Day 5 - Wyoming
Although it was 66 degrees at 7am when I hit the road this morning, the forcast was for hot weather later, so I opted for one of my favorite sleeveless shirts so I could work on my biker tan later.
And yes, I did ride through Spearfish Canyon one more time. It was 50 degrees in there, downright chilly--had my hat and jacket on for sure. Was a very different ride today, in that I happened upon about 400 runners having some kind of race on the same road, the kind where they wear numbers and people hand them drinks every so often. They sometimes took up more than one lane of the two lane road causing a few traffic jams. I did good and only hit about 3 of them, but they all got back up. Just kidding! It was 65 degrees by the time I got to the end on the canyon.
Next, I headed west on I90, riding 80mph again and making good time.
Then my old nemesis, crosswinds, showed-up. I was advised by Mike Oberzan to relax and just "surf" the winds, and it worked! Not nearly as bad, no white knuckles today. I've also learned to not stack stuff so tall on the bike as to turn yourself into a sail (good luck Jim Marsh). It is also just a bit annoying when they blow at just the right angle, they seem to blow right up your nose!
If you look closely at the above picture, you can see the mountains in the distance, which gives a rider something to watch and think about as they increase in size and you imagine yourself riding through them. I observed that the names of the towns in Wyoming all sound "western", like Sundance, Cheyenne, Buffalo, and Greybull.
It had warmed-up enough by 10 to shed the jacket and hat and begin working on that tan.
A bug happened to get inside my glasses, crawling around on the lens and annoying me, but you can't do much about it going 80mph except hope he doesn't find your eyeball!
Got off the Interstate at noon and headed up to the Big Horn Mountains. This a view back from part way up, looking at the winding road I had ridden while approaching.
I continued riding upwards. The winds must have increase by 25-30mph, and temp dropped 25 degrees. I pulled-over at 8000 feet and put on the jacket and hat again. I will never, ever travel without my leathers, just saying. When it gets cold, they work so well and feel so good!
This one of the green meadows near the top. There was a big sweeping curve coming up to where I took this picture, and it was so cool to watch other motorcycles come up the big curve.
I saw my first moose today, just hanging out eating some grass. Saw people riding horses and four-wheelers, too.
The mountains on the downward side were more arid and dry.
I shed my jacket at the bottom and resumed tanning.
Stopped at the legendary Dirty Annie's, could anyone resist this roadside attraction! I spent some money on a souvenir there, you can wonder if it was you?
Ran into a brief shower on my way to Greybull, didn't stop, just enjoyed the cooling drops of water!
Greybull is a town of about 1000, so I don't expect much but a good night's sleep here.
I rode 333 miles today, and have more than that ahead of me tomorrow when I ride into Yellowstone.
No comments:
Post a Comment