Our final day and Mikes Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to Mike from our little tent in Havre, Montana. Not much sleep last night and looking forward to our bed tonight. The campground at the all night gas station, on a busy highway, next to a railway track, and with a guy from the Netherlands in a tent right next to us made for a very restless night. lol. We woke up early to the Dutchman phoning home at 5am!  “Buddy, our tent is not sound proof!!”  We then went for breakfast and decided to carry on all the way home. The weather in Canada not looking so great. Oh well, we loaded up the bike and started off. No problem at the border, and on to Cyprus Hills. You know you are back in Canada when you pay $16.00 for 2 Caesar's and gas is 1.00/litre, but we are home. It started raining in Medicine Hat and rained all the way home. 600 km in the rain was not great, but my heated vest made all the difference. Mike was not so lucky as he couldn't get his heated jacket to work. Got home around 6:30. Turned the T.V. on and watched the movie "Wild Bill". Made us want to be back in Deadwood!!! Well 3 weeks and we will be off for the west coast and more adventure. Keep posted..........

Friday

We got misinformation and told there was no camping in Lewistown. So off to a Super 8 motel. After checking in we decided to go for supper and rode past the campground. Well I'm not sure what is up with that.Woke up and carried on to Fort Benton. Fort Benton is home to the oldest hotel in Montana,"Union Hotel". Lots of history in this little town. They had to bring in the army and circle the town to get it under control in the late 1800's. The weather is still warm and on to Havre to camp one more night before we make our way home. Lots of farm land and rolling hills for scenery.

Day 15 - Were in Montana and...

From Medora campground, we rode thru the Theodore Roosevelt National Park for about 20 miles. Spotted buffalo, deer, wild horses and the biggest prairie dogs ever. Hundreds of them. It was a long ride (550km) through the grasslands state park. Joanne slept most of the way. We have rode a total of 5700 km so far, and we have about 900km to go. We are finally back in the Montana mountains and stayed in Lewistown. Close enough for Caesars! Gotta love it! Stopped for Caesars in a little bar downtown Lewistown that has a stream running underneath it. You can sit in the bar and watch the water flow under it. This is an awesome country, but they need to learn about Caesars other than in just Montana!!!

It's official...

We have left Deadwood! Were in Medora, North Dakota and slowly making our way home! 5141 km so far and many more to come!

The road today is long and non scenic until we got to Theodore Roosevelt State Park. At least the weather is warm and it isn’t raining. This place is amazing. The colored canyon goes on forever and this is the location of Custer’s last stand. The history is fascinating. We are in our little tent tonight wishing we were in the John Wayne suite again.

Weather might be a problem today…

The weather has turned for the worst, so….

Hello Deadwood for night number 3!  And if you believe it were moving rooms!  I’m really starting to think that Joanne is starting to like John Wayne!  Were moving into the room that he stayed in when he stayed here!!  What’s another 200 bucks! Hello Casino, gotta pay for it somehow!! So I guess it’s a little more history for today! Joanne says “Johnny slots paid so well, let’s just DO IT!!”

Well it was a great choice to stay one more day, it spit rain most of the day and it gave us a chance to go to the Adams house and the Chinese underground tunnels. We walked the city and got a great history lesson about the wild west days.  After another 16 oz. prime rib supper, back to the casinos for more fun. John Wayne slots paid well, but not so much for Mike at the tables. Back to our room around 1:00 am, Mike had a shower and the ghost of John Wayne shut the light off  in the bathroom. Apparently many of the hotels are haunted in Deadwood. We did our souvenir shopping as well today.

