August trip

Hey, Fossils, a reminder about our trip coming up:

August 14-17 to Wisconsin.

Our plan is to leave town Thursday the 13th after work, heading to my cabin near Hayward, Wisconsin. The next day we will go up to Bayfield and Madeline Island in Lake Superior. Stay over night on the Island Friday night. Then back to my place where we will take day trips on "alphabet roads" .

Some are taking Monday the 17th off of work and we will travel back to the cities then. If you need to get back you may certainly come home Sunday or even Saturday. It's a three hour trip home.

I'd like to get an idea of how many are coming so please let me know ASAP. I have beds for 8, after that you can pitch a tent or sleep on the floor.

We still need to work out some details such as a meeting place, where we are staying on Madeline, etc. I will make those of you who are coming aware of all of that once it is figured out. Also on www.FossilApostles.com

Please forward this to any biking friends who may be interested.

Thanks,
Fossil Wayne
6 one 2- 7 two 9- 5 zero 31

Spring Ride, May 30, 2009

It was a beautiful day if a bit chilly in the morning. We were 12 Fossils strong as we left the city but had a high attrition rate in that only 4 of us were together as we re-entered civilization in the afternoon. But not to worry, this was not due to any calamaties such as Swine Flu or any unplanned catastrophic vehicle exits. Most Fossils just had places to go and people to see before the ride was done.

Because of that "places to go, people to see" thing mentioned earlier we met quite early at 7:00 AM at MGCC. Some quick instructions on the dynamics of group riding, a scripture reading from Colosians 3, a prayer and a song and we were up and ready to go. Greg had volunteered to plan the ride this year and since Lloyd had it plugged into his GPS gizmo he was elected the leader of the pack. Greg would take up the rear on his new-to-him Venture (nice bike Greggy!). The plan was to head north, follow the Rum River and enjoy breakfast in Cambridge, MN. Then zoom over to the Taylor Falls area, jump across the St Croix River to Wisconsin and follow WI 35 down the river to the Stillwater area. Then on home. This would have been a full day of riding and was a good plan, but, as it turned out we didn't follow the plan.

The ride up to Cambridge was nice. We stayed on county roads, some nice and twisty. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly we were out of the city and driving through trees and by farm fields. I also noticed how the further north we went the colder the wind became. The restaurant in Cambridge was small and full of friendly town folk. Obviously a popular breakfast place for Saturday mornings. We were able to find three empty booths. Divided into groups of four we could enjoy each other's company, re-acquanting some old relationships, glad to make some new.

After breakfast some of us needed to head back to the city. We bid adieu to that 3 which left 9 of us willing to take the next leg of our adventure, a ride up to Rush City and a visit to the Dennis Kirk Scratch and Dent Store. This ride was also on interesting county roads. It became even more interesting when, unbeknownst to anyone, one of the nice paved county roads suddenly changed to gravel. We braved on for the few miles of gravel until we were back to the familiarity of pavement. The Scratch and Dent Store was a nice diversion but only one Fossil bought anything. At the end of this leg we then lost three more riders to the real world in that Jim G. and George needed to head back to the city and Mark was heading north and east to his Wisconsin home in Siren.

From Rush City we headed east and south with Taylor Falls, MN on the St Croix River as our goal. Nice roads again, of course, and now the weather was finally starting to warm up a bit. Taylor Falls has an old time drive-in which we stopped at for root beer floats and similar. The newer Fossils were surprised we were stopping to eat again and we gladly explained to them that the Fossil Apostles Motorcycle Gang never drives past an ice cream joint without stopping. It's in our by-laws, you know.

After finishing our ice cream it was time to plan the last leg of our epic journey. Dick and Lloyd were heading across the river to Wisconsin at the Osceola crossing. Dick to pick up another chromed part for his Harley and Lloyd to visit a friend. The last four of us would take some side roads back towards the city. And that's what we did. We waved to Lloyd and Dick at the cross road, then Jim L, Larry, Eric and I rode on to Hugo where we split again as Larry and Eric live in the western suburbs and Jim & I are southern boys.

All in all, it was a great day of riding and enjoying each other's company. It was good to welcome three new Fossils (George, Jim L, and Dick). We are all looking forward to our August trip to northern Wisconsin. See you then!

Fossil Wayne.

2009 meeting and ride dates

We held a meeting of Fossils today, Saturday, February 28, 2009 at OCB in Maple Grove. Those attending were Dave, Keith R, Lloyd, Jim, Larry, Tim, Jeff, Greg, Steve and Wayne. A special welcome to our new Fossil, Dave!

In addition to a hearty breakfast buffet and spirited catching up all around we settled on some ride dates:

1. Spring Ride: Date will be Saturday, May 30, which is the Saturday after Memorial Day. Exact plans are still to be determined but the scuttle butt is that we will let Jeff find the roads and we will all attempt to keep up. Stay tuned for more details.

2. Summer Trip: Dates are August 14-17. Plan is to leave town Thursday afternoon after work and head to Wayne's hunting shack in Wisconsin, up Hayward direction. Once there we will set that up as HQ for the long weekend and head out from there on day trips. One idea that was received well is to head north to Bayfield via some twisty roads. After getting there we can take the ferry across to Madeline Island, ride around the loop, perhaps stay over night at a park or a B&B or maybe Larry's son's property. Again, details forthcoming.

3. Fall Ride: Saturday October 3. Tentative plan is to head up to Tim's cabin on Friday night the 2nd and stay there. Stay tuned...

2008 Fall Ride

Fossil Apostles Fall Ride ‘08

Gordy nailed it! His proposal of an Oct. 11 date for a fall ride may prove to have been the best day of the Autumn of ’08. The confluence of mid-seventy air temps, a partly to mostly cloudy sky, light breezes and some peak color combined for a great day for biking in river bluff country along the Mississippi River in southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Just six of us – Lloyd, Bill, Jim, Keith, Jeff and I (Greg) met up at Woody’s Grille, along the west edge of the 494 loop at 8:00 Saturday morning.

We got underway at about 8:30, after getting apprised of the most recent updates to Gadget Guy’s (Jeff’s) bike (check out the new surface-to-air missile launcher---). Within a half-hour or so, we escaped the metro freeway network, following highway 55 south toward Hastings. Once in Hastings, Jeff took the lead to escort us to Red Wing via a nice, somewhat curvy road-less-traveled, namely, Ravenna Trail to County 18 Boulevard. It emptied back onto Hwy. 61, just north of Red Wing – a nice alternative to Hwy. 52 to County 50 through Trier and Miesville.

We arrived in Red Wing at 10:00, where we met up with Gordy for breakfast at Liberty’s Restaurant, downtown. Gordy was sporting a new aftershave called “87 Octane” that attracted the attention of all the waitresses. The food was outstanding. The conversation drifted in and out of politics, the economic collapse, and talk about our foolish car purchases in years past. We enjoyed a few laughs, sang “Happy Birthday” to a waitress named Sherry and left to enjoy our ride. Regrettably, Keith had to return home to make good on a previous commitment. We said our goodbyes, then we headed south toward Lake City, down Hwy. 61.

It was somewhat chilly riding in the shade of the river bluffs for several miles below Lake City, but not enough to be of any concern. The fall colors were spectacular, the vistas along the river breathtaking at times, and I could not help but be reminded of how very privileged we were to be experiencing this ride together, in this extraordinarily beautiful place. God’s workmanship – at the peak of it’s beauty, and here we were riding motorcycles though it. Man, we are so blessed!

We exited Hwy. 61 at Weaver, then followed County 74 toward Beaver and the Whitewater State Park basin, where flooding had ravaged the area just months earlier. We found ourselves on hard-packed limestone gravel that stretched on for several miles. The Box Elder bugs and Ladybugs were hanging in swarms in the warm October air. We made our way to the town of Elba, where Jeff had to leave us to make his way back toward home and a to-do list.

The remainder of us went to plan B, which took us eastward, back toward the river and bluff country, in lieu of the original route which would have taken us northwesterly toward Zumbro Falls, Oronoco and Zumbrota. I think we followed county 26 toward Altura, then east along Hwy. 248 back to Hwy. 61. We rode into downtown Winona to find the river crossing into Wisconsin. Once across the river, we headed northward along the river on Wisconsin Hwy. 35.

Hwy. 35 was magnificent! A good deal of the way you are looking at the river or the backwaters of the river. It takes you through these quaint, small towns like Fountain City, Maiden Rock, Stockholm and Pepin. Every biker and his brother (or his Mama) was out on the road. The river to the left, the bluffs and the leafy palettes of color to the right – wow! - what a treat! And this kind of eye-candy stretched on for miles and more miles. At Gordy’s urging (now we know where Keith gets it) we stopped for ice cream at a great little ice cream shop, I think just south of Pepin. We took plenty of time to sit and enjoy enormous ice cream cones (a bargain at only $2) and watch the endless parade of motorcycles go by. Before getting underway once again we said our goodbyes to Gordy, as we knew he would soon be crossing the river, back to Red Wing via the bridge at Hwy. 63.

Shortly after Gordy left us, we saw the skies threatening rain ahead, so we pulled off one last time to suit-up for rain. A light rain soon started, but in no way dampened our spirits nor spoiled the ride. We crossed back into Minnesota from Prescott, Wisconsin, linked up with the superslabs – Hwy. 61 to 94 to 35E to 694/94 and to home, arriving there around 6:30, just as it was starting to get dark.

Bill mentioned to me the next morning, at church, the melancholy that he felt as he pulled into the garage that night. “I was thinking about the fact that it may be six months before we can do this again.”. As I left him, I felt a bit of that same melancholy, but also the thought that maybe those six months are a part of what make a day like today so precious – the fact that we don’t know when – or if ever - we will have this opportunity again. We receive it all the more as a treasured gift from our Creator and Father. Thank you, Lord for the gift of today.

Until we ride again,
Greg

Day 9, Saturday, Glendive Montana to Home.

Discussion over the supper table last night was about whether to stick with the plan today of visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and then stay at a hotel in Jamestown or to push all the way home. The trip all the way home would be a long hard one in that we were about 640 miles from home and may take 12 or more hours on a motorcycle. Keith and Eric had already decided to go for it and the rest of us decided to join them. The trip has been great but it is time to go home.

So, the new plan was to get up extra early and leave by 5:00 AM central time. It was a beautiful morning as we were packing our bikes. The full moon was setting in the west and the eastern horizon was starting to lighten. Filling our bikes with gas, reading a psalm, saying a prayer, and we were on our way....

The ride was indeed a hard one. It was chilly in the dark but our first problem was that at times we were driving directly into the rising sun. It also is tough to spend a lot of miles continuously on a motorcycle. We needed to stop about every 60 miles to stretch and and every second stop to fill with gas. But, we stayed with that regiment and made relatively good time, into North Dakota fairly quickly. Each stop we were shedding layers of clothes as the rising sun kept adding heat into the equation. After a lot of time and miles though, we made it, getting home around 7:00PM.

At our last gas stop we re-capped our week and said a final prayer of thanksgiving. All agreed that it was a great adventure and we were very pleased with the week. We rode at or around 3,000 miles total and not a single breakdown. Except for some rain in Spearfish and snow in the BigHorns, the weather was great and the scenery greater. We grew in our appreciation of God's creative wonder and the fellowship of a bunch of Christian men. And we had a heck of a lot of fun. Thanks guys! See you next year.

Day 8 Lovell, Wy to Glendive Montana

Snow!
Custers Last Stand.


Today's scripture: Psalm

Plan today was to zoom through the Big Horn Mountains on US14A to near Sheridan and then visit Custer's Last Stand and finish the day in Glendive Montana.

The motel in Lovell, WY is not far from the Bighorns and we could see them from the parking lot. There was some clouds around and the forecast has a slight chance of rain. But, feeling optimistic,we did not put on the rain gear. As we travelled closer to the base of the mountains we could see that it was raining up there and we were getting some drops on our windshield so we stopped and remedied that oversight at the base of the mountain.

As the highway began to get twisty and work it's way up the mountain we noticed that the pavement was wet which required attention for any slipperiness. But it was not too bad and we still enjoyed the beginning of the drive up. We stopped at a pull out which presented a beautiful view of the valley below and also rainbows would appear occasionally in the clouds. Very nice!

Then a truck would pull into the parking area that caused all of us to drop our jaws... it was covered with a deep layer of snow! We rushed over to the driver and asked where he'd been to pick up this snow. He said, "up the mountain where you are going". Wow, this day was turning into an adventure we had not expected. The truck driver did give us some encouragement by saying that he had been up to his cabin high in the mountain range and he figured that the main highway which is lower in elevation would not have any snow. Boy was he wrong! We drove on with this hope in mind but after not too many curves and switchbacks we were in an actual accumulating snow fall. We stopped for pictures of this unusual sight and Greg even did a snow angel!

We had little choice but to carefully proceed. The road was snow covered except where the 4 wheeled vehicles had left 2 paths on each side of the road. As long as we stayed in one of these paths we were fine, but then we got behind a pickup who felt he couldn't go more than 15 MPH and we had to try and pass him. This didn't work to well so he pulled over and let us by. But then the adventure intensifies as the we see a snow plow barrelling down the road from the other direction. His plow blade was very wide and reached across the yellow line onto our side. We had to quickly pass through the snow in the middle of our lane to get out of the way or turn into a snow bank!

Shortly there after we drove out of the snow and into just rain. We worked our way down the mountain to Burgess Junction and found a nice restaurant to dry out and have a breakfast buffet. Right in the right place and at the right time.

After breakfast we mounted up again and continued out of the mountain range. The roads were wet but the rain was ending. We got down to town for gas and laughed over the strange conditions we had just encountered. In 30 years of riding motorcycle I had never rode in snow in August!

Next we jumped on the super slab and headed up to Montana. Destination: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. By then the sun was out and drying everything out. We took off the rain gear and headed to the park information center just in time to hear the ranger give a historic presentation of the events that led to the battle and of the battle itself. It was very informative to hear and to stand in the very place where this fight occured. We then toured the monument and viewed the gravesites.

After all this it was time to start heading east in preparation for our drive home. Glendive is in eastern Montana on Interstate 94 and we arrived after a long drive at or around 7:00PM. It had been an interesting day full of suprises and adventure.

Day 7, Thursday, Red Lodge to Lovell, WY

(Click on a picture to enlarge)



Todays Scripture: Psalm 139

Another beautiful day in paradise. We got up and gathered the crew for a group photo because some were heading in different directions. Jim and Bill were needing to head straight home and Steve was going to spend more time riding the mountains. We took the picture, read the scripture, prayed and headed out.

Today's plan is to head back across the Beartooth pass, take a left at Chief Joseph Highway, and spend some time in Cody.

The Beartooth was even more enjoyable because we knew the road better now and are more experienced in leaning into the curves. We stopped at the top and took a video of the riders heading down at the other side. We also stopped at a campground/store near the top called Top of the World. The place is run by a very friendly man and his store is remarkable well equipped considering how far up the mountain and desolate his location is. A few of us bought his nicely priced "do rags" and tasted the large muffins he offered.

The road to Cody called Chief Joseph Highway (state hwy 120) offers some fantastic scenery as well as a nicely maintained mountain road. Very nice. Great ride.

We pulled into Cody at around 1:00 PM and a guy named "Cowboy" pulled up to talk to us. You can read about Cowboy below. We then headed to Irma's in downtown Cody for lunch. Irma's is a national historic place built by Buffalo Bill Cody for his daughter Irma. It is quite the building. After lunch we spent about an hour walking around the town and checking out the shops.

Next it was onto the town of Powell where Larry had left his car and trailer. As we were pulling out of Cody the wind was picking up and rain was in the horizon. I thought that perhaps we would get wet but we made it there dry. I checked ID when we got there to see who was actually Moses becaus it appeared that someone parted the sea as there was rain on the right of the highway and rain to the left but blue sky straight ahead.

We quickly got the bike back on the trailer and hightailed it to our motel in Lovell as the wind was really picking up. And, in deed, we felt our helmeted heads were about to be torn off our shoulders the cross wind was so strong. But we made it without getting wet or with parts of our bodies blown off. That is except for Lloyd and John. They had been delayed in Cody and got caught in the wet stuff.

Supper was at Taco Johns. Bible study was Luke 10 the good Samaritan. Who is our neighbor?

Tomorrow: through the Big Horns and then a visit to Custer's Last Stand.

People we've met

Wayne's daughter, Sara, and her dog, Roxy, who met us in Yellowstone.

Sturgis

Couple who took our pic at Missouri River

Dick & Sally

Guy who brought the news about the snow ahead



Along our trip we have been praying for opportunities to be a help, encouragement or bring a smile. We have also been wanting to share the love of Christ with them, share the Word and pray with them.

Here are a few of those who we have met:



This is Mary who was the head waitress at Irma's in Cody. Irma's is a historic hotel that Buffalo Bill built. Mary's job is to be rude to people. It is part of the routine that she picks someone out in a group such as ours and berates him and bosses him around. That lucky person today was Pastor Keith. Keith played along well but asked her at the end of the meal if she would let us take a picture of her. She said "no, leave me alone and sit down". But we kept after her and she had us go behind their huge antique bar for pictures which she took of us but in the end we got her to pose with us and gave each of us a hug and she even smiled.


This is "Cowboy". He drove up to us on his old Harley and told us that if we are ever in Denver and need a Harley mechanic that his son is an excellent Harley mechanic. This was strange since we told him that none of us are going to Denver and none of us rode Harleys. Cowboy then told his life story from running moonshine as a teenager to fighting vietcong in Vietnam to working in Mississippi and divorcing his wife and working with famous people in Vegas. This took about five minutes. He also told us he is in Cody because his brother who had been estranged from him is gravely ill. We offered to pray for his brother which he was glad to let us do. We then asked him if he knows Jesus and he said he does and has some acquantances who have brought him to Christian biker ralleys, etc. We promised to pray for him and his brother and are very grateful that God sent him our way this day. Please pray that some of what we said will encourage him towards serving the Lord.



(more to come)

Day 6, Yellowstone to Red Lodge, Montana

Wild flowers at Beartooth Pass (click on image to enlarge)


Sulfur pool at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park


Fossils at Beartooth Pass

Todays scripture: Psalm 122.

The overnight was not as cold this morning but still quite chilly by MN August standards. The plan is to meet for a quick cup of coffee and morning snack at 8:00 AM, then travel up to the north part of the park and get a meal at Mammoth Hot Springs. As mentioned in yesterday's blog most of the guys did not make it up to the north end of the park yesterday. After Mammoth Hot Springs we'd head back to the Northeast entrance and head up to Cooke City and Red Lodge via the Bear Tooth Pass. Here us what Greg has to say about the Beartooth: "Beartooth, good."

As mentioned previously, the ride up the eastern side of the figure 8 to Tower Falls is very dramatic. And, of course, it did not change from yesterday to today. We enjoyed it very much. At Tower some took in the falls, some just rested. At Mammoth we ate and filled with gas then everyone was to drive to the upper parking lot of the Mammoth structure to get the view from up high. Unfortunately the turn off into the area was not easy to find and many drove right by and had to come back and a couple never did make it so it took quite a while for all of us find one another. But we eventually re-grouped and were ready for the drive out of the park and up to Montana. By the way, I should point out that our numbers now are much less than the high of 17 we had on Monday night. Many of the guys had other plans or other things to see and places to ride. At this point we were 9 in number.

The ride up to the Northeast entrance was nice and scenic. We hit road construction immediately upon exiting Yellowstone and it was gravel the 4 miles into Cooke City. But from Cooke City to Red Lodge we were free and clear. The ride on 212 up to the Beartooth pass is one of the nationally known greatest motorcycle rides in the USA. The road is so remote and high in the mountains that it is closed in the winter and only snowmobiles take it. The pass is just 60' short of 11,000 feet above sea level. The road has many switchbacks and hairpin turns and outstanding views of mountains and valleys including large patches of snow. I (Wayne) remember taking this road on a motorcycle decades ago and the one other thing I remembered of the pass is the mountain wild flowers that grow amongst all the rocks. Well, they are still there and quite interesting. Again: "Beartooth, good".

The town of Red Lodge is a nice little town just at the bottom of the pass. It caters to tourists and a lot of motorcyclists during the summer and to skiers during the summer. We stayed at the Beartooth Hideaway in the town and ate supper at a Chinese joint.

Tonights bible study: Mark 15 Jesus and Simon of Cyrene and His passion.

Tomorrow: Beartooth again to the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody and Lovell Wy.

Day 5, Tuesday, Yellowstone Park

The night was very cold in the campground. Someone had heard of a forecast down in the 30's and I believe it. I had many layers of clothes on under my sleeping bag and pulled my riding jacket over the top of the bag to try and stay comfortable. But the morning dawned bright and pr0mised to be a nice day. We had our group campsite for two nights so we didn't need to tear down our tents this morning which was nice.

We met over at the Lake Side Inn cafeteria for breakfast. A few of the less hardy Fossils had stayed in a cabin there. After a gas fill we split up into smaller groups to tour the park. Whereas I know best of the trip I took, I will write of my adventure.

Steve and I have been to Yellowstone before and wanted to be sure and to make the largest amount of the big picture and not necessarily hit every viewing area. If someone were to stop at every stop Yellowstone has to offer he would need to stay in the park a week or two. So, Steve & I decided to make the large loop in a counterclockwise direction. If you have not been to Yellowstone you may not know that the highway around the center of the park is a huge figure 8 with many sight seeing areas along those main routes. The guys who spent more times at the sights only made a loop in the bottom half of the figure 8.

The road to the top right hand corner of the large loop from our camprground on the middle of the eastern side is very dramatic with steep drives and curves through majestic mountains with great long distance views. Though I had been to the park twice before decades earlier, somehow I had never been on this road. Before taking this road I was under the mistaken impression that Yellowstone was only a place for viewing dramatic natural wonders but didn't really have good motorcycle roads. Man, was I wrong! This route is an excellent motorcycle road and I was very happy to learn of it's existance. The end of the road in the top right of the figure 8 is Tower Falls. The falls is nice, not the most dramatic falls you will see but quite nice.

Next was across the top of the figure 8 from Tower west to Mammoth Hot Springs. The hot springs is very dramatic of what can be best described as what looks like a giant mountain of very colorfull salt with bubbling hot water with colorfull pools at each spring. Very interesting.

Then we headed south along the west side from Mammoth to Old Faithful. This sounds easy to write of but actually takes a long time of mountain driving in traffic. The views are always great, of course. Also, Steve & I were getting hungry and Steve needed gas so we stopped at a couple of places looking for both but found neither. Gas and food are only available at the select larger venues of the camp. We arrived at the Old Faithfull complex mid afternoon and filled up and eat at a gift shop/cafe. We then left the bikes there and began to walk along the boardwalk which runs for a long ways amoungst the many lesser known geysers and hot spring pools to the west of Old Faithfull. We walked for quite a long ways along this path and we could have probably made a day of it as the walks seemed to go on forever.

Back on the bikes we started the final leg of the loop along the bottom and up the right along the Yellowstone Lake. The lake is huge and one of the most beautiful lakes you will ever see anywhere. It is really dramatic to see the huge expanse of perfect blue water up against distant mountains. The lake shore at places are thetall pines found throughout the park, at places there are green grassy pastures running gentle up to the blue waters. As mentioned, very beautiful.

Steve & I were the first group to arrive at camp at I would guess was around 6:00 PM. I took the time to buy somemore firewood and call home. No cellphone or internet access in the park, so used an old fashioned phone booth. The rest of the groups were back within the hour and had all had similar stories of riding and viewing this amazing park. Animals we saw were Buffalo (we actually got guite tired of the buffalo because of their tendencies to walk on the roads) One group was stuck behind a buffalo herd for almost an hour. Also saw Elk and Bear.

Supper was back at the Lake Inn cafeteria. Bible study was Acts 9 the road to Damascus.

Tomorrow is more driving in Yellowstone and then across the BearTooth Pass to Red Lodge Montana.

Day 4, Monday, Buffalo to Yellowstone

The day began a bit chilly. The plan is to motor west on route 66, er, I mean 16 through the Big Horn mountains, across the high sierra of Wyoming into the Rockies and Yellowstone Park.

The ride through the mountains west of Buffalo started nice and ended up magnificent. This has to be one of the most beautiful rides in the USA. The cliffs and valleys and rivers and scenery was amazing. The road was nice and curved and well maintained. We kept stopping at pull offs and exclaiming "Wow, Praise the Lord!". Truly a great road.

The far side of the mountains broke into high plains at a little town called Ten Sleep. There we stopped for brunch at the "Crazy Woman Cafe". We saw no crazy woman there but there was a very efficient, driven waitress who had us fed in no time. Breakfast was great!

From Ten Sleep we continued west into the town of Worland for gas and discussion on what route to proceed on towards Cody and then Yellowstone Park. Part of the discussion included how to get rid of Larry's car and trailer. Lloyd knew someone in the town of Powell who said he could park his rig. That was north up US16. Some of us however noticed an interesting state hwy straight west across the high plains that looked as it may be less traveled. So, we split up, half went up with Larry to ditch his car, half down and across on the afore mentioned state highways.

The state hwys proved very nice with great scenery and little traffic. The northern route guys took a little longer because of the car/trailer situation buy Larry was onto two wheels in no time at all. Both routes brought us to Cody and then it was straight west to Yellowstone. The southern group made it a hour or so earlier than the northern group.

The road across from Cody to the Park was a very nice road as well. Starting with the Buffalo Bill Reseviour on the left side of town to the high cliffs and mountains shortly there after. The scenery was, again, awesome.

Someone at the gas station in Cody had told us that there have been on-going forest fires in the area which have at times closed the road. But today the wind was straight out of the west so there was no reason for concern. We did see much smoke billowing from some of the mountains in the distance. Also an encampment for the fire fighters was set up along side the road.

We got to the Park entrance and paid our fees of $20 dollars per motorcycle. Then we needed to travel to the center of the park and find our campsite at Bay Bridge Campground which was near the shores of beautiful Yellowstone Park. The travel around Yellowstone looks like no big deal but in actuality it always seems to take longer than expected. The roads are curved, (which is a good thing), the traffic often heavy, often stopped because of animals in the road or to the side causing tourists to stop and take pictures and the speed limit is only 45 MPH. But we (the south, state hwy group) eventually got to our camp site at or around 6:00 PM. My (Wayne's) daughter, Sara, was there already as well as Steve who had left before us and had already spent time in the Grand Tetons. Sara was passing through from her home in Portland Oregon to visit friends and family in MN. I was very happy to see her and she me.

Sara and I decided to head off to see Old Faithful yet that evening and get some supper even though it would mean we'd be returning after dark. We got there just as the geyser was sceduled to blow so we saw that without much waiting. The restaurant at the Inn was full and taking reservations at 9:45 PM. We decided to settle with a couple of sandwiches from the deli. When we got back, it was indeed dark but Steve had a camp fire going and many more Fossils had found their way to our encampment. Jeff, Rod, Keith R and Brian from the Tetons. The northern route crew from Powell and Cody. Also joining us for the first time was our "cheesehead" Fossils Mark and Les. We were quite the force in the camp!

It had been a long day, many of us drifted off to their respective tents. A few watched the ambers die in the fire ring but most were to bed at or around midnight. Thus ending Day 4 in this great Fossil trip.

(personal note from the Blog author: we had no internet service in the Park. I am writing this blog re day four at the end of day 6 in Red Lodge Montana. It is now past midnight. I will continue to try and catch up tomorrow, perhaps I can find a WiFi in Cody, otherwise at the motel in Lovel. Whatever, I willpost a couple of pictures and hit the sack.... type some more soon! In the mean time click on the video I uploaded earlier to get a taste of ridin in-group in Yellowstone) Wayne.

trip videos

from Lloyd's windshield camera: Road in Yellowstone north of Fishing Bridge towards Canyon (watch for Buffalo!)


Links to other videos we've taken:

Chief Joseph Highway overlook:
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/waynedw/fossil%20vids/?action=view¤t=vidfromchiefjosephhwym.flv

Beartooth Pass:
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/waynedw/fossil%20vids/?action=view¤t=vidfrombeartoothpass2.flv