Here’s a short compilation of all my video captured along the way set to Jose Gonzalez’s “Far Away”
Wrap Up: What I’ve Learned Along the Way
First off I’d like to thank everyone who read and enjoyed my blog along this journey. Thank you for tolerating the awful grammar and spelling errors that were a result of me writing these at a very late hour. I’ve re-read most of my posts and have hopefully caught enough of them to prevent me from looking like a total retard. At some point I’ll be printing out some of my photos and if you’re interested hit me up on gchat (awong1337@gmail.com) and I’ll try to send some out to you. Now for the wrap up.
It’s been a little over a week since I’ve been back. From the little house in Eugene OR to my driveway in Minneapolis MN over the course of 9 days I traveled 2563 miles, this is longer than the trip from Orlando to LA. Both of my hands feel like there’s an extra layer of skin on them, I’m not sure if that’s from subtle sub callusing or minor damage to the nerves. Getting back into the work routine is a bit difficult, like I said in my last blog post I still want to keep going. I really do envy the people who can just let go of everything and travel as long as they can on a shoestring budget. At the same time I enjoy my life as it is right now. My job allows me to afford things not possible with that type of lifestyle and these are things I’m not willing to give up. This trip for example, could have never happened if I didn’t have some decent funding but at the same time I probably could have toured SE Asia for 2 months on the same amount of money. It’s a hard choice but I would miss my friends, I would miss hockey, and I really do love my toys (motorcycles, scooters, etc) that may sound materialistic but there are communities and bonding experiences shared through the love of certain things.
I’m by no means a travel expert, my couple trips to Japan, single trip to Canada, and trips around the US hardly qualify me to be on Lonely Planet but I have some advice I would like to tell everyone. Don’t always educate yourself, this is counter to my general philosophy but in the case of travel I feel it can soften your experience. I can say without a doubt that the most phenomenal experiences I’ve had while traveling have come when I’ve made a point to not look into the the places I’m going. The quality of travel guides, travel shows, and now even youtub videos are so high that you end up knowing what you’re going to see before you see it. When I was in Japan and my friend took me to see Himeji Castle for the first time he only told me “Yeah we’re going to a huge castle” I didn’t know anything about it other than the fact it was big. After visiting I went to look at a travel guide and I know it wouldn’t have been as amazing if I had already seen all the pictures and heard the stories. “Spoiler Alert!” at some level does apply to travel. Find out whats awesome and just check it out for yourself.
If you’ve already read everything there is to read about Yellowstone or any other massively scaled natural experience my spoiler theory applies at such a minuscule level that its nearly invalid. As a kid my dad had a few Ansel Adams posters in the house, no one else’s work captures the power and scale of seeing these natural wonders in person as well as his. The problem is these only capture such a minor portion of the feeling of at these places in person. As much as any landscape photographer can ask for is the want of the viewer to actually be there. The full sensory experience is something you cant expect anyone to be able to capture. The video/photos I took around the park and on my trip help take my mind back there but they’re hardly a substitute.
After coming back I thought about some things I would have done differently on this trip if I were to do it again. While packing I shouldn’t have been as naive to think that I wouldn’t need a visor suitable for night time riding. Blasting through Yellowstone at night mostly blind was one of the most horrifying experiences of my life, it was stupid and it didn’t need to be as bad as it was. I don’t regret not packing the instructions for my saddle bags, when I got home I was looking at the included straps and I would have never been able to make those work. I should have purchased a tail bag before I left, wearing a 15lb backpack for 400 miles would have been hell. I should have stayed in more motels, some nights I’d just latch onto Yelp and have it tell me where to stay. It’s as if I forgot that people wouldn’t always review the sketchy but cheap motel they stayed at, they’re ALWAYS cheaper. Honestly that’ts it, for a trip I prepped so little for and could have had so many things go wrong I think I did pretty decent.
Traveling on your own can be a bit rough but there are times where I actually prefer it. Just like a trip to the art museum it’s hard to tell when someone you’re with wants to move on, this can create an awkward and annoying pattern of politeness. You don’t want to leave before you’re done appreciating the view but you don’t want to be the person who says “You’ve had enough, lets go to the next thing”. While alone I had plenty of time to take in the scenery and no one else to worry about, it was nice. This is all fine and good but you will miss deeper human interaction. Small talk, the motorcycle wave and nods only go so far. Social networking helps but it’s not the same as speaking with someone in person, there will be points where you’ll want to break down.
My last bit of advice is pretty cheesy and cliche but I feel it’s important. Push yourself, never in a million years did I think I could enjoy something like this, I have no clue why I decided to do this, and I still have no clue why I went through with it. Prior to this I could hardly stand a 150 mile road trip in a luxury car yet I bought the plane ticket anyway. Months ago my intent was to use this extra money to buy the new Macbook Air after it was released. Guess how much of a shit I give about missing out on some thin laptop. None. It’s amazing how much we spend on dumb crap that provide such minor conveniences when we could allocate that money to creating life lasting memories. On my trip I heard a couple people say “I wish I didn’t have a real job so I could do something like that”. Taking 7 business days off work is not an insane proposition, people do this all the time. Don’t let your job be an excuse not to do something like this unless you’re absolutely financially bound to your situation. I came into this totally unprepared, I made horrible mistakes that put my life at risk, I spent too much money at some places, there were times I was hurt physically, there were times I suffered mentally, and after all those mistakes and all that soreness this was one of the best experiences of my life.
Here’s to many more,
Andrew Wong
Day Nine: All Good Things Must Come to an End, for now.
I had a short but great nights sleep in my cheap motel with blood splattered carpet. If there’s any spirits with unfinished business they must have been busy tormenting their killers or their families instead of sticking around this hole. I hop out of bed and take a shower. When I walk back in the main area I realize I’m standing on one of the stains with wet feet. I start thinking about whatever it is becoming fluid again which prompted me to go give my feet another rinse. After drying off I check to see what kind of mileage I’m dealing with today. I’m looking at about 340 miles to home, quite a few miles shy of yesterdays run. This shouldn’t be an issue should I need to make the final push today but I have some very serious business I need to take care of first.
