When you are traveling in a vehicle without a roof, the vastness of your environment is constantly present. This trip is getting too much for my small brain to handle. I can’t yet find the words to even attempt to describe riding through the Tetons, Yellowstone, and crossing the continental divide. Soooo tonight, it’s a top ten list of random thoughts from the trip so far.
- Pro-tip: On hot days take advantage of the free helmet storage units furnished by many gas stations. Just place your lid in the container as you pump gas and have a bottle of water. It helps give a refreshing boost to your next 10-15 minutes.
2. Missouri lacks the imagination to actually name some of their roads. Instead they use letters. Missouri, please correct this tremendous lack of “Oak Street”, “Jefferson Avenue”, and “Mockingbird Road.” We live in the age of text speak. Imagine the trouble with GPS interface when we have “Right lane ‘P’”, or “MM BB”.
3. 80 MPH speed limit interstates! Where have you been all my life?
4. When you have the ability to go wherever you want, whenever you want, and do whatever you want, … it’s not as easy as you thought it would be.
5. If you leave Buffalo Wyoming and you forget to fill up, and you buy fuel at a small place with above ground tanks you will get BAD GAS!
6. If you have BAD GAS and it makes your machine run like someone is choking it, do not let it take your brain away from enjoying the trip. Even when it’s really, really hard.
7. Because there’s a difference.
8. For a few minutes I owned the dirtiest bike in Sturgis. No, there’s no pictures.
9. If you enter Yellowstone park and you ride for 10 minutes and see a buffalo and think “This is such a rare thing! I’m experiencing a miracle!” Keep riding. Right around the corner there are 500 just like it.
10. Dear Yellowstone National Park,
Please raise your admission rates. The gate fee is obviously not high enough to dissuade thousands of mindless tourists from overwhelming the park. Use the extra money to design better ways to disperse people instead of putting them all in the same place at the same time.
Love, Greg.
themotorcycletourer 