The better late than never WYBDR ride report

[SFMCjohn]

fun writing, and the pics are off the hook. great ride report!

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Thanks all, glad folks are enjoying this!

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Section 5: Atlantic City to Shoshoni

Despite being a ways up the hill, and one of us not being a breakfast person, we back tracked to Atlantic City for breakfast at Miners Grubsteak, and while things were a bit slow as I think they had a bit more of a crowd than expected, the food was good and the coffee was necessary.

The place to be for breakfast

I couldn't help but keying in on this old Coors advert while we awaited out food. Beware of the beerwolf!

Afterwards we needed to get gas, and, well there is gas in Atlantic city, but it's basically a guy who has a couple barrels of premium and a pump in his yard. He suggested we only buy what we need as it wasn't cheap, and that was fine by me since the DRZ doesn't run well at altitude on high octane and I only needed a gallon to get to next gas. We didn't get a picture with him which is an abject failure, he was a character.

The first part of the track leads to the Carissa Mine and South Pass City which is a well preserved mining town dating back to the 1860s. The guys were a bit antsy to get moving but I told them I'd pay the entry as I was interested in having a look. Well worth it, we spent about an hour wandering around taking photos (I will not bore you with ALL of those, but I'll drop an album in for your perusal if you are so inclined)

South Pass City

Carissa Mine

I owed the guys some time after that, and aside from a short and enjoyable section of doubletrack to get us more or less back to the lodge we stayed at the previous nice, the road was a scenic, fast gravel road.

I did stop for a shot or two

The road turned to pavement for a bit and not just any pavement, but a lovely two lane ribbon winding down the mountain. Might have behooved me to stop for a photo, but having just gotten past a slow car leading into the turns I just kept at it.

Almost got rid of my chicken strips!

 

[N4teTheGreat]

We stopped for a bit to check out Sinks Canyon State Park. It's pretty remarkable, the river goes into a limestone cave and disappears underground entirely.

Then a short distance down the road, it returns and continues along it's way. The fish are all stuck after trying to swim upstream and are protected from fishing. You can also buy feed to throw into the water and they go crazy for that. Suffice to say they are fat and happy.

We amused ourselves with a few dollars of fish feed and then got on our way. As we were gearing up this guy in shorts sandals a t-shirt rolled up on his KLR. He gave us some intel on the various places to ride dirt bikes or mountain bikes around the area, and was very enthusiastic. After talking for a bit more he hopped on his bike and excused himself as he was headed to town to grab beer for the campsite

We stopped in town to fill out tanks, and stock up on water as things we decidedly warmer at this lower elevation and then got a move on for that cooling air. Things got scenic again not to far outside of town.

That scenery stretched on for a bit as we made our way to the "Gas Hills" whereupon we saw many a concerning sign like this

Biggest question on my mind was what happens if the light starts flashing once we are well past the sign?

Ah well, worse places to die from toxic gas poisoning I guess?

We got past those signs and no one died, so we had that going for us. I'd later find out the gas hills are more well known for uranium which made me wonder a bit about all the dust we were sucking in. It was around 4pm and we were getting pretty close to Shoshoni which was the end of the route, but not a particularly hospitable place.

These cars must have died of dysentery

I'd found us a no frills motel in Riverton which was just 20 minutes away so we high tailed it there and got our rooms.

I grabbed us some beers folks showered and changed, we did a quick chain service and then it was time to figure out dinner and fun for the night.

 

[SFMCjohn]

ha, was last at Sinks Canyon in the late ‘70s … Shoshone had a developed hot spring, Riverton and Lander and Wind River Range. those were the days.

 

[greenmonster]

I'm reading this when I should be working - this is way more interesting and enjoyable for sure

 

[1962siia]

Wow awesome ride and fantastic ride report. Bonus points for the great pics! Looking forward to the rest of your journey.

Those 790/890 Kim’s are known to have the rear brake lock up. Happened to a barfer friend on the way back from Weaverville a couple years ago.

Glad your buddy was able to continue on with the ride after his head digger! We had a barfer head plant in Baja one year on the last day. Once his group got him back he was asking what happened to his mirrors! Getting your bell rung is no joke!