Visit the Corn Palace! Much like Wall Drug the corn palace seems aware of how…corny it is. When I pull up the area is pretty calm, that’s not to say I expected a riot of frothing tourists waiting to shove themselves into the door it’s just a nice chill day. I find a place to park on the street about a block away and walk up to and into the Corn Palace. Now as I kid I didn’t get to go inside, in my mind it would be similar to the ride inside the Epcot globe at Disney World. Maybe some animatronic figures telling me about the history of corn and some large interactive science museumesque type interactive displays. As I walk in I’m greeted by yet another very friendly gentleman, “Welcome to the Corn Palace Sir! Just follow the husks of corn to start your tour!” I give an enthusiastic thanks and stroll into the doors. Right as I walk in theres a TV playing some tourist stuff about South Dakota and to to the left there’s a concession stand filled with corn related food items which they’ve cleverly labeled “Corncessions”. I find this weak and obvious pun far too funny and laugh for a good five strides as I keep following the husks of corn. The walls are filled with pictures of the palace as it was decorated in each year of its existence. For those who dont know they change the outsides designs every year, I’m not sure about the interior. I walk into the main area and find out its a gym/theater. I would have felt disappointed if I didn’t think it made sense. The center of the gym floor is a souvenir shop filled with more corn and South Dakota related trinkets. When I’m scanning the shop I notice a gem of a family. The father was in standard dad attire; cargo shorts, some tshirt he got for free, and sandals. Nothing terribly offensive but the same cant be said about his son. I’m not sure what his top would qualify for, tank top? No, those usually cover your ribs. In any case it was a piece of fabric that had a neck hole with nothing resembling a sleeve and no fabric till the openings on the sides reached below the line that he had his underwear pulled up beyond. The khaki shorts and backwards cap lightly propped on the back of his head were just garnish on the fashion masterpiece that was his top. Anyway enough about Mitchell South Dakota fashion, I was ready to get going.
I hadn’t had any breakfast and wouldn’t mind some coffee so I hit up the closest place which is called Jitters. I order a pretty standard meal of eggs, sausage, and pancakes. When I’m eating an older mother and daughter come in for some coffee. They’re asking questions I’d expect from some douchey coffee snob would ask at the fair trade only vegan bakery/cafe but the girl working was surprisingly up to the task answering all of their questions with ease. They get their coffees they quizzed so tirelessly about and leave, shortly after I pay and move on my way.
I feel like a seasoned veteran by now, I get to Souix Falls in no time. With a full belly and the coffee buzzing I dont feel like stopping. A few more miles down the road and there it is, “Welcome to Minnesota”. I feel this is an accomplishment worth stopping for so I hit the rest stop that rides just on the boarder. This one is nicer than any other I had been to, plenty of comfy chairs to rest in, coffee, cookies, vending machines, there’s even a women behind the counter handing out maps, tour guides, and activity books for the kids. While I’m sitting in one of the chairs enjoying the free coffee two old men walk in about 5 minuets apart, one goes “WOW now THIS is a rest stop” and the other professes that this is the greatest rest stop he had been to having been to all 50 states Minnesota being his 50th. It is nice but it makes me wonder how bad some of the others are. After sucking down the coffee and soaking in the feeling of being in my home state I get moving.
I had intended on staying at my friends in Pipestone this night but there was some chance at rain, it was only 1:00 and he didn’t get off work till 7:00, and it sounded like he wanted to check out some motorcycle that night. Factoring all this in I decided against waiting forever with a chance of rain and to just rip home while its clear. I reached Albert Lea in good time and I decided I’d stop at a Chinese restaurant in town. Parts of my family had lived in Albert Lea at one point so I figured why not give the oldest sounding place a try and maybe they’ll know or be some of my family. I find a place called “China Restaurant” and when I walk in I hear Mandarin, nope not family. I sit down to get some food and ask anyway and I was right. The waitress said “They moved away to California a long time ago, better weather than here”. I order the chicken lomein and pound it down at a rate that actually made the waitress gasp. ”You eat it so fast I never see someone eat it so fast”. I pay my bill get on my bike and start heading up 35w, I’ll be home in no time.
Wrong, did you forget how Minnesota works? Construction is imminent, you’re not going anywhere fast. Traffic crawls to a stop, “Construction next 14 miles” wonderful. I entertain myself as much as I can by swerving back an forth in the one lane thats open for this stretch of road. This gets old in about 2 mins and I’m back to finding other ways to channel my boiling road rage. Yelling along to the song helps but after 10 minuets I suffer the consequences of not charging my iPod for two days. After another 40 minuets of mental anguish I’m finally moving at the posted speed limit again. It’s at this time I almost get hit by some idiot texting away while driving. I slam my horn which gives out an embarrassing note and flick the guy off. Like all retards that text and drive he doesn’t give a shit about my reaction. Now I see why some Harley riders have rubber mallet holsters on their bikes. As I’m riding I start to see towns I’ve actually heard of, then towns I’ve been to, then a town I play hockey at weekly. It’s right about this point where I’m driving past a cloverleaf where someone is trying to merge from the right and I want to get out of the way to let him in. I’m cruising in my top gear and give it some gas which is enough to get in front of the car in the left lane if he keeps his pace, he doesnt. For whatever reason he felt the need to hammer his throttle and not allow me in, he’s blocking me from moving over and the car to the right needs to merge now. I downshift and sprint ahead of the asshole to my left and just keep going at a now faster speed. It’s been less than 2hrs in Minnesota and I’ve had the only two close calls in my entire trip and a traffic jam that took nearly an hour to get through. Some welcome home.
Before stopping home I want to visit my girlfriend Lydia at work so I shoot over to her place only to find out she was called off for the day because it wasnt busy. After calling her I found out she’s in the area and she ran out to meet me. After a long hug and kiss I see if she wants to get some food but she’s going to hit the gym. I’m in my home city and I want a beer so I head over to Namaste Cafe where my friend/roommate Katie works. I find a parking spot on the street nice and close where I can watch my bags plop down on one of the patio spots and enjoy my beer after chatting with her in the short amount of time she can since its busy. It’s a weird thing to do something so familiar at the moment your trip ends. I’ve done so much in the past nine days and here I am doing something I’d normally do on a early Friday evening. I sit spaced out listening to the hisses of ear damage suffered from long days on the road. After a bit I snap out of it, it’s time to go home.
I hop on the freeway and reach home in 5 minuets. Friend/Roommate Joe is home and I tell him as much about the trip that my blog hasn’t already as I unpack my bags for the last time. When I walk inside I’m not sure if it feels good to be home or just familiar. I missed hockey, I missed my friends, but I already miss the road. I never thought I’d say that, I never liked road trips but I do miss the thought of waking up every day and going. There was a moment back at the rest stop where I was reading a sign listing distances to other major cities on I90 “New York, NY 1,300 miles” and thought to myself “I could do that”.
P.S. I’ll have one more wrap up post about this journey.
Day Eight: The Good, The Bad, and the Racist
Morning in Gillette WY and I’m still aching. I’ve now accepted this is how I’m going to feel the rest of the trip. I take my time getting ready and have checked out of the hotel at the latest point of the day yet. It’s 10:30 now and I’m hungry for some lunch, Yelp says to try some Italian place nearby, I get a bit lost and spend about 10 mins trying to find this place in a town that takes about 3 mins to drive through. When I finally get to the door they’re closed till 11:30. With a case of the sweats and feeling weak I decide I’ll just move on till I really start to fade out.
I get on I90 and last maybe 60 miles before I notice I’m not riding as straight and clean as I should be so I pull over in the next town which is Sundace. The only advertised restaurant from the road signs is called ARO Restaurant so I pull in there. The waitress is smiley and nice but there’s a heavier woman in red that seems to be in a sour mood. She walked by still looking less than thrilled but a hello and she started to smile and returned the greeting with kindness. I look around the place and the big screen is set to Fox News, the wall next to the cash register is filled with anti Obama bumper stickers. Until now I’ve been able to avoid politics and now I get the most rabid brand of it. I asked whats best and the waitress said the burgers, it was okay but nothing amazing. I finished promptly, paid the bill, and walked outside.
While gearing up the sun is beating down on me hard and my all black gear isnt helping the matter. Even on hotter humid days when you’re riding the heat is mostly a nonfactor thanks to the wind blowing through you but when you’re stationary its a different matter. I noticed theres a place called the Turf Bar across the street which reminds me of the local hipster hangout the Turf Club. I doubt any of the wolf shirts adorned in this establishment are ironic. Time to get out of Sundance.
My next stop I had planned to go to either Sturgis or Deadwood, since Sturgis was over and I had positive memories of Deadwood I rode into Deadwood. The streets in Deadwood are wide open, no cars parked on the main roads in town. I went to one of the offshoots parked and went for a walk around town. Deadwood isn’t as I remembered, I remembered it feeling more legitimately western but now its as touristy as it comes. They do a good job with some of the themed casinos but all of the shops are pretty awful. It’s as if you were to breed the Affliction brand with someone obsessed with Harleys, Native Americans, and Wolves/Elk/Mountain Lions and then you would have most of the shops in Deadwood. Since it was still scorching out I stopped for some ice cream and got back on the bike. The ride through the Black Hills is pretty but the section I was in was littered with resorts and not quite comparable to Yellowstone or Big Horn. Despite my disappointment in Deadwood I’m still glad I took a break from riding on I90 to get some forest/nature.
Anyone who has driven through South Dakota can tell you that on I90 you’ll see over 100 signs advertising for Wall Drug. Since I was making good time I figured I’d stop by but I didnt know it’d be forced. In the distance I see what I think might be the first rain I encounter on the trip. You’ll notice that I hadnt mentioned weather at all in the previous posts but that was to avoid jinxing myself. I pulled off the highway near a sunflower feild to put on my riding pants if it starts raining I’ll pull under a bridge and put on the jacket I bought in Seattle. Less than 1 mile off the entrance ramp I feel drops and imediately pull under a bridge and toss on the jacket. It’s 90 degrees out, humid, and raining. This sucks. The next exit is Wall Drug and I take it.
When I pulled off the highway I found the nearest shelter providing gas station and waited out the storm. I was only nestled up next to the pumps for about 10 mins before it had stopped. Wall drug was only 3 blocks away so I took off down the road, once I arrived I took off my awful yellow rain jacket and went into the air conditioned cheesy tourist trap that is Wall Drug. This is a place thats very aware how cheesy it is, they advertise free water for fucks sake. I walked in and out of some of their stores and found a place to rest on a bench next to some dumb Anne Oakley wooden statue. After drying off (sweat not rain) I got my free water and walked back to my bike. I checked the weather radar and it looked like if I go now and fast enough I can thread the needle between rain clouds. Time to haul ass.
Since getting my ticket I had never driven ahead of the pack always moving with traffic. The thought of riding through the rain again (even after such a short stint) has lifted that mental block and I’m averaging 95mph. At these speeds the MPG of the bike drops significantly and gas up in Draper. There’s a small cat that cant decide if his fear of people is greater than his desire to get into the gas station. I’m going in for some poweraid and a snack and leave the door open enough that it could have sneaked in behind. The cat decides not to and decides the same on the way out. I down my 89cent soft batch cookies and take a big swig of the poweraid, time to weigh my options. The suns about 40mins from setting and there’s a motel in town that I can stay at but once again I take the risk and head for the next larger town. This ride is much less sketchy, I only rode about 20 mins in the dark till I arrived in Mitchell. The looming storm seems to have stopped moving thankfully and I arrived safe and dry. When I get in town I ride around a bit and decide to check out the rates at the Siesta Motel. I find out that they want only $38 a night and I gladly accept that rate before trying anywhere else.
The motel has parking right in front of your room which is nice and theres enough shelter infront of the door for me to park my bike under. The lady up front said it had been storming all day so this is a welcome luxury. When I got to my room someone a few doors down is sitting on a lawnchair shirtless with two labs that are barking and growling as I get off my bike. If you show dirtbags you’re fearful they know they can fuck with you so I say hi and ask him how his nights going. He’s nice in return and puts his dogs away. When I try to unlock my door I find it wasnt locked and when I step inside I notice it’s decorated like a 70’s porn set. To my surprise there’s a 50” plasma HD TV, this is the nicest tv I’ve had on my trip. There are two king sized beds and a mirror that takes up the entire wall that its on. I’m positive some of the stains on the green carpet are blood but I’ll gladly accept this at $38 a night. My helmet looks like it’s growing hair from all the dead bugs wings that are plastered on it. I clean them off and give my jacket a good wipe. After that I get all my gear off my bike and head off to the truck stop restaurant that the desk lady recommended.
