Today will be forever known as the day we lost Steve. Our plan was to head south through Yellowstone and head out the West Entrance, then head north through Idaho to Bozeman, Montana. This would give us some time to see some more Yellowstone sights before leaving the park.
We started out ok as a group and all stopped to take pictures of "Roaring Mountain." We then headed further south and started running into a large number of tourists in buses, motorhomes and cars stopping to take pictures. In the confusion, I rode ahead with Dennis and Colleen, Jim and Cindy, Jim McCann, and John. We turned at the first right out to West Yellowstone.
We waited up the road at the first turnout on the right and took pictures of elk in the river. After a while Dan and Paula showed up and we asked where Steve was. They had not seen him. They returned to look for him where he was last seen taking pictures, and could not find him. John asked me to go look for Steve. I took off on the BMW and headed on south down the road on the presumption that he missed the right turn. I got as far as Old Faithful before deciding to call him while cell service was good. I left a message. I then called my Dad and left a message letting him know of my plan to wait for Steve at Old Faithful. Steve then returned my call and let me know he was almost back into The Grand Tetons! He was riding fast away from the group on the presumption that he was trying to catch us! Lesson learned - agree on contigencies when riding in a group. Steve came back to Old Faithful, bought a drink and we called the group. We told them to complete their ride as planned, and we would head back to Gardiner and directly to Bozeman.
Steve and I gassed up in Gardiner and headed on up the road (Rt. 89). I asked him if he was comfortable riding at 80 MPH and he said no problem. On the open road I started to stretch the Beemer's legs a bit and Steve always hung back. I was wondering if he was uncomfortable riding fast. Although I was concerned for Steve, I couldn't resist the urge to see what she had. I opened it up and in short order the BMW was doing 120. A personal new land speed record for me.
I waited for Steve to catch up and while we were riding together we saw a fire in the mountains to our right. This fire had just started by a mini-thunderstorm that just passed in front of us. As we rode by this fire - it mushroomed into a major fire that was quickly spreading from the top of the mountains down a valley. The other riders later said they were watching the same smoke while they were separated by another mountain range to the west!Steve and I pulled into Bozeman in the late afternoon. He told me his Harley did not want to go faster than 75-80, and that is the reason why he was lagging behind. Bummer - glad I rented a bike with some cahones! (In all fairness, John McCann later said his would go to 110 if you wound out 4th gear - Steve was trying in 5th gear).
Around 6:00 everyone else pulled in. I heard descriptions of the day's riding on their route ranging from, "God-awful boring" to "Beautiful." Just goes to show that one person's tastes can vary drastically from another's! We then went out to eat at various places because we could not agree on a place as a group. My dad and I did find a great coffee shop for desert. He had a chocolate w/cherries brownie and I had an apple/peach pie with a dollop of butter creme. We both agreed they were excellent.
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