Scott's 50th Birthday Ride

…..or “Scott and Pete’s Most Excellent Adventure”

I headed north out of Allen about 4:00 Friday night, July 31st. The plan was to get a head start on the ride and camp at Thunderbird Lake State Park, east of Norman, OK. This site was selected because it was good distance to go before nightfall and because it listed an in-park restaurant. It turned out to be a good choice since the restaurant was waterfront and had a great menu. I had the fried shrimp and a few beers. Not bad for a state park.

Route:75N/82W/901N/ 377N/32W/77N/9E.
Distance: 200 miles

Saturday I had a longer ride and, without bias, targeted Scott Lake State Park, just north of Scott City, KS of course. Northern OK and all of KS are home to feed lot after feed lot. Pee-Yoo. My main goal was to see the Monument Rock just north of Scott City. It is an amazing site of rock towers that rise straight up out of the plains. There was no nearby restaurant so I ate gas station sandwiches and chips at the campsite. The best time to see the rocks is morning or evening when the sun makes some pretty neat shadows. The only downside is you have to take an eight mile dirt road to the site, but it’s a pretty good as dirt roads go. Look out for jack rabbits. Get out before it gets dark.

Route: 9W/37NE/281NW/183NW/34N/400W/83N
Distance: 398 miles

Sunday I left for Cheyenne, WY to meet my buddy Pete coming from San Francisco. This was a pretty boring, but necessary, ride. Again, lots of feed lots but some neat small towns. I was actually in Yuma (KS) at 3:10. I got to the hotel and met up with Pete and we headed out for a beer and dinner. Some good advice is to NOT go to the biker bar in Cheyenne. It’s for real bikers and they can tell if you’re not one in a second. We left after one beer, alive. We could have taken them if they fought fair, but they probably wouldn’t have.
Route: 83N/70W/385N/34W/85N
Distance: 394 miles

Monday we left for Sturgis, SD again pretty flat and boring. At every stop we picked up more and more bikes until we were riding in groups of 10-30 at a time with several similar groups before and after us. Mixed in were people trailering their Harley’s or follower cars and motor homes. It’s cool to ride in a larger group of bikes snaking through the corners and listening as each one accelerates out of the turn. The good riding starts at Newcastle, WY on 85N and just gets better. Pay attention to the speed limit signs on 14 and 14a. Once in Sturgis, it was stop and go all though town but it wasn’t boring, just hot. Lots of vendors, neat bikes, and odd people, including us.

Route: 85N/14E/14aE
Distance: 289 miles

Monday night through Thursday morning we were in Sturgis. Nothing to report…..
We stayed in a “cabin” (tool shed) in front of the Full Throttle Saloon. Here’s a picture of my “back yard”.

We did two rides though.

On Tuesday we rode through Spearfish Canyon that takes you through the towns of Spearfish, Lead, and Deadwood. Nice ride. Very scenic with nice curves. In Deadwood, find “Saloon 10”. It’s where Wild Bill Hickok was shot. They have the chair he was sitting in inside a glass case. Quiz: What’s the “dead man’s hand”? We parked in the Franklin Hotel parking lot for $5.00 but you got two free beer coupons, not a bad deal.

Spearfish route: 90W/14W/14aE
Distance: 75 miles

Wednesday we went to see the Crazy Horse monument and Mt. Rushmore. If you do this, see Mt. Rushmore first otherwise it’s anticlimactic. The ride takes you through Custer State Park which has amazing scenery and several short tunnels through solid rock. You can’t take enough pictures. There were several places selling Buffalo burgers with sides that we pretty good. I don’t know if they were made from real Buffalo or just ex-Buffalo Bills players. It cost $6.00 to get into Custer State Park and $5.00 for Crazy Horse (worth it). We didn’t have time to go into Mt. Rushmore (next time) but I think it was ~$20.00. The speed limits are between 45 and 25 for most of this ride either because of tight corners or open range so don’t try to get too much in.

Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse

Route: 90E/16W/244(Mt.Rushmore)/16aE/FDR345S/87N/385N/14aE
Distance: 142 miles

It was raining Thursday morning when we headed towards Cody, WY but it cleared up by the time we got to Devils Tower. It’s an amazing site that has to be seen to be appreciated. The loop from Sundance and back to I-90 is through open country with nice fast sweepers. We took I-90 to Buffalo and then got on 16 to Cody. It’s nothing special, but still a nice ride. Be prepared. It can start getting cool and windy here. Add in rain and it’s not much fun. A long day even if you do just a short stay at Devils Tower.

Route: 90W/14W/90W/16W(at Buffalo)
Distance: 376 miles

On Friday we left for Yellowstone. The Chief Joseph Highway (296) is spectacular. This is the best ride in the world for panoramic views and a great road. It takes you toward the north entrance to Yellowstone Park. Make sure to plan for lunch in Cooke City.

