To the Nationals and beyond

[Chuck in Indiana]

Packed the camper, loaded the MZed in the van, and we're off!
2016-06-16_09-04-38 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-06-16_09-04-54 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
 Spent the first night at a county campground in western Iowa for 11 bux. (Guzzi content) Slowly grilled some inch and a quarter thick Iowa chops. It was a great start to the trip. :)
2016-07-02_10-30-11 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Cannonballed across the plains the next day, camped, cooked, and continued. I've ridden across the plains several times. Don't really care to do it again. :)
Stopped at the Custer battlefield.. "Please, Mr. Custer, I don't want to go.."
2016-07-02_10-30-46 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
I was happy to see my ancestors got their fair share of tribute for defending their way of life..
2016-07-02_10-31-11 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-32-07 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Continued on to Red Lodge and camped for the night. Met up with Chris and Judi (ccoli) for dinner.
Wanted to run Beartooth one more time. It's certainly one of hhe best motorcycle roads in hte world.
This was the first time I had been able to actually use the MZ the way it was designed. It is a marvelous tool for mountain roads, maybe the best I've ridden. Just riding it around Indiana, it was boring as cheese.
2016-07-02_10-33-02 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Beartooth is a wonderful wonderful road. Just do it, you'll be glad you did.
2016-07-02_10-33-37 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
On to Yellowstone. The plan was to camp for two nights and explore all the roads on the bike. Nope. It was too much of an ant farm for our taste, but we spent the day looking at magnificent scenery just the same.
2016-07-02_10-34-07 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-34-24 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-34-38 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-35-22 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-35-58 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Truly an awesome place, but the park ranger lady said that Tuesday was their busy day. This was Monday and it was uh... bad.
Got up early Tuesday moring, took a picture of a cow elk that was in our campsite, but the stupid phone doesn't always get what I shoot at. By the time I got a picture, all I got was her arse. :)
Rode down through Yellowstone, and traffic was lined up for miles coming into the south gate. It was a good time to be gone.
Rode on down through the Tetons
2016-07-02_10-36-45 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
and over the passes to Victor.
2016-07-02_10-36-29 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-37-08 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
A local told us of a great hamburger joint, and I was tired of cooking all the time. Decided if I was going to pig out, I needed to wear the proper T shirt.. :)
2016-07-02_10-37-31 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Onward toward the rally.. this is a little east of John Day.
2016-07-02_10-38-04 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Many pix have already been posted of the rally, so just a couple.
David and his camper..
2016-07-02_10-39-18 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
That hamburger picture made me hungry.. headed out to lunch. More later.


 

[twowings]

+1,000,000 on Beartooth and Chief Joseph Scenic Highway...thanks for posting such great pics!

[Guzzistajohn]

Nice stuff chuckles!

[PJPR01]

A fun trip indeed Chuck...great to meet you and enjoyed our chats...good to have you come and hang out at the campsite a bit as well.

Enjoy the rest of the trip!!

Cheers!
Paul

[Chuck in Indiana]

