Day 18
Idaho Falls, ID to Billings, Montana
   Miles today = 345
Total miles = 4535		  
     
   
   
   
     
     
   
     
 
Big Sky Country from a rest stop before Billings.
Today was one of those days that yanked me squarely back into life. I slept maybe 4 hours last night fretting over the weather and calculating the price to rent U-haul trucks from just about every city in a 200 mile radius of here to everywhere from St. Paul to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. All I could think of, as you all know, where the flashing of dollar signs before my eyes. The cheapest was a little over $400 and I knew gas would be at least another hundred.
The route I had planned, at least, put me out of the weather but in doing so put me around Yellowstone Park and the Tetons which hurt but what hurt most is missing the Beartooth Highway. It’s rated one of the top ten scenic highways in the United States so that’s a toughie. I still wonder if I could add it back in since it essentially is Billings southwest into Yellowstone. The route I took was straight north up to West Yellowstone and then on into Bozeman and then east to Billings. And then it should be east to Fargo and down to Minneapolis, which should, as I thought last night, keep me out of the rain. I figured whether with a truck or on the motorbike that would be best. South through Salt Lake City wasn't going to work.
I woke up early this morning to sun shining through the clouds and relatively dry pavement. I went to Wal-Mart for provisions and in doing so I think I walked about twelve miles. I cannot believe how big those stores are and that they are open 24 hours. I walked past a couple discussing curtains for the kitchen at 8 o'clock in the morning. I got garbage bags so that everything in my bags would be dry instead of trying to use an external rain cover, which hasn't worked at all. I also got some duct tape because with bags could also make rain boots in a pinch, repair raingear, and other things in a pinch that my tiny roll I brought would not be enough to fix. I also bought some disposable hand and foot warmers, some breakfast bars again. All of this in preparation for a good deal of riding in the rain today. As told by the Weather Channel last night, today would be my greatest chance of rain along my newly planned route.
I also stopped in the...ack!...Harley dealership for rain gaiters for my boots but of course they were out. I stopped at another place that was supposed to have NEOS (New England Over Shoes) but they had none remotely in my size. So with that I was out of Idaho Falls, relatively prepared for what weather could get thrown at me. I was behind schedule for a long ride expecting the usual switchbacks crossing the divide and I could see storm clouds on the near horizon out of sunny Idaho Falls.
My plan was to watch the cars coming from the opposite direction for windshield wipers or other signs of rain. I made the dumbest mistake of the whole trip by leaving my primo rain suit at home to save space. I got a cheap vinyl one that actually has done okay though the first time I used it in northern Montana I blew out the whole left side from it flapping in the 70+ mph wind. As I got closer to my first real run up into mountains there of course was road construction, to me that usually means rain. It certainly was threatening rain. I could smell it; the roads were increasingly more wet from recent rain and the water-laden clouds were hanging onto the mountains.
Running all the way into West Yellowstone it got increasingly colder and the clouds more menacing. But luck was with me this morning. When I got into West Yellowstone, a lesson itself in tourist economics, a spot of sunshine opened up as if to greet me.
I pulled in for gas and then next door for coffee at what turned out to be a relative hippie venture that God help me had actual service, polite talk and yeah it sure helped that she was tall with long blond hair. Wal-Mart could most certainly learn a thing or two from them about service. Or Safeway of Tillamook, Oregon for that matter.
Though the weather was actually decent in West Yellowstone I didn't want to push my luck. The forecast had called for the possibility of rain all the way to Billings, which was another 200 some miles yet. This may be my biggest mistake in learned judgment of my whole trip. Looking back, I should have entered the park and shot up the Beartooth Highway. I think the forecast weighed heavily on my mind and after yesterdays experience in the rain into Idaho Falls, coupled with the forecast, scared north into Bozeman. I also wasn't sure if I had to pay to get into the park even though I wasn't planning on stopping anywhere. But perhaps it was for the best. The elevation only gets higher in the park and most likely even colder. Though I was generally prepared for rain I didn't want to spend two to four hours riding in the rain especially on the Beartooth. That’s one road that you can actually see the switchbacks on the maps unlike most of the other routes I have taken so far.
Along the outside of western Yellowstone it was beautiful in its gray shroud but it made the yellow Aspen leaves really pop. I kept my eyes peeled for Moose and Elk but I didn't see anything remotely wild in there. Going north out of West Yellowstone was a more beautiful and fun ride. Certainly better than the lackluster ride in. I followed what I believe was the Gallatin river into Bozeman and a fair amount was a comfortable twisty run even as the traffic got heavier closer to Big Sky.
Coming out was the only time I ever got any real hint of rain all day. I probably got a dozen raindrops and that was it. As
Seeing these tear drop campers might have been a sign, I've researched plans to make one myself. For the next trip I guess.