After that, we headed to Yellowstone. It cost ~$14.00 to get in, but worth it. You can’t see this whole park in a day but we did hike to see the upper and lower falls on the Yellowstone River and caught Old faithful at the 6:14pm showing. Again, don’t plan to make good time since the speed limit in the park is 35-45mph and the road is often blocked by a bison, a moose, or an old person. Unfortunately, doing all this got us to Jackson at 10:00pm after the restaurants were closed. We ate vending machine snacks for dinner. There is an active nightlife on main street but we didn’t want to drink and drive (and it was raining and about 60 degrees). I would suggest camping in the park or staying at one of the lodges and seeing more of the park the next day. Yellowstone Lake is HUGE. Also, you want to drive by the Grand Tetons in the morning light, not at sunset, or in our case, near darkness. They were impressive at dusk and I would have loved to see them in the morning sun.

Route: 120N/296W(CJH)/212W/Grand Loop road/South entrance/Jackson
Distance: 238 miles

Saturday, Pete and I parted ways. He headed west towards San Fran and I took the road south. Oh, it was still raining, but now down to 37 degrees, almost snowing. Yes, it was August 8th. At mile eight I was already cold, at mile eleven I passed a moose standing 50 feet from the road. He just watched me go by probably thinking “what an idiot, riding in this weather”. By mile 56 it stopped raining, and by mile 72 the road was dry. It was still cold though. The route was flat and barren but I was making good time towards warmer weather. My plan was to go by Flaming Gorge and then towards Grand Junction, CO. The ride though Flaming Gorge is great and the view is amazing. Sorry for saying “amazing” so many times, but it is, I have pictures. The road between Vernal, UT and Rangely, CO gets boring again but after Rangely there are a lot of fast sweepers and turns and I got “in the groove”. I was warming up too. My initial plan was to camp at Highline SP but they were full. I also thought about camping at the National Moument Park but needed a hot shower to thaw out so I got a room at the Comfort Inn. Dinner was at a Wendy’s within walking distance.

Route: 189S/30W/530S/191S/40E/139S/70E
Distance: 479 miles (513 if you realize you should’ve gotten gas and didn’t and had to go back)

Sunday it was still cool but dry and I decided to make some time and skip the scenic route I had planned. I got on I-70 and headed east. Even though it’s an Interstate, there are a lot of great turns and scenery. I had lunch in Aspen with all the rich people. Try the Hickory house for a great pork sandwich. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to hit the fur or Persian rug shops. I wouldn’t advise taking this route unless you want to say “I went to Aspen”. The road north of Aspen is nice but too crowded and lots of stop lights. The road south of Aspen is tight, slow, and narrow (sometimes only a car and a bike can get by). It does go over Independence Pass which is billed as “the top of Colorado”. It’s true and pretty cool. Nothing is higher that you there. It’s a nice ride down to Salida and even better between Salida and Canon City. I planned on seeing the Royal Gorge Bridge but didn’t plan on paying $24.00 to do it, bungee jumping not included. I got the best picture I could over the fence and headed towards Pueblo. I camped at Pueblo State Park Lake. They have a marina with a restaurant, pretty cool. Oddly, no one else was wearing leathers. (PS. They are only open on weekends)

Route: 70E/82E/24S/285S/291S/50E
Distance: 312 miles

Monday, I watched the sun rise, packed up, and headed east on 50. I planned to take a more back road route but was making good time and traffic was very light. After a while it started getting a little busy with all the trucks loaded with cows going on the one-way ride to the previously mentioned feed lots. Those poor bastards. At Dodge City I started to head diagonally southeast until I started seeing thunderheads start rising to the south. I decided to stay on 400 heading east and got a hotel in Pratt, KS. When I turned on the TV I heard about the thunderstorms with 60mph winds and quarter size hail. Good call.
This is the first time I invoked my AAAP privileges and got $10 off the room price. I stayed in the Days Inn but after doing some reading I wished I had stopped at the Evergreen Motel with a steak house attached.
Route: 50E/400E
Distance: 361 miles

Tuesday, I was up before sun rise. I turned on the weather and saw that if I left soon I could thread the needle between two thunderstorms. It took off directly south on 281 at a high rate of speed. I slowed down after seeing several deer standing on the side of the road. Again, I watched the sun rise, but very carefully. There are a lot of neat little towns on 281. The same is true for 77 between OK City and Lake Murray. Most of you know this area so I don’t need to say much about it. It rained on and off between OK City and south of Sherman but was warm and sunny for the last 20 miles.

A nice welcome back to Texas.……..

Route: 281S/40E/81S/34E/9S/35S/77S/32E/377S/901S/82E/75S/5S
Distance: 450 miles

Total Distance: 4193 +/- miles