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[Buy early]

Leaving Tuesday for this year's version of boy's week out. Kickstands up @ 5:45AM Tuesday for two of us.

Interstate all the way through northern Minnesota, North Dakota and into Glendive, MT Tuesday night.

Meeting my buddy from Denver in Billings Wednesday morning and riding on to Lochsa Lodge just west of Lolo Pass on Hwy 12 in Idaho for the Wednesday night stop.

Riding from Lochsa Lodge to Clarkston, WA and possibly south into Oregon along the Snake River and then back on Hwy 12 to Missoula, MT on Thursday. Expecting this to be one of the best riding days of my life. Will be sure to get a shot of the Switchblade next to the sign in the photo.

Friday it's Missoula to Livingston, MT then south to Yellowstone where we pick up Hwy 212 and ride Bear Tooth Highway into Red Lodge, MT for the evening.

Saturday we'll back track on 212 to 296 and ride the Chief Joseph Highway then on through Powell & Lovell, over the Big Horns, through Sheridan and spend the night in Gillette, WY.

Sunday it's into Sturgis for the day and down to Rapid for some table-side guacamole at On The Border. Staying 2 nites in Rapid. Monday we'll probably head up to Iron Mountain Road, the Needles and lunch at Sylvan Lake Lodge. Tuesday we'll leave for the Badlands and dinner with friends in Sioux Falls and should be back in St Paul by Wednesday afternoon.

Looking forward to a great time and 3,500 miles of great riding with great friends! Will post some photos as time and technology allow.

[bandit]

expecting the pics, ride safe & enjoy every mile !!!

[2k]

No doubt B.E. Hwy 12 is one of the top rides on my list, wish I could do it again & again.


ENJOY!!!

[red ben59]

RIDE SAFE AND ENJOY  Sounds like good times 

[Grizzly]

All the best for a wonderful trip.

Enjoy & ride safe!



I'm sure you'll have just as much fun on that road as we did last year on this one...

[SckBstrd]

We were at Lochsa in 2012...
Here is one of the cabins...  It's #8
two Queen Beds, a queen hide-a-bed, and private bath.
Ramp isn't quite wide enough to get the scoots inside...  LOL

Enjoy your trip.

[Jswerve]

WOW! That is one AWESOME trip. Looking forward to pics. Rubber to the road brother! 

[Buy early]

The main reason for the trip was to ride Highway 12 from Missoula to Clarkston/Lewiston. Boy, was it worth it! Best road I have ever ridden in my life! Even though it rained the first 90 miles and we almost turned back, persistence paid off and we were rewarded with several hours of curves, stunning scenery, and outright joy!

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But I'm getting ahead of myself. Day 1 found us leaving from the Twin Cities at 5:30 am just after some rain showers had passed through. I looked on my iPad radar and it appeared that they had all passed by. My riding buddy Ray came to the meet point in rain gear and I told him it would be unnecessary. That was mistake #1. We set off north and west, Ray protected and me confident of my technology. After about 10 miles of no rain and drying roads, it started to mist, than sprinkle, than rain... for the next 100 miles!

I was soaked to the bone with water filling my boots. Ray was dry as a bone. Several times I thought about pulling over to suit up but I felt putting on rain gear over wet jeans and boots was not a smart deal and every now and then it would clear a bit and my jeans would begin to dry. Fortunately, it wasn't too cold.

We gassed up 120 miles out and rode into Fargo as the skies cleared. A stop at the HD shop in West Fargo for some dry socks, a toweling out of my boots and a change into lighter gear and we were off to Jamestown in 72 degree temps with clear skies and no wind (a miracle in North Dakota)!

Had lunch in Jamestown with a stop at HD store #2 and headed out to Bismarck, another 100 miles down the road. Hit a brief shower just before Bismarck but we were dry within a few miles. Gas and a quick stop at HD store number 3 and Bismarck was in the rearview mirror. 2/3's of a 620 mile day behind us and clear skies in front.

Quick gas up in Dickinson, ND where the cop cars are souped up Mustangs and the town is full of oil and gas drillers. Back on the freeway for the last leg to Glendive, MT.

