Westward Ho's

[Earache]

Five of us left Chicago and Indy Friday afternoon for our annual trip west. Two days into so far and it's been fairly exciting.

The Five Ho's:

1) Me on my '02 ST1100
2)Night Stalker on his '06 ST1300
3) Brad on a '06 Kawasaki Z750
4) Jason on a Honda CBR 954
5) Joe on a Suzuki Hayabusa

Day 1 was a short eveing trip to Des Moines to meet up with the Chicago contingent. Ride was dry and pretty nice.

Day 2 and it all went to Hell...

The first 35 miles west of DSM were dry, but then we had hail, torrential rains, 50+ mph side winds and tornados to dodge for the next 600+ miles to Spearfish, SD. Some of, if not the worst riding conditions I've ever ridden in.

NightStalker and Joe said to Hell with it and stayed in Reliance, SD while the rest of us fought the elements to get to Spearfish. Hope to meet up with the others in Bozeman, MT in a couple of days.

Not much to see in the upper midwest unless you like corn. And the people of Mitchell, SD really like their corn. So much so, that they built a palace for it.

The Corn Palace....

 

[Earache]

Heading to Bozeman, MT today. Will take pics along the way and post up later.....

 

[BigTom]

I can tell this is going to be fun....Waiting for more

 

[Earache]

Ahhhh, Wyoming in the Springtime. It snowed, we froze our pa-tooties off! At least the crowds as Devil's Tower were sparse

 

[Earache]

Every tourist destination in the US has a shop selling absolute crap nearby and the Tower is no exception.
They really cater to the HD / Sturgis crowd....

 

[Earache]

We ate at the finest establishment in the area. Nothing is too good for us.
Nothing better than watery chili on dog. Went in the same way it's gonna come out in about 5 hours...

 

[Mellow]

Nice pics... hopefully, you'll get a break in the weather at least one day of this trip...

 

[Earache]

Had to get the ST in front of the Tower for the ST-Owners.com faithful....

Getting off of the Plains and into the Mountains today. Stayed in Bozeman last night and will be in Kalispell for the next three nights.

The pictures, weather and food should start to get better by the day.

More later....

 

[Earache]

Almost forgot; we were fortunate enough to meet the Wyoming Welcome Wagon yesterday and were encouraged to donate to help stimulate the local economy....

 

[Mark]

Now that kind of welcome does su*k!

Great write-up! You've got me grinning as soon as I read the 1st line of your posts!
:bow1:

Mark

 

[BigTom]

Great stuff. Keep it comming!

Kalispel? What's there? Flathead lake and, uh, let me think a while

Actually, some darn fine riding in that part of the world, lots of choices...Still sounds like big fun to me.

 

[NewsMag]

If you Ho's venture south near Utah, be sure to let me know. There might be int available! :beer8:

 

[CrashTestDanny]

Eric,

If y'all come back through the St. Louis area, let me know and I'll ride out to meet ya for a meal or something...

 

[Illini25]

Very cool! Keep the reports coming.

 

[GOPHER]

Don't know where your headed but if you make it to southern Utah send me a PM and I'll show you some good curves and a great place to eat a steak................all on the same road.

 

[Earache]

Gopher & Newsmag -

We're leaving Kalispell and taking Route 93 south through Idaho and into Utah. Will be staying in Park City for one night before heading south through Moab and onto Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Don't know if yopu guys are along that route anywhere, but let us know.

 

[Earache]

BigTom -

I dunno why we even came here, the roads really suck...

 

[Earache]

Onward!

We leave Bozeman and head northwest across a 400+ mile long field of nothing. Saw some cows, got blown around by the winds some more and were teased by the view of mountains off in the far distance.

Okay God, joke's over. Seriously, I get the whole "Big Sky" thing now. Can ya just give us something to look at?

 

[Earache]

Just when ya need it, some cool areas to ride show up....

 

[Earache]

Jason declared himself "King of the Hill" and claimed all of the land he could see as his domain.

Then the King fell in the creek and got his boot all wet...