Mile 2690

I'm up to a pleasant 60+F, and feel already that this will be a great day.  I'm finally moving towards the mountains and that rises the spirits.  A fellow rider told me yesterday that Hwy-89 going North is a big construction site and motorcycles are advised to take an alternate route.  Since I'm not a big friend of riding through gravel I change my plans and take MT-59 North to Jordan, MT, pick up MT-200 East to MT-24 North until I'm back on HWy-2.  Only one hour more, but no construction, so the plan. The drive up to Jordan, MT leads me through some rolling hills, and along a wind farm with hundreds of wind turbines.  But what if there is no wind like this morning, all rotors were on standstill, .....

Anyway, as I saw reaffirmation of my job, I found MT-200 and went on it.  Did I say that I wanted to avoid road construction?  Now this didn't work all too well, as there is a major one on MT-200 and I was challenged to a 13 mile gavel path I had not planed for.  The junction to MT-24 couldn't come fast enough, but at about 15 mi/hr it took me almost an hour to get through the construction.  

On to MT-24 I came along Fort Peck Dam, and was once again made very much reminded of the climate change.  The dam is so low, that the spill gates run dry, the turbine houses are shut down, and only the inflow is let out.  And we are talking about the once mighty Missouri River.  What a petty sight indeed.  I was wondering already yesterday the low river level when I crossed the Missouri River, and likewise the same when crossing the Yellowstone River.

After the Fort Peck Dam it was on to HWy-2 and going West to my destination of St. Mary, MT at the east side of Glacier NP.  Once again it was farmland of wheat and rye, or cattle farm land.  Just for the giggles of it, Montana has about 1.1 Million in population, but about 2.6 Million cattle ranched.  Anyway, the view din't change very much for most of the day, pretty disappointing.

And as during the last two days when I was along the Great Lakes shorelines, or traveling through MN and ND, late morning and in the afternoon the wind picked up, sometimes getting very gusty, forcing me to make use of my whole lane, and sometimes some more.  Today again, I was leaning the bike most of the afternoon either to one side or the other, not to get forced to much of track.  Ever wondered why it is that when you're on a bicycle that you always have headwinds, and when on a motorcycle the wind always blows from the side?  Anyways, I also survived that before coming to my final challenge of the day, shortly before St. Mary, MT finding a sign that "motorcyclists are advised to find alternate route".   Very little did I know about an alternative route, and so it was onto gravel again for the final climb up to St. Mary.  With the water truck ahead of me it made the ride like ice skating, something I definitely don't want to experience again tomorrow.   But I came across a nice monument commemorating the Blackfeet Indians.

  

View to the eastern entrance to Glacier NP

So I made it finally to the camp site, not 100% as planned, but after a very exiting day.  And I'm finally in the mountains.

And finally I'd like to pay tribute as well to two of the greatest adventurers and explorers of our time, Lewis and Clark.  I'm following their trail on and off for some days now, and I can only imagine how it must have been for their expedition to conquer this country.  What an undertaking this was, and unfortunately so often forgotten of where we would be without those two having explored the way to the West. 

"As we passed on, it seemed those scenes of visionary enchantment would never have an end." - Lewis Meriwether