Wilsons Sandbox

>> > From: John Biccum > > Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 1:21 PM > To: "DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.comDSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com>" DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.comDSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com>> > Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Ride report Seattle to Montana with my son > > > > The North Cascades Highway was described by the late Charles Kuralt as the > most beautiful road in America. Kuralt may well have been right, but Kuralt > didn't ride. Not surprisingly his description neglected to mention that > Washington Route 20 is also one of the premier motorcycle roads in the > nation. The road features miles and miles of linked sweepers, half-dozen > mountain passes and as Kuralt noted, world-class spectacular scenery. The > road embraces the Canadian border at high elevations so the road slumbers > each winter beneath a mantle of a dozen feet of snow, immune from the > free-thaw cycles that begat potholes. So the pavement tends to be great > condition as well. > > So when my grad-school bound son and I decided to ride to our Montana > fly-fishing trip, we began our trip by droning north on Interstate 5, > working our way just north of Everett, WA - willing paying the slab-price to > pick up WA-20. I was on my WeeStrom with my son riding my 70K mile KLR, a > twin to the graduation present KLR waiting for him at grad school in NC. We > camped the first night near Kettle Falls, on Lake Roosevelt, a reservoir > created by a dam on the Columbia River. > > My son had just returned just two days earlier from Spain, surviving running > with the bulls in Pamplona but falling victim to food poisoning that had > kept him close to a bathroom for the final day of his Spanish trip. At 5AM, > in tent in Kettle Falls, WA his food poisoning symptoms returned with a > vengeance. > > After consulting the map, we decided to take the quickest route to Spokane, > the closest city with good access to health care. I asked the GPS to route > us to a hospital but the route took us right past another hospital so we > stopped at the first hospital we encountered. The ER physician diagnosed > food poisoning, prescribed prodigious quantities of Pedialyte and a > broad-spectrum antibiotic. The pharmacy across the street had both the > antibiotic and the Pedialyte in stock. My son spent two years in a > fraternity so was able to chug the first liter bottle of Pedialyte in one > long gulp. My tuition dollars at work! Our medical issues behind us, we > looked for an interesting route to get us to US-12. We settled on US-195 > which was anticlimactic after the spectacular WA-20 but not a bad road none > the less. > > At Lewiston ID we picked up US-12, a wonderful motorcycle road that > following the bank of Clearwater River as it ascends to the Continental > Divide at Lolo Pass, the border of Montana and Idaho. We stopped for the > obligatory photo (Sharp Curves Next 130 Miles) then began S-curving our way > up the gentle grade, never more than a fly-cast from the Clearwater. We > stopped for the night at one of my favorite overnight spots, the Lochsha > Lodge. We elected to stay in a "rustic" cabin, it had no running water but > the bathhouse was close. > > In the morning my son wanted to lead with me following and filming using the > Go Pro camera we just bought for the trip. I noted that I had never failed > to see big game in the 10 or so miles that separated us from Lolo Pass and > that he should be VERY cautious, covering the brake lever and riding MOST > conservatively. I mentioned that we had already visited the hospital once > on this trip and had no desire for a return engagement! > > Just a few miles short of Lolo Pass the Go Pro video camera on my WeeStrom > captured my son threshold braking to avoid a grizzly bear that decided that > NOW was the time to get to the other side of the road. The griz scrambled > up a steep talus slope, sending baby-head sized rocks tumbling down the > slope onto the road. We stopped at Lolo Summit to view the video and > congratulate ourselves for taking the time to have my son practice threshold > braking on the KLR before we began the trip. He had just a thousand miles > of riding experience with only 500 miles on the KLR. But his natural > athleticism, following instructions, and the threshold braking practice came > together just when we needed a break, or more correctly a brake. > > At the town of Lolo we turned south on US93 to Lost Trail Pass then took > Montana 49 east over Chief Joseph Pass toward the Big Hole National > Battlefield. We stopped at the National Battlefield and listened to a Park > Ranger, a full-blood Nez Pierce; recount the story of the massacre Nez > Pierce women and children at the hands of US Calvary and irregular > volunteers. I bought my son a "Passport to Your National Parks', a > passport-sized binder to record his visits to sites administered by the > National Park system. I have been using such a Passport to record a decade > worth of motorcycle-borne visits to Park sites and I hope that he will > continue the tradition. Big Hole National Battlefield is worth a stop; those > that fail to study history are truly condemned to repeat it. > > At Wisdom, MT after a stop for lunch we turned south on MT 278 and stayed on > 278 to Dillon. At Dillon I usually pick up the (dirt) Blacktail Road and > run that to Yellowstone National Park. But the weather was looking like > rain and I had experienced the Blacktail Road in deluge a couple of times > before and had no desire for a repeat engagement on a Tourance-shod > WeeStrom. Imagine axle-deep clay in the middle of nowhere with a gale > force wind blowing the pouring rain parallel to the ground and you are > close. Discretion being the better part of valor, we took MT287 into Ennis > where we stopped for pictures next to the many-times-life-size statue of a > fly fisherman in the center of town. Fly fishing is the economic lifeblood > of this part of Montana and our fly rods and wade shoes marked us as > valuable contributors to the local economy to all that saw us on the bikes. > We took US 287 south out of Dillon into Yellowstone National Park where a > pleasant Park Ranger confirmed what I had earlier predicted: all the park > campsites were full. We left the park and camped instead on Rainbow Point > on Hebgen Lake in the National Forest, ten or so miles back north from the > national park entrance. > > After breakfast in the morning we re-entered Yellowstone NP at West Glacier > and ran northeast to the Cooke City exit of the park picking up US 212 over > Beartooth Pass, reentering Montana. Yes the Tail of The Dragon in NC *is* > curvy but The Dragon is just a dozen miles long. Beartooth Pass is nearly a > hundred miles of equally tight twisties combined with top-of-the-world > scenery. > > Our friends were waiting on the Boulder River for us so at Columbus, MT we > reluctantly hit I-90 west into Big Timber where we picked up the Boulder > River Road and rode south to our fishing spot. After four days of > spectacular catch-and -release fishing we bid goodbye and headed for home. > My son had flight to catch to Durham, NC to begin his graduate school so we > really didn't have time to repeat our ramble on the homebound leg of the > trip. So we decided to grit it out and stay on I-90 westbound into > Ritzville, WA where we took US195 south to WA 26, WA26 west to WA24 and > WA24 west to US-12. US-12 took us north to WA-133 which we took north into > Mount Rainier National Park where we picked up WA-410. From WA-410 we took > a variety of country roads from farm country into suburbia and home. > > My son summed up the trip as follows: > > Gas for 2300 miles $212 > > New Front Tire: $107 > > Time spent on a motorcycle trip with your Dad: Priceless. > > GPS track here: > http://johnbiccum.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Montana-trip-with-B/25318657_KMF4J > 2#!i=2081297699 > http://johnbiccum.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Montana-trip-with-B/25318657_KMF4 > J2#!i=2081297699&k=5RkvbfB> &k=5RkvbfB > > Now that I have access to a minty KLR in Durham, NC it's time to start > planning a Blue Ridge Parkway trip the for the next time work takes me to > the east coast. The Dragon awaits! > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >