Charlie's trippin

[Charlie G]

So I'll leave the reflective sanity discussion for a bit and recap. The Google map link I posted was for my first day of travel through Oregon to Boise Id for a short visit with Martin and family(523 miles from my house per the speedo) and then back on the road to Montana.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Boise,+ID/Livingston,+MT/@44.2222136,-115.6302712,7z/data=!4m24!4m23!1m15!1m1!1s0x54aef172e947b49d:0x9a5b989b36679d9b!2m2!1d-116.2146068!2d43.6187102!3m4!1m2!1d-112.0649156!2d43.4670386!3s0x535459a84f25356d:0x53e20efc1d7b499a!3m4!1m2!1d-112.6955702!2d45.1753736!3s0x535a073acb0abbc9:0x7594883f1f5a4034!1m5!1m1!1s0x534513be27a04723:0x459632265a848c4c!2m2!1d-110.5599556!2d45.6614105!3e0?hl=en

Day 2 map to Three forks, Mt. (530 miles) It started raining so I stopped in and didn't go to Livingston.



I-84 east of Boise,Id

You've got to love speed limits. I'm not sure I would been as comfortable riding at 80 + MPH sustained speed without the little fairing I put. I road for the next three days at this speed. I was in Montana for a total of 3 days, there and back and saw 1 police car on the Interstate. I really don't think they enforce the speed limit. Just go and be safe. A libertarian spirited , wild west approach, I guess. Helmets? Optional until I got to Canada. You bet'cha I wore mine! I would do a double take all the time about the helmets. Harleys everywhere! Did I mention Sturgis was going on as I rode out?

[dorkburger]

I love when philosophical questions about cycling come up......
By all logical measures, riding makes no sense, especially with new car fuel efficiency stealing one of our last flimsy excuses to show the logical - good MPG.

Heart attacks, cancer, random accidents, etc follow that same lack of logic also, however.
Ive more to add, but the thoughts are currently a cluttered mess in my mind.....

Charlie you did that on a bike you originally paid $285 for??

[Carter Turk]

Curious how many animals in the road were spotted dead or alive in all those miles? Must of been a few, more than cops in Montana.

Wisconsin was the worst state for deer on my longest ride.

Somewhere near St. Germain on Hwy70 my trip almost ended at 65mph, at dusk.

Stealth camped about a mile after that, when 5 deer were wandering around in the middle of the road.

Pretty cool to make it so far with so little overhead to start with.

It just might not be as exciting/rewarding to ride a $15,000 bike the same route.

[Charlie G]

Curious how many animals in the road were spotted dead or alive in all those miles? Must of been a few, more than cops in Montana.

Wisconsin was the worst state for deer on my longest ride.

Somewhere near St. Germain on Hwy70 my trip almost ended at 65mph, at dusk.

Stealth camped about a mile after that, when 5 deer were wandering around in the middle of the road.

Pretty cool to make it so far with so little overhead to start with.

It just might not be as exciting/rewarding to ride a $15,000 bike the same route.

The number of deer dead along the road was unbelievable. I saw elk and prong horn antelope as well. I joke about Frisbee kitties, but Frisbee elk? I was lucky on getting this bike.

[Charlie G]

Charlie you did that on a bike you originally paid $285 for??

Yes I did! A former member placed an add in the for sale section. He was about a 5 hour ride from where I live and I jumped on it. He was the original owner, wanted it to go to someone who would fix it up and had bought a Gold Wing when he parked it in 2006. That was December 2013. It had 43k miles and it's got close to 63k now.

I had a whole other page posted up but deleted as the pictures were from other past trips. Man that took a while to put together. I'll try again.

[Sandy]

Since you brought up 19th century composers, there is a connection here to my trip to visit Bill, two very old ladies in Dowagiac, and a California girl who married a Canadian, but first some background......


