Sun July 19
So my plan was to I leave Fort Collin’s early in the morning with the plan of riding back roads to the Big Horn Mountains. I stopped for gas and water and decided to check my oil level, it was a bit low. So I got a quart at an auto parts store and proceed to put in 3/4 of it. Not good I thought. Then I decided to eat breakfast and after realized that I left my cooling shirt at Tom’s house, so back I went. It was running late and in order to make it to the GS Giants dinner on time, I took the much despised freeway, which surprisingly was very scenic. I really cruised through Wyoming, which Tom told me is the windiest statemin the country. Well it turns out, it probably is. I had to tighten the chin strap on my helmet as tight as I could make it, which is usually quite tight already, but the winds were whipping me around from just about every direction. It didn’t make any meteorological sense. Wyoming is also a rather large state, and at one point, a long one at that, I spotted 11 dust storm looking tornadoes out in the farmlands. They were probably less than 20 feet high, but an odd thing to see on a beautiful sunny day.
I also passed the 10,000 mile mark on my bike just outside of Cheyenne, a very happy moment, as I had had the bike for just over a year. 
As I started up onto the mountain, I was stuck on a single lane winding road behind a semi that was obviously carrying a full load. I thought what a great road this would be without a semi in the lead. After what seemed like an eternity, it let me pass when there was a turnout, only to allow me to then follow a full bus size RV. Eventually I got past that too, but the best part of getting up there was gone. Registration for the GS Giants Stampede started at 5pm with dinner at 5:30 and I got there exactly at 5. There were BMW’s everywhere. It was an exciting moment, as this was the first time I was going to be part of an event like this. As I pulled up towards the Bear Lodge, there were BMW’s shooting off in different directions and excitement seemed to be all around. I made my way to the office to get my campsite. A woman took my credit card, walked over to the bar to run it, and when she came back, couldn’t find my card, amazing. I doubt she had walked 20 steps. After 5 minutes of searching, she found it against a far wall. I met Sibley, also from Ohio, whom I had friended 2 weeks earlier on Facebook as I was walking out of the bar (registration area, I swear). My college roommate knew about my trip and said someone he knows was going to the same rally, and that’s all it took to become better friends in person.
One of the Arkansas guys setup.
Got a campsite and proceeded to meet alot of fellow riders from all over the country. Had dinner and drank around a fire till 11pm and walked back to my tent on the other side of the camp, it had gotten pretty cold, around 42°. I knew bringing cold weather gear would pay off! I had to sleep in fleece long johns, socks and under armour gear.Just before getting back in my tent, I saw a group around their fire, so I stopped over and met the BMW group from Arkansas, of which I think the majority were from Tennessee. Really a great group of mostly older guys, and it was funny to be called a Yankee. I told them if I heard banjos, I was not staying in camp.
Riding 422 miles