Summer on the road

[Gormley Green]

Well for those of you who aided in my trip planning I'm happy to say we are on day 5 and find ourselves in Sioux Falls, SD. Truck has been handling the excess weight quite well, doing about 12-14mpg. I can feel the weight of the trailer and wish it wasn't there sometimes! Especially for boon docking. But hey - we're going to yank the motorcycle out this afternoon and ride through the grasslands park west of here. Will be at Mt Rushmore etc soon. The trip for me really starts in western SD when the landscape starts to be all new to me.

Pics soon, be patient! Not a lot of Internet on the road and I can't use my 3G its crazy expensive while roaming. If you see us around be sure to wave.

 

[Gormley Green]

Oh yea, as always were blogging away when we can and our SPOT is tracking us at http://gormleygreen.blogspot.com/

 

[Barko1]

Oh yea, as always were blogging away when we can and our SPOT is tracking us at http://gormleygreen.blogspot.com/



Sounds great. There is a back country campsite at Badlands that is interesting and I recently stayed at a FS campsite in Spearfish Canyon. Hope you get to Devil's Tower. Mt Rushmore is cool but crowded.

 

[Alley-Kat]

This will be neat to follow.
Nice Blog.
Thanks for the extra details from the Spot device.
Love the real time nature of that.
Makes it like we're right there with you.
Looks like on mid-day Saturday (as I'm writing this) you were trying to find Falls Park in Sioux Falls, and got there.
And, now you're headed back up to Hwy 90 westbound, very neat, but, I've got honey-do's to complete, so keep on trucking.

 

[wi_hawk]

Hope you enjoyed your stay in WI, Cheese Curds in WI? That sorta makes you a CHEESE HEAD. By the way did you buy a Cheese Head cap?
Enjoy the trip and will be watching the blogs.

Tom

 

[ski3pin]

This will be fun to watch, thanks for the link and sharing your adventure. Travel safe!

 

[Gormley Green]

Glad you are all enjoying it. I know our families and friends enjoy the SPOT thing as well - everyone says its just like they're with us!

Did Badlands National Park today, which I just couldn't get enough of. Amazing scenery. Definitely not in Toronto anymore! Staying at a KOA tonight in Rapid City as we're in need of laundry at the moment and it's a good jumping off spot for some motorcycle riding we're going to do this aft and tomorrow (Mt Rushmore). Still lots more exploring to do here in Western SD - beautiful place (not so much Rapid City, but we'll manage...). I wish we'd boondocked or something in The Badlands but we were running low on ice and the beer isn't just warm - it's f#$%#$% hot!! Not to mention the meat....

Photos will be coming soon, it's just too hot to be playing around with cameras and cords and such right now. Almost 30 deg C in the camper right now, I've never used this thing without the heater on until yesterday - so new issues will present themselves!

Thanks for reading and for the comments. Hope to see some of you on the road as we begin to wander the real west.

Mike

 

[Gormley Green]

Here's a few shots so far. Still trying to work out putting photos on the blog, on Facebook, and on here! New to Smugmug as well. Lots of work, very little internet!

Cheers.

Tahquamenon Falls, MI

Sioux Falls, SD

Morning cleanup closeup

Fort Pierre National Grassland, SD

I90 travel...

Yours truly, after a quick stop at a Western clothing store

Badlands Nation Park, SD

More Badlands

 

[K7MDL]

When you cross the Washington or Oregon mountian passes, those bugs on the camper front will be washed off as you cross to the "Wet Side".

 

[wi_hawk]

Oh so close, should have made the run to Sturgis just to say you have been their. It all happens in Aug.

 

[Gormley Green]

Oh so close, should have made the run to Sturgis just to say you have been their. It all happens in Aug.


We'll be going through there tomorrow probably. After some moto touring around the Mt Rushmore area. Beautiful roads for riding.

 

[LT Traveler]

Awesome trip GG, how long are you two going to be on the road? Started reading the blog but had to get back to work. Great stuff, looking forward to following your adventure.

 

[Gormley Green]

Thanks LT. Should be on the road into July/August, no set date as of yet. No where to go after this as we need to find living arrangements in BC before we get our stuff shipped out from Toronto.

Just got back from an amazing motorcycle ride on the Needles Highway, absolutely perfect road! Crazy views and the geology was awesome. Looks like its going to rain so we're laying low for a bit here in the camper. Hoping it stays clear so we can ride up to Rushmore again tonight for the light show.

