craig vetter fuel economy challenge.

[Jeff Saline]

Listers, OK Heads, Travel time: 4 hrs 20 mins Distance: 180 miles Our goal today is to get to the Hole in the Wall which is near Kaycee, Wyoming. This was a place used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Check out more at: http://www.truewestmagazine.com/renegade-roads/rroads-09-05.htm . We get up with the sun as Steve is an early riser and likes to get going. We load the bikes and get the guy next door to take a picture of us and the bikes in the motel parking lot. Then we head off to find breakfast. Steve leads and zeroes in on a restaurant that looks promising. We get a nice breakfast and are ready to head out of town. Oh, no we're not, I want to stop and get a note pad to record travel data. We stop at the grocery store across the street and talk with a guy making a delivery. He's got a dual sport bike and is really interested in what we're trying to do. We talk with him for a few minutes and then I get a steno notepad. The covers have words that must be commonly misspelled or misused. One example is "their (possessive)". I write a few quick notes about yesterday's ride and reset the trip computer and clear the track log. The Garmin 76CSx I have is working well. The night before we left I load some beta firmware that allows me to save the tracks to the removable data card. I like it, and suppose folks that get a copy of our actual route will like it too. Finally we head out of town. We're heading almost due west with Steve leading. After a bit he tells me to lead, his GPS has quit working. He plays with it a bit but is having difficulty using the route. I lead off. We come to our first dirt section of the day which is really just a gravel road. This will prove to be the norm on much of the trip and we find we really like traveling on the small county roads. After maybe 1/2 mile we come to a cattle guard and a no trespassing notice. I stop to read the sign and Steve blasts past and heads down the road. It's not clear to me whether we're allowed on the road or not and I wait for Steve to return. I have a thing about not trespassing as I sure wouldn't want folks to trespass on my property if I'd taken the time to post it. Steve and I discuss the situation and we decide to return to the highway and join the route further along. After a few miles we see a road my GPS shows will connect with the route. While Steve is fiddling with his GPS a truck comes down the road. I ask the guy about posted property in this area and what the local customs are. He tells me the graded roads are almost all county and as long as we stay on the roads we can have passage. He asks where we're coming from and going to and really likes what I tell him. He heads off and we head down the road. We do about 25 miles of gravel road in rolling prairie and see quite a few antelope. Steve and I have talked about them and we both slow when we see them within about 100 yards of the road. They might have a gazillion acres of open space on their side of the road but usually at least one and often all will run ahead of or along side us and then cross the road. Usually they leave enough space when crossing to be safe but I think on this ride each of us was crowded by speed goats at least once. We return to a paved section and after maybe 20 miles turn left and end up passing a coal mine. We stop for pictures and get a couple of good one of a front end loader with a bucket taller than a semi truck. We do another 20 miles or so of dirt and then get on a nice two lane paved road. We turn after maybe 20 miles and do some dirt for a short distance and get the first real detour of the day. We surely aren't gonna make it through this section as it's non existent. We can see where a two track once was but we aren't gonna ride it. We get back on the paved section and head on. A few miles later we get to another dirt road that looks like it might take us back onto the route. We head off. This is oil field country and many of the roads are used for the maintenance and drilling of oil wells. We end up going maybe 6 miles before we get to a sign saying Private Road. We return to the paved road again and end up riding it the rest of the way to Kaycee. In Kaycee we get fuel and I log the track and load the next route to the Hole in the Wall. Kaycee to Barnum to Kaycee to Hole in the Wall Travel time: 2 hrs 42 mins Distance: 75 miles We head out on a nice paved road toward Barnum and although it's nice it's got an awful lot of posted land. We get to our turn and it's not there. Well, yes it is but it's gated and posted. We ride a bit further and return hoping that now the sign has been removed. It's still there. We decide to head back to Kaycee and take I-25 south for a few miles where it looks like there is a road going into the Hole. I lead and with our gearing we only do about 55-60 mph. The bikes will go faster but I don't like to do sustained engine usage of over 5,000 rpms. We get off at the first exit and it looks promising. We're in dirt