ADV rider is a website I've used for over a decade to help me plan my rides and get expert advice. There are also trolls like any other forum but ultimately it's a great place to go for help, ideas, and something called 'tent space'. These are members that have backyard space for someone like me to pitch their tent. Roy and Phyllis in Lewiston, ID.
My place to sleep for the night, included a steak dinner!
The next morning, Roy rode up the "spiral highway" with me.
Then I was headed to Montana through some passes. It was a little warm.
Stopped to look at some Nez Perce folklore.
Roy said to have breakfast in Kooskia. Pronounced Kooska.
This omelette (yes with a side of country gravy) reminded me of the "pig vomit omelette" I had in Alaska. Chopped ham, bacon and sausage with cheese.
While riding what many people said on ADV was one of the best motorcycle roads in the US, highway 12, I saw all these old trucks lined up and had to stop to take a closer look.
Lots of sweepers. Meandering river. Oh yeah and 18 wheeler's and logging trucks. Yeah not that great in my opinion. Too nervous to take my eyes off the next corner.
As I neared Flathead lake, I rode north along this mountain range. It was gorgeous. This is a typical ranch entrance.
King Bob convinced me of the benefits of staying in a place more than one night. This is my little studio for the next three. Plush cushy mattress. Grindle happy. The softest water you have ever showered in and it was equally delicious.
The couple who built this have a property in a small town called Lakeside and he is a craftsman so lots of wood detail. And this is MT, they love mountain dew as much as I.
Got some groceries. Real cream for my coffee. Whipped butter for the local fresh corn. A dozen eggs and maple sausage (made in Oregon). Yeah that was enough for 3 breakfast meals.
Had quite a debacle with the bike here. The listing said gravel road. I emailed and asked about how long this was and how hard packed. This Honda, while comfortable, bullet proof and fun is not made for unpaved roads. I ended up burying the bike in deep round pebble gravel and my host had to come and dig the bike out. It was a nightmare. Each night I thought, I'll find a better spot. Never really did.
I'm in that top portion on the left with the two windows. Siding isn't done yet. They live in the house behind.
Beautiful sky.
And the moon. Some corn moon or other. I check when the full moon will be so I know what night I won't sleep well and now Google is always telling me about the next supermoon or special moon. I was taught a neat trick...you can select the article and 'not interested' and it will stop on your feed.
That doesn't stop someone close to me that tells me about each 'special' moon and I can't turn him off.
The next day, I thought I would hustle to Sandpoint (back in ID) to see if I could meet up with some riding buddies, one whom I met on a dirt bike ride in Mendocino National Forest years back and now lives in Arizona.
I woke up early since it was 160 miles to Sandpoint from where I was at, even with the time difference between ID and MT, I would not get there till about 10 am. These were hanging out around my bike at 7 am when I woke up.
Stopped to read this. Wait till the next photo.
See that mountain on the left in the distance?
Now multiply that times 8.
That is the height of the ice shelf here back in the ice age.
When I got in around 11, I called Bob and sure enough they were still there so completed the loop back to Flathead lake together. I saw another Honda like mine too so stopped to say "nice bike".
I love these old weird places that sell stuff from the bygone era.
Got to their hotel and kept an eye on the bikes while they figured out how to get the helmet comms to work.
Strange I've not sent a group photo of us.
It was a strange time.
Next day, at 6 am, up and ready to go by 7 for Glacier National Park.
Wanted to avoid the conga line and when the park is too full they shut it down.
Labor Day.
Michelin Man enjoying the views.
Lot's of tight turns with rock face on one side, sheer drop offs on the other and a lot of distracted drivers coming from the opposite direction. No room for error.
Beautiful lakes.
Lot's of peaks. This place reminded me of Yosemite.
Made it to the other side of the park and it's closed as an exit.
Reservation land and the people there decided they didn't want a bunch of tourists going through so, *sigh* had to turn back and enjoy the amazing views one more time.
This peak reminded me of the Matterhorn.
Not the one in Disney.
This is the zoomed in version.
Normal distance.
The haze you see is due to the farmers in MT who burn after harvest when they switch the crop.
