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Walk about 2021...


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Well here are the last pictures of Yellowstone. I spent most of today riding most every open road in Yellowstone.  The only road that I missed was to Lincoln Tower.  I had already been on bike for 6.5 hours and didn't feel like hitting the last 20 miles there and back.  Turns out the Grand Loop road from the North is closed for some reason.  Yellowstone is beautiful but the number of other cars is just too much.  You go from those stopping at each individual animal sighting to those doing 65 and then slamming on brakes.  Glad to be moving on.  I will be in Glacier Park next week.  Gonna stick around there for a couple weeks and then start the trek back toward Bama.  Pictures below (sorry to ruin some of them with my ugly mug):

  • me at Continental Divide
  • pictures just south of Mammoth Hot Springs
  • one of my fishing holes
  • antelope I saw outside of YS

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Edited by LKEEL75
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2 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Any chance you'll be making it up to Glacier NP?

Haha I am actually just south of GNP now.  Going to make the ride through Going to the Sun later today.  Here a pic outside my camper that I get to look at all day.

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45 minutes ago, LKEEL75 said:

Haha I am actually just south of GNP now.  Going to make the ride through Going to the Sun later today.  Here a pic outside my camper that I get to look at all day.

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Most beautiful place I've been in the US. Spent a summer living on Going to the Sun, working at Rising Sun Lodge.

If you've never been, you will have a life changing ride today. No big deal. Just another Tuesday.

And that is some view. Looks like the Flathead. 

If you terminate on the St. Mary side, consider getting some huckleberry pie at Two Sisters. And or steak and a beer at the Babb Bar. (Has some other fancy name, Cattle something, too.)

What I would give to be you today.

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I have not posted a real update in a few so I thought I would update everyone.

I decided to go to Boozeman last Friday, but on my way That changed and I ended up in Billings.  For those that don't know, Boozeman was about 70 miles away and Billings was 170.  What a nice ride across part of the state!  I stopped in at this place called Old Chicago.  Apparently it is a chain restaurant but I had never been and they had all kinds of beers on tap.  Met a really cool bartend, Jake.  If you are ever in town then I suggest having a beer (or many many samples) from him.  They had a casino attached to the bar that let me go in and waste my money but drink for free.  I won some; lost some; but ended up cheaper than some of my nights out with friends so it was a win.  They were shutting down and I had already decided not to drive back so I went to this bar Jake suggest called Just One More.  When I heard that name I knew it was for me.  Great time.  Very friendly.

Made it back to camp Saturday after the great blanking of AL State and left out on Sunday.  Moved on to Kalispel, MT which is just outside of Glacier National Park.  If you have never been then you must put close to top of your bucket list.  I have included a few picture, but they really can't do it justice.

Then last night after the ride I found this cool bar named Los Caporales.  I am sure can guess by the name but they had good Mexican food and cold beer.  My new friend Sadie told me they have good margaritas as well.  Was funny because we happen to walk in at same time and went to the bar so the staff thought we were together.  I asked to have a seat and she did and we had a good time chatting.  She told me about another bar that I will be going to tomorrow so more about that bar afterwards.

  • Yes that is another dirt road I found myself on to get to the park but what a view.  Turns out it also skipped the gate so I didn't have to pay to get in.
  • Another view from the dirt road. 
  • Finally on the main road of the park and riding by this beautiful lake.

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Edited by LKEEL75
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* all that separates you and edge of cliff is small rock wall

* That edge is a road that was barely wide enough for 2 cars.  My friend Toph said it best...  You just feel so small and insignificant. 

* This was a bike next to the wall by where I was taking pictures.

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Edited by LKEEL75
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* Weeping wall. This is just small section. The wall was probably 50' long. Very cool.

* Another road I found myself on where there was actually no edge to road.  I should have known it was going to be interesting when I crossed the cattle gate then sign that said Rough Road and then another sign that said Motorcycle Advisory: Alternative pavement suggest alt route.  Ended up just dodging cows at 45mph. Haha

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well it has been a minute since I posted anything.  First and foremost, yes the walk-about 2021 is still ongoing.  The last several days in Montana were very cold and not great weather.  But I did decide last week that I would go for a ride on Fri & Sat because the weather was going to be so nice.  I left out Fri and ended up in Missoula, MT.  My friend Toph suggested I meet up with this guy in Missoula.  I had a great time meeting Joel & his friends.  Instead of driving back to my camper I decided to stay in Missoula and go to Spokan on Sat.  What a great ride over to Washington and then back to the camper.  