At my age, you meet new people all time. :) I can't name all the people, but it was fun to put faces to names on WG..
Here's Beaver, the Turnip farmer and Greg Field, for instance.. Greg has had some serious health issues, and it's great to sss him back on two wheels. He had his "special" loop there, but looking through my pix, I don't seem to have it.
2016-07-02_10-17-58 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
A fellow MZ rider.
2016-07-02_10-18-36 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
MZeds in a row. It's a rally! :)
2016-07-02_10-18-57 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
headed off toward Washington..
2016-07-02_10-19-48 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
We were going to have to do 100 miles of slab, and after 20 miles of that, I'd had enough, pulled into a rest area, and loaded the MZ back in the van. It sucks on the slab. My hands were numb, my..er.. nether regions were going asleep, etc. Just goes to show you how good Guzzis are. The LeMans, Lario, or even the Monza could have done that without issue.
Camped for the night in a Washington forest campground..
2016-07-02_10-21-30 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-20-35 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Had a wee libation before bedtime. :)
2016-07-02_10-20-49 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Sport and Touring, not cruisers, Guzzi management.. get it? :) Oh, well.
I've wanted to to to the far Northwest corner of the country for a while, so did that..
2016-07-02_10-21-40 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
and back to camp in the rain forrest.
2016-07-02_10-23-35 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-24-53 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr2016-07-02_10-23-54 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-24-29 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
You make airplane spars out of Sitka spruce. This bad boy was 300 feet tall before meeting it's demise.
2016-07-02_10-25-18 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Definitely a special place, and worth a visit. Saw a good sized black bear running across the road in front of us, but no picture.
I'd been to Crater lake, but Dorcia hadn't, so we decided to take a day and see it. Snow on the climb up..
2016-07-02_10-26-23 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
and the spectacular lake. It's a deep sucker, and that's what the blue is all about.
2016-07-02_10-26-43 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-27-02 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Back toward civilization, and camped near the NorCal coast..
2016-07-02_10-27-34 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-25-36 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
2016-07-02_10-25-49 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Cruised throw the Redwoods..
2016-07-02_10-28-00 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Went across some big bridge.. :)
2016-07-02_10-28-50 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
Stayed at a nasty only campground we could find that wasn't full in SoCal.. $89 for a tent site? (!!) No. (Guzzi content.) Patiently crawled through LA traffic while bikes lane split beside us.. (roll eye) Told Dorcia it was time for me to take the bike out of the van and I'd meet her in Redondo Beach whenever she got there. :) Just kidding, of course, but it was pretty awful. Made RB yesterday evening.. it's been an awesome trip so far.

[bad Chad]

Wow

[Chuck in Indiana]

Wow

Yeah, we've said that a couple of times.
 
It's been a blast.

[Arizona Wayne]

Thanks, Chuck, for taking a pic of my buttrerscotch? MuZ with the other 2.  It was nice meeting you.  Greg sure looks a lot different since the last time I saw him a few years ago.  I didn't recognize him there.  No way I couldn't recognize the turnip farmer.    Made it back home yesterday about 8pm.  Ended up having to have my wife ship me new front brake pads to get home since I forgot to look @ them before starting out.   Spent a few days @ my sons place in Vancouver, Wa. waiting for them FedExpress.  Rode over 2,000 miles for the round trip.   

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks, Chuck, for taking a pic of my buttrerscotch? MuZ with the other 2.  It was nice meeting you.  Greg sure looks a lot different since the last time I saw him a few years ago.  I didn't recognize him there.  No way I couldn't recognize the turnip farmer.    Made it back home yesterday about 8pm.  Ended up having to have my wife ship me new front brake pads to get home since I forgot to look @ them before starting out.   Spent a few days @ my sons place in Vancouver, Wa. waiting for them FedExpress.  Rode over 2,000 miles for the round trip.   

Nice meeting you, too. I modded my caliper so I could use HH pads instead of those weird Harold Grimeca pads. Quite a bit more better..

[Gliderjohn]

I have been to Hoh Forest but not Crater Lake. For a midwest plains boy the Hoh was amazing!
GliderJohn

[oldbike54]

 So was the Turnip Farmer his normal reserved self ? Beaver can hardly get him to speak up , especially around strangers 

 Dusty

[Chuck in Indiana]

So was the Turnip Farmer his normal reserved self ? Beaver can hardly get him to speak up , especially around strangers 

 Dusty

Yeah, pretty much. 

[nobleswood]

Great pictures ! Thanks for posting.

[pete roper]

Bloody great pic Chuck. Thing is you don't seem to have changed in the last seven years since we last met. I wish I still looked as good!

Pete

[Zoom Zoom]

Beautiful places indeed! Visited several of them myself. Your pics bring back some great memories. I'm pleased that your trip is going well. Cape Flattery is pretty cool eh?

John Henry

[Texas Turnip]

Pete,
Chuck hasn't changed a bit in the decades I've known him. He dyes his hair just to look older and still gets carded when he goes in the liquor store.

Tex

[Chuck in Indiana]

Pete,
Chuck hasn't changed a bit in the decades I've known him. He dyes his hair just to look older and still gets carded when he goes in the liquor store.

Tex

That's not true, Tex. I know you never exaggerate, so I need to straighten that out. The last time I was carded for real, I was 34. 

[steveford]

Hi Chuck, It was great finally getting to meet you, if only for a short moment. I was hoping you were going to blow through the Deep Forest, and the BAR, but it looks like you're having a great trip. Enjoyed all your woderful pics. Hopefully the next time we meet it won't be so busy.