and gravel in less than 100 yards. After about two miles we get to a cattle guard and a sign. I stop to read the sign and Steve blasts past and is down the road. It's owned by a coal mine and trespassing is strictly forbidden. I turn around and park the bike. I get a drink of water and look at the local plants. I pull out my binoculars and check out the road a couple of miles away. I see Steve coming back. Checking the map and the GPS I see where I turned right at the exit and should have turned left and then right. Steve comes back and we talk about it for a few minutes and I take a few pictures of a young rabbit (I can't bring myself to type "bunny") that lives or hides under the cattle guard. I lead off and after a few miles we get to the correct right turn and it has a sign, "Hole in the Wall 40 miles". I give Steve the thumbs up and head off. After maybe 15 miles we get to an intersection with a sign pointing right and 25 miles. Off we go. We ride on and on and finally I think we're on to the correct route. And then we end up in a ranch yard. The GPS shows the road continues but in reality it sure doesn't. I take off my helmet and remove my ear plugs. Walking to the gate I see a youngster playing on a swing. I halloo the house. No answer. The boy comes over and I ask about adults around. He says they're in the house. He lives down the road in the blue house. He's just playing here. They have a couple of large ranch dogs loose in the yard. I ask if it's ok if I go up to the house. He says it's ok. I knock on the door and Granny comes out. She's 75 if she's a day, is wearing a large cowboy hat and her skin has sure seen the weather. I explain where we're trying to go and she tells me the road has been moved. Then her grand daughter??? comes out and starts explaining how to get where we want to go. She sure was nice. I thank her and Steve and I head off. I try to follow her directions and they're very good. I turn up the steep hill on the left at the brick school house with the flag and at the top of the hill is a cattle guard. Over the top is a sign saying it's the Willow Creek Ranch and along side the guard is a small sign saying Hole in the Wall. We ride about 6 miles going through one or two flocks of sheep. We stop at the ranch bunk house and ask if we may go to the Hole in the Wall. The lady says sure and tells us how to get there. The gates are unlocked and please leave them as we find them. Then she realizes we're on motorcycles. Finally she asks about if it isn't too late in the day to visit the hole. I mention it's only a mile hike and she kind of agrees. But not really. We thank her and head off. About 10 smiles later we get to the gate taking us to the Hole. It has a sign saying 9.5 miles. No low clearance vehicles. Not passable if wet. Access to private land by permission only. We take a picture or two and head off. It's really more like two track and single track and a bit rough in places. Some of the ruts are deep and there are at least 6 gates. We enjoy the ride getting there and at the parking area it has a sign about no further motorized vehicle travel, no camping, no fires, etc. It's 6:08 when Steve and I head off hiking to see the Hole. We figure it's only a mile or so away and don't bring anything other than cameras. We're both in tee shirts and long pants and wearing riding boots. I take a swig of water right before I leave the bikes. The trail is marked with 4" wide fiberglass posts maybe 100-200 yards apart. We head off and it's some interesting country. After a stream crossing, we can jump it, we get some up hill walking. Then when we think we've got to be getting close we realize it's a lot farther than we thought. Neither of us wear a watch and we know we've only got about 2 1/2 hours total until it'll be getting dark. We hike on. After walking what we think is maybe 3-4 miles we decide we aren't gonna make it. We take pictures of where we think the trail is heading and turn back. Maybe we could have made it but we'll never know. We do know we got back to the bikes before dark and didn't have to try to survive the night in tee shirts while lost in the Wyoming wilderness. Since it was so close to dark we decided to camp at the parking area. Yeah, we know it's forbidden, but that's better than trying to ride out in the dark and maybe getting hurt. So we pitched tents and fired up the stove. Spanish rice was dinner if I recall correctly. We talked a bit about the day and the area. The stars came out and we went to bed. All in all a very nice day with a steep learning curve about detours, private land and reality. End of Day Two. Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Jeff Saline]

