Cody diary

[Condor]

Cody Thoughts and Impressions.

Pics at http://www.cast-aways.com/codypics1.htm

The good, the bad, and the ugly...

Day 1. Thursday

Meet up with Lone Eagle for breakfast, and ride to Elko Nev.

Nevada is boring as hell and hot. Drank lots of Gator Aid at the rest stops.

Trailer is towing great. New gimbaled ball hitch ball doing great. No lights, but Vic’s behind me riding sweep. Played leap frog with a group of Star Riders. Road all tore up in front of the Elko's Motel 6. First long day in a while and out of condition. Hurting. Pizza for dinner. Motrin for dessert.

Day 2. Friday

Off roaded out of Elko. What a mess. Breakfast and fuel in Wells,

and watched the group of Star Riders head north into Idaho on Hwy93. We continued east on I-80 to Rock Springs. Fueled up again in Wendover. Droped bike at the gas pump. Dang this is a rough trip. We keep heading east.. More sand and sage brush. Fuel mileage ain’t all that great. 24-25 mpg. Bike not starting at the push of the starter button. Curious?? Worse night ever in a Motel 6. No A/C. More Motrin.

Day 3. Saturday

North to Cody… via the GPS. Fuel and breakfast in Lander Wy.

Great family restaurant. Kooky waitress. Fun.

Left turn in Thermopolis. Deka battery croaks. Buy wet cell from

auto parts store across the street and leave for Cody 85 miles away.

Didn’t think to top off our tanks. Made Cody on fumes.

Checked into the Skyline, put the Deka on the charger. Flopped on

Bed ‘n died.

Day 4. Sunday

Members start arriving. Vic, Russ, Dave, and Jan take over the sign in ‘festivities’. Chips, Dip, and Sody Pop turned into 2-8’ long Subs, and 4 party platters. Great time.

Day 5. Monday

AM spent trying to locate the damn rectifier. Know 1stGen, but 2nd is new to me. Checked the wet cell battery. Charging at 14.2vdc so decide to ride the Bear Tooth Pass via Chief Joseph. Left Deka in the room on the charger. Great ride. Most stayed in Red Lodge MT for lunch. Wasn’t hungry so headed back to Cody. Wet Cell died 16 miles outside of town at the beginning of a construction zone. Brian Fries rode by, took my room key, and brought back the Deka. 2 ½ hours later finally made it to Cody in time to hop in the shower and get over to the Ponderosa for the Chili cook off. Russ, Dave & Jan, and Irv & Teri cooked up some great Chili’s and fish wraps. Awesome. Not bad for a simple planned Ice Cream Social….

Day 6 Tuesday

Hung the Gremlin Bell on the scoot. Gotta get rid of the gremlins. Things start looking up!! Found the rectifier. Not where the manual sez it is. Easy, once you know where. Dano wired up the Indian Rectifier I brought along. Lot better job than I could have ever done. Many Thanks Dan!! Spend the afternoon napping. Feeling melancholy about doing another long ride. Figure this will be my last. Mooched over to the Ponderosa to visit. Turned around and Ponch and Company had the scoot tank off and were wiring up the tach in the ignition pod. Cool!!

Day 7 Wednesday

Slept late, but met up with Kurt for a run to Ye Auld Meat Shoppe to pick up the Buffalo burgers for the noon BBQ. Vic, Russ, made a run to Wal-Mart for fixins. BBQ went great!!. Went back to the room for a siesta. Woke and Vic had already taken all the raffle prizes over to the Holiday for the group banquet. Hard to keep up with him…. Group dinner was incredible. I won a few things in the drawings… After glow gathering in the parking lot of the Skyliner til the wee hours. Broke open the bottle of Seagram’s to share with the group.

Day 8 Thursday

Vic and I rode to Shell Falls in the Big Horn. Great ride. Averaged 44 mpg for the trip. Lots better mileage when the rectifier is doing it’s job. Dano wired up the trailer so I’d have lights on the way home. Another Cool!! Last night in Cody. KSU in the early AM.

Day 9 Friday

Left for Pocatello via Jackson Hole Wy, and Teton Pass. Went thru the park. In the East Gate and out the West Gate. GPS got confused so canceled Jackson Hole. Stopped for fuel at Old Faithful, and it was going off while we pumped. Great timing!!

Day 10 Saturday

Left Pocatello early to beat the heat to Winnemucca Nev. Hit a little rain… 2-3 miles. Tried out the new cool vest in the afternoon. It worked. Helped with the afternoon heat. Great sunset at the motel. 5 minutes later it disappeared behind a dust storm. Weird weather….

Day 11 Sunday

Winnemucca to home. Tough dealing with traffic again. Pulled into a local station for Vic to tank up and say our good byes. Vic still had another 90 miles to go. I’m 15 minutes from the barn.

Recap

The Cody VR Rally was the best I’ve ever attended. Not because of anything I did, but because of the hard work of Lone Eagle, Russ, Dave and Jan, and the fantastic people who came. The bar has been set a little higher for the east coast next year.

New products all worked. Cool Vest, Indian rectifier, gimbaled ball hitch, Trailer wiring kit… after Dano modified it, and most of all the Gremlin Bell!!

Met some of the best Venture Riders ever that I’m very proud to call ‘My Friends’.

~CONDOR~

[Tom]

Jack,glad the vest is working out OK..I hate to recommend things as it may not meet the expectation that some may want but I REALLY love mine and now Debby can handle this extreme heat. Glad all is going well and hope to see you again soon! Tom and Debby

[Lone Eagle]

GREAT PHOTO's, TOTO - thanks for sharing. And yup, you did an awesome job staying ahead of the Eagle - heehee. Thanks for everything.

[Aussie Annie]

Great shots Jack...thanks for everything

[friesman]

Great pics Jack, It was fantastic seeing you again!

I hope some of that Crown made it home to be enjoyed at a more leisurely moment!!!

 

Thanks for all you have done to make my vacation the best ever!!!!!

 

Brian