soon as I got closer to Belgrade, Montana, (there obviously is no originality in most of the town names out here) the sky opened up completely and it an amazing autumn sun shown in a clear sky. It was then clear the whole way into Billings and beyond to the horizon. I was tempted to ride for another two hours or so but my back is so sore from being hunched over that I couldn't do it. After near 5,000 miles it doesn't take long before my buttocks in their bicycle shorts with the sweet gel pad still gets a hurtin’, and yes, it hurts me more than it does you.
Bozeman was decent looking but Livingston further on was the city that I thought was one of the most beautiful. Had I not been on the Interstate and had Montana built more than four highways I might have passed through and looked more closely.
I have to admit as interstates go; it has been beautiful the whole way. I have to say of all the states Montana is surely the most beautiful of any I've ever been to. Most of it, I think, because of the wide variety of landscape and also because none of it is like anywhere I've ever really been. The terrain varies so greatly that I'm constantly seeing different things. So the interstate here isn't bad. I'm sorta planning on taking it all the way into St. Paul but...its a tough one because the constant speed is difficult on the body from the vibration and the buffeting of the wind and big rigs.
Along the way in Montana I saw a flock of antelope or herd or murder or gang or what have you. I am pretty sure it wasn't a game farm but there must have been 3 or 4 dozen of them. Plus, two more deer with the huge ears like I saw in Washington. And I'll be gosh darned if those cattle in the autumn light don't make you want to give them a big hug and tussle the tuft of hair on their heads. I'll have to remember them the next time I'm eating a tender and juicy medium rare rib eye.
So all in all today was good. I didn't have to stop for anything other than gas and to unfold my legs from around the motorbike. Trying to work out a charlie horse earlier today at 60 mph was not a ritual to be repeated. I should have put the hand warmers into my gloves sooner but I had assumed I'd be stopping to get into my rain suit.
Right now I'm now on the floor in the laundry room at the Motel 6, which of course means I'll be in clean underwear and socks once again. In my obsessive-compulsive ways I tore apart everything this morning in a hurry looking for my last pair of socks. Though I did find them before I packed everything all up, they were fermenting in a plastic bag. Whew, bad.
I also have to say I really like my Arborwear pants. They were comfortable right from the get-go, not like Carhartts. And the Arborwear have a double front right where you need it and of course the gusset crotch is...well I don't notice any creeping like my blue jeans and that is a good thing not to have creeping down there.
And now it’s on to finally get some pictures uploaded and another hot shower. I certainly could use a hot tub but for some reason I didn't feel like paying the bucks to share one with people I don't know and probably don't want to know. Partly because I'm still in that place of riding all day and somehow conversation isn't what I want. Just some quiet place with some soft music playing and maybe even Henry curled up next to me, even though he is supposed to sleep on the floor.
Oh and a plug for some riding music. I certainly didn't bring enough of Explosions in the Sky. The songs I do have in the mixes have come up at good times though. And even though I'm not a huge Miles Davis fan, the other day in Idaho in the morning cloudy gloom it was just right. Though I couldn't have lived this long without music as a whole because 5,000 miles inside my brain and the wind noise would have driven me nuts. Just imagine if you had to sit next to me in a car for that long with nothing to listen to. Yup, rambling the whole time from an irritable bloke intent on making no decisions and taking the rain as penance for some past sin. You’d want music too.

Route: North Highway 20 to highway 191 to East I-90.
 
 
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