Day 43: July 14th, Devil’s Tower, Deer Strike in Bighorn Mountains

Well, the weather finally caught up to us.  We had to don our rain gear for warmth and to be dry.  Passing by Sturgis we exited and went into the H-D Store for some photo’s in front of the store as well as on the main street where all the bikes park on Rally Week.  Then it was on to Devil’s Tower where we took some photos and got on our way to visit Ucross.

Where is and why Ucross you ask??  Well, my favorite mystery writer, Craig Johnson, supposedly resides in Ucross, WY, population 25.  He is the author of the Walt Longmire Mystery Series and on all the back flaps of his book jackets Ucross, population 25 is always mentioned.  So I had to find it and visit it.  Not sure if “Craig” (pen name?) lives there or not but the place is real!  It is located at the intersections of US16 and 14, about 30 miles southeast of Sheridan and 15 miles northeast of Buffalo.

From there we headed northwest on US14 into Sheridan where we continued north on I-90 to where 14 headed into the Bighorn Mountains.  As we began climbing into the mountains we both thought that it was getting late but felt confident we could make it to Cody without any problems.  Boy, were we ever wrong!

Once we began climbing up the winding mountain road we realized daylight was going to leave us when we near the top at around 9,000 feet.  And it did.  It got very, very dark up there, and cold!

I was in the lead and the LED headlamps lit up the road brightly, which was a good thing.  The place was loaded with critters!  At one point a deer leapt across the road in front of us….with plenty of room so it was not a factor. But Buzz called me on the ScalaRider radio and suggested we slow down even more.

We reached the crest and the road leveled out somewhat and we had a good ride to the fork where 14 hangs a left while 14A continues on.  Our plan was to continue on 14 as it appeared to be a safer road, less twisties in the dark, and a town or two along the way.  The forked area was well lit up so we pulled off on a turnout and donned our raingear to keep warm….the temps were low at this altitude of 8-9000 feet.  Just as we were ready to start again a car went by and we hurriedly cranked up and followed it so we could use it’s headlamps to our advantage.

The plan worked.  There were many areas loaded with deer alongside the road but we were able to see them with the help of the leading car.  Then the car took off at a pace faster then what we wanted to do, so we were back on our own with my LED lights.

About 3 miles later, we came upon the car again.  Seems that it had come to a stop, and no wonder, there were tons of deer all over the place.  We fell in behind once again as the car resumed moving and we were doing great until we came to another herd on the left side of the road. 

I saw a buck step forward from the side of the road, towards the car, the car slowed and the buck stopped its forward movement.  The car resumed and I also started riding forward.  I was about 5 car lengths behind the lead car when, just as the car passed the buck, it leapt forward right between the car and me. 

KWAP!! 

I slammed on the rear brake, went into a skid, total panic, smoke billowing out behind me (buzz couldn’t believe he was watching this happen), and,

WHAM!!

I hit the buck on its haunches.  Just before hitting it the buck’s eyeballs looked right at me and I swear I got a mental message from it saying, “Where the F*^k did you come from!” 

I hit it hard, probably at about 30mph.  Sophia’s forks started oscillating violently and the bike swerved into the other lane…fortunately no car was coming the other way! 

Fortunately also, Sophia stayed upright and I was able to bring it to a stop.  Buzz was blown away that I didn’t hit the pavement after smashing into the buck.  We couldn’t see what happened to the buck as it scampered into the darkness but we inspected Sophia for damage and found none.  Once again, I was very fortunate!  When we finished inspecting the bike for damage, Buzz said, “Gonz, let’s get going, there’s some kinda big shape moving along the hillside!”  Kwap, his gun is in his saddlebags and my blade is in my bags.  We fired up and got the hell outta there.

Finally reaching Cody we found our Best Western Motel (Very High End place…to Buzz’s standards of course), got gas, salad and beer, and ate in our room while reflecting on our good mis-fortune.

Man, this is two days in a row of something happening to me!

C ya’ll mañana,
Gonzo
Twitter: @GonzoCrossUSA
Email: GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
Cell: 949-433-0761