31 Aug 2010 - posted by Dennis
WOW. It’s amazing, moments after riding away from Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel in Cody we join a column of bikes going our way across this prairie landscape where the highway extends to the horizon.
We are 30 Harleys that form a snakelike line as we gobble up other bikes, all Sturgis bound, This is Riding The American Dream and at a lunch break in a small town called Ten Sleep a rider returning from Sturgis, which is still two days away reports that motel and campgrounds are saying that bookings are well up and they estimate that 800, thousand bikes will be in the area this year!
That blows us away, we just can’t imagine it and yet we are doing it.
On the road again and our group cruises along a big 4 lane interstate through mountains that roadside signs say are 3 Billion years old – Gob Smacked I am !
But hold on. I should take you back to where this adventure all began. In San Francisco we are joined by John and Libby from Brisbane HOG for a couple of days sightseeing , visiting Alcatraz and a general getting to know each other over some of the Best Italian cuisine in our funky downtown hotel.
Then a short flight to Denver finds our hired Harleys awaiting us, each one bright and shiny with its riders name welcoming us on the windscreen .... what a buzz ... even some nervousness from our girls some of which have never ridden Harleys before, much less on the wrong side of the road and on an interstate. But these brave ladies evolved into hard core scooter babes, reclothed in chaps, neck dusters and bandannas, and when I asked Suz, ”How is it?” she always replied, “I AM LOVIN IT!”
Before we knew it days had sped by and we found ourselves standing on the Acoma Pueblo Mesa, an Indian Village in New Mexico, which is the longest continuously occupied village in North America. Below us it’s hot, the truckers pound the interstate in an endless procession that we must join.
Now I glance at the speedo and realise that we have been sitting on 100 mph for at least 15 minutes. Couldn’t do that at home and our riders are really buzzing – hardly any traffic and a good blowout ... brilliant!
In Taos, a small Mexican adobe town where we stopped for lunch a motorcycle cop we spoke to replied to the question, “ What’s your approach to the speed limits on interstates?” he said that with a70 mph area they allowed motorists 30 mph extra but anything over that was reckless driving and you went to jail. Now you can’t argue with that! Especially when he was wearing a Tazer gun on one hip and a service revolver on the other.
He even stopped the traffic so our group could depart in one column, very obliging.
Talking about HOT, we left The Roadkill Cafe [ you kill it – we grill it, is their slogan ] at Seligman on Route 66 for a cruise to the Hoover Dam that proved a bit much for some of our bunch who dropped to the ground at the car park. 127 degrees F, or 53 C [ DAMM you can roast a chicken in that temperature ] proved a bit too much but after lots of fluids and fan waving they were away again into Las Vegas.
Now if you haven’t experienced Las Vegas --- you must before you die. Not only the brash and brazen new Vegas but the old. Fremont Street has the largest L.E.D. lightshows under one roof in the world. Dizzy we were and loving it!
But the best was still to come with the amazing colours and rock formations that made up the landscape of Zion and Bryce Canyons. Capital Reef with its towering isolated mounts that appeared like colossal stone ships in the desert, and through all this wound our brilliantly smooth motorcycle dream road. What an absolute delight, just superb.
This landscape is a visual overload that continues for days, NOT minutes or hours but days.
Cruising the rolling grasslands you can’t help but notice the signs advertising l.M.LIGHT & Sons store in Steamboat Springs and sure enough a visit proved irrestible to many of our band. They emerged sporting cowboy hats which if you have been in these parts, you will know most folks wear. Cowboy boots, belts and stuff found homes on our bikes, along with big grins.
Hats on and seated on the saddles up front of the bar in The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole was perfect, all the while a steady stream of Harleys rumbled through the night air .... could it get much better that this?
Well yes it does ! Quickly, Off the bikes, there’s a grizzly bear with cubs coming through the trees over there. It’s Yellowstone National Park and only a few miles on from seeing Old Faithful blow its stack we are entranced by a herd of Buffalo up close, and because it is mating season, head butting and flinging dirt about is a must. Fantasic.
In fact we have seen Elk, Moose, Prairie Dogs, Wild Turkey, Deer of all sizes, [ that frighten the B Jesus out of you when they run across the road in front of you ] Turkey Buzzards and some wild looking women .... just great, bring it on.
BLAM and a shotgun goes off and does nearly get me to unload my strides, it’s the same in Silverton, but this is Cody and outside The Irma Hotel local cowboys enact a street theatre gunfight.
Oh I must mention the Cody Historiaal Museum which is argueably the very best in the west. Its gun section takes hours to view and the Indian displays tellls the true events.
The anticipation is building now and we lead a very nervous and bewildered group into Deadwood. Down the main street, park up and walk the town .... the intensity of so many bikes, so many bike people and the constant drone of Harleys, well some are totally overwhelmed and just sit with a beer looking at each other, speechless and grinning like schoolkids.
What is Sturgis like if Deadwood”s so crowded? IT’S CHOAS, mad and pulsing at the seams as we turn into Main Street. Cameras clicking, eyes bugged, mouth dry but trying to remain cool and blend. Yeah right. Not a hope in hell. This is what we have ridden 3 weeks and 4 thousand miles to witness.
That night ZZ Top played at Buffalo Chip, the Bob Dylan ripped and because you can ride your bike in and close up to the stage, we stood amongst booming music that impacted on your chest, bikes being revved, lights and strangely dressed [ or undressed ] women, having the time of our lives.
Day trips to Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, Alzada [ the oldest biker bar in the USA ] Iron Mountain Road, The Needles, combined with bargin hunting amongst the huge array of vendors then easing the pain while giving the easy to look at bar girls of One Eyed Jacks a chance to impress just add up to The Trip of a Lifetime.
So it’s all good and really great to ride a Harley in America. Ride safe, hard and fast,
Cheers, Dennis and Jo, JD’s MOTORSICKLE TOURS.COM