Listers, Travel time: 4 hrs 20 mins Distance: 180 miles Our goal today is to get to the Hole in the Wall which is near Kaycee, Wyoming. This was a place used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Check out more at: http://www.truewestmagazine.com/renegade-roads/rroads-09-05.htm . We get up with the sun as Steve is an early riser and likes to get going. We load the bikes and get the guy next door to take a picture of us and the bikes in the motel parking lot. Then we head off to find breakfast. Steve leads and zeroes in on a restaurant that looks promising. We get a nice breakfast and are ready to head out of town. Oh, no we're not, I want to stop and get a note pad to record travel data. We stop at the grocery store across the street and talk with a guy making a delivery. He's got a dual sport bike and is really interested in what we're trying to do. We talk with him for a few minutes and then I get a steno notepad. The covers have words that must be commonly misspelled or misused. One example is "their (possessive)". I write a few quick notes about yesterday's ride and reset the trip computer and clear the track log. The Garmin 76CSx I have is working well. The night before we left I load some beta firmware that allows me to save the tracks to the removable data card. I like it, and suppose folks that get a copy of our actual route will like it too. Finally we head out of town. We're heading almost due west with Steve leading. After a bit he tells me to lead, his GPS has quit working. He plays with it a bit but is having difficulty using the route. I lead off. We come to our first dirt section of the day which is really just a gravel road. This will prove to be the norm on much of the trip and we find we really like traveling on the small county roads. After maybe 1/2 mile we come to a cattle guard and a no trespassing notice. I stop to read the sign and Steve blasts past and heads down the road. It's not clear to me whether we're allowed on the road or not and I wait for Steve to return. I have a thing about not trespassing as I sure wouldn't want folks to trespass on my property if I'd taken the time to post it. Steve and I discuss the situation and we decide to return to the highway and join the route further along. After a few miles we see a road my GPS shows will connect with the route. While Steve is fiddling with his GPS a truck comes down the road. I ask the guy about posted property in this area and what the local customs are. He tells me the graded roads are almost all county and as long as we stay on the roads we can have passage. He asks where we're coming from and going to and really likes what I tell him. He heads off and we head down the road. We do about 25 miles of gravel road in rolling prairie and see quite a few antelope. Steve and I have talked about them and we both slow when we see them within about 100 yards of the road. They might have a gazillion acres of open space on their side of the road but usually at least one and often all will run ahead of or along side us and then cross the road. Usually they leave enough space when crossing to be safe but I think on this ride each of us was crowded by speed goats at least once. We return to a paved section and after maybe 20 miles turn left and end up passing a coal mine. We stop for pictures and get a couple of good one of a front end loader with a bucket taller than a semi truck. We do another 20 miles or so of dirt and then get on a nice two lane paved road. We turn after maybe 20 miles and do some dirt for a short distance and get the first real detour of the day. We surely aren't gonna make it through this section as it's non existent. We can see where a two track once was but we aren't gonna ride it. We get back on the paved section and head on. A few miles later we get to another dirt road that looks like it might take us back onto the route. We head off. This is oil field country and many of the roads are used for the maintenance and drilling of oil wells. We end up going maybe 6 miles before we get to a sign saying Private Road. We return to the paved road again and end up riding it the rest of the way to Kaycee. In Kaycee we get fuel and I log the track and load the next route to the Hole in the Wall. Kaycee to Barnum to Kaycee to Hole in the Wall Travel time: 2 hrs 42 mins Distance: 75 miles We head out on a nice paved road toward Barnum and although it's nice it's got an awful lot of posted land. We get to our turn and it's not there. Well, yes it is but it's gated and posted. We ride a bit further and return hoping that now the sign has been removed. It's still there. We decide to head back to Kaycee and take I-25 south for a few miles where it looks like there is a road going into the Hole. I lead and with our gearing we only do about 55-60 mph. The bikes will go faster but I don't like to do sustained engine usage of over 5,000 rpms. We get off at the first exit and it looks promising. We're in dirt and gravel in less than 100 yards. After about two miles we get to a cattle guard and a sign. I stop to read the sign and Steve blasts past and is down the road. It's owned by a coal mine and trespassing is strictly forbidden. I turn around and park the bike. I get a drink of water and look at the local plants. I pull out my binoculars and check out the road a couple of miles away. I see Steve coming back. Checking the map and the GPS I see where I turned right at the exit and should have turned left and then right. Steve comes back and we talk about it for a few minutes and I take a few pictures of a young rabbit (I can't bring myself to type "bunny") that lives or hides under the cattle guard. I lead off and after a few miles we get to the correct right turn and it has a sign, "Hole in the Wall 40 miles". I give Steve the thumbs up and head off. After maybe 15 miles we get to an intersection with a sign pointing right and 25 miles. Off we go. We ride on and on and finally I think we're on to the correct route. And then we end up in a ranch yard. The GPS shows the road continues but in reality it sure doesn't. I take off my helmet and remove my ear plugs. Walking to the gate I see a youngster playing on a swing. I halloo the house. No answer. The boy comes over and I ask about adults around. He says they're in the house. He lives down the road in the blue house. He's just playing here. They have a couple of large ranch dogs loose in the yard. I ask if it's ok if I go up to the house. He says it's ok. I knock on the door and Granny comes out. She's 75 if she's a day, is wearing a large cowboy hat and her skin has sure seen the weather. I explain where we're trying to go and she tells me the road has been moved. Then her grand daughter??? comes out and starts explaining how to get where we want to go. She sure was nice. I thank her and Steve and I head off. I try to follow her directions and they're very good. I turn up the steep hill on the left at the brick school house with the flag and at the top of the hill is a cattle guard. Over the top is a sign saying it's the Willow Creek Ranch and along side the guard is a small sign saying Hole in the Wall. We ride about 6 miles going through one or two flocks of sheep. We stop at the ranch bunk house and ask if we may go to the Hole in the Wall. The lady says sure and tells us how to get there. The gates are unlocked and please leave them as we find them. Then she realizes we're on motorcycles. Finally she asks about if it isn't too late in the day to visit the hole. I mention it's only a mile hike and she kind of agrees. But not really. We thank her and head off. About 10 smiles later we get to the gate taking us to the Hole. It has a sign saying 9.5 miles. No low clearance vehicles. Not passable if wet. Access to private land by permission only. We take a picture or two and head off. It's really more like two track and single track and a bit rough in places. Some of the ruts are deep and there are at least 6 gates. We enjoy the ride getting there and at the parking area it has a sign about no further motorized vehicle travel, no camping, no fires, etc. It's 6:08 when Steve and I head off hiking to see the Hole. We figure it's only a mile or so away and don't bring anything other than cameras. We're both in tee shirts and long pants and wearing riding boots. I take a swig of water right before I leave the bikes. The trail is marked with 4" wide fiberglass posts maybe 100-200 yards apart. We head off and it's some interesting country. After a stream crossing, we can jump it, we get some up hill walking. Then when we think we've got to be getting close we realize it's a lot farther than we thought. Neither of us wear a watch and we know we've only got about 2 1/2 hours total until it'll be getting dark. We hike on. After walking what we think is maybe 3-4 miles we decide we aren't gonna make it. We take pictures of where we think the trail is heading and turn back. Maybe we could have made it but we'll never know. We do know we got back to the bikes before dark and didn't have to try to survive the night in tee shirts while lost in the Wyoming wilderness. Since it was so close to dark we decided to camp at the parking area. Yeah, we know it's forbidden, but that's better than trying to ride out in the dark and maybe getting hurt. So we pitched tents and fired up the stove. Spanish rice was dinner if I recall correctly. We talked a bit about the day and the area. The stars came out and we went to bed. All in all a very nice day with a steep learning curve about detours, private land and reality. End of Day Two. Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Jeff Saline]

----- Forwarded Message ----- Listers, Travel time: 4 hrs 20 mins Distance: 180 miles Our goal today is to get to the Hole in the Wall which is near Kaycee, Wyoming. This was a place used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Check out more at: http://www.truewestmagazine.com/renegade-roads/rroads-09-05.htm . We get up with the sun as Steve is an early riser and likes to get going. We load the bikes and get the guy next door to take a picture of us and the bikes in the motel parking lot. Then we head off to find breakfast. Steve leads and zeroes in on a restaurant that looks promising. We get a nice breakfast and are ready to head out of town. Oh, no we're not, I want to stop and get a note pad to record travel data. We stop at the grocery