Thanks for taking us along!

 

[N4teTheGreat]

I'm reading this when I should be working - this is way more interesting and enjoyable for sure

BARF is always better than work, don't tell my boss!

ha, was last at Sinks Canyon in the late ‘70s … Shoshone had a developed hot spring, Riverton and Lander and Wind River Range. those were the days.

Well, Shoshone still had a gas station... Riverton was fun.

Wow awesome ride and fantastic ride report. Bonus points for the great pics! Looking forward to the rest of your journey.

Those 790/890 Kim’s are known to have the rear brake lock up. Happened to a barfer friend on the way back from Weaverville a couple years ago.

Glad your buddy was able to continue on with the ride after his head digger! We had a barfer head plant in Baja one year on the last day. Once his group got him back he was asking what happened to his mirrors! Getting your bell rung is no joke!

Thanks for taking us along!

I guess he completely melted the caliper, then found a bunch of loose or missing bolt while working on replacing it. Got it buttoned up and ready to ride that afternoon / evening so I was impressed! And yeah, was definitely worried about my buddy, glad it wasn't worse!

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Riverton, WY

As we'd gotten in at a reasonable hour, I went to find us beer. The closest "liquor store" on the map turned out to be a bar with a Harley parked out front. Cool. I walked in and EVERYONE turned to see who it was and once it was determined I was not someone they knew I had a few eyes on me. Bartender was quick to help me out and I bought a case of coors light to get us started, strapped it to the back of my DRZ and rode the two blocks home. While I am normally an ATAGT guy, I was happy to skip the helmet and gear for this run.

I was hell bent on finding more cigars since my ravenous friends had caused my supply to dwindle much faster than anticipated. I tried several different smoke shops only to learn that reviewers here consider swisher sweets and the like cigars. Ah well, it was not to be.

Got back to the motel and for whatever reason shotgunning a few coors seemed in order while servicing our chains, given the heat, I was fine with that. After that everyone adjourned to their respective rooms (yeah, I'm too old for roomates) to get cleaned up for dinner. One of the guys found a place within walking distance that looked fancy with pictures of cocktails and a glowing bar but turned out not to be obnoxious. We ordered a few pizzas to share and a few shots because, why not?

Local Masons building, I though it was striking and was half tempted to visit the tattoo parlor that graced it's retail space. Missed opportunity.

Dinner and drinks

After dinner we felt the need for more, so someone found a local dive and off we went. Bar was in the back, pool tables and coolers full of packaged booze up front. On thing I enjoyed about Wyoming, seemed any bar could also sell "packaged" booze to go. There was a very drunk gal at the bar who didn't seem to like us much, after the bartender sent her home we learned she'd been drunk and fighting with her friends who all then promptly abandoned her. Some friends.

Since everyone smokes in bars here we bought a pack of smokes (don't tell my mom!), had a round, while chatting to the bartender. My buddies were always horrified when I told people we were from SF, and one of the guys kept on making the commifornia joke. It didn't land as well as you might expect. I preferred to let people know where I am from and watch their reactions. This bartender didn't care one way or the other and I think she was just happy to have non-belligerent patrons. We played a few rounds of pool, and adjourned to our motel to finish off the coors and call it a night.

We did our part

Goodnight bikes

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Section 6: Shoshoni to Ten Sleep

The next morning one of the guys had designs on the cafe next door. I think he was hoping it's would have nothing but pastries and coffee so we could get on the road asap. Jokes on him, they were a restaurant and he begrudgingly agreed to have a proper breakfast. I had biscuits and gravy and it hit the spot.

After that, we had to get back to Shoshone to return to the route, my buddy found a way to get there that was more dirt than pavement and after it turned out to be quicker than the route we'd taken INTO Riverton the previous day I was wondering what Google maps was thinking. Oh well. Back in Shoshone I decided to have a look at the local jail while I waited for the guys to catch up.

A little overcast, but nice and cool

As we were regrouping in Shoshone the guys from Seattle showed up, I guess they bailed early yesterday due to the heat, as one of them said, I am retired and have no time frame so I ride till I'm tired. Seemed like a good way to do things. We chatted for a bit and were off.

