Ride Report - Yellowstone Re-visited

Day 1, August 6th, 2009. Start mileage 58,250 kms.
The trip started with overcast skies and the threat of rain. The bike was packed with all the gear needed to camp for 10 days. The rain gear was kept handy. The first leg was from Lloydminster to North Battleford. I met up with GW there, with his 1979 GS 850 Suzuki. As we parked the bikes at a coffee shop, a guy drove by in his truck, rolled down the passenger window and pointed at my bike. “That's beautiful, man” he said and gave a thumbs up. My trip was made. I could have turned around and gone home and been happy! We rode on to Saskatoon an met up with DH on his 2001 Triumph Bonneville. After lunch we put on the rain gear and headed south. We passed through a few showers and made our destination at Assiniboia around supper time. We spent the night at DM's house and watched a training film. It was called “Wild Hogs”.
Distance traveled 611 kms (379 miles).

Day 2, August 7th, 2009.
DM and KC joined us with their Suzuki Boulevards and we headed south. We rode in rain for the fist hour or so. We crossed into Montana and turned east on Hwy 5. We entered North Dakota and as we passed the Souris River we nearly lost the Triumph rider. A deer crossed behind me and the second one that followed, missed DH by about 10 feet. We arrived at Metogoshe State park at 6:30 and set up the tents.
Distance 560 kms (347 miles)

Day 3, August 8th, 2009
We had a short ride over to the International Peace Gardens, on the ND/Manitoba border. There we attended the 3rd Annual, Wardens on Wheels Rally.

Wardens on Wheels Riders at the North American Game Warden Museum.



Wardens on Wheels



We rode a poker derby in ND and spent the night at Metogoshe again.
Distance 170 kms (105 miles)

Day 4, August 9th, 2009
DM, KC and RP on a 2007 Honda Shadow 1100, headed west. Rode in sun for most of the day but we waited out a downpour, under an overpass, just outside Medora ND. We made camp at Glendive MT in a neat little State park.

Little Missouri River, ND



Glendive, MT



Distance 609 kms (378 miles)

Day 5, August 10th, 2009
We left Glendive and rode in sunny, hot conditions all day. Our destination was Cody WY. We rode through an awesome pass through the Bighorn Mountains on Hwy 14. A hang glider launched, just as we got to the top.

We rode up this Highway.



There was construction across the top of the pass but the ride down the other side was lots of fun. We set up camp in the Cody KOA, had a shower and washed the bikes.
Distance 650 kms (403 miles)

Day 6, August 11th , 2009
Headed NW out of Cody and rode the Chief Joseph Highway, # 296. This was my favorite part of the whole trip. Highway was good, traffic light, and I got to the head of the pack and set my own pace (which was a little quicker than the cruisers). Crossed Dead Indian Pass @ 8,048 ft.

Chief Joseph Highway WY



We entered Yellowstone park through the NE corner. The last time I had been to Yellowstone was September of 1981. Here I was returning 28 years later, still riding the same motorcycle! We saw our first bear about 2 minutes later but I just had a quick glance and couldn't determine the species. Saw tons of buffalo, some antelope, elk and mule deer. Lots of people, low speed limits and several stops makes it hard to go very far, very fast, in the park. We had camp sites reserved at Bridge Bay Campground. Sunny and hot all day. We were warned that a young Grizzly had been in the campground and we heard three shots as the Rangers fired rubber bullets at the bear to chase it away. The bear spray was close at hand that night.
Distance 265 kms (164 miles)

Day 7, August 12, 2009
There were a couple cold campers in the morning. It was 36*F at night. We rode around the park and did the Old Faithful tourist stuff etc. Another sunny hot day.

Yellowstone River



Distance 193 kms (119 miles)

Day 8, August 13, 2009
RP left us and headed home to OK. The three remaining riders left the park through the NE entrance and headed up the Beartooth Pass. We saw a Grizzly bear before we left the park and we were amazed at the people running over to take a picture. The bear was maybe 50 yards off the road! No way I was stopping!

Beartooth Mnt.



The Seca had run pretty good for most of the trip, but it does not really like high elevation. There was a little sputtering and stumbling as we gained altitude and a good handful of throttle was needed for takeoffs. There was a fair bit of construction here too and we sat on the summit at 10,947 ft waiting for a pilot car. It was cool and very windy with threatening clouds to the West.

Beartooth Pass Summit 10,947 ft



View from the top



The lower in elevation we got, the happier the Seca became. Soon I was out front happily carving the hairpin corners.

Down Beartooth Pass



In Billings MT a guy in a cable TV truck gave me a big thumbs up too. We rolled into Roundup MT, set up camp and just made it to a local watering hole before the skies opened and poured rain. By 10:00 it had quit raining and we rode back to camp and watched and listened to the lightning and thunder all around us as we went to sleep.
Distance 416 kms (258 miles)

Day 9, August 14, 2009
We rode straight north and by early afternoon were back in Canada. I said farewell to DM and KC in Cadillac, SK and continued to my parents place in Swift Current. It was a cloudy day with a few light showers.
Distance 500 kms (310 miles)

Day 10, August 15, 2009
I left Swift Current and within an hour I was in steady rain. The electric vest was plugged in and I soldiered on through it. It rained steady the whole rest of the trip. I was starting to soak through the front of my jacket and pants but the electric vest kept me warm. I was home, safe and sound by mid afternoon.

Right bike, wrong road



Distance 446 kms (277 miles)

Total distance traveled was 4420 kms (2746 miles)

I had no mechanical breakdowns and for the most part the old Seca performed very well. It doesn't like heights, but I already knew that. Early in the trip it did develop a hanging idle issue. After the bike was warmed up it would idle at about 2 k for a few seconds before dropping down to 1.3 k. If I put some load on the clutch I could drop the idle as well. I will have to look into this issue in the near future. The bike still runs good but it bothers me when it's not perfect!

Hope you enjoy this report.

PS. Bill rode with me in the form of a copy of his avatar, taped to the bottom of my seat.

 

Great report! Great photos!

I love ride reports!

Thanks for taking the time to report on your adventure.

Jim

 

that looked like one hell of a ride.. Me and the wife are going to shawnee national park tdoay for a 2 day trip. She is taking the car and im taking the seca 2. Once we get there we are parking the car and riden the bike. I wish our ride and trip would be as beautiful as yours..

 

thanks for the great report on your trip! some of those pics are pretty humbling and awesome at the same time.
the best part of the story:

 

Great bike, great report and great photos, RG. It's good to see that you're putting the old pony to work, and she's responding well. It just goes to show that you don't need $20K worth of bike and gear to quench your thirst for adventure.
As for your hanging idle problem, I'm guessing you have an intake manifold leak somewhere. This would lean out your fuel mixture at idle and cause a spike in RPM once the engine is warm. A good way to check for this is to spray some WD40 on your intake manifolds, especially around the carbuerator and head joints. As you are doing this, keep an eye on the business end of your mufflers. If you see a bunch of smoke, you've got a leak.
Keep us posted.

 

I have checked for air leaks. There are none. I found that my idle jet screw on #4 was just about screwed all the way in. Not sure how drunk I was when I did that! Backed it out 1 1/2 turns and for good measure checked the others. All were about 1 1/2 turns out. Re-set the main idle screw and things seem good. Went for an hour ride today and had no hanging idle. It does seem to load up when it sits and idles for a minute or so but the plugs are white to very light tan. I tried adjusting richer just for fun and will see what that does.