store across the street and talk with a guy making a delivery. He's got a dual sport bike and is really interested in what we're trying to do. We talk with him for a few minutes and then I get a steno notepad. The covers have words that must be commonly misspelled or misused. One example is "their (possessive)". I write a few quick notes about yesterday's ride and reset the trip computer and clear the track log. The Garmin 76CSx I have is working well. The night before we left I load some beta firmware that allows me to save the tracks to the removable data card. I like it, and suppose folks that get a copy of our actual route will like it too. Finally we head out of town. We're heading almost due west with Steve leading. After a bit he tells me to lead, his GPS has quit working. He plays with it a bit but is having difficulty using the route. I lead off. We come to our first dirt section of the day which is really just a gravel road. This will prove to be the norm on much of the trip and we find we really like traveling on the small county roads. After maybe 1/2 mile we come to a cattle guard and a no trespassing notice. I stop to read the sign and Steve blasts past and heads down the road. It's not clear to me whether we're allowed on the road or not and I wait for Steve to return. I have a thing about not trespassing as I sure wouldn't want folks to trespass on my property if I'd taken the time to post it. Steve and I discuss the situation and we decide to return to the highway and join the route further along. After a few miles we see a road my GPS shows will connect with the route. While Steve is fiddling with his GPS a truck comes down the road. I ask the guy about posted property in this area and what the local customs are. He tells me the graded roads are almost all county and as long as we stay on the roads we can have passage. He asks where we're coming from and going to and really likes what I tell him. He heads off and we head down the road. We do about 25 miles of gravel road in rolling prairie and see quite a few antelope. Steve and I have talked about them and we both slow when we see them within about 100 yards of the road. They might have a gazillion acres of open space on their side of the road but usually at least one and often all will run ahead of or along side us and then cross the road. Usually they leave enough space when crossing to be safe but I think on this ride each of us was crowded by speed goats at least once. We return to a paved section and after maybe 20 miles turn left and end up passing a coal mine. We stop for pictures and get a couple of good one of a front end loader with a bucket taller than a semi truck. We do another 20 miles or so of dirt and then get on a nice two lane paved road. We turn after maybe 20 miles and do some dirt for a short distance and get the first real detour of the day. We surely aren't gonna make it through this section as it's non existent. We can see where a two track once was but we aren't gonna ride it. We get back on the paved section and head on. A few miles later we get to another dirt road that looks like it might take us back onto the route. We head off. This is oil field country and many of the roads are used for the maintenance and drilling of oil wells. We end up going maybe 6 miles before we get to a sign saying Private Road. We return to the paved road again and end up riding it the rest of the way to Kaycee. In Kaycee we get fuel and I log the track and load the next route to the Hole in the Wall. Kaycee to Barnum to Kaycee to Hole in the Wall Travel time: 2 hrs 42 mins Distance: 75 miles We head out on a nice paved road toward Barnum and although it's nice it's got an awful lot of posted land. We get to our turn and it's not there. Well, yes it is but it's gated and posted. We ride a bit further and return hoping that now the sign has been removed. It's still there. We decide to head back to Kaycee and take I-25 south for a few miles where it looks like there is a road going into the Hole. I lead and with our gearing we only do about 55-60 mph. The bikes will go faster but I don't like to do sustained engine usage of over 5,000 rpms. We get off at the first exit and it looks promising. We're in dirt and gravel in less than 100 yards. After about two miles we get to a cattle guard and a sign. I stop to read the sign and Steve blasts past and is down the road. It's owned by a coal mine and trespassing is strictly forbidden. I turn around and park the bike. I get a drink of water and look at the local plants. I pull out my binoculars and check out the road a couple of miles away. I see Steve coming back. Checking the map and the GPS I see where I turned right at the exit and should have turned left and then right. Steve comes back and we talk about it for a few minutes and I take a few pictures of a young rabbit (I can't bring myself to type "bunny") that lives or hides under the cattle guard. I lead off and after a few miles we get to the correct right turn and it has a sign, "Hole in