Family Mellmann

Slow drivers, beautiful scenery, high winds, heat and cold, dirt roads, driving rain and "dry" heat, new smells, bison detours, horseback speeds and "a river runs through it", tents and hotels, beers in the garage overlooking a sea of BMW motorcycles, family, and time with a dear friend. A month of driving, hauling, riding, visiting, relaxing, and vacationing is coming to an end.  Home is in our sights.

This is it, our last day on the road.   Our last night was clearly designed to make sure we were eager to get home; the air conditioner barely worked so it was actually cooler outside than in our room, but the portion of the window that would open wasn't even large enough for Katherine to climb through much less move any volume of air.   Around midnight I called the front desk to see if they had any fans, but...no. We "slept" spread eagle, with cold wash cloths, and on top of the covers.  Our (my) restless sleep was interrupted by random hallway noises from a partying crowd of conference-goers who can't hold their liquor. This morning we beat a hasty retreat to the car where the air conditioner is blasting, the music is playing, and the engine is humming as we cruise through the Canadian countryside toward the border. The sun is shining through low fluffy clouds as we roll past farms and homes doing life; mowing, bailing hay, playing in the yard, weeding the garden, f...

Sometimes when you plan an adventure road trip you end up with more of one or the other.   Last night we got both. After logging a good day in miles we found a nice (although crowded) campground in Gladstone MI.  We set up our tents and relaxed as a storm front moved in.  Eventually the mosquitoes drove us to the shelter of our tents where we read and chatted (and texted), and tried to stay cool (which was actually not too hard with that lovely lake "breeze" blowing in with the front). Around 21:30 the rain started.  By 22:00 the wind was causing quite a flap outside as branches started falling from the trees and a couple of RV awnings were ripped from their rollers.  It wasn't long before the first big gust pushed our tent down startling Katherine.  But tents are built for this so I stood up and pushed the tent back into an upright position.  Piece of cake.  Then the wind got stronger. I stood in the center of the tent holding up the windward side against the...

The rain has stopped and the kids and I have evacuated our tents for the car.   Tree branches are falling, and on the road one row over from us (toward the lake) a tree came down - broken at the base.   The park super is roamed by the campground and the parks department is here to take care of the down tree.   We are already parked out in the open, but many vehicles are relocating to areas not under trees.   Several tenters like us have evacuated to the bathroom shelters, also with broken tent poles. Katherine just said, "now I see why you always use the tent stakes!"  🥴 It doesn't look like we will be getting a whole lot of restful sleep tonight.   😱😬😳😴

Rumor has it that we're in for a big storm tonight, but we found a campground (in Gladstone MI) on the lake (so the temperature is bearable) and we have battened down the hatches.  Our "glamping" neighbors in their huge RVs are hiding inside with their air conditioners blasting and TVs glowing. I think we have reached the road weary stage in our month-long journey; no fire in the fire pit, no marshmallows to roast, and no conversation around the fire.  Tonight it's fruit and vegetables leftover from lunch, a few chips, and a cookie or two.  We're looking at two more days on the road before sleeping in our own beds again. There is an anticipation; looking forward to home, seeing friends, back to conveniences...   But I'll miss the slower pace, the new scenery, the time with family (and our good friend who might as well be family), the motorcycle adventures (until the next one), and the mental time to think deeply, converse completely, and imagine creatively.   ...

We had one "stop" to make today as we continue our journey back to Vermont...the Badlands SD.  We had to make a little detour for gas, and I had to overcome the objections of an eager-to-get-home-to-friends teenager, but we traveled the long dirt road to the scenic drive through the amazing spread of sandstone mounds, cliffs, and crevasses; such a worthwhile "detour".  And we braved 97deg heat to bring you this lovely selfie (all the glamours of camping).

Custer State Park, Black Hills National Forest, Needles Highway, and Mount Rushmore - check!  Now the motorcycles are back in the trailer for the duration of our journey home. Finding a campground here in Custer State Park was a challenge.   We found one, but their tent sites aren't really set up for motorcycle-hauling tent campers so we had to disconnect the trailer for this one.   All that trial and error (trying to find a tent site) took a bite out of our ride time, but we made it.   It just meant that we didn't have time to cook dinner tonight.

After hours of watching the terrain turn from mountains and peaks to rolling hills of green our attention turned from watching the changing terrain to the dramatic weather we were headed into.  The winds were crazy and at times threatened to wipe us off the road.  Then the rain started.  It came down so hard it was difficult to see and the road was building up huge puddles of water that would create sudden and dramatic drag on our tires; unnerving to be sure. We gave up the idea of camping and pressed on until the wind and rain was just too intense.  Tonight we take a motel.  We found a little motel in Moorcroft Wyoming and within minutes of getting our room key we were accompanied by a few cars and about a dozen motorcycles trying to escape the elements just like us. When I checked in, the clerk showed me a video he took less than an hour before and about a mile down the road in the direction we came from.  It was a lovely video of a tornado that ...

One last stop on our way out of town; Mark's In & Out for chili dogs and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa.  Next stop, Vermont.  Well, maybe not the NEXT next stop.  😜

This morning Joerg was off to the airport to continue a business trip while the kids and I began our preparations for the journey back to Vermont.  But FIRST, there was time to drive out to the rifle range on the outskirts of town for a little shooting with Grandpa. First shots were with a couple of .22 rifles.  The one my Dad is shooting was his dad's rifle.  He also has (but they didn't shoot) Patrick's great great grandfather's rifle.) 30-06 ammo versus .22 ammo - that's quite a difference in size, kick, and sound. Grandpa making a shot with the .223 ranch rifle After some coaching, Patrick lines up for a shot with the 30-06. Patrick hit the target (first the larger then the smaller) with his first shots with the .22 at roughly 30 yards. Aiming for the same target.  Now we'll never know who hit the bullseye. :) It was a lovely day to blow some ammo, and they finished just in time to miss an in-coming storm. Shortly aft...

It's Joerg's last day of vacation before returning to Oregon to continue his business trip.  He decided to load up his bike with hiking boots and rain gear for a day of tertiary roads and hiking.  (We are not well versed in outhouse protocol and etiquette, but he was curious to discover that there were two seats in this old outhouse.  Was outhousing a social thing in the past? 😮😏) While Joerg was riding his motorcycle on dirt track, Patrick and I traded in our horsepower for...horses.  We drove down to the western corner of Yellowstone and met with our guide, Charlie.  We took two horses, Charlie and his horse, and a pack mule through *National Forest land, into *National Wilderness land and enjoyed a picnic lunch before bringing out the fishing gear.  We were truly in the middle of nowhere; no traffic noises, no voices, no cell service...no sounds other than the birds, bugs, wind, running waters of the creeks, and the sound of our horses ...

We're winding down our days in Livingston.   Katherine will enjoy a quiet day chillin' at home with her books, Patrick and I will take off shortly for our day of adventure, and Jörg is reuniting with his GS, after a week on the Royal Enfield, for a day of dirt roads.

This morning we took Christian to the airport and said our farewells even as we have already begun plans for our next motorcycle adventure.  For dinner we rallied the remaining troops and went to a local restaurant for a nice dinner.

Early on the morning of our last day of this loop Joerg loaded up the rented Royal Enfield 411 and headed out for Red Lodge to return the bike.  While he was battling the heat on his journey to Rocky Mountain Moto the rest of us enjoyed a slightly more relaxed start. Patrick found us a nice route that included a dirt road, but it turned out to be one dirt road too many.  Upon returning to the hard road I discovered a little...squish...in my back wheel.  As I was slowly driving trying to understand this strange feeling, Katherine was scolding me for not keeping up with Patrick and Christian.  I explained to her that I thought I had a problem with my back wheel so she leaned over and called out, "you have a flat tire!".  Mystery solved. We pulled over, parked the bike, and waited for the guys to realize that I wasn't behind them anymore.  They came back to find me with the flat.  Christian pumped up the tire in order to find the (quite sizable) hole ...

The scenery in this part of the country is an ever-changing display of color, texture, and height, and an array of temperatures and smells.  It is pretty fun to see our crew with such an amazing backdrop.

At a gas stop near Glacier National Park Katherine agreed to be in a picture with me.   Yes, agreed.  🙄

Jörg makes the rented bike look like a toy, but he still manages to keep us on the road at a cruise speed of about 70 when necessary.   This Royal Enfield Himalayan is slushy on the corners and loses speed up hill but it has allowed our road trip to continue while Patrick's bike takes a vacation in there he garage back in Livingston.

We eventually made it out of my folks' garage, but not with Patrick's motorcycle.  Unable to fix the problem, we rented a bike in Massoula so that we could continue our journey. Jörg took the car to Massoula to pick up the rental and the rest of us went as planned to Helena.  Jörg eventually joined us there. The plan had been to ride to Helena and take a boat ride to the Gates of the Mountains, but the last tour was at 2pm and we were too late.   Maybe we'll try again before returning to Livingston. As long as we were standing at the lake, we thought we'd catch a few pictures.

Our departure on Loop #2 into Glacier National Park was delayed by a couple of hours while Jörg, Christian, and Patrick tried to figure out why Patrick' motorcycle wouldn't start. We never solved the problem.

Today was a "down" day; laundry, bike maintenance, napping, and chilling.

Enjoying beautiful views, amazing scenery, and some very workable weather.

As we drove out of the Tetons National Park we stopped at one of the pull outs for our annual group photo. This loop took us onto the Beartooth Highway (and pass), Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, Yellowstone, Cody Wyoming, Jackson Hole Wyoming, and the Tetons National Park.  We saw rain, sun, clouds, hot and cold.  We even drove through a large cloud on the Chief Joseph pass.  What a thrill!  The bottom picture shows Patrick in the clouds.  We had pulled over and I snapped this picture to show how, rather than the view of the valley, we could only see a wall of white clouds.

Our new family picture on Beartooth Pass.

We went to the Livingston Roundup (rodeo) but our seats were so bad I couldn't get any pictures.  However, I was able to get a couple of shots of the fireworks after. It was a nice evening despite the threatening weather (and we stayed dry for the entire evening).

Sun and Rain Every time we visit Montana we get to see at least one rainbow and almost always get to see a double rainbow.   I couldn't capture the double, but the colors of the single were so intense!