Now for a few more words!

So, out of Cody Wyoming I went, off to Montana and the Bear-tooth Hwy. One of the most amazing roads I have ever ridden. Into the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone. What a beautiful place. It is so untouched. The roads are just wide enough and everything else is just allowed to grow and move as it pleases. Had a few buffalo cross the street in front of me and saw a few select other animals but nothing to really talk about. Got to see some great waterfalls and lake Yellowstone. It is really beautiful. Stopped at Old Faithful and to be honest I think its way overplayed. Cool but overplayed. There is a lot of buildings in that area and Old Faithful isn't really all they say it is. Off I was out the West side of Yellowstone for a not so memorable ride to Missoula, Montana. Where I got a flat tire at 10:00 at night. Sweet! To the Motel 6 I went. Thankfully I was 6 miles from a Ducati dealer.

The next day I called the dealer, which I found out was really a Harley - Buell dealer that had a Ducati section. I was able to have them pick me and the bike up and get us to the shop. It took close to 3 hours to get a tire put on the bike. The tire was over priced and so was the labor. I'm not bashing anybody on this blog just telling it how it happened. It was 225 for the tire and another 75 to mount and balance a Pirelli Scorpion SYNC. They also wanted 50 bucks for the 5 mile transport which was thankfully left off the bill. Finally I was off and into Idaho before I new it. The highway was nice and curvy and I was in Washington in no time. Washington was no fun at first due to the traffic in Spokane. But as soon as I was away from that my ride through the desert and then into the mountains was nice. There are apples orchards everywhere. As soon as I got to about 5000 feet in the mountains it started to rain. It was super cold. It finally stopped as I reached Diablo Lake, which by the way is really this sort of iridescent green color due to glacial run off. It is quite the experience to see. What a beautiful ride and some great roads. Finally got to my destination. Kim, Chris, Manda and a few of their friends were there as well as my 14 day old almost nephew Samson. Time for some relaxation.

Washington was great. It was a mini vacation from my vacation. Spent a lot of time just relaxing and adjusting my chain. Turns out that The dealer that replaced my tire put the wheel on crooked. Awesome! Well we went for a few walks around the property and had a great time with Samson. We even got to walk around the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center sort of behind the scenes as Manda works there. What a great relaxing time. Had a bite to eat in the twilight zone twice. Well not really the twilight zone but I guess you had to be there. Tuesday and its off towards Portland Oregon. Had a great trip except for the 300 dollar speeding ticket for 78 in a 60 in a work zone. I was just keeping up with traffic and of-course the Red Ducati from NH gets singled out. Well I got to Portland It's a really nice little city. I'm staying at a really nice hotel and my bike is in the shop. I hope this shop experience is better. I had some pizza at this cute little place near the hotel and some free beer at the hotel. Its some kind of managers special. Maybe I'll go out tonight to meet some of the locals.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!