Billings, Mt '08

We drove to Auburn in very light traffic & stopped at Denny’s for breakfast, then headed east on hwy 80 over the Sierras in very comfortable weather, but heavy smoke from the California fires. After fueling up in Sparks, NV, we traveled east through Winnemucca & on to Elko, NV for the night. It was still very smoky at Elko.

7/11/08 After breakfast we then traveled east to Wells, NV & hwy 93. At Wells we traveled north, stopping at the Winecup Ranch about 40 miles north of Wells to look at Herb’s ranch through field glasses & then on to Jackpot to fuel up. As we left town to the north, we entered Idaho. Jackpot is where all the Idahoans go to gamble.

We continued north through Twin Falls to hwy 84, then east through American Falls to hwy 15 & north through Idaho Falls to hwy 20 & N/E on hwy 20 to West Yellowstone where we spent the night.

7/12/08 - Another great morning. We got up & went to breakfast & ambled in to Yellowstone National park, about two miles in there was a buffalo ambling along the side of the road toward us & just as he went by me he decided to cross the road right in front of Leonard. Leonard had to stop & he got a good look at him but his camera was in the trunk of his bike, and so no picture.

That was our most interesting sight until we got to watch Old Faithful shoot up in the air for a couple hundred feet. We then slowly rode north stopping at the various hot pools for pictures & working our way toward the northeast entrance of the park. There was a “Jillion” motorcycles heading the other way, mostly Harleys.

We finally left the park & after a few miles of very bad road that was under construction, gravel, big rocks & some very soft soil that made travel interesting. We arrived in the town of Cooke City where we planned on stopping for lunch & fuel but then were so many motorcycles that there was no place to park. We continued on toward Red Lodge.

Leaving Cooke City, we entered the Beartooth highway & what a great ride that was. There is about 60 miles of twisty turny highway going from 4000 feet to 11000 feet. Getting up to the top & looking down at the valleys where there were lakes with snow in all the gullies is really breath taking. There were even skiers making runs down the hills.

After leaving “top of the world” (there is a place named that up on top) we then started down hill on the same twisty road. It is said that Beartooth road is one of the best motorcycle roads in the world & I do believe that it is.

When we got down to where the air was heavy enough to breathe we arrived at the city of Red Lodge, where we had a room for the night. After riding up & down the street looking for a parking spot among the motorcycles, we finally found one & there was a Mexican restaurant right there so we had a very good Mexican dinner.

7/13/08 - This morning was a lazy one for us as we thought we only had a hundred miles or so & we could take our time to get to Billings just in time to check in. As we left town there was a sign stating that Billings was 65 miles away. We got there at 9:00 AM & when we registered they had a room all ready. We spent the day resting, visiting & getting ready for the Welcome dinner that evening.

The dinner was real good, meat, salads, beans, cornbread & brownies for dessert. After dinner there were many jokes offered over the mike & a 50/50 drawing & then we retired to get some rest to get a good start on the morrow.

7/14/08 - This morning started out with breakfast & going over to the convention center to register for the rally. At 9:00 am they started the opening ceremonies, all the different regions were in groups, & as each region was introduced they stood up & cheered, we had some long balloons that we let go & they flew all over the hall.

After all the speeches were over and the ceremony was over we went to the DQ for a blizzard & sandwich where we connected with Don, Judy & their new Subaru & drove to Pompey’s Pillar which was several miles out of town. It is a place where Lewis & Clark camped on their expedition across America & Clark got up on this very large rock & carved his name & the year they were there.

We then went to the Little Bighorn Battlefield where Custer made his last stand, where all his men were wiped out. After our sightseeing we returned to Billings & a group of us went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner & then retired to the hotel for the night.

7/15/08 - This morning we took our time and slept in until 6:30 AM. If I hadn’t wakened Leonard I think he would have slept until noon. We went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast they had a nice buffet & then we went to the venders as Leonard is contemplating having his bike converted to a trike. There were four different trikes there so he was quite busy getting as much information as possible before deciding which one to get.

Suddenly it was noon so we went to lunch & then went down to the Old Train Depot & watched five or six guys on rice rockets doing wheelies, stopping with the back wheel about four feet off of the ground & doing spins, riding backwards & several other unrideable positions. They did this for about an hour. It was great. There was also a bike show & drill teams to watch so it ended up a pretty full day. That evening Leonard, Harry & Karen, Cesar & Virginia & I went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner then back to our rooms to rest up for what ever the morrow might bring.

In the afternoon we went to the Beartooth Harley Davidson Shop as they had an open house & were serving hot dogs outside. Just as we arrived it started to sprinkle & in a few minutes there was a downpour with 40 mph winds & thunder & lightning, that lasted for about a half hour then it cleared up & was beautiful the rest of the day. Harry & Karen went to a Mexican dinner & invited us but I had already eaten my hot dog so didn’t go but Leonard went along with them. The rest of the evening was rest time, reading & watching TV & getting ready for our final day.

7/17/08 - This morning is our final one at the rally. We went to breakfast & made the final rounds to make sure that we missed nothing. At 10 am the drill teams put on their final demonstrations.

After all that excitement I went to the convention center where different chapters put on skits. They were all fun & some were super & they had awards for the best-dressed chapters & the largest chapters.

At 4:00 PM was the time for the closing ceremonies & the drawings for the 50/50 & the new Gold Wing which was won by a woman in Canada. She had four choices, the Gold Wing, a Harley, a BMW or $10,000. She chose the Harley. After dinner we went back to the hotel & began packing to get ready to leave for home the next morning.

7/18/08 - This morning it was time to go home. We left Billings at 7:00 am & headed west on hwy 90 on our way to Missoula MT. We stopped at Bozeman for breakfast & Deer Lodge for fuel & on to Missoula for the day but we got there at around 2:00 PM & that was to early to stop so we went south on hwy 93 to the town of Lolo & hwy 12 going west. What a nice ride, it is a canyon & the road goes right along the river & has a sign that says sharp curves the next 77 miles. They were right; it was really a fun ride. At the bottom end we were supposed to meet hwy 13 at Kooska ID but I missed it & we ended up in the little town of Kamiaha. This was purely by accident but I have a nephew living there so I called him & they were home so we spent the night with them. I hadn’t seen them in quite a long time so it was fun for both of us.

7/19/08 - After a great evening, the next morning we got up early & back tracked to Kooska & found hwy 13. Then went on south to hwy 95 then south to Ontario OR. where we took hwy 84 to hwy 395 east of Burns, then south on 395 to Lakeview OR. & hwy 140 there we went west on hwy 140 to Sprague river road & north to my daughter Kay’s (this was planned). We spent the night having a good visit & seeing their new colt & Leonard learning about ranching.

The next morning we headed for home went to Klamath Falls for fuel then on 97 to weed & hwy 5 & south to home arriving at about 4:00 PM tired but very happy. Stuffed in our minds everything about the great trip & fun that we had meeting & enjoying all the people at the Rally. We are now waiting to see what comes up next.