2025 PNW Trip 1 - Day 9

May 28, 2025

It was a chilly morning, and damp, but I woke up at 4:30am, which is my regular time in my home time zone, so I went ahead and got the day going.  I got everything pretty much ready to go and had my oatmeal and cocoa before putting on my layers.  It was 41°F.  

I headed out about 6:30am.  I was riding into the east, against the rising sun, on that very curvy road.  I had to go slow.  Luckily there wasn’t any traffic so I could take my time.  When I arrived at Lolo Pass I stopped to change my clocks to Mountain Time and take a photo.

I rode through Lolo to Missoula where I stopped at a city park to update my blog with yesterday’s entry.  After getting gas I hopped on the freeway since it is Hwy 12 and rode that to Garrison where it exited the freeway and became a two lane again.  It’s a nice ride and after a while I caught up to a guy riding a Harley and stuck behind him all the way to Helena.  Following him through the curves I could tell he was a newer rider.  I hope he didn’t feel pressure from me riding behind him.

In Helena I decided to shed some layers as it was heating up so parked in front of the state capitol.

I thought about stopping at Subway for lunch but the one I’d stopped at before looks like it was gone and the app routed me to one in a Walmart.  No thanks.  I got back on the road and headed for Townsend where I topped up the gas tank,

The ride out of Townsend heading east is great as it turns into lots of curves as it climbs some elevation.

Once on top, I thought it was photo time again.

I stopped in Harlowton for a snack and then buzzed on back to Billings, stopping to top of the gas before I pulled into the garage about 4:30pm.

Another great ride and a safe one.  The best.

It was a 409 mile day.