A ride to Bozman, Montana

[montana]

Took a hop to Bozeman today. Having put a few hundred miles up here on the borrowed Vulcan, I have a couple of observations. When I last rode in California, I noticed that about half of the other bikers I would see would wave. Almost nobody on a Harley would, and you usually wouldn't get a wave from across the interstate. Up here, it's a bit different; maybe because of the smaller number of motorcycles in general. I get waves -- big waves, not just letting your hand out into the slipstream a little -- from all the way across a 500' median along the freeway.

And I would say 9 out of 10 that I pass give a wave. It's the little things that make this as much of a lifestyle as a sport or hobby.

Weather-wise, it's still a bit cool up here. Started out at about 62, then down to 50, with rain and t-storms coming. Windy, too. But the bikes are starting to come out again, after a false start to spring a couple of weeks back. We had snow, then rain, then sun. It's probably going to snow again soon.

I'm just happy to be able to ride again, and I think I will make the Kawi mine in the coming weeks.

Til next time.

[montana]

Took a ride to Red Lodge, MT today. Red Lodge is very much like Nevada City...an old mining town with a lot of old buildings and history. The trip out there is mostly rolling hills through ranch land and some smaller towns. Reminds me a little of being out around Tassajara or even parts of Pt. Reyes. The trip was 200 miles round trip. It was a nice day with high clouds blocking some of the sun, but it was around 70 degrees. Just like the passes over the Sierras, the Beartooth highway is still closed. It should be opening soon, and then it's a good ride on steep switchbacks. The only bad part of the ride was hitting a swarm of bees at about 45 mph. Right next to the hives along the road, at it must have been honeybee rush hour. I must've hit over a hundred bees, but no stings...even had a few flying with the bike behind the windshield for a short way. Other than that, it's already buggy here, and it's still early in the season...it's only going to get worse.

Here's the pics...I left the gas can on the bike, since it's practically standard equipment up here...you don't want to stray too far without having a little extra fuel.

[XCELR8R]

Nice sights.
The road looks like it could be a real fun one

[G8ESCAP]

Nice ! That last photo looks like sportbike heaven!

Dale

[motowriter]

Originally Posted by montana

Took a hop to Bozeman today. Having put a few hundred miles up here on the borrowed Vulcan, I have a couple of observations. When I last rode in California, I noticed that about half of the other bikers I would see would wave. Almost nobody on a Harley would, and you usually wouldn't get a wave from across the interstate. Up here, it's a bit different; maybe because of the smaller number of motorcycles in general. I get waves -- big waves, not just letting your hand out into the slipstream a little -- from all the way across a 500' median along the freeway.

And I would say 9 out of 10 that I pass give a wave. It's the little things that make this as much of a lifestyle as a sport or hobby.

Weather-wise, it's still a bit cool up here. Started out at about 62, then down to 50, with rain and t-storms coming. Windy, too. But the bikes are starting to come out again, after a false start to spring a couple of weeks back. We had snow, then rain, then sun. It's probably going to snow again soon.

I'm just happy to be able to ride again, and I think I will make the Kawi mine in the coming weeks.

Til next time.

Those are great pix, Jason!! Thanks! I dunno how many folks here in Cali wave first, cuz I wave at everyone. And 98% wave back, Harleys included. I guess I should try not waving one day and see what happens, eh?

Bummer on the weather. We're having a long spring here, with cooler temps and more precipitation than normal. The cooler temps are great, cuz when summer arrives there will be no let-up. Precip, OTOH, I could live without this far into spring.

Post some more ride pix when you get a chance... really enjoyed those!

G

[pashnit]

Jason- I think your photos really capture an essence of the stark beauty of Montana - the snow capped peaks in the background, the wide open spaces- just wonderful !!

This one is great - size it to 900 pixels wide for the full effect (you can post up to 3200 pixels wide for panoramics).

[Toyuzu]

Awesome.

I've decided if I'm ever going to buy a home, I'll have to leave California behind (real estate here makes gold look like used socks.) If I do decide to move, Montana is numero uno on my list of options. I've been through the state east to west, and north to south. It's breathtaking. I don't mind the cold, either.

[Warrior]

Is it true in Montana that there are some roads with no speed limits on them?

[SouthernOregonBandit]

I

[DaleC]

A small group of us did a 4500 mile 9 state trip a couple of summers ago and I still refer to it as my Montana Trip although many of the other states had some fantastic scenery too. In the summer (and providing it isn't too hot) Montana is a terrific place to ride and explore on a motorcycle because of the many National Parks (Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP most prominently) and the many National monuments and trails (Bighorn Canyon National Rec.Area, Big Hole National Battlefield, Lewis & Clark National History Trail, Little Bighorn Battlefield and Nez Pierce National Historical Park among others). It's simply hard to appreciate the great beauty of Yellowstone and Glacier, or how awesome and scenic the Beartooth Skyway is to ride through. It's just an incredible ride.

We did our trip in early August and just following a major heat wave (temps about 100 to 106) and had a very pleasant high 80's. We also seemed to escape the traffic that you can find on the roads up there so our speeds were actually amazingly fast (more fun on a motorcycle).

It's definitely a state to put on your itinerary if you like to see beautiful places and ride a motorcycle.

DaleC

This is going up through the Beartooth Skyway:





On the ridge there in the center you can just barely see the sharp point of the Beartooth.



Here you can see how close the forest fires got to the town of Cooke City in Yellowstone. The Beartooth Highway from Cooke City to Red Lodge, Montana is now rated one of the ten most scenic drives in the United States (near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone). The Chief Joseph Scenic Highway from Cooke City to Cody, Wyoming is another incredibly beautiful drive.





One of the many familiar sites near Old Faithful



Most definitely Big Sky Country.



DaleC

P.S. Here is the route we followed and it was one fantastic motorcycle ride plus a large number of National Parks and Monuments.