Mel & Trinity

I have been back in London for nearly 2.5 months and conscious that I ever finished writing up my journey. Thought I’d rectify that. So here goes.

With Sturgis under my belt, I was ready for Devils Tower. I was already keen to see the rock formation but I also promised Jeannine and Scott, who I spent two nights with in Michigan, that I’d send them a photo of Devils Tower when I got there as they missed Devils Tower when they were in South Dakota. I fulfilled my promise while completing the 2.3 km walk around the tower.

About 50 million years ago molten magma was forced through sedimentary rock above it and cooled underground. As it cooled it contracted and fractured into columns. Over time the sedimentary rock eroded leaving Devils Tower exposed. Devils Tower is nature at its finest and I was so pleased to have seen it.

I had arranged to speak to Jenny around 5.30pm, so once I’d walked around the tower and enjoyed some time admiring it’s beauty, I rode back to the entrance to wait for Jenny’s call. While I was waiting for Jenny to call a guy came over to talk to me.

‘So you’re riding across the world’, he asked? ‘That’s the plan over the next ten years’, I said. This is how I met Dan ‘Tito’ Davis – a fugitive from the US authorities between 1994 and 2007 for drug dealing, before he was arrested and spend 14 years in prison. While in prison, Dan wrote a book about his life. He gave me a signed copy when we met.

Meet Dan ‘Tito’ Davis. Definitely the most colourful character that I met on my trip.

After my call with Jenny I rode to Gillette where I spent two nights. I was getting increasingly physically uncomfortable and thought a little time off the bike would be good. I stayed in the Home2 Suites by Hilton which cost about $115 (£92) a night and was actually one of my favourite hotels stays of this trip. It was excellent value!

Within the first hour of being at the hotel I met John, a real estate broker from Oregon, who was on a business trip. John and I hit it off immediately and we ended up having breakfast and dinner together for the two days that I was there. What a lovely guy.

Meet John.

On the 1st July I was back on the road heading to Billings. It was a wet ride and I nearly ran out of petrol/gas. Luckily I didn’t!

I was so uncomfortable at this stage that I didn’t leave the B&B that I was staying at and just ate the snacks that I had with me. Walking was starting to become quite painful.

The next morning I was up and ready to tackle Beartooth Highway (Highway 212), which runs from Red Rock into Yellowstone National Park from the east. I was expecting it to be cold so I layered up in anticipation.

At one of the viewing points I hooked up with two couples on Harley’s. They were from Florida and had picked up rental bikes that morning.

As I had started ascending the pass my petrol gauge dropped suddenly to a quarter tank and I was concerned about running out of gas (again). There was also no cell/mobile reception to check where the nearest gas station was.

‘You can ride with us and we’ll get you to the next gas station’, they said. Fantastic! That gave me the courage to push forward and not return to Red Rock to fill my tank.

Beartooth Pass was fantastic! The scale of the mountain range was impressive. The ride itself was pretty easy. The switchbacks (hairpin bends) were gentle, not like those in Europe which are sharp and require concentration.

Below is of photo of me at the top of Beartooth Pass.

I rode in the middle to the two Harley’s. They stopped often for sightseeing and photos but as the day went by it was getting increasingly painful to climb off and onto Trinity. When we got to Cooke City I had to stop. I was in too much pain to continue.

I had lunch in a little restaurant that had WiFi and found a room for the night, which was in the High Country Motel. It wasn’t great (it had a funny smell) but it had to do.

The next morning after breakfast I left for Mammoth Springs, which is in the north-western part of Yellowstone National Park. I was aiming for the walk-in clinic that I knew was there.

It was about a 1.5hr ride from Cooke City to Mammoth Springs. The ride did not disappoint. Outside of the fantastic scenery there were Bison everywhere. I stopped at a viewing point where I could see a crowd of people at the waters edge viewing the Bison on the far side of the river. It was fantastic to see so many Bison grazing in the wild.

I stopped at the viewing point for about 20-30 minutes before heading to Mammoth Springs. I couldn’t stop thinking about my cousin and his family who were with me there in July 2015 when I did my first USA/Canada bike trip.

After lunch I went to the doctor. From start to finish the visit took about 1.5 hours. I was slightly nervous about how much it was going to cost but it wasn’t too bad at $187 including my medicine. The doctor suspected that I had an allergic reaction to washing powder. She said it was the second worst case she had ever seen. I was put on an steroid to reduce the swelling, which I needed to take twice a day for 5 days.

I stayed in Chico Hot Springs that night, which was only an hour north of Mammoth Springs. I had a super sweet little cottage on top of a hill above the main hotel.

Unfortunately, I did not have a good night. Exhausted and in pain, I went to bed early and woke just after midnight with my body oozing a disgusting smelling blood stained discharge. The steroid and other meds had clearly kicked in and my body was expelling whatever it needed to. It smelled like my dying puppy, Hailey, when she was dying from salmonella poisoning. It was a smell I could not forget and it was frightening that it was coming from my body. Man, did I feel vulnerable!

I felt a lot better in the morning but made the decision to stay put somewhere for a couple of days to rest and recover and that place would be Bozeman, Montana. I stayed in Bozeman from 4-7 July. The first thing I did, of course, was go searching for a hypoallergenic laundry powder to wash my clothes in.

During my ‘downtime’ in Bozeman I took Trinity for a wash, I had my hair cut and coloured, I walked around the shops and had Trinity’s chain adjusted. Other than that I watched TV, wrote a blog and spend a lot of time with my loved ones on the phone.

By the time I left Bozeman the swelling in my body had massively reduced and it was far more comfortable to be back on Trinity.

I was really looking forward to enjoying my rides again. My journey on the 7th July would take me to Kalispell, which is on the western side of Glacier National Park. I was dying to ride the Going-to-the-Sun road in the park. I did the ride with my cousins in 2015 but the weather was not great and the fog prevented us from seeing the view. I was keeping my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t rain the next day. As luck would have it, it didn’t.

Glacier National Park is spectacular! Although there are not many glaciers left, most have receded, the scenery is breathtaking! The Going-to-the-Sun road was my favourite ride of my trip. It was everything that I had hoped it would be and then some. I stopped a number of times to take photos, walk to waterfalls and to take photos of the unusual flowers that covered the landscape. It was perfect! I could not have asked for a better day.

Below are photos of Glacier National Park.

Near Canada! 🤩