Were still in Deadwood…

Well 2 days have past here in Deadwood, and we have been too busy to update the blog. On Sunday, July 4, we rode out of Keystone in the pouring rain. Luckily we only had a hour ride north to Deadwood and the skies stopped raining by the time we got there. What an amazing place. We checked in out hotel and omg,, we feel like Kings. Our corner suite overlooks Main Street Deadwood. We look into the old “Number 10 Saloon”, where Wild Buffalo Bill was gunned down in broad daylight in 1876. Our marble tile and Jacuzzi tub with huge walk in shower was something beautiful. The fireplace was welcomed after riding in the rain for an hour. Mike wont quite playing with the electric drapes. Quite a step up from our little tent!! This hotel is were John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Humphrey Bogard, among other famous movie stars stayed.  It was the 4th of July and the place was buzzing with activities. 4th of July day parade came right past our hotel and we could watch from the balcony. Then it was on to the Deadwood tour around the town. Checking out the places to eat and the things a guy must see, like the old cemetery. Where Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane lie buried side by side. Even though they were never lovers. A little more history and then we were let loose! Country performers filled the casinos and we watched the # 2 in the country fireworks display, up the hill in the old gold mining town of Lead only 2 miles away. Then back to town for some gambling and fun.We love this place so decided to spend a couple days here. Yesterday we woke up and went on a mission to find old ghost towns. Down some scary gravel roads, a few beers in some little town saloons and finally we came to Rockerville where they still have some old buildings from the 1800’s. Old ghost towns are hard to find. We rode past the signs to the Black Hills Caverns and decided to check it out. These hills are full of caverns as there are several in the area. We couldn’t believe how we toured down 225 ft to open caves and had to turn sideways to walk between crevasses. The hour long tour was exciting and something to see.  Then on up to Sturgis and back to our room to get cleaned up for another night on the town, and that we did! Joanne was winning on the John Wayne and Miss Kitty machines and well I was finally making a little back from the night before. Were not leaving Deadwood any extra money.  I made my money back and Jo, well somehow she won over 200 bucks! I think old Johnny had a thing for her, cause every Johnny machine that she played paid her. Meeting back at our room at 2am, I thought that I was dead for being so late.  As it turned out she got back to the room too! It was perfect timing! Gotta love it!!! But now our time has come to an end.  Were packing up and heading up to the Adam’s House for one last tour and then were off to Devil’s Tower for the day.  Were hoping to be somewhere in North Dakota tonight but we’ll see. Deadwood might call us back for just one more night!!

Deadwood, South Dakota

All is going really well!! Deadwood is a pretty cool place, so we have decided to stay another night! Joanne will update the Blog tonight while I’m winning at the Casino!

Ah why

SOS having too much fun in a 1800's salon! Ah were gonna hurt in the morning! Keystone is awesome!

What a awesome day!

Wow! Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse amazing! More to follow...

Were do we start?  We woke up in Scottsbluff, Nebraska on a mission and mission was to get to the Black Hills of South Dakota today! The weather was hot and dry for the ride out of Nebraska with wide open pastures guiding us to our destination.  As we worked our way north there was more and more to look at.  All of a sudden there were trees and rolling hills!  And that was the end of the wind! We rode into Keystone, and on roads thru narrow rock tunnels and on hairpin turns like we have never seen.On the wildlife loop of the highway, we saw more Bison, Antelope, deer and a herd of wild donkeys. Some were right on the highway, close enough for us to touch as we rode by. Our favorite part of Custer State Park is the Needles highway. Tall rock lined the roads and we rode thru tunnels only 10 feet wide. We had to honk before we entered them to let the traffic know we were coming thru. Then on to Crazy Horse. What can I say, it was absolutely amazing. The work that has gone into, and continues to be done, is unbelievable. We walked thru the museum and learned a little history of Crazy Horse and all that he did for his people. Next was on to Mount Rushmore. The monument is huge and quite touching as you read about the work that went into designing and constructing such a monument. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln actually looked like they were watching over us. We watched as they lit up the faces after dark. Next we decided to go to our hotel and off for supper. It was 11:00 so no supper, but we found a saloon called the Red Garter Saloon. There was a guy playing and singing out time country music. We felt like we were back in the wild west. He sang Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, &John Denver. It was awesome. I kept thinking how much Lynn and Randy would have love it!!We got back to our hotel about 1:00 in the morning. What a perfect day!!!! 

 

 

Well the road took us to….

Big Ed’s Steakhouse! In….Bird City!! Oh Yeah!!!

Holy Crap were in KANSAS!!!

Day 8

Happy Canada Day!!! We rode out of Laramie at 9:30 this morning into Colorado. It was absolutely gorgeous scenery riding thru the mountains into the prairies. The temperature was 25 degrees and the sun was shining, but about 1/2 hour into our ride and onto  the prairies, the temperature reached a whopping 37 degrees. We nearly died in our biker clothes. The landscape was flat, dry, and not tree in sight. Just like southern Alberta. We even had the extreme wind like home. We have a campsite tonight in North Sterlling State Park on a reservoir, but there isnt any trees and we may blow away in our tent. We are leaving now for a ride to Nebraska only 20 minutes away....Well it was more than 20 mins but well worth the 45 min trip one way.  The park ranger said it was 20 mins so I had enough fuel for that kind of a trip but when it ended up being a little longer than that....Well, we were sweating and for once it wasn't because of the heat!  We got to see the Cabela's headquarters for North America at Sidney, Neb.  The place was massive!  On the way back to the campground it got  dark in a hurry.  Riding country roads in the dark in a strange state is not what I call FUN! All was well, turned into our campground and wind was blowing like crazy.  Someone is scared of wind so she didn't have a very good sleep, well until about 4 when it finally quit.  Woke up this morning again in the extreme heat, 26 at 8am.  Crazy hot without the wind!!  Anyhow were having breakfast now heading down the road.  3200kms so far and still heading east.  Where will the road take us next....