Mike

 

[Barko1]

Black Hills seem to fly under the radar sometimes, great riding, and rock climbing. Are you heading to Devils Tower? Much more interesting that Sturgis

 

[Gormley Green]

Black Hills seem to fly under the radar sometimes, great riding, and rock climbing. Are you heading to Devils Tower? Much more interesting that Sturgis


Yep we're planning on heading there tomorrow for the aft and night. Then heading to Yellowstone for a while.

 

[Gormley Green]

OK, have been offline for a while, though if you've been watching the blog you know we've been putting on miles!

Waited 3 days outside Cody, WY for the east gate of Yellowstone to open due to a large avalanche. Didn't happen, but the state campground was FREE and there were loads of animals. Bison, goats, bear tracks, etc...

Drove up to the northeast gate (beautiful drive on US 212/296) and had to turn around due to snow!! Literally had to take the trailer off and do a 3 point turn and hook back up - narrow road. My girlfriend wasn't impressed when I decided to drive 1 mile past the "CLOSED ROAD" sign as the road narrowed with snow and ice

We finally decided to head down to Jackson, as we knew the south gate was open since May 13th. I like the town too, we stayed in a nice motel for $79 and had a great Japanese dinner. Refreshed! Headed into the park, it was still basically winter. We stayed at Madison the first night and Mammoth the second. Saw Old Faithful blow 3 times, so I'm a happy camper.

Now we're at a hotel in Great Falls, MT. We saw Virginia City and Nevada City yesterday and camped there. Somehow we're way east now, but oh well - we have no plan! Seeing some of her relatives nearby tomorrow, then winding our way down to Hood River. I'm keen to see Idaho along the way.

I'll throw some pics in here, finish my $7 bottle of California Pinot Noir and go to bed. We're 15 days on the road now, 6000km on the clock, and things are good. Got an oil change in Bozeman yesterday.

Got a bull bar in Cody

And a deer skull on the side of the highway

Tetons!

 

[Cort]

awesome trip man...nothing better than being able to wander a bit. Great Falls is certainly different after spending time in Yellowstone and the other places you have been....Nothing like the edge of the plains to make you want the mountains again. I will be in Great Falls in July for a quick visit with family. Then back to western MT, Id, Or and N.Cal for me

Cant wait to here about the rest of your trip!

Cort

 

[Gormley Green]

Great Falls is certainly different after spending time in Yellowstone and the other places you have been....Nothing like the edge of the plains to make you want the mountains again.


You said it! It's only for a night though, and we found some great pizza which we haven't had in weeks and the wifi is fast at La Quinta Inn. So the scenery can wait, and we're only 60 miles east of some really nice views - where we're staying on a ranch with some of her family tomorrow, in Augusta. For those who don't know, check the aerial photo of Great Falls on Wikipedia

thanks for reading.

 

[BenG]

Gromley, sounds like you where there around same time I was may 9 thru 11 did a quick trip from washington to yellowstone playing tour guide for relatives that where here from germany, was a great trip didn't take truck and camper but the subaru got alot better milage, and relatives wanted more comforts of the Yellow stone inn, also got to see old faithfull blow a couple of times, all in all this was a great trip, even with the weather not being so great, rain and snow, got a couple of inches fresh snow on tuesday.

Ben

 

[Gormley Green]

Well, lots of driving since the last report and very little internets!

We're in Hood River finally. It's my friend's wedding this weekend so we're looking forward to lots of good free food and wine! And fun and stuff. We have a nice hotel room with a river view, and after 3.5 weeks and 9000km living in the camper we're pretty excited to take advantage of the space!

Montana was great, Idaho was an amazing suprise! Do people from Idaho just keep their mouths shut about how cool their state is? Because I've never heard much about it. Recreation abounds there. Amazing dirt roads everywhere, the Sawtooth Mountains reminded me of Europe in how gnarly they were. Backcountry skiing opportunities everywhere, and free camping everywhere we went! We found Hailey, ID near Sun Valley resort a really nice town. Nice enough to move to even.

Anyways, the things you learn on the road. Oregon has been great, did a nice scenic drive and then realized - OREGON HAS A COAST. So we hightailed it to the Pacific and dipped our toes and camped right near the beach, two nights in a row. In incredibly heavy rain.

Has anyone else spent sleepless nights in a FWC because of heavy rain? The roof is LOUD! I mean, tin roofs are romantic but this was ridiculous. Like drums.

Photos to come. More adventures as well. Next up is heading back to our native land Canada for a stint and then up to AK (where the groom lives and will find me in his house when he returns from honeymoon).

Toronto to Hood River is 4000km and we've done 9000. How's that for taking the scenic route?