West Yellowstone

Been really out of touch the last five or so days, long days, up around six, out and riding by seven or seven thirty, then stop for coffee around ten thirty, then on till about two, pick up provisions for the rest of the day, a deli sandwich for lunch and dinner, I eat half as soon as I leave the shop and have the other half for dinner, milk for tea, orange juice for breakfast, breakfast includes a granola bar, some days I pick up a can of beer for luxury. Most nights I plan to bivouac and then end up pitching the tent as either mossies, cold or threat of rain.

Driving up the West coast, stopped just past Fort Bragg at a no name no features state campsite, right on the cliffs looking west, a rather seedy couple came to visit, Dennis and Sarah with son Colin, they are from Truckee, somewhere near Sacramento, he used to be a truck driver, then had an infection of one of his heart valves, apparently from a gum infection, ended up with two aneurysms in his brain, had his skull opened, seems to be the fashion, and had them fixed, however He is essentially blind in one eye, this doesn't seem to slow him down, he was brimming over with energy, bought a rolled Goldwing and fixed it up, had a Vietnam girlfriend who took him for everything when he became sick, Sarah was his somewhat slovenly daughter, an even more slovenly daughter from a previous marriage andtwo sons from her present marriage to a Swedish man.

Still and all they added a lot of entertainment to the evening, next morning off north, to the Humbolt Redwoods National Park, really wonderful, I went for a longish walk, quiet, magic. Then back on Leslie and a longish run to Lassen Volcano Nat Park. Just past the entrance there was a major roadworks and we waited for about fifteen minutes, I was sitting listening to the tapes on the speakers and the Flag girl came over to me and told me to look behind me, the couple in the car had got out and were dancing to Jimmy Lee Tucker, quite a few people gathered together, we had a very pleasant street party. Then there was about nine miles of brutal new gravel, we tiptoed along and no problems. over the pass at the top, the road improved, 8,500 feet, good old Leslie, stopped at the first campsite, it looked full but there was a fellow with a motorcycle so I asked him if I could join, Mike, he is a computer technician and has taken the summer off, bought a fine Honda, hasn't ridden for twenty years, we had a very pleasant evening. I'm getting pretty grotty as none of the sites have showers.

Next morning off early, East, stopped in a town called Neubieben, had a chat with a farmer who wants to get back into motorcycling and touring, as we were talking a woman came over and said I had to stop off at her husbands garage in Outlook, he collects vintage bikes and has n old pre-war English bike he is restoring. I missed the turn and took a break for coffee. The owner of the cafe goes on cruises for his recreation, and all over the world, Australia, China, Hong Kong, the Pacific, he had a world map and it was just covered in the tracks of his voyages. I asked him how to get to Outlook and a State Trooper who was having a coffee as well, interrupted to say, "Yes, you have to take that road, it is straight as a die and no traffic, you can drive at 100, it's great. So emboldened I headed up it, stopped off to meet bob, the motorcycle collector, his shop is out of some historic movie, he has a beautiful daughter who stood around then went out, Bob wanted a photo of me on the bike so I got on it and did a short circuit, when we finished I stopped to have a final chat and like an apparition his daughter appeared, sitting on a snow white pony, bare back, halter, no bit. Classic, they are both the same age and she reckons they probably ride together three or four hours most days.

On again, I'd been told I had to drive to Lava Bed National Monument or similar so stopped off there, pretty terrible road getting to it bit brand spanking new inside the park, went for a walk down one of the lava tube caves and banged my head so hard I saw stars, ouch. Had my lunch surrounded by wildflowers and small grey birds. On to Crater Lake, at the campsite I met up with Mike again, we went to the Ranger talk, it was terrible. Decided to wash myself so walked the half mile to the nearest shower station, it was closed, on to the next, needed fifty cents which I didn't have so disgruntled returned to the campsite and stripped down and rinsed off at the standpipe. Literally seconds after I wrapped myself up in the towel the ranger drove by. That would have been hard to explain.

Up early in the morning, drove around the rim, visibility was so poor in a brownish haze that I couldn't see across, with hindsight I think it was a combination of a front coming in and smoke from the wildfires which are burning up the entire state. Off again, planned to take a very minor road eastwards but bad fuel management and I had to make a thirty mile there and back, an hour total, to get fuel, then east on lonely roads for the rest of the day, Approaching the town Burns, at the small village Ripley, the entire northern horizon was ablaze, spectacular columns of grey and orange smoke reaching up into the stratosphere where it turns to bright whit clouds which drift downwind for hundreds of miles before dissipating in isolated Lennies. There was a French cyclist there heading for Yellowstone, where I am now; it will take him eight to ten days, minimum, across the high desert, a long lonely ride.

Spent the night in a very isolated Forest campsite, the lower flats were filled with a dozen or so pup tents belonging to the night shift fire fighters, I saw no sign of them. Off again early next morning, had hoped to make it to Yellowstone but far too far, ended up camping in "Craters of the moon" Nat Park. Met a couple at the next campsite, David and Sonny, she was typically weird, he is a programmer who has quit to ride around the world on an old motorbike, it blew up in New Zealand, he is having it shipped back here where he will have it repaired and start over, Eastwards.

He was at a Bikers meeting of long distance drivers, he told this story of this couple riding in the Amazon jungle, crossing a bridge, carefully pushing the heavy BMWs as the bridge looks unsafe, it collapses and dumps him in the river bed, under the bike. His partner manages to get it off him, he is barely conscious, his left side is part paralyzed, they ride twelve days back to the nearest hospital, every hour or so he blacks out and falls off, crash. At the hospital they x-ray him and he has broken a vertebra in his neck, he now has a metal plate and is back on his bike. People are so strong.

Now in Yellowstone, an absolute zoo, at the library, then on to Mammoth springs, tonight may be a problem, the place is absolutely packed with tourists, we'll see, love to all,

Phil --

Phil Edmonds
Enroute across the USA