Day 7

Woke up early dying of heat and dehydration. Some how we ended up meeting up with the bartender, Donny Armstrong, from last night for a tour of the country side. It suppose to be a golf game but someone was to hung over to even think about golf.  (Joanne promised him that she would go golfing with him in the morning but somehow she doesn't remember that part.) More beers and loaded guns, dead coyote pelt on my lap and off to the hills for an excellent tour. How stupid are we, but very adventurous. Had the time of our lives, mountain scenery, lakes, streams and more antelope again. Even had a tour of Donnys home. At 2:00 we left town and rode over the Snowy Mountain Scenic Byway to Centennial. Gorgeous views and tons of snow on top the mountain. Someone still wasn't feeling very well so we ended up only riding  about 1 an hour today. So we decide to do a prison tour instead of carrying on.  The historic prison held many outlaws from 1883 to 1903 including "Butch Cassidy" . There was the actual safe that Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid blew up in one of thier many train robberies . Pretty cool to see some of the amazing cowboy history here.  Then we rented a room in Laramie and then went for a excellent supper at the "Attitude" restaurant.   Joanne washed laundry and I watch a little tv!

Our taxi

Donny’s House

On our tour

Going over the Snowy Pass to Laramie

The Historic Prison

The safe from a train robbery done by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Day Six

Today we rode from Thermopolis to Rawlins and down into the little town of Riverside. Riding out of Thermopolis, thru the wind river canyon,  granite rock more than 600 million years old lined the canyon. After riding out of the canyon the landscape turned to flat, dry, windy conditions. Beers in Rawlins were welcomed in 34 degree weather. On to Saratoga for more beers in a 117 year old Saloon called the Wolf Hotel. Then on to Riverside!!! The campground was beautiful. Our tent along a river under a huge tree. It was a picturesque site, but we decided to go for supper and drinks at the Mangy Moose Saloon across the street. Very friendly bartenders and other locals made for a late night, too many spiced rum and cokes(Captain and cokes). We stumbled back to our tent before midnight. Missed the storm that blew through. It was such a good night I,Joanne, slept in my clothes!! Learned lots about Wyoming and the local ranchers. We rode by a ranch called the Silver Spur, whose owner, owns the largest land base in North America. 500,000 acres, none of which is rented land. He sold his ATI cellular company to AT&T for 50 Billion dollars. Now he flies in his personal helicopter over ranches near and far to pick out which one he is going to buy next. He is apparently looking north in Canada. Talked to a local kid that told us their antelope population is hugely increasing due to having to have draws for tags for hunting. We have seen nearly as many antelope as Bison. There are more antelope than people in Wyoming. They are everywhere.

 Outside the Mangy Moose

  Our Bartender!

Day 5 - Wyoming

No bear this morning on our porch, but it is bright sunny skies and warm temperatures. 34 degrees. The bear tooth pass was amazing. We rode thru it one way and then came back over it, it was a totally different experience each direction. Next was on to Cody over the Dead Indian pass. Another foot peg dragging experience on hair pin switch back corners making our way over a 9000ft mountain stopping every now and then to view our trails of highway below.A totally unique experience. Then it was down to Cody to  the Desert like landscape. Amazing what a difference 100 miles can make. Cody is like driving into a city 100 years ago. Wild west shows, cowboys, pick up trucks, and saloons line the streets. They have a rodeo every day from June 1 to August 31. Today was especially busy as they were honoring a cowboy that was killed 5 days ago bronc riding. After leaving Cody, we rode on to Thermopolis to the mineral hot springs where we are camping. Along the way we spotted hundreds of antelope. Many of them in the ditches, making driving scary. Tonight as we write this note, we are being eaten by the biggest mosquitoes ever. First pests of the holiday.....

The Beartooth Pass

The Dead Indian Pass

Entering The Wyoming Desert

Buffalo Bill’s Watering Hole

Day 4

   More sunshine this morning. NO more rain. Up early and on our way to Old Faithful. Got there just in time to see the geyser erupt. Every 92 minutes. Walked thru the old lodges and saw inside an authentic room in the lodge built in 1903. It would have been perfect, but we had to carry  on our trip. Only $98.00/ night. Next we stopped for beers at a waterfall and watched a herd of Bison on the highway stopping oncoming traffic for over 3 miles. Glad we were riding north. A male Bison looked at us way to close up and began walking our way. I freaked and Mike drove on the opposite side of a cow bison to separate us from the mad bull.  We thought for sure we were done.  Next we rode on over to Canyon Village again and north up the east side of the park. We stopped again for supper at the Roosevelt Lodge for Elk steak and Pheasent Linguine.  Mike sat in Teddys rocking chair on the front porch.  We saw a grizzly bear and hundreds of Bison on our trip. It is Mikes night to get us a camp site, so guess what we are staying in a cute little cabin in Silver City as there are no available campsites anywhere. Well the cabin has a cute name, THE LOVE SHACK. lol We have our own kitchen, bath, and bbq. We are 30 yards from a raging river and have a back deck. The beers are awesome and a firepit outside our back door set off the evening. All we need is a grizzly bear on our deck in the morning.

