[00:00:00] tom: Be careful of anything they call the Fat Smitty Burger, and I mean really careful.

Bottom Line

[00:00:08] tom: The bottom line is a 5, 200 mile trip is very different than a 2, 600 mile trip, but they both have a purpose.

Mile Marker

[00:00:16] tom: Why did we do this trip? so, Todd, I think you kinda know this story, so The premise of the trip is really that, Turk's son called and said, We need a dog sitter in Seattle.

One of our riding guys, we call him Turk, has a son out in Seattle and said that he needed to have a dog sitter because it's very expensive to get dog sitting, apparently, in Seattle.

And so that was how things started. So we rode bikes out to Seattle to watch the dog. Because that's cheaper, two people riding bikes. Well, it was for him.

[00:00:50] Todd: Right.

[00:00:53] tom: So I guess maybe should I just walk you through. Yeah, that's a long, that's a long ride. So it was [00:01:00] 12 days.

Day 1: Solon, Iowa to Rapids City, SD

[00:01:01] tom: On day one, we went from Solon, Iowa to Rapid City, South Dakota.

Shout out to my buddy Lincoln's from Rapid City. We left early five in the morning, got into Rapid City about 4 45 in the afternoon, nothing exciting there really. We stuck to highway 20 and then got worked our way up to interstate 90. but what was cool is we were able to check into the hotel at, like I said, 4 45 and we're about three days before Sturgis.

So kind of one of the cool things. I don't have a big desire to go to the Sturgis Rally itself, but I do like the idea of visiting. So we got to ride through town. unfortunately, the skies were getting pretty dark that day. And so what we did, we drove through, but. We were gonna stop. Gas Monkey has a brand new restaurant there that I kind of wanted to eat at.

But I'm like, I don't know, Turk. We've been through rain. We've gotten rained on already and it looked dark, really dark. And so we decided [00:02:00] to, skip it. Which was a great thing because I started looking at videos from the next day and it was hail. A hailstorm probably 30 minutes after we left. Oh, wow So honestly as much as I really wanted to kind of hang out and do that So total mileage for day one was 810 miles

Day 2: Rapids City, SD to Big Timber, MT

[00:02:16] tom: And then day two what we did was since we already hit sturgis We rolled straight south out of rapid city and we took a ride over iron mountain road, which was unbelievable Think about You remember those old walkways that they used to have when they'd go across like a road and it'd be like a curly, you know, like a circle up?

Yeah, that's how the road is on this Iron Mountain road. so we took that, rode all through that. Turk got a little scared and nervous. So when we got down to Custer, the park entrance, he went to Custer, the town, and then I went and took the needles highway, which was unbelievable. this is the classic one that you see where the bus goes through and has space, almost no [00:03:00] space.

And then you ride through the one and you're looking right down a dead nuts set at, at mountain Rushmore. So it was really cool. I took then the quick pass around. I saw a crazy horse on from the interstate, and then we had a great lunch in Custer at a little. Place called Baker's Bakery Cafe. Highly recommend it if you get there.

on to Big Timber through Wyoming. Total mileage for the day was only 496, but it was hot. Wyoming was pushing 95 at times, and it was hot, very, very hot. So, big day three, big timber, all the way to Seattle. We really just kept it simple. We took 90 all the way in, so it was a pretty boring day, except the scenery is just awesome.

Absolutely phenomenal mileage was somewhere around the 744 miles range for day three.

So day four, we took a day off.I was actually working half days during this, which was kind of all right. So I found a Panera that was close. So I'd work from get up about five [00:04:00] 30 Seattle time, which worked out perfect.

Cause I was working eight to noon back here, but I was working 6 00 AM to 10. So it was really great. because it left us time to do some writing on the other days. So day five, I went to work, and then I called it the ferry loop that we did the first day. So what's great, I just learned this about Seattle.

I guess I assumed, in my mind, could have looked at a map, that Seattle was on the ocean, but it's really in that big bay. So what you can do is there's the Olympic National Forest to the west of Seattle and then you can go all the way down to Tacoma if you want to, or you can take a ferry across. And that's what we did.

