CROSS-COUNTRY ON OUR GL1500
Written by Gayle Gurney, NY Chapter “A”
Six riding seasons ago, when Ric & I bought our 25th Anniversary Edition GL 1500, we made a vow to ride it across the United States, hopefully visiting all 48 of the contiguous states in the process.
Fast forward to 2005 (where did that time go?) And we finally got going on the project. We really had no set itinerary, except that we wanted to see Michigan and the Mackinac Bridge, because it was the only state in the northeast we’d not been to yet.
We set out at 5:30am on August 6th, because where we live, at the end of Long Island, one has to time one’s escape from New York to avoid traffic in the City and crossing the George Washington Bridge. We can’t leave any earlier, because we have the Shelter Island ferry on this end, which doesn’t start until 5:40am.
Once free from New York City, we settled down to a daily routine of riding about 350 to 400 miles per day, unless there was some sight to see that took away extra time. We spent most nights in motels, except the first night we stayed in Williamsport, PA, with Holly DeWald. (John was away on National Guard duty.) There were other nights later in the trip when we stayed with other friends, and one night in Grand Teton National Park we even camped, in the rain!
The second night found us in Ann Arbor, MI. Next morning, we continued up the Lower Peninsula and crossed the Mackinac Bridge. What a view! Beautiful clear blue water, white sand beaches and dunes, just spectacular! That night, we made it as far as Escanaba, on the Upper Peninsula. Our next-door neighbor for 35 years was born and grew up in Iron Mountain, MI, so we detoured a little the next morning to see what it looked like. Ric stated, after seeing Iron Mountain, “Well, now we know why Tony left here and never returned!” In all fairness, the town was re-doing all of their main roads, and the construction didn’t add to the ambience. We wanted to call Tony from Iron Mountain to tell him we were there, but our cell phone wouldn’t work.
This later proved to be such a problem that we wound up buying one of those phone cards. We rode all day with rain threatening, even some black clouds in Wisconsin that looked as if they might spawn a tornado, until we finally met the rain in Minnesota. Lots of it. We thought we might drown. Made it to a motel outside Minneapolis, where we discussed the Mall of America , the weather and other pertinent topics with some other Wing riders from Florida and Indiana. Since we had already done some riding in Wisconsin and Minnesota while at the AGWA Rally in Lacrosse in 2003, we pretty much sped through those two states. The lakes and wilderness in northern Minnesota were beautiful.
Next day we headed for Fargo, ND, and before we knew it, we had passed it! So, we continued north to Grand Forks, where we followed US Route 2 west to Devils Lake, ND. Spirit Lake Indian Reservation is there, so we began seeing Native Americans around. Many people go there to fish, and there was a RV Rally there that weekend, so we saw lots of those. The weather was gray and ugly. We were trying to avoid rain if we could, so next morning we continued west to Minot, then headed south on US 83 to Bismarck and the Interstate again. Traveling west on I-94, we made it to Dickinson, ND for the night. This is the town where they try to direct all the Sturgis riders south, claiming it’s the quickest way. We don’t know, we weren’t going to Sturgis, yet
Next a.m., we visited the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We saw our first bison in the wild, also many prairie dogs, and the beautiful rock formations that make up the Badlands. We were also surprised to see oil wells scattered around. We visited the town of Medora, ND, which has a Cowboy Hall of Fame, and is the entry to T.R. National Park. Here also, just before we entered Montana, was “Salem Sue”, a gigantic Holstein cow erected on a hill to promote the dairy industry in the area. We arrived in Forsyth, MT, that afternoon, remarking how long it had taken to traverse North Dakota. Little did we know, Montana was twice as wide as ND!
There was not much going on in Forsyth, and we decided it existed only because the railroad passed through the town. Here we learned that any place licensed to sell liquor in MT could also be a “Casino”. We embarked next a.m. on a wonderful ride up US Route 12 to Helena, where we were going to see an elementary school classmate of Ric’s. US Route 12 is a scenic by-way, where we saw antelope, many rock formations (buttes), and huge ranches.
