The roads less traveled

The roads less traveled



The longhorns weren't too interested in my presence.  Good thing since I'd crossed the cattle guard and was on their turf.





There's one in every crowd.  This was the watch dog of the herd.



We've been traveling the roads somewhat less traveled, which is great. We've been caught in horrific rain, wind, lightning and thunder (like Friday, July 5, going into Lusk), 2 miles from town, and we've avoided a lot of big storms or at least only had to ride in a bit of them. We've had sprinkles, heavy wind here and there, but mostly great weather and not-too-hot temperatures.

This little guy was keeping an eye on me.  Look at that face.  His nose and ears looked painted.

 I've also been checking the Roadside America Attractions online and found a few things to see that we might not ordinarily see, like the Slug Bug Ranch and Chimney Rock, although what I forgot to mention about that one is that it's a rock that's on one side of the Kansas state quarter.

Saturday, we were told about the Ayres Natural Bridge in Wyoming. It's one of three in the country that has a river running through it. I'd also seen one when I was wandering around near the Blue Ridge Parkway last year trying to avoid heavy fog.

Ayres Natural Bridge in Wyoming.

Hobbs and me at the bridge. 

The Ayres Bridge is not real tall, 20-feet-high, and 90-feet-wide at the base. It's in a beautiful setting where lots of people camp and picnic. While we were standing there a lady asked if we wanted our photo taken together. Sure. Why not. We need a few of those. She was there with several others from a Christian Motorcycle Association group. They were very friendly, unlike the lone CMA guy we'd seen the afternoon before at a restaurant who'd spoken to another biker couple but not us. Strange.

Anyway, she took photos for us and asked if we'd like our bikes blessed. I wanted to walk to the top of the bridge, but when we came back down yes, that would be nice. The 2011 I have down here has not been blessed before; and I don't know about Hobbs' rental.

It was well worth the short goat climb to get to the top and this rock.

Up we climbed, a steep, but not too long, rock goat trail to the top of the bridge. The view was even more spectacular from there. There was a large outcropping on the top and we wanted to take photos there. Then Hobbs went back down the trail and told me to stay put on top and he'd take photos of me from the bottom.

You can almost see me at the top of the bridge.

And wouldn't you know it, he tracked me coming back down the trail fully expecting me to slide down it on my butt, as I have on other trails we've climbed in the past. Haha. Not this time.

Coming down the goat trail.

The bikes were blessed, we had a photo op with the group and they rode off, with all the women riding their own, too. We've seen more women riders on this trip, I think, than in the past.

Great folks.

From the bridge, we meandered on and stopped to visit the Casper, Wyoming National Historic Trails Interpretative Center. We watched another movie showing the hardships of the trail. One thing I noticed is that while many of the folks walked the trail (500 miles), some were barefoot. Wow. I can hardly walk barefoot in my own house I have such tender feet. I would not have survived, I guess. What a girl!!

You could highlight all of the trails people used to cross the country.  This was just one of them.

But the interpretative center was quite interesting. There were a lot of hands-on things to do, one of which was to take a virtual ride on a wagon across the river. It was just like being in the wagon and going across, being jostled, hearing the wheels turn, the wagonmaster hollering at people, another wagon overturning and the goods floating down the river. It really opens your eyes to what some of those people experienced along the trail.

I wouldn't have wanted to do this day in and day out ... or walk 500 miles either.

There was also a hands-on wagon like the ones people pulled with a few hundred pounds of their belongings. It had a treadmill so you could try and see what it was like … I had to try. Good grief, I don't know how they did it. It would have been back-breaking. But certainly muscle-building and you'd be in excellent shape if you weren't already, or didn't die from the exertion in the heat.

I couldn't have done this.  Guess it would make you or break you.

Wanted:  young, skinney, wiry fellows ... ORPHANS preferred!!!

There was a virtual stagecoach ride that I tried, and then it was time to wander on down the road. This center was very nice and I've enjoyed the history, as much of it overlaps and you get a real idea of what was going on.



The movie showed on the panorama screens above and highlighted various parts of the foreground area at different times depending on what was being highlighted at the time.



On Sunday, July 7, we took back roads, wonderful roads to Cody. We saw lots of antelope and even a few deer. We took one back road that took us off the pavement a little bit to a small town called Arvada.

The antelope will sometimes stop long enough for you to get a decent photo.

Arvada has a bar/restaurant that we stopped in for breakfast. There were all kinds of mounts on the wall … deer, elk, moose, sheep, even a marlin …

This was just a few of the heads in the Arvada Bar and Cafe.

We ordered eggs and sausage for Hobbs, bacon for me. The lady brought it out and said there were only two eggs, so each of you get one. Okay. Works for me. And it actually tasted even better because we only had one.

We spooked this herd of antelope and off they went.

Leaving Arvada, we got separated by a train.  I wasn't going to cross the tracks with the lights flashing even if I could see the train was a ways away.  So I just waited.

Made it to Cody, ahead of the storm and rain, and even ran into a few ladies that were coming on to Billings for the Women on Wheels Ride In.

Monday (July 8) was another beautiful day. The plan was to ride Chief Joseph Pass and Beartooth Pass. One of the goals was to find out why Beartooth was named that.

The roads in these passes are not for the faint of heart.  There are switchbacks and lots of places where there doesn't seem to be much on the side of the road except a long drop down into the valley below.  But what a wonderful and fun ride it was.

There are always chipmunks waiting for a handout.  I even saw some of them taking nuts out of a guy's hand.

 Beartooth Pass is named after the Beartooth Mountain Range, and a specific peak that looks like a bear's tooth. We found that and took photos for Debbie P, a friend of Hobbs' who wanted to know why it was called Beartooth. That mission was accomplished.

The Bear's Tooth.

There is so much beauty in our country, everywhere you turn, especially on a ride like this.

On our ride we encountered a couple of ladies from Michigan who were also riding and enjoying a motorcycle trip. We'd run into them at different stops … they'd pass us, wed pass them. It was nice meeting them … Sandy and kelly. One had one of the original Heritage-Springers, red and white. I'd loved those bikes although Harley only made them for a few years.

Met these ladies from Michigan and our paths crossed often during the ride through the mountains.

We even had the pleasure of construction and a pilot car.  Makes one think of home ... Alaska!!

Coming down out of the Beartooth the weather turned on us … wind gusts which are a bit challenging when coming around the elbow corners, a few sprinkles. But we ran mostly ahead of the on-coming storm and made it to Billings. It didn't get us until we went to dinner at Cracker Barrel. And then it was uglier than ugly … wind that looked like it would topple the bikes, rain pounding down and bouncing off the concrete and surrounding vehicles by several inches, lightning and thunder. I was glad we were inside when it hit and not still on the mountain. We waited it out by having dessert … and then it was gone with only several inches of water left to prove there had been a hellacious storm. There was supposed to have been hail in this storm, but luckily not.

My friend Ruth from Kansas found us quickly after we gotten registered at the hotel. Our room smelled strange to me. Terry, another friend, came to smell it … smelled like chemicals to her. Hobbs said he couldn't smell it, but my throat started acting like there was an allergic reaction. Ruth, Terriy and I walked to the front desk and we got a different room. Turns out there'd been a freon leak from the air conditioning unit and that room wasn't even supposed to be rented out. Bad. Glad there was another room. Now we're next to Ruth and Terry.

Terry from Texas, Laurinda and Ruth from Kansas and me.