The Contest: Bison, Bear and Moose…oh, my!

Steve and I rode 360 miles today, ending in Kalispell, Montana. That’s  2,500 for Steve and 2,900 for me.  While we weren’t able to ride the Going to the Sun road through Glacier Nat’l Park today—due to snow—we did ride Highway 2 that skirted Glacier. And it was a wonderful alternative.  

It was in the low to mid-50’s when we went out to the bikes this morning…nice and chilly, perfect riding weather.  And it was mostly 75 degrees all day long.  

We reached Great Falls and kept going, pushing on toward Glacier.  Yeah, the wind was pushing us around a bit, but nothing too bad.  

The scenery? Spectacular! This is just some beautiful country. I saw some Dall Sheep when we went into Glacier, along with many, many deer; mostly alive.  

Which brings me to The Contest: Whoever is the first to see 2 out of 3 of the following wins: A bear, moose or bison.  And a grizzly takes all.  

Well, Steve saw some bison— roaming, I believe—first. We saw a lone one a bit later.  So the contest is on!

We went through some cool little towns: Harlowton, Moccasin, Dupuyer (they have a teddy bear issue), Choteau, etc.  Steve read up on many of the communities we rode through once we stopped for the day.  

We also passed through Crow and Blackfeet country.  Interesting and depressing at the same time, if you’ve ever traveled through Native American land.  We stopped in for a quick lunch in Browning, and listed to YMCA—the famous Village People tune—in an Indian language.  Fascinating.  

The steeds are doing great and it turns out our butts are more marshmallow than iron.  However, our spirits are high and we’re looking forward to the next few days.  

I want to mention that some of our friends and family are following our progress and providing helpful advice…or uncalled-for criticism in the form of off-color humor.  We either love you or you suck! Here are some of the folks who are riding along with us from afar: Beautiful Dee in Tampa, Jon in Arizona, Jeff in Napa, Dave in Escondido, Julio in New Delhi, John in Rome, Doug in San Diego, Paul, Jack and Bill in Buffalo, Sal jn San Berdoo, and Drunk Uncle in San Antonio. Thanks!

More to follow…

Whipped by the Wind, Iron Butt days

The last two days, most of which was spent on the I-90 West, have been not as fun as I would’ve liked.  The wind—mostly from the front and side—has been tough to ride in.  We were are our way from somewhere to somewhere else so we just powered through. We made good time at 80+ MPH, but it ain’t easy.  And our MPGs are showing it, too.  Steve is getting between 32-40 and I’m getting about 30.  Just brutal.  

We left Atlantic, Iowa via the I-90 yesterday morning and ended up in Murdo, South Dakota, a respectable 435 miles for the day.  We found a truly remarkable country inn, the Landmark Hotel. We got off the bikes and jumped into the pool.  What a great way to end the day.  

Today we departed after breakfast and planned to make it a long day.  To make better time we went by Wall Drug, skipped Sturgis and bypassed the Badlands.  

We did detour over to Mount Rushmore, though, and it looked spectacular.  We didn’t go into the park, but saw some great views right before and right after the entrance. And I’d never seen that profile view.  

Leaving Rushmore, we were soon in Wyoming. We hustled along the I-90–the wind not as bad as yesterday—until Billings, then took a small country  road north.  

In the small town of Ryegate, Montana, we stopped into a roadside bar and grill to take a break and get a bite to eat. The cast of characters were a fun group of locals who were as interested in us as we were in them.  Good food, great conversation.  

We left there and found a small hotel in the town of Harlowton just 30 minutes away.  We were a bit tired but pleased with the mileage: 624 miles.  Steve is becoming quite the Iron Butt rider.  

Sadly, or maybe fortunately, we learned from the locals that the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Nat’l Park is closed—snowed in.  And we were really looking forward to riding it tomorrow.  On a related side note, this is the latest in the year that the road has ever been closed.  We amended our ride plan to get to Kalispell via a different road instead.   