We took a ferry. We rode about 180 mile loop. And then that's where we ran into Fat Schmitty.

Fat Schmitty's

[00:04:49] Todd: All

[00:04:49] tom: right, tell

[00:04:49] Todd: us about Fat Schmitty.

[00:04:50] tom: Fat Schmitty is a restaurant that's no bigger than a one stall garage, I swear, in a town called Port Townsend, Washington. So,[00:05:00] we have a little place near us. That's called Sutliff.

bar and grill, bar and tap, and it has dollar bills pegged to the ceiling. This is like that, except they're just dangling. So they almost, it's, it's weird. It's kind of messes with your mind a little bit, but apparently every year they take all the dollar bills down and they give them to charity and then they start over again.

So that was pretty cool. So, but neat place. great burger. they had shakes, but I didn't have, didn't have room for a shake.

So I have to get it next time. You know, you have to pace yourself. That, day six, I worked and we skipped the ride again. We were both still recovering a little bit, but we did get a meet up with, my son's friend who lives in Washington at a place called Dick's drive in, which is basically an old McDonald's.

So I said, yep, I'll, take a single with no pickle. And they said, yeah, you'll take it with pickle. Oh, there's no choice. So I did have a shake there. what a neat place. It's no dining in, like you just [00:06:00] walk up to the counter. And they serve you the same thing that everybody else is getting so It just really reminds you i'd never been to one of the old mcdonald's but it was really it was really cool So day seven, was a weekend of work

Mount Baker

[00:06:14] tom: So we got back on the bikes and we did a 250 mile ride around mount baker And what's unique about this ride is you can do the whole ride in a valley.

You never you never go up The mountains. So you kind of, so you circle it. so that was really cool. ended that ride in a town called Bellingham, Washington for a pizza. And then back to his son's apartment. And, that's about Bellingham is a, is probably less than a half an hour away from Canada, actually.

So what was another neat thing is they offered ferries there. You could always, you'd go all the way up to like catch a can in, yeah, we were looking at that, but I didn't, there were 30, 36 hour ferry rides and it was like 400 bucks. So that was not into the budget nor the timeframe that we had. So

[00:06:59] Todd: when [00:07:00] Ketchikan had

[00:07:00] tom: the big mudslide, I think that would have already had happened, but yeah, I just, yeah.

Olympic Island

[00:07:05] tom: So then day eight, was a big loop on Olympic Island day. So this was, A long day was about a 300, 300, 280 miles. So we went all the way out to Neah Bay, which again, it's like, if you drive straight through, you can, there's a kind of a road that goes straight across. And that one is about four hours drive.

Cause it's like 45 and 50 mile an hour speed limits, but all the way out there. Oh my gosh, it was really interesting. And we got to see the Pacific coast line at times. and wow, it was quite the thing. I mean, when you get way, way out there, there's not much there. It's kind of reminds you of these scenes that you see in like an England, English, you know, or European, like, bay town or something.

I mean, it was just a big bay and a bunch of boats, you know, like it was crazy. Wow. So that's such, that's crazy. the scenes just [00:08:00] some of the best road views that you could ever imagine

Yeah, yeah So day nine it was monday back to work at panera and then we we took a ride down to mount rainier which it's kind of a unique mountain in that it it's It's a huge mountain, but there's no mountains really right around it.

So it's kind of everything's flat. And so, Yeah, we took a ride up to there got some cool pictures and that was about 197 mile day So day 10, I went to work and then we rested because we knew we were rolling out early on the next day.for day 11,

Ride Home - Express

[00:08:36] tom: Turk had never done an iron butt a thousand miles in 24 hours.

So we grabbed, we got up at 4 a. m., Pacific and we cooked all the way to Glendive, Montana. 1049 miles. And wow, what great views, but they're all rolling by at 80 miles an hour. That's The speed limit in Montana is 80 and oh my gosh, I mean, it's just [00:09:00] hard. And the thing, you know, we've talked about this, knowing your range of your bike, the range of your bike is not the same, at 80 mile an hour as it is at 50 months, 65 or 60 miles an hour.

Yeah. how did yours do not good? really we were looking. And so then you have the second variable problem, which is even though you can go 180 miles at 80 miles an hour. You might not find a gas station at 180 miles. So it was everything from filling up at 150, 160, because you'd look at the GPS and it's, you have 60 miles left on your tank and it would say 105 miles to the next gas station.

So, I mean, really spaced out. I mean, there's enough. Well, I mean, I, some of these motorcycles with the smaller tanks, They would just have to carry gas. I mean, there's just no doubt about it. Yeah. So yeah So then the last day we rode from glen dive montana all the way back to iowa So it ended up being about 5200 miles [00:10:00] total and just it was a fun trip.

It was different than other trips, you know um, but Yeah, I mean it was enjoyable

[00:10:09] Todd: and different and yeah, that's some long days You would have lost me at day two though, and I'll tell you why yeah You said you took a quick loop around crazy horse crazy horse for me is such an amazing Sacred place. Yeah. I can't help myself, but I, I spend four to six hours, eight hours there.

I, I just, I love it there.

[00:10:32] tom: That reminds me of a, of a, of a comment on a forum that I read today and I replied to it because a fellow who is like 83 years old said, I just did a thousand mile. Iron butt it's on long distance. It's the long distance writers group on facebook Then another gentleman came in and said well, that's crazy You know don't do that do this, you know Take your time and enjoy this and it said, you know, that's interesting And that reminded me of what you just said because I do want to go see crazy horse, you know But yeah, [00:11:00] like I don't want to i'm not a motorcycle traveler I'm a motorcycle like I like to ride miles when we ride motorcycle And then I like to go with my family to see the crazy horse.

Right. So, so that was one of the coolest things that did happen that I'd say was a note was I found a bunch of great places. I'd like to go back to, you know, as a vacation. Yeah.

Todd's Crazy Horse Story

[00:11:21] Todd: And I don't know why that stands out to me. It's amazing. Probably because the first time I went there, I was, you know, probably seven, eight years old and.

The artist, Korshak was there and he was talking to people. He was just sitting at a table. And when you went to the visitor center, he was sitting there and talking and telling you about what it was like to carve that mountain. And you know, the amount of times he climbed up and down that ladder, the ladders to get to the top.

And then he'd get to the top and his, well, no, his, His compressor would die that was running his jackhammer at the top. He'd have to go all the way back down the ladder, [00:12:00] the ladders, a thousand steps. Just, I mean, it was crazy. And I just thought, what an amazing man. And then he may have even been there when I was there a second time when I was in my teens.

But of course he's passed on, but still there's something about that place. Yeah,

[00:12:15] tom: it was cool. I mean, it just gets me. The whole thing was, the whole area in South Dakota was, phenomenal, love to go back and really dig in a little bit more to it, but, but as far as like a riding destination, we just enjoyed the views, you know, I mean, like Mon, we didn't get to see, Wyoming was a little bit bittersweet because it was so windy and so hot, it was just brutal,

[00:12:37] Todd: but you were on the interstate, yeah, so that, yeah, I mean, you get some views, but going that fast, it's hard to look around.

It was just hot and

[00:12:44] tom: windy. And then you just, you were holding on for dear life at times, you know, and then this is, you know, your, your day, your hour eight or something like that, you know, too. So, so yeah, I mean, it was, it was good. It was fun. What a beautiful way to [00:13:00] see the countryside. yeah. So I think what I learned, I would say you must have some lessons learned because I need a new seat.

Yeah. Yeah. You really, really have to, this is that bottom line for this episode, and this is a part, this is a two parter, right? Because I, Well, let me say this first. You really got to give these big rides a try. I, I don't care how fast you do it. You know, if you take two weeks to do it, or you know, riding short distance every day, or hammer out the miles.

There was something interesting about, like, maybe the 5, 000 mile mark, where you're just like, that was different. You know, like, and I can't really put words to it exactly, I don't think, but, yeah, it was enjoyable to take To think about how far it was, you know?so yeah, so the last point is I hate my writing gear completely now.

So, it's what I can't sell is going in the garbage. and so that kind of, [00:14:00] you know, I want to talk about some, so

[00:14:03] Todd: you're talking, you mentioned your seat. What do you have now and what would you get?

[00:14:09] tom: Well,we can talk about that more next time, but what I have now is an Is the ultimate seat is a really good seat I'm gonna get I will probably end up with a russell day long because It's that thigh protection.

We've talked about so many times. We've talked about these seats not protection, but support support Yeah, you know after At this point now, it's after about 90 minutes. I gotta get off Which is fine, except if you're trying to pound out days and time you're not going to do it doing that, you know

[00:14:40] Todd: Yeah,

[00:14:41] tom: 90 minutes and then I and I had a sheepskin and beads on which gave me a little more But you just had to find unique spots to kind of to get it figured out.

Yeah, and you've got a backrest built in I do Yeah, I have a backrest. Mm hmm. Yep So so this is all the premise of what it took to get me figured out. I [00:15:00] hate my freaking writing gear completely

[00:15:02] Todd: Were there specific moments? In the trip that you're like, all right, this isn't working for me. This isn't working for me.

Well,

[00:15:10] tom: it's going to come down to like, you know, there was, we got up on day, 12, Glenn dive is almost North Dakota. So we took off and it was 47 degrees, right? Well, I had a mesh coat. Well, I have a Joe rocket non mesh coat sitting right over here in this. Lockered right here, but you can't I mean the most compact you could fold it up would be not probably barely fit into any One of my bags, right?

So

[00:15:38] Todd: like that's got hard plastic pieces and not

[00:15:41] tom: hard. It's foam armor, but like You just don't, it doesn't compact. Yeah. I'm pissed because the rain gear doesn't compact. You know, I don't like my rain gears compaction rate right now. What do you have for rain gear? I don't even know what it's called. It's just flip flap, you know, like, but it's [00:16:00] huge.

That's what I'm looking for is I really want to get strategic about the, the gear and that we'll talk about it next week because it's, I've got a good plan and, yeah, we'll leave you in suspense.

[00:16:12] Todd: All right. So right now your gear is too big. It doesn't compact enough to get into the bags and use that most of your bags.

I think

[00:16:19] tom: the idea of the way we've thought about gear is wrong. Okay. yeah, I think we should never take gear off. Always put gear on, you know, unless it gets, but yeah, that's, I don't know. What else are you thinking? That's it. I want to hear more about it. I mean, I think thinking like the way people think when they're going into the cold and going layers, I think that's the trick.

So, okay. I mean, you've had your gear a long time.

[00:16:46] Todd: Yeah. This, this

[00:16:47] tom: coat is old.

[00:16:48] Todd: Yeah. And, and probably all of your gear you've had for quite a while. I mean, it's, it's always been the same that I can remember on our trips. So

[00:16:55] tom: yeah,

[00:16:56] Todd: from, from gloves, I mean your helmet, you've changed quite a few times, but jacket that [00:17:00] sucks too, by the way.

Jacket. Yeah. , your jacket, your mesh pants, you know. yep. Did you even use your mesh pants? Nope. Pants. You didn't? A whole

[00:17:07] tom: nother problem.

[00:17:07] Todd: Alright. Alright. In the gloves you've had for a while.

[00:17:10] tom: Yeah, they're fine. But I'll talk about that. Is these new bikes have buttons. You gotta be able to push 'em. Like, you know, and so like I put on my rain gloves and I couldn't, I'd take my glove off every time I wanted to do anything, including like turn, turn signals on, you know?

Yeah. So yeah, it's a hot mess. So I'm a hot mess. It's a hot mess. I hope you have some solutions for next week. I think I do. Okay, good.

Toolkit

Watersy Jug

[00:17:44] tom: So yeah, I mean, one thing that worked awesome for this trip was this one gallon jug of mine that honestly looks obnoxious. At one point, some dude asked me, what is that? I'm like, I kind of want to say, well, what do you think it [00:18:00] is? I mean, it's a gallon jug, but I mean, What else is it? It has a stinking tube with a bite valve sticking out of it.