Still this swooping valley was gorgeous.
One of the benefits of a motorcycle.
Even the overcrowded visitor center always has room.
Stopped here for more photos and to stretch my legs.
As you can imagine with these high peaks, lots of rocks tumble down.
No 'rocks in the road' signs here.
They bother to clear them off.
You can see how the road snakes along the edge on both sides.
BTW it's called "the sun road".
Yep, in the sun the whole way and facing the sun too as I was riding East.
For those of you who know how much I love the sun.
Photos nearly at the end.
I went a bit crazy.
Glacier National Park Lodge.
The boys were having lunch out back along the lake.
Back at my airbnb for my third night and my host did my laundry.
Good thing too, I was officially out of critical items.
My helmet smelled good again the next day.
Hard to explain how morale boosting that is.
There was a brewery a mile away that I walked to for dinner twice.
One night I had fish n chips and boy was it good.
The next I got BBQ ribs. A whole rack.
Nothing wrong with my appetite.
This is a local produce stand that I had missed on the way in and made sure to stop for fresh local corn on the cobb that was juicy and sweet.
As I rode back out of town, made sure to stop for these photos.
I've seen easily thousands of bails of hay on this ride and the locals dressed them up in some sort of competition. Here are a few.
Cat?
Firehouse.
Teacher.
The apple computer is a pizza box.
Next stop, Big Hole Battlefield.
More than one person on ADV suggested I stop and check it out.
Glad I did.
This horn was used by the chief of the Nez Perce group that traveled to escape from Lewiston and there are carved dots on it, each representing a fallen in the battle. One was for his daughter.
Drawing of where the individual family's tee pee's were on the plain before the attack.
Overlook.
This is a recreation of the tee pee area they had camped when the solders ambushed them.
Some original burials.
Zoomed out. Tee pee's on left, burials on right.
This was a magical moment for me.
As I rode through some pretty remote areas to make it to my final destination, Virginia City MT, much like the Virginia City in NV, I discovered that these tall poles are set up for raptors to nest and this one had a bald eagle. So I turned around for the photo and just after I clicked this one....
It took flight!
One of my many gas station stops, saw this.
Lot's of open plains. Can get pretty windy too.
This photo didn't turn out nearly as beautiful as it was in person.
But I'll try to describe it.
In the distance is a tall mountain range.
At the base of it, settlements and farms with sweeping green fields.
Bails of hay freshly tilled and ready for collection.
Lots of gravel roads that I would have explored on the Tiger.
Made it to Virginia City. Massive cold front moving in tomorrow.
That's my room on the end of the building.
Lucky #7.
Bonanza Inn.
Sooooo, I locked myself out.
My phone was in the room when it happened.
Luckily I had my satellite tracker on me that I used to get help.
10 minutes later, Janet showed up to let me back in and she told me 3 ghost stories.
Room 1.
She makes up the rooms and one morning as she was doing her rounds she checked room 1 and found a body imprint on the bed. She checked the roster and no one had booked the room the night before. She checked with the rest of the staff, nope, no one booked or stayed in the room the previous night.
Room 2.
She went in to clean the room and smelled 'rose toilet water'. A typical fragrance people would make themselves, usually with roses or lavender. It smelled very strong like a woman had just put it on. She asked the guests staying there that night if they had this old fashioned perfume. The answer was no.
Room 3.
Janet's room. One night she was sleeping and woken to the sound of a woman humming a very old hymn. This place was first and foremost a nunnery before it was a courthouse and now hotel. She looked everywhere in the room, in the lobby and hallway and even walked around the building outside and never found anyone but the melody didn't stop. She eventually told the ghost "I'm going back to sleep now".
Rooms are all modern though.
Plush cushy bed.
As many of you know, I ride internationally and always lament how hard the beds are.
This trip, each mattress I've slept on was plush and cozy.
I'm starting to think this is normal here and what I've experienced abroad is just koo koo.
Private bathroom.
I really get excited when I see strong hooks to hang things from.
My gear is pretty heavy and there is only so much room to lay things out.
Yellowstone National Park tomorrow....if I am lucky.
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