Home on Day 16

 Today friday August 18th we left Watertown SD for the last leg back home. It was about 350 miles. The weather was good except for the wind. It was a south south east wind about 15-20 mph. Which meant kind of a cross wind for us. We left just before 9am and arrived home at about 3:45pm. Did not take any pictures. We were on a mission to just get home and relax. The bike is a mess with bugs. I'll worry about that sunday or monday.

I've got all the mileage stats done and they are as follows: 4150 miles driven. I used 78.85 gallons of gas at a total cost of $362.67 dollars which averages out to $4.60 cents a gallon for premium gas.

My miles per gallon came in at 52.632. Very good mileage for a 107 cubic inch motor.

I ride a 2021 Heritage Classic 107.

I want to thank my friend Erik for taking this trip with me. We had a great time knocking out the miles.

Spreadsheet of fuel used on trip.

Starting mileage August 3rd.

Ending mileage August 18th.

I hope you have enjoyed my narrative on this my 47th trip to Sturgis and beyond.

Comments are always welcome. I've noticed only one comment this trip.

Headed home Day 15

 Today thursday August 17, Erik and I left Gillette WY about 9 am and headed for Watertown SD. Todays mileage was 465 miles. The weather today was perfect for riding. Only hit two areas of road constuction and the delays were minimal. I just reviewed the few photos I took today and they all for the most part seem a little out of focus. I may have to upgrade my phone. I'm kind of disappointed at this point.

Tomorrow is the last leg of our trip. It looks to be about 350 miles and a little more than 6 hours. With breaks it will probably be closer to 7 hous.

I will post a few pictures but they aren't very good.

Wind power out near Newell SD.

Our worst traffic delay, only about 10 minutes.

Your author waiting to get going.

All the crops look in great shape..

Lots of bales.

A medium sized tractor judging from some I saw today.

Don't know what this is all about but it is just west of Clark SD.

I will do a wrap up of my trip out west in the next day or two.

Saw this in our room tonight.. I guess you have to be very clear about what no smoking means.

Headed home Day 14

 On wednesday August 16 it was time to point my Harley east and start to head for home. It looks to be about 1300 miles back to home base just outside Hayward WI. Erik and I got up packed the bikes, had a quick breakfast at Taco Bell, gassed up and hit the road. We ended up doing 500 miles today ending up in Gillette WY. We went a little farther than planned but needed to in order to find a room. We left Utah and went into Colorado a ways before turning north and headed up the center of Wyoming. This route showed us alot of high plains desert and irrigated fields and not many residents. We crossed the continental divide 4 times on our route through Wyoming. It was interesting to see some huge fields of corn just south of Casper WY. Don't know if it was sweet corn or field corn for feed. There were many points of interest along our route. We only stopped for a few. We also noticed that there is alot of oil and gas production along the route we took. Also saw some drill rigs drilling some new wells.

Had to get a picture of the Utah sign before leaving the state.

Typical scenery in this part of northwest Colorado.

An interesting piece of history in Colorado.

There is an abundance of history in this part of the country.

More strange rock upthrusts in Wyoming.

Hells Gate and Martins cove along WY hwy 220.

Another reservoir that has many uses.

Two very cool rocks formations along WY hwy 259.

Tomorrow we head towards the Black Hills and may spend a day there. We will decide when we check the weather in the morning.

Out of Sturgis Day 13

 On Tuesday August 15th we headed out to find the Skinwalker ranch. It was only about  27 miles from our motel. After a few wrong turns and missteps we did find the ranch entrance. We took a few pictures and smiled and waved to the security cameras then we left and just drove around the area for a few hours. One minute your looking at high plains desert and the next you see large fields of hay and alfalfa all irrigated from nearby reserviours and probably some ground water.  Now a few pictures.

Hollow Bottle reservoir. Just north of the Skinwalker ranch.

Here I am in front of the sign for the Skinwalker ranch. This was the reason for this whole trip out here. I was hoping to find a portal to another dimension. It didn't happen. Tomorrow we head for home.

Big Sand reservoir. More water for irrigation.

Irrigated fields.

And just a mile down the road it's back to more high plains desert.

Taking a break for some vitamin water and then it was back to the motel.

It ended up being a rather warm afternoon. We put on about 130 miles for the day.

Todays route.

Tomorrow we head for home. It will probably be a 400+ mile day.

That's all.

Was hoping to see some paranormal stuff.

Out of Sturgis Day 12

 On Monday August 14 we left Alpine WY and headed for Vernal Utah. It's about a 310 mile ride. The day started on the cool side but was once again pretty warm by the time we got to our destination of Vernal. The roads were a nice combination of straight flat running and some very twisting winding up and down grade. We went over a couple passes the highest being just over 8400 feet. This was on US hwy 191 north of Vernal. 

This area is just south of Alpine.

Quick stop at a wayside.

Worlds largest Elk horn arch in Afton WY.

Found this tidbit of history just outside Montpelier Idaho.

View of the countryside next to Smiths trading post sign.

The mother store in Kemmerer WY. Will this be the last one open?

At one time this was someones pride and joy.

Carter Wy.

I wonder what purpose this building served.

Looks like an old freighthouse. The tracks run right by here. Maybe it was a water stop back in the steam days on the Union Pacific.

Erik waiting for me to finish my picture taking.

Erik.

These 4 pictures were taken along WY hwy 414, the middle of nowhere.

Interesting bit of history. Hope you can read it.

The vegetation was still very green in this area.

Yours truely taking a picture break along Utah hwy 44.

Look one way and see rock formations look the other way and see this.

Interesting rock layering.

Looking at the southern end of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Nearing the top before the long winding downhill run to Vernal UT.

Vernal is off in the distance.

Tomorrow we go look for the Skinwalker ranch.