We were 15 miles from Glendive when we came over a rise to see a semi and cars pulled off on the shoulder and 2 Montana state patrol cars blocking the road. 100 yards in front of the semi was a duelie pickup that had gotten a flat and taken too long to pull off the road. A fire had started under the hood and the HP's felt it too dangerous to let cars drive by. We sat there for 40 minutes and listened to all 6 tires pop and watched this vehicle burn to the ground! It was amazing! At one time the diesel fuel smoke blocked out the sun!

[longlast]

                              WOW  SMOKIN,.....look forward to you trip pics

[Buy early]

Got into Glendive about 7PM after picking up an hour. Checked into the motel and headed across the street for a steak dinner that turned out to be less than expected. But, it's tough to ruin a great day of riding!

Next morning found us up early and off to Billings to meet my friend Paul from Denver. He would join us for the next 6 days. At a gas stop somewhere in eastern Montana I was adjusting my mirror and busted the mirror piece from the stem. It ticked me off but I threw the mirror in my roll bag and we headed on down the road to Billings. Once we got there we set about trying to find a workable solution to the problem. The HD store was of no help as this as an aftermarket Chinese product that looks better than it is built. A quick trip to NAPA auto parts and some creativity yielded a Rube Goldberg solution that would carry me through the next 7 days.

[Buy early]

Made it out of Billings an hour behind schedule but with 220 miles in the new rear view mirror. You can't begin to realize how big Montana is until you cross it on two wheels (we saw several bicyclists and boy, did I feel sorry for them). Several gas stops, lunch, Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, and temps varying from 60 to 90 degrees found us on the other side of Montana and 56 miles from our night 2 destination at Lochsa Lodge just across the MT/ID border. We pulled in just before dusk and a few hours after a shower had dampened the gravel entrance road. It was a great place to stop for the night!

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Lochsa Lodge is one of the few gas stops along Highway 12 so we filled up the bikes, unloaded the gear into a generously sized cabin, washed up and headed over to the main lodge for dinner.

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The dining room is in the main lodge and is very nicely appointed for a rustic building. They only had one phone line into the place and cell service was non-existent but the wireless internet worked well enough to allow us to communicate with loved ones and let them know we had arrived.

We weren't really expecting much for cuisine but I had one of the best salmon dinners I have ever had and the portions were log hauler generous and reasonably priced! The lodge is perfect for motorcyclists on tour and there were several adventure bikes parked next to the cabins. We ran into a retired couple from North Carolina on Gold Wings at dinner and had a great conversation about their travels. The wife has ridden over 200K miles on 3 different Gold Wings! The husband pulls a trailer with camping gear and they literally ride all over the US of A! Great folks and a perfect end to day 2!

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Day 3 was the day we had all been waiting for and the main purpose for the trip. Ride Highway 12 from Lochsa Lodge all the way to Clarkston, WA (162 miles) and then, if time allowed, go south of Clarkston along the Snake River into Oregon (60 miles), turn around and ride the same roads all the way back to Missoula, MT (278 miles). I have a friend who said he has stayed at Lochsa Lodge for a full week and did nothing but ride Hwy 12 back and forth all day long so we were anxious to ride a road that could be this desirable!

Unfortunately, the morning dawned cloudy, temps in the mid 50's, and raining off and on. We waited until about 9:30 AM when the rain seemed to stop, loaded up and put on rain gear and headed west. About 5 miles in it began to rain again and it rained for the next 70 miles. The road is not overly technical, no switchbacks, but lots and lots of curves and all slightly down hill. The wet road looked worse than it was but it took us two hours to ride the first 70 miles so we stopped at a roadside coffee house and warmed up a bit. We decided to press on and road another 20 miles in the rain. At the first gas stop we briefly discussed turning back but felt the weather might clear and, well, we had ridden 1,300 miles to ride this road, so we weren't going to leave Idaho without doing so. Shortly after that stop, the rain quit, the road dried up, the sun came out, the temps warmed into the 70's and we experienced 72 miles of curves that would make a pin-up jealous.

Highway 12 follows the Lochsa River from the green higher altitudes of the Emerald Forrest out onto the dry arid plains of western Idaho. By the time we got to Hell's Canyon HD in Lewiston, ID, we had smiles glued to our faces and were sweating in rain gear and 94 degree heat!