Mounting Mountaina - Three some...

[GatorTiger]

Suddenly we passed this little river:



We pulled over and took another break. Maybe there was a chance to get our feet a bit to cool off. This spot was very inviting!



Inviting indeed! And popular! Two couples from Canada on HDs had the same idea:



We only got our feet wet, but the Canadian riders did it full scale:







It was VERY warm that day, but I guess the water was, err, chilly...



ìWet feet are enough!î my wife said!

[GatorTiger]

Freshly refreshed we said Adieu to the Canadians and rode on. We got to Missoula around 2pm. Home of UofM... Quaint little town!



We had an awesome lunch at the American Bistro (loved the A/C, too!!! Did I mention it was hot that day??). Susan had to chill some more after her lunch:



Before I forget: here is the route for the entire weekend:



#2 is Flesher Pass, #3 is just a waypoint in the middle of nowhere, #4 and #7 is Lolo...

Lolo Pass... Miles and miles of curves!!! No towns! A campground once in a while, but open road otherwise. Great!!!! We gassed up in the town of Lolo and hit the road again. At first the road was not what I expected. More straight and some run down properties. But the it started to gain altitude and curves started to show up. Nice!!
Just before crossing over the state line into Idaho I saw a familiar looking set of headlights behind me: a couple of Tigers!!!! Meet uncle Chris (left) and his nephew Joe (right) from California:





While we standing there chatting two more bikes came up: a GS and another Tiger! Dave (GS) and Pat (Tiger)! Both had been to the original Tiger Ride-In in Osage Beach, MO, in 2003. Dave had had a Tiger back then and switched brands due to some occurrences with his Triumph dealer:



After a nice long break we rode on as a group

[GatorTiger]

After an hour or so we took another break. Chris had found a nice spot in the shade. Of course we placed our cats so that the GS was hidden...



As a group it is much more fun to ride! When everybody talked about their other bikes they owned GatorWife was just rolling her eyes... I could not compete with my 'one-bike-only' scenario!

As the sun was going down we had another hour or so ahead of us



As the sun was setting we got to our hotel:



Chris, Joe, Pat, and Dave rooms / tent spaces at the 'Tiger Ride-In Resort'. When I wanted to make reservations thy didn't have anything available so we had to get a room a couple of miles up the street. Wifey and I cooled off in our room and then went to the (probably) only restaurant in town and had a nice dinner! Then it was off to get some sleep. GatorWife was all tense and all. When I asked her why she said it was from being hunched forward all that time on the bike.

Me: ìWhy didn't you lean against the cooler?î
Her: ìYou told me not to!î
Me: ìI told you to be careful when you do because the coller would move a bit and I didn't want you to get spooked!î

Maaaaan!!!!  :roll:

[GatorTiger]

The next morning Susan wanted to sleep in some. I took off to go and see all the Tiger pilots at the resort. Here are some pics of the event:















Then they all left without me to have fun in the hills all day!

[GatorTiger]

GatorWife and I went back the way we came towards Lolo:



Chrome-Intermission....



This time I wanted to take the pic of the pass sign I didn't get to take yesterday:



Today she was using the cooler as a back rest and was much more relaxed like that!



The further we got east the more the smoke in the air was apparent. The visibility was decreasing because of it as well:



Everything was smoky. For some reason it seemed as if there was more smoke in the air today than there was yesterday. Might have been my imagination:



Back in Missoula we had dinner. In the parking lot we came across this Chick-Mobil:



GatorWife and the signs in the restaurant had the same opinion (dang!)



Nicely fed we rode on... Did I mention that it was hot that day??? Soon it would be getting really hot!!!!

[CBAT]

That antler archway in the center of Jackson is real. They rebuild it each spring after picking up the antlers the elk drop in the refuge just north of town. No animals are harmed in the annual production.  

[GatorTiger]

After Missoula I wanted to take I-90 towards Helena for a while to please the wife. But as soon as we had gotten onto the slab and up to travel speed I had to hit the brakes again: Jam! It wasn't even close to rush hour so I guess an accident had happened.
We were crawling along... My clutch hand was getting tired and I was almost well done in my suit. Did I mention already that it was 100+F? Anyway, a couple of miles down the road we saw the culprit: A car was in the soft shoulder, looking rather smashed. Next to it was a trailer with a bobcat that didn't look too good either. It looked as if one of the tires on the trailer had blown, overturning the trailer, which in turn took the car with it. Yuck! Fortunately no fatalities!
After about 30 mins we had passed the scene and had free reign again. Going faster pushed some air through my suit and now the soaked T-shirt cooled off nicely!
However, the smell of smoke became stronger as we were going down the road. And before long we saw this:



Fires everywhere!





We saw planes dropping anti-fire-gel and helicopters dropping water:



Here you can see a helicopter (white, slightly right of the lower middle in the picture) dipping its bucket in a small lake. The whole fire-flying is quite a risky business. We heard of planes and helos crashing because of sudden downdrafts due to the heat of the flames!

