Day 5, The Wild-Life
Stats: Custer, South Dakota to Billings, Montana 
Total Mileage: 412 mi
Like the preverbal chicken, I seem to wake up in a new world every day. Everything changes: the scenery, the sights, the folks we meet and the riding conditions. We had another fantastic day on the bikes: great weather and abundance of wildlife and nature’s wonders.
The day started cold but sunny. After some creative cartography we decided to ditch the ‘original plan' of returning to the interstate and instead picked up a two lane skirting the back side of the Black Hills National Forest. The road turned twisty and steep and we rolled on the throttle and started to carving. I was determined to not let Alan leave me behind and locked it down for a white knuckle ride – after 30 minutes I was feel pretty good about keeping up. Then I noticed Alan hadc made the entire ride with
his feet on the highway pegs: he wasn’t even trying. I gonna need to tighten up if I’m going to hang with the Road Warrior.
The road brought us north into Wyoming: in short order we saw: antelope, mule deer, hawk, buffalo (bison?) and prairie dogs.
We terminated at Devils Tower – I could try to describe it but I’d do a terrible job and make everyone mad; just check out the photos – an absolutely amazing piece of rock - that 800 ft tall.
Back to the interstate – time to make tracks to Billings. Lots of high-speed cruising through the Wyoming high-plains. The air is totally clear, zero moisture and you can see forever. The distances are so great the scenery seems to never change – you can see 5 mi up the road at any time.
Suddenly something’s different – like when the bass line kicks in during a good tune – the song is the same but suddenly has more depth...there it is, over the horizon, lurking in the distance and waiting for us – there they are: The Rocky Mountains. Oh man, we’ve got to cross that? We’re in for it now.
Finished the day at Reiters Kawasaki in Billings – fresh rubber for the scooters tomorrow morning and then on the Canada.
Total Mileage: 412 mi
Like the preverbal chicken, I seem to wake up in a new world every day. Everything changes: the scenery, the sights, the folks we meet and the riding conditions. We had another fantastic day on the bikes: great weather and abundance of wildlife and nature’s wonders.
The day started cold but sunny. After some creative cartography we decided to ditch the ‘original plan' of returning to the interstate and instead picked up a two lane skirting the back side of the Black Hills National Forest. The road turned twisty and steep and we rolled on the throttle and started to carving. I was determined to not let Alan leave me behind and locked it down for a white knuckle ride – after 30 minutes I was feel pretty good about keeping up. Then I noticed Alan hadc made the entire ride with
his feet on the highway pegs: he wasn’t even trying. I gonna need to tighten up if I’m going to hang with the Road Warrior.The road brought us north into Wyoming: in short order we saw: antelope, mule deer, hawk, buffalo (bison?) and prairie dogs.
We terminated at Devils Tower – I could try to describe it but I’d do a terrible job and make everyone mad; just check out the photos – an absolutely amazing piece of rock - that 800 ft tall.
Back to the interstate – time to make tracks to Billings. Lots of high-speed cruising through the Wyoming high-plains. The air is totally clear, zero moisture and you can see forever. The distances are so great the scenery seems to never change – you can see 5 mi up the road at any time.
Suddenly something’s different – like when the bass line kicks in during a good tune – the song is the same but suddenly has more depth...there it is, over the horizon, lurking in the distance and waiting for us – there they are: The Rocky Mountains. Oh man, we’ve got to cross that? We’re in for it now.
Finished the day at Reiters Kawasaki in Billings – fresh rubber for the scooters tomorrow morning and then on the Canada.
posted by TGA at
11:03 PM
3 Comments:
Man!!! I wish I could be there with you. I must settle for the vicarious ride! I will submit the blog for all bikers to live this adventure along side of you men tomorrow, sooo.... look for your fan club to grow. Keep your eyes up. Steve
By
Anonymous, at 12:21 AM
TGA (aka Monkey Butt),
Site looks good. Trip sounds great. Looking forward to reading/seeing Big Sky, Great White North and the Big A from ground level.
DanO
By
Anonymous, at 4:29 PM
Thomas - I *love* the "abundance of wildlife and nature's wonders". And the proverbial chicken;^)
Sounds like "bison" is more appropriate given that it's "a hoofed animal of western North America..." v. "buffalo" being "any of several oxlike Old World animals..."; although either and both are accurate:-)
The photos, the Rockies, The Great Northwest...*spectacular*! Lucky Dawg.
Thanks for sharing:-)
By
Anonymous, at 5:40 PM
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