Montana/SD day 2
Had a great night of sleep in a really soft hotel bed in Alexandria, MN and was looking forward to a nice run across North Dakota when I woke up at 6:00 am. At 6:05 I looked at the weather radar and knew I’d better get my ass out of bed and packed up quick. There were a couple nice sized thunderstorms showing up in the prettiest red color. Crap! No free breakfast for me. I wanted to get the least wet possible and it looked like my best shot at staying mostly dry was if I left right away. Still, I was pretty certain I was going to get pretty wet at some point.
I put the rain cover on the Saddlemen™ bag right away. Why stop and do it later when I knew rain was inevitable? I also put my rain gear and helmet on. I don’t mind riding in the rain so much anymore, especially now that I’ve got some gear. My helmet has an interior visor that flips down so it keeps the rain out completely. It’s really nice because I wear contacts and once they’re full of water it’s impossible to see.
Headed out of Alexandria within a half hour of waking up. As soon as I got on the freeway the rain came, but for a while it was a pretty light sprinkling. It picked up here and there and pretty much rained steadily for the first 125 miles of the day. There wasn’t much traffic for the first hour. I just sat back and cranked up the tunes. What else are you going to do?
Finally came out of the rain and the temp jumped up in a quick minute. I was hungry and wanted to take a layer off and get some breakfast so I rolled into a Country Kitchen. I left the rain cover on the bike. Again, the rain suit worked okay except I looked like I pissed my pants from sitting on the water that pools in the seat. After breakfast I took off down the interstate again. My original plan was to spend my second night on the road in Bismark, ND, but was thinking that was far too close. I wanted to ride a lot further and cut my third day shorter. When I pulled into a rest stop I contacted the Airbnb owner and canceled, then booked a hotel in Glendive, MT figuring I could make that early enough to take a swim in the pool, get some dinner, and maybe write a few paragraphs.
This is where I have to apologize to you, North Dakota. I have always been under the misconception that you are flat and uninteresting as a state; that you’re the Plain Jane of the upper midwest. I’ve been wrong. You provided me with beautiful rolling prairie and incredible skies. And your Badlands… yes, who knew you had badlands in North Dakota! Fantastic! The Painted Canyon area is truly stunning. So North Dakota, I am sorry for assuming you to be the ugly sister. Your beauty is unique.
And thanks for stopping the rain 125 miles in.
And Montana! Holy moly! I’ve never seen a horizon farther away and a sky bigger. I am awestruck and you make me feet very small. Your scenery is so overwhelmingly huge and beautiful. This is my first trip to see you Montana, but I will be back. I want more time to stop and just take it in.
Made it to Glendive, MT – 492 miles in a day. For the most part I rode 80 all day. The miles go by pretty dang fast at that speed, but I was getting really crappy gas mileage. Usually I can get around 260 miles out of a tank, but for the most part I was getting around 212. Crazy amount of difference with the pack on.
I felt great though and like the day had been easy. I wasn’t uncomfortable during the ride, other than getting wet for a while. Sure do like the new highways pegs that I installed just before leaving for this trip. It makes all the difference in the world to my knees and ankles that I am able to change positions. Funny thing that the parts that hurt most after a long ride are my knees and ankles. It’s more logical to me that it would be my back and butt.
I checked into the hotel around 5:00 pm. and immediately made for the pool. Spent some time floating around and then about 15 minutes with a spa jet pointed directly between my shoulder blades. Delicious! A hot tub is always good after a ride. I wasn’t much interested in doing anything or going out, so I ordered Chinese food in. Around 7:45 I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer so I just gave up. Apparently the ride was more taxing than I thought. Going to sleep that early I knew I’d be up early and be able to meander my way into Red Lodge, which would be nice. I just thought I’d take my time for the final day because the ride was less than 300 miles. Sure enough, I woke about 4:30 a.m., but then went back to sleep until 6:00. I wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere because I had all day to get to Red Lodge. I knew Jim and Ron had an ETA of about 3:00 and wanted to arrive around that time too.
Before I left the hotel in the morning I also needed to work on my bike a bit. The heel shifter lever was migrating off the shaft and I needed to fix that. It would really suck to lose the lever at 80 mph on the freeway. Despite banging on it and applying all the pressure I could, I could not get the retaining bolt on the lever to give. Crap! However, I was able to slide the lever back into the correct position. I zip tied it to the toe shifter so it wouldn’t slip and figured I’d pick up a new bolt at the Harley shop in Billings.
More beautiful scenery for the day. What a feast for the eyes! I was riding along looking at what I think of as high prairie, and all of a sudden there was a very distinct tree line and I was among bluffs and forest. I stopped at the first rest stop and took a picture, as this is what I’ve always assumed Montana looked like. At the rest stop I started to run into people I’d seen earlier in the ride; A retired couple I had talked to at the hotel, and several drivers whom I had passed or who had passed me. There was a lot of semi traffic, trucks pulling two and three trailers. Occasionally they blow quite a draft, but I’m not intimidated by them. My aim is just to get by them as fast as possible. No dinking around next to them at 80 mph. I fear a tire blowing on a trailer and throwing a piece of rubber up at any time.
I stopped for a yummy lunch in Billings. Fortunately, the Harley shop was only a couple miles from there. My luck, the Harley shop didn’t have the bolt I needed to fix the shifter permanently. Out of stock. Shocker. I had the parts guy write down the size so I can pick one up later. So far the zip tie has held, so I’m not overly concerned. It’s something I’ll keep an eye on and replace it when I can.
The rest of the ride into Red Lodge was gorgeous. I came in via 212, which had a bit of construction as was torn up and pretty much full of gravel for several miles. It was a bit of a slow putt through there, but well worth it when the mountains loomed in front of me. Wow! More amazing views that really blew me away.
When I rolled into Red Lodge I went directly to the house we’ve rented for our time here. I unloaded my bike and Jim texted and said they were downtown, so I hopped back on the bike and cruised down to main street to meet up with them. Was good to be welcomed with a kiss and a whiskey! It’s going to be great fun to ride the area, check out the Red Lodge Motorcycle Rally and take part in the goings on!