Bike Covers

On Thursday Dave commented about us maybe wanting a bike cover for the long trip.  I did a quick google and found this.
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Sports-Outdoors-Bike-Covers/zgbs/sporting-goods/194529011

They were not as expensive as I expected, but I am not sure they are compatible with a bike carrier.

Any thoughts on this matter?

I keep getting chastised (correctly) by Tom for not posting only on the blog.  Also both he and my wife corrected Tom and Bruce's departure date.  They leave Sept 3.

The time is getting close.  So far one couple, Ben and Anne Cowan, have already departed for six weeks of bicycling and camping in the NW before the cap off their trip with our ride in Grand Tetons/Yellowstone.  

The next group to leave will be Mike and Sonia Kovach & Alicia and I on Aug 27th.   We will drive to Denver then tour up to Livingston, MT to spend 3 days with Marilyn Clotz (my neighbor from Amherst), then go to Jackson Hole.

Sharyn and Tom Evans & Wilma and Bruce Day will start driving out on Sept 3rd to Jackson Hole.  This late departure is because Wilma will be just getting back from a trip to Mexico with her sisters.  This will bring the vehicle count to one station wagon and two mini vans.

Brian is flying into Jackson Hole on Friday Sept 5th.  Charlie and Lee, please let us know your travel plans when you have them set.  

Regular updates are being posted on the website.  Charlie and Lee, I think that you still have may not have gotten repeat access to the site.  If this is true, let me know and we will send another invitation so you receive and can post updates.

Both Tom and I will have bike racks on our van.  One van will be available for SAG and the other will be for the non-riders to use for their touring. 

I have attached a link to my tour prep check list.   

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hfvcntWZfjTmlEMkNvTDI3V2M/edit?usp=sharing

You can use it as a guide also.  One caution...we all have a tendency to over pack.  Except for the bike, all this fits in one small gym bag.  We will be close enough to stores to get most unexpected things that we may need....except for critical bike parts.  Even in this case, with as many riders going, we will probably have most everything necessary to fix most mechanical breakdowns.

Please let me know if you have any questions/suggestions.   However, it is better if you post on the blog so all riders are kept up to date.  More details about all I discussed above are on the website.

See you in the Wild West....soon.

Dave

The Grand Teton Night Sky

. . One of my fondest memories of my last visit to the Grand Tetons was the night sky.  Forty-nine years ago, as Sharyn and I drove back from Yellowstone to our cabin near Jackson Hole lodge, the road was lit only by the stars in the sky.  It was an experience that I have failed to duplicate since then and I have really tried. A program on NPR, about the loss of the "night" sky and that the majority of Americans may never witness the Milky Way, reminded me of it.
. . I thought I would check out darkness in Yellowstone to see if we might again have that opportunity.  Below is a picture from space.  Click on it to enlarge it.  The view may not be as spectacular as it was for us nearly fifty years ago, but it looks good.

Yellowstone and Grand Tetons Road Construction Info 2014

The following was sent by Sonia Kovach: Yellowstone National Park 2014 Scheduled Road Construction Reference the numbered dots and map below to see where road construction is scheduled for 2014.   Gibbon River Bridge (near the Norris Campground road) to Gardner River Bridge (near the Indian Creek Campground road): Expect road construction with possible half hour delays any time the road is open. Starting June 1st, the road will close nightly from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., Sunday through Thursday nights. The road will NOT be closed Friday and Saturday nights. 4th of July weekend starting at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 3, through 7 a.m. Monday, July 7: no road construction activities will occur on the Norris to Mammoth road project. Labor Day weekend starting at 6 p.m. Friday, August 29, through 6 a.m. Tuesday, September 2: no road construction activities will occur on the Norris to Mammoth road project. Starting September 14 at 11:00 p.m. and extending to September 30 at 7:00 a.m., there will be a full road closure for this section of road. The detour for this section will be over Dunraven Pass.   Isa Lake Bridge Replacement: Bridge reconstruction is underway with possible half hour delays. Road closes September 2 at 6:00 AM for the season.     Motorcyclists are advised to slow down and use extreme caution on loose gravel in construction areas.   General Road Construction Information Road construction is perennial in Yellowstone National Park. In general, park roads have either been recently repaired or reconstructed, or are scheduled for repair or reconstruction. Approximately 80% of main park roads (about 185 mi or 295 km) are in a structurally deficient state, with poor quality road bases failing under the weight, speed, and volume of modern traffic for which they were not designed. Harsh winter weather and short construction seasons provide additional challenges. These needs are now being addressed under a 20-year, $300 million Federal Lands Highway Program for Yellowstone National Park. In addition, park road repair crews will be working in other areas of the park throughout the seasons. Yellowstone reconstructs its roads during the spring, summer and fall seasons, which means you will likely encounter delays depending on your destination. It's a good idea to check with our visitor centers or entrance stations for current information and possible delays.   Recommended Road and Construction Resources Before Traveling Yellowstone Info Information about our roads. Yellowstone's Park Roads page for the current road status. Current road information by phone: 307-344-2117 Montana InfoInformation about Montana road projects. call 1-800-226-7623 or visit www.mdt511.com Wyoming Info Information about Wyoming road projects. call 1-888-996-7623 or visit www.wyoroad.info/ Grand Teton National Park Info Information about their roads. call 307-739-3614 Grand Teton's newspaper includes a road construction map for further reference and can be found online atwww.nps.gov/grte, or picked up at any park entrance station or visitor center. Other Numbers to Call for Road Information Beartooth Highway: 1-888-285-4636 Cody Chamber: 1-800-393-2639 Red Lodge Chamber: 1-888-281-0625 Cooke City Chamber: 406-838-2495

