Day 30...a month on the road

Day 30...July 9th, 2014

Boy does it feel good to have a new tire on the back of the bike.  It is kinda like the feeling I used to get when my mom would buy me new tennis shoes when I was a kid.  Walking out of the store I was convinced I could run faster, jump higher, and go farther in my new US Keds.  With new ‘shoes’ on the bike I ride with no fear (well, maybe a little ‘healthy’ fear).  So today’s music will be about not being afraid:  Don't Fear The Reaper

It was 10AM before I got the bike out of the shop with the new tire and bid adieu to Havre, MT.  It is a small town full of nice people.   Riding west on US-2 I was torn whether or not to divert to the south to ride Lolo Pass.  That ride has 99 miles of squiggly road and is listed as one of the 5 best rides in the US.  I looked at the map though and decided to forego it this trip because it would have added something like 240 miles to my scheduled route…I’d like to come back with Susan though.

West of Havre, Montana becomes largely agricultural.  Mostly agricultural.  Heck, until you get nearly to Glacier National Park it is all wheat fields and hay fields.  Flat, but beautiful in a geometric kind of way.  Not a lot of traffic at first and there was little wind to contend with.

An interesting note.  I'd been seeing these in North Dakota and Montana but never stopped to take a photo since they are of a sensitive nature.  But today I noticed and obviously abandoned Titan II nuclear missile silo.  The others I noticed appeared to be maintained and, I assume, functional.  The sign on the fence says if you have questions you can call the base engineers real estate department.  I don't think I want to buy a slightly used nuclear silo.

The towns along the highway seemed to be thriving.  There weren’t many ‘little bitty’ towns along this stretch and the towns that were there had thriving downtowns (for a Wednesday) and had a warm and friendly feel to them.  I didn’t stop and chat with anyone, but I think I would have enjoyed talking farming and ranching with the locals.

This is Lewis and Clark country and Camp Disappointment can be seen from the highway.  It was the farthest north that they went hoping that the Marias River originated from farther north.  But when they saw it came from the west they turned around, disappointed.  This is also the home of the Blackfeet Indians.  The Blackfeet were fierce warriors and just about every sane mountain man, trapper, and pioneer feared them.  Today their reservation spans a considerable amount of territory.

Although I didn’t ride through Glacier National Park (no passport and didn’t want to hit Canada) I went around it to the south and thoroughly enjoyed the mountain ride.  It is a lower elevation than the mountains in Colorado and I saw 91 degrees through part of the mountainous ride.  But it was, as they say, a dry heat and it wasn’t bad.  What WAS bad was the maintenance being done on the highway.  Yes, it is necessary, but golly it is unhandy.  There were three stretches of varying lengths that were reduced to one-way traffic and I got caught out of synch at each of them necessitating a 10-15 minute delay during which time I got off the bike and walked around a bit.

getting close to the mountains

entering the mountain range from the east

one of many small rivers along the road

Flathead River

I finally called it a day in Libby, Montana at the “Two Bit R.V. Park”.  It is a nice place with all the amenities.  I got a nice remote site for the tent, but handy to the facilities so I can take a shower and get cleaned up from the ride (you’d be surprised at the road grime that accumulates on a bike rider after 300+ miles).  While typing this I was visited by two other campers, Dennis and Steve.  We talked for about an hour and they are very nice guys.  They’ve been friends since 1959 and evidently do an annual get together ride.  One lives in Helena, the other in Waco, Tx.  They are just a few  years older than me so I have hopes that I will still have many more years of enjoying bike riding ahead of me.