The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful

View from our room.
Hampton Inn, Green River, WY

Yeah, it mighta' been the last long road trip ever for Julieann and I...eleven days in all.  6+ days of driving. It was around 3,000 miles total, Sac-town to the Black Hills and back. Pretty fine adventure with tours through Yellowstone and the Tetons on the way and fastest return possible on the flip-flop.

We recently picked up a newer mid-size SUV that fits our current lifestyle pretty damn good and we (read "I") was anxious to test it's legs.  So we headed out with rear seats folded forward, bags and gear aplenty packed in back, small cooler for snacks and such, navigation instruments set and reservations made.

We would spent nights in some purely Western towns such as Jackpot, Jackson Hole and Cody. The route was familiar as I had made it a couple times before, accidentally on purpose collecting material for my book "Badass - The Harley Davidson Experience" and heading for the Mother of all Motorcycle Rallies - Sturgis.

So here's the rundown; the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful of our run:

The Good:

Another good: Breakfast
with the Presidents
at Rushmore
(It's not about the food.) 

• Traveling with wife and pal of 50+ years was fun! We hollered at dumb drivers (including ourselves once each) and shared a few laughs every day.
• Julieann's family - good folks from Rapid City I am proud to know. A never-ending curiosity to me why we are so far apart politically from most of them, why common ground seems so elusive.
• The Black Hills - a Spring of steady rain has filled the creeks and lakes.  It is greener than we recall seeing it...ever.
• Sturgis/Deadwood - Looking and feeling good there, always. (Especially during the Motorcycle rally.)
• The hotels - Yes there are good ones out there folks and we found a few. A lot of people in this service industry trying to give folks a decent night's rest and are doing a good job of it.  Recommended: Hampton Inn in Green River, Wyoming and Gold Country Best Western in Winnemucca, Nevada.
• The hay. Yes that's right; the hay.  Impressive seeing the crops of large round bales and rectangular big and small bales in the fields. Amber shapes lying in green fields. I wondered about the price in today's market and looked it up as some sort of economy barometer? Currently, the price of a bale of hay depends on grass or alfalfa - generally a large round bale of Alfalfa (weighs around a ton) a little over $161.  (Yeah, yeah I know...I have too much time on my hands.)
• The Hippies - Yes folks they are still out there, roaming the country looking for Nirvana. The long hair, floor length skirts, sandals...the whole nine yards.  Except now the hair is gray, the bellies potted and the "look" seems pretty weird. (Funny, at times in the 70's I thought I wanted to be one, but these modern-day old folks have removed that desire. I do share that pot belly look though.)  

The Bad:

• Between here and there you can't find decent food.  We looked.  We tried.  We failed. Road food is the pits folks. (Yes, we're spoiled.)
• California forest fires. They blocked the sky and fouled the air all the way from Sacramento to the Tetons. (The year was 2018.)
• Thoughtless drivers. Sitting in the hammer lane without passing, abrupt lane changes, following too close. (Where TF do these people come from?!)
• Highway construction.  Sure we need it but that doesn't mean we like it.
• The hours of driving.  Even when you have a ton of time it still seems to take too much.  Reckon they drag on more when you are older. (But they were very cool through the Tetons and Yellowstone.)

The Beautiful:

• The Black Hills - so green and gorgeous with full lakes and streams. Like we have never seen them in 50 years of travel back and forth. (Okay, okay I kind of said this already but hey, some things bear repeating!)
• The West - C'mon folks, America the Beautiful is alive and doing okay right?! (In spite of the fires, our new EPA and Department of Interior's efforts to F___ it all up.) 
• My Wife and travel partner - she is always a step ahead of me in thoughtful actions and words. I see that capacity in my son and daughter too. (One of the most admirable traits a human can have eh?!)
• Scott Jacobs art Gallery in Deadwood, South Dakota. (I have already paid homage to that master of photo realism here: http://tclifecycles.blogspot.com/2018/08/deadwood-sd-and-man-scott-jacobs.html)

Now many of you have asked (none actually) why that might be our last long road trip. Well, when you reach a certain age you seem to run out of gas a little quicker than the vehicle you are driving knowwhatimeanVern?

P.S.  For you Clint fans, I added "Beautiful" because there is no "Ugly" to this story.  (Wait.  There WAS that dinner at the Winnemucca Inn and Casino...)