the Wall 40 miles". I give Steve the thumbs up and head off. After maybe 15 miles we get to an intersection with a sign pointing right and 25 miles. Off we go. We ride on and on and finally I think we're on to the correct route. And then we end up in a ranch yard. The GPS shows the road continues but in reality it sure doesn't. I take off my helmet and remove my ear plugs. Walking to the gate I see a youngster playing on a swing. I halloo the house. No answer. The boy comes over and I ask about adults around. He says they're in the house. He lives down the road in the blue house. He's just playing here. They have a couple of large ranch dogs loose in the yard. I ask if it's ok if I go up to the house. He says it's ok. I knock on the door and Granny comes out. She's 75 if she's a day, is wearing a large cowboy hat and her skin has sure seen the weather. I explain where we're trying to go and she tells me the road has been moved. Then her grand daughter??? comes out and starts explaining how to get where we want to go. She sure was nice. I thank her and Steve and I head off. I try to follow her directions and they're very good. I turn up the steep hill on the left at the brick school house with the flag and at the top of the hill is a cattle guard. Over the top is a sign saying it's the Willow Creek Ranch and along side the guard is a small sign saying Hole in the Wall. We ride about 6 miles going through one or two flocks of sheep. We stop at the ranch bunk house and ask if we may go to the Hole in the Wall. The lady says sure and tells us how to get there. The gates are unlocked and please leave them as we find them. Then she realizes we're on motorcycles. Finally she asks about if it isn't too late in the day to visit the hole. I mention it's only a mile hike and she kind of agrees. But not really. We thank her and head off. About 10 smiles later we get to the gate taking us to the Hole. It has a sign saying 9.5 miles. No low clearance vehicles. Not passable if wet. Access to private land by permission only. We take a picture or two and head off. It's really more like two track and single track and a bit rough in places. Some of the ruts are deep and there are at least 6 gates. We enjoy the ride getting there and at the parking area it has a sign about no further motorized vehicle travel, no camping, no fires, etc. It's 6:08 when Steve and I head off hiking to see the Hole. We figure it's only a mile or so away and don't bring anything other than cameras. We're both in tee shirts and long pants and wearing riding boots. I take a swig of water right before I leave the bikes. The trail is marked with 4" wide fiberglass posts maybe 100-200 yards apart. We head off and it's some interesting country. After a stream crossing, we can jump it, we get some up hill walking. Then when we think we've got to be getting close we realize it's a lot farther than we thought. Neither of us wear a watch and we know we've only got about 2 1/2 hours total until it'll be getting dark. We hike on. After walking what we think is maybe 3-4 miles we decide we aren't gonna make it. We take pictures of where we think the trail is heading and turn back. Maybe we could have made it but we'll never know. We do know we got back to the bikes before dark and didn't have to try to survive the night in tee shirts while lost in the Wyoming wilderness. Since it was so close to dark we decided to camp at the parking area. Yeah, we know it's forbidden, but that's better than trying to ride out in the dark and maybe getting hurt. So we pitched tents and fired up the stove. Spanish rice was dinner if I recall correctly. We talked a bit about the day and the area. The stars came out and we went to bed. All in all a very nice day with a steep learning curve about detours, private land and reality. End of Day Two. Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT . . ____________________________________________________________ Get Free Email with Video Mail & Video Chat! http://www.juno.com/freeemail?refcd=JUTAGOUT1FREM0210 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[David Nichols]

Diesel KLR came in second place with 89.6 MPG and no funky, impractical aerodynamic mods. http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/470MPG/Last%20Vetter%20Fairing%20P37.html%c2%a0 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Jud]

Jeff, Thanks for the reprise of this trip report. I remember it from when it was current. It also calls up memories of my own excursion in search of Hole-in-the-Wall a couple of years earlier (and not to be confused with Walt-in-the-Hole, a year or two later). Jud

