I am a lucky man. Kids are young adults now. My wife is an angel. And I get 5 weeks vacation. I am a lucky man.
The mountains were calling so late August early September I pointed my Versys west. Left Wisconsin at 5 PM on a Friday. I do enjoy the hell out of long rides and cant live without them. I call it my "recalibration time".
Somewhere in Minnesota my fuel light came on. I ran 15 miles with it flashing. I found out one can get a little more than 5 gals in the V.
Drove all night and when the sun came up was in South Dakota.
The miles flew by. click click click Dont get me wrong. I like the Dakota's but there's no mountains.
I had a goal to reach. A co-worker of mine was staying in Wyoming at a campground in the Bighorn's. He said stop by for a free place to pitch my tent.
So after 24 hours and 1109 miles I called it a day.
Sibley Lake in the Bigs.
My bud's campsite.
We split a 6-pack and called it a night.
In many places there was road construction. And I was horrified to see bama money was "fixing Hy" 14A in the Big's. It's a great motorcycle road and I hope they dont wreck it.
I do think Honda's build quailty is better. But I am very happy with this little bike. Nothing 1500$ couldnt fix. I like getting 50MPG-that will not happen on a VTX. I test road a Versys in May right before my Alaska trip? I knew then this was my next bike. But I was unsure if I could farkle it it time for my July Alaska thing. In hindsight I wish I would have. The trip would have been much better on the V. Tons of gravel up north and this bike eats gravel roads.
They just closed the Beartooth this week for the winter. I hope they got most of the paving done on the Wyoming side before the snow fell. You all will have to wait till next summer to take a nap at 9000 ft.
South of Sula Montana found a road that wasnt on my map. But it was on the GPS. I took it to Gibbons Pass. It wasnt easy, it had rocks the size of bowling balls that I tried to avoid. It was one lane to the top.
Once at the pass proper the road became two lanes.
Great report and that's good news about the V's capabilities. I traded in a ZZR1200 for the V and wasn't sure about what it would do on a long haul. Between you and guys like jdrocks I'm feeling much better. Ride safe.
jdrocks? You are sooo right about The Dalton. One can be flying along at 70 on outstanding concrete-like gravel,,
,,then BOOM no warning this snit pops up. Pucker factor alert.
And whenever you see a grader there is always a water tanker nearby. That calcium crap they lay down up there to keep the dust down is evil when wet. Pure snot. :devil:
Montana is full of unpaved roads. Dont fear them on this Versys. This bike shines on gravel. From Gibbons Pass I took mostly gravel down to Lemhi Pass. I wanted to camp there. Until I saw this sign.
There were signs all over "stay on roadway-private land".
Some of my friends have elk hunted near Leadore Idaho for many years. They told me about the steaks at The Silver Dollar Saloon on the south side of town. Well, I got there too late, it was dark. Bartender said sorry pal grill is closed. While I was drowning my sorrows about another powerbar supper two cowboys decided to have a go. The fists came up over a quarter. One guy claimed the other stole his last quarter on the pool table. They started to dance I was ready to duck if need be. Bartender threw an empty beer can at them said "take it outside boys you'll scare the tourist". That be me.
Things quieted down and I was almost ready to leave when said bartender comes out of back room and throws this at me.
What a nice guy. Best meal I had all day. This thing kept watching me as I was eating.
Found the Leadore City Park where for 3 bucks you can camp.
Rode over to Rivco and picked up the clamps and pegs. Pinned them thru the clamps and bars with a bolt. Solid, much better than the MFW ones I got from Twisted Throttle.
Are there any bears around your camp sites? If so, you should carry a loud whistle around your neck and a flash light and some pots and pans in your tent to make a racket. It works. Awesome trip.
The seat bag is a MotoFizz regular in the expanded mode. It holds all my camping gear very well.
The hardbags are the stock Kawi/Givi. I had them painted.
Bears? No problems this trip. Keep a clean camp (no food) keep your bear spray handy. You'll be fine. If that dont work a Ruger Alaskan .454 Casull loaded with 320 grain Cor-Bons should do it.
A wise Montanan told me this:
How do you tell black bear crap from grizzly crap?
Griz crap has bear whistles in it.
Observations of Idaho? It's mountains are very rugged. And it seems every river has a road beside it. Or every road has a river beside it. Great paved roads.
The Salmon.
The Sawtooths near Stanley. Stanley was very cold almost like a high desert.
North of McCall
Nearing White Bird saw a young chap panning gold. He was a little leery when I approached him. He said this was "bout 4 hours work". He was happy.
In Grangeville at a gas stop a logger asked me how I liked the BMW. He then asked where I was headed. Said I didnt know, lots of daylight left. He told me of Elk City. "Buncha crazy Vietnam Vets living off the grid".
Really? I had to go.
The road into Elk City was simply wonderful. No guard rails if you miss an apex yer swimming.
I bet the log truckers know this curve well.
As I was taking a shot of this heli refueling station,,
,,a dude comes out of a truck and says "LEAVE".
I said WTF?
"I have 40000$ worth of jet fuel on site. LEAVE NOW"
yes sir
On the Crooked River nearing Elk City was a salmon trap.
A technician from Idaho Fish and Game was doing his thing.
The lil guy salmon were caught here.
Cant see it but in here were 8 or 9 huge adult salmon.
The tech was clipping fins and sliding radio chips into the lil chinooks.
He gave me a nice tour and one could tell he really loved his work.
I thought the road into Elk City was a dead-end. I was wrong. I did find the "crazy" vets and they were not crazy. Great guys. The American Legion Bar was a jumping place for a one horse town. They told me I could camp behind the bar. I declined. They was really hooting n hollerin. Would have got no sleep. One of them told me about this shortcut to Darby Montana. He called it The Magruder Crossing. Hmmmm. All dirt. Lots of wolves bears elk etc. I asked a few other guys about it. They dared me to take this lil red street bike over it. So I went back to my stealth campsite on the Crooked River with 125 miles of dirt on my mind. And mulled it all night.
I had to try it. They dared me. Street tires and all. Heavy with all my gear. I had to try. Next morning I found fuel for the bike and fuel for me.
By the way, the picture under the rock is great!! Super Cool!! Awesome, even!!!!
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