Deadwood, SD and The Man, Scott Jacobs

It was the Black Hills famous 2018 Sturgis Rally,
Julieann and I had headed there to visit family
And tour some old familiar places

As part, I got to wander the main drag of Deadwood

Famous mining town
And site of the
Assassination of Wild Bill Hickok
By the villain "Crooked Nose" Jack McCall

There were a bunch of Harleys
Lining and cruising the drag
And all the shops were geared for
Serious tourist time
The best though
And one I had not seen before

Scott Jacobs and a fan.

Was the Scott Jacobs Art Gallery


I have been a fan of Scott's Harley
And related art for a long time
Scott is a great photo-realism artist
He has been the first official artist
For the Harley Davidson Motor Company
For many years

So I was happy to see his large establishment
Right there on Main Street
I got pretty busy
Admiring the works of Scott
And other artists he features
Including members of his family.

While there I thought I recognized him
I introduced myself
And thanked him for his work
He had a natural, friendly nature
And readily agreed to autograph
A book of his works on sale there

Thanks for the inscription!

He even asked if there were "others
I would like" to include
So I named off our gang
And he happily obliged

One of Scott's New Works

Between Heaven and Earth

Early morning in the Black Hills. A little coffee and maybe a sweet roll in the belly and you are ready to ride.

Your choices for the day are many. The stark beauty of the Badlands is waiting. The close up, three dimensional views (and yes, if there is a fourth dimension it has to exist right there) of Mount Rushmore are waiting too. Listen... it doesn’t matter how many photos you take or have seen... if you haven’t panned the granite presidents with your own eyes you have not really seen them.

Or you can head for Spearfish canyon, Devils Tower, Custer National Park and the famous Needles rock formations. You can also visit Crazy Horse monument (literally the biggest Native American of all time). Plus, don’t forget the mother of them all… the Sturgis motorcycle rally for a take on crowd gathering at its finest. They are all day rides and they are all great rides... filled with the beauty of the land and enough curves to keep you alert.

Before the day is over you will steer the iron pony toward every degree and every cardinal point on the compass. You will wonder at the feel of the grips in your hands, the feel of torque that comes on the instant you twist that grip. It will happen hundreds of times on a day trip and, if you are lucky, millions of times during your life of riding.

To begin: You check for the neutral light and then thumb the switch.

"Crank!" It’s the gears of the starter, immediately launching itself at the heart of the big bagger’s engine.

"Thump!" It’s the first explosion of air and fuel in protest to the starter’s sudden shot of energy.

"Crank… Thump… Rumble!!" The bike fires up faster than you can read these words and settles into the classic, “potato, potato” sound that gives the icon much of it's mystique.

You pause to wait for the oil to begin circulating from the engine’s crankcase to the outer reaches of the its casings.  The thick, dark amber fluid warms as the mass of iron, chrome, leather and rubber prepares for a full day of torque and horsepower responses. During the pause you work through the routine of donning gloves, sunglasses, zippers and maybe a do-rag. Then you climb on.

You throw a leg over the iron horse and simultaneously lean your weight from left to right as you wrestle it up from an awkward incline against the kickstand. Then you have her upright and balanced but she is still clumsy.  She is waiting for the centrifugal effect of wheels turning to make her the graceful blend of form and function that she is.

Your left hand squeezes the clutch while a practiced left foot finds and presses the linkage to check... yes, she is in first gear. A smooth, deliberate release of the clutch with just the right combination of right hand turning the throttle and she is in motion. The air in front of you reluctantly gives way as you slice through it, creating turbulence most noticeable in your hair, your shirtsleeves and your pant legs.

Crisp. Early morning in the Black Hills.

Crisp. The air is perfect and taking huge gulps of it is the best way to enjoy the route to wherever you are going.

Crisp. The air is also crystal clear and the views of everything are striking in panorama. 

Yes folks, no special 3D glasses required.

You will never be as close to God as you are when you are riding a motorcycle on the edge.... right at the precise center of heaven and earth. It is up to you to define the edge but it is really anywhere from zero to infinity in terms of miles an hour.

At zero; you can be gone instantly if you are paused at a stoplight and the driver behind you doesn’t stop.

Toward infinity; you can be gone instantly if you tire on a long stretch of Interstate and forget to counter steer when on the exit ramp turn.

In between; you can be gone instantly if that cage driver in the opposite lane approaching suddenly decides to make a left turn in front of you.

In any event, you are right there at His or Her doorstep, waving as you pass by. He, or She says, “Today is your day so enjoy. The time will come when I will call you home but for now, enjoy that earthly pleasure. By the way, what kind of pipes do you have on that Hog?”

I am grateful all right. Yes, I am grateful. Thanks to my amazing wife Julieann who is the Earth Angel always on my shoulder and thanks to God for another day.