I got up on Sunday to move on to Utah.  As of that morning, before I hit the road, I tallied up my miles.  I have hauled my camper a total of almost 2600 miles.  I had driven my truck another 750 miles on top of that.  However I had driven my bike a total of 3400 miles since I have been on this trip.  hahaha  Truly shows what a great time this has been.

I am in Ogden UT now.  Will take a ride around Bear Lake on Fri and then some mountain rides or maybe ride over to the Golden Spike on Sat.  Attached pics.

  • Sorry I could not resist, but one of the great folks I met on Fri looks like Isaac.  For those who are old enough you won't need any more explanation.  Below is actual before and current pic (along with my new friend Joel)
  • Next is a traffic jam I ran into on my way to UT.  A family is driving their cows down the road.  Didn't stop to ask why, but guessing moving to winter pasture.  Pretty big herd.  Likely 100 cows\bulls + calves
  • My current view outside my camper.  This is not the most pleasant campground as there is a permanent on each side of me and they have dogs.  I don't normally mind that but they have fences for their dogs to run around outside the door.  So there are flies EVERYWHERE.  Hopefully this upcoming cold spell will kill most of them.

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Now I've got the "Love Boat" theme in my head...thanks for nothing. 😅

I kid, I kid...

Haven't made it to Montana yet. Wonder if they'd consider bringing back the "reasonable and prudent" daytime speed limit they had for a while in the 1990s.

Good to hear from you.

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So happy that folks have enjoyed this journey.  It has been a great trip.

Friday I went to Bear Lake, UT.  I stopped at the HD dealership on my way.  They asked told me that that drive was the prettiest 40 mile stretch in Utah.  I have to agree.  It was a nice winding road through a canyon.  On both sides of the roads were these maple trees that were turning into fall colors of bright yellow and red but scattered through them were the bright green Western Pines.  I wish I could have pulled over and taken a picture but I don't think even that would have done it justice.  Just beautiful.  I got to Bear Lake (no I didn't see any bears) and drove around the lake.  It was so blue.  I have never seen a lake so clear.  I didn't really want to go back to the camper when I got around the lake so I decided to go to Flaming Gorge HD dealership in WY.  Was a great ride there and back.  Got a little cold on the way back but it was nice.

Left out Saturday morning and headed toward Salt Lake City & Heber UT.  Was a nice ride.  On my way back I decide to go on a road that was named Alpine Loop Rd.  Looked really curvy and possibly fun.  I am so glad I did.  It was the most challenging road I have driven so far.  There were several reasons for the challenge.  First was that I coming from the East to the West at 4:30pm.  So the sun was directly in my eyes when I wasn't behind trees.  However, those trees laid these very dark and large shadows on the road.  The shadows were so dark that you couldn't see the road.  The road had probably 35 or more 180 switch backs.  So you would be driving and the road would basically disappear and you had no idea where it went.  Now for the next challenge was that the road was not wide enough for 2 cars to pass.  When 2 cars would go beside each other one of the cars had to have 1 set of wheels off the road.  This road also had no guardrail or anything.  This caused the fact that there was no edge off the road much wider than a tire and then you would just be sliding down the hill.  In my AL thinking, I figured that a ride on a Saturday afternoon would mean very limited traffic.  MAN was I wrong!  In the 18 miles of this road I pass at least 2000 cars.  That is not a typo.  It was absolutely insane.  In one spot there was a group of people having a wedding.  So they had 7-8 cars pulled just off the edge of the road.  So there was not wide enough to have 2 cars pass with those cars off the edge.  I was complaining because the traffic was backed up around 15 cars.  When I got around the bend and saw the oncoming traffic, I was no longer upset.  There were cars backed up 1.5 miles.  Bumper to bumper.  Turns out a lot of people go up there to hike.  And nobody in UT gives a crap about college football.  I totally recommend the ride if you are on a bike, but if you go in a car then don't take your truck!

 I did get back in time to make it to a bar to watch that great AU game.  WDE!!!  I am now in Vegas.  As I said in another thread, I will be attending the Raiders game on Oct 10.  But a recent development has come up and I will also be attending the AU-Arky game on 16th.  So going to be a great football week for me!!!!  Some nice pictures below:

  • This is the overlook for Bear Lake.  This picture shows just how bright yellow & green the trees are.  The canyon was just filled with these.  Unbelievable.
  • The lake was just beautiful blue.
  • Last pic is just some beautiful mountains at a red light in Salt lake City

Next pictures will be of area around Vegas & Hoover Dam.  After that will be from Da RaaaaiiiiiiideRs & then Arky Stadium as the Tigers make some BBQ 

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10 hours ago, LKEEL75 said:

So happy that folks have enjoyed this journey.  It has been a great trip.