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Saline wrote: > > ----- Forwarded Message ----- > > Listers, > > Travel time: 4 hrs 20 mins Distance: 180 miles > > Our goal today is to get to the Hole in the Wall which is near Kaycee, > Wyoming. This was a place used by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. > Check out more at: > http://www.truewestmagazine.com/renegade-roads/rroads-09-05.htm . We get > up with the sun as Steve is an early riser and likes to get going. We > load the bikes and get the guy next door to take a picture of us and the > bikes in the motel parking lot. Then we head off to find breakfast. > Steve leads and zeroes in on a restaurant that looks promising. We get a > nice breakfast and are ready to head out of town. Oh, no we're not, I > want to stop and get a note pad to record travel data. We stop at the > grocery store across the street and talk with a guy making a delivery. > He's got a dual sport bike and is really interested in what we're trying > to do. We talk with him for a few minutes and then I get a steno > notepad. The covers have words that must be commonly misspelled or > misused. One example is "their (possessive)". I write a few quick notes > about yesterday's ride and reset the trip computer and clear the track > log. The Garmin 76CSx I have is working well. The night before we left > I load some beta firmware that allows me to save the tracks to the > removable data card. I like it, and suppose folks that get a copy of our > actual route will like it too. Finally we head out of town. We're > heading almost due west with Steve leading. After a bit he tells me to > lead, his GPS has quit working. He plays with it a bit but is having > difficulty using the route. I lead off. We come to our first dirt > section of the day which is really just a gravel road. This will prove > to be the norm on much of the trip and we find we really like traveling > on the small county roads. After maybe 1/2 mile we come to a cattle > guard and a no trespassing notice. I stop to read the sign and Steve > blasts past and heads down the road. It's not clear to me whether we're > allowed on the road or not and I wait for Steve to return. I have a > thing about not trespassing as I sure wouldn't want folks to trespass on > my property if I'd taken the time to post it. Steve and I discuss the > situation and we decide to return to the highway and join the route > further along. After a few miles we see a road my GPS shows will connect > with the route. While Steve is fiddling with his GPS a truck comes down > the road. I ask the guy about posted property in this area and what the > local customs are. He tells me the graded roads are almost all county > and as long as we stay on the roads we can have passage. He asks where > we're coming from and going to and really likes what I tell him. He > heads off and we head down the road. We do about 25 miles of gravel road > in rolling prairie and see quite a few antelope. Steve and I have talked > about them and we both slow when we see them within about 100 yards of > the road. They might have a gazillion acres of open space on their side > of the road but usually at least one and often all will run ahead of or > along side us and then cross the road. Usually they leave enough space > when crossing to be safe but I think on this ride each of us was crowded > by speed goats at least once. We return to a paved section and after > maybe 20 miles turn left and end up passing a coal mine. We stop for > pictures and get a couple of good one of a front end loader with a bucket > taller than a semi truck. We do another 20 miles or so of dirt and then > get on a nice two lane paved road. We turn after maybe 20 miles and do > some dirt for a short distance and get the first real detour of the day. > We surely aren't gonna make it through this section as it's non existent. > We can see where a two track once was but we aren't gonna ride it. We > get back on the paved section and head on. A few miles later we get to > another dirt road that looks like it might take us back onto the route. > We head off. This is oil field country and many of the roads are used > for the maintenance and drilling of oil wells. We end up going maybe 6 > miles before we get to a sign saying Private Road. We return to the > paved road again and end up riding it the rest of the way to Kaycee. In > Kaycee we get fuel and I log the track and load the next route to the > Hole in the Wall. > > Kaycee to Barnum to Kaycee to Hole in the Wall > > Travel time: 2 hrs 42 mins Distance: 75 miles > > We head out on a nice paved road toward Barnum and although it's nice > it's got an awful lot of posted land. We get to our turn and it's not > there. Well, yes it is but it's gated and posted. We ride a bit further > and return hoping that now the sign has been removed. It's still there. > We decide to head back to Kaycee and take I-25 south for a few miles > where it looks like there is a road going into the Hole. I lead and with > our gearing we only do about 55-60 mph. The bikes will go faster but I > don't like to do sustained engine usage of over 5,000 rpms. We get off > at the first exit and it looks promising. We're in dirt and gravel in > less than 100 yards. After about two miles we get to a cattle guard and > a sign. I stop to read the sign and Steve blasts past and is down the > road. It's owned by a coal mine and trespassing