Fernley, NV to Powell, WY featuring Yellowstone National Park: Day 3 -- "Day Off" / Hart Mountain Relocation Center

Monday 8-17-2008

     My body had been registering movement and soft noises around itself for some time. My brain, however, registers no alarm at this, and so does not rouse. Enveloped in the warmth and softness of many blankets I sleep into the mid-morning peacefully; sensing muffled light just beyond my eyelids. The aroma of cooking food filters into my sleeping mind, luring it out towards the world. Hearing the sound of familiar men’s' voices brings recollections of where I am waking. Two long days on a motorcycle, beautiful scenery, wild animals, cold rain; then a comfortable little house, cheese and crackers, and chat that goes late into the night with family. Something is placed on the coffee table before me, I mumble, "I'm not quite ready to get up yet." A sore body has found comfort in the softness of an enormous black leather sofa tucked inside this tiny house. Eventually I wake to find Mike and my brother, Shane, talking and laughing while my brother's two black labs patrol around the coffee table hoping to share in my yummy egg-muffin breakfast that my brother cooked up.

     Monday was a recovery day, which meant an off-the-bike-day for me. Mike, preferring to shake a little of the soreness out went riding around Powell. I'll leave it for him to post about what he found. I woke up late, missing my sister-in-law, Lisa who had already left for her new job at the library. I spent the morning chatting with my brother while he made some shelves for their new home. I also met the neighbor, a very nice and helpful man who suggested we go up to The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. It was a pretty good distance, but not outside the realm of possibility. He had also already suggested to Shane that we ride the  Beartooth Highway, a high and winding road over Beartooth Pass. Mike had already decided that that was a must do and so our plan for the following day was to ride the Beartooth Highway and enter Yellowstone through the Northeast Gate. The neighbor asked if on the ride from Cody I had seen the Hart Mountain Relocation Center, an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. I said no I hadn't, not realizing that the odd place I had noticed the day before, with the giant chimney on the bluff and the big-shiny cult-looking building in the field below it was in fact the camp with it's brand new, almost finished, visitor's center.

     At lunch-time we met Lisa at the finest restaurant in-all-the-town, The Lamplighter Inn. We found ourselves in the company of two groups celebrating birthdays, with the wait-staff genially clicking pictures. It was a good lunch, and nice to spend some time with Lisa. On our way out Mike & I stopped by the Lamplighter-liquor store to buy beer to share with our hosts. Mike was very excited to find one of his favorite beers, Fat Tire in cans, which he didn't know existed before that. Not being a beer-drinker I wasn't quite sure what was so special about it being in cans, but later on Shane seemed to share his enthusiasm about it.

     After lunch, when Lisa had to return to work, Shane, Mike, and I set off in Shane's car with the plan of going to Cody. We wanted to explore it a bit, and I had seen there were cute shops that I wanted to check out. We decided to stop and check out the Hart Mountain Relocation Center on our way. We never got to Cody. The remains of the relocation camp were so interesting, even without the visitor's center being opened yet, that we spent the rest of the afternoon there. Shane knew quite a bit about the place and played our tour guide. Hart Mountain was the third largest city in Wyoming during World War II, now there isn't much left: one building with a very large chimney, a couple of barrack buildings, some foundations, an open area, a fence, and a dump. The dump cried out to the archaeologist in me so we prowled about it for a while and I pointed out interesting broken bits to Shane & Mike, ensuring to put the bits back just where I found them. Remember, it's important, to always put artifacts back where they came from so that no historical information is lost.

     We really enjoyed poking around the camp and stayed there the whole afternoon, instead of going to Cody. Walking around I thought about what life was like there for the internees. They had had to leave their homes with only what they could carry, and go to a strange place where they weren't able to come and go as they pleased, where they had to live in close proximity with strangers - their family life disrupted, as well as their careers. It didn't seem like a place of extreme hardship; the dump contained toothpaste and shampoo containers, soda bottles, syrup cans, decorative dishes, even the remains of a couple of cars; but it can't have been a pleasant thing to be essentially imprisoned simply on the basis of your heritage.

     We headed back to Shane's house after that. On our way back we stopped and checked out a wetlands area that Mike had discovered on his morning ride. It was pretty, but very buggy. I got two bad mosquito bites on my face and I looked deformed for the rest of the evening. Once we were back at the house, we chilled a bit with Lisa and the dogs while the others enjoyed the Fat Tire in a can. Then we learned to our detriment that restaurants close early in Powell. Shane and Lisa wanted to take us to a Mexican Restaurant on the main street, but Mike and I dawdled on the way there and when we arrived it was just closing. Shane and Lisa were momentarily nowhere to be found, so Mike and I discussed what sort of business we could open in the empty storefront we saw. There was already a bookstore, so that was out. There was a fabric store and a hardware store too. Perhaps a restaurant that stayed open passed eight o'clock? We did locate Shane and found that Lisa had gone on to the Skyline Cafe which was around the corner. We had some onion rings as an appetizer because it seemed like the thing to do, and each ordered something dinery. I got fried chicken & mashed potatoes. They did have a salad bar, with beats (yum!), but sadly no cottage cheese (I thought cottage cheese was mandatory for salad bars). Then we called it a night.

