Flagstaff Rally and beyond

[usmalenurse]

Finally getting around to posting a trip report about our trip to the Flagstaff Rally this year. Met up with the "ride in" group in Oklahoma City and really enjoyed riding in with them to Flagstaff. Lots of great rides around the Flagstaff area and really enjoyed the ride down to Sedona and Jerome. Rode up to the South Rim of Grand Canyon with the Wisconsin brothers; Wayne and Brad and it was awesome. When we left Flagstaff we wandered over to Zion National Park in Utah and spent a night in Springdale before heading to Bryce Canyon and continuing on Utah 12 on up to Torrey. Utah 12 was a great ride as well. Meandered on up Utah 89 and spent one night at Colter's Lodge in Afton, Wyoming. Supposed to be the Worlds Largest Elkhorn Arch in the world there but who knows? From there, on up through Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons and through the Southern end of Yellowstone over to Cody. Missed the rodeo at Cody but did get to ride the Chief Joseph Highway and the southern end of the Beartooth Highway as it was closed on the northern end due to recent floods. From Cody we took 14 on up through Wyoming and rode up into Montana before heading back down to Spearfish, South Dakota where we spent a couple of days riding in the Stugis area. Missed the Devils Tower due to severe thunderstorms in the area and we had already experienced hail and heavy rain so we just wuzzed out on that one. Rode Spearfish Canyon, checked out the Crazy Horse monument, Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park and Deadwood before heading into Sturgis to visit the Museum and Hall of Fame there. They were gearing up for the Stugis rally and I'm glad we were "too early" for it. Left Sturgis and headed back towards home via scenic BBQ routes. Stopped in at Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City as well as Pappy's Smokehouse in St Louis enroute home. Came down through Kentucky and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee where we visited with my cousin for July 4th fireworks on the lake down there. Nice little ride up to "The Pinnacle" at the Cumberland Gap State Park where they have a "Tri-State" monument where Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky meet. Not exactly the "Four Corners" but we'll check that out later; Good Lord willing! Will try to post a few pics if I can figure it out.

[usmalenurse]

More Pics...

[usmalenurse]

More pictures..

[Nails]

Nice. Where were these photos? What's the story behind them?

I'm guessing this was somewhere along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

[usmalenurse]

The top one was the "Eye of the Needle" tunnel on the Needles Highway in Custer State Park, SD. Right about the bottome one as it was along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.