First part of the route continued on through the Gas Hills, so we go to see plenty more ominous signs

The route passes through a few mining support towns including one called lost cabin. I wondered how one lives in a place surrounded by toxic gas warnings. Most of the buildings seemed abandoned, though there was one very fancy estate

I assumed this was the lost cabin the town was named after without any information to suggest that was true

The road climbed to the top of cottonwood pass which presented an interesting landscape compared to what I am used to in mountain passes

Helluva view though

After the pass the route wandered on some very easy, fast dirt roads through some pretty spectacular geologic formations.

Also, an international airport, which I found amusing until someone pointed out we aren't far from Canada, so maybe it's legit? Ok Norwood.

This canyon was pretty exceptional, farmers out here sure have some good views to look at while working.

Scenic water break

At some point I lost the guys, I was stopping for pictures and then not paying attention to forks in the road. I figured it out after a few u-turns and luckily the town of Ten Sleep is pretty small so a quick cruise of the main drag allowed us to reconnect. We were early enough I proposed a pre checking round at the first bar I saw. It was only a few hundred yards from the hotel after all.

After that we headed to the hotel to check in and sort out the evening.

 

[budman]

This thread...Continues to deliver!!!!

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Ten Sleep

Ten Sleep was a fun spot, night, from what I recall. As the route that day was mostly fast dirt roads we got in with a decent amount of time to kill, so, as usual I picked up some beer, chains were serviced and showers were had. Around the time we checked in a group of dual sport riders from Colorado showed up.

They were not enthused with the route and felt it was boring when asking us what we thought about it. I agreed it was certainly easier than previous days, but I didn't mind cruising along on an easy scenic route for the day, it was a nice break, and 50ish mph in the dirt is still fun as far as I'm concerned.

We finally got ourselves together and decided to go check out Ten Sleep brewing. They had a great spot on share with a farm, and allowed people to camp out on the property. I was still happy we had a motel room, but the idea of camping stubling distance from their beer taps was appealing.

The weather started to pick up with wind and some light rain, so we decided to high tail it back to our motel and park the bikes, after a few tasters and with the weather fast approaching I we hauled ass out of there, my new brewery hat turned backwards and my t-shrt flapping in the wind. Not normally my thing, but given it was less than a mile to the brewery and Wyoming's lack of helmet laws, it seemed like the thing do to.

The hat

The storm came and went quickly, giving us a nice rainbow on the way out..

After parking the bikes it was time for dinner and after being told about a burger place "1 cow" that sources all of it's meat from a local ranch and cooks it's fries in tallow. It was excellent, and the cuts of meat sitting in the Fridge had my Argentinian buddy trying to devise a way to grill them the following night. I talked him out of it and that turned out to be a good thing. I'm sure the steaks would have been excellent, but a day strapped to a dual sport might not have been the proper way to tenderize them.

After dinner we found ourselves back at the Bighorn bar as everything else was closing. It was lively with a group regulars all hanging out and playing pool. I was initially unsure if these folks would really us there, but by the end of the night I was buying shots and playing terrible pool. At some point a lizard of some sort wandered into the bar, so of course there were a few photos taken before it was carried outside and sent on its way. It was surprisingly calm.

I'm not sure what time we left the bar, but I apparently really appreciated the moon on our walk back to the motel..

Along with the view from the smoking area at the motel...

Once I started nodding off it was time to head to bed.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Section 7: Ten Sleep to Burgess Junction

I woke up the next morning a little worse for the wear, luckily my electrolyte tabs hadn't entirely turned to dust from the ride, so I down a glassful of electrolyte goodness, along with a few more glasses of water and started putting myself together. The motel had breakfast which was actually quite good, so we got ourselves together and got out the door pretty quick.

'morning, bikes

As we were gassing up a side by side pulled up and it was one of the couples from the bar last night. We all agreed that we were a bit worse for those shots, but a good night was had. They told us that they were headed up into the mountains to meet some friends and spend a day hanging out by a lake and beating the heat, and it was already hot, so I couldn't blame them.

