Headed Home

Since leaving Blaine we have been running hard. The days have been too long for me to report as we have been beginning as early as 5:00 am and riding as late as 10:00 or 10:30 pm.


First we headed out from Seattle to Post Falls Idaho via Redmond Washington and lake Sammich . This is definitely on the list of places to return to. From Idaho down to Missoula Montana (home to retired hippies) for lunch at the bagel shop and on to Livingston Montana just north of Yellowstone. Up before 6:00 am to tour Yellowstone and watch Old Faithful. We nearly burned out our brakes on the long winding mountain road out of the park.


Then we spent the afternoon and evening traveling through Cody Wyoming and the Bighorn National Forest. Bighorn was spectacular and varied scenery. The Devils Kitchen mesas, narrow river canyons, steep mountains, high plains with limitless views, trout streams, game and livestock. Some stretches of long straight roads, but more twisties up and down the canyons and mountain passes. Some day we all want to spend a lot more time in the Bighorn National Forest. We arrived very late and very tired in Gillette Wyoming. (Going into Yellowstone we learned from a Seattle BMW (2004 RT model) that Gillette had just been the site of the annual BMW national rally. Ever since folks have been asking us if we attended and are now on our way home.)


More varied terrain across Wyoming. Classic western topography, steep hills and then into the South Dakota for a quick tour of Mount Rushmore and the Badlands. Like the Yellowstone tour, this sightseeing in South Dakota slowed us down. We knew we would have trouble reaching Omaha for our scheduled service appointments. In fact, we could only manage to reach Sioux City Iowa (about 80 miles south of Sioux Falls South Dakota) by 10:30 pm after leaving Gillette Wyoming at about 6:30 am. We had not planned a stop in Sturgis, the motorcycle Mecca. However, Burgma's right hand end cap fell off and she pulled over to effect a repair. Since this has been a recurring problem, CZookie suggested a stop at the Sturgis Suzuki shop which as luck would have it was located within sight. As a bonus the shop also handles BMW. Eric confirmed that they did not have a replacement endcap plug in stock, but he very helpfully reinstalled the old plug with a treatment which has significantly improved the situation.

We have been hitting the No Doze pretty hard. Even at that Burgma and I had to catch a 30 minute nap in the afternoon refueling stop en route to Sioux City. Our contact Nate at Dillon Brothers Suzuki et al in Omaha had arranged our service appointment for 8:00 am. We were up by 5:30 am and on the road by 6:30 am headed for Omaha. Still with road construction, a fuel stop and rain preparations (it ultimately only misted) we did not arrive for service until 8:30 am. Dillon Brother's service department was super. They took the bikes right away and even did an oil change on the Beamer. (I had learned in a call to BMW of Omaha the prior afternoon that they were too booked up to service the RT on Friday.) They also did not complain or repremand us when Burgma and I snored soundly for two hours on the couch in the service department. Hopefully it was not offputting to the other customers.

After an excellent lunch with Nate at the IceHouse Restaurant next to Dillon Brothers we were on the road headed to Kansas City. Sleep deprivation and exhaustion were overcoming us and by mid afternoon I was signalling an emergency caffeine stop. The closest source was McDonald's which now serves iced mochas. Two of those and an iced tea washed down No Doze all around. As we were leaving a local teacher and BMW rider asked if we were headed home from the BMW national rally in Gillette. She and her husband have a collection of collectible and more recent BMWs having ridden them since 1975! Everyone in her family rides them. We explained our trip and current destination. She gave us an alternate route from St. Joseph over and down to Columbia Missouri avoiding Kansas City and associated interstate truck traffic and road construction. These were good four lane roads with little traffic and although they are not limited access, the speed limit is 65 and I believe we made much better time more safely than we could have on the interstate. We are passing many, many fields flooded from recent rains. Streams and rivers are crested beyond their banks and water is rushing at the road level even at bridges. The oncoming lane was under about 2ft of water at some points. Moreover our stops have repeatedly reminded me of my small town childhood in the Midwest. Some good things here have not changed. Now in Macon Missouri we are less than 500 miles from home. It has been a spectacular and wild journey. It will seem very strange to be home and not to have somewhere to motor to on the morrow.