The people are always the best part

For the last several years, my friend Max and I have been taking summer motorcycle road trips in August. This year I decided I would take all of my Road Dirt and social media friends along for the trip, by documenting our travels on Facebook. Max was riding his 2014 Harley Road King and I was riding my 2018 Honda Goldwing.

The first day out was probably one of the easiest days, as we left Athens, Georgia riding back roads up to a friend’s house in Smyrna, Tennessee. It was only a 300 mile ride so we got there early in the day. Gary was my Huey helicopter copilot in Vietnam over 50 years ago and was wounded in action. We’d recently reconnected across the miles and years, and any time spent with him and his wonderful wife is time well spent.

Up with the morning sun.

After visiting with Gary, we started out at “0 dark 30” and caught the sun coming up on a 500+ mile day, making for Burlington, Kansas. Not much time to smell the roses when you’re riding nearly 600 miles per day, but it’s always amazing to see the changes in the scenery as you ride along, feeling so free in the wide open spaces of this wonderful land we call America.

We blasted through Kansas and Iowa, and as we got into South Dakota we started seeing lots of motorcycles, all on their way to Sturgis for the yearly rally. Of course everywhere we stopped people asked us if we were heading to Sturgis. “No, not this year,” was our reply. We were rolling to visit another old friend in northeast South Dakota on our way Banff, in Alberta, Canada.

Gotta love the 80 mile per hour speed limits out west.

Two of Barney’s many projects. Whether he’ll ever finish them is anyone’s guess.

We arrived at my friend Barney‘s house late in the day after riding on 5 miles of gravel road, which is always fun on big, loaded touring motorcycles (not). We decided we’d spend two nights with Barney, to take a break and see some of the projects that he has going on. He’s a retired agricultural pilot and still has lots of great projects, probably more than he will ever complete. Barney, his wife Julie, and his twin brother Bill treated us to a nice visit. Barney and I attended aircraft mechanic school in the early-to-mid 1970s and he’s a very handy guy who likes to work on everything.

We rode out for another 500-600 miles to the Sportsman Motel in Malta, Montana. Getting there was quite the experience. Everywhere we rode we saw signs warning that motorcyclists should consider alternate routes. We heeded the alternate route suggestions, only to find the alternate route was bad too. Summer is the only time for major road repairs in the “frozen tundra north”. It was quite the challenge for large, loaded road bikes, when you hit soft sand or gravel when you start sliding all over the place trying to navigate it. Not pleasant.

Crossing into Montana.

After departing the Sportsman Hotel early in the morning, we rode west on Hwy. 2, which is the northernmost east/west road across the United States. Extending from the Pacific Northwest coast to the Great Lakes, this is a fantastic ride. As we rolled along early in the morning, looking for someplace to eat breakfast, I saw a sign that read, “Minimart & Café”. As expected, this little “mom & pop” shop was warm, friendly, and the food was hand-cooked good.

We also met a young lady there who had just bought her first motorcycle, and was so excited. We enjoyed encouraging her with our “wit and wisdom” such as it is.

Always great to welcome a new rider to the community.

We arrived at the Canadian border on August 6, and we’re pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to get through. We answered some simple questions, and were welcomed on in. We were heading to the lodge in Canmore, Canada, which is between Banff and Calgary. The Canadian Rockies by Banff are absolutely breathtaking. Our wives had flown in to Calgary the same day and rented a car, and we met them at our reserved lodge.

We spent three days with the girls, enjoying all the sites/sights in and around Banff and Canmore, and the beautiful lakes. We booked a bus tour which took us to all the greatest places around there (highly recommended), and we also did the gondola ride, which brought amazing views. Our last day we booked an evening ride out in the back country, and we actually saw three grizzly bears.

Entering Alberta, Canada!

The bikes were covered and locked up while we were out with the girls, enjoying the Banff area by car. On the 9th, we “broke camp” from the lodge and headed to Calgary where we stayed at a hotel right by the airport. Calgary Harley-Davidson is right across the street, so of course we paid a visit. There was a golf course right outside our window that looked like it was on the airport property, and you could watch people play all day. Not what we did, however…

The girls flew back to Atlanta, while Max and I rode off from Calgary to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Coeur d’Alene is a nice town, but very touristy. I always like to eat at Texas Roadhouse there, simply because they have reserved parking for veterans and Purple Heart recipients. We sat at the bar, ate our dinner, and enjoyed the company of our restaurant neighbors. Always great to talk to new people, swapping life stories.

View from the gondola ride.

Our next stop was Red Lodge, Montana. I would have loved to spend more time riding Beartooth Pass and all the great roads around there but alas, we didn’t have margin for that on this trip. We stayed at a place called The Yodeler, found a nice restaurant in town for dinner, and watched all the motorcycles roll/roar by. Red Lodge was full of deer everywhere you looked- in people’s yards, around and behind buildings, walking the streets. I think Red Lodge is also a winter paradise for snow skiing.

The following morning we left Red Lodge early, headed to Cody, Wyoming, where we wanted to have breakfast at the famous Irma Hotel. The Irma was owned by Buffalo Bill Cody‘s sister and it was quite the place. We enjoyed breakfast there before another long day in the saddles, heading for Denver and it’s terrible traffic.

How do I find words to describe views like this? They fail me.

My sister Colette lives in Denver and I enjoy visiting with her, what few chances I get, which is usually just once a year on a motorcycle trip. Colette put us up for the night so we could enjoy a day spending time together at the Denver Zoo. We found a nice eatery in Colfax before turning in for the night.

From Denver we headed east, chasing the morning sun, until we reached Lyman where we turned south, taking secondary roads all the way east to Wichita. We had a dinner date in Wichita with the family of my Huey waist gunner in Vietnam, who has since passed on. I still keep up with his family through the wonders of Facebook. We try to see each other every year, as I’m coming back from the trips out West.

Max rocking down the road.

From Wichita, we wound our way through the countryside, riding through Joplin, Missouri on our way to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Definitely a change of scenery. We were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to navigate through Little Rock. I was worried because it was getting close to the end of the day. We arrived at our Comfort Inn around 5pm and looked for a place to eat dinner, plenty of daylight to spare.

August 15 was our last day out, heading home. We took advantage of the fairly extensive breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road for another 600+ mile ride back to the Athens, Georgia area. We made it to Tuscaloosa, Alabama by lunch, then rolled east on I-20 through Birmingham, past the huge Buc-ee’s on the Barber Motorsports Park exit. By the time we reached Atlanta, the Saturday traffic was surprisingly light, but you never know about Atlanta traffic.

Back in our home state of Georgia.

I arrived home right at 7 PM with my wife Patty standing in the driveway, waving and welcoming me with a garage door already open.

Home again, another great cross-country road trip in the books and in my memory. My 2018 Honda Goldwing logged over 6000 miles on this trip, and tripped 90K on the odometer. What a great ride, seeing America and part of Canada, and spending time with wonderful people all along the way. The rides are (mostly) spectacular, the scenery is breathtaking, but the people are always the best part.

Until next time, Ride Life!

Mike