Off we went and after a short time on pavement the route through Ten Sleep Canyon offered a dirt frontage road with great views, of which I failed to take any photos till the end.

We were a little worried about time today as the "lodge" we were staying at closed up for the night around 7pm and we had a rugged 122 miles to do, so my photo stops were minimal unfortunately.

The route put us on pavment for a bit, and then a dirt road started a climb up into the Bighorn National forest. We were pretty quickly greeted with a nice view at a weather station (or something)

Getting off the pavement

The route had some muddy sections, possibly more so because of the rain yesterday and I managed to get the front and rear wheels in different tracks which promptly brought the back wheel around into what felt like a slow motion low side. It was a nice soft landing.

More mud for the bike!

Turns out I got lucky as the brake pedal hooked into the mud and bent quite a bit, but didn't break. After I got the bike sorted I managed to ride off without securing my water. Noticed it was gone after about 20 minutes and had to back track all the way

As I got close I ran into a group of side by side riders. I asked the first one if they'd seen my water, and they hadn't. Second side by side had seen it and mentioned someone might have picked it up. Third side by side flipped me off when I tried to talk to him and the last side by side had my water, awesome! I strapped it on and was back on track. Rode by the side by side group at the next intersection and for some odd reason this one guy didn't wanna look in my direction while the others waved.

We have water again!

A little while later as we started descending we ran into another group of side by sides and my buddies we stopped talking to them, I figured they were warning us about some obstacle, but when they got to me, whatdaya know, it was the entire group we'd been hanging with at the bar last night. Pleasantries and fist bumps were exchanged and they were suitably impressed not only to find us at this location, but to hear we were headed quite a ways further to Bugress Junction.

We descended from the mountains into the heat but I still stopped to grab a couple shots

Water break!

We took a reccomended detour to see the Medicine Lodge Archaeological Site, it was really hot, but worth a quick stop.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

We started climbing back into the mountains, the rode was rough and rocky sandy and it went on and on. At one point I got stuck behind a convoy of trucks and start to worry I was going to burn out my clutch before I finally found a gap to get by them. The view at the top of the climb was absolutely spectacular. My buddies missed it and rode right by, their loss.

And this was only about halfway as we were doing the expert section at the end of the route. But first, I have to go to the Folsom Street Fair... arty

 

[MTERK]

Great pics Nate, I have to learn to stop more often and get some good ones!

Looks like the weather was perfect except for the bit of heat.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Found a video of my muddy lowside (and some of the approach), the slip 'n slide is at the 2:20 mark.

I also found a video of the truck convoy on my climb up to the previously posted view, along with some footage of my taking pictures and drinking water since I forgot to turn my camera off. I'll edit something together sometime between this year and when I die... in the meantime, you get to enjoy it raw.

I stopped for a few more photo ops along the way and managed to get passed by both of my riding buddies...

It was getting later in the day so I also ate a cliff bar as we hadn't had anything since breakfast. Seemed like a good spot to stop.

While I was having my "meal" a guy in a jeep rolled up and wanted to chat bikes, which we did. He told me he was in the jeep today as he preferred the air conditioning for getting up into the mountains.

I caught up with my buddies right at the start of the expert section, a 22 mile stretch that goes up and over 9,000 ft Woodchuck pass. It was an exceptionally beautiful area, but we were pushing our luck with check-in time, and daylight so not a lot of photos were taken.

I did stop to get a shot of our one buddy who as of yet hadn't crashed, the expert section got him and I took a photo before giving him a hand in getting his bike back up on the road. I also realized my SDcard was maxed on my gopro and I'd missing the footage of this rocky climb. He had a spare card so that worked out.

The shots I did get show how beautiful it was

About a quarter of the way into this section I found myself a mudhole that I didn't agree with and managed to lose the rear and go swimming. I didn't take pictures of the bike napping and it was very clsoe to having it's airbox underwater and I didn't want a drowned bike. I did have my gopro running through, so, enjoy.

