I decided to make a two day weekend run into Yellowstone Nat. Park and the Cooke City area on Sat. / Sunday. I packed minimal gear including camping gear. I was up before sunrise and hit the road around 6:00 AM. The forecast was perfect and this was a great choice for a weekend ride.
The photo below is near the East Summit on the Beartooth Highway.
The always stunning view of Pilot and Index Peaks. Cooke City is directly behind the twin peaks. The old Goldwing developed a slight "pop" under deceleration from one of the right cylinders....not much I could do while on the road as I didn't really want to perform a valve adjustment on the shoulder of the highway.
I ran right through Cooke City and only stopped for gas. The highways leading in / out have been rebuilt over the past few years. A lot of shoulder timber was cleared so no more of the surprise deer "jumpouts" into the road like I experienced years back. I had a number of very close calls with deer over the years in this area.
I entered the Park at the Northeast Entrance near Silver Gate MT. $20.00 entrance fee for a motorcycle. you'd think it would be cheaper due to lower impact on roadways, etc...but no such luck.
Photo below was near Tower Falls. Quite a lot of tourist traffic this weekend, as usual....
I didn't really have a planned route and started off towards Cody Wyoming along Yellowstone Lake. Decided to back track and head over towards West Yellowstone MT. instead.
Another shot up on the Beartooth highway. People were skiing there recently. The snow is vanishing quickly now.
Yellowstone Lake near West Thumb.
I stopped in West Yellowstone for a quick lunch and then decided to head over towards Bozeman. Next thing I know it is 5:00 PM and home is only 3 hours away.
Got over to Big Timber and decided to check out a campground but it didn't look very appealing. I decided to head on to Billings and home.
I have been suffering from some sort of arthritus lately and was having serious neck and shoulder pain on the right side for the last few hours. Made it home just before dark and racked up 550 miles during the day.
I awoke at 1:30 AM with a blinding pain in my left shoulder. No more sleep during the night and I struggled with the blinding pain all day. By 4:00 PM I was a serious basket case and had my wife run me to the emergency room. After two injections of Demerol and some other major pain medication injection I finally was able to maintain my composure again. They hooked an I.V. up and ran EKG tests to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack.
Spent about 4 hours in the hospital and they let me go home. I guess I'll need to minimize my "Banzaii" road trips as I cannot physically handle those kind of hours on the road anymore. I've been experiencing serious joint / pain issues over the past year but have never gone to an MD before. I've broken a few bones over the years, suffered 3rd. degree burns and have had too many wounds stitched up to count....but this joint pain issue is the most painful malady I've ever encountered.
I need to rethink my ways and work towards more moderation in my activities from now on.
This is the first time I've been faced with physical limitations in my life....sucks getting older but I just need to be smarter with my choices.....
After a few more similar episodes this Summer and a couple MD visits I finally was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis....at least I now know WTF is going on.
