Finally home from the UnRally and summer ride.

[Endobob]

Had a fantastic summer! Left on 2 July and had 3 weeks of fantastic weather riding 5,500 miles on mostly 2 lane roads with stops in Colorado, Yosemite, the UnRally, MOA rally in Oregon, and ending up in Seattle, WA. Flew home and worked for most of August and then flew back to Seattle on Aug 25th. Attended my nephews wedding in Spokane and then road another 4,200 miles again on mostly 2 lane roads back to DC via Yellowstone, Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Badlands, and up over Lake Michigan.

 

Bike is handling like a race horse with new Ohlins shocks that I had installed at the MOA.

 

Yellowstone is simply magical! Saw up close buffalo, elk, and mule deer. I had planned to camp in the park but was told that they expected snow that night. Fortunate to get one of the last 2 rooms in the park. My room a nice but modest 1 bed room for $150 the other was a suite for $575. The snow did come that night and for some reason it was the only night I did not put the cover on the bike. Had to chip off ice and brush off the snow before leaving the next morning.

 

Had some excitement meeting animals on the road. Hit a wild turkey crossing the road that twisted my right mirror and rotated the front brake lever back and down about 2 inches. I had cows on a couple of occasions wandering in the roads. However the stranger thing was about 50 miles after heading SE from Glacier National Park, I came upon a group of about 9 horses that were along the 2 lane road I was on that decided to run along in front of me blocking both lanes for 2 - 3 minutes until they finally went off the road up a hill.

 

I rode for over 5 hours in light rain after leaving Yellowstone. Had a nice Montana policeman pull me over. He said I was going 82 in a 75 zone but the real reason was to warn me that I had no headlight! This of course I knew (bulb had gone out the day before), however, I did not know that in Montana you apparently need to run with headlights on and he requested I keep my high beam on as I passed through.

 

After a short stop at Devils Tower, I stopped in Sturgis, SD at a BMW dealership to have the low beam replaced. This 3 hour stop had an additional benefit. It put me back on the road in the late afternoon on some fantastic roads that had very little traffic on them at that time of day. Southwestern South Dakota (Needles highway, and others) is truly a motorcyclist dream! This would be a great area for an UnRAlly!

 

Looking forward to the Fall BRR and next year's UnRally!

 

 

[Calvin (no socks)]

Glad your clutch made it too!

 

My ride is still in Utah... maybe I'll go get it in a couple of weeks...

[Paul Mihalka]

Glad you had a great second half of your trip. I guess you fell in love with your RS again!

Note: I think most if not all states have a headlight-on law.

[Dennis Andress]

Sounds like a nice ride!

[RevRay]

Nice very nice

[Highway41]

Great ride Doc. Where's the pictures?

[tallman]

Glad you had a positive end after the issue at the UN.

Sounds like a new bike to enjoy for a long time w/the shocks and clutch.

 

Thanks again for being so nice at dinner when I went off w/Richard to resuce Shaman.

Beth had a great time.