10 July 2007

Same start time as yesterday, although I thought I was more efficient ... Had a gorgeous ride, if the start was a bit chilly. I've been on this route a few times before, and the approach to West Glacier was looking familiar.

The last time we were through here, the "Going to the Sun" Highway was closed due to fires; it was open today, but I didn't want to end up behind some motorhome and / or lookie-loo, so I opted to stay on US 2. It's a very scenic ride also, and (today at least) much less traveled. There were sufficient opportunities to pass, so I wasn't held up for long by the little traffic I did come upon. Part way through, though, the low fuel light came on, and I started worrying that East Glacier was too far. No problem, though.

Ran into some road construction; they were laying new asphalt. The pilot truck was in a hurry; we were doing up to 50 mph on some sections. It was on new pavement, though.

I stopped in Chester to take a little break; it wasn't until I took off again and recognized the abandoned gas station that I realized Chester was where we had stopped in 2003 to patch the gas tank on my R11GS.

Ran into a couple more road construction areas, although I never had to stop. One of them was pretty dirty, and they had a water truck constantly keeping it wet--cut down on the dust, at the expense of making it muddy--the bike's filthy. Well, filthier.

I was riding through the Ft. Belknap Reservation, and realized that it was a great ride. Not twisty or hilly, but not flat and boring--and the weather was about perfect. Not too cold, and nowhere near hot. So I stopped alongside the road and took a picture, even though it's not going to look interesting.

I wasn't sure when I laid out the route last night how far I'd go, so I set the stopping point at Glasgow, never thinking I'd make it that far. But the speed limit was 70 for much of the day, and that typically meant over 75. The "Time at Destination" field hung around 1700 most of the day, what with the road construction and gas stops. But after the last gas stop, it started coming down, to the point where I got here just after 1630. Picked the same motel we stayed in four years ago; cheapest so far ($39); walked down to Albertsons for groceries ($11).

State: Montana
525 GPS miles (2518 total), 63.2 moving average, 94.9 max (oooh, those passes!).
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