Saturday and Sunday

Saturday Leta and I road from Bozeman, MT Holiday Inn through the Gardiner, MT and the North Entrance of Yellowstone Park. We didn't get to use our new annual National Park Pass because the Park Service was having a free weekend for the public. I was a little disappointed after spending $80 on an annual pass.

Leta did some shopping at the Park's General Store at Mammoth Springs, sat and watched people and an elk for a while. We then took the northern road 47 miles across the park, getting to see some areas which were inaccessible to us when we last visited due to road closures. Near the North East gate of the park we saw a lot (hundreds if not thousands of buffalo), a black bear near the road, and a lot of fly fishermen.

North Gate - Yellowstone near Gardiner, MT

After leaving the park, we road 4 miles of mostly gravel (due to road construction) to Cooke City. Leta road the gravel like a champ. Someone back in the park told us that all the hotel rooms at Red Lodge were full due to "The Rodeo". We had originally planned to stop in Red Lodge, eat at the Red Lodge Cafe, and get a room there, but figured from what we heard that the town was full of rodeo cowboys and fans. When we got to Cooke City we were found that "The Rodeo" was actually a huge Harley Rally everyone but us knows about. There were literally motorcycles everywhere.

Cooke City, MT

From Cooke City we road Bear Tooth pass, which something we had missed when we were at the Red Lodge/Beartooth BMW Rally a couple years ago with Shannon. It was definitely worth the wait and we both enjoyed the road thoroughly, but should have stopped for more photo ops. My GPS showed me that we got up to 10,992 ft before heading back down the pass. The many switchbacks and huge vista were awesome, but I had to stay pretty focused on the road. We were easily able to deal with the patches of gravel from road construction on the higher parts of the pass.

Leta and her Honda on Beartooth Pass - Chief Joseph Highway in the background.

Leta got some great photos from the Rally at Red Lodge. We did some shopping and relaxed until 11 PM. From there I got to try to new HID light setup and man did it work well. We got to our hotel in Billings (Billings Hotel and Convention Center) about midnight after booking the room on Priceline from Red Lodge. Leta fell a sleep shortly after midnight, but I was too excited from the pass and Red Lodge and couldn't sleep until 3 or 4 AM.

Red Lodge Cafe - Where we ate with Shanon's friends
a couple years ago when last here.

Good Bye Glacier National Park, Hello Yellowstone and Chief Joseph Highway

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Yesterday morning we split up from Dave, Sharron, Sonya and Jane after breakfast at the Johnson Cafe near St. Mary, East gate of Glacier National Park. Leta and I bought some stickers and then headed out. We got a few last photos.

Glacier National Park is awesome and some thing every American should see it at least once.

After the park we rode down to Helena, MT. I think we found some of the worse drivers in Montana there. People drive like they are in New York, running red lights, driving either really fast (at 70 mph on the back roads, 80 seems kind of fast), cutting each other off, except there is no reason to do so. It was pretty crazy and we felt a lot safer once we got out of there.

We got to Bozeman, Price-lined the Holiday Inn for $50 and had a nice meal at Johnny Carino's . It was a pretty decent day, just wish it would have been a little cooler.

We are shooting for Yellow Stone NP and Chief Joseph Highway today. Stopping at either Red Lodge or Billings tonight.

Glacier KOA West

Got a cabin for six at KOA St. Marys, near east gate of Glacier Natl. Park Thursday night. Maybe Yellowstone today.

Starting 09 Vacation

Left Friday after work. Trailered across South Dakota. Could not find Hotel, no vacancy. Slept in rest area for 4 hours past Murdo, SD.

New Bak BMW Commercial is a Hoot!!

I was down at the shop yesterday and Dave Bak showed me the new commercial they are going to run. Its a hoot.

Bonzi Results

I'll post more information later, but this is a quick overview. I somehow won third place in my division ("Experianced") at the Bonzai. I was the last one out of the barn (I need more practice at planning routes and town identification), had a 1000 point time penalty (for arriving at 7:01 PM at the end), and made more then one mistake, but had one heck of ride. I spent all day riding and hunting bonuses, but only road about 402 miles according to my GPSl. I only took one break which was in Lansing at about 4PM to drink, nibble and do some last minute routing changes and checks. During the day I saw some of the best roads I have ever seen and which I'm hoping to rediscover with some of the neat places next weekend at the Hiawatha Rally in Money Creek.

