Day 18 is complete after about 373 miles today. Much better weather conditions, and the end, for a few days, of highway riding. We are back in Wyoming, in Rock Springs at the Rock Springs Baymont motel. The boys are out front talking smack, and having a couple cold ones, with a couple other Harley riders that are in for the night. And I am writing this stupid blog again.
Last night in Jerome, Idaho, we went to dinner at Fat Clarence’s Grille. Simple bar fare was had, and a couple tall, large rocky mountains. Not to much to write about that, hot wings and salads is what went around.
Back to the hotel by 9pm, and your writer turned in. I believe the rest of them hung out in the pool area, having a couple night caps. Call time was for between 7am and 7:30. It was closer to 7:30 when Ski Doo Matt came out of hibernation, and we were ready to launch. Got off to a smooth start, until we didn’t.
As we came off the entrance ramp of I-84 headed east, Stick looked in his rear view mirror and couldn’t see Hedgie anywhere to be. I rolled up next to Ski Doo and game him the slow down hand motion, and pointed behind us. After another mile of no Hedgie in sight, we pulled over on the shoulder of the busy highway, and called him. His bike had gone into “limp”mode, and would not accelerate beyond 25 mph.
We were pulled over just past an exit ramp, and he finally appeared, and exited the highway behind us. We cut thru the grassy median, and followed him down the exit ramp. He shut down, and restarted the bike and the dash lights were now now longer flashing every color in the rainbow. He tried to accelerate up the entrance ramp directly in front of us, and it shut down again.
We decided to call Monkey Brother back, he had just passed us as we sat on the exit ramp, on the highway above us. Once we knew Monkey Brother was in route for pick up, the remaining 3 of us decided the only thing for us to do was to continue on towards our destination. The other 2 would go to the Golden Spike H-D dealer in Riverdale Utah. It was the closest dealer without backtracking, and keeping them going in a forward direction.
Anywho, our day continued on. The temps were much more moderate, and we trucked along without issue for a good spell.
After I don’t recall how many miles, we were done with I-84 and back on to the one & two lane roads we prefer. Interstate 30 was our road for the majority of our day. We crossed back into Wyoming, and the scenery was just beautiful all day.
When we stopped for our group picture at the Wyoming sign, we looked back at the road we had just traveled and saw the welcome to Idaho sign. So we rolled Monkey over there to get his picture with the Idaho sign because he missed the group photo the day we crossed into Idaho, because he was driving the truck/trailer and picking Monkey Brother Rick up in Jackson Hole.
Time to move on, we’ve got quite a few miles to knock down still. As we were travelling the somewhat curvy roads we came across a horrendous accident that involved a semi and mini van. The Semi was across the oncoming traffic lane, and had a mini van pinned into the side of the mountain. It did not look good, but our prayers are to those involved.
We continued on, the temps in the mid 80’s and comfortable today. We ran thru a few areas where the roads were wet from a recent shower, and when we came around another curve, we could see a wall of rain about 5 miles in front of us. We pulled over into a roadside pull out, put our rain gear, talked for a moment, and as we were about to remount our bikes, we looked forward and it looked like the dark cloud storm front was actually 2 separate storm clouds, and there appeared to be a split in between them. We hustled our departure, with any luck we will split the clouds and evade the down pour of rain.
Luck was with us, we got a few big drops on helmet shields, but nothing too bad. Onward we went until we came across Little America at the cross roads of I-30 and I-80. It was time for refueling, and a quick bite to eat.
Little America is just a big tourist catch, that has a cafeteria walk up counter to order your food, wait for your number to be called (not very quickly either) and go back and grab your puke and choke. We quickly departed the crowded facility and got our gear on and ready. But not so quick, usually Ski Doo is one of the first ready to mount up and go. He wasn’t so quick after lunch. I inquired in the only manner I know and asked what was up? You ready? He replied, I am not real excited about getting my arse back on this bike right now! I laughed out loud, because I cleaned up his response dramatically for this blog, and his actual words would be inappropriate for you kids at home. He finally came to terms with the promise that one more mount up and the next stop would be a cold rocky mountain when he got in. You just got to know what motivates your crowd.
As we re-entered I-80 for the remaining 30 or so miles in to Rock Springs, the first billboard I see is for the Flaming Gorge H-D dealer that is at the exit about 11 miles from our destination. I let Ski Doo continue down the highway un-aware that I was planning on stopping in for a t-shirt, shot glass and sticker, until the final mile when I passed him and led him and Monkey down the exit ramp. At the stop sign he inquired in not quite these terms, what are you doing? I said, Harley dealer this exit! He replied, Oh, you saw the sign. Yes, yes I did. And it turned out to be a good stop too.
As we were pulling into the parking lot of the strip plaza that the dealer is located in, Hedgie was calling my phone wanting to know if we wanted them to stop at Flaming Gorge H-D for the t-shirt, shot glass and sticker! I inquired where exactly was their location and he said they were 1 mile from the exit. Perfect, I exclaimed. We just pulled into the parking lot, and to meet us here, and he can unload his bike and ride in the last 11 miles with us! Perfect!
Ski Doo even enjoyed his visit at the HD dealer, as they offered each of us a cold Bud Light while we browsed for our desired t-shirts. As we checking out, Hedgie came thru the door and we all fist bumped his return to the pack.
His trip to Golden Spike HD was a success. His Technician, BS, was extremely helpful and accommodating to this traveling Harley Rider. BS quickly diagnosed the problem as a plug wire that connects to the ECM (electronic computer module) was routed incorrectly, and was routed over the clutch cable, and should have been under the clutch cable. The continuous use of the clutch eventually dislodged the plug wire enough to put the bike into limp mode. BS took the bike for a quick test run, ran it thru it’s paces, and turned it back over to Hedgehog.
After our purchases at Flaming Gorge HD, we unloaded Hedgie’s bike, threw his helmet at him, and said get on, you started today on 2 wheels, you’re finishing on 2 wheels.
After the quick 11 miles in, we were in for the night.
Tomorrow’s target city is Fort Collins, Colorado. I hear rumors we may even have a double night in Fort Collins.
We shall see.
And, again, today was not a good picture day for me but I got a few.
Bye for now,
Stick