Idaho-Montana

Since I have officially lost track of the time and days from this trip, I have decided to just post pictures and videos and hope that I can accurately explain both them and where we were.

After leaving Ashton, ID, we were off on some super quick roads north the Montana. I am not actually sure if this is in the area, but it was a fast road none-the-less.

Along the way, we ran into some riders from Louisiana going the other way. They were fun to talk to and warned us of some parts of the route ahead. After talking for a bit longer, we continued north and made a pit stop in Dell, MT. There was a cool little store that sold a little of everything. The lady who ran the place was fun to talk to and we rested a bit before taking off again.

We saw this sign along the route:

After Dell, we rode up this great narrow valley with a river running through it. It turned out that we were on the Old Bannack Road for a ways. It was fantastic.

We stopped at the Grasshopper Junction for some fuel and refreshments. Doc brought up a very good point. He said, "we were born at the wrong time", referring to not being around when the country was unsettled and undiscovered. I couldn't agree more. There is something about these trips that take you back to the time when life wasn't so busy, there weren't highways, and dirt roads were the only roads. Of course, I happen to hate horses, so I guess there is a trade off for being born when we were. I understood what he meant though and appreciate the fact that we are in agreement about the situation.

Continuing on the Bannack Road was a blast. It was so beautiful and peaceful. The route runs through some remote and amazing country in Montana, albeit busier than other parts of the ride. We eventually came to a recently opened mine of some kind (I was told, but it escapes me), which prevented us from continuing on the actual ride. It was frustrating, as it was just a three or four mile section to the other road that would have taken us into Helena for the night, but there were no roads around it. We cruised back down the canyon we had come up and hitI-15 for a fast ride into the Capital for a Super 8.

Early the next day we were off again, heading north for what would be the last time in the United State. We made great time on some crowded gravel roads just outside of Kalispell. Rather than continue on these busy, dangerous (just because of all the crazy cars) we decided to take the pavement the last thirty or so miles into Kalispell. Once we were there, we had a decision to make. We could flirt with the Glacier National Park boundary (with more cars), or just hit the road into Canada. Having dealt with cars for too long, we chose the latter option. So we made a break for the border. Hello Canada!