Netnorske's Custer Report

[Netnorske]

The following is a day by day report of my 9 days on the road to Custer and home again...3094 miles door to door. It is long, but has some great pics and good info should you choose to go to any of these places.

Saturday June 13, 2009

My wife Tricia I met up with BigJohn, Duke and Ballast in North Bend, WA for the 500 mile trip to Missoula, MT for our first overnight stop. Nothing to really report here, just long boring hours on the Interstate. The weather was fabulous though, making it as enjoyable as possible.

Upon our arrival we were met by Schoeney and his buddy Dan (I think), who although unable to make the run to Custer, were on a multi-day ride and met us in Missoula for the evening. We had a great dinner and a few drinks, then said our goodbyes in the morning as we all headed off.


Duke, Ballast, Schoeney, Tricia, me and BigJohn in Missoula....




Sunday June 14, 2009

Sunday we headed toward Billings, MT while Schoeney and his friend Dan headed south. It was a beautiful ride totally off of Interstate 90. Instead we rode the MT 200 east to MT 141, then on into Helena. That is one gorgeous stretch of roadway...God's country for certain.

We stopped for lunch in Townsend, then ran up through White Sulfur Springs before heading east to Lavina then south on MT 3 into Billings, about 350 miles for the day.

Once in Billings, we overnighted at my friend Joe Blaseg's home, where he was kind enough to host our entire group for some BBQ and cocktails....a nice respite after a long days ride.

Monday June 15, 2009

Monday morning we met up with Voyager and his wife (Kevin and Deb), who were coming from the Edmonton, Alberta area and had overnighted just outside of Billings.


Voyager (Kevin and Deb)....




We got out of Billings a little later than we had hoped, so we skipped our planned stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield with hopes to stop on our return trip instead. Bud Smalley (Idaho-High Plains Drifter) was awaiting us in Buffalo, WY and we did not wish for him to wait longer than necessary.

The weather up until this point had been t-shirt stuff, but when I called Bud to let him know of our progress, he had bad news as a huge thunderstorm had been pounding the area east of Buffalo all morning. We put on all the rain gear and rolled into Buffalo getting wet pretty good. Bud was waiting as planned, so we headed into town for lunch to wait out the rain a bit.

That was a good plan as the storm moved off and we really only rode in the rain about 50 miles before the sun came out again and the last 150 to Custer was all good!


Idaho-High Plains Drifter (Bud Smalley)....




There was now six of us in our group and when we rolled into the Bavarian Inn about 7:00 pm it was almost overwhelming seeing all the Nomads in that parking lot....it was really cool! The first person to greet us when we walked up to the hotel office was Trip himself.... !

Trip and I.....




We got settled into our rooms and from there the party was on! We got a room right next to glwilson (Greg) and his wife Kendra, pictured here below....





Tuesday June 16, 2009

With several group rides to choose from we decided to take the Badlands run with about 16 bikes. The other 38 or so went on the Devil's Tower ride.

Kioti led our group....




The run was great as we took some small side roads in the Black Hills through the small town of Keystone before hitting the Interstate to Wall, SD for a stroll through Wall Drug and some lunch. From Wall he headed straight south into the Badlands. It is like you are riding on another planet, the landscape is so totally unreal.


Chainsaw (Al Strauss) at Wall, SD....




Road shots in the Badlands....





Unwind2 (hubby on the Wing) and Landman next to their Nomads....







Wednesday June 17, 2009

This was great day for us as we decided to do our own thing with just a couple bikes. Joining us was Voyager (Kevin) and his wife Deb and Ballast (Charlie). We first headed for the wildlife loop in Custer State Park.

The quote of the week came from the female ranger from whom we purchased our park tickets as she was looking at Voyager's Nomad...."That sure is a nice looking bike...and it's not even a Harley"... !

Where the buffalo roam....






From there we took a great ride up Iron Mountain Road to Mt. Rushmore. I'll say this....you can see all the postcards you want, but there is nothing like seeing it in person. It is really very cool!


Tricia and I....







At Mt. Rushmore we met up with Blowndodge (Brad), who was out on his own. He joined our little group for a ride back toward town on the famous Needles Highway.....





