Bozeman to Whitfish Montana

Well, today we departed from Bozeman at 8:00 am and rode to Whitefish Montana. We covered roughly about 375 miles of spectacular country that had great roads with many sweeping curves. These great roads and wide open spaces allowed us to enjoy the performance capabilities of our motorcycles and hone our riding skills for Alaska. We arrived in Whitefish about 5:00 pm.

Our luck has been 100% so far and we have avoided the rain! We know sooner or later we will have to deal with the rain, but so far it has been wonderful to not have to suit up for it. We were told that they had terrible storms including tornado's in Seeley Lake Montana where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we all shared a piece of Peach Huckleberry pie with ice cream..., and we all agreed that it was absolutely the best piece of pie we have had in a long time. We resisted and only shared the one piece because our motorcycles cannot handle any more wieght. Just joking...!

We have had good luck missing all the storms so far, and we have truly appreciated the great riding weather we have enjoyed up to this point.

Our ride has taken us through many valleys and plains. As we turn a corner and look through the tree line we can see often mountain beautiful vistas. The mountains are covered with snow and have elevations over 9,000 feet. We had hoped to travel from St. Mary, Montana through Logan's Pass on the "Lake of the Sun Highway" to West Glacier Montana, however the road was still closed this afternoon due to too much snow cover. We are all a bit disappointed we could ride this road, but we still had some great scenery to appreciate all day.

Whitefish is about 1-hour from the Canadian border and we will be crossing into over Canada tomorrow morning as we head to Cochrane, Alberta.

Bikes are performing well and a real pleasure to ride. Not many pictures today, just a lot of great roads and riding.

22 Jun 2010 RW

Today started off leaving Spearfish SD and took a ride to Devils Tower WY and ended up in Bozeman MT. Total miles on the bike today were 485. We took mostly paved back roads today which afforded us great views of the landscape. Besides beautiful scenery, there was a variety of wildlife. It varied from a baby skunk skittering across the road in front of us to large mule deer which also skitter across the road in front of us. All in all, it was a beautiful ride with cool weather while we dodged almost all of the rain showers.

A Rider's Perspective on June 22nd

Today's ride can be described as creating a common sense of relaxation in individual demeanor as well as in riding style. Rusty's lead today had a calming effect on 'yours truly' and on the group at large. Previous discontinuity in terms of pace and riding expectations were replace by a steady and smooth pace where every rider performed as more of a unit. Although the unit thing isn't necessarily the intent for this ride, it is as if we collectively exhaled today, shedding much of our unwanted energy. We all have different riding styles and expectations and yet there is much to be gained from slowing the cadence and performing with relative unity. Perhaps the person who is in the calmest mood (of the day) should lead the ride for that day. Judgment over emotion. Weather conditions, road conditions, and probability of meeting livestock will drive our daily riding mood as well.

June 22 - gw

Temps: 60 - 80 degrees. Mostly sunny in the a.m. turning to afternoon thunderstorms mid afternoon. Blind luck again in that we did not have to ride in the rain save a few sprinkles.

Just a quick note about yesterday's ride - Janet, we ate at Peggy's Place again in Keystone. For all others, if ever in Keystone (Black Hills area), you need to have lunch at this very nice local eating establishment.

Well, Rusty led the ride today. I find that he rides very fast when he is leading. He tried to marry up with a couple deers this morning but then got that out of his system for an uneventful ride the rest of the day. The scenery in Montana was just out of this world. It is no wonder they call it "Big Sky" country. Awsome scenery.

We left Spearfish this a.m. , then rode to Devils Tower (pics posted) and from there rode about 200 miles on two lane roads before coming onto I 90 and riding another couple hundred miles into Bozeman, Montana where we are spending the night. Excellent weather for the day; not too hot, note too cold, just right.

Jun3 19, 20, 21

June 19 -

Temps - 70 - 90 degrees, skies clear.

The four of us departed Plymouth, MI at 6 a.m. heading for Muskegon. We took the 10:15 a.m. ferry to Milwaukee with hopes of making La Crosse, WI that evening. Given we were so full of energy, we decided to make it to Albert Lea, MN only to find there were no rooms available to due (get this) a softball tournament and road construction workers. We then had to push on to Jackson, MN. This put us at 600 miles on the first day! - plus the 2.5 hour ferry ride!

June 20

Temps 70 - 90 degrees, raining early, turning into hot and muggy conditions; tornado warnings late that evening when we were in the motel.

On Father's Day we were met with rain as we left the motel but soon ran out of the rain. This day was totally uneventful as we rode for miles and miles and miles and miles across Minnesota and South Dakota. We arrived in Spearfish, riding about 510 miles. Michael had to have Culvers custard so we walked across the lot ready pay up the big bucks for a late evening treat... but instead we received free sundae's for being fathers! This was a great end to the day.

June 21

Temps: 53 - 88 degrees, sunny and clear all day other than late afternoon thunder showers, though we were lucky and skirted the rain only through dumb luck.

Monday was an excellent day riding the Black Hills including Needles Highway and Iron Mtn Highways. What a gorgeous place to ride. It is no wonder the Indians call this Holy ground.

Total miles today, 150.

June 16 Update

All have been completing bike prep work including electronics and especially packing to make sure we all have correct clothing, tools, spare parts, etc for the trip. Final oil changes and final drive lubrications completed earlier this week.

Enjoyed a group dinner last evening. Departure set for 6 a.m. Saturday, June 19. Weels must be rolling NLT than 6 in order to make the ferry across Lake Michigan late morning in Muskegon. Weather currently looks like rain Sat morning!