When I show up I see the very friendly hostess has a black eye, she seats me in the middle of the place where I can hear all conversations and see all the patrons. Shortly after the waitress shows up with my menu and water, she too is very positive and friendly. When I’m looking over the menu a guy with his arm around a woman 3 booths in front of me pipes up “What in the FUCK is your issue now.” This is loud enough for everyone in the place to hear. Normally this would bring a cold silence but no one seems to give a shit except the staff who kinda cringe. The two friends of his in the booth dont seem to care either. My ears are now tuned into what they were talking about as I scan over the days photos on my netbook. He’s talking…no bragging about beating the snot out of some woman who was talking shit to him in the past. Having heard enough of that I fade it out and go back to looking at my shots. I look over the menu and decide on what they called a “Cooked beef hoagie” or something to that degree. They danced around the name French dip because I imagine their customers would get offended if the word French was on the food item they were eating. I wonder how twisted inside they’d be if they knew Chevrolet was started by a man of French decent. After ordering the hostess sat a group of 3 of the most backwater people I’ve seen in town in the booth next to me. It takes them about 30 seconds before they refer to Obama as “That nigger” which I hear at least 4 times before saying “really?” at a volume they can hear. Sadly I’ve become accustomed to this kind of talk through the anonymity of the internet but I’ve never witnessed this in person. They must not have thought it was for them because they went on but when the waitress comes over to get their order they’re timid and weak. One of them can barely speak to her when ordering his food and had to repeat himself twice, no eye contact is made from anyone on the table. The guys so tough within their circle, so quick to toss out racial slurs are subdued by their fear of females. I’m surrounded by the most detestable group of people I’ve ever witnessed in my life being served by some of the kindest staff. I finish up my French dip eat some pumpkin pie tip generously because I feel sorry for the shit she puts up with and head back to the hotel.
When I get back to my room I call my girlfriend to check in and then flick on the tv. Conan: The Destroyer is on, I’ve never seen it and I write the previous days blog entry while occasionally bursting out in laughter at the movie. It’s a welcome escape from the shit show I just witnessed 20 minuets ago and the 430+ mile ache my ass has. After turning off the tv I suddenly remember and say “Hey, at least this is the town the Corn Palace is in!”
Day Seven: Due East
Morning, another night with only 7hrs of sleep. I cant seem to get any more than that this entire trip. The hotel I’m staying at has some free breakfast voucher at the attached restaurant but they’re taking forever to seat people so I passed. I geared up, checked out and went searching for breakfast. I settled on some place called Buckaroo Bill’s since they’re the only ones displaying they’re open and have breakfast. I find a table on the corner of the patio and order the french toast. I notice a couple come in that seemed really unbalanced. The woman is decent looking but looks like she just crawled out of bed and a beer belly having guy who looked like he was on his way back from Sturgis. I imagine this was the morning after a drunken hookup. As their conversation goes on I find out my assumptions were right. He’s trying to impress her with stories of successful pest control sprays around his house and other equally exciting tales. She does a very poor job acting impressed. As gripping as the conversation was it was time for me to leave.
The line into Yellowstone took about 10 mins to get through, there’s those familiar pines. When traffic backs up odds are there’s an animal people are pulling over to gawk at and that was the case about 5 miles in. I pulled over too because why the hell not? Turns out it was just a bald eagle, disappointing. After that brief jam the next 10 miles to the intersection were nice and clear. I took the road towards Old Faithful which eventually leads to the east exit where I need to go. Not more than 2 miles into that route there’s another traffic jam but this time it was something worth seeing. Two young moose feeding in the woods about 20ft off the road. It’s kind of embarrassing to get all touristy and “ooh” and “ahhh” with all the families but….its Yellowstone, its nature, its neat. I knew selling that higher zoom lens for the trip was a bad idea. Going towards Old Faithful there’s quite a few other geysers and sulfur ponds, I stopped by the first one with a parking lot and strolled along the boardwalk. The nice thing about checking out the sulfur ponds is if you forgot your deodorant no one knows. I thought i’d skip the next one but saw it’s runoff into the river so I stopped and watched that for a while. Time to move on to the main event.
Once you show up to it you can see this is the attraction they pumped the most money to at the park. The parking lot is massive there’s about 3 visitor centers/giftshops and then the main attraction. It’s blazing hot out and i’m in all black gear so my patience is pretty thin when it comes to this one. I walked into the info center nearest to the geyser and found out the next expected eruption was 40+mins from when I arrived. I cant stick around for that but I walked up and checked it out. Not terribly spectacular when its not doing its thing but it steams away so at least you’re not just looking at a lump of earth. There are benches multiple rows back that circle around it and when scanning the layout I noticed 4 nuns (I think) sitting and waiting for the next “show”. This was an opportunity for a great photo which has turned out to be one of my favorites of the trip and made me feel better about coming to see Old Faithful after all.
It was time for me to go so I made my way out of the park stopping to take pictures far too often but it’s just to fantastic not to. The ride east of Old Faithful goes along side the lake and it was there I saw another traffic jam for a lone buffalo feeding in a field. No zoom lens no great pic, I snap one anyway and keep going. As I keep progressing out of the park I see a dead dear on the side of the road, the stomachs not bloated and the blood out of its mouth doesnt look too dry. Last nights kill, glad it wasnt mine.
I finally exit Yellowstone and I dont feel too terrible about leaving because I will be coming back again. My goal now is to get as far east as possible before I lose too much light. I knew that Big Horn was on the way but for some reason I didn’t think that it would be that large, long to drive through or amazing. This is the problem with the national parks when you’re trying to go somewhere you get caught up in them even though you know you have to keep going you have to stop and enjoy the views. I moved along at a reasonable pace through the park, this one is less patrolled and has MUCH fewer people in it. About 1/4th the way through the park I see a couple of deer feeding right off the road. ”Thats just wonderful” I think, it’s about 2hrs from sundown and they’re already out.