is strictly forbidden. > I turn around and park the bike. I get a drink of water and look at the > local plants. I pull out my binoculars and check out the road a couple > of miles away. I see Steve coming back. Checking the map and the GPS I > see where I turned right at the exit and should have turned left and then > right. Steve comes back and we talk about it for a few minutes and I > take a few pictures of a young rabbit (I can't bring myself to type > "bunny") that lives or hides under the cattle guard. I lead off and > after a few miles we get to the correct right turn and it has a sign, > "Hole in the Wall 40 miles". I give Steve the thumbs up and head off. > After maybe 15 miles we get to an intersection with a sign pointing right > and 25 miles. Off we go. We ride on and on and finally I think we're on > to the correct route. And then we end up in a ranch yard. The GPS shows > the road continues but in reality it sure doesn't. I take off my helmet > and remove my ear plugs. Walking to the gate I see a youngster playing > on a swing. I halloo the house. No answer. The boy comes over and I > ask about adults around. He says they're in the house. He lives down > the road in the blue house. He's just playing here. They have a couple > of large ranch dogs loose in the yard. I ask if it's ok if I go up to > the house. He says it's ok. I knock on the door and Granny comes out. > She's 75 if she's a day, is wearing a large cowboy hat and her skin has > sure seen the weather. I explain where we're trying to go and she tells > me the road has been moved. Then her grand daughter??? comes out and > starts explaining how to get where we want to go. She sure was nice. I > thank her and Steve and I head off. I try to follow her directions and > they're very good. I turn up the steep hill on the left at the brick > school house with the flag and at the top of the hill is a cattle guard. > Over the top is a sign saying it's the Willow Creek Ranch and along side > the guard is a small sign saying Hole in the Wall. We ride about 6 miles > going through one or two flocks of sheep. We stop at the ranch bunk > house and ask if we may go to the Hole in the Wall. The lady says sure > and tells us how to get there. The gates are unlocked and please leave > them as we find them. Then she realizes we're on motorcycles. Finally > she asks about if it isn't too late in the day to visit the hole. I > mention it's only a mile hike and she kind of agrees. But not really. > We thank her and head off. About 10 smiles later we get to the gate > taking us to the Hole. It has a sign saying 9.5 miles. No low clearance > vehicles. Not passable if wet. Access to private land by permission > only. We take a picture or two and head off. It's really more like two > track and single track and a bit rough in places. Some of the ruts are > deep and there are at least 6 gates. We enjoy the ride getting there and > at the parking area it has a sign about no further motorized vehicle > travel, no camping, no fires, etc. It's 6:08 when Steve and I head off > hiking to see the Hole. We figure it's only a mile or so away and don't > bring anything other than cameras. We're both in tee shirts and long > pants and wearing riding boots. I take a swig of water right before I > leave the bikes. The trail is marked with 4" wide fiberglass posts maybe > 100-200 yards apart. We head off and it's some interesting country. > After a stream crossing, we can jump it, we get some up hill walking. > Then when we think we've got to be getting close we realize it's a lot > farther than we thought. Neither of us wear a watch and we know we've > only got about 2 1/2 hours total until it'll be getting dark. We hike > on. After walking what we think is maybe 3-4 miles we decide we aren't > gonna make it. We take pictures of where we think the trail is heading > and turn back. Maybe we could have made it but we'll never know. We do > know we got back to the bikes before dark and didn't have to try to > survive the night in tee shirts while lost in the Wyoming wilderness. > Since it was so close to dark we decided to camp at the parking area. > Yeah, we know it's forbidden, but that's better than trying to ride out > in the dark and maybe getting hurt. So we pitched tents and fired up the > stove. Spanish rice was dinner if I recall correctly. We talked a bit > about the day and the area. The stars came out and we went to bed. All > in all a very nice day with a steep learning curve about detours, private > land and reality. > > End of Day Two. > > Jeff Saline > ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal > Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org > The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota > 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT > > . > . > > ____________________________________________________________ > Get Free Email with Video Mail & Video Chat! > http://www.juno.com/freeemail?refcd=JUTAGOUT1FREM0210 > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >