13 trip West u

Trip West - 6.24-x.x.13
Ride the Rockies - edition II

Day 1 - Monday - 6.24.13
Leaving Madison and Marnie @ 7:15.. Nice ride until rain started in Owatona and continuing the cloud/wind-sprinkle-rain cycle for 3 hours. Much land was flooded and rivers out of their banks. Then it cleared around the South Dakota border where there were remnants of a tornado last eve. When I passed by Mina lake, I stopped at the old cabin that was the focal point of my summer weekends thru my adolescent years. It appears the two women who lived there have moved elsewhere because of their age and infirmities. Hot until I got to Ipswich. Marnie had reserved my room at the Hospitality Hotel. Dinner at a local restaurant - omelette and salad. Then a side trip of 35 miles to Roscoe (where I found John Beyers for tomorrow's arrangements) and the Ipswich area. Saw several cock pheasants and twin fawns. 594 miles in 9.5 hours plus 35 looking around.




Day 2 - Wednesday - 6.25.13
Woke to fog.. Off to Roscoe to survey the task at hand- straightening grandma and grandpa Elford's headstones. When I arrived about 8:30 two young boys who are gofers for John showed and we went to work. We had the project completed by 9:00. Then I went to the Roscoe State Bank, where John is the President, and opened a checking account. John and I then went to breakfast at the town cafe.  Went by Elford's house several times, visited Adee Honey company with it's 36,000 hives (largest in the country), and the west of town. Roscoe is very prosperous as it now has 2 implement dealers, a lawn seed company in the old grain elevator, two other crop seed companies, several ethanol plants nearby, and several industrial businesses. Back in Ipswich I read and then went to the Marcus P. Beebe memorial library- that is what it was with no family history.. The other town museums were closed today.

Day 3 - Wednesday - 6.26.13 -  to the Black Hills
Up at 6 and off by 7 to pass thru Beebe and say goodby to g+g Elford - checked the graves and had breakfast in Roscoe. Grandpa was born in 1895, died in 1989 and would be 118 this year.  Grandma was born in 1887, died in 1985, and would be 126 years old this year. On the way in I documented the development of a huge lake which started to fill spontaneously 2 years ago when the Red River flooded in ND- I am told it is more than 10 miles long, 12 feet deep, and stocked with fish. The destroyed farm in the water is the place where grandma bought chickens, whose heads I chopped off in the morning before the mail route, for canning and freezing. I was following the Yellowstone Trail - Plymouth to Puget Sound- with it's home in Ipswich. I then crossed the Missouri River (the longest in the US) and Lake Oahe at Mobridge. On the Trail I always encountered this house and have taken its picture many times- I always imagined this was the house in the famous painting where the women is on the ground reaching out toward an old house-this house. Over the bridge the terrain changed as I rose from 1900 to 3700 feet on the high plains. I had to stop in Faith, SD for gas. Founded in 1910, this is where grandma Beebe taught before grandpa took the stage there to propose marriage and bring her to Ipswich. 50% of the land was in crops - 80% of which was hay. The remaining land was either pasture or rolling prairie.  All the sloughs are full and land is beautiful.  It takes 20 acres for a cow-calf combination and most spreads are 10,000 acres. Everyone was doing hay. I stopped in Sturgis to see about a chin strap snap I need to replace.. No luck... and on to Hill City. As I entered the Black Hills I rose to 6400 feet. 368 miles in 6.25 hrs. Then I took a tour in the Hills ending with dinner - went south on the Needles Highway thru the needles (6400'), onto the game viewing road in Custer State Park, stopped at Blue Bell Lodge, and passed by Rushmore. Got trapped on the road by buffaloes and the cows with calves scared me. So I got a car to ride along side me between me and the buffaloes.  This was a great ride of up-down, around-around and so different than the straight line drive across the plains. I developed a pain in my upper back again. Arrived at Rushmore late afternoon for the shadow time, see. They wanted $11 to park at Rushmore, so I had dinner in Hill City. Total of 450 miles in 9 hours, with 1092 miles so far.

Day 4 - Thursday - 6.27.13.    To the Rockies
Awake at 5 on the eastern edge of the Mountain time zone, up at 6 and on the road by 7:30. As I left the Black Hills near Edgemont I dropped from 4400' to 3400'. Then I worked on rising to a mile high at Lusk, WY on 18/85. From there I went to 6000' feet at Wheatland on I26' coming off 270. Finally, I was on 34 and 7K' and Laramie, where I toured the U of Wyoming.  Finally, over 9100' on 230/127 to see the snow of the Snowy Range of the Rockies and on at above 8000' to Colorado and Walden. Very hot from Wheatland on despite gains in elevation. Two mile out of Wheatland and south of the last gas station it said no gas for 65 miles...couldn't they put that 2 miles before the last gas.
The trip beyond Laramie was wooded, winding and beautiful compared to riding the high dry lands all day...must take 40 acres for a c/c combo here as the grass is sparse and short. 360 miles over 6 hours. At a local motel right at the corner, at the top of my ride in the Rockies, and where I turned east last May to get from Salt Lake to Fort Collins. I have seen buffalo, mule deer, white tail deer, antelope, and pheasants. Broke down - 12oz ribeye, huge salad, and blue cheese.

Day 5 - Friday - 6.28.13.  On the Rockies & Continental Divide
Up at 6 and on 125 north back into Wyoming. 230 to I80 to 287 where I crossed the Divide at a low flat area, then moved north to another crossing (but not even marked).  The land is close to high desert with only scrub. Then west and no gas so I had to go to Landers for gas at noon. Then I turned south and climbed to the 8K' level and more desert conditions - went over 8500' and then down to 7550' where I crossed the Divide for a third time on Hwy 28.  The terrain was boring and I was driving 85 mph when the cop caught me for $100. Northwest on 189 to Bonderant and 26...The last 150 miles were the best - next to the Hoback River, along the Snake River, next to Paradise Reservoir, and back to the Snake on highway 26 thru the Teton Range.  In the Snake River valley there were huge fields of potatoes, hay and wheat. I was able to manage my upper back pain by slouching and relaxing so I kept going and made 529 miles in 8 hours, crossing over the continental divide 3 times in 90+ degrees from noon on.  At Idaho Falls HIexp. No back pain.

Day 6 - Saturday - 6.29.13.    North to Chief Joseph Pass
Up at 7 and off by 8 in lovely weather and anticipation of a great ride. Went north on 28 west of the CD/Rockies to Salmon Idaho on  Lemhi River, dropping a thousand feet from 4700' at Idaho Falls. I passed the 45th parallel and have left middle earth. All alone on the road at Salmon I picked up the Salmon River (a river Marnie and I rode years ago) and gas. Then the valley narrowed to a winding canyon on the rise and was the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Nez Perce Trail and the Sacajawea's Homelands. I talked with a DNR person who was driving a truck with an antenna on the bed... sounding tagged Salmon in the Lemhi River. I finally rose to the pass and ...  The first crossing of the Continental Divide today - Pacific to the Atlantic and into Montana.
I rode to Wisdom on 43 and during a break my glasses came apart. We could not get them right so I changed to clear ones and waited for optometry in Butte. Before Butte I  went cross country to Anaconda because it was a moon scape for copper mining and smeltering when we were last here. However, it had a new landscape due to the superfund repairs of the slag mountains - beautiful by comparison. On to Butte where I got my glasses fixed at a Walmart and then proceeded to see Butte....rain, heavy... So I sat under cover for an hour before I went up the steep city slopes. Thereafter was a race to Helena for the nite, crossing the Continental Divide again- Atlantic again, has to be - at 6968'. Almost ran up on another state cop at 85 mph. Arrived dry as no storm in Helena. Off to tour the city - great civic center and walk area where I ate a wonderful salad. My back bothered a bit on the rainy wet expressway.. My right arm actually hurt more than my left arm.

Day 7 - Sunday - 6.30.13       the Divide and Glacier NP
 Left at 8 on 12 West ...rained up hill to the divide - McDonald Pass at 6320', Atlantic to Pacific I think - and down the other side in the bright morning sun. 141 thru the countryside to 200 east where I went from Pacific to Atlantic.. On the other side of the mountains I North'd on 287-89 to Browning and St Mary's to the "Road to the Sun" going thru Glacier National Park, crossing .. From the Atlantic to Pacific. Logan Pass - 6546'. Then 50 miles in 90 degree heat to Kalispell Montana. The place was packed and very slow going over the 50 miles of the park.

END OF WEEK ONE ......

XXX