Day 9, Saturday, June 25.

When I pulled in last night it was pitch black and I couldn’t see any scenery. I knew that the KOA was near Devil’s Tower, but I didn’t realize how close (see pictures). The guys camping next to me were also there on motorcycles and suggested that I should look into a club called International Brotherhood of Motorcycle Campers. Sounds like a plan to me! After a morning spent at Devil’s Tower, I headed West across Wyoming planning to get to Cody. About an hour and half East of Cody, I noticed that the rear end of the motorcycle got a bit loose as I was going over a wet patch of pavement. NOT a good feeling. I’d been planning on going through several sets of tires during this trip but hadn’t counted on the accelerated rate of tire wear due to pulling the trailer. The tire rear tire was spent! CRAP! I stopped at the top of a ridge overlooking Banner, WY and starting calling around trying to find a place to replace my tires. Apparently there’s NOWHERE in all of Northern Wyoming to get tires for my motorcycle. I’d counted on being able to replace them in either Cody, WY or Billings, MO. Nope NEITHER place has my tires. This sucks BAD for me. I’m supposed to meet Tania tomorrow in Yellowstone and now there’s no way I can do that. I’ve got to back track 200 miles to Sturgis to get tires on Monday morning. CRAP CRAP CRAP. What’s more is that I can’t reach Tania to let her know since her cell phone doesn’t work in Wyoming! I left about 20 minutes of messages on her cell, making one decision, canceling that and making another, canceling that and making a third. I’m sure she’ll be unhappy about this but there’s nothing I can do about it. I am not willing to take on a passenger on unsafe tires. I’ll have to meet up with her on Monday afternoon. I turned around and headed back East over the same roads I’d just ridden to get to Spearfish SD. Thankfully the weather was good for a long day’s ride.