Friday I went to Bear Lake, UT.  I stopped at the HD dealership on my way.  They asked told me that that drive was the prettiest 40 mile stretch in Utah.  I have to agree.  It was a nice winding road through a canyon.  On both sides of the roads were these maple trees that were turning into fall colors of bright yellow and red but scattered through them were the bright green Western Pines.  I wish I could have pulled over and taken a picture but I don't think even that would have done it justice.  Just beautiful.  I got to Bear Lake (no I didn't see any bears) and drove around the lake.  It was so blue.  I have never seen a lake so clear.  I didn't really want to go back to the camper when I got around the lake so I decided to go to Flaming Gorge HD dealership in WY.  Was a great ride there and back.  Got a little cold on the way back but it was nice.

Left out Saturday morning and headed toward Salt Lake City & Heber UT.  Was a nice ride.  On my way back I decide to go on a road that was named Alpine Loop Rd.  Looked really curvy and possibly fun.  I am so glad I did.  It was the most challenging road I have driven so far.  There were several reasons for the challenge.  First was that I coming from the East to the West at 4:30pm.  So the sun was directly in my eyes when I wasn't behind trees.  However, those trees laid these very dark and large shadows on the road.  The shadows were so dark that you couldn't see the road.  The road had probably 35 or more 180 switch backs.  So you would be driving and the road would basically disappear and you had no idea where it went.  Now for the next challenge was that the road was not wide enough for 2 cars to pass.  When 2 cars would go beside each other one of the cars had to have 1 set of wheels off the road.  This road also had no guardrail or anything.  This caused the fact that there was no edge off the road much wider than a tire and then you would just be sliding down the hill.  In my AL thinking, I figured that a ride on a Saturday afternoon would mean very limited traffic.  MAN was I wrong!  In the 18 miles of this road I pass at least 2000 cars.  That is not a typo.  It was absolutely insane.  In one spot there was a group of people having a wedding.  So they had 7-8 cars pulled just off the edge of the road.  So there was not wide enough to have 2 cars pass with those cars off the edge.  I was complaining because the traffic was backed up around 15 cars.  When I got around the bend and saw the oncoming traffic, I was no longer upset.  There were cars backed up 1.5 miles.  Bumper to bumper.  Turns out a lot of people go up there to hike.  And nobody in UT gives a crap about college football.  I totally recommend the ride if you are on a bike, but if you go in a car then don't take your truck!

 I did get back in time to make it to a bar to watch that great AU game.  WDE!!!  I am now in Vegas.  As I said in another thread, I will be attending the Raiders game on Oct 10.  But a recent development has come up and I will also be attending the AU-Arky game on 16th.  So going to be a great football week for me!!!!  Some nice pictures below:

  • This is the overlook for Bear Lake.  This picture shows just how bright yellow & green the trees are.  The canyon was just filled with these.  Unbelievable.
  • The lake was just beautiful blue.
  • Last pic is just some beautiful mountains at a red light in Salt lake City

Next pictures will be of area around Vegas & Hoover Dam.  After that will be from Da RaaaaiiiiiiideRs & then Arky Stadium as the Tigers make some BBQ 

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Oh man, you're out there for peak aspen time. Those things get so yellow this time of year it looks like they're on fire. 

Driving west at sunset on a curvy mountain road on a motor cycle... you call that a fun challenge... I call that scary as hell, lol. 

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On 10/4/2021 at 9:15 AM, McLoofus said:

Oh man, you're out there for peak aspen time. Those things get so yellow this time of year it looks like they're on fire. 

Driving west at sunset on a curvy mountain road on a motor cycle... you call that a fun challenge... I call that scary as hell, lol. 

Thank you for telling me what kind of trees they were.  I thought they were some kind of maple.

LOL it was very fun.  Heart was beating so fast.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So here to do a few wrap ups.  Going to make a few posts out of all of this.  So last week I spent a lot of time in the camper and didn't get out much.  A few bars & casinos.  Did get to watch the UGa game at a bar but thankfully no sound to deal with that beating.  I was happy we played ok but then it kind of went to crap.  Of course I went to the Raiders game on Sunday.  You can see some pictures from that in the other thread.  I had great seats and I was so excited to be there.  Turns out we lost and it was Gruden's last game, but it was still a good time.

