September 11, 2024
There were a few reasons for this ride. One, I needed to get out to western Washington and see my mom again now that she’s mostly recovered from a medical issue and back in her our place and, heck, I wanted another long solo ride before the weather changes and the bike gets put away for a few months. In the time I’ve had the bike, since April 2021, I’ve average 10,000 miles per year and this trip should put me over for a total of 40,000 miles.
I set the 11th as a departure date and when I looked back to two years ago when I last headed in this direction on the bike I’d also left on September 11. The route for Day One will be almost the same although I’ll be camping at a different site as the one I was in the last time, Wendover, is closed for some reason.
I did the usually packing and got the bike loaded up and was on the road about 9:15am and made a stop for gas.
I headed out of Billings on Hwy 3. I stopped in Lavina for a quick break and a photo.
I rode the usual route to Harlowton and made a stop for the facilities. It’s a beautiful morning with cool air and only a light breeze.
Just outside Harlowton there was a sign warning motorcyclists about the construction ahead.
Well, it’s 10 miles of construction but, luckily, it was all paved or hard-packed dirt so easy enough to get through. To differ my route from last time, instead of heading to White Sulfur I turn towards Martinsdale. Before missing that small town I detoured for a quick tour (OK, I made a wrong turn) and stopped for a photo.
Some photos from along the way to Townsend.
In Townsend I stopped for gas. When I left the station I was VERY careful as I was almost hit by a car here 2 years ago.
Some photos from along the they way. The data says it was in “Helmville.”
Somewhere, about 25 miles or so from Missoula, the weather changed. I could see lightning ahead and then a few drops of rain appeared. I looked for place to pull over and found one just as the rain got serious. I’d packed my rain gear in the top of my pack so it was easy to get to and didn’t take that long to get the liner in my jacket, pull my rain pants over my riding pants, and change out to my cold weather gloves. But the rain got even more serious as I got going again.
It let up by the time I got to Missoula and since I was headed to Lolo I had no alternative but to ride through the city on Higgins, and all sorts of other streets with the 5 O’clock traffic. In Lolo I stopped for gas and bought a can of beer to go with my dinner and at the last moment grabbed a bag of chips.
Now I continued west on Hwy 12, a ride I’ve done many times, going back to 1982 when I rode this eastbound on my ‘76 Honda CB750 on a ride that took me to Canada. It’s a wonderful highway over Lolo pass and then 60-some miles along the Lochsa River. About the time I hit the Idaho state line the rain started again and it wouldn’t stop for a long time. Luckily, my experience level of riding in the rain got a major boost on my big ride last May with many days of wet roads. The bike handles superbly. Sorry, it was too wet to stop for photos.
I did see that the Wendover campground was closed so continued on to the Jerry Johnson campground. I rode the loop, noticed only a few other campers, and picked a site that I thought might be OK. I got off the bike and looked for a likely spot for my tent and all I saw was a picnic table and a fire ring surrounded by vegetation. I walked to some of the adjacent sites and it was more of the same. It’s more of a car and RV place than one for tenters. OK, I’ll pitch the tent next to the bike.
It was raining pretty hard and even though I worked fast, the tent interior took on water before I could get the rain fly up. I moved my gear inside, blew up my air mattress, unrolled my sleeping bag and got out of my riding gear. Maybe it would let up and I could get out and cook a meal. That didn’t happen so it was beer and chips for dinner. I settled in for the night and slept pretty well.
It was a 422 mile day.
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