I tell myself after seeing the deer I have to stop taking pictures but then I come around the next bend a few miles down the road. A stunning rock structure and a herd of cattle grazing in the grass below. As I’m taking photos of the cows a semi advances down the road ahead of me. I remember that I should keep going hop on the bike and start the decent out the canyon area. Having that semi get in front of me was a terrible thing to happen as there’s construction all the way down the hill. A semi going down very twisty roads at a steep decline means they’re going to take your tolerable construction traffic speed and 1/4th it. After about an hour of this crap I lose patience and end up passing it. I finally get out of Big Horn, if you’re heading out that way or anywhere near it you should definitely visit that national park.
I pull off the highway in Sheridan to get some gas and the sun is just about to set. I should just stay in this town for the night but I think in my head…why not go to the next major town? Gillette is 100 miles away, why the hell didn’t I learn my lesson the night before? Lets do it! I get going at a good clip of 85mph, only 10 over. The sun sets and I slow it down to the speed limit so I can tail someone else. The highway is much straighter and better marked than the roads in Yellowstone so I feel more comfortable. Finally a silver Nissan Murano flys by going 85 and I decide I’m going to tail this guy for as long as I can. I’m trying to keep pace with this car but at times its difficult. My mind is fading from the long days and when I stray a bit I tend to over correct which makes the blood race when you cant see the road that well. Following is much easier than the night in Yellowstone but there are occasional drastic elevation changes when the hills roll. Bridges are something to prep for too, when you see the asphalt turn to cement brace for a dip or raise. There were a few times where I wasnt prepped for the bounce and lifted off my seat for a moment.
After a very long and dark ride into Gillette I arrive safely. I do my routine call to all the hotels and find the cheapest rate and set out to find something to eat. When riding around some local kids want to race me with their 2.3 nonturbo shitmobile and I decline since I saw some cops eyeing me at a stoplight earlier. They said I should go meet up with them at some parking lot and I do, why not no restaurant is open in this town at this time. I pull up and its a shitty truck, a shitty car, and a slightly beat up right hand drive Nissan Silvia. I quiz the guy a bit on the car and its actually legit, it’s too bad it had such tacky wheels. They head off to terrorize the town and I just went back to my hotel room tired and hungry.
Day Six: Escape from Yellowstone
Nicest hotel at the end of the longest day and I get the shortest night of sleep. This was the first day I had residual pain from the previous days ride but all those gripes washed away when I found out the free breakfast included make your own Belgium waffles! The batter dispensed out of something identical to a soft drink machine and they had two legit cast iron flip hinged waffle makers. After downing the very solid free breakfast I stepped outside to see what the weather conditions were like. All the previous nights rain had dried up and it was sunny and some chill in the air. I packed up my gear fast and started going to where I thought the Yellowstone exit was.
When I pulled off the freeway to go to the hotel I thought I saw a separate, earlier exit for Yellowstone so I figured I should backtrack and take that (memory of an) exit. As it turns out that exit didnt exist so I turned around 10 miles down the road. Being slightly irritated and pretty damn cold I shot back to the direction of the hotel at a faster than my newly subdued speed. About 2 miles from the hotel exit I see a cop on the opposite shoulder of the opposite side of the freeway and sure enough when I look in the rear I see him ripping across the road diving into the median plowing through high grass and bouncing out hard as he starts heading my direction. Adrenaline is blasting through my veins which about the opposite of what anyone wants when police are involved. Whats the two natural human responses to personal risk? Fight and flight, two things that cops just love. I thankfully avoid both of those impulses by slowing down, downshifting and coming to a 68mph crawl on the 75mph highway. He’s on my ass and I’m not giving him the shot to tag me at any sort of unlawful speeds. I take the exit and notice on the sign that the road to Yellowstone was the same one the hotel was on, all I needed to do is turn right out of the parking lot. Sigh.
Off I go again to Yellowstone, the trip from my hotel to West Yellowstone where I’d be staying that night was 90 miles. This seemed easy as pie since the previous day was so torturous. The road was two lane and about 20 miles into the trip there was heavy construction where each direction would take turns going down a 1/4mile strip. Luckily I noticed to the left there was a classic car junkyard so I pulled in there and took some photos of their stock. While I was walking around the the closest trailer opened up and a long bearded man and a cat walked out and found the nearest lawn chair to sit and scowl at me from. I took the hint and went on my way.
The ride into West Yellowstone (this is a town just outside the parks west gate) doesn’t actually go into the park but rests around the outside of it. The rides fantastic, the view amazing, and I’m beginning to wonder how much better the inside of the park can be. There are tons of pullover spots where you can stop and take photos at. I ended up taking quite a few shots and a good chunk of video before getting into town. West Yellowstone is a total tourist town but that didn’t bother me since I’m just sleeping there. I pulled into the hotel I booked a room at ahead of time but my room wasn’t ready. Killing time always means food, I hit up the local BBQ joint called Beartooth BBQ. They had some brisket on some fancy hotdog and it was great as was the sauce. After that I went across the street in hopes the coffee shop would have Wifi but they didn’t so I finished writing the previous days blog in Wordpad which ends up being significantly more work than just typing it in tumblr the first time. After that it was time to check in.
I dumped my stuff off and shot over to the Yellowstone West entrance. $20 gets a motorcycle in for 7 days which seems crazy cheap to me. Riding in you go down a corridor of pine trees before it opens up and you start to understand the vastness of the park. This answers the previous question I had, yes it is much better inside the park. My intent was to see the Canyon Village section and Mammoth (I thought) the first day and go through the lower loop on my way out. In my head Mammoth was on the way to the falls but that was not true. I probably stopped 15 or more times before I hit Mammoth to take pictures. After reaching Mammoth I looked at the map remembered I actually wanted to go to Canyon Village and Tower. I wasnt terribly disappointed because the drive out to Mammoth was so spectacular but I wanted to get to the falls and so I did.
