We got a reasonably early start this morning, leaving the campground at around 9:30 (that’s pretty darn early for us…). Immediately out, we were on some of the coolest roads around. A combination of 2 lane country roads twisting and winding up rivers and by farmhouses, and four lane highways blazing up and down mountains blasting through wide sweeping turns at, uh… reasonable and prudent speeds :-)
We had lunch at a great little grease joint in some small town in Montana. The weather was really nice, partly cloudy and mid seventies all day. We hit a few raindrops, but not enough to even get wet.
My first experience on Montana's interstates was interesting… I'd been on small backroads for some time, and most people were travelling at 70-75 mph. I got up on the Interstate, brought it up to about 85, and sort of looked around… it was strange not knowing how fast you can go. After a mile or two, an older man in a F250 4x4 Diesel went by me at about 95. He had Montana plates, and looked local, so I dropped in behind him about a quarter mile back. We rode between 90 and 95 for miles on end, passing most, and occasionally getting passed. One full tank was spent at R&P speeds, and the mileage dropped to about 32 mpg, more than 10 mpg less than normal cruising on this trip… costly, except that even out in the middle of nowhere Montana, gas is still cheaper than in the Bay Area!
Ok, enough about that. The wonderful day of riding was marred in the last 20 miles by construction. Coming into Yellowstone, there were massive delays, and bike and body began to overheat. We eventually made it into Gardiner, right on the border of the park. We got a room tonight, since we plan to stay in campgrounds in Yellowstone that do not have showers, and we REALLY need one right now…
That about brings us to here, in the room, writing this journal which I am about to upload to the web page. btw, we were curious who is actually reading these updates. So... if you are reading this, please send us a quick email at [email protected] Thanks! Gotta go!
david.
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