Montana

Montana, 2013

Saturday morning, July 6th, Brian, Dan, George, and I embark on our motorcycles for a long trip.

I'll be meeting Brian and George on the PGBT at Custer Road at 8AM. Then, the three of us continue to Decatur where we'll meet up with Dan at around 9AM at the Shell station on hwy 380. There, we'll sync up our gas tanks and officially begin the journey (even though I've already traveled 70 miles). It should be a good one. You can follow us by clicking my SPOT satellite tracking web page or click anywhere on the map below.

Saturday July 6, 2013 Day One:

We leave Decatur around 9 AM. The ride up 287 to the panhandle and on out of Texas at Texline is always exciting. We've been this way many times in the past and usually stop in Childress for lunch at the Sonic. (they have indoor seating so we can cool down). Then, on to Amarillo, Dumas, Dalhart, and Texline. About 10 miles out of Texline, we'll see our first mountain, Rabbit Ear (named after Indian Chief Rabbit Ear). It's actually in New Mexico, but easily visible from 20 miles away. Texas is behind us and the volcano fields of New Mexico in front. It's common to see antelope and fox when traveling across the N.E. corner of New Mexico. We will have climbed over a mile in altitude from Childress; it's usually cooler. In the distance, the Sangre de Cristo mountain range can be seen. We turn north at I-25 and climb over Raton Pass to our first night's lodging in Trinidad.

Sunday July 7, 2013 Day Two:

Casper Wyoming is our destination. We'll travel up I-25 to Johnson's Corner near Longmont, Colorado. They're famous for their cinnamon rolls. We'll be having lunch. Thunder Mountain Harley Davidson is only a few miles north, so if we have time, we'll stop and browse their T-shirts. In Ft Collins, we depart the Interstate in favor of US 287 (the same 287 that we got on in Decatur) and head northwest across the prairie land. The Interstate is super boring; maybe 287 will be better. We'll take 287 to Laramie, turn north on 487and then 220 to Casper.

Monday July 8, 2013 Day Three:

Now, we're getting somewhere. Our destination for the day is the Alpine Inn in Red Lodge, Montana. We'll be taking 20 and then 120 to Cody, Wyoming; hoping to get there around lunch time to eat in the restaurant inside the historic Irma Hotel. After lunch, we have two choices: The ugly and boring ride in the high plains to Red Lodge, or the highly-rated Beartooth Pass route. I'm thinking that the only things that may stop us from taking the pretty route would be weather and/or time. It's only 50 miles farther taking Beartooth. Red Lodge is only a few miles north of the pass.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Days Four and Five:

We're meeting motorcyclists from around the US that we know from a forum membership (The Doof Clenas Forum) for our stay in Red Lodge; some that we haven't seen in a year or more. The forum organizers always plan a ride to a special place in the western US every year; it's a good excuse to get on the motorcycle and put DFW in our rear view mirrors. The daily rides while there will be determined by consensus each day. I'm hoping for a ride to The Little Big Horn National Park.

Thursday July 11, 2013, Day Six:

Time to head back south. We'll traverse Beartooth Pass for the final time and enter Yellowstone National Park's via the North East entrance. I have my 62+ National Park Get In Free card and am looking forward to using it. We'll travel around the Grand Loop and finally get to Old Faithful (geyser and lodge). I think we'll be hungry, hope they have a restaurant somewhere along the way. Leaving Yellowstone, we'll continue south to Grand Teton National Park. We'll take a turn off the highway onto Moose Wilson Road. It's not paved the whole way, but shouldn't be a problem. Even though it's off season, I hope we see some wildlife. A moose would be nice. Time should allow a 20-mile side trip over Teton Pass and into Idaho to log another new motorcycle-traveled state on my map. I've ridden my bicycle over the top of Teton Pass. It took about an hour to go up and 15 minutes or less to come back down. Doing it on the motorcycle should be interesting. We have reservations at the Painted Buffalo Inn in Jackson, Wyoming. Jackson Hole is known for steak houses. Mmmmmmm, steak!

Friday July 12, 2013, Day Seven:

Onward and southward. We'll travel through some of the most desolate areas of Wyoming. There are only 2 places along the way to stop for gas; we'll stop at both. Otherwise, our Wyoming excursion would probably be rather lengthy, we can only get about 220 miles on a tank of gas and it's almost 250 miles overall. Our destination is Breckenridge, Colorado. Should be a pretty ride after we finally get back into some hills, trees, and mountains. I think almost everyone has been to Breckenridge. It'll be my first time.

Saturday, July 13, 2013, Day Eight:

Leaving Breckenridge, we'll be riding south in central Colorado for several hours before turning east to Walsenburg, Colorado. Most of the mountains will be behind us, but we'll still have Raton Pass and N.E. New Mexico volcano fields to cross before returning to the flat lands of Texas. Our destination is the Holiday Inn in Amarillo. It's an 8-1/2 hour ride that gets pretty boring the farther east we travel. Nothing exciting about going home across the Texas panhandle, but a nice hotel room awaits.

Sunday, July 14, 2013, Day Nine:

All good things come to an end. And so it is with our Great Montana Adventure. Day nine will be a leisurely day. No reason to rise early or try to make time. We should be home between 3 and 4 pm no matter. At Decatur, Dan will continue to head south on 287 to his home in Ft Worth. On the PGBT, Brian and George will exit somewhere around Custer or Coit to their homes. The last segment of the trip will be solo back to my home in Garland. It's always strange to ride alone after thousands of miles riding side-by-side with my traveling partners.