 Hart Mountain Relocation Center

Shane and Mike check out the big-chimney building, under that sidewalk it is hollow

The Big Chimney!

A Beautiful View!

Old Cars in the Junkyard

Enjoying Fat Tire in Cans with Lisa, Shane, and Charlie

Fernley, NV to Powell, WY featuring Yellowstone National Park: DAY 2 -- Pocatello to Powell via W. Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, and Cody

     We started Sunday morning, 8-16-2009, with a delicious breakfast that my fantastic Aunt made. The weather forecast had told us this would be our coldest day, so I suited up in all my layers before we headed out. We stayed off the interstate and headed north through Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Then up through Blackfoot, Idaho home of the giant potato that lives in front of The Potato Museum. I really want to visit that museum sometime, but I always seem to be in Blackfoot on a Sunday and almost nothing is open on Sundays in Idaho. Then on through Shelley, Idaho where my dad grew up. Both Blackfoot & Shelley have very nice old main streets, worth driving through to see. The countryside on that part of the ride was pretty farmland; I saw a lot of beautiful horses, especially in the Fort Hall area.

     We stopped in Idaho Falls, to warm up with some hot drinks and for Mike to work with the GPS a bit.

     Well, I had a hot drink, Mike had his iced. It wasn't yet as cold as it would get that day. From Idaho Falls we took Highway 20 through Rigby & Rexburg (where my parents went to college and met), then to Island Park. Island Park is a beautiful mountainous spot. My parents lived there when my older brother & sister were born. Just past Island Park it started raining lightly.

Pond's Lodge, in Island Park. My mother used to work here, before I was born.

Getting ready for the rain

     We crossed into Montana for a wee bit, going through West Yellowstone, Montana and entered Yellowstone National Park through the West entrance. We wanted to make sure we would get lunch, so we bought a couple of sandwiches to take with us. Shortly into the park we saw a few cow elk at a little bit of a distance.

     Then, passing one of the thermal spring areas, we saw Buffalo in the grass right next to the parking area. We pulled in and there was a huge crowd. I'm always a bit surprised in Yellowstone about how bold some people are about approaching the wildlife. The buffalo were standing where the parking lot turned to the next row. Cars were pulling up and dropping people off to take pictures maybe 10 meters away from the Buffalo. Buffalo aren't small animals, and though they seem quite docile, I have seen one charge before and it is seriously scary. We ate our sandwiches near the river across from a thermal spring and watched the Buffalo. It was really neat, there were two babies. So sweet!

Sleeping Baby Bison

Baby Wakes Up

Mike films the Buffalo keeping a respectful distance.

Nice spot for lunch, eh?

     It hadn't rained much during the time we had lunch, but once we started going again it began again. It started about the time we skirted Yellowstone Lake and got steadily worse as we descended to the East Gate. I thought the landscape between the East Gate and Cody was as pretty as any inside the park, but in a different way. It is tall rocky cliffs; incredibly beautiful. We saw several deer on the east side of the park with their antlers in velvet.

Hot Spring Across Yellowstone Lake

     I was surprised at how well I felt, in spite of the cold & wet conditions. I had never really been tested too far in the weather before. My raingear kept me dry, and I didn't realize just how cold I was until we rolled in Cody and got off the bike. Then I couldn't stop shivering!

     A cold rest stop on the way to the East Gate. This spot is called "Corkscrew Bridge Turnout," it is on a long winding downhill (if you're headed east). It's a fun ride, the rain made me a bit nervous, but I know Mike is a really good motorcycle rider. There were a couple spots near the top that had the guard rail crashed out. That seemed a bit scary.

Some of the scenery East of Yellowstone

Really Raining Now!

One nice thing about the rain is that it makes rainbows

     As we rolled into Cody's old main street area, Mike noticed there were about twenty BMWs parked at the historic Irma Hotel. We thought it would be fun to get dinner there and maybe we would run into some of the riders. As we parked we noticed they had British plates on the bikes, which likely meant a round-the-world trip. We checked the dining room but it was so crowded in there we decided we would go somewhere else. We did run into a few of the riders though, they were on a trip from Alaska to Argentina. They were taking 5 months to do it. I was surprised though that they really didn't want to chat about it. I guess that is what happens when you are in such a big group, you are rather self-contained and don't really feel like meeting outsiders.

     We went across the street to a really cute coffee shop and got some hot drinks to try and warm up. It was hard to make ourselves get back up and go into the cold, but knowing we only had about 30 miles left helped. It also helped that it stopped raining while we were inside and a bit of sun actually came out. We pulled up to my brother's house at twilight and saw him through the window putting books away in his new place. He saw us too, and came out to greet us.

Day 2 Map:

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Photos hosted on flickr

Fernley, NV to Powell, WY featuring Yellowstone National Park: DAY 1 -- Fernley to Pocatello

     We left Saturday morning 8-15-2009 from our home in Fernley, Nevada. Our plan was to ride through Yellowstone National Park to visit my brother and his wife, Shane & Lisa, who just moved to Powell, Wyoming. The weather was cool and mostly sunny for our first day of riding, nice!