“The Love Shack”

Day 3

Well after a full night of rain and a wet tent, today started out interesting as Mike woke up with his eye swollen, reddened and draining. Girls, I thought I should take his advice and just let him suffer ( like he said to do with Fluffy ), but I gave in and took him to the doctor. It probably cost more than it did to take Fluffy to the vet.lol He got some antibiotics for an eye infection, only put us 2 hours behind schedule. Oh yeah we are on holidays and have no schedule. I think he just has sympathy pains for the kitty. Well we were on the highway by 11:00. First we headed toward Yellowstone National Park stopping at Livingstone then carried on to Gardiner and on into the park. We rode into Mammoth Hot Springs and over to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Amazing scenery!!! On our way to Bridge Bay, we drove past the Mud Pots and Dragons Mouth. We also had a great day with wildlife, spotting a couple wolves, a massive grizzly bear,several elk and of course hundreds of Buffalo. We are sitting at camp around the fire now and had hot dogs for supper as we waited too late to go eat and all the restauants are closed. Beautiful day, warm and no rain!!!

Day Two

Well…its started off a night in the tent in the rain.  Don’t know what time it started but I had to get up on put the seat cover on the bike. Clear skies this morning though. 28 degrees today. Continued on south thru Browning and on to Augusta. Stopped for some beers in a cute little bar in  Augusta. Due to road construction, we travelled thru Butte and on to Bozeman on  a  real scenic highway. We past by Lewis and Clark Caverns, but a bad storm was chasing us so we couldnt stop. Drove thru some downpour of rain for a few miles and had supper to wait for it to quit. We got the tent up just in time and now we are settled for the night with it raining. We will decide in the morning if we should have got a hotel room. lol we are still dry right now.  

Day One - Montana

Day 1- Left hom e around 1:00. Drove down highway 2 thru Calgary, Nanton, Fort Macleod, and on to the US border crossing of Port of Peigan. Our first night we are camping at St,Marys. Johnsons of St. Marys campground. Arrived early so decided to drive the Going to the Sun Road. Wow, it was spectacular. Opened just yesterday, 12 ft snow drifts lined the road near the summit. Waterfalls everywhere and the fresh smell of pine and wild flowers made the trip unbelievable. Now we are having supper and drinks in a neat little lodge at St. Marys then going back to our camp for a fire. Excellent first day, weather is warm.

Ahhh just four more hours of work

Yes that's right just 4 more hours of work! Joanne has tomorrow off but I have to go in for 4 hours in the morning. I know that it sucks but oh well! We haven't even started to pack yet. Were at the movie Toy Story 3 tonight and then we'll go home and get packing! We leave at 1 tomorrow afternoon. Trying to get to Browning, Montana. At least that's were we have a campground spot saved. Hope we make it!

Well…here we are just over a week now!

Well in just over a week the adventure starts once again! Are we ready? Oh yea, sure are!

Below is picture of the Beartooth Pass near the end of June.  Apparently, the highway just opened for the season a week ago.

 

Were going to start our holidays a few days earlier!

Well we have decided to leave for our road trip a few days earlier! We just can't handle work any longer.  WE NEED A BREAK!! This road trip should do that for us, with a little luck!  I received my rain cover for my seat from California and my windshield was shipped from Colorado today.  So that should be here in time.  So that should pretty much make us ready for our vacation.  Now as long as the weather isn’t raining like it has been that the last week.  All should be well!

Hurry Up!!

Here we are with just under a month to go.  Wow! Bring it on! Hurry up!!

Check out this video taken in the Black Hills of South Dakota!

2010 Summer Road Trips

Well...this summer we have planned two motorcycle road trips. One to South Dakota and The Black Hills and if that one goes good then were off to Vancouver Island two weeks later! I know what your thinking! I've looked them up! Saddle Sores

First things first!

South Dakota - We've been planning our route now for well over a month, making sure to see everything that there is to see along our route. The only plans that we have so far is our hotel room in Deadwood, SD for the fourth of July!! The rest of our trip will be part of the adventure. Trying to find campgrounds late at night and making sure that we always have gas in the tank. We have lots to see along the way including, Yellowstone National Park, The Beartooth Pass, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and of course The Black Hills. We're starting to get excited cause it's less than 2 months now!

The Black Hills

Mount Rushmore

Wyoming

The Beartooth Pass

Old Faithful - Yellowstone National Park

And of course, Crazy Horse!