We be Rollin!

Great day today! It was just peaceful and nice the whole day.
The evening was great. The lows were in the high 50s last night and clear skies so I didn’t bother with the tent. I was on the road before 8.
The roads were still not super exciting but there were a lot of antelope around so it made it more scenic. There were also lots of bloody spots where antelope once were but no carcasses to be scene. Do you think Wyoming has a cleanup crew that swoops them up early each day?
I did have a little gas incident thanks to the little town of Jefferson being a little rundown. I was planning on gas there but the pumps seemed a little less than useful. The next stop was 55 miles to Lander (they had a great public library by the way with free WiFi). I didn’t think it would be a problem until 10 miles out of Jefferson I hit reserve on my tank. That was about 20 miles before I thought I would. So now I am in a bad place. 40 miles from the last stop and 55 miles to the next stop. I think on a good day I should safely get 35 miles out of my reserve. That leaves me 20 miles short of what I need to get to Lander. But there is a junction 9 miles before that and most of the junctions I have seen have gas too. So I press on.

I decide in order to conserve gas I should go slower. I bring the speed down to 55 in hopes of coaxing a few extra miles. I also know a little KLR trick I read on the net. So sure enough 3 miles from the junction and turn off to Lander she runs bone dry on reserve. I pull to the side of the road and hope the internet trick works. You see the shape of the KLR gas tank actually hangs down a bit on both sides and the gas drain (petcock) is only on the left. That means that usually some gas gets trapped on the right side. No telling how much but usually some. So if you lean the bike over on the left side and shake it a bit up and down some of that trapped gas spills over on the left side of the tank. And it worked! I started it back up and I was off the last 3 miles to the junction.

Of course when I get to the junction there is no gas. So I have 9.5 miles to Lander and I already have the first gas station programmed in to the GPS. Now I figure I must save even more gas so 45 is my max speed and I coast at every down hill I get. This pisses traffic off a bit but I am small and easy to get around. So of course 2.5 miles from Lander I go bone dry again and this time on splash reserve. Dead on the side of the road. At least I know it is only 2.5 miles and I could walk if I have to but luckily my camp stove burns unleaded gas. So I siphon the little 2 cup stove into the KLR and I am off again. Wouldn’t you know it the first gas station in Lander is closed down and long abandoned. Geez!!! But I made the next one no problem.
It was a great day.
Got to Grand Teton national park. I forgot how expensive national parks are. Like the Disneyland of the outdoors. 20 bucks to get in the park and 18 to camp. Damn could have got a motel for that price but it would not have had as nice a view.
Montana Manana! Woohoo!




Oh and here is a little video I made last night showing a few highlights from the road less traveled.

Where is Scubatony now?