Day 15
July 30th 2010
Kalispell to Billings (464 Miles, 750 Km)
Clutch out at 7.04am to miss the tourists, even then there were already some on the road. We wound are way into the Glacier Park on the Going-to the-Sun Road past beautiful Lake MacDonald with the temperature at about 10 degrees centigrade. The road was brand new hot mix with a 40 mph limit which was very frustrating as the Park Rangers over here are armed and have the power to arrest.
When we asked Alan yesterday on what to expect on today’s ride, he found it hard to put into words. We can now understand why, the park is astoundingly