[11/09/2024 – 18/09/2024[

Our Last Week – Whenever You Read IT

7 days of straight riding. Starting in Calgary and ending in Grand Junction (Colorado). Even though we never left the Rockies the landscape changed completely. Yet again.
Stefan and me got talking a bit about the U.S. and the self-image of some of its citizens. The greatest country under god, and everyone is free. The religious topic is somewhat a constant. Churches of different denomination at every street corner, and sometimes i wonder why so many people are attracted by them. Is it similar to the medieval times, where life for the masses was so shitty that the promise of the afterlife was the only thing keeping them going? Anyway not my place to question and i did not want to talk or rant about religion, but about perceived and actual freedom.
We got talking to yet another old white man – Stefan made me aware, that both of us have entered quite some time the realm of being old white men – attracted by our foreign license plates. In the course of the conversation, and after i asked whether or not we could point sad discussion towards politics, he mentioned that even though not being pro Trump in the first election, this time around he definitely will vote for him. As the country did greatly benefit from his policies, and everything was better. Again it does not matter what i think, as i am not even eligible to vote. One thing he mentioned threw me of a bit though, as one reason he cannot vote for Kamala is the fact that she is a woman. And in his opinion a woman can never project power the way a man does, especially in areas where women are not seen as equal. Even as i pressed the matter a bit more, by asking if he would vote for his daughter if she´d be the runner-up he said no. He as well is against abortion after being present during one. Which is quite interesting as back at pink mountain, i had a conversation with another U.S. couple – very conservative by self description – where the woman was as well against abortion, but she said, she would not put legislation against it, as the decision is one each has to take for themselves and whether or not they can live with it. For me that does sound rather liberal. The abortion topic was the one that let Stefan that yet again three old white men are talking about a topic where they have little to no business talking about it anyway.
About the freedom of speech, i mean here in the US you can say almost anything whereas in Germany you cannot say whatever you want, luckily there is the law about “Volksverhetzung” (“incitement to hatred”, deepl tells me) in his eyes this makes us a non-free society.
Later on we touch upon the topic whether i am married and do or want to have children, which i declined. Of course he asked why not, and i flat out told him that i do not want to have that responsibility, That was not a good enough answer.
Sadly i cannot recall the complete conversation word for word. But this conversation led Stefan and me get to the conclusion that the US are a free country for as long as you do it the way certain people expect you to express your freedom, everything that is beyond that, is wrong or socialist or …
And now, our last week.

Wednesday: Calgary (Canada) – Whitefish (USA)

So the idea is to ride through the Rockies, mountains and all and the day did start quite nice. Had some sun at the beginning, but the closer we came to the mountains the thicker the clouds became, We even got a bit wet, but nothing too serious. And once the rain subsided we had some great views, mountains with fog climbing out of the trees.
The border crossing into the united states, was yet again a fast affair. And even our request to get the export document for our motorcycles stamped and signed did not need a lot of discussion. The fun thing about the border crossing was the perfect German we were greeted with by one of the border agents. Getting a place to stay however was a bit tricky, as it seems there is something going on in whitefish and they are fully booked for the next two nights. In the end we got a room at the Whitefish motel for 80.-$ (US). Nothing fancy, but two beds. The owner told us that he usually does not rent rooms out for a night, but due to him riding as well he made an exception. The town itself is quite lovely and one where people do enjoy going out even during the week. Something we have not experienced in this manner in the US to this extent.

Thursday: Whitefish – Butte

Initially we had planned to ride the loop through the Glacier National Park, but weather was not too friendly. We cannot even see the mountains around us. So we riding directly to Butte and hope that the weather will be better for the Yellowstone National Park. The ride itself was ok, even the Interstate was good to ride, and Montana does have an 80 miles per hour speed limit. Once we reached Butte we realized, that we are about 4.5 km away from uptown … little evening walk then. Found that Butte does have a few bars and restaurants and we ended up in a proper Irish pub. The Irish had a strong presence in Butte.