Helena is the state capital, and also an old mining town. Ric’s friend Vivian has lived there many years, and proved to be an excellent tour guide. She showed us the capitol, the Gates of the Mountains, Holter Lake, and old placer mines with kilns still intact. At her suggestion, we altered our course and continued north to Great Falls, MT, to see the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, then on to Glacier National Park.
Viv warned us not to stay in the town of Browning, as it’s on a Reservation and there is much poverty there. She feared our motorcycle might be a temptation to the natives - not to steal, but to touch and maybe knock it over or otherwise damage it. Instead we continued to St. Mary, at the eastern entrance to Glacier and the beginning of the “Going to the Sun” Road. The accommo-dations were rather Spartan for $99.00 a night, not even a full bath, no TV, and no phone. But, the food was excellent, and we got an early start across the Logan Pass in the morning. We began in FOG, but when we reached about 4000 ft. in elevation, everything cleared right up, and there were more spectacular views: glaciers, jagged rock peaks, valleys with evergreen trees at least 200 ft. tall, mountain lakes, and more. We exited the west side of Glacier, dropped down to Kalispell, then followed US Rte. 93 along the shore of Flathead Lake and down to I-90 at Missoula. We then headed for I-15 south . It was getting late, so we stopped for the night in Dillon, MT. Another town that exists for the railroad.
We awoke the next a.m. to cloudy skies, and the further we went south into Idaho, the uglier it got. When we stopped for gas, the guy who owned the gas station also turns out to own an opal mine, and he was selling beautiful opal jewelry. We bought our daughter a necklace (it’s her birth stone), hopped back on the bike and headed east for Wyoming by way of Idaho Rte. 33. We got some good directions from a man in Rexburg, ID, who just walked over to us and started to talk because he liked the bike. He told us the accommodations in Jackson, WY were very expensive, and he wasn’t kidding.
We reached Jackson by noon time, having gone thru Teton Pass at about 9000 ft., ate lunch at McDonald’s, then went to the Visitor’s Center to ask about lodging. We learned that the Teton National Park had some cabins that weren’t too expensive, so we headed for there. We wound up camping in Coulter Bay Campground, Grand Teton, for that night. It was a beautiful day when we set up the tent, went over to the restaurant for dinner, and then returned to our campsite. We were playing cards on our picnic table and chatting with other campers (they put all motorcycle campers together), when suddenly it got dark and the rain started. Everyone scrambled into their tents. The next morning, we awoke to find we were sleeping in a puddle under our tent. The guys from the next campsite proclaimed that they had a lake by their front door. I told them the lake was under our tent. They quipped “Oh, great, a water bed!” The one couple from Arizona, who had been on the road since May because it was too hot at home, had one of those camper-trailers behind their bike. They were the driest. A couple across the road from us, who were from Vermont, were the wettest. Putting all the gear away wet was not fun. We left for Yellowstone with the sun attempting to peak through the clouds. By the time we arrived at the Yellowstone South entrance, it was raining again. We decided to go only to Old Faithful, then leave the park by the East entrance. We caught the 12:16 eruption of Old Faithful, had lunch, and left. The further east we went, the more it rained. We were also low on gas. The last 10 miles of the road had been washed out, and only one lane was open. It was mud and rocks, cold and wet, until we thought we’d never get out of there. Finally, we were out, and made it to the gas station, with thunder following us. A man at the gas station said they expected snow that evening. We forged ahead to Cody, WY.
Cody was a stop we added to our trip at the suggestion of Justin Kaminsky, who recommended it highly, and rightly so. The museums there are wonderful, five of them under one roof. Ric loved the gun museum, of course. I liked the Buffalo Bill museum, where I learned that two women who performed in his Wild West Show were from Riverhead, NY, just 25 miles from our home. We ate dinner at the Hotel Irma, built by Buffalo Bill, and named for his youngest daughter. They have a staged gunfight in the street outside the hotel every night at 8:00pm, and there is also a rodeo every night in Cody. Thanks for the tip, Justin!
