Day 11, Monday, June 27

I drove to Sturgis BMW today to get new shoes for the motorcycle and a pair of new specs for myself. I’ve been looking for good motorcycling glasses for a while and finally found some at the dealership the fit the bill perfectly. Damage? Over $500! Ouch! I left at around noon and headed back over the same roads I’d already driven twice. I intended to leave my mountain bike with Tania’s friend in Greybull, WY and gut there in reasonable time. HWY 14 from Ranchester, WY to Greybull is without doubt the most amazing road I’ve ever driven on. It starts out in the plains, climbs steeply up the side of the mountain with lots of fun curves an phenomenal views, then goes through rolling meadows carpeted with fragrant purple flowers, and then finally plunges down beside a steep ravine with spectacular waterfalls and sheer cliffs. I finally gave up trying to contact Tania’s friend after dinner and headed into Cody WY. From there I found that my plans for a short drive into the park weren’t to be. Apparently the East entrance into the park closes at 8pm and I was arriving in Cody at 7:30. No way to get there in time. Instead I had to drive up to the North East entrance and go the long way through the park. What I didn’t know is that there is a long stretch of state road 296 from Cody to the North East entrance that’s under construction. Translated: rutted out dirt road, made slippery by the daily rain fall the area was having and further complicated by heavy fog as I rode through in the middle of the night pulling a trailer. It was some of the worst riding I’ve ever experienced. Then, once in the park, the road that leads directly to the lodge Tania was staying in was also closed for construction so I had to go the long way around the park to get to her. Oh yeah, it doesn’t stop there. When I get to the lodge, at 2am, and went to find out which cabin she was staying in I found out that she’d not left me any note telling me where she was either with the receptionist or on my phone. Add to that the fact that the computers at the front desk were down for their nightly back up and wouldn’t be back on line until around 3:00. I ended up sleeping on a couch in the lobby of the lodge until some time in the early morning when Tania came down and woke me up to show me which cabin we were staying in. I can’t tell you how glad I was not to have to set up the tent in that weather. Oh yeah, the weather….foggy, rainy, and temps in the upper 30’s. MISERABLE riding conditions. All in all, I did more than 550 miles today, but at least now I’m back on schedule.