After riding from Sth Carolina on a 95 Wide Glide in April this year I returned to Australia and decided to come back and do the northern route next summer. Couldn't wait until next summer so despite having little money left changed it to this summer. I had some business I could do here so that was a good enough excuse. My wife was already here on holiday with her sister as well so I arrived in LA just in time to have breakfast with her on her last day here, kiss her goodbye at the airport and another adventure begins.

My plan was to do a few things in LA and Las Vegas that I needed to get done and I bought a 2006 FLSTC with 5,000 miles on it from Delaware to ride back to LA. The trouble was the night before my flight out to Delaware I spoke to the guy who told me he had personalized plates and was taking them off before I collected the bike. I offered to post them back but after some robust discussion I couldn't budge him and he refused to refund my cash so I had the bike freighted to LA and will ship it home to OZ and hopefully make some money to pay for my trip . I cancelled my flight to Delaware and bought an '88 FLSTC with 13,000 genuine miles on it in GreyBull Wyoming and on Friday flew to Wyoming to collect it.

Wow. I wasn't disappointed. When the owner, an older guy (older than me) told me it had been under a blanket for 20 years I was a bit worried, but it's had new gaskets, bearings and tyres and is as sweet as a nut. It looks like a 3 year old bike. Plus this one has the screen and the bags that the other one didn't have so although my trip won't be as long this time it requires a bit less mucking around to get on the road.

I crashed on the floor in my trusty swag at the sellers house Friday night and woke up eager as hell to get back in the saddle. A couple of weeks with my friends in LA and Las Vegas was fun but after a day out on the road in the fresh air and mountains I remembered why I was really here. GreyBull Wyoming is 50 miles east of Cody, which is 50 miles east of Yellowstone National Park. Never having had the good fortune to visit this part of the US I couldn't head straight to Sturgis without taking the opportunity to visit Yellowstone so I saddled up yesterday morning on the Heritage and rode off to Yellowstone.

The first thing I noticed about Wyoming is that it is unmistakably cowboy country. These are real cowboys here. They talk like cowboys and walk like cowboys. All the shops are full of cowboy boots and guns and Indian souvenirs. 5 minutes down the road from where I'm writing this, there's a rodeo going on as I speak. Around Cody everything is named after Buffalo Bill Cody which I suppose makes sense. There's the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum, Cody Dam, Cody Lake, the Buffalo Bill Roadhouse, the Bill Cody Campground, no-one misses out on cashing in on Buffalo Bill here. The other thing about Wyoming, or at least Cody and Yellowstone is the Bear. This is Bear country and the shadow of the Grisly Bear hangs over the place like the Great White Shark does at Surfers Paradise at home in Australia. But they're serious here. There are signs around the campgrounds and roadsides telling you to be careful of Grislys. A month ago a Grisly killed a hiker at Yellowstone and 4 days ago rangers put down another Grisly for attacking a man. Grislys are on the protected list so there's no shortage of them anymore and there's Black bears, Moose, Elk, Deer, Wolves, Coyotes, Foxes, the raccoon that ran out in front of my bike today and god knows what else. There's no helmet law in Wyoming either but that raccoon convinced me to put mine on.

When visiting a place like the Grand Canyon, Uluru in Australia or Yellowstone National Park, you expect it to be spectacular and Yellowstone is that, with snowcapped mountains, forests teeming with wildlife and geysers including old faithful, but what you don't expect is the scenery on that 52 mile trip from Cody to Yellowstone. To me that was every bit as good as the park if not better. No good trying to describe it so I'm posting a couple of pics but bear in mind that without panoramic pics which are not my forte, I can't do it justice. When I rode Arizona in April some of you guys told me Wyoming was better. I'm not shortselling Arizona, but this is something to see.

Camped last night at a campground outside Cody where they charged me $31 to sleep on the ground. I did get a shower, some breakfast and got to drink late into the night with a group of bikers on their way to Sturgis so it wasn't a total ripoff. At the moment, all roads lead to Sturgis. Everywhere you look your eyes and ears are met by bikers on their way to the Harley Davidson Mecca. I'll get there later today with some luck.

 

Don't forget devils tower! Great backrpads to sturgis from there.

 

Enjoy the ride and be safe.

 

Looks like another fun trip for you Mick, shoot a pick of your 88 HD, but wait till you get to Stugis and put one of those babes in the pic with the bike.
What color is this new bike?
Don enlow (flylow)

 

Good to hear from you again..........are you coming down this way?

Enjoy Sturgis and keep the pictures coming!

 

Well Sturgis is amazing. I thought it was going to be mainly about the party and that is huge no doubt. The people here a great and I've been fortunate enough to get in with a family of bikers from Iowa who are salt of the earth but the main thing that has blown me away are the rides through the Black Hills of South Dakota. Yesterday I went to Mt Rushmore which was is iconic obviously and somewhere we all should visit but better than that was the ride through the Custer National Park. I was going to open up today with a description of the ride into Sturgis from Cody because it just keeps getting better but I'm starting to sound like someone from National Geographic so all I can tell you is go to Sturgis. I can't not tell you about the ride through the Custer NP though. It's one of those windy roads with speed advisory signs you know you can double and the ride is worth taking that risk. The 3 deer I saw on the side of the road in one 10 mile stretch wasn't enough to deprive me of this opportunity so I took my chances. I know there are plenty more rides like that around here. Not quite as good maybe but I want to find out. If ever you come to Sturgis, spend as little time in the main street as you can is my advice. One or two visits to the mile of T-Shirt and bike bit vendors is enough. The real party is the rides and there are tens of thousands of bikers out there doing just that. Pointless photographing bikes because you wouldn't know which one to start with. I rode home last night not exactly knowing where I was and coming out at Deadwood just on dusk. I'm heading back there now to have a good look around and find some more rides.. Ride Safe. Pics later

 

I hope you road the PIG TAIL! Don't tell me you missed that. It is near Mt. Rushmore. Now here is the fun way to get there. Go through Custer State Park using the Sylvan Lake Resort entrance. Enjoy the ride but traveling down through the park watch for the Playhouse signs! CR 753 is the road the Playhouse is own. Take CR 753 and in a few miles you will come up to 16A. Turn left and follow 16A toward Mt. Rushmore. I think the road name is Iron something? Maybe someone can help with that one. If you miss this road you will disappointed.

Also don't forget Vanocker Canyon road. Man you really need me there! Just pull over at your first stop and wait till I get there!LOL!

 

wish I was there with both Mick and Bama, would be some good sites and rides ... Dang it's been a few years, but ready to head that way next year for sure.

 

I'd love to describe myself as a party animal but I'd be lying. I got to Sturgis on Sunday and being honest, I thought I would stay a day or two and move on but it's day 5 for me today and I would love to stay for the remaining couple of days. A mate of mine from Melbourne has bought a ticket to Las Vegas and needs me to meet him there for some business introductions so consequently I'm riding out today and heading south through Colorado, Utah and into Las Vegas. The people I've met here, the rides we've had and the party atmosphere is something I want to experience again. I don't know why it took me so long to get here the first time but my plan is to come back to the 72nd Black Hills Rally in 2012. I can't say much more about it than that, other than enjoy the photos and make the effort to get to Sturgis 2012. I wish I could post some of the photos I took during the parties but the moderators would give me some time off.

 

Hey MickI had to look at that one pic twice to notice the two Heritages.. I like that paint scheme.. ( The one with the tats..)