Going the distance

start 7am,  12794

end 4:45pm, 13236

Just to recap the tent camping. It was not as terrible as it could have been. That said I was promised that I would not get rained on. At midnight, I was gently awakened by someone telling me that the rain cover needed to go on the tent. I took that as a hint that I needed to  help secure all the gear. It was starting to sprinkle and real rain was on the way! Dang it. Other than that it was OK.  I had plenty of room. I was warm. The ground wasn't all that hard. And even the rain shower was fine. All the gear was secured and the cover was on the tent so I stayed completely dry. My one legitimate complaint was the number of mosquitos this morning! Ridiculous. Mosquitos almost never bite me and I have bites on my face, arms and ankles. 

We woke up at the crack of dawn, literally. Trucks started rolling on the highway by the campground. We hustled up to escape the bugs and had two states behind us and two hours of riding done before we stopped for breakfast at Broadus, MT. The Cashway Cafe was all locals. The one waitress knew everyone (other than us) as they walked in and started their breakfast for them. It was exactly where Ryan described wanting to eat breakfast. I hardy breakfast and we got on the road for the most desolate ride ever.

The scenery was beautiful but there was no one else anywhere. We set waypoints in the GPS to stay on the scenic route we'd chosen. We thought they would be decent places to stop for gas and rest. Nope. Not so much.  On US-212the only place we saw people was a Welstone, MT at Jake's garage. It was so hospitable. The man I assume was Jake came out to pump the gas, although Ryan was already working on it. We chatted for about 15 minuted while we had water and rested a bit. The was another business full of locals. A couple guys in pick-up trucks pulled in and pulled up a stool at the counter and just chatted a bit. I liked it.

From there we continued through gorgeous. Again no other people. What there was, was wind. It was gusting like mad all day. I think there were a few times that I almost blew off the motorcycle. We pushed on because today was all about doing miles. 

We stopped for lunch at the Pioneer Cafe in Roundup, MT. Fantastic pie! The owner/pie maker was super chatty and friendly.

About three hours later we stopped for the night in White Sulphur Springs, MT. To get there we rode through some summer storms. The rain wasn't bad. It was the wind. Got a little scary for me, but all was fine. Certainly glad that we are in a hotel tonight. There are thunderstorms all around. It has been a nice night to recoup, did laundry, watched a bit of baseball, and had ice cream cones for dessert.

After a good night's sleep we are looking forward to Going to the Sun road in Glacier  tomorrow and getting to the cabin at Flathead Lake for the next two nights.