Canyon Village is setup so you see the upper falls first and go down the line but you cant go back up. I didnt know this and hit the entrance to the lower falls first. When I was pulling up there was an elk eating in the wooded area near the parking lot. Some heavy idiot had walked far too close to the animal and was snapping pictures, lucky for him it didnt get pissed about it. I ran over to the falls and took as many photos as the light would allow me. Right then I remembered something the husband of the Calgary couple said when talking about taking photos when he was on the Oregon coast, “Forget the photo and just enjoy the moment”. I found myself wanting to hammer out as many photos as possible and not just enjoying what I was looking at. I kicked back and gazed at the river going into the canyon for a good 15 minuets, then I realized this was a bad idea. Not the gazing but going to the falls with darkness coming soon, this. was. bad.
The visor on my helmet is made for the day and I didnt bring my street legal one to save space. On the really bright days this is really nice, when night falls on Yellowstone this is potentially fatal. I started heading back and as fast as I could which is right around 45mph if slowpokes are in front of you. Some light is still cresting over the horizon giving me enough light to see with the visor down, this is very important when the bugs are heavy. Light keeps going away and about 15 minuets into my 42 mile trip back to the west entrance and I still haven’t arrived to the first intersection and light is entirely gone. I’m now grateful for the people in front of me now as their lights provide me more visibility of the road ahead when my visors down. The grouping of 3 cars in front of me all take a turn at the first intersection and I instinctively follow, I soon smell sulfur and realize they must be going to the Mammoth section for camping and turn around. This was only about a 1/4 mile down the road so not much time was lost but all of my extra light was. After the sun had set the minimal light turned the horizon into an all black portrait of the tops of the trees, I could at least see my surroundings but now its just darkness and the lines of the road.
Visibility with my visor down and standard lights is about 50ft and all you see is the painted lines on the road, brights is 100ft and still just lines. I head back to the intersection go the right way and battle between visor up and visor down. Down means no visibility but my eyes/face arent getting barraged with bugs. Visor up means I can see whats on and around the road but I get hit with bugs. A grasshopper to the face at 50mph isnt fun. Now keep in mind the bugs tend to only swarm around the bodies of water unless they’re sulfur ponds. Good things animals are never drawn to bodies of water… I fly through the darkness and the parks getting very cold. My body starts to lose all feeling but the engine heat is keeping my ass warm. This is the absolute last thing I need to feel after all the riding I’ve been doing.
I come to the next intersection and I get spun around again but this time I need to pull out the map, 15 miles to go. Repaving of the road means the only indicators of pavement are the tiny center tabs every 50 or so feet. Deer warning signs are pretty much deer warning assumptions, they tell you distances that are the entire leg of that road. They should just say at the front gate “Deer are fucking everywhere here”. Deer signs have turned into blinking buffalo signs, great. This doesn’t slow me down, I want out. This is terrifying and I’m driving at speeds where I’ll just accept my death if something massive comes jutting out of the woods. After what seems like an eternity of panicked, freezing, dangerous riding through twisty roads I see blinking in the distance of a corridor of pines. I flip up my visor to get a better view and the pines do not look right, I remember them being smaller. Now I’m worried this might just be a campground entrance, what if I made a wrong turn? Did I read the map wrong? Thankfully no, I’m out of the park and just as I exit my gas light begins to blink. I find the nearest gas station, hit the hotel and tried to go find somewhere to eat to calm my nerves. It’s over.
Day Five: I’m a Murderer
Despite the shitty hotel this was the longest nights rest I had all trip but it was also the night after my longest ride yet. I discovered the walls at the motel were quite thin when the husband of the Calgary couple I was talking to the night before was waking up with a headache and voicing his displeasure. Thank god they put me on the opposite end of the building so I didnt have to hear that prostitute that checked in before me whistle moan through her mouth whose teeth have been nabbed by the meth goblin.
I drove up a portion of the lake with a mission to take a picture of the floating golf green they have on the casino course but the road was blocked off to the public. I moved along down the way and found a nice clearing where a van full of travelers were camped out, I my motorcycle woke them up but it was 9:30 and I will apply the whistle tips (google it if you dont know) theory to justify my total lack of caring. A mounted up my gopro camera to the stick on attachment I applied to my break reservoir and removed some mounting brackets hoping that less would help with vibration. It didnt which means mostly unusable video. I decided that I’d just one arm it the rest of the trip and the results are infinetly better in both angles and total elimination of vibration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Li71FJHP1c
My goal for the day was to get the 90e and 15 junction and decide my path from there. Head south to Jackson Hole or continue east to bozeman and make it to Yellowstone the next day. I had already been leaning against it due to my early unexpected expense delivered by the state of Washington. Between Coaur D Alene I only made one non gas stop. One of the gas stops I made off 90E had a sign that read Paradise 20 miles which made me chuckle. I pulled in gassed up and went inside to buy some water. On my way out I noticed a few people standing around with a Frenchie and two pugs which are both breeds I love and snapped some pics of them. On my way back to the bike I started chatting with the clerk that rang me up, he asked me where I was headed and I said to Butte. The clerk also had a motorcycle and he advice to take a more scenic route which I said sounded good but was honestly thinking I should just keep going the fastest route. After strapping up and arriving to the intersection of 90 and his route I said “fuck it” and took the route he suggested and I’m glad I did.
The road runs almost entirely along the river, had minimal traffic, and lots of points to stop and take pictues. The detour was supposed to be another 5-10 mins but ended up adding another 45-1hr with all the stops I made. At one point betwen stops as I was gawking at the river I was engulfed in feathers. It looked like someone blew up a down pillow infront of me, i leaned forward to see if I hit something and sure enough a bird met its demise on the hard black frame of my motorcycle. I feel that the stunning view of the river was natures way of saying “Hay bud, why dont you look away as I kill this bird” I can also assume it was natures way of telling the bird “Hey,this is what you get for being a fucker your entire life”. I feared that maybe it hit and damaged my radiator or oil cooler but the only thing it did was add a red splatter paint job to a portion of my frame.