What do you think it is? It's not nitrous. So yeah, now I'll put this in the show notes, but I bought a water jug that's a one gallon. It's called water Z weird name, water S Y water Z. And then I bought a whole bunch of other crap, but what I ended up using was the one gallon jug. And then there's a drink tube set.

It's G Y Z R drink tube set, and that's everything I needed. I had the water jug mounted directly behind me, like I'm passenger seat area. And so then I had enough space, to put the, hose, right where I needed it and oh my gosh, does that thing work really? Did you pack it with ice too? Or so? Yeah. I mean, I experimented, but basically half full of ice and all of it.

fill it up with water would last a day or [00:19:00] more. yeah, I mean, it's great. The drink tube thing was great. I ended up at the very end of the ride late at night. I ended up breaking the bite valve itself by accident. It wasn't for fault of the bite valve at all. So I ended up buying another replacement for that, but it was fine.

But no, I mean, that thing was just awesome. . And the reason I like that one is not be, it comes in many different colors or whatever, but it comes with a neoprene sleeve. The neoprene sleeve is made to have a, like a, oh, like a strap. A shoulder

[00:19:31] Todd: strap. Yep.

[00:19:33] tom: Which is brilliant because then you can use the the clips shoulder straps to connect it.

I just connected it to my

[00:19:39] Todd: bag. Oh, I see.

[00:19:40] tom: And then I just took it in. when I take the bag off, then it's connected, doesn't, and the bag that I have has a handle on it and you just carry it.

[00:19:48] Todd: And then I'm always curious when you have a tube like that with the bite valve. You take a drink of water, you stop and water remains in that tube.

Is that, does that turn into hot

[00:19:57] tom: water? It does, immediately. [00:20:00] So, there's also this neat, It's also a neoprene sleeve that they sell for some of those. Like, look up the camel pack stuff because it's all the same. Which is an absolute pain in the butt to get over that bite valve. But, if you, I found out very, at the end, like if you just run it all under water, it does pretty good sliding on.

[00:20:17] Todd: That makes sense. And

[00:20:18] tom: it'll dry off. So what you can do with the bite valve though, to counteract what you're asking is you suck the water in, then you blow back in and you push that water back out into the jug. Do not do that if you're using a camel pack, because. It will inflate the camel pack with air pressure.

And then when you let off, it starts shooting water in places. Ask Turk how he knows. but no, this stainless steel jug was absolutely phenomenal. that sounds good. It was great. Like, and that, and that Wyoming day I drink a gallon of water the other days I didn't, but like, but that day, man, I was, yeah, I like

[00:20:57] Todd: that.

I think I'll, I'll probably get one of those too, because [00:21:00] I know I just have like a 20 or 24 ounce. And you know, I put that in my cup holder and then I've got a passenger cup holder behind me. I can reach back and put the other one, but still I can, I drink through those. And then I'm like, I need more water.

What

[00:21:13] tom: I found was I,I just kept my top unbuttoned, like just a little, and then I could tuck that bite valve right here and it just stayed right there. It sat on my shoulder and oh my gosh. I mean, it was honestly amazing. That's perfect. And it was so cold. Like it was great. Yeah. Like it was shockingly cold.

Like at times kind of cool yourself off with it or not really. I don't know how you'd do that. Yeah. And there was a couple of times where, like you could, you could though, if when you're off the bike, you can squeeze that by valve and get some water out because the, you know, it's lower. Yeah. So yeah, totally.

I'll put the link to that because honestly, it's so good. Like, unless you want to. Do some fancy thing. It's awesome. And I think you could probably find a way to put it on the bike without the, [00:22:00] like without a bag, some guys leave them on, like they kind of attach them somewhere around the, like, the passenger floorboard.

but this worked out pretty good. Oh, that sounds great.

Join us on the next episode where I revere my, you know, brilliant plan to fix my utterly pissed off gear problem. Part two, right?but if you liked the podcast today, please like and subscribe or sign up for one of our BMR rider alerts. It's our way of keeping you in the loop.

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[00:22:32] Todd: Yeah. Keep the spirit of adventure alive and remember bikes, friends, and endless roads, the stories ride forever. Take care.