More to follow.  Enjoy the photos. 

 

My friend Joe Bonacuse

 Shortly after I bought my BMW motorcycle in November 2020, I met up with another local BMW rider named Joe Bonacuse. 

The day we met, we rode over to Hap’s Cycles in Sarasota where everyone knew him.  Turns out he’d been buying bikes and having them serviced at Hap’s for quite a while.  

Joe and I became fast friends and we did quite a few rides together. Joe also became friends with some of my other local friends —Paul, Ralph and the other Paul—and we would all hang out and do motorcycle stuff. 

Our first ride was in December 2021, when four of us rode up to Crystal River and spent a couple days riding to Cedar Key, the Ozello Trail and other cool places in that area.  A fun memory from that ride is when Joe took Paul in the sidecar to get a pizza we’d ordered.  Good times.  

Joe fit in perfectly with the group and we ended up doing many rides together.  We did all of the local bike shows—like Arcadia , St. Pete, Gib Town and Daytona.  In Daytona, Joe had people lined up to see his sidecar rig; it was definitely a beaut!

When I proposed riding 1,200 miles round trip to Birmingham, Alabama to see the Barber Motorcycle Museum, Joe was the first one to say, “Heck yeah! let’s do it!” And so we did.  Four of us enjoyed a 5-day ride through some beautiful country.  

The last time we rode together was in January when we visited the GibTown bike fest.  

I recently received a note from Joe’s daughter-in-law letting us know Joe had passed away on June 17.  She added, “He would’ve loved to be on a ride with you all, it was one of his favorite things to do.”  And that made me smile.  

This was a special man, a wonderful person, an excellent rider and a valued friend.  You’re missed, Joe.  

Rhythm of the Ride

I spent the night with my cousin and her better half in Fulton, MO last night.  A wonderful evening with BBQ and family.  My other cousin drove down with his wife and son.  

Speaking with my cousin’s BF, he provided a better route to stay away from the interstate.  I took that instead and it turned out to be great! Glad I had some local area knowledge.  

Steve and I met up in Atlantic, Iowa today.  We’d both ridden 340 miles.  His bike looks great.

After unpacking our gear, we rode into town and had some BBQ and beer.  After getting back to the room, the route planning commenced.  

We need to be in Kalispell, Montana by the 11th, and that’s about 1,300 from here.  Tomorrow’s plan is to ride toward Sturgis, about 600 miles away. We may not get there, but we’ll at least get close.  

We spent the afternoon prepping the gear and taking about the ride.  Good times.  

Now, many people say that Iowa is just endless cornfields.  But I’m here to tell you they’re correct.  

More to follow.  Some photos:

En route from Tampa and Buffalo

Steve left Buffalo on July 5 and I left Tampa today (July 6).

I had about 1500 miles to ride to meet up with him east of Omaha; he has about 1000 miles to go from Buffalo. 

The first day Steve rode about 200 miles over to Cleveland. And on the second day, he rode another 300 miles to somewhere in Indiana.

I finished my day somewhere in Southern Tennessee, about 100 miles from Nashville. I rode 625 miles for the day and that was just about enough.  I wanted to get past  Nashville, or maybe into Kentucky, but my butt isn’t as iron as it used to be.  

As expected, there was some traffic out of Atlanta and the heat in Tennessee hit 103…and stayed there.  Something kind of cool happened, literally. It was 97 degrees in Georgia and I was feeling the heat.  All of a sudden, a cooling rain fell and it dropped the temperature almost 20 degrees in less than two minutes.  Very refreshing.  

So when I pulled into a small town off the I-24 to get a cold drink, I decided to just call it a day.  

Steve stated that he wasn’t seeing the MPG he was hoping for (high 40’s) and is only getting about 200 miles to the tank.  I’m in the same boat as I was hoping for mid to high-40’s and only averaged 42…likely due to the wind.  Lots of wind all day long.  

Here are some photos of the day.