No Crowds at Old Faithful at Sunrise!

I was absolutely amazed to have Old Faithful completely to myself before, during and after the first eruption of the day at about 715am! Arrived at the viewing area to find icy, cold conditions and wound up doing push-ups in the pre-dawn darkness to stay warm! (At least I hope there wasn't anyone else watching me do pushups in the dark!) As the sun slowly came up, the wildlife comes alive and I realized there were bison, ravens, ducks and geese to keep me from getting lonely! People started to slowly drift into the Geyser Basin for the 2nd eruption 90 minutes later and were quick to complain about the cold! I wisely chose not to demonstrate my pushup technique for staying warm! I was caught totally unprepared for the inevitable flamingo questions as well as the rational "You rode your motorcycle here from Pennsylvania comments" as I had left the AWSOM postcards in my room! I did my best to work the inevitable "Awesome" exclamation about Old Faithful into my dialogue about the animal shelter without arousing undue suspicion, I think!? While waiting for the sun to get high in the sky and temps enough to Defrost the roads, I managed to catch a 3rd eruption later at 1120am! It's not called Old Faithful by coincidence!

8300 Foot Pass in Yellowstone!

After getting my motorcycle repaired in Gillette the cold and snow were certainly on my mind! Going further west on I-94 past Billings, Montana the conditions improved and the decision to try for the north gate of Yellowstone was made. Approaching the park in perfect conditions with warmer temps and sun high in the sky acted like "Defrost" on the roads and we even made it over the Continental Divide a couple of times. Called Old Faithful Inn to check room availability and again managed to get one of the last couple rooms left at Snow Lodge on the next to last night for their season, ala the Badlands! Despite multiple road closures already in effect in Yellowstone, I managed to see quite a bit of the park and got to Old Faithful just as the temperatures dropped with the setting sun, ensuring icing conditions throughout the park! You can tell it's cold in this picture as I didn't even bother to get Toto out for his photo-opportunity!

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Message from Dr Clair D Thompson II:

The only time I don't like a train whistle is if I'm crossing the tracks! Passed this train leaving Gillette, Wyoming yesterday morning and the train whistle always reminds me ofthe Willie Nelson song On The Road Again and that's exactly how I feel after waiting 3 days for motorcycle repairs.Willie's lyrics "goin' places that I've never been, seein' things that I may never see again, just can't wait to get on the road again" never rang truer! Not sure where I caught my wanderlust from, but train whistles and Willie Nelson just feed it more!

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Plan B

Originally hoped to get over to Yellowstone and Teton National Parks
for brief visits. Currently in Sheridan, Wyoming and the Bighorn
Mountains on the way to the parks are snow covered and road reports
are for "slick conditions"! Going to try for Billings, Montana
instead, avoiding further icing conditions. Seems odd to go further
north to avoid the snow! Counterintuitive?

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Devils Tower,Wyoming

Backtracked 60 miles one way to see the 1st National Monument in the
National Park System! Bike is working great, no snow, 60 degrees but
ferocious crosswinds! More later!

AWSOM Ride Redux!?!?

Repair bill for crashed motorcycle >$2000, hotel bill for 3 nights >
$300, replace destroyed rainsuit $75, mail home excess gear $25,
getting back to the AWSOM ride } PRICELESS!

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Message from Dr Clair D Thompson II:

As Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu all over again!" Well, it appears that Dr Clair's bad vibe about his wreck did come to pass and he wrecked near the Rockies! However. a quick roadside bike assessment opened up the possibility of a repair to resume the ride. Local shop ordered new radiator and exhaust manifold. Could be rideable by Wednesday!

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