[If all the map talk makes your eyes glaze over, feel free to check here for a visual.]
Logistics are the monster drawback to long rides on a dual sport motorcycle. Dual sports suck on the highway and you gotta’ get back to base somehow.
Lander was an unavoidable decision point. I was almost out of time and I had to plan my way back to “base”.
Technically the section I’d been on should have dumped me near Atlantic City WY (which might not have services but camping is nearby). I’d bailed early for free camping with a beer truck. (No regrets!) After Atlantic City, the next section goes to Alcova and it’s a big deal section.
The ride from Atlantic City to Alcova is either the hardest and most talked about section along Beaver Rim or an alternate and not so difficult section which pops out near Bairoil (no services) and then pavement schlepps to Alcova.
My GPS download shows the southern route to Alcova via Bairoil. My printed map shows the northern route to Alcova via the treacherous and beautiful Beaver Rim. If you’ve been watching YouTube videos to “scout” the WYBDR… it’s “the rim” that has all those awesome drone footage shots. Rumor has it, the rim is also where everyone gets their ass kicked. (All I know is scuttlebutt from forums and shit, I hadn’t done it myself yet.)
The GPS waypoints make no mention of the “rim” section at all. It’s like it was erased from memory and the paper map has old data because many were printed all at once. I glean from rumor that removing the rim trail because it was “too hard” was something of a debate. I don’t know who had the debate or what they said but I do know it’s effectively memory holed. Without my paper map I wouldn’t even know the route had ever been along “the rim”. It’s not even on the GPS as “expert” or “optional”. Yet, everyone says the rim was awesome.
*Spoiler Alert: I did “the rim”. It felt like the right thing to do.
I have a hard deadline. I have time to trail ride a bit toward Alcova but then I’m out of time. I turn into a pumpkin and all bets are off!
After Alcova I need to hightail it to Casper; throw my bike in the U-Haul, and haul ass north. I need to blast down 180 miles of Interstate, turn in the one way truck (another opportunity for U-Haul to fuck up), and then somehow I have to “zip” over the mountains to my my truck at base camp. (This would be on roads which don’t support “zip” and using a bike that prefers “plod”.) Once I’m at base camp, shit gets simpler. The bike gets strapped to a trailer and it’s back to traveling by Dodge. The Dodge will easily roll to civilization and deal with the horrors thereof.
I’m fucked. The “plan” has too many moving parts.
Regardless, I’m optimistic. I knew this moment would happen and I’ll figure something out. The first and most important thing to know is this:
If U-Haul is part of your plans, U-Haul will fuck up.
From a restaurant, I call U-Haul. They’ve screwed up. This isn’t a surprise. When you make an on-line far-in-advance reservation at U-Haul they don’t actually make a reservation. Sane humans think “reservation” means there’s going to be a truck present at the time and date agreed upon. To U-Haul it means they flagged an internal database with “it would be nice if there’s a truck here but we’re not promising shit” and then… nothing They hope one of their franchise people has a truck.
I knew this. I planned for it.
After some discussion, the lady on the phone switches pick up location from one place in Casper to another. Then she assures me there really will be a truck; like it’s parked there and nobody else is driving it. Nice.
Then I mention that I need a ramp and it starts all over again. I’m not strong enough to dead lift my whole motorcycle by myself. (Traveling solo is not like traveling in a group.) Nor am I forthcoming that I’m trying to move a motorcycle because U-Haul is notoriously stupid. Rumor has it if you use the word “motorcycle” they’ll rent you a motorcycle trailer no matter what. The last thing I need is to pay for a trailer AND a friggin’ truck! It is said that no human has ever communicated to anyone at U-Haul the difference between an 800 pound full dress chromed out Harley Davidson bagger and a utilitarian little 300 pound farm bike.
Alas, U-Haul trucks only have a ramp if you go 20′. I wind up agreeing to rent a 20′(!) U-Haul to move a 300 pound pipsqueak of a bike. Ugh!
Having made a bad plan that cost more than I want… I was satisfied. Sometimes “bad” is all you can do and there’s no “better”.
What’s more, I have (while eating breakfast) traced my future on my paper map. Wanna’ hear this mess? Here goes:
- Just completely ditch Atlantic City and head instead out of Lander on pavement.
- Somewhere between Atlantic City and Alcova the trail crosses said pavement. Catch the trail there and blast out on what is supposedly the worst nastiest riskiest part of the whole shebang.
- After many miles, the trail crosses Ore Road. Bail off the trail and follow Ore Road (no services).
- Ore Road crosses onto Dry Creek road. Take it. (No services.)
- Then there’s a chunk of nameless road. Then Poison Spider Road. (No services.)
- This leads me directly into Casper, where there’s an overpriced, oversized U-Haul I’ll be picking up after hours at somewhere I’ve never been.
There are no services anywhere on that whole series of bullet points. I think I have enough gas but I haven’t sat down with a calculator and proven it. I decide not to. Fuck it, I’m doing this.
I have two days to get to Casper. I’ve got extra water, extra gas, camping gear, and all the other survival shit a guy could want.
There are no designated campsites. Some of it is BLM land and therefore legal for dispersed camping.
That’s it. I’m all out of ideas, somewhere in the middle of this mess the sun will set and I’ll hopefully find a place to hunker down.
It sure ain’t a good plan but it’s the best I can do. That’s why it’s an adventure.
I leave the restaurant and head for a gas station. I want my tank filled to the brim and I feel compelled need to buy extra water and more beef jerky.
I’m about to do something stupid and I know it.
Stay tuned for more…