I think it's a good idea to question our motorcycle activities. Is it sane to buy a $ 285.00, 33 year old motorcycle, fix it up a bit and ride it 3100 miles (one way) across the western US, through the rainy mid western heartland to "visit a niece" who has offered many times in the last12 years, offered to buy you an airline ticket? I am aware that the exposure exhaust fumes at an early age from a motorcycle have effected my ability to shake an adolescent naivety toward such activities and attitudes I have about life from time to time. Hence the garage with 5 motorcycles, 2 of which run, and my typing here and the trip. It must have been the lead in the gas at the time? It did seem like a good idea 3 or 4 years ago when I first considered it. While broken down on the road, in the hot sun in Billings, MT, or in a flash rain storm on a Wisconsin Interstate, going 80 mph with fool hardy vehicles, 10 feet to the front and back of you , does make you question your choices. Oh, I need to mention 500 miles plus a day....now everyone knows that life on the road begins at 450 miles. I even had the forms printed in my tank bag to document the trip for a "Saddle Sore" award. Grasshopper, Grasshopper what rusty truck did you fall off of?

This may take a while to work it's way out, to answer this question....I'll be back. Present day life calls.

Good read and reflections Charlie. Does sound like all systems are normal.

[Charlie G]

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Montana somewhere before I got to Bozeman.
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The little caf? I ate dinner and breakfast on the way east ward. On the way back I ate at the http://www.ironhorsecafemt.com/ and it was by far the best meal I ate while on the road! I decided to get a motel room instead of camping (Hey Trevor!) as it started to rain as I entered Montana. I was wet, tired and hunger so I left the tent and sleeping bag on the bike and stayed at the "Lewis & Clark" motel. I thought it was expensive but grew to appreciate and despise it later in the trip.
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More Montana!

[dorkburger]

$285 makes the trip all the much cooler. Great pics also.

Couple of years ago I rode to Maryland for a week for a work certification. My friend thought it was unbelievably cool that I rode a 30 year old bike there.
I didn't quite understand his being impressed.... Seemed normal to me......

[Charlie G]

Day 3 on theroad
After about150 miles on the road Tuesday morning I'm in Billings Montana and I spy aSuzuki dealership on the frontage road and I think to myself, "I shouldget off and buy a set of plugs for the bike, as it might fix that slightroughness in the bike's idle". There are those brief moments I have, onoccasion, where I ask myself, where did that thought come from. Am lucky orsomething! So I pull off the Interstate at the next exit a mile down the roadand zip to the dealership.
I can'tremember what number plug the bike uses so I take a look at the #1 plug. It's setting in alittle pool of oil that seems to be coming from the valve cover gasket on theintake side between #1&2. F&A! I resolve to get the plugs and continueriding for say, 30 miles or so to get a sense of how much oil is coming out.Which is what I do....
Interstate90 in this part of Montana follows the Yellowstone river which lies to thenorth. You can see it close and in the distance marked by the willow treesalong its bank. As I drive eastward from Billings, the farms become fewer, withmore vacant land between and few towns. It's getting hot by now, low 90's and Ibegin to think, "Where would prefer to break down"? Near a Suzukidealership, motels and shade or on a shade-less Montana plain? I turn around...

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I get to thedealership and pull the tank and yes it is the valve cover gasket. I havegasket compound (thx azr) with me but I am only a 1000 miles into a 6000 mile adventure...I need a permanent fixnot a Band-Aid. I order a gasket and half moons and had them overnighted. Theclerk at the dealer (32 years old, one younger than my bike!) said that's goingto be expensive, a$100 or so. Well so was the motel room.I was told to expect the parts to arrive thenext day around noon. They'd call my cell.
I head offto find a motel room. It's about 2:30 and motel 6 is booked already. I hatemotel 6, really I do, for many reasons! As I leave to check another motel Inotice there is about 4 ounces of oil below my bike form the leak now. Nothingon the previous stops. Getting worse. I drive about 1/4 mile to another motel.They have rooms $140 a night, but I spy that they have a nice row of shadetrees on the back side of the property and a fairly level lot. This place isabout a mile from the dealer, a restaurant next door and I have a bottle ofCrown Royal.