Now our next destination was Sturgis, as we’d planned to go there after the Rally was over, and avoid all the congestion and noise. We made it to Spearfish, SD, after following a scenic route US 16 through Ten Sleep and the Powder River Pass. Here we saw three moose having their lunch. The pass was very windy, quite cool, but with great views. We met a man who had stopped to take photos at the same place as us, and he turned out to be from Babylon, NY, not too far from where Joe & Barbara Lopez live. Strange to go 2/3 of the way across the country and find someone from your backyard.
Sturgis turned out to be a waste of time. There is nothing there after the Rally ends, all the bars close down and everything pretty much disappears. We couldn’t find Wall Drug, despite a well-meaning young lady’s directions. So, we continued south to Rapid City, SD, in search of Mt. Rushmore. We remembered Judy & George Quinlan of RI had said something about parking at Mt. Rushmore, but we were at the entrance to the parking area before we knew it, and wound up forking over the $8.00 to park the bike. The monument is pretty, looks just like all the pictures, and we were lucky that the day we were there it was a clear, blue sky day. But the best was yet to come: the Crazy Horse Memorial. The Native Americans have really done a great job there. They accept no government funding, only private donations. So, it’ll be many years before Crazy Horse is fully carved out of that mountain. His face is done, and the top of his arm as he points to the east, but the 7 children of Korszak, the sculptor chosen to do the sculpture, have lots of work to do. They have a beautiful visitors center, with a nice film that tells all about the project. Then there’s all the Native Americans who sell their artwork there, the 1/13 scale model of what the finished project will look like, and the cabin Korszak built in the 1930's when he first came from Boston to start work. Very well done.
From Crazy Horse, we continued south to Buffalo Gap National Grassland and Wind Cave National Park. We took a short tour of the cave which was interesting and cool (it was about 90 degrees outside, 45 degrees in the cave). Saw more bison and prairie dogs here. Spent the night in Chadron, NE.
Now we’re heading west again, having dropped down US route 26 to I-80. Destination, someplace in Colorado. I-80 splits off to I-76 at the Colorado border, then we got off on US 34 to continue west. We landed in Estes Park, CO, the eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. All of the roads around here are scenic. US 34 follows the Thompson River Gorge into Estes Park. We took a short ride into the Park the next morning, then headed south again to find another grade school friend of Ric’s who lives in Greenwood Village, just south of Denver. My, the traffic around Denver is awful! The following day, we set out for Pike’s Peak, using Cathy’s house for our “home base”. On the way up Pike’s Peak, we passed a couple riding a 1200, who refused our offer of aid. We never saw them at all the rest of the day; they must have chickened out. Our 1500 just went right up that 14,110 feet, no problem. I learned on this trip I have a fear of heights, as well as claustrophobia, which gave Ric lots of ammunition for teasing me. At the top, we had no problem with altitude, but others did. One woman had to be hauled off by paramedics. We were conditioned from all the mountain riding we’d been doing. We met a man from Louisiana who said he felt like he was drunk. (We told him to drink water and go inside where there was an oxygen bar.) Having arrived safely at the bottom, we headed for Cathy’s via US 285. The weather turned bad again, and we had on every jacket and sweater we had with us. Rain, hail, we even saw snow on one mountain - fresh, not left from last winter. Another former classmate of Ric’s and Cathy’s came for dinner that night, and we had a mini-reunion of Garden City schools.
Cathy gave us directions to a local Honda dealer while we were there, and Ric was able to get replacement headlights, as his low beams had burned out again (same thing happened in West Virginia). Before we left, we went to that dealer and had the oil changed, no problem, they took us without an appointment; what a beautiful dealership, called Fay Myers.
After two days with Cathy, we headed to Durango, CO, our last free place to stay, where our friend Karin put up with us for 3 days. She used to live on Shelter Island, and recently sold her family’s home following the death of her mother. Karin took us by car to Silverton and we stopped at Purgatory Ski Resort on the way back. She took us to Mesa Verde National. Park, then out to Four Corners. I bought a beautiful silver & turquoise bracelet from a Navajo man there. I had waited to get my jewelry until we were with Karin, because I knew she’d know if it was real or not, and if the artist who made it was really getting the money. Karin worked for many years for the Ute Tribe, in the Durango area, as their Court liaison officer between the county courts and the tribe. The Ute tribe is the 3rd wealthiest tribe in the country, having many gas and oil holdings. Who’re #1 and 2? The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegans in CT, with their casinos!