One of my biggest rally mistakes was going for the "Fire Tower" combo. To get that combo you had to get information of the base plates of two different fire towers, one near Elba, Minnesota and the other was the Yellow River tower south of Lansing, Iowa. The combo was worth 850 points, the fire tower in Elba was worth 650 points (plus an extra 100 points to climb the actual tower and get a photo), and the fire tower near Lansing was worth 500 points or so. What I didn't realize was the there was 636 steps to climb on foot just to get to the tower at Elba and that the fire tower road near Lansing was dangerous even on "Pig" (would have been easier on Strom). I passed a guy on the Gold Wing going up the hill and another on a cruiser going down. The steps at Elba were physically demanding. I think I spent about 45 minutes on that bonus all told. I also did some bonuses near Lanesboro, Peterson and Houston which I should have passed by to get bigger bonuses down south of Lansing.


Dave W. and I had to get up at 4 AM and leave the campground in Caledonia by 4:30 to make it on time. Here I am checking in on Sunday at 5:45 AM with Brant "DaJuice" giving him my odometer reading. Packets were handed out at 6 AM. The earliest allowed departure time from Rally HQ was 7 PM. I took a 30 minute rest bonus at 7 AM to continue planning. I had problems with my GPS flash card and had to load my maps manually on to the GPS using my laptop (which is a pain with my RAM mount). I didn't hit the road until nearly 8:30. I think Phil Becker the overall winner left just a few minutes before me. It really does pay to plan well.


Here I am with Rally Master Brian Johnson. This was Brian's first year as rally master. He did an awesome job.

I'll get some more info and photos loaded later.

Strange Days

This week I have been working on getting my GS Adventure bike ready for the Bonzai Road Rally on Memorial Day weekend. Nothing seems to be going on time. I also had a couple home repair issues which have taken some my attention away and other activity.

Started Sunday (after helping Al wire his Sat Radio), and did my first oil change on "Pig" which I completed Monday evening. Oil changes are pretty simple on this bike, but I needed to work through it and learn it the first time. I had to purchase the $40 oil filter wrench (old wrench doesn't fit new new hex heads), and the $19 filter for the dealer (Bak BMW). Not that I'm complaining about the cost (yeah right), but I better buy a 6-pack of filters online before the next change.

Tuesday Leta and I rode 2-up down to the BSR meeting in Salix. Afterwards I took off my rear wheel and hauled it over to Big Johnson's garage to try the new No-Mar wheel mounting contraption. Jim (Big Bird) and Stan (Little Bird) walked me through the process. It seems like there are a lot more steps then my old system, but I didn't put any new scratches in the rim so that's cool. I went with another Metzler Tourance tire. I also have a used one at home for the front to put on after this coming weekend. If these tires don't last, I'm going to be paying the $80 additional expense and put on the Marathon 880s full bias tires. Folks on the LDR list and older rally sites say no problem, they run just fine in gravel and dry dirt.

I hung around Big Bird's garage after the tire was mounted. The Bird Crew was trying to get the farkle wiring into Big Birds new K1300GT. I tried to help out, but its really kind of a two bird deal I guess. I asked a few questions about why they were using this or that and why. I'm always looking for ways to improve my farkling skills. Big Bird had a nice fuse box which I really liked. I may have to give that a try on the GSA. As usual, Little Bird seemed very concerned about the appearance if his wiring job. I'm guess I'm more of a function over form type. I get concerned about wire gauges, tie-downs, water, corrosion , and rubbing. The appearance of things which is not visible externally is my last concern.

The Japanese seem to be the kings of motorcycle layout and getting everything in the perfect and most accessible places. It has always seemed to me that they must spend an inordinate amount of time and resources on design, while the Germans apparently seem to focus on the mechanical aspects and tweaking stuff to make it last forever. The layout inside the new K1300GT with the skins off however looks better then anything I have seen on a BMW motorcycle before (in my limited experiance). The K1300GT seems to Japanese quality layout and design with a high-tech German engine, electrical, and suspension system. Very nice.

I took my wheel balancer home Tuesday about 11:30 PM and found the hub adapter which Terry W. had loaned to me (I got to return it soon). I tried to put my axle into the adapter, but the axle was too big!! So the next morning I ordered my own hub with the axle ($50 total including shipping) from Marc Parnes website. Jim had ordered the cones a day or two ago, but I sticking with what I know. My balancer is very accurate, I am familiar with it, and the concept of trying to get the cones in just right and then balancing on saw horses just seems a bit off to me. I put the wheel on unbalanced for now. If I have time today (Friday) I may go try to use those cones.

Wednesday I was too tired to do anything. I fell a sleep in my comfy chair with the TV on. Leta woke me up after a few hours to tell me the shower faucet was leaking water and it was dripping in the basement. We did a quickie fix to get the water to drip into the tub. Leta had to call a plumber Thursday morning.

Thursday I started taking panels off the GS Adv. Ended at the tank with even the nose pulled off. I spent 4 hours on it. I got my $5 switch from BMW which I paid $102 for into the switch housing and got the cable for it routed. Next I cut the expensive, but unneeded can-bus connector end of the switch off. I tested it and then spiced it in near the ballast for the HID high beams. I found a place to mount the relay and sodded a heavier gauge wire to the other 22 ga. wire from the switch. That wire will go the the relay. I used some new insulation black liquid stuff which Adv Auto recommended to make connections water-tight. After that I wrapped the connection in water tight tape which bonds to itself just to be sure.

