Father's Day in Yellowstone

[Greg Anderson]

We had planned to take this trip for about two years. This was to be my daughter’s first long trip on a motorcycle. We originally wanted to get to the Black Hills and see the landmarks, but I’ve always wanted to tour Yellowstone on a bike, and it is only a day’s ride from the Hills. Hmmm... To add to the possibilities, TeamStrange’s Minnesota 1000 was that weekend. Wheels were turning, and I asked Laurel if riding a thousand miles and then going to the Black Hills sounded fun. She would probably be the youngest two-up rider to complete the event. Cool! She said yes, but I thought about it for another day. To much too soon and I really wanted to relax, camp and see some sights. We’ll save the endurance ride for next year

 

Thursday - Mitchell, SD

 

We had planned to leave right after I got off work on Thursday. I hoped to leave early, around 2:30. Wrong. Someone just had to schedule a meeting for 3:30, and then I got a call from a customer who wanted to stop by around 4:00. Don’t these people understand...We’re talking motorcycling here! I finally blew out the door at 5:00 and fought rush hour traffic to get home. “Hey Laurel, You wanna go for a bike ride?”, I ask as I pulled into the garage. We had packed the bike the night before, so all I needed to do was change clothes and hop on. We headed west and dodged small thundershowers until dark. I had a hotel room reserved in Mitchell, and we pulled in at 1:00 am.

 

Friday - Black Hills

 

I set the alarm for 6:00 and got up and showered. My daughter refused to budge, but finally got off the couch and got ready. We walked to the Burger King for some breakfast, and then loaded the bike. I had bought three Helen2Wheels bags with the straps, and the system worked like a charm. We took a brief detour to check out the Corn Palace, and then headed west in I90. We stopped at the Chamberlain rest stop and checked out the new Lewis and Clark displays. We droned along, stopping for gas and water and made it to Rapid City in time for a late lunch.

Mount Rushmore was our first landmark. I’ve been there three times in the last five years, but is still awe inspiring. Laurel was very impressed, and we hiked along the boardwalk to the base of the sculpture.

We stopped at the Crazy Horse Memorial and then looped down to the south end of the Needles Highway. Very fun, even two-up on a fully loaded RT. We continued north to our campsite in Spearfish and set up for the night. We ate freeze dried spaghetti (Laurel’s request), had a campfire and turned in for the night.

 

Saturday - Wyoming

 

I brought along my Screaming Meanie as an alarm and set it to go off with the sunrise. I got up and make coffee, oatmeal and pancakes. Laurel grudgingly got up and ate breakfast. We loaded up and headed for Devils Tower. I love Wyoming: posted speed limit of 75 mph on the freeway and 65 mph on the secondary roads. We entered the parking lot at the base of the Tower and I see a familiar looking BMW. It’s Steffan Fay of the MN BMW club. He’s on the Minnesota 1000 ride, and Devils Tower is a bonus location. He’s ready to roll, so we said bye and went to hike the trail around the tower.

We got back on I90 finally saw the Bighorn Mountains as we neared Buffalo. I had hoped to eat lunch at Bubba’s Bar-B-Que in Sheridan, but it was boarded up. We hit the Subway instead, then went to the rest stop for free maps and a nap.

Finally some real roads! We turned onto ALT 14 and went up, up, up into the Bighorns. There were still piles of snow along the ditches and tucked along the northern folds of the mountains. Over we went and then back down into the heat of the valley on the west side. We made it to Cody and set up camp at the State Park on the banks of the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. We were tired and were sleeping soon after sunset.

 

Sunday - Yellowstone

 

Father's Day in Yellowstone

 

A cool wind was blowing from the west as I got up and made breakfast for myself. I kicked Laurel out of her sleeping bag and served her hot chocolate and pancakes. Today was Father's Day. I called my Dad and wished him a happy one. Packed up, we rode through the canyon of the Shoshone River towards Yellowstone. In the park, we stopped a few times for pictures and grabbed a quick snack near the Fishing Bridge. We rode north to the Falls of the Yellowstone and hit some road construction on the way to Old Faithful. The past fires in the park were very evident. Mile after mile was burned, but new growth was on the way to filling in the sky again. While we waited for Old Faithful to do it’s thing, we grabbed lunch. The geyser went off on schedule and we rode south towards the Tetons. We rode into Jackson and turned west on WY 22 towards Idaho. We stopped in Driggs for a much needed hotel break. Real showers. TV. Pizza in the hotel room. Back to civilization for a night.

 

Monday - Montana

 

A good night sleep in a real bed worked wonders for me, but my daughter wanted to sleep in. A morning person she’s not. We were behind schedule and needed to cover some miles today. We grabbed a quick continental breakfast and rode north on the sweeping roads along the farmland of western Idaho. We stopped in the town of West Yellowstone and looked at the map. I thought about crossing back into Yellowstone and over the Beartooth Pass, but didn’t want to ride through the road construction again and endure the 45 mph speed limit in the park. North towards Bozeman it was. We detoured to check out Big Sky ski area and wound our way along the Gallatin River. We stopped at Arby’s for lunch in Bozeman and turned east on I90 for the first time on our trip. It was hot and thunderstorms could be seen building to the north. We made great time and stopped in Miles City for gas. One of those distant thunderstorms was suddenly upon us and we blasted back on the slab before we were in the middle of it. It was twilight when we pulled into Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. We set up the tent in the dark and hit the sack.

 

Tuesday - North Dakota and Home

 

I finally found something that would get Laurel out of bed immediately: a Buffalo in the campground. George is his name and he makes his home in the valley cut by the Little Missouri River. I had stayed at this park with my son a few years ago, and George was there then too. Teddy Roosevelt ranched and hunted in the area. The park is made up of painted canyons and cottonwood trees and is worth checking out.

We finished the last of the pancake mix and packed the bike for the last time. Crossing North Dakota seemed like it took forever due to more road construction. We finally made it to Minnesota and stopped at a rest area. I needed to lay down for a nap. Laurel would have none of that because she wanted to get home. We rode into the rain and finally made it home around 8:15. We had covered 2600 miles in five-and one-half days.

 

[algover]

Good story, Greg. How old is your daughter? You don't say much about her.

[Greg Anderson]

Peter:

Let's just say I need a license plate frame which reads "Worlds Toughest 13-Year-Old". The only hard part for her, as you can tell, was getting out of the sack each morning. Other than that, not one complaint. We may have another Karol Patzer or Vonnie Glaves on our hands here!

[jeddy]

Greg,

 

Sounds like it was a great trip. Me thinks tis better that your daughter gets a good nights rest than having her fall asleep on the back of the bike.

 

My fifteen year old daughter has already decided she would rather be behind the handlebars than behind me.

 

John