I was now soaked and had to get my gloves even more soaked to wash off the slimy mud so I could operate the controls and we were running out of daylight and time.

Shortly after we came to a rock garden that only a trials rider could love. It was directly after a river crossing (yay, wet tires) and amounted to a massive field of boulders spaced apart by deep muddy holes likely dug out by side by sides grinding their way across. I wasn't feeling particularly confident and no one wanted to drop a break the bikes on these rocks. So it amounted to a bunch of duck walking and bouncing from hole to hole until we cleared the field. The trail continued to be rocky and muddy for several more miles, but the rest of what it threw at us was rideable just fine. Later on we came to a river crossing and I managed to create enough of a wake going through that I filled the foot of my boots with water, oh well, I was already wet.

At some point I took a wrong turn after losing my buddies while I stopped for a photo and ended up taking a run, but wrong road and only realizing it after working my way past a convoy of ATVs. I pulled over a laughed off my mistake with them and got back on the route. Rocks and more rocks on a nice bermed climb, it was a hoot.

The trail opened up into a nice two track road and I came around a corner at a decent clip to see two gals on horseback. I got hard on the brakes and came to a quick stop with the rear drifting to the side a bit. I apologized and was glad I didn't spook their horses, the complimented my quick stop and were on their way.

after what seemed like forever we joined a wide dirt road and noted that we still had another 30 or so miles to go, and maybe 45 minutes before the lodge closed.

I was being a pessimist but my buddies were just like, we can always try to make it and figure things out. So off we went, and after a long beautiful ride along a paved section we ended up at the lodge right at the cutoff. Luckily still, the kitchen hadn't closed and we were able to order food and drinks while the host checked us in at our table. Sweet. This was a big day and I was happy to have a few cocktails and a nice meal to cap it off.

The special was tri-tip and a mashed potato and it hit the spot.

After that we grabbed some beer from the bar, which happoly was open later, and went to check out our cabin and for me, change into something dry.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Arrowhead Lodge

Suffice to say, Bugress Junction is a pretty remote part of the state. Not much in the way of development but lots of stuff to do outdoors. I really appreciated just how serious folks in Wyoming take their outdoor recreation.

When I called the Arrowhead lodge to make a reservation I was told that they don't do single night stays at the lodge during the summer, but the guy mentioned they had a rustic cabin we could rent, for 65 bucks. Sweet. It was rustic, and more or less perfect. The only downsides, the heater didn't work, and we shared the space with eleventy-billion miller moths. I'm sure I got some extra protein that night...

The beds amounted to box springs and nothing more, whic I'd known about. I meant to pack a camp blanket but never got around to getting one, so used my emergency bivy sack.

All sorted and in dry clothes

Our sleeping quarters

Hey, at least we had electricity

But, importantly we had fire pit. While they didn't sell wood, I was told there was lots of dead wood in the forest I could use, and sure enough there was. With the wood collected and things ready, I went to the bar while waiting for the rest of the crew to shower and change. As I walked by the lodge I couldn't help bu noticed there were no cars in the lot, so it seems everyone was sleeping in the cabins and no rooms were in use. Guess they just didn't wanna deal with cleaning the rooms / doing laundry.

No wifi at all, so I used my InReach to let the S/O know I'd survived another day while talking to our bartender who'd moved up to Wyoming from the south and very much appreciated Wyoming's wide open spaces and hands off government.

After a few rounds, we bought additional beer supplies and headed to our cabin to enjoy the campfire, which we did. Gasoline may or may not have been used to get things going...

It went just fine and we wiled away more hours than we should have finishing all the beer and enjoying the fire.

This would not be my best night of sleep, using a backpack full of clothes as a pillow and waking up needing to navigate down from the top bunk in total darkness to go pee, and later to fumble with the heater before giving up and finding another layer to keep me warm-ish. Oh well, it was a beautiful day when we woke up and some water and an electrolyte tablet get things started while we packed up.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Section 8: Burgess Junction to MT Border

I kept drinking water as I was packing up. I was certainly feeling the effects of several cocktails chased by a number of beers followed by not the best sleep. Some regrets, but whatever. There was no breakfast at our lodge, they didn't open for anything until 10am, so we headed off to the Bear Lodge Resort which was also our gas stop for the morning.