I ended up refueling in Butte where I decided that their city slogan should be “Butte: heh”. As I was leaving Butte there was a lot of construction so traffic was backed up and 25mph for a good 30 miles (Jesus this is all so ripe with heh’s). I finally escaped Butte (sigh) and got moving towards the 90/15 junction. Wind was at my back going east making 80mph feel like 30mph which is nice and dangerous but with the ticket fresh in my mind I stayed lawful for the most part. When I got to 15 I decided to go for the Jackson Hole route but as soon as I started heading south that easternly wind hit me hard and would shove me full across the lane even when tucked. I had totally forgotten how long it was to Idaho Falls which is where I intended on sleeping that night if I had choosen that route but after as many miles behind me the prospect of doing another 200 battling harsh crosswinds and dusk approching I decided on Bozeman. This turned out to be a very wise choice.
Bozeman was 84 miles from the junction and I reached it in decent time. Brown Yellowstone National Park signs began showing up and lifted my spirits. In the distance there was a rainbow, north of me I could see rain and the edges of the road were still damp. With the wind at my back I figured rain wold be a nonfactor and I had dodged any threat. I arrived in Bozeman used yelp to find the hotels in the area and haggled with the Quality Inn to a price lower than the Super8 @ 84 a night. Just as I was unpacking my gear I looked to the west and a storm has formed with massive lightning strikes and thunder. The mountains must have fucked with the wind and sent the storm another direction. By the time I’m totally unloaded the winds were blowing south about 40mph and rain was coming down in sheets. Had I gone all the way into Bozeman i would have been rained on had I taken another 8mins at a gas station I’d be riding in a lightning storm. They let me park under the entrance selter and I stayed in a room that felt fit or a king compared to budget hooker motel I stayed in the night before. Over 370 miles were traveled this day, my body ached all over and I was ready for some sleep.
Day Four: The $300 Fun Receipt
My last day in Seattle and my first day progressing east towards home. It was good to catch up with Manny, things are going great with her and Zach and it sounds like they’ve been entertaining the idea of home ownership in a gentrifying and awesome neighborhood. She’s also prepping to start a serious photography program which I’m amped to watch her progress through. A good nights sleep, a trip to the grocery store and making breakfast is how the day started off. By making breakfast I mean Manny made breakfast since my part of making breakfast was boiling water and shredding cheese. To be fair I was half packing half sorting out where I was going that day. She made something called migas which I’ve never had or heard of. Turns out its awesome and so were the rosemary potatoes she made as well. After breakfast I had to get on my way so i could hit my goal of Coeur d’ Alene before dusk. We said our goodbyes, thanked her for letting me crash on the couch and I headed out of Seattle on I5 to hit 90 East.
The ride out of Seattle is really stunning, so much so that they actually have traffic signs all over to tell people not to stop and take pictures. Thankfully unlike the ride between Portland and Seattle there are actually quite a few spots where you can pull over and get good pictures from. I stopped a couple times while in the mountains and a few in the longer stretches of the desert-like area. This turned out to be one too many stops. About 40 miles out of Spokane I was dead set on getting to my destination FAST and by fast I mean I was riding at 100mph for a good 30miles straight. My luck ran out when a cop nabbed me riding about 90mph and he said I was tailing some truck which I dont remember but he had been throwing around towing me away in conversation so I didnt fan his flames. After getting a ticket or as I call it receipt for having fun/being awesome/being a badass totaling $300 I went on my way at a slower pace.
The benefits of riding slower
- Less wind blast.
- Less noise (it still exists even through the earbuds).
- Less tickets now that your entire ticket budget is gone!
I managed to make it to Coeur d’ Alene right at dusk and attempted to stay at the La Quinta Inn but $130 was too much so I asked if there was anywhere else decent and cheaper and they pointed me to the Budget Inn just down the road. At $70 it was the cheapest in town and I wasnt terribly surprised to see a very nervous guy and a methed out looking woman with him. Thankfully they were on the other end of the motel. I got my room key, unloaded my gear, showered and headed to the dock down the street to see what was so great about this lake.
I arrived too late to get any decent sunset pictures but the lake was very peaceful and it was a welcome atmosphere after a taxing and expensive day. The full moon and its reflection off the lake made it easy to see the landscape and the sound of waves hitting the dock was accompanied by some quality jazz coming from the classy resort and some karaoke from the bar nearby. I walked back to my bike and rode a few blocks into town to get some chinese food. I scarfed down a plate of chicken lomein and got to eavesdrop on some local kids having a conversation as horrible as you’d expect 19 year olds to have. I chuckled at my fortune and thought some real desert was in order. Since a shitty day is always an excuse for ice cream thats exactly what I had. While kicked back on a chair leaning against the shop a truck pulled up and a couple walked out. An older guy with a peppy woman with a southern accent that looked about 15 years younger than him walked up and said “You know I saw you eating that ice cream and you had me wanting that so much that two blocks later I decided to turn around and get me some” I responded “guess I’m a good salesmen” and she went up to order just as I downed the last bite. As I’m leaving I heard her go “One icecream please!” then “Wow, you have different flavors?!”
I showed up to the motel and saw some guys hanging around where I’d be parking my bike for the night. A quick positive conversation is great insurance when you’re worried about shifty strangers. I went back into my room but my wifi signal was shit so I brought my gear outside to start typing the blog post for the day before. It was there a drunk elderly couple from Calgary accompanied me and told me about their trip up the Oregon coast. The husband said he’d been all over the world and had never seen anything as beautiful as Cannon Beach, maybe next time I’m in the PNW I’ll take that advice. He spoke in circles as drunks do and combine that with the tendency of old folks to do the same you’ll end up with the infinity symbol. Thankfully they turned in and I finished up my blog post and fell asleep. The next day was to be the longest of the trip.
Third day: Off To Seattle
Hooked up my bags (the right direction), checked out of the hotel and made my way out of Portland. I could definitely see living there if only they had hockey.
Final notes on Portland:
- People are VERY protective of their walkways and all traffic will stop for them till they’ve cleared it seems. One woman got VERY upset when I turned into one when she was 2 steps off the sidewalk and I was a good 13ft away.
- The traffic lights in the city are perfect, you’re always flowing rarely stopping for more than a few seconds and thats usually because you’ve rushed up to the next light.
- There are less motorcycles in town than I expected though everyone’s very aware of you, I’ll attribute that to the bikers.
- They actually let people drive on the light rail tracks because their trains are easy to see. I’ll attribute that to the fact that they’re FUCKING TRAINS.