Next day: Inever trust FedEx or any delivery company. Check out time is 11:00 and I don'twant to get a room for another night if I don't need it. The motel will hold my room till 5:00 withoutcharging me and I get a call about 10:30am, the part is in. I walk to thedealer and back and install it.

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Back on the road! Lucky, lucky! I could have burnt the bike up on the road somewhere........

[Charlie G]

I almost forgot>>>on the way to pick up the part at the dealership I'm looking at all the debris along the side of the road as I walk and I see this . What is the tan object in the grass?....foam, FOAM ON the Range! He! He!

[Charlie G]

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A couple hours east of Billings, still in Montana


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These little hills start to crop out of the landscape.
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Further eastward toward North Dakota

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The red that starts to appear it the top of these hill starts to appear as I approach North Dakota. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is just over the border in North Dakota and it is characterized by these red bands in the hills, at least from what I saw along the Interstate. I really want to stop and take a look around in T.R N.P but it was late, I was a day behind, needed mileage and a motel room.

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The Trappers Inn in Belfeild,North Dakota. A good night sleep and about 1/2 way to Ontario, Canada

[Carter Turk]

Dinosaur country, perfect for our bikes.

[Charlie G]

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Livingston,+MT/Bismarck,+ND/@46.2717214,-110.1334691,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x534513be27a04723:0x459632265a848c4c!2m2!1d-110.5599556!2d45.6614105!1m5!1m1!1s0x52d7831257d8e963:0xccaabd12f9bbca93!2m2!1d-100.7837392!2d46.8083268?hl=en

I forgot this link for the road I just covered from Livingston, Mt ( Three Forks is where I stayed) to Bismarck ,ND. It really is not easy to recall pictures from photo bucket in an order, get Google maps and not want lose it! I didn't quite make it to Bismarck but you get the general idea. So here are some of the thoughts I have about now: Why are you not sight seeing more? Your spending your time and money to do this, you need to get your best bang for your buck. What goals do you have for this trip?

If your going to try to travel 3000 miles on a trip how many miles in a day do you want to travel 250, 350, 500. Choosing 250 a day, you'd have a few hours to sight see but it would take you almost 2 weeks to get there. then spend a week with the niece and then 2 weeks going back. I've done 2 1/2 week trips before and after 2 weeks I'm starting to miss my home life and wonder about 5 weeks on the road. Then there is the cost of 5 weeks. I'm not that interested in hanging in crowded tourist areas, looking a "Old Faithful" from a concrete path, or seeing Mt. Rushmore. Maybe Crazy Horse would be an event! As I drove by Teddy Roosevelt's National Park I questioned my approach, but then the Mt. Winnebago motor home that I had been playing tag with while I white knuckled a hurricane strength cross wind (I almost got religion!) for about thirty miles, turned off to go to the park. You've seen this RV. It has 2 bicycles on the back that bounce like untethered boobs at Carnival and would take out the windshield of the SUV they are towing, if they ever totally broke free. No I should keep going. Shake the regret off, lean into the wind, there is only a few more miles to a meal, a brew and a bed. MBB

I saw just about everything dead along the side of the road, but no dinosaurs.

[cowboyup3371]

Charlie, what did you do about regular maintenance such as oil changes? Did you carry supplies (filter, drain pan, etc) with you or have someone else do the work?

[Charlie G]

Charlie, what did you do about regular maintenance such as oil changes? Did you carry supplies (filter, drain pan, etc) with you or have someone else do the work?

I changed the oil at my niece's house in Ontario, Canada. They had a pan and a funnel I could use. I didn't worry about doing a filter change. Canadian Tire had my oil on hand (@ Canadian prices mind you!) and they even took the old to be recycled. I wish I had brought a bit of WD-40 to lube my brake lever as it became a bit sticky with the rain I drove through. I would have used it on the valve cover gasket. I have two bottles at home and was too cheap to buy on the road. Really prefer "Tri-flow" for light lubing. That's all the maintenance there was. Well air and top off the oil as needed. I found the bike uses almost no oil if you don't down shift to pass and wind it out doing so.