It was already dark when we came to Port Angeles. We were lucky and found a camping ground just a few blocks from the haven.
In Tacoma, south of Seattle (Washington) we found a BMW dealer where we could repair the 1150 and leave both bikes for service. In Seattle at Touratech (Touratech makes extra equipment for BMW and other bikes) Tobias could buy a new aluminum suit-case. The old one was broken and could no longer be fixed. But now Tobias also had to leave his loved camels (stickers) behind...
We drove north trough the city traffic and then continued east on smaller roads. At the Washington pass (1800 meters over sealevel) the climate changed and became very dry and hot. We drove past an enormous forest fire at Wintrop. The smoke covered the sun and burned in our eyes.
It was lovely to drive on the country roads through the varied landscape and we met people all the time who told us about nice places and roads. We crossed Idaho and drove through the very beautiful Montana.
At the Harley Davidson workshop in Misula, we met Lotta who owned the workshop with her husband. Lotta, who came from Sweden several years ago, helped us locate the BMW workshop where we replaced the rear tires and the 650 got a new chain set. After a few phone calls we found Gena, a dressmaker who replaced the malfunctional zipper in Ingeborg's motorcycle jacket even though it was late in the evening and for only $20. We are always happily surprised that we meet such nice and helpful people everywhere!
In Townsed, west of Yellow Stone National Park we celebrated Ingeborg's birthday, and as a birthday gift she got a new 'lenkkopflager' (I don't know the english word for it) that costed $300!
We continued south towards Wyoming och Yellow Stone National Park, where we saw geysers, hot springs, bubbling mud puddles, buffalo's, other animals and tourists. The park lies on 2000-2800 meters above sealevel and in the night had we had minus degrees. It felt unreal since we had +37 degrees during the day.
We left Yellowstone on the east side and drove over Dead Indian Pass to Cody. In the morning at 5 o'clock loud music woke us up! next to the camp ground there was a radio station and this morning they were transmitting live from outside the station. They served breakfast, free of charge, so we went there to eat and get some coffee. They also made a short report about us and our journey!
We continued east over Bighorn Mountains and then trough the hot highland (1600 meters above sealevel) to Sturgis in South Dakota. In Sturgis they arrange the worlds largest annual motorcycle meeting. it starts the first weekend in August and goes on for 10 days. Sturgis has 6500 inhabitants, but during these days about 1 million people are here. This meeting has been held for 66 years and will probably continue on several years.
On the way there, by the Devils Tower, we met Christian and Stefan from Germany, which works in New Mexico. They gave us travel instructions to a place where we could camp in Sturgis. During the motorcycle meeting a family used their garden as a camping ground (since 12 years now). It was not far from the crowd and at a cost of $20 for one night including shower and coffee. They had room for 25 tents in the garden. We were glad that we found such a good place.
Despite hundreds of shining Harley's it was the dirty, heavy packed BMW's that got everybody's attention. We soon realised that the thing we were doing, was the same thing everybody here was dreaming about: To be free and travel around the world on motorcycles!
After 3 days of party, with a minor headache, we left Sturgis and went south through Black Hills and Mount Rashmore (4 presidents in the rock) and the 58 year old building site of the Crazy Horse monument. There were motorcycles everywhere...
Near Custer we finally found calm and peaceful forest camp site where we stayed overnight.
We went on through the steppe of Wyoming. The side of the road was full of antelopes and thousands af hares killed by the traffic. Sometimes the stink was unbearable. We also experienced dry thunderstorm: lightning and thunder, but no rain!
Here in Riverton, at the Wind River Indian Reservation, we are gonna stay a few days. The camp ground is cosy with a lot of trees and much shade. We are gonna relax, wash our clothes and update our homepage.
