Today is another day of wind and rain and wind again.
We got up and headed out of Dickinson, ND, about 9:10am after refueling.
We headed west on I-94 into Montana. Unfortunately, the wind god was not our friend and we had to deal with a head wind of about 35 + miles per hour. Since the road was not directly into the wind, the wind would be from the left side for a bit, the right side for a bit and directly in front of us but always blowing against us. Our fuel mileage was terrible and ran at about a 28 to 30 miles per gallon. Not so much fun. To add to the fun, the sky was very overcast and we would get a bit of rain from time to time. Nothing heavy but more of a nuance.
Just out of town, we passed our first signs of oil production in North Dakota. Storage tanks, drilling rigs and equipment on both sides of the highway.
I missed the Montana state line sign but the terrain changed rapidly throughout the ride today.
Erosion caused canyons.
Lots of grasslands.
Moisture laden clouds of flat croplands.
There are very large farms/ranches through out North Dakota and Montana. The crops go for miles and miles on both sides of the road. There are also equally large cattle grazing areas along the highway.
One of the things I noticed is how the scenery goes from flat pasture type land back to erosion carved areas.
As we were riding along on Montana Highway 200, there was very, very little traffic, we found this stop light in the middle of nowhere!!!
We stopped and waited.......about 15 minutes and suddenly traffic showed up from the other direction and we ended up following a pilot vehicle through a repaving zone.
LeRoy and I were happy to be waiting for the pilot truck.
Due to our poor mileage and the strong winds, we stopped a few more times than we planned but the breaks were welcome.
We had to stop for another road construction and found out where the Hookers hang out in Montana.
The scenery once again changed quickly from open pasture, grazing and crop land to tree covered areas. Also the altitude increased to 4000 feet and more.
Once again the terrain became flatter and more open for raising cattle and crops.
About this time, we were about 34 miles east of Lewistow, MT. and we passed a milestone.
My Triumph Tiger Explorer passed the 100,000 mile mark. I now have a total of 100,0134 miles at the end of the day. Just getting better with each mile!
Another mileage picture on the side of the road.
After the recognition pictures, LeRoy decided to try and play matador with his jacket and his bike.
From here the signs of business, civilization began to increase. Before that, it was very lonesome and signs of people were few and far between
Once again the terrain changed from flat to hilly and then we rode through Otter Creek valley and then back up on the plateau to Great Falls, MT.
We arrived at our hotel save and sound after an 452 mile day and about 9 hours of riding. We are a bit tired from fighting the wind but me missed the rain, mostly but a good day of riding none the less.
Done for another day. One more day in the USA and then on to Canada!!
Mike
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