Next stop? Santa Fe, NM. Beautiful old town, expensive. It was like being in the Hamptons back here in NY. We rode on part of old Route 66 while here. Then we went down US 285 to I-40 to begin the convoluted trip back east. At one gas stop in eastern NM, a Stuckeys I think, we saw a tarantula making it’s way across the parking lot. By the time it had traveled to safety under a truck, it had drawn quite a crowd. Ric was talking to our friend George in Oklahoma City at the time, and he said tarantulas can jump 10-12 feet. I sure am glad this one just wanted to get away.
While we were aiming for Oklahoma City, we didn’t make it that far that day. Instead, we landed in Clinton, OK. This town had a Route 66 Museum, which was closed by the time we got there, and NO restaurants except McDonalds and Burger King. We had to go 6 miles further east to find dinner at a truck stop called Cherokee Trading Post. Very good food.
The next morning we continued to Oklahoma City & stopped at a TA truck stop where George & his wife came out to meet us for coffee. George used to work for us in our hardware store, but eventually kept moving west and now resides in OK and drives a truck. After a brief visit and “catching up” time, we continued north on I-35 to Hutchinson, KS, where my only cousin lives. I had never met her, since she always lived in KS and I always lived in the East. I had a great time talking with her, we took some photos, and she gave us directions to Abilene, where my mother was born & lived the first 6 or 7 years of her life.
In Abilene, I had some genealogy work to do. Ric was very patient. I found my great-grandmother’s grave in the cemetery (luckily the Sexton was there that day & helped us out, as there are over 10,000 burials in the cemetery). I also photographed the lot where my grandfather had his tombstone business in the 1910-1920 era. Then we rode north to Pawnee City, NE, where my grandparents & great-grandparents were married. Again I lucked out, because the county clerk who likes to do genealogy look-ups was there that day. She found both marriage license applications and photocopied them for me. We went on down to I-70, continuing east to Boonville, MO for the night. Another good truck stop dinner was had here.
It seems the farther east we got, the faster the miles went. Next day found us stopped in Crawfordsville, IN. We had stopped here at the Holiday Inn on our way to the Wisconsin Rally, and now we returned because I didn’t take pictures or really get a chance to visit the County Clerk before (more family history). I gathered more info on my mother’s family here, and then we went a little bit west to Covington, IN, to do more research. On a whim, I walked a cemetery here, and found the graves of my great-great-great-great grandparents. Now I’m armed with lots of info, as well as addresses of where to write for more, so Ric doesn’t have to take me back to that area again (unless he wants to). Now we’re really on a forced march. Hurricane Katrina has already ravaged New Orleans, and the further east we go the higher the gas prices are. Good thing we’re on the Wing instead of driving a car.
We crossed upwards thru Indiana to I-80, and spent the next night in Milan, OH, near Sandusky. Next day, which was the Friday before Labor Day, Ric was sure he could make it all the way back home. That was foiled by a humongous traffic jam, over 2 hours detour on I-80 in PA. There was construction, one lane traffic, and a trucker turned his rig over, blocking the one lane. Ugh! We had to settle for one more night on the road, in Stroudsburg. We had a lovely dinner there, however, well worth the stop. Neither one of us slept well with the George Washington Bridge & Cross Bronx Expressway looming on the horizon, so we checked out of the motel and left at 4:15am. After a little trouble finding a gas station open at that hour in New Jersey, we made good time and breezed through New York City. The Long Island Expressway was not too bad at 8:00 in the morning, and we arrived in Riverhead around 8:30 a.m. for breakfast. We bought our last tankful of gas in Mattituck, for exactly $1.00 per gallon more than it was when we left 4 weeks prior. Total mileage traveled 8800; one oil change; ZERO mechanical or other problems. Owning a Goldwing: Priceless!