Saturday 25th May - Eastwards across Montana

Woke up to a damp and dismal morning. Wasn’t actually raining but looked like it would and it was still so cold. So put all clothes on again and off we went.

Initially I rode through wooded valley with fast flowing streams

 and then the valleys got broader and the rivers wider.

 

The morning warmed up so I shed clothes and looked forward to a more comfortable ride.

 

I knew exactly where I wanted to go…

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it is!

The land flattened then, the valleys got much wider and the rivers broadened

 

Then, just when I was thinking the cold passes where behind me

 

 

  the tail end of the Rockies, so that’s what that grey bit on the map meant!

Still, didn’t let it get me down. How could it when I was driving through an area where someone will take this much trouble with a post box....

 

 

Took a detour to the National Bison Range. I knew I couldn’t get in because they won’t let you ride around it on a bike for some reason but thought I may see them from the road. Quite disappointed to only see these two, and then in some kind of paddock...

Later on when I stopped for a snack I realised why the herd may be depleted – and looking at the portions they serve it’s a least one bison per burger.

 

Talking of portions, was in a restaurant the other day and a family came into the booth behind me, mum, dad and not so little Billy, or whatever. They all ordered a meal and then the waiter reminded them that it was a free child’s meal with every adult one so they were in fact entitled to two children’s meals. After some debate as to whether they should get a second child’s meal and take it home they decided, nay, Billy would have them both there and then, and he did!

These guys were near the Bison Range, some horns eh

And you have to admit they suit him more than they do this chap I met last night.....

Maybe they will look better when he mounts them on his truck - that was his plan!

 

This place looked an appropriate place to stop (believe me!!!)

 but Froggy had a better way of dealing with the problem – ahhhhhhhh!

The Rockies were always there but actually I didn’t have to climb too high to get through.

 

 

Although as I said I couldn’t ride along it on my bike I had been following the route of the first wagon route to cross the Rockies to the Pacific Coast - remember, this chappie Capt. John Mullan

and therefore the road I was on swept around the contours of the land much as Route 66 had. Big difference though was this a predominantly green landscape be it grassland or forests and there were rivers everywhere.

Those rivers were beautiful and where they were deeper and slower they were apparently home to the endangered Bull Trout. There was fishing everywhere so I don’t know what they do catch.

Where the river was fast and narrow it was great for other types of sport – makes my bike ride look a doddle.

 

When I first drove past this sign I thought it was The Herpes Capital of the World…

      See, I told you it was cold.

There was still plenty of wild life and enough dead deer on the road to convince me that riding at night still not a good idea. 

 

 

 

 Oh forgot to say, I saw a bull moose yesterday in Idaho. It was standing in that iconic pose in swamp up to its knees – assume moose have knees – and just staring at me. I couldn’t stop as it was persistently raining and too dangerous. Looking it up on Google it says the population around here is “exploding” but as I said this one just stood there.

 

As I approached Great Falls I passed the site of an old - in American terms - Fort. Nothing there now, but it was exciting to think that people who passed through here 140 years ago would go on to rub shoulders with Custer and who knows, may have seen Sitting Bull.

 

Well, if things go to plan I cross over border to Canada tomorrow. Tonight will involve making sure all that paper work I have carried around in my little black bag for 6 weeks is in order....

 

 

 

Friday 24th May - The final leg. Eastbound from Washington, through Idaho to Montana

Tonight I make no apologies for the self-indulgent nature of the blog. I had a mission and it was completed.

I left Seattle in a few spots of rain but the sky was clear. A bridge had collapsed on the I5 last night but although we had used that road going to Orcas we were nowhere near it when it happened. So, I had a good run through the north of Seattle and then turned east  on the I90 heading for Haugan, Montana,  My target was the $10,000 bar where we had visited some years ago with Fred and Becky and where following that visit Fred had put up a silver dollar in my name - number 54,757. Today the bar is called the $50,000 bar so it is still a bit behind!

I had been warned that travelling through the Snoqualmie Pass - 3022ft – of the Cascade Mountains would inevitably involve riding through rain – snow was predicted above 4000ft – but in fact it was dry all through. 

 

 

 

 But boy was it cold – my top box and panniers were almost empty because I was wearing all the clothes I possessed – looked like the Michelin man but was still cold – tumble-weed willie was a distant and fond memory!

All the prayers I had uttered when riding through the blistering heat of the Arizona desert had belatedly been answered and a snow fringed 6°C was the response.

 

 

 

 The rain came later though

 

 and I had a “challenging” ride on through Idaho and into Montana. I had wanted to take some side roads which had some historical significance but they were dirt roads of clay and gravel and in the rain the resultant slip meant that if I had dropped the bike I probably wouldn’t be able to get enough purchase to lift it so I bottled it and took paved roads - I know - wimp!

A lot of history in those roads though …

The Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by US Army Lieut. John Mullan between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860...

that's the anorak bit done.

Bits were dropping off as I came down from the mountains and never have I been so pleased to see a burger bar as when, approaching the Columbia River

                            the Blustery’s Burger Drive-In at Vantage appeared.

A really great place with happy staff and wonderful signage….

 Crossed over the Columbia and when I stopped for a backwards looking photo

 

 

 

 I saw these 15 horses  

 

 They are made of rusted steel and weigh about 1,200 pounds each. They were commissioned in 1989 to honour the days when real wild horses roamed the arid steppes. The area near Vantage was the site of the last grand roundup of wild horses in 1906. The artist is David Govedare.

The road then led through the “big sky” area of east Washington where there was nothing but fields as far as they eye could see and then up into the mountains, streams and lakes of Idaho.

This was an area where numerous attempts had been made to drive a route through to the west and just when I thought I had reached the plains of Montana more mountain passes and snow and ran, and fog hit me

  

Thought we spoke roughly the same language but perhaps a different definition of "Prime"...

Then Montana started but the rain didn’t stop. Still, fortunately a very nice receptionist at the bar’s motel found a great place for the bike

and then I checked in to coffee and a hot shower.

After both the above I went over to the bar and the self-indulgent bit is coming ...

The bar dates back to 1951 when Gerry and Marie Lincoln hammered a silver dollar into the  bar of their small saloon. The idea caught on and by 1953 over 2000 people had placed their coins in the bar top. That bar top is still in use and contains 2115 dollars. 

 All the others, currently  62,319 mounted are embedded in boards displayed around the bar's walls.

A bit of smooth talking with Phyllis the barmaid – I can do it when I have to – who” just loved” my accent

 I found the dollar Fred had put there for me - number 54,757, she looked it up on a computer and then gave me a grid reference akin to locating the Graf Spee in the River Plate and a pair of binoculars – honestly – and there it was.

I then gave her a Silver Dollar Becky had given me and “Fred Staatz, Seattle” will soon be up there with the best, number 64125!

The story surrounding this slug is apparently true ...

 

Here’s the indulgent bit ……  I then worked my way through the local beers, Moose Drool, Copper John Scotch Style Ale, Pigs’ Ass Porte and Big Sky IPA washed down with Cinnamon Whiskey (and those that thinks this is a bit soft should try it|) and drank to absent friends -  Evan, Fred, Jerry, Brian – He seems to take the best!  I am very priviledged to have known them all.