[GatorTiger]

There are signs all along the shoulder stating ìNo stopping!î. And there were thousands of cars stopped to watch the flames, of course. We pulled into the next rest area to safely be able to take a look:



The smoke in the air makes for some nice photo ops:



And now we saw all the real flames:





All of a sudden there was a warm gust of wind and the flames grew quickly. A few trees had them all the way up:

[GatorTiger]

Just as we were about to leave a totally run down sports car drove up and parked right next to us. Two equally run down teenagers got out and asked us with that special glazed look in their eyes if we had a smoke. We politely declined and left. These guys looked like nuisances. We saddled up and rode on.
The smoke from all the fires spoiled some of the views:



A short while later I felt Susan tapping on my shoulder: bladder pressure! I pulled over at the next rest area and she went to the bathroom. A few minutes she came back, obviously relieved and smiling... In that very moment the same run down sports car drove up and those two guys got out and went straight into the womens' bathroom! WTF? Susan was looking at me with the mouth open. Another car drove up and a woman got out and headed towards the womens' bathroom door. Susan called out for her not to go in because of those two junkies. When the two guys didn't come out for another minute the woman's husband and I went to get them out. Just as I was about to grab the door one of the guys came out. ìBuddy, did you you know that this is the womens' bathroomî I asked. He just grinned at me with hazy eyes and went to his car. The other one came out. ìBuddy, this is the womens' bathroom!î ìOooops!î is all he could say and ran towards the car. The other guy and I went in just to check if it was all clear and then let the ladies (there were more by that time) back in.
The two guys fired up the wreck-mobile and drove off. My wife and I waited for a few more minutes and then left as well.

[GatorTiger]

In Garrison we got off the interstate and continued on US-12 for the last few miles to Helena. I was expecting a regular interstate connector with services and all but there was nothing! At least nothing I could see right away. I checked my mileage and my tank gauge and deemed it full enough to make it without problems.

The gauge is not very accurate, but precise and consistent:

shows half full: 2.5 gals gone (out of six)
hand at the upper limit of the red: four gals gone
hand at the lower limit of the red: (light comes on): five gals gone and one left

That leaves me with 30+ miles when the light comes on. My wife of course didn't know this and was eyeing the gauge more and more nervously as the miles went on.

Then we came across this:



I said I had enough to make it to the hotel (it was another 30 miles and the light wasn't even on yet) but GatorWife wouldn't have it. ìPULL OVER!î :P
When I filled up the pump stopped at 4.5 gals. So I would have been good for another 70+ miles... Oh well...

GatorWife was relieved since we wouldn't run dry any more now



We made it back to the hotel about 30 mins later and vegged out for the rest of the day...

Monday and Tuesday work was calling for me and the wife spent some time in Helena. We had dinner together in the evenings. No movies, though... Wednesday morning she flew back south again. I worked Wednesday and Thursday and packed up early Thursday afternoon and hit the road again myself. Going north for a change...

[GatorTiger]

I left the DOT building shortly after noon. Went across the street to the hotel, changed, packed, loaded, and left at about 2pm



The plan was to get to Medora, ND, by Friday afternoon and meet up with Keith again. Here is the actual route for the (entire) return trip (to Denver):



Here is the segmentation:

Thursday: Helena (1) to Havre (2)
Friday:      Havre (2) to Medora (6)
Saturday: Medora (6) to Denver (10)

So there is a bit more to read...

I-15 was first. Heading north I got a nice look (despite the smoke) of the sleeping giant:



All in the north of Helena the woods are burning. Smoke and haze everywhere spoiling the views... Crappy!

[GatorTiger]

There is always the exception to the rule. I usually prefer back roads to interstates, but there are some that are worth traversing (at least in part). I-70 and I-40 have their moments and so does I-15. The part north of Helena is indeed very scenic:



Since it is going through a canyon most of time you spend leaning:





Rocky walls on both sides for miles



If only that darn smoke was not there!...



Messes up the enjoyment... Can I sew someone for that? :P



Then again: a bad day on two wheels is better than a good day on four!

[GatorTiger]

Thankfully the close-ups are not hazed out by the smoke too much:





Seeing where the fire had been already has a certain depressing aspect to it





Thinking about Yellowstone and how long it takes until it is all green again one can imagine that this area got off easy:



Onward... There are signs out there!! Signs of change!!



Time for the landscape switch to get flicked again. And sure enough:



Click!!!!! 8)

[GatorTiger]

I had planned to go through this part of Montana because I had never been here before and I wanted to experience it. I wanted to find out what is around these parts. And I found lots of it!!



Where is my list? Northern Montana? Check!! Next!!!

Guess I took a wrong turn somewhere:



In Great Falls I left the interstate and continued on back roads. Wasn't the greatest:



It's completely flat up here! When I sae this sign, though, I almost fell of the bike:



A few miles down the road I saw something through the mist that very faintly reminded me of mountains



Then I reached Fort Benton. It was founded in 1846 and is the oldest settlement in Montana. Commonly also referred to as Montana's birth place. The river here was once an important trading route and before that a crucial pivot point in the Lewis and Clark expedition:



And this is Ft. Benton today:



There are a few buildings that have that grand ambiance



but mostly it looked to me rather run down. With a few bright spots, however!



Unimog with trailer!!! Suuuuuuper!!!!! Forget the hummer... Pah!!! :P

[GatorTiger]

I had originally thought I could grab some food in Ft. Benton, but changed my plan once I saw the place. I chewed up some beef jerky and headed on...



The surroundings showed signs of past good life and better times





Old church:



Anybody remember Alice from the very first Montana trip? No? Guess you have to read it again...
It seems, though, that I was getting closer to discovering who Alice really is: