16 - Brother Harry, Racing & Rodeo (Sturgis & Cody, WY)

 

After Jerry Lee and I parted ways, I stopped by the Harley shop in Sturgis to get a throttle rocker.  It's a little piece of plastic that covers part of the throttle that allows one to hold the throttle without gripping it.  It's great for the wrist on a long stretch of straight pavement.  I pulled in, and as always, drew a crowd of onlookers.  The old Wing ridden by a young guy is a bit of an oddity.  The group asked about my story and we chatted for a few and then I got to talking with Harry.

 Harry is clearly from New Hampshire.  Having spent a few days up there, I'll never mistake that accent.  I asked if he was at the Blessing of the Bikes (The Great North Woods Ride In) and he said for sure, I helped with the blessing!  Turns out, Harry was a big-time drug dealer in NYC and about 10 years ago, became a missionary; a motorcycle missionary.  He has a church, a radio ministry, and he rides to rallys as a missionary.  Someone approached him in NH and gave him some money and said that he should go to Sturgis, so off he went.  We talked for  awhile and his story is really neat.  Then, he mentioned that he'd been riding with Panhead Bill.  Panhead Bill has been on the road for nearly 20 years, riding his 1951 Panead about 50,000 miles each year.  He's legendary. 

 

 

 

 When I got on the internet a few days later, I googled Panhead Bill and found these pictures taken at the Chicago race a couple weeks earlier.  I was at that race!  And on the right... is brother Harry!  He and I will definitely keep in touch. 

Anyhow, early in our conversation, Harry asked why I came to the dealership.  I pointed to his Throttle Rocker and said, "to buy one of those."  He took his off his bike and handed it to me and said, "I need gas money more than I need this, give me $10 for it."

I knew the Internet price was $10 so the Harley price was $20.  I needed it and he needed cash so I reached into my wallet and carefully removed at a ten.  I looked down and had somehow grabbed a ten and a twenty.  It had to be a sign.  I gave the motorcycle missionary a twenty and then we hopped on our bikes and rode down the street to go find a soda.  Harry bought me a soda and we talked for about an hour. 

 

You can imagine my surprise when I found theses pictures on the internet.  Billy is on the left and Harry on the right, drinking a Pepsi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left Harry and rode to Spearfish, but I've already written about that.  So after Spearfish I met some more fine folks that led to yet another epic adventure.  There were a few uneventful days in between, so I'll keep the description short and show the pictures.  I spent the next night outside of Sundance.  In the morning, I pulled out of the campsite and stopped on the gravel road to take a picture.  I was groggy and careless and dropped my bike while taking a picture.  I walked to the main road and waited.  Three 'vettes were roaring up the canyon.  They didn't want to stop, but I was standing in the middle of the road.  When they didn't slow down, I moved to the middle of their lane.

They were three couples from IN traveling together.  They were nice and did help me get the bike up.  Two of the three Corvettes were official Indy 500 cars.  Pretty cool!

They signed my guestbook; I sent a postcard to thank them.  It was nice for them to take 10 minutes to help me.

Off to Sundance once again.  I found coffee, but no wi-fi.

Then to Devil's Tower.

It is an amazing natural beauty.  I talked to a couple of guys who were preparing to climb it.  They said it would take them 3-4 hours.  Amazing!

I  pulled over to take this picture.  When I pulled away, my speedometer had stopped working.  Strange.  The timing is uncanny!  That was six days ago.  I've ridden nearly 2,000 miles without a speedometer which isn't a huge deal.  But with no odometer, I've got to keep good records to know when to change my oil (which I'll have to do in a couple of days in Montana.)  Also, with no trip odometer, my primary gas guage is now gone.  I'm not very happy about it, but I don't have a jack to get the front wheel off to diagnose the problem.  My guess is that it's a gear that turns the cable.

 

 

 I didn't ride far today.  Only about 180 miles.  I stopped in Gillette, WY to find a hotspot.  That's where I wrote the previous two posts.  I was there nearly five hours uploading pictures and writing.  The $40 tab was a bit excessive.  The good news is that right down the road was a race track and it was a Saturday (July 21.)   I threw up my tent and watched racing (and met some really cool people.)  Jimmy was there with his wife and kids, cheering for the Pink # 62 driven by local 19 year-old Kim Horn.  We talked and cheered for the 62 until the races ended around 11.  What a blast!

Notice that the racetrack isn't fenced. I've never seen that before.  Kim flew off the track in her #62, disappeared over the hill, and then launched back up on the track 150 yards later with all four wheels in the air!

A nighttime picture of my campsite.  Did I mention that I camped on the moon?

Somewhere in Wyoming.  A Viper pulling a chopper and a cruiser.  That's even more rare than a horse trailer on a Cadillac!

Coming over the Big Horn Mountains, I met two couples from Ohio on Harley Touring Bikes.  We talked for a bit and they took this picture.

 

The Big Horn's are amazing.  I turned around at one point and rode a 20 mile section again (and then turned around again of course.)

I have a hundred pictures of the Big Horn's, but will only post a couple.  I hope to go back and organize pictures in galleries without comment so that people interested in seeing more pictures can easily do so.

I passed Meadowlark Lake at the top of the mountain range and passed all sorts of beautiful things.

 

 

When I got back down, it was 107 degrees. (down to 5000 feet, I've been over 4000 feet since I got to ND about 10 days ago!)

I was scorched so I stopped in at the Ten Sleep Saloon.  The next 48 hours were both epic and coincidental. (Remember Jerry Lee?)  I'll save the Ten Sleep saga for another post.

 

 

I left Ten Sleep (a few hours later) and headed to Cody.

Ahhh... it's cooled down a bit.  The next picture I took showed the time: 5:08 pm.

I found a great campground with wi-fi and set up quickly and cooked dinner before heading to the Rodeo.  I met a couple of cowgirls (it cracks me up to say that, but that's the local lingo) who were interested in my story and took me around to the back where all the horses are and convinced the guy at the back to let me in as a guest.  I watched the rodeo from the stands reserved for the cowboys, cowgirls and their guests.  What a crowd of people!  I talked to a group of kids, guys and girls probably 12 or 13 to 20 years old.  They all rode in the rodeo and traveled the circuit.  What an interesting subculture, one I'd never been exposed to. 

 

We passed this little girl as we walked around to the back of the rodeo, I later saw her compete.  She rode barrel races!

 

 

 

 

 

I think this is one of the girls that got me into the track as a guest, but I'm not sure as they change into fancy shirts before their ride.

The next morning, I uploaded pictures and published a new post and then set out to ride 450 miles of AMAZING Wyoming roads.

 

... and to return to Ten Sleep... after getting a call from Jerry Lee.

More to follow.  I'm now in Jackson WY, staying as a guest with the family of friends from B-School.  It sure was nice to sleep in a bed.  I've had about 48 cups of coffee this morning and can no longer type error free.  It's time to ride!

I'm off to head up through Idaho into Montana.  If all works out well, I'll in in Glacier National Park on Friday and then in Northern Montana for a dirt track race on Saturday.  Then I'll head into Alberta, BC, and then into the Northwest territories early next week.

 

Check out an atlas and look at Canada and Alaska.  It's over 2,500 miles from the US/Canada border to Fairbanks.  That's farther than from Bangor to Miami, or from DC to Seattle.  It's a LONG way.

Time to start riding.

... but first... one more from the Big Horn's

 

 

 

Next:  17  -  Ten Sleep, Beartooth Pass & The Wind River Canyon