Day 1 - Let's get started

Well it's finally here!  The day we get this ride underway.  As I mentioned in the earlier post, this ride got complicated due to scheduling, but it's going to happen and today is the day.  The plan for today was to get up and going early as we have 3 days to cover the 1500 miles it takes to get to Chicago from Pocatello.

We were up early enough but it seemed to take forever to get the bags and other gear loaded and secured on the bikes.  Then, of course, there was that "one last stop by the office" and the necessity of fuel. We were finally underway and through the Portneuf Gap by 08:30am.  Goal for the day is to make Douglas, Wyoming for the night.

It was cooler than expected this morning, just under 50 degrees as we pulled out of the drive way.  It felt more like back-to-school/hunting season than the dog days of summer I had been hoping for.  Rather than being in a tank top lathered in sun screen, it was multiple layers to include full chaps and leather jackets as the outermost layer.  The skies in Pocatello were hazy from the wild fire smoke.  The skies would stay that way throughout the day as we made our way across Wyoming.  Only once or twice did the sun find a spot to peek through providing momentary warmth.   Temps stayed on the cool side throughout the day, never peaking 70 degrees. 

As is typical for our style of riding we did our best to avoid the interstates.  Using mostly state highways, google predicted we were in for a 500 mile day which would necessitate just under 8 hours of driving.  We briefly stopped in Soda Springs for a quick Monster for Torrey and an opportunity for me to clean my windshield. 

Our next stop was for fuel and lunch in Kemmerer, WY.  As we passed the sign signifying we'd crossed the state line, I debated if we were going to take "border" pics each time like we did in 2016.  I opted to move on past without stopping, but immediately realized how much of an impact Shannon, the lone passenger on the 2016 ride, had on this blog. Needless to say, there are no pics from today's ride.  There may not be pics until we meet-up with the group that leaves Saturday, August 25 from Pocatello.  That group has a lone passenger in it and we'll have to see how she feels about becoming the group's photog.

We left Hwy 30, a road we're familiar with and in fact already rode this year, for Hwy 189 as we went toward Lander.  We took 372 off of 189 for a short distance before finding Hwy 28 which would carry us through the bulk of the day.  The good news is the antelope population of Wyoming remains in tact.  There are some long straight stretches across Wyoming, at times giving one the idea they can see the curvature of the earth.  After fueling in Lander, we went back to the turnoff that leads to Casper, Hwy 287/789. 

Between Lander and Casper, I had plenty of time to work on the positives of today's ride.  Why was it work? It was just cool enough riding that I had to focus on the good things that today's ride had brought with it. First and foremost, 500 miles of safe riding without incident.  Wyoming state highways offers very little traffic.  Recalling the Bay Bridge experience from 2016 (feel free to look back at those pics if you'd like), seeing less than 50 other vehicles all day is a treat!  It was a whole day of dry riding.  No rain and even better no hail.  I didn't blog about a ride we did earlier this year where 15 minutes of hail resulted in a month's worth of bruises healing. Some of you may recall hearing me whine about that day.  

As we rolled into Casper on Hwy 220, it seemed we had re-entered civilization.  There were stop lights that were actually operational and plenty of other vehicles.  To be fair to Casper, we did roll through close to 5pm so I'm guessing we hit their "high traffic" time.  Nothing compared to California, but still plenty for us.  It took a bit of time after fueling to wind through town to get to I-25 South.  Yep, Interstate!  It was only 40 miles and we were ready for a quicker pace.

As we pulled into Douglas, Wyoming we were ready to be done for today.  It was a good first day of riding.  No complaints.  We're a third of the way there already.  Dinner and a shower with a quick look ahead to tomorrow rounded out Day 1.



Total miles today: 522
Time to travel that distance: 9 hours
Total Cumulative miles: 522
Tomorrow: The Corn Huskers