H'ville to Colorado Springs - Depart Wed, Aug 27 arrive Friday, Aug 29

Mike and Sonia,   (Tom reminds me that I am supposed to Post in the Blog, not send e-mails.)

Three Days, ~ 6 hours/400 miles driving/day.

Hendersonville to St Peters, MO to Salina, KS to Colorado Springs CO.
http://goo.gl/N5VWJX 

Proposed Hotels, before AARP Disc

Wed Aug 27 - Country Inn and Suites, St Peters   $81

Thur Aug 28 - La Quinta    $95

Fri Aug 29    - Colorado Springs   Location??

Let me know what you think.

Dave

Return From Yellowstone

Here is a preliminary route for returning from Yellowstone

Monday,      Sep 18: (510 miles) http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5323367
Tuesday,      Sep 19: Tour the Badlands
Wednesday, Sep 20: (510 miles) http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5323410
Thursday,    Sep 21: (541 miles) http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5323433
Friday,         Sep 22: (239 miles) http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5323453

Comments?

Driving to Jackson WY

In order to begin the discussion on the drive from H'ville to Jackson, I have mapped the direct drive route for everyone's consideration, but specifically for Day and Evans.

Wednesday,   Sep 3: (621 miles)  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5323150
Thursday,      Sep 4: (551 miles)  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5323166
Friday,           Sep 5: (540 miles)  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5323188

An alternative would be to start on Tuesday (Labor Day) and add a little touring while in Colorado around Rocky Mt National Park.  Comments?

Current Travel Plans

All,

I cobbled together our latest email on travel plans.  I find it much easier having this info in one spot than trying to sort through email at a later date.

On Wed, Jul 3, 2014 PM, Dave wrote:

Alicia and Dave will be leaving ~Aug 27 for a direct drive to Denver (probably 3 days at our pace) then 2-3 days touring from Denver to Livingston.  They will spend tue-thur nights in Livingston and join up with everyone Friday afternoon in Jackson.

Mike and Sonia may/want to ride with Dave/Alicia. Brian plans to fly in for most of ride starting Friday.

On Wed, Jul 2, 2014 PM, Bruce wrote:

Tom, Absolutely perfect!  I just talked with Ben Cowan and he is also all set. 
Bruce

On 7/2/2014 PM, Tom wrote:

Bruce, Here is what I told Sharyn.

1) We would be driving my van.

2) We would be going with Bruce and Wilma.  Dave and Alicia are driving out to Livingstone & we would meet them in Jackson.

3) We would be doing minimum sight-seeing on the way out, due the short turn-around time after Wilma’s return from Mexico.

4) We are likely to return by way of Mt Rushmore and spend a day touring the National Park.

5)Nothing is locked in and we are flexible.

The flying option does not sound attractive to me and likely to be a big pain.  Sharyn does not care one way or another, but I suspect she would prefer we stay together and drive rather than trying to split up with ladies on planes and guys in van.  She and Wilma get along too well.  We can stop every couple of hours for a cigarette break for them.

To show I'm in

I just wanted to let everyone see that I'm in the blog.  Hopefully, I'll be able to come back without all the problems. (I've had many) I'm Mike Kovach and my wife, Sonia and I will be making the trip/tour also.  We're looking forward to just being with Dave and Alicia, Alicia being Sonia's sister.  Have lived far apart so long and actually, biking has brought us together it seems.  We'll be traveling out west together.