Coffee was the order of the moment...

If my buddies thought any of our previous breakfasts took a while, this one would prove them wrong. I have no idea what was going on in the kitchen, but I suspect they had more business than expected or someone called out. The waitress came out to apologize to us and let us know they were setting up for the lunch buffet (guess we took a little while to get on the road) and would be a moment. Then a refill of coffee later the cook come out of the kitchen to talk to our host seeming a little flustered. I didn't catch much of it, but as he walked back into the kitchen he said something along the lines of "this is not good, this is not F@CKING good!".

We got another apologetic update on food, and more coffee. Personally, I didn't mind as I was happy to have extra time to decaffeinate and compose myself. Food finally came and I was impressed with the portion size, and my ability to consume it all. Worked out since we didn't eat again until 7pm or so.

I believe it was a breakfast burrito smothered in chili?

We were finally on our way and the guys were on a mission today, or maybe I was just riding at a pace commensurate with my hangover (there, I said it). This was a short section anyway so I didn't feel the need to rush, and I was starting to notice a weird whine, or something, from the DRZ. This may have been there earlier, and could only be heard at low revs when the exhaust was quiet. Spoiler alert, nothing blew up, thankfully.

The first section of the ride was a chill 15 miles on a gravel road whereupon I saw my first legit cowboy rid out of the hills to cross my path with hsi cattle dogs trailing him and his horse. We exchanged a nod as he crossed, and off I went.

A little while later I crested a hill to a group of cowboys and a cowgirl driving a herd. I stopped since they were halfway into the road and I didn't want to spook anything. One of the cowboys got between me and the herd and waved me by while the rest worked on getting the herd off the road, buddy got video of it but I can't seem to find it.

Once we turned off the main road and started climbing into the hills I finally gave up on catching my buddies and started taking photos when I felt like it.

I was still fairly worried about the noise my bike was making when I took this shot

Nice and scenic

The route descended back to pavement where we climbed up a bit higher and picked up a dirt rode for the out and back section of todays route which would take us to the Montana border. Most of it was up in elevation with sweeping views on offer

As I made my way I passed a group driving side by sides and was asked if there was a race going on, I guess my buddies musta been moving. I ran into another rider we'd seen at breakfast on his Tenere and he confirmed that my friends were "flying" and also let me know that I was near the end,

Made it

Right after this selfie my buddy got a message from his wife via his InReach that his kid (less than 1 year old) was sick, vomiting and ot keeping food down which had him properly freaked out. He decided he was going to high tail it directly to our hotel for the night to try and get there with time to call his wife and get more details and without much time for debate he was off. Not a great idea in my mind but he wasn't being reasoned with.

I grabbed a few more pictures on the way back to the highway

The plan for the remaining two of us was to get to pavement and descend into Big Horn basin via a nice winding mountain road. It was pretty spectacular despite the heat picking up the lower we went.

After that we had a route that was mostly dirt roads to get us to Thermopolis, the idea being to eat up some miles before we slept given that we had to get all the way to the south end of the state the next day. This part was a slog, and hot so I didn't snap any pictures. It seemed like it was the hottest day of the trip, and when we left the dirt and hit pavement for the final stretch I saw a sign announcing it was 103 degrees as we were gassing up. Whew. When we got to Thermopolis it was 105. Funny enough, the motel we stayed in was the exact same motel I'd stayed in on a road trip with my parents nearly a decade ago. I called my mom to check in and let her know I picked up her taste in mom a pop motels over chains. Then I sat in front of the AC unit while waiting on the guys shower and change.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Thermopolis

There was a bar right across the street from out motel so we went there for a drink. We considered dinner there but as it was Sunday they didn't have a cook and suggested we go the brewery which I'd decided against as it looked like they closed soon. Bartender assured me they didn't and in fact they were packed!

It was gonna be a 30 minute wait for a table so we went to the bar to get a beer. As we were sipping on our first beer three seats cleared out at the bar. We sat down and asked if we could order food at the bar (of course!).

