NJ to CA: Day 7 : 7/29/2013 (Pics) Yellowstone

Well, I've chosen my route and it's 80 some miles longer than I anticipated.  What's 80 miles when you've come 2500 so far?  This gets me Bear tooth highway, regarded as one of the best motorcycle rides in the US, plus Captain Joseph highway, locally recommended and puts me on I-90 for tomorrows trip.  This also sets me up for a much nicer and shorter 672 mile trip on Tuesday!

The weather for today's trip isn't looking so great.  There's still lots of battling air masses.

So far, it's not looking bad.

Yesterday, one of my camera geek friends commented on my photos from the Rocky Mountain National Park - great scenes; but, try getting the bike into the pictures.  Get down on your knees or lay down and shoot some pictures.  Good advice Jeff, I think these pics turned out pretty good.  Keep the tips coming.  You can follow Jeff on his blog at:  http://wheredoesthatroadgo.blogspot.com/

More weather in my way.  It's early in the day, so I'm hoping this will be short lived.

Yesterday, I was told the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway and the Bear Tooth Highway are the best rides to be had.  OK, I'll do both today.  Note the uneven pavement leading up to the sign.  Originally, I was considering parking in the gravel to shoot this pic.  I thought better of it and am glad I did.  That would be one stupid move that would cause me to dump the bike.  No thank you, I'll park in somebodies driveway and walk back.

I think this is called the "Hairy Sunflower."  Any flower experts, please feel free to comment.

I took this pic to show the altitude and temperature.  This isn't the highest up I've been on this trip.  The altimeter read 12,000 something.  I think the temp up there was 46 degrees.  Gotta love Kiss!

Some rain; but, I'm out of it now!

Switch backs ahead.  Game on!!!

This was 20 miles out or more.  It was a very hard shot to get.  Keeping my telephoto lens steady is really hard when taking far away shots!

This could be my favorite.  Transformer meets mother nature.

Those are conifer pines.  They can grow up to to 100 meters in height (328').  You could put 3 on top of one another and you'd be close to the top.

Three weeks ago, some biker was looking where he shouldn't have been and failed to negotiate this curve.  They medivac'd him out.  I'm sure God didn't want him on that day.  Remember that picture with the Conifer Pines?  That's where he would have ended up if he had gone a bit further.  Eyes on the road, not the scenery.  If you want to look at the scenery, pull off and look. 'nuff said.

Yes, those are clouds below me.

At this point, it was damn windy.  I was at about 8,000' or 9,000'.  I was planning on not taking many more pictures as I already had lots and wanted to focus on some more technical riding skills.  Then this sign popped up, so I stopped once more.

Some interesting tidbits from today's travels:

111 miles of sightseeing in Yellowstone.  150 miles of travel to Bozeman Mt.  This is further than I had planned on going today.

Some bikers are ignorant.  I ran into 4 Harley guys when I pulled up to a little restaurant just off Captain Joseph Highway and at the start of Bear Tooth Highway.  One guy was in his 60's and looked like ZZ top with his beard tied up in a rubber band.  He was asking me about my bike and then retorted that anything that can't be ridden without the key in it is too complicated for him.  I guess he's never ridden in a car then.

The owner of the restaurant (Cindy) was my server.  I ordered 3 eggs, BACON and whole wheat toast, hold the hash browns.  I got 2 eggs, sausage and hash browns, white toast and fruit.  Why did you ask what I wanted?

Anyway, two other bikers come in the back, as if they are on a mission.  They walk up to me and ask me if I'm riding the big 6 outside.  Why yes, that would be me.  One has BMW MOA suspenders on and the other a BMW MOA pin on.  Rick and Ted are their names, and they are paramedics from Canada.  We had lots to talk about and they pretty much convinced me to join MOA.  They wanted to know everything about the 1600GT.  Rick had ridden it once and absolutely loved it.  Both were riding R 1200 GS's, very snazzy bikes in their own rights.  I shared my story about ZZ top, and they both laughed.  They responded with "That guy has no idea what you're riding."  We talked for about 45 minutes.  They told me they were headed to Cody Co. and I let them know about the miles of milled pavement and dirt road on Rt. 20.  They re-routed around that whole section.  Smart move.  We all left at about the same time, and they kinda chuckled as they got to leave and I got stopped by some guy riding a Kawasaki Concourse.  He started with how many miles per gallon does it get.  Huh?  Nobody buys a motorcycle for gas mileage; but, the numbers for this bike are 55 mpg at 55 mph and I get consistent 40 mpg highway.  He then kept me there for 20 minutes asking me all about my bike. Very flattering.

The planning for tomorrow begins now.  I have about 650 miles in front of me.