Off to see Manny! The ride out to Seattle from Portland is very scenic and in the morning quite chilly. The earbuds have really paid off as they’re actually blocking out sound and I can hear my tunes which prevents me from going insane. I still need to master no look album changing on my iPod otherwise I’m stuck with silence till the next rest stop or gas station. I encountered stop and go traffic all throughout Tacoma but it was there I added and checked off something to my bucket list. ”See someone drive a Toyota Tacoma in Tocama”. I wish they had more points to stop and take pictures along the way, maybe I’ll have to go off the beaten path a bit and take some shots on my next leg of the trip.
Coming in from I5 you get a pretty rad view of Seattle as you roll over one last hill and all of the city is exposed to you. I pulled off the interstate and onto some industrial island and gave Manny a call to get her address and shot over to her place. After unloading my bags and meeting the (extremely nice) roommates I immediately popped a pill for my allergies so that I would be invincible to the biochemical weapon known as cat dander.
Right off the bat I ended up participating in the final steps of making goat cheese. Manny made the entire process seem surprisingly simple and almost tempting to try sometime. After all the layers of cheese and salt had been added she topped off the little planter pot looking cheese containers with special cheese fabric and we went out to venture around the city. 
We hit up a place off the water called Chupacabra where I intended on having a smaller dish of chicken enchilada but it ended up being massive. We finished our meal and having heard there would be a chance of rain the next day I was spooked into getting a rain jacket (yes I should have thought about that before I left). We hit up some Seattle Cycle shop and I found a disgusting yellow jacket that would work over my current one. Since we were in the hood Manny wanted to hit up a plant shop where she picked up some indoor and outdoor succulents to add to her quite rad patio garden that her and her boyfriend Zach had assembled.
Grasping for ideas of what to do and me being no help Manny made the call to hit up the boat locks where we might be able to watch some salmon trying to climb the fish ladder. When we got to the locks a fishing boat was waiting to be lowered out so they could head out to the Oregon coast to cast their nets. Some senior was there asking the youngest of the crew members tons of questions and I was impressed with his patience, no way could I answer some strangers questions about what I do on a nearly daily basis.
We kept walking further along the lock and watched as they were finally going to lower the boat. It was then tons of massive sprinklers turned on and as Manny and I were laughing at the Indian family getting hosed down by the sprayers we were insta-Karmaed in return which we accepted with laughter. The strangest/funniest part of the situation was, why the hell are they watering….the water? After finally getting to the fish ladder we didnt really spot anything jumping above water but from the viewing windows there were a hand full salmon chilling at each stage. On our way out we did get to see a few monster 30lb’ers move up the stages of the ladder with such little effort it was as if they were mocking the weaker smaller fish.
On the way back to Manny’s place we noticed that there was a Mariners game starting which we halfass attempted to go to but a 6 pack of beers and chatting over shitty tv shows turned that into a lost cause that neither of us cared that much about in the first place. Manny suggested hitting up a woodfire pizza restaurant within walking distance called Bar Del Corso which was newly converted from the shittiest dive bar in the area and you’d never know it. We got some rizzotto cheese balls for apps and a salami pizza both great and perfectly filling. We walked back home and after watching some more trashy TV I slept on the couch which was surprisingly comfortable.
A fantastic day with a great friend and the last great friend I’ll see till arriving back home Minneapolis.
Second Day: Portlandia
Not that there’s anything wrong with Eugene but after buying the bike I wanted to head straight to Portland after hearing so many positive things. My urges overcame my better judgment which would have told me to get the oil changed ASAP. As stated before the bike had been ridden 100 miles throughout the previous owners entire ownership of the bike and he had never changed the oil. In any case I took care of it the morning after arriving in Portland at a shop called Fast Bikes Inc..
Fast Bikes on the east side of the river and I showed up as they were setting up for the day. The shop owner looked like a roadie for Pantera and he was accompanied by 2 massive Marmaduke dogs (sorry cant remember the breed name). These dogs seemed to have a 6th sense of who is a paying customer and who isnt because in my 40 minuets of waiting in the shop they would only bark at passers by and never at paying customers. At some point I mentioned I was from Minneapolis and he was familiar, “Ohh Twin Cities! I know Mankato” I was surprised he knew about Mankato and it turns out he knew of it from spending time at Brainerd raceway which he said was the best venue he’s ever been to both track quality and people. Later on a business type showed up with a couple of button up stripped business shirts, I heard the business type say they’d look good followed by an inaudible repose from the shop owner to which the business man replied “well you need to have sleeves” I assume this guy was helping him buy a new shop space or start a new business and I must say that I agree with the man stating sleeves are a necessary evil when it comes to negotiating loans. Not long after he wrapped up my oil change and I was on my way.
My initial reaction to Portland the first night was “this is a cool city but I feel that people oversell it” this changed after I stumbled out of downtown in search for a pair of noise canceling earbuds at Freds Audio in the (I believe) Hawthorne neighborhood. This area is helped in shift my attitude towards Portland from being a cool town to an awesome town. Everything about the area reminded me of uptown in the late 90’s, you know when it wasnt just an outdoor Rosedale. After picking up some excellent earbuds I hit up some shop called Swirl which as a Froyo place where you pay per oz of yogurt after loading up on goodies. This was excellent and I have yelp to thank for that recommendation.
After walking up and down the street in that area I decided I’d roll around a bit and see what else was up. I found Mt. Tabor Park and found a place to read a good chunk of Akira which is oddly fitting for this trip due to the frequent inclusion of motorcycles throughout the comic. After finishing an issue or book or whatever you call the massive portions of that series I headed back into town where I came across a bike race that was going on where they blocked off parts of the city, the race was called The Portland Twilight Criterium. While cool I can only watch circle racing for so long so I moved on to grab some grub.
A couple blocks away I found a nice rotating sushi bar called Marinepolis Sushi Land where I filled myself with enough to my stomach hurt for a price less than half of the rates in Minneapolis. I finished up my meal and hit up one more stop I intended on visiting while in Portland and that was Tanner Goods. I had purchased some stuff from them before online and their flagship store is in town and I’d figure I’d stop by and check it out. The shop was top notch and as classy and awesome as I’d imagined it to be, I picked something up from them and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep for the longish ride to Seattle in the morning.