It wasn't a light meal, but it was damn good!

After dinner we went back to the bar across the street to play a little pool and have a few rounds. After a few games of pool the bar started getting busier with some local young-uns and we decided to take some beers to go for more low key environs. We kicked it outside in the now lovely 75 degree night and chatted before calling it a night.

Goodnight bikes

 

[N4teTheGreat]

I'm going back to Dixon...

Well the WYBDR was over, but, we still had to get all the way back to Dixon to collect our truck. One of the guys had figured out a way we could ride just about the whole way there on dirt, so that was the plan. It was kinda wild since it showed just how round about the BDR route was as we basically would get back to our destination in around 350 miles, or at least that was the initial plan.

I think we skipped breakfast to just get moving as we weren't sure how long it was going to take us. As such, not a lot of photos were taken during that slog.

I did get this pic of a poor abused stop sign while waiting for a pee break. They do like shooting signs in Wyoming

Well, turns out we made pretty good time, and as we were gassing up my buddy pointed out we could pick up the BDR-X route from the first day and ride a good portion of it in reverse. Having already covered about 300 miles at this point, I hesitated but finally decided, sure, why not?

We found our way to the route without much issue and started on our way. clouds were looking problematic and we started to get spit on here and there. Then I say some lightning off in the direction of the route, uh-oh.

We decided to get to lower ground and assess our options or wait for the storm to blow over.

This got boring after about 20 minutes and we had cell service, the guys figured we could just follow the low road we were around and skirt the storm. So off we went. A short while later we came upon a rather run down homestead.

The road seemed, shall we say, lightly traveled and I was having visions of us running out of gas lost in the middle of nowhere. My buddies however were convinced the road would go through.

Well at least if I died it'd be scenic

The road got less and less traveled to the point where I figured we might be the first vehicles on it this year, if not longer, we were definitely leaving tracks in a two track that seemed to be getting reclaimed by nature. It did feel adventurous.

We encountered a tricky rutted section and I watched both of the guys go down trying to ride through it. I had visions of grandeur when I made my attempt... and then stalled the bike, but didn't drop it at least. Got it started and tractor-ed out of the rut and rode off, good enough.

Not to far from that section, we joined up with the BDR-X route, now I was not worried about gas and picked up the pace / stopped for pictures a bit more.

Bad weather happily behind us.

So started the deep sand, seems it'd been stirred up a bit by all the bikes coming through, or maybe some weather, but it was definitely more, shall we say, exciting than I recall on our first day. I had more than a few moments I was sure I was gonna bin it only to have the bike snap back in line. For me staying seated but loose and keeping on the gas seemed to do the trick and I made it through without issue.

After that the road widened up to a nice fast gravel road and we picked up the pace, at some point I pack of wild horses got spooked by a buddy ahead of me and came running across the road. I came to an abrupt stop and watched them gallop away kicking up a cloud of dust as they did. Pretty amazing.

Views for miles

I stopped for some water and caught pics and video of my buddies blasting by.

I didn't see either of them for the rest of the dirt bits. I caught up to one of them at the intersection with the road. We didn't see our other buddy who had been ahead of us and assumed (wrongly) that he'd just decided to keep going to the motel as this was not out of character for him.

As we rolled into the motel, he... wasn't there. Oh shit. I checked my InReach and I had a message from him that was about 40 minutes old "were are you guys". Crap. I messaged him and texted him that we were at the hotel and never saw him on the route.

He showed up about 30 minutes later a little on the grumpy side, none of us have any idea how we missed each other, but there are a lot of dirt roads out there once you get closer to the highway. Ah well, I did penance by making quick work of getting the bikes loaded and ready to go as we would be getting up at the crack of dawn to drive the entire distance back to SF.

Goodnight bikes

We had one more homecooked meal, and several cocktails at the Dixon club, grabbed some beers to cap off the night and I sat out for a bit looking at the stars.

What a great trip, and it was super nice of the owner of the Dixon hotel / Club to let us leave our truck there.

The next day I took all of one photo and we covered some mileage.

Back to reality

Life's short, do the thing.