Day 9 6/30
About 220 Miles driven (experienced mechanical problems)
Since I almost ended up without a place to sleep last night I decided I would book a hotel first thing in the morning to avoid being stranded. I booked a place in Cody, WY, which is basically the last town before entering Yellowstone National Park's East entrance.
I packed up and got my bags back on the bike and was ready to head out when I realized my chain was real loose again. I decided to just keep an eye on it and ride on becasue it was not as loose at it was the last time.
Leaving Sundance, WY I rode on US-14 West and then turned off onto WY-24 (State Route 24) to head to the Devil's Tower. As I rode up a small mountain and crested the top of it I could see the Devil's Tower off in the distance.
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| Devil's Tower off in the distance (right) |
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| Entering Devil's Tower National Park (cost $5) |
I rode into the park to get a better view and to check out this amazing rock formation. Inside the park along the way up to the base of Devil's Tower there was a large area of grasslands. I saw a bunch of people taking pictures and couldn't figure out what they were looking at... Well on the way down I stopped and realized that there were little Prairie Dogs everywhere. |
| I can't imagine climbing up this but there are some people that do |
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| Notice the prairie dogs and the mounds of dirt that surround the burrows they dig in the ground to live in. |
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| close up of a praire dog |
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| Tractor Trailor Billboard trying to get visitors of Devils Tower to turn onto US-14 East towards South Dakota |
After leaving Devil's Tower I had to ride back to US Route 14 West. Just as I was getting to the intersection I saw quite the billboard.. Rather than the billboards we see on our highways and that I have seen constantly on this trip this one was the old tractor trailer that was painted to act as a billboard....
I continued riding back towards I-90 and just before I got there I stopped for lunch at a small local diner. Met a really nice older gentleman and had some great food and conversation before I headed back out on the road. I asked him about the animosity towards the Native Americans. He explained to me how local Native American tribes are trying to go to court to own the rights to Devil's Tower and they are trying to make it illegal to climb it. I know this is very sacred land to certain Native American tribes so I can understand why they don't want visitors coming and potentially ruining their land... However, I feel that there must be some sort of compromise... Devil's Tower and the hiking trails are beautiful and should be allowed to be enjoyed by all Americans. As well as the Native Americans should be able to have religius cermeonies there as well...
At this point my chain was definately looser than when I started the day and was hitting my back tire at times... I continued on and go onto Ineterstate 90 West (I-90W) towards Buffalo, WY. It was on this trip that theRocky Mountains came into view. I could see them off in the distance and they seemed like they were never going to get closer.. They were amazing even from a distance! One thing about driving on relatively flat ground is that you can see everything.. Even the harmless white clouds forming over the mountains get bigger and bigger and blacker and blacker.... As I was driving I could see strorms forming over the mountains and was hoping to not get stuck in one as I was going up them.. Even from a distance you could see
where it was raining.
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| Notice the rain coming down (where you can't see the line between the ground and the sky |
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| Finally getting closer to the Bighorn Mountain Range |
So by the time I got to Buffalo, WY it was already getting to be after 6PM and from Buffalo, WY to Cody, WY was about another 3 hour drive and you have to go up and over the mountains on windy roads.. SO I was already worried about driving in the dark in the middle of nowhere with tons of animals roaming. What made things worse is that I new the chain was eating up my tire every time the chain hit it..If the tire gets chewed up enough it could easily blow... and that would probably mean I would be crashing pretty hard too. So I checked my tire again and despite better judgement decided to try to get throught the Big Horn Mountains and on to Cody before nightfall. Well... I was about 20 miles into the Bighorn Mountains and these roads just keep winding back and forth up steep hills. I could feel and hear my chain hitting my tire, as well as I started to smell the rubber burning from the friction... SO I stopped and turned back, called the hotel and had to cancel, and then find a hotel in Buffalo. After that I had to search for the nearest motorcycle repair shop.. Cloesest one - Sheridan, WY about 50 miles away.
Looks like Day 10 is going to be all about getting my bike fixed....
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| Picture from the parking lot of my hotel in Buffalo. I was staring at the mountains dissappointed I couldn't make it.. & wondering how long I might be stuck in the next town waiting for my bike to be fixed |
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| You can kind of see how the chain is chewing up the outermost side of the tire |
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| Notice the sag in the chain.. that shouldn't be drooping so much. In fact it was rubbing/ grinding on my exhaust pipe too |