Thursday night I found out one of Steve M's friends and co-workers at Tyson was one of the two people killed on I-29 earlier this week in a crash which ended up shutting down I-29 for hours (http://tinyurl.com/omdy2q). Strangely I took a picture of Steve and his friend at Bronson last Thursday. It may be the last photo taken of him. Steve asked for a copy of it, so I got some printed at Walgreens.

Friday afternoon at home we had a power outage. Our old PC serving as an IP Cop/Router died and never came back. Replacing the power supply did not resurrect it, it must be the board or peripherals. I put the wireless router which was connected to it in to replace it temporarily. Leta was happy.

After that I got working on "Pig" again. I had to wire up the power leads from the lights to the battery and then hook them up to the relay. I had hoped to be packing and practicing maps and routing Friday. Instead I was up until 4 PM getting "Pigs" wiring in. The pieces which I purchased with the light bar to relocate the flood lights did not fit with the Checkers HID lights on the light bar. I had to the zip tie down the connectors for now. I'm hoping I can get Paul to fabricate me something to get these on later.

I got up at 7:30 Saturday morning and went to breakfast. Randy and Chuck were there. We talked about lights and bikes. Afterward I showed my new light setup to them. Randy is thinking about a pair now.

After breakfast, I went home and packed. I was on the road to the Bonzai at about noon on Saturday. I got to the campground at Caladona, MN about 5:30. More about that in my next post.

Penny's Diner in Missouri Valley

At breakfast Saturday morning Al, Chuck, Randy and I decided to ride down to Missouri Valley the back way though the Loess Hills, to try out the Penny's Dinner for a shake. We met up at the HyVee on Gordon Drive in Sioux City about 10:30.

I lead the way down to Pisgah where we took a short break at the Lounge/Deli. From Pisgah, Chuck lead us a different way to Missouri Valley via Modamin and Modale with a really cool local loop with lots of hills and curves around Missouri Valley (I think its Epperson Hollow Road and Longview Road in Google Maps). Our route in google maps. All of the roads ridden down were paved.

We passed a cool little hole-in-the wall place in Modale which looked really busy, I want to try it sometime too. It was called Sour Mash Inc.

The food at Peggy's was good. The malt was made in a old-style metal malt machines just like the ones we used at the Dairy Dandy in Sheldon, where I worked in Jr. and Sr. High (a long time ago). The difference was that Peggy's used real hard ice cream. I also had a Buffalo BBQ sandwich which as quite tasty.

After lunch Chuck, Randy and I road some of the back gravel and dirt roads back around Pisgah. My bike "Pig" road like a champ in this. Chuck switched off for hard surface near Moorehead, and Randy and I wormed our way around to the Larpenteur Road and then followed the west side of the Loess Bluffs up to Turin. From Turin we took a short gravel road along the east side of the bluffs up to near Castana. I also got to show Randy D-54 north of Smithland.

Branson Blitz #4 - Branson Towers parking lot

Photo of Jim and Randy at Branson Towers parking lot after an all-day ride Friday to and from the Rainbow Trout Ranch in Rockbridge, MO. I had hurt my left arm earlier in the week taking care of brush at home and it was hurting a bit, so I left Jim and Randy shortly after lunch and went back to Rally HQ with the rest of the group where I waited for them. I got signed in to the Blitz with Voni Glaves, and spent about three hours in the parking lot talking to interesting riders and had a couple of beers. These people have great stories. It was about 86 degrees and the weather was great. Jim and Randy rolled back in around 7 PM. Randy later told me it was his best day of riding.

Branson Blitz #2 - Just past Dadeville, Mo

We took a brief break Thursday just south of Taborville, MO at a little rest area at the intersection of Highway H and Highway 82.

Branson Blitz #3 - Rowdy Beaver in Eureka Springs

When we got to my folk's house in Table Rock, my Mom was out at a all-day club meeting/convention. The local eatery, the Office, had burned down and the only other decent eatery in Eagle Rock had closed. My Dad suggested we go to the Rowdy Beaver, a Motorcycle Restaurant in Eureka Springs. I had a 1/2 lb burger and two nice, ice cold glasses of beer. Both tasted great. Jim took off the the Hotel in Branson, MO shortly after 7 PM. I looked at the restaurant t-shirts briefly, but wasn't crazy about them. I thought about getting a "Rowdy Beaver" thong for Leta, but decided that was a really, really bad idea.