General YS Communications

All, I have setup the Yellowstone Blog so that all postings and comments to it are automatically relayed to Ben, Bruce, Dave, and me.  Otherwise this blog remains PRIVATE and not viewable by anyone not invited, accept for NSA of course.
. . I have left the three or four additional people who show as "interested" setup as authors.  They do not receive this communications, but can log-in and see it.  The four additional adds that Dave sent (Mike, Charlie, etc) have not activated their invitations and as a result may not view this blog.
. . I suspect that when we head out in September, we will want to open the Blog to family members so they have access to where we expect to be and when.  We will need those email addresses early so we can confirm they can actually view it.

Reservations Issue

All, I would be careful about "releasing" reservations.  That may make them unavailable to Ben and Ann.  I would check with reservation services about transferring them to Ben and Ann in order to assure they get them.

Recent Communications: In-Park Rooms

From: Bruce Day                Sent: June 29, 2014
To: patgleas; dhshumaker1  Cc: bennettcowan; tom; Bob and Eva Schofield
Subject: Re: Yellowstone Reservations

Ok, 9/6/14: The way things are now Ann and Ben will take the other cabin in the two cabin unit I had originally booked for Bob and Ed.   And the following originally planned for Pat and Linda
. . (9/7/14): Ben and Ann will also take the rooms/Cabins at Yellowstone Resort Lake Lodge,  
. . (9/8/14): Mammoth Hot Springs, and 
. . (9/9/14): the Old Faithful Frontier Cabin
  
The rest are out of the park and individually reserved except for Ashton that did not require a deposit and Tom reserved for us all.
. . If that is correct and no one else has jumped in, all that needs to be done now is 
1) For Pat and Bob to release their reservations. 
2) Ben and Ann do not need to assume Pat's Colter Bay reservations.

Recent Yellowstone Communication: Dinner

From:    YellowstoneNationalParkLodges.com           Date: Jun 27, 2014
Subject: Your Yellowstone Reservation Confirmation.
To:          David Shumaker


DATE    TIME   FACILITY                EVENT        ADULTS
9/07/14 5:45PM Lake Hotel Dinner       DINING 4-TOP   12 
9/09/14 5:15PM Old Faithful Inn Dinner DINING 6-TOP   12  

--------------------------------------------------------
From: David Shumaker  Sent: June 29, 2014
To: Bennett Cowan        Cc: Tom Evans; Bruce Day
Subject: Re: MORE INFO?

Ben, I will let Tom reply on the hotel reservations since he is the most knowledgeable about those.  It does seem though that you should switch (Pat Gleason's??) reservations to your name for the park hotels.

. . I have made dinner reservations for two nights only...Lake Yellowstone and Old Faithful.  There are no reservations possible at Mammoth.  It is strictly first come first serve at the restaurants there.

. . Currently we are holding 12 seats at both locations.  I have six friends/relatives that state they are interested in coming/riding.  That is why I reserved additional seats.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: David Shumaker  Sent:June 29, 2014
To: tom@evanscenter.com
Subject: Re: MORE INFO?

Tom, I agree, 14 is more than 12.    Twelve was the top on-line reservation limit when I started this 3 weeks ago.   

. . I thought about asking you to book 4 more but let's wait a couple days and see if I can get anything sorted out.   I did talk to Mike Kovach and he (and Sonia) are definitely interested.  He wants a final checkout with his cardiologist first.  The California guy is definitely out.

. . Brian, Charlie (cousin) and Lee (son-in-law) are still in play.  I do not think any of their wives are considering to participate.  Actually this only adds to 13 max unless I am missing someone.  I really do not expect them all to go so I think we are OK.  But since these 3 are working, it is difficult to get them to finalize their plans or not.

Greater Yellowstone Tours FACEBOOK

It is quickly approaching the time for our big adventure.  You might want to watch the Cycle Greater Yellowstone Facebook page.  Although commercial groups like these are not permitted in the park, the page may give you some ideas.

Adventure Cycling in Yellowstone

Bruce shared his February copy of ACA magazine that published an article on Yellowstone.  You can view the article on-line by clicking here.  Gary had sent me information about this featured tour before we put together our trip.  The one thing I noticed is that they did not actually go through the parks.  I later found out commercial tour companies are not permitted in the park.  So our visit is likely to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for most people, because they aren't going to go through the effort of organizing their own tour.

Yelllowstone featured in Feb Adventure Cycling

The February 2014 issue of Adventure Cycling magazine features a tour of Greater Yellowstone. Haven't found anyone to read it to me yet but the pictures are pretty.  Also an even longer spread on RAGBRAI.
Anyone interested in a copy, let me know. I can have them send a free issue. Of course you get on their list and I can't guarantee that it won't be the June or July issue you actually get. There are worse list to be on and all their issues are great. This one is just especially greater.