Our day ended with a great lunch in Custer at the Purple Pie House...then a break in the action before another relaxing evening partying at the Bavarian!


Trip, enjoying a fine cigar and a sip of some great Mexican Tequila I brought along....





Denny and his wife Sally....





OP and his wife Jennifer....





Blowndodge (Brad)....





Thursday June 18, 2009

On the 18th we also elected not to do any of the group rides but again decided to do our own thing with Jerry Stearns and his wife Dale....and Denny and Sally. I don't know how or why, but I didn't get a single photo of Jerry and his wife...so sorry for that.

We rode up through Deadwood first, really only stopping at the cemetary.....





Then it was on through Spearfish Canyon, where once into it we got totally hosed by a huge thunderstorm. The canyon was beautiful but of course was hard to enjoy when you have a hose shoved down your pants and jacket.

We pushed ahead into Sturgis for lunch at the Loud American Bar and Grill before taking a wonderful ride south out of Sturgis down Vanacker Canyon Road to Nemo, where again we got hit with hard rain. We decided to call it a day and headed back to town to get dried out and ready for the night's final dinner at the State Game Lodge.

Dinner was awesome and it was great to see all the bikes in one place as many were spread out in other motels in town during the week.







Trip, SWB, Kawgirl, Todd and Cactus Jack.....





Friday June 19, 2009

Duke, BigJohn and Voyager joined Tricia and I for the run back to Billings. We stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield and took in some history there. John and Duke then headed off as they were going farther west than us, while Kevin, Deb, Tricia and I all returned to my friend Joe's place in Billings for the night. We enjoyed a tremendous crab feed (big, fresh Dungeness crab from Costco) and sucked on big Margaritas before turning in for the night.


Saturday June 20, 2009

We awoke early to grand weather and a great desire on my part to run the Beartooth Highway. Kevin and his wife Deb headed back north toward home while Tricia and I made our way to Red Lodge, MT for a great breakfast before heading up the pass.

Let me just say here that the Beartooth Highway has to be one of the most majestic, challenging, awe-inspiring and drop dead gorgeous roads you could ever hope to ride on a motorcycle. It has tons of tight curves and switchbacks...all while climbing to the pass at an elevation of 10,947 ft... ! We had beautiful blue skies as we made the run over the pass into Wyoming and down to the eastern entrance of Yellowstone Park.


Tricia and I atop Beartooth Pass....










We made a quick run through northern Yellowstone trying to see the wildlife while avoiding the tourists. The weather was changing and what had been off and on sprinkles turned to downright rain at Gardiner, WY.

We donned our rain gear and ran 60 miles to Livingston and while having dinner there decided to run another 60 west on the Interstate to Butte...all in the pouring rain. We made it to Butte by about 7:00 pm and took in some local nightlife before turning in.

Sunday June 21, 2009

We decided when we awoke that it would be nice to sleep in our own beds that night, so we made the decision to put our heads down and pound I-90 westbound from Butte. We rode about 620 miles and arrived safely home about 6:00pm...although both of us were ready to get off the bike by then. That was long day in the saddle, but worth it to get home Sunday night after 3094 incident free miles under our belts... :).

Summary

I have to say that this trip to Custer and home again was one of the coolest things I have done in a very long time (fishing trips to Alaska notwithstanding)... ! The bike ran unbelievably well the entire trip....even when I pushed hard for home at 80 mph for long extended periods on Sunday....it never missed a beat. What a great machine these Nomads are... :)!

The people that we met were all very personable and we enjoyed everyone's company. I only wish I had been able to ride/chat with more of you than I did, but for those who I did get to spend time with, thanks so much for your great camaraderie.

Trip has done well with KawaNOW and I suspect that with the success of this initial National Rally....he will need a larger venue than the Custer State Game Lodge for the next group dinner! I'm already looking forward to our first Northwest Regional Rally next August in Kalispell, MT Aug 3-5. If anyone would like to join us there....mark your calendars! Our thanks to Trip and all of the KawaNOW staff for making the event a great success...!!