Starting out in the early morning sun!

     Our first stop was not far along; in Fallon, NV we stopped for breakfast at Jerry's, a chain diner: I had yummy oatmeal. We got a bit delayed there, because a motorcycle enthusiast spotted the GS and struck up a conversation with Mike about motorcycles, and motorcycle travel. We told him about the incredible Ted Simon (http://www.jupitalia.com/); and suggested Simon's books about travelling around the world on a motorcycle: Jupiter's Travels; Riding High, and Dreaming of Jupiter. When we travel people frequently want to chat about the GS, it's kind of fun. One of these days I'll have my own baby blue F650GS to chat about.

     After that we made miles, cutting over to Interstate 80 and riding through Lovelock, Imlay, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, & Carlin. At a truck stop near Rye Patch Reservoir we saw the unusual sight of someone walking their three goats, one with a missing left-rear foot, by driving their truck next to them. We didn't stop in Imlay to visit Thunder Mountain Monument because it is close to home, we've explored it before, and we had miles to make. Anyone who hasn't stopped there, should though, it is incredibly interesting. It was constructed by hand by Frank Van Zandt (Chief Thunder) out of found objects as a monument to the Native American People in the 1970s.

     We stopped in Elko for lunch and discovered the most awesome Cornish pasty restaurant. It's called B.J. Bull Cornish Pasties and Fruit Pies. Though we've been through Elko many times we've never noticed the place before, even though it has been there since the 80s. I don't think we'll ever go through Elko again without stopping. Pasties (pronounced with a soft a sound) are a pastry filled with meat and potatoes. It is designed to be portable, easily carried and eaten with your hands. They are British in origin but were popular in Nevada mining towns due to their portability. B.J. Bull's logo says "The Original Portable Mining Food." The manager, Jordon, was very friendly and we had an interesting conversation with him over the blare of the American Movie Classics channel playing on the TV in the corner. They have several different flavors of pasties; we ordered a beef and mushrooms pasty and a chicken and rice pasty and split them between us. The Mushroom one was so delicious. I love mushrooms! The chicken and rice was also super-tasty and is a lighter choice. Even though we were full to the brim I insisted we have rhubarb pie, as advertised over the entranceway. We got a strawberry rhubarb pie and Jordon scooped us up a pile of ice-cream to go with; and thus began our excessive amount of pie eating on this trip.

     Another great thing in Elko are the old motel & casino signs. Take the business route exit off I-80 (Idaho Street) to make sure you don't miss them.

     From Elko we hopped back on I-80 until Wells, Nevada. Wells is a must stop for travelers; drive to the old downtown and see the crumbled buildings that were ruined in a 6.0 earthquake in 2008. Riding across Nevada I was inspired by the Alkali basins to put Tom Russell on my I-Pod so I could hear "Alkali". At Wells we took Highway 93 up to Jackpot, "Eldorado Dude!" made famous by the fantastic motorcycle journey movie Roadside Prophets. What you haven't seen it? You must put it to the top of your Netflix queue right now! John Doe and Adam Horovitz search for Eldorado on their bikes and meet up with a host of interesting folks along the way such as: Arlo Guthrie, Timothy Leary, David Carradine, and John Cusack ("Free food for the poor!").

     We crossed over into Idaho and up to Twin Falls. We didn't stop at Shoshone Falls, again because we've been there before and had many miles to do, but I thoroughly recommend stopping there to travelers. It is very beautiful. From Twin Falls we took Hwy 30 through Burley to Interstate 86/Hwy 30, passing by Minidoka National Historic Site, a World War II Japanese Internment site. That's on my list to do one of these days, but I suspect one should devote most of a day to it. Another stop I would like to make sometime is near there, Massacre Rocks State Park, where the overland emigrants stopped to rest and wrote their names upon "Register Rock."

     We ended our day around sunset at Pocatello, Idaho where my Aunt and Uncle kindly gave us shelter for the night, along with yummy food (including more pie!) and a fantastic shower (always important on a motorcycle trip.)

Day 1 Map:

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[Photos are hosted on http://www.flickr.com/, check it out!]

Visit To Apple Hill

This is a video Mike made about a previous trip.

October 24, 2008
Apple Hill, California (near Placerville)
We took a day trip with Mike's folks, my folks, and my grandmother to Apple Hill and to Sutter's Mill (Discovery site of gold in California).

Picking Apples ----&---- In the Wah Hop Store & Bank (Marshall Gold Discovery State Park (Sutter's Mill))

Taylor Creek, South Lake Tahoe, California

This is a video Mike made about a previous trip.

October 10, 2008
Mike & I took a daytrip up to Taylor Creek, Lake Tahoe to see the kokanee salmon spawning and "hunt" for bears. We found one!

Hello, What are we up to here?

     Mike and I just returned from a weeklong motorcycle trip and we thought it would be fun to set up a web-site to share our travels with family, friends, fellow-travellers, and arm-chair travellers. We love to travel. We'll start with our most recent trip, and add our new travels as we go along. Perhaps, when things are slow we will relive some of the trips we have taken in the past.