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Deane and Norm's Motorcycle Trip to Northwest Territories & Nunavut | |
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August 11 - Sheridan, Wyoming to Shelby Montana - 460 Miles |
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While we had a good day overall, today was marked by hot riding, smoke from forest fires, and a tire change on Deane's motorcycle. Deane had a new Metzeler front tire put on the motorcycle just before the trip, and the Metzeler back tire checked, thinking that would allow trouble-free riding for the 6,000 miles of the trip. Unfortunately the new tire was defective, and produced very bad "wobble" or "headshake" at the handlebars at certain speeds. This got worse as we rode the first two days, bringing up the concern of safety with the tire. So we got an early start from Sheridan, Wyoming to ride the 150 miles to a Honda dealer in Billings, Montana, to get there by opening time of 9:00 AM on a Monday morning. The ride through the upper part of Wyoming and the southeast corner of Montana was just beautiful. The morning light on the grasslands and small tree-lined creeks was picture perfect. However, as we approached Billings we started to see smoke blanketing the sky. The smoke was from forest fires further west in the mountains, but we never found out where. We reached the Honda dealer as they were unlocking the gates. There the service manager (and mechanic extraordinaire himself) showed us that the front tire was indeed out of round and probably had a part of the tread construction separating. Not only that, but the rear tire, had a "bump" indicating it was part of the problem and its construction could fail also. So, Deane had them change to two new Dunlop tires, and away we went. (The new tires proved to be MUCH better.)
From Billings to Great Falls, there are more very large wheat fields than you can count. The temperatures ranged from 95o to 99o ! Hot riding! (However, we survived on a diet of cold water and ice cream.) The smoke ranged from a thin overcast to quite a heavy overcast, making the afternoon seem like evening. At one place we rode through the scene of a fire in a wheat field, right down to the road, with the firemen just starting to clean up after getting it under control. All in all, another fun day in the travels of Deane and Norm. |
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