Last Monday I intended to go for a ride after work but there was a massive dust storm.  So no motorcycle riding.  However, my truck has been flashing an error code on and off again since I was outside Glacier Park.  It kept turning off so I haven't really worried about it much.  I did decide to run by the local Dodge dealer (they were 3 blocks away from camper) and see what they said.  Long story short, turns out that the hydraulic motor had a short in it.  Yeah, I have been driving around with that camper for 5 weeks with failing brakes.  The good news was that once I got the truck worked on, I had hit the full trifecta with having to get repairs on the bike, camper & truck.  Technically I guess myself as well since I had to get prescription filled while gone.

Tuesday I did get to go for a ride.  I left out early to go to Hoover Dam.  What an amazing marvel of man.  Also amazing how low the water is.  The white line in the picture is from the last drought.  So as you can see it is probably 25-30' above the current water line.  Also VERY amazed by the bridge.  I have not been there since the bridge was put up.  I left from the dam and decided to go down to Kingsman, AZ.  From there, I decided to ride over to the corner of CA.  I stopped in and grabbed a beer and then went on up to Red Rock canyon.  What an amazing site the compression of these shades of rocks.20211012_175247.thumb.jpg.e2dab49169a9516e77202cca9b71805c.jpg20211012_174951.thumb.jpg.886c39046a7a380d0ce9bc5a909d3e2e.jpg20211012_112326.thumb.jpg.47eb5a3f17a2289dc86b913fb6306706.jpg20211012_112116.thumb.jpg.09ebd332eb910ec4d183bc53fc4905de.jpg20211012_111740.thumb.jpg.d923909eba26a5b12b927d749751c967.jpg20211008_153157_HDR.thumb.jpg.683eda3e364072c333607267df0953bf.jpg20211012_175247.thumb.jpg.283232183b99bc9db0bfa191a3e40d64.jpg20211012_174951.thumb.jpg.886c39046a7a380d0ce9bc5a909d3e2e.jpg

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On Wednesday, I left early again and went around the North area of Lake Meade and then through the Valley of Fire.  The VF was neat because you went up this mountain and overlooked all the Red Rock to see what looked like flames.  My phone had died so I couldn't take a picture from there.  I did post some pictures of the rocks.

After the Valley of Fire, I went up Mt Charleston.  It was a nice ride but was crazy to see snow on the ground so early.

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And lastly I got the pleasure of attending the AU/Arky game.  I went with 13 others.  There were 3 of us rooting for AU and rest were Arky.  It was a great experience and I have decided to continue to pick a road venue each year and experience that stadium.  The fans were great.  They of course were upset at the loss but nobody was ugly or anything like that.  The seats were at 8 rows from the top but really not bad seats.  I could clearly see the field and I could clearly hear my self jumping for joy when Bo through the long TD pass.  We of course had to get pictures with the scoreboard after the game

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I made it home on Oct 18th.  To wrap it all up....  I want to thank EVERYONE for the time and attention to this thread.  It was definitely not my norm to talk so much about myself.  I had a great time.  I was gone just over 3 months.  I met so many new people.  I had so many new experiences.  I spent a lot of time in the local bars, restaurants and on the bike.  In honor of the great StatTiger I decided to break some things down.

  • I drove my truck a total of 6,544 miles.
  • I hauled my camper a total of 5,497 miles.
  • I rode my bike a total of 4,807 miles.  
  • That is just over 11,000 miles on the road.
  • I covered every state West of AL except: Oregon, Minnesota, Louisiana.
    • I did not make it to Illinois or Wisconsin either but they are more North than West :) 
  • I took over 450 pictures
  • I bought 45 shirts/sweatshirts, 14 shot glasses, and 18 patches from roughly 30 Harley Dealerships that I stopped in at.
  • I stopped roughly 54 times for gas in the truck and probably close to that on the bike.

I am very excited to be home.  I have decided that I am going to get a new bike.  The newer bikes are so much smoother and more comfortable on rides.  The truck did a great job with the camper.  The camper was perfect for what I needed.  I have a few upgrades to the camper before next trip.  Yes I am already planning the next trip.  Open to suggestions on destinations.  I was thinking southern Texas and maybe California.  I have been also considering possibly go North.

 

Thanks again for following my adventure!!!!  

Edited by LKEEL75
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20 hours ago, LKEEL75 said:

  I left out early to go to Hoover Dam.  What an amazing marvel of man. 

I loved going to Hoover Dam many many years ago wife and I planned on going out there next April.

Thanks so much LKEEL for doing this thread.........great read

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3 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

I loved going to Hoover Dam many many years ago wife and I planned on going out there next April.

Thanks so much LKEEL for doing this thread.........great read

I was upset and disappointed when I found out they no longer do the deep dive tours.  I did not get a chance to do it before and now it isn't available.

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