Lewis and Clark

We got up this morning and the temperature was 59 degrees when we got on the road at 7:00 AM. The motel we stayed at didn’t have a free breakfast buffet so I wasn’t able to get any coffee till the first gas stop. We headed north on 85 out of Watford City in some thick fog. The sun came out around 9:30 and the rest of the day was gorgeous with big puffy white clouds in the sky with flat bottoms that look like they’re sitting on a plate of glass and the temps were as high as 80. We road about 25 miles north and then we crossed into the Mountain Time zone. This means we gained an extra hour of riding time. When we reached Rt. 2 in Williston we turned west on Rt. 2 towards Montana. This road is called the Lewis and Clark Trail because this is the route they took when they explored the Northwest Territories. Today it was the Bob and Tom Trail. The road started out very straight and flat for a long time and the speed limit was 70 mph so we made some good time. On the east side of the state there is quite a bit of road construction and there were several times when there was only one way traffic due to the new road being built right next to it. At one point we had to wait for the escort construction truck to come back from the other side and as we wanted we had a nice chit chat with the young flag lady. When the escort truck finally started to guide our line of traffic through the construction zone there were a couple of places where I wish we had four wheel drive. Not a good place for a motorcycle but with great care we made it through. We finally stopped at a little greasy spoon in Saco Montana for breakfast. Besides for the fact they only had instant decaf coffee, the breakfast was delicious. We knew we were getting closer to Glacer when the road became more rolling hills and sweeping turns. And then in the distance, what first looked like the puffy white clouds that we were riding in all day, on the far horizon we saw the snow capped mountains of the park. Finally after 3 and a half days of hard riding from the east coast through the flat lands of the Midwest we had reached our first destination. We drove into the town of Browning which is the home of the Blackfoot Indian nation, and headed North on 89 before arriving in St. Marys which is the small town at the entrance to the park and the beginning of the “Going to the Sun Highway”. Before we checked into our motel there we explored some of the roads that surround the park. What an amazing area. I checked the altitude on my GPS and most of the time it was showing we were between 5000 and 6000 feet and the mountains were still rising way above us. We could tell a huge area of the park was ravaged by a forest fire. Most of the trees for as far as you could see were scorched. We arrived around 5:30, cleaned up and changed clothes. We had diner right here at the lodge. There is free WIFI in the lobby of the lodge but no AT&T cell service. Sorry Renee I didn’t get the chance to speak with you today. I’ll call tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll ride into the park. We are told many of the roads are still closed from the harsh winter they had. Locals at the lodge told us it snowed as recently as May 15th. Then we’ll head south towards Yellowstone.
Life is good.

Total miles: 564 Butt factor: 2