Into North Dakota

Well the first two days went ok. We got Mark out of work early and we made to Jeff and Karens earlier than we expected. As we pulled into the garage to park the bikes we were greeted with a homemade sign welcoming us. It seems that Marks Niece and Nephew, Jamie and Callie, made it for the adventurers.

We had time to talk a little, eat some popcorn, and have a brownie in honor of Marks birthday before heading to bed. As we got downstairs there was another welcome sign. Thank you Jamie and Callie for the warm welcome and thank you to Jeff and Karen for the hospitality!

Day 2 started off with a bright blue sky and a promise of a great day. We headed East and tried to make some time. We had planned on 800 miles for this day and we made it, but not how we expected. More on that in a minute.

Montana is flooded. Just an FYI...  It seems that every time we saw the river it was overflowingf the banks and filling fields and generally creating a mess. At least it was not crossing over I-90, but a couple of places it was real close.

We crested Lookout pass and it was COLD! There was still snow along both sides and it looked as if it could snow at any time. It sure was cold enough.

The continental divide was warmer and it was 2500 feet higher, but the roads were real rough. We coul not even go the speed limit because of the ruts and chuckholes.

Once we gone down to lower ground and leveled off it warmed up and we cruised along. We met a couple of other riders in Billings that were coming up from Florida and headed for Seattle. They had come over Wolf Creek Pass and it had just opened this morning. There were still a couple of spots that had ice on the road.

We finally got to Miles City in the afternoon and were debating on going farther or not. Everyone was feeling ok so on we went. Lori does not like driving the bike at night so we were pushing it to get there before dark and we almost made it, but didn't. My GPS went from day mode to night mode with 3 miles to town...

But, as all the best plans go awry, so did ours. We get into town and there were no rooms available out of 12 motels, None!

WE finally just started calling ahead on our route to find a room and Mark finally found one, 40 miles down the road. So much for not driving in the dark! Oh well. Life goes on.

Time for bed. I will post again as I can.  We are having a great time and the bikes are running great.