Sturgis Or Die, Day Nine

Today's going to be an easy day, relatively short mileage through some really choice scenery. If only we could get out of Hardin! Seems the lads, Nate and JP, never actually left Shawna's Casino/Steakhouse, at least not until around 2:30am, at which point they scurried off to an after party (do they really have "after parties" in Montana?) put on by Shawna herself, and some of Hardin's hardiest revelers. From all indications they had a hell of a time; for starters they didn't get back to our hotel until after 4am, Nate had been challenged to a friendly fight by one of the local toughs (no fists were thrown, they ultimately threw down drinks like brothers........apparently duking it out is their way of getting to know ya), JP found a "friend" and was AWOL for  an hour or two. It was only after Nate began searching house to house, revving the piss out of his mighty Road Glide, did the younger buck stagger out into the street. From there it was back to the Super Eight.

Needless to say they were in no condition for an early morning launch............that's cool, we were young once too (I'm pretty sure, don't remember though), so we let them sleep until checkout. We wipe down the Harleys, get organized, watch some news. Once the "undead" regain consciousness, we fire up the motorcycles and head east to Garryowen, a small village near the Little Big Horn battlefield. As a matter of fact, it's the place where the actual battle began. There's a small store and museum.........it's very interesting, and Mark augments the displays with a many "fun facts" about the period, he's extremely well read about western folklore and history. He has really made this portion of the trip far more rewarding......his knowledge has enlightened our experience, even the kids.

Nate's roadside repair, good as new......almost

From Garryowen, we hook a one eighty, and head west back down Interstate 90 to Billings. A quick breakfast at a Flying "J" truckstop, holy smoke, the amount of chow they served up was staggering.......and it was darn good too!  At our gas stop Nate asks for a bungee cord, seems his left saddle bag mounts have busted, and he needs an alternative mounting system (never leave home without bungee's, they're almost as handy as duct tape). Interesting story behind the dangling saddle bag.....and sorry Harley haters, not a factory defect indicative of crappy craftsmanship, but rather the busted bag is the result of getting butt ended by none other than JP himself..........you'll have to get the details on your own, it didn't happen on this trip.

Full of food and fuel, we head back out on 90 to Laurel, where we turn south on highway 310. Soon we find ourselves in the country on fantastic two lane. It's warm, but not oppressive, thankfully humidity is mild. The traffic is light so we maintain a good pace. We're traveling right on the eastern edge of the Beartooth Mountain Range.....stark, jagged and utterly beautiful. Rain clouds are building to the west, with streaks of sun forcing their way through the leaden clouds. Will we get our first real rain of the trip? It sort of looks like it. We cross over the Clark Fork of the Yellowstone river at least three times. It's hard to focus on the road, the terrain is so compelling, this is a road you want to ride, trust us.

A little Cody history

We continue south, snaking along the valley floor, still no rain........at least not on us, it's pouring up on the peaks. One of the neat things about riding motorcycles is the little things you notice, that you'd never be aware of in a car. For instance, the tiny temperature changes that you feel with the change in cloud cover....might be only a degree or two, but you notice.

Before we know it, we're dropping down into Cody, Wyoming. Cody is a quaint, authentic old west town surrounded by some of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen. We cruise in, stopping off at a gun store (hey, can you ever have enough high cap mags?) before we fill up with gas (less to do tomorrow) and check in at the Comfort Inn. Once we unload the bikes we head off on foot to take in the town.........which is pretty easy considering it's about six blocks long! We spy a re-enactment of what I think was the gun fight at the OK Corral, not real sure as the production value was, well, kinda "off". The costumes were nice though.

Nate and JP

We amble down to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and Museum. Totally first rate, with the largest collection of American firearms in the world. There are five museums in the complex, we only got through some of the firearms section when they began to close up for the day. We're gonna see the rest tomorrow before we head out of town to Jackson.

Since today is the old mans birthday, that would be Vince, we take him to an Italian restaurant for one of his favorites..........pizza. After way too much food...........a constant theme on this trip, we stroll back to the hotel. Time for a serious laundry session..........which is a pretty big challenge for me (whatever, I have other skills.....). The good news, we found a Laundromat that would wash, dry and fold the clothes for $.50 a pound. Sweet, I'm saved.....I'll be seeing Dixie tomorrow after 9:30 am to pick up our fresh duds. I like Cody.

For those of you keeping track, we've traveled over 2,200 miles so far. One of the cool features of Vince's itinerary is that we don't backtrack on the roads we came east on until Elko (and after that, who really cares?!), so it's new sights and roads everyday.......I highly recommend that strategy, makes the return way more enjoyable. Oh, and the lads, well they're asleep as I write this........guess they'll have to sample the Cody nightlife on the next trip.