Date Error on Confiration at Al's Westward Ho

. . The dates for reservations at Al's Westward Ho are incorrect for Bruce, Tom, and Dave.  They should be for Sep 10 through 12'th.  I picked up the wrong date of Sep 11 through 13 when I booked these online.  I have called the booking agent and asked her to switch these to Sep 10 through 12'th.  She was unable to get through to the motel by phone, but expects no problems or price changes.  She sent the motel notification of the change by email.  Please be on the lookout for an email confirming on the new dates and let me know when you get it.  If we don't see something in the next couple of days, I'll call again.
. . This is not an issue for Anne & Ben.  I made their reservations for the correct date.
. . Please thank Dave for checking over his email confirmations.  That is always important when you know the guy plugging in these dates types with only two fingers.

Motel Confirmations

All,
. . I have added our booking of rooms outside the parks on our Spreadsheet ARRANGEMENTS.  You can find it in the right sidebar.  Included are the confirmation numbers.  I don't have them all.  In Driggs I made those arrangements via telephone operator (she didn't give the CNs to me but sent each of you a confirming email) and in Jackson I missed printing the Sep 14 night for Ben.
. . Please verify that you have received a confirmation by email for all motels except Rankin.  That one was also done over the phone with the owner who did not require your CC.  I "held" all the Rankin under my CC. He'll transfer them to you cards when we arrive. (FYI: there is some big bike ride the week after our stay and he, at first, thought I was one of them.)
. . If you send me the missing Confirmation Codes (as noted above) I will add them to the ARRANGEMENTS spreadsheet.  Regarding security, most places will still require you to show the CC under which it was booked.  For those of you with multiple CCs, don't forget to bring the one for these bookings.
. . We still have to assign Ben & Anne to the Park cabins whose occupants have since cancelled.  Bruce made those bookings and asked the people not to cancel their rooms, so he should coordinate those transfers.  Park units have already charged everyone's CC.
. . Lastly, I requested Senior/AARP rates where they were available (so bring your AARP cards).  I also couldn't get everyone the identical rooms.  It is kind of the luck of the draw. I got either Kings or Queens and I had to upgrade Dave (last one as I was booking) one night in Jackson.
. . Lastly, Lastly, I can't vouch for these selections.  As you know, stuff in this resort area is very expensive.  I spent many hours searching for AVERAGE quality lodging that did not bust your travel budgets.  Cross your fingers.  Some motels have cancellation fees.  Those that do not, I marked NCF in my previous motel post.

Rooms Outside the Park Are Booked

All outside the park rooms are booked.  I'll fill in the details later.

JACKSON HOLE
	Elk Refuge		(307) 200 4732		www.elkrefugeinn.net			CF $25
		Friday, Sep 5, 2014		BOOKED	$170.00
		Sunday Sep 14, 2014		BOOKED	$170.00
Colter Bay			Saturday, Sep 6, 2014
Yellowstone Lake			Sunday, Sep 7, 2014
Mammouth			Monday, Sep 8, 2014
Old Faithful			Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014
WEST YELLOWSTONE
	Al Westward HO							CF 10%
		Wed, Sep 10, 2014		BOOKED	$142.00
		Thu, Sep 11, 2014		BOOKED	$142.00
ASHTON
	Rankin Motel		(208) 652-3570		www.rankinmotel.com			NCF
			(208) 232-8496
		Friday, Sep 12, 2014		BOOKED	$75.60
DRIGGS								NCF
	Super 8 Motel			1-800-916-4526
		Saturday, Sep 13,2014		BOOKED	$100.11

Thanks for the invite, but we're late to the party!!

And greetings to the group!

Bruce called last night to ask about our plans--we're in!  Anne and I have no big bicycle rides lined up for 2014 yet and have been on a waiting list for hiking the back-country of Yosemite in August too long to think that we'll make the cut, so a ride around Yellowstone fits nicely--Thanks again for including us.

Do I owe someone for a room reservation?  After reading all the sequential blogs, seems like last October was the time to make plans!  At this late date, doubt that we could find accommodations on our own, so we'll count on your having already done the real leg work. But let me know.

At this point, we're planning on having a car in Colorado late August so should be able to make the jumping off point without problems--2 sons living in Golden with Colorado girls that ain't coming home, so we make an annual trip out and usually ride bikes while there.  BikeTourColorado has been a past trip.

So in the meantime, everyone should stay healthy, rubber side down, and no dogs.
Ben