris and I looked at his bird. He said, "Heck! We can do better than that. I'll give you the grand tour." We spent about an hour or more looking around in the B-17. It had been built by Lockheed and had never been in the Air Force inventory, but had flown for the Navy and the Coast Guard as an air-sea rescue bird until ab out 1952. Then it had been a mosquito-spraying plane in Florida before becoming a fire-bomber. It was later sold to one of the British museums and was restored to its WW!! condition.
When Joanne and I were visiting Hawkins and Powers in Greybull in '91, we met Mr Powers and I told him I'd seen one of his planes in California. He wanted to know which one I'd seen and when I told him it had been a B-17, he got really upset and told me he'd never had a B-17 and never would. He was a believer in the PB4Y!
When Joanne and I were visiting Hawkins and Powers in Greybull in '91, we met Mr Powers and I told him I'd seen one of his planes in California. He wanted to know which one I'd seen and when I told him it had been a B-17, he got really upset and told me he'd never had a B-17 and never would. He was a believer in the PB4Y!
Hope your parents did ok during the recent flood. My family is from Janesville. You could have a Harley modified to look as good as an NT! Good enough for the ride to work, anyway. Wait...you are still working? I had a job 14 years ago...it was the worst 30 years of my life!
They sent me a picture of their flooded street. Some lady tried to drive through and didn't make it just after they took the picture. Apparently a guy in Middleton got swept away and died.
As for work......20 years down, 20 years yet to go! Unless Powerball or Mega Millions helps me out....