Friday: Butte – Yellowstone Hot Springs

As we were not able to book a campground in Yellowstone – many of them are already closed and the ones that are left are fully booked – we opted for a private campground about 20 km before the park entrance. And it was only a short ride away from Butte. The interstate already gave a good impression of whats to come, but the landscape got somewhat ridiculous as soon as we moved of the interstate. A guy asking if everything was good, when we took a break called it epic, and that is a fair description. Nice Campground and as the name suggests there are hot spring swimming pools there. Originally i wanted to use the spare time for a quick run, but as the campground owner mentioned that the grocery store is just three miles away, I decided to take a little walk and get some beer. Well in the end it was not three miles but more like four and change, so all in all i walked 14 km in 2 hrs 10 minutes. Before we went in the pool I got talking with a former service member. That was quite the discussion we had, almost missed the chance to use the pool. Well almost, got 45 minutes in the pool and that was enough for Stefan’s circulatory system to take a dive. The rest of the night was uneventfull, except for the starry night sky.

Saturday: Yellowstone Hot Springs – Idaho Falls

Early mornings, in fact i got up rather early for the past couple of days, for whatever reason, strangely enough i like it. Got into Yellowstone without having to wait long. Yellowstone is exceptional. We took the northern entrance and that starts with wonderful terraces formed by hot springs. This went on towards Old Faithful the most known geyser in Yellowstone. So today was marked by a lot of walking, which at temperatures above 20°C and full gear was not that much fun. I myself was missing the mountains a bit, to go along with the hot springs and pools. Somehow i expected to see mountains, especially since Yellowstone is at an elevation of >2000m. At Old Faithful we only had to wait for about 30 minutes to see that geyser erupt, quite a sight.
By now it was already half past four and we did not yet have a place stay. Jackson was out of the question as rooms were ridiculously priced. We had two campsites we wanted to try, the first one right after the park boundaries was fully booked, and the second on in the Grand Teton National Park was closed. bummer. that campsite would have been phenomenal by the way. the Grand Teton mountain range is breathtaking.
Long story short we ended up going to Idaho falls. Riding through the sunset with then a moon lit landscape. temperatures dropped to 8°C. It was the first time riding into the night in north america.
Once we got to our accommodation Stefan was a bit annoyed by me, as i wanted to know if he would join me at a bar and i wanted an answer right away – it was already close to midnight. I ended up going alone, and it was a proper bar with a dance floor and people. Granted it was a Saturday, but along the Pacific Coast Road we had similar size cities with less night life. I was in bed by half three 😉 and i had a plan as to how to proceed to the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Sunday: Idaho Falls – Diamondville

Pretty simple ride to bears lake and then take a campground there. Well the weather was not in favor of this. While we were trying to book the campsite through Idaho state, a thunderstorm passed, we only got wind and some rain, but for later that night another one was forecast, which then made me convince Stefan to go to Diamondville and take a room there. I am a good weather camper as it turns out. Diamondville is in the middle of nowhere, with mines around it and the only dinner option on a Sunday was a burger joint called Arctic Circle – we are bit far away for that – and Pizza Hut. So we had the first fast food chain dinner on our journey.

Monday: Diamondville – Nine Mile Ranch

Todays trip brought us through the Flaming Gorge. If i am not mistaken Utah’s state moto is “life elevated” or at least i have read it on a license plate. Regardless, driving along the gorge i can see why. But it was not just the gorge, the Nine Mile Canyon is beautiful as well and here we were camping.

Tuesday: Nine Mile Ranch – Grand Junction

We had a good night, and no rain during the night. Right as i got up st 06:30 to enjoy the sunrise from the hammock with a proper coffee there was lightning and thunder, but the first raindrops waited till about eight. At least the tent got packed quickly and stayed dry.
The ride itself … oh well the Utah landscape is quite amazing out of the Nine Mile Canyon and the further on the I-70. And it got even better once we crossed the Colorado state line. Had some proper, almost Patagonian winds today and on the I-70 we did cross through multiple sandstorms. That we have not had since Peru. All in all a perfect day. Once we reached the hotel in Grand Junction, Stefan started the video editing and i looked how we can move forward into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Problem is, season is over and of the many camp grounds there are, lots are closed. In addition the elevation is at around 3000m. Stefan mentioned some time ago that he wanted to try Applebees, and as there was one just across the street we did. And that was a rather pleasant surprise for a chain restaurant. Similarly good food like in the l’osteria at home.

This concludes week 42
Till next time
Happy hacking everyone