Farewell Tour the Sequel part II

When I left you in the last episode I was in Price, Utah. I met another older gentleman with a Yamaha FJR from the LA area who was returning from a rally up in Canada, at least he looked older to me. In all actuality he was probably my age but he looked older to me. Anyhow, the next leg up to Duchesne was great and cool at higher altitudes, then northwest from there and over Soapstone Pass on a dirt road. One thing that boggles me is seeing several trailers as big as ours parked in the trees up there. I can't imagine dragging something that large up the grades and around the corners on those switchbacks, but there they are. Perhaps they hire a big helicopter to airlift them in? Then up through the Uinta mountains to Wyoming. What can I say but that the run over the Uintas was beautiful ( I'm running out of superlatives here ). I cut across the south west corner of Wyoming to Bear Lake in Utah again, a blue lake in a mountain setting that is totally surrounded by houses.To get a picture I had to shoot through a chain link fence. Then it was head east for the run to home. Most of the afternoon it seems I was running off to the south of the Wind River Range and they look like a likely destination in the future. I have used Google Earth to pre-run some areas there and it looks spectacular. Spent the night in Lander, Wyoming and spotted a GS1200 Adventure from Florida with tags from Canada and Alaska including Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. Now there is a long distance cruise. From Lander to Casper is a long drone across a less scenic part of Wyoming. I stopped for fuel in Casper and had a long conversation with another interesting person. I was just saddling up to leave when a guy in a pickup ran over and asked about my bike. We talked for a time and I noticed that he had a unique accent and I just had to ask. It turns out he was from Australia, then I had to ask why in of all places did you end up in Casper? It turns out he sheared sheep in Australia and came here to do the same thing, and Wyoming has lots of sheep. He had gotten out of the shearing business and was doing building contracting now. I think that he said that his wife is from the Twin Cities also. Another chance encounter with an interesting person. It must be the mentality of people that ride that opens them up to meeting other riders, as 9 times out of 10 they are either riding or have in the past. Heading east from Casper I passed several coal trains headed my way and by the time I was south of Rapid City I could see a big black cloud in my path and sure enough I ran into a down pour with high winds, but luckily no hail, which is quite common in that area. East of Rapid I pulled under an overpass to get out of the weather with the hope that it would pass by. Another bike pulled in with me, so we sat on the guard rail an hollered at each other for awhile ( we both were wearing earplugs ). He and a partner had been on the road for 26 days already and were heading home to Oswego, New York. It sounds as if they had been all over the lower 48 states. He was on a Harley so they were going to do the pilgrimage to the museum in Millwaukee. That night I was in Wall, South Dakota, at the time I thought that if I just keep going I could be home tonight but it is a good thing that I stopped to dry out. In the morning I was on the road early and had a nice ride home. Oh ya, in Chamberlin for breakfast I was seated next to a couple and when I went to leave I noticed that he had a Butterfield Threshing Bee t-shirt. It turned out that they were from the Trimont area, small world. I think that I was home by about 1pm without getting wet again. Come to think of it the guy from New York had not hit any rain until the downpour we both endured in South Dakota.

As an addition, Jan and I spent the weekend of the 4th at a KOA in Oakdale, Wisconsin. We went riding Saturday and Sunday on the back roads in that area. Wisconsin back roads are one of the best kept secrets in motorcycling as they are all paved and go up and down and round and round and are quiet to boot! Anyhow, we had a great time and brought our lunches along and ate at a couple of interesting locales, one at a downtown picnic table and another at a shelter in the country next to an old country school. We will be going back in the future I am sure. Well, that is about it for now, maybe I'll do another posting in the future on the Fallen Hero's ride I participated in over this weekend. I'll throw some pictures in here and try to get them in proper order for a change. Bye. Phil and Paul may recoginise the picture of the sign for Farsn, Wyoming. Think about our 1973 trip.