Drive through Bighorn National Forest

We took a day trip drive though Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming.

We started by going to Sheridan to get our second COVID boosters, then went west along US-14 though the forest (zoom in on the map; some fun twisties there). Then looped anticlockwise around to US-20, -31, and -16, passing through the forest again. Here’s an interactive route map:

Bighorn National Forest sign:

Bighorn National Forest sign

Viewpoint:

View

There were geologic signs for the rock formations:

Geologic sign

Nice views:

Views

Views

Views

Views

We stopped at the Cabin Creek Picnic Area to use the vault toilet there; there is a nice rest area a little further on, but I suspected (based on research) that it would be closed, and it was, so good thing we stopped here:

Cabin Creek Picnic Area

Vault toilet

More views:

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Creek

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Greybull:

Greybull

Greybull

Greybull

Oil

Views

We got a real Utah vibe from this area west of the forest:

Views

Views

Views

Views

Ten Sleep, population 246:

Ten Sleep, population 246

Ten Sleep

Ten Sleep

Ten Sleep

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Views

Brake check

Views

Views

Brake check turnout:

Brake check turnout

Sharp curves ahead:

Sharp curves ahead

7% downgrade:

7% downgrade

Did we mention sharp curives?

Did we mention sharp curives?

We wanted to travel this route in part because we may be driving our coach this way next year, heading from Yellowstone to Devils Tower. It’s rather steep, with about 5,000 feet of elevation gain then loss, but I think we can handle it; we’ve driven much worse.

An interesting runaway truck ramp:

Runaway truck ramp

Back in Buffalo, some sculptures:

Sculptures

We went to Southside Grill for dinner:

Southside Grill

Southside Grill

Southside Grill

Buffalo mural:

Buffalo mural

Buffalo museum:

Buffalo museum

Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park

We did a day-trip around the south of Glacier National Park, then along the iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park.

Here’s an interactive route map with some of our stops marked, going counter-clockwise:

Highway 2 south of Glacier:

Highway 2 south of Glacier

A stop at Silver Staircase Waterfall (probably more impressive at another time of year):

Silver Staircase Waterfall

Silver Staircase Waterfall

Silver Staircase Waterfall

Glacier from US-2:

Glacier from US 2

Glacier from US 2

East Glacier Park:

East Glacier Park

Whistle Stop Restaurant for lunch:

Whistle Stop Restaurant

Whistle Stop Restaurant

Whistle Stop Restaurant

Two Medicine Road:

Two Medicine Road

Glacier National Park sign:

Glacier National Park sign

Two Medicine Road:

Two Medicine Road

Two Medicine Road

Two Medicine Lake:

Two Medicine Lake

US-89 heading north towards the St Mary Visitor Center:

US 89

Roadworks:

Roadworks

US-89:

US-89

St Mary Visitor Center:

St Mary Visitor Center

St Mary Visitor Center

St Mary Visitor Center

St Mary Visitor Center

St Mary Visitor Center

St Mary Visitor Center

St Mary Visitor Center

St Mary Visitor Center

Views from Going-to-the-Sun Road, through the park:

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Going-to-the-Sun Road

An interesting van:

Interesting van

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

Logan Pass

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

A closed underground restroom:

Closed underground restroom

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

A little close:

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

An iconic red bus:

Iconic red bus

Tunnel

Tunnel

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

View from Going-to-the-Sun Road

Waterfall:

Waterfall

Waterfall

Waterfall

Lake McDonald:

Lake McDonald

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Roadworks

Heading out the west entrance:

West entrance

Ride around Brookhollow RV Park

While staying at Brookhollow, I did a quick ride along the dike that wraps around the park.

The entrance:

Dike entrance

Views from the dike path:

View from dike

Dike path

David

Dike path

View from dike

View from dike

View from dike

View from dike

View from dike

A video of the route:

I rearranged the contents of the bed of our truck. I previously had the bikes side-by-side, with the hammock and canopy tent on top:

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Instead, I rearranged things so the bikes are front-to-back, with other stuff beside them:

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

This seems to be a better layout, as I can get the bikes out without having to remove other items, and vice versa.

Washingtonians

We have been Oregonians since moving from New Zealand to the US in 2001, but now that we’re traveling the country, we have fewer ties to Oregon. We decided to move our domicile (i.e. where we vote and have as a home base) to Washington state, since we have family there, so more of a connection.

The first step in officially changing our domicile was to get new driver licenses, and re-register our truck and coach. Here’s the old Oregon truck license plate:

Oregon truck license plate

And the new Washington truck license plate:

Washington truck license plate

The old Oregon coach license plate:

Oregon coach license plate

The new (and very expensive!) Washington coach license plate:

Washington coach license plate

I guess we’ll need to remove that “heart in Oregon” sticker now; Washington is now our home base.

We have a new mailbox service in Washington, to forward mail to us as we travel. We’re working on changing bank accounts and my Dejal company registration. We’ll change doctors and dentists when due for our next checkups. And more. There are lots of things to update, so it’s certainly not something we do lightly.

Lectric XP 2.0 ebikes

For several months, we had been thinking about getting bikes to aid in our RV travels. Another option to get around large campgrounds, and to explore surrounding areas.

We wanted ebikes, i.e. with a pedal assist and/or throttle motor, to make it easier to cope with hills and such.

And we didn’t want to have to deal with a bike rack, if possible, both due to being extra hassle, and more of a security risk if we’re parked somewhere with bikes on the back of our truck.

We (mainly Jenn) spent quite some time researching the options, including a spreadsheet comparing the specs for several candidate models.

Fortunately, we found the perfect bikes for us: the Lectric XP 2.0 ebikes. They are affordable folding bikes, certainly not high-end, but with enough features for our needs and experience levels. They are very popular, perhaps especially with RVers, so you may have seen them riding around.

And importantly, they fold up small enough to fit in the bed of our truck under the tonneau cover. So we can travel around with them securely out-of-sight.

Some stats: the bikes are class 2 ebikes, i.e. include pedal assist and throttle, limited to 20 MPH, though can be changed to class 1 (pedal assist only) or class 3 (up to 28 MPH) via preferences. They have a 500W (850W peak) motor, 5 levels of pedal assist, with a base range of 45 miles per charge. They have 20” wheels with 3” wide tires, front suspension, disc brakes, 7 gears, backlit LCD display, and weigh 64 lb. They are 67 x 25 x 47” when unfolded, and 37 x 18 x 28” when folded.

On with the pictures. The Lectric bikes are only sold online, so we had them shipped to our mailbox, and picked them up when in the Portland area. Here’s the carton for my bike, plus a couple of cargo packages, in the bed of our truck:

Carton in truck

Unboxing:

Carton

Bike in box

The charger and manual:

Charger and manual

Bike with packaging:

Bike with packaging

Folded bike:

Folded bike

Unfolded bike:

Unfolded bike

Unfolded bike

The display:

Display

My bike by our coach. The battery is hidden inside the frame, and can be charged inside or out of the bike. Here it’s charging inside:

Bike

A closer view of the charging port:

Charging

I installed a Lectric-branded folding lock:

Lock

The bike folded, showing the battery in its compartment on the right; it is held in place by a bolt that requires a key to unlock, for security:

Folded

The battery:

Battery

Here’s the key in the bike, plus the bike lock key and an Apple AirTag:

Keys

The bike again:

Bike

My first ride on the bike:

David on bike

David on bike

My first mile of riding on the odometer:

One mile

The folded bike on the truck tailgate:

Bike on truck tailgate

In the truck bed; on its side isn’t ideal, but I added a bunch of packaging materials from the box as padding to protect it:

Bike in truck bed

Bike in truck bed

It fits under the tonneau cover:

Bike in truck bed

I added mirrors to the handlebars:

Mirror

Mirrors

And a phone holder:

Phone holder

Also a cargo rack on the back:

Rack

It is mounted with thumb screws, so it can be easily removed when folding the bike in the back of the truck:

Thumb screw

The cargo rack was useful for taking the trash out at a campground without nearby garbage bins:

Trash

To personalize the bike a bit, I added an Apple sticker on the rear fender:

Apple sticker

And Dejal stickers on the sides:

Dejal sticker

Plus Sinclair Trails stickers:

Sinclair Trails sticker

I also added a tool bag:

Tools

We bought Sena smart helmets, that include Bluetooth audio and mesh communication, so Jenn and I can easily talk to each other while riding together, without interfering with hearing other noises around us. Very handy:

Helmet

Jenn’s bike was delivered a couple of weeks after mine. While my bike is a step-over, hers is a step-through model. Here’s her bike’s box:

Jenn's bike box

Unboxing her bike:

Bike with packaging

Bike with packaging

Bike with packaging

Partially folded bike (without the seat):

Folded bike

Folded bike

Her battery:

Battery

Like on mine, I taped an Apple AirTag to the end of the battery, so it’s hidden inside the frame and can’t be removed, which will let us locate the bike if it is ever stolen (or we just can’t remember where we parked it):

AirTag

We got the comfort seats for both bikes (though mine has only just arrived, so not shown in the pics). Here’s the comfort one and the one that came with her bike, still wrapped:

Seats

Seats

Jenn’s bike:

Bike

Jenn with her bike

As hoped (based on the measurements), both bikes do fit in the bed of our truck:

Two bikes in truck bed

Two bikes in truck bed

Two bikes in truck bed

With some room for our screen tent, rug, and other stuff:

Two bikes and other stuff in truck bed

Another addition, a compact bell on my bike:

Bell

Both bikes at a campground:

Bikes

Riding our bikes is lots of fun! We’re very happy with them.

Utah Alpine Loop scenic drive and Bridal Veil Falls

We did a day trip drive along the Utah Alpine Loop scenic drive, to the Timpanogos Cave National Monument visitor center, through the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and to Bridal Veil Falls.

Here’s an embedded map of the route, as an experiment (alternative link):

Alpine Loop scenic drive:

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

Alpine Loop scenic drive

We stopped at the Timpanogos Cave National Monument visitor center, since it was on the way. We didn’t go to the actual cave, since (a) it requires reservations, (b) it requires a fairly long hike to reach it, and (c) it requires having never been in a cave before:

Timpanogos Cave National Monument

Timpanogos Cave National Monument

Jenn

Timpanogos Cave National Monument

Timpanogos Cave National Monument

We stopped at The Holy Grill for lunch, a BBQ restaurant:

The Holy Grill

The Holy Grill

BBQ food

The Holy Grill

The Holy Grill

The Holy Grill

And a stop at Eddie Bauer to return some clothing:

Eddie Bauer

Mountains:

Mountains

Mountains

Bridal Veil Falls:

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Moki Dugway switchbacks

On a road trip to Bears Ears and Natural Bridges National Monuments (a post about them tomorrow), we drove our truck up Utah State Route 261, which includes the Moki Dugway dirt switchback road carved into the cliff face of Cedar Mesa in Utah.

Here’s a map:

Moki Dugway map

The mesa from the bottom:

Mesa

A warning sign:

Sign

Heading up the road:

Road

Twisty GPS route:

Twisty GPS

Road

Road

Monuments:

Monuments

Don’t look down:

Switchbacks

Switchbacks

Switchbacks

Switchbacks

Switchbacks

Switchbacks

A road at the top and bottom:

Switchbacks

Monuments again:

Monuments

View from near the top:

Switchbacks

Stay tuned for a timelapse video of this drive.