Prelude to Alaska
A Very Long Day
May 29, 2008
by floracycle
My night in Jackson, Wyoming was uneventful compared to the previous night dealling with wild beasts and such. I awoke, showered, started laundry, ate breakfast, dried laundry, packed and worked on the previous days blog entries. Back in my room with the door open my bike attracted the attention of a taxi cab driver (I'll post his name later I have his card) and fellow motorcyclist. He'd just purchased a bike like mine and we had to talk about farkles.
By the time I got on the road it was nearly 11am and I knew going into Yellowstone my gas and food options would be limited so I tanked up in Jackson before departing. While dining near the front door of the Cadillac Restaurant I noticed this sign and felt compelled to take a picture of it. 
Now I don't consider myself a superstitous guy but things like this do happen to me. Watch your step seemed to be a message for the day.
You'll notice in the pictures of Jackson the sun is shining. A couple of miles out I decided to pull over and put my rain gear on due to the conditions ahead of me.
I don't think it is clear in this picture but that is rain in the background. This proved to be the weather for the day. Sunshine, rain, sleet, hail and repeat. I spent a great deal of time stopping putting on and removing the bulky gloves and checking everything was staying dry.
Yellowstone is a spectacular place. Too bad I'm shooting for Spokane and can't spend a few days. I'll let the pictures I took do the talking.
Here a group of tourist gather to watch Old Faithful. Can you spot Floracycle in this picture? 
Notice the big black bird pecking on my bikes rain cover. Is this some other type of omen. Surely not. As I packed my bike other tourist told me how there were many other birds on the bike as they entered. One lady had taken pictures and showed me. Later I wished I had given her my email address so she could have sent the picture to me. As you can imagine my bike wasn't clean to begin with but after the attack of the birds it was dirtier.
The speed through Yellowstone is a max 45mph which is a good thing. You need to drive slow to see the views and large animals that seem indifferent to mankind roam freely. Rounding one bend I came across this traffic jam and had to hit my brakes pretty hard to avoid a colision. I pulled onto the shoulder next to the car in front of me in order to avoid being the target of the next vehicle to come along. See Mom I am being careful on this thing. The cause of the traffic jam was a herd of about a dozen buffaloes. Most were in the oncoming lane. One chose my shoulder.
Ever play chicken with a buffalo?
The picture doesn't show it but I'm going downhill and the KLR has no reverse. The ball was is in his court.
Chicken.
My original goal was to head towards Bozeman but I decided to cut some miles off my trip so I headed toward Butte instead. It would be tough but if I was lucky I could make it. Apparently I wasn't lucky today. Perhaps I spent my luck on my close encounter of the wooly kind.
Just past Quake Lake and 26 miles from Ennis, Montana traveling about 65mph the back of the bike began to wobble. Oh no not a flat not here not now. There is not much of a shoulder here but lukily there is a drive with a little extra asphalt. It is here I come to a stop. About an eighth of a mile off this turnoff is a cabin with dogs barking. As customary in the region there is a gate with a no trespassing sign. By my calculations I've got about an hour of daylight. I am concerned. I've installed a center stand on the bike. It is hard enough to use on an unladen bike with two inflated tires I know it won't work now. The side stand is also useless. All the while a storm cloud is looming in the distance. I balance the bike with one hand and remove my soft luggage to cushion the bike and let it fall. This is where I almost lost my cool. I now wish I had taken some pictures of the area but other than the cabin, nothing. I started stripping off clothes from me and gear from the bike to lighten the load. Now lighter I tried the center stand. No way. I find a large flat rock in the ditch put it under the flat rear tire started the bike and drove it on. After three or four attempts I gave up on that. I just couldn't hold the bike on top of the rock long enough to operate the center stand. I laid the bike back down and foraged around in the ditch until I found an oak construction stake. I wedged it under the frame using the side stand and the stake I managed to raise the rear tire off the ground. OSHA would not approve but if they were around I would have gladly accepted the fine. This would do.
As I was going through the next steps in my mind and worrying that I forgot that one little specialty tool a car pulls up. Out steps the three young men who took my picture at Old Faithful. What a coincidence. They ask if they can help. Out comes the stake and we easily lift the bike on the center stand. Are you happy now OSHA?
They offered to help in any way. I didn't want to impose and I told them they could go if they would like. They agreed only if we exchanged numbers.
I won't give you the play by play on changing the tire but a few points are important to share. I kept as a momento the nail most likely picked up from my frequent rain gear stops. It sprinkled on me a few times with a rainbow that had to be within 50 yards of me. My spare tube fits the 21 inch front rim and is meant to be a temporary for the rear. It fits you just have to double it up in an area. I finished the job in a little over an hour. And gathered my tools as the sun set. I limped the 26 miles to Ennis at 45 mph, got a room and went to bed tired and hungry about 11pm.
Superstition, a sign and a blackbird make me think I need to rethink.