Branson Blitz #1 - Engles BMW Triumph in KC

I took Thursday and Friday off to go to the Branson Blitz and visit my folks on Eagle Rock, MO. Randy and I did this last year and we both had a blast. Its really just a reason to do a couple days of serious riding down in curvy Arkansas and Northern Missouri before it gets hot and busy there.

Everything I was doing before our departure Wednesday was running late. Thankfully, Tuesday night Stan and Chuck came over to our place and helped me get my GS1200ADV ready by changing the final drive fluid while I changed out the battery and put some rubber washers on the windshield. I really appreciated the help.

We rode down to KC and stayed at Jim's son Trent's house Wednesday evening after work. Thursday morning we stopped at Engle BMW Triumph in KC. They had a new red K1300GT which I almost thought Jim was going to buy. I bought some small spade fuses for my front axillary jack so I could run my GPS. We spent the rest of the day following Jim down some back roads down to Eagle Rock, including a really curvy section of old Highway 66. We got to Eagle Rock a few minutes before 6 PM.

Bak BMW Victory KTM Open House

The Bak BMW Open House was Saturday, March 28th. The weather was cool, but they still did the demo rides. I didn't signup for a ride this year, but everyone said they were a lot of fun. Beemer was there greeting everyone as she does so well. Jim J. lead the rides. The pulled pork sandwhiches were also great.

Beemer, the Bak Shop Cat, and Al
seemed to like the new F650GS

Saturday Morning Breakfast

The Big Sioux Riders has been meeting Saturday mornings at 8 AM (or so) for breakfast for several years now. We recently tried Kim's Homestyle Cafe at 6th and Pearl St. across from the Federal Building in Sioux City. The food's good, the cost is very good, and portions are too good. Paul B and Kim grew up next door to each other as kids. Kim's entire family seems to work at the Resturant. They treat our group really well and hearing stories about Paul's childhood is simply a bonus. Saturday, March 21st we had our best turn out in some time. Below is a photo of some of bikes that were there when L and I got there. I had to go to Ames later that day, but six of the folks (Jim J, Stan S, Chuck S, Al A, Loyd A and Randy R) went for a ride after wards down in the Loess Hills and Al told me later it was one of those riding days you just dream about - perfect. They road about 280 miles. Too bad I missed it, hope we have another soon.

HID lights and a Ride to Niobrara

I spent Saturday working with Chuck and Al to get HID lights in my GSA (“Pig” – You have to say it like Farmer Hogget in “Babe”). The lights are in now (cool) and but it looks like I’m going to need a new windscreen because the old one is shot. I remember when Randy, Pig’s prior owner, flipped her on muddy road during a training class. Kind of wonder if this is the same windshield or did Randy replace it before he went to Alaska and then broke that one too? Inquiring minds want to know, but its not important. Hopefully I can find a cheap, newer looking one on eBay.

I also found the auxiliary plug on the dash was not wired very well and fused the wrong way (ground was fused) so we replaced that with a watertight inline fuse while we were in there. We finished up about 4 PM on Saturday and we were all beat. Hopefully we’ll have time to do Al’s LT in the next week or two. I also have a set to place in Strom.

Spring must be here because Sunday (March 15th) was an even more glorious day then Saturday. After calling Shannon to tell him some of great jokes I heard on Prairie Home Companion that morning, I rolled out the K bike (“Dagmar”), checked her over, filled her tires. and started getting my things together. I wasn’t able to find a couple of things, but by 2 PM I figured I better get rolling and forget about the missing stuff for now. I was off to get a cheese or elk burger in Niobrara at the Two Rivers Saloon.

It was nice to be out on the road again, but able 20 miles into the ride near Ponca, NE I realized the error of my plan - riding Dagmar when I intend to sell her was not very forward thinking! The bike still handles great on the long hauls, and one cannot get that her solid planted feeling on the GSA or Strom. I’m really going to miss this gal and am having second thoughts about selling her again. I refilled in Crofton, NE… all the $4/gallon gas from early last fall was gone and I put in some fresh $1.69/gallon gas… for a total of $8.75, wow.

I got to the Two Rivers Saloon in Niobrara about 4 PM and went inside. Strangely Pat, the old owner, was back running the bar. When I asked what happened to Eddie, Pat grumbled something. He said they had a lot of dirty dishes in back and if I really wanted something to eat he was going to have to wash them up and asked if I really wanted a cheese burger. I said the main reason I was there was just to get out for a ride and that a draw of Fat Tire beer would do the trick. Pat kept peering at me from behind the bar, and I have the distinct feeling that he didn’t really want to be there. Wonder what happened to Eddie, the guy Pat sold the bar to last fall? There were about a dozen locals drinking heavly at the bar and the Fat Tire beer was excellent. I rode out of Niobrara about 4:30 and arrived in Sioux City shortly after 6 PM. I rinsed the salt off Dagmar and put her back away.