 |
| Rumblings Recent Rides Other Riders' Stories Coming Attractions Favorite Links Send me E-MAIL |
 |
| Day 1 - Santa Clara, CA Day 2 - Lee Vining, CA Day 3 - Baker, CA Day 4 - Las Vegas, NV Day 5 - Las Vegas, NV Day 6 - Grand Canyon, AZ Day 7 - Durango, CO Day 8 - Glenwood, CO Day 9 - Highlands, CO Day 10 - Highlands, CO Day 11 - Estes Park, CO Day 12 - Craig, CO Day 13 - Jackson, WY Day 14 - Cody, WY Day 15 - Mammoth, WY Day 16 - Choteau, MT Day 17 - Kelispell, MT Day 18 - Sandpoint, ID Day 19 - Omak, WA Day 20 - Anacortes, WA Day 21 - Anacortes, WA Day 22 - Poulsbo, WA Day 23 - Poulsbo, WA Day 24 - Poulsbo, WA Day 25 - Astoria, OR Day 26 - Lincoln City, OR Day 27 - Bandon, OR Day 28 - Eureka, CA Day 29 - Anchor Bay, CA Day 30 - Martinez, CA FINAL THOUGHTS |
| home l rumblings l recent rides l other riders' stories l coming attractions l links |  |
|
| Today dawned bright and hot. We took our time and
got down to the “Old Trail Town” museum close to 8:30. This is a
place that has taken old, original cabins, stores, saloons, blacksmith
shops, and other buildings from the late 1800’s and put them all in
one place (photo 1). In addition, the fellow who started this
place, has a big ‘ol pile of deer and antelope antlers that he started
collecting when he was about 20 and he is getting on in years now
(photo 2). They say he shot all of the deer in that pile.
They charge you $3.00 a head to get into the place, but I enjoyed
the time we spent there. I like history and historical places. They have a whole collection of different types of wagons and transportation equipment surrounding the place (photo 3). You can walk into some of the buildings, stick your head into others, but the majority of the buildings are locked up and you have to look in through the window to see what’s inside. They say the ownership has changed hands and now belongs to two people and those two can’t agree on what should be done with the place. The docent thought that it was all about money. I told him, “It always is!”
Linda and I went through the little museum they had there and looked at some of the displays. One was of a buffalo head that had two bullet holes in it and an example of a “long rifle” used to kill millions of buffalo on the plains for their hides. After the buffalo was extinct, another group came back for the bones to be used for fertilizer (photos 4 & 5). These folks have somehow managed to get some of the local historical figures, re-buried here, one was Jeremiah Johnson, a trapper played in the movies by Robert Redford (photos 6 & 7) It’s funny, most of these places are little more than 120 years old, but you feel glad that someone saved them. They would be a pile of kindling wood had they remained in their original locations. At the saloon, you can see where someone has shot a couple of holes in the building (photo 8). We left there and headed for the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center, downtown. It seemed somewhat odd to leave this group of original buildings that actual settlers and cowboys had lived in, many held together by wishful thinking, and then drive down the street, pay $15 a piece, to see some modern collections of artifacts, housed in an air conditioned building, with explanations plainly displayed for your enjoyment (photos 9 & 10). I did like that air conditioning. One old fella, was really interested in the written explanations and was intent on what they had to say (photo 11). I thought he looked cool.
The Buffalo Bill museum in Cody has one of the most extensive firearms collections that I’ve seen. Some of you, who are really into this, like my buddy Lou Bodiford, might know of a larger collection somewhere, but I was impressed with this one. They have rifles, shotguns, and pistols from most manufactures. Winchester, Colt, Browning, Sharp, Smith & Wesson, even the Gattling gun from the civil war, you name it and they were represented, even a Daisy BB gun (photos 12, 13, 14, & 15). They had interactive videos on gun embellishment, bluing, etc. Unfortunately, we were not able to see everything that was being displayed, in the time we had allotted. I guess we’ll just have to go back, but the next time we’ll go in cooler weather. I was in the western art gallery part of the museum, and there was only one real painting that I wanted to take a photo of, a half wall representation of Custer’s Last Stand. There was a young man there, so I waited, and about the time he was getting ready to leave, a middle-age woman wandered over. The young man left but the woman stayed. I thought, Oh Hell, just take the picture with her in the photo. Just then, she bends way over to read the information card about the picture. Her butt is sticking right up in the air and her head is lower than her butt. You only have a couple of choices in a case like this, you can wait, you can take the picture and hope she doesn’t notice the flash and click, or you just forget about it. Since there was another group of people holding back, waiting for me to take the picture, I just let the picture go and started to leave. A fellow who had been watching from my side, smiled and said, “Wouldn’t take that picture, huh?” “Not on your life,” I responded and kept on walking. Now I have another reason to go back.
It was time to head north to Red Lodge and the Bear Tooth Mountains. We took WY 120 to MT 72 to MT 308 to MT/WY 212. The road out of Cody was hot and not real interesting, except for an old abandoned mining company (photo 16). It was on the Wyoming side that we hit our first real construction project. It was dirt grade and since it was Saturday, no one was around. Since there was no traffic, we took our time in a vain attempt to keep the motor and the trailer, somewhat clean. As we reached Montana the roadwork stopped and the scenery started getting more interesting. As we pulled into Red Lodge, I gassed up and got ready for the climb up Bear Tooth (photo 17). I was not disappointed. I have heard a lot of comments and suggestions about the Bear Tooth Mountains, Hwy 212. Most have talked about the great scenery or the spectacular climb to the top of the mountains, or the drop-offs down below, or just that it’s a great ride. With the exception of the “drop-offs” everything else was true. The drop offs were no worse than the road to Ouray, Colorado. Not as bad, actually. But the climb, the scenery, and the ride were great. Not to be missed. I think I will try to let the photos speak for themselves but, of course, that’s not possible, since trying to picture the top of the world in a photo can’t be done, at least not by me (photos 18 to 26).
As we climbed, the temperature finally started to drop. By the time we were at the top, it was down to 62 degrees. In addition, it started to sprinkle, with big drops. Since it looked like it might get worse, we stopped and put on our jackets. We passed more motorcycles than I think I have seen in one place on this trip. Obviously, the word is out on the Bear Tooth. For those who haven’t gone yet, it’s worth the trip. As you wind down towards the bottom, you see the mountains there in front of you and it kind of explains why these mountains are called Bear Tooth (photo 27). This route took us west back into Yellowstone National Park. This time we entered the Northeast entrance and started to climb towards Mammoth Hot Springs. This part of Yellowstone is very scenic but the time was getting late and I was ready to get off the bike for a while. We had not traveled far, in terms of miles, but we had been busy and with the ride and the weather I was looking forward to relaxing. When I turned north towards Gardner, I stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel on the off chance they might have a room. To my surprise, they did have one for $58 (no bath, no sink, etc.) and one for $70 with a shared bath down the hall and a sink in the room. We took the $70 room. It was great. Like being in a college dorm room or something. This hotel was built in 1936 and was considered “walking in high cotton” back then. Now it’s quaint. Since there was no air-conditioning they give you a fan. We enjoyed the hell out of it. I’m glad we had the fan though. We had dinner in the “Dining Hall” walked around, and then Linda took in the gift shop (photos 28, 29, 30, 31, & 32 ). By the time we got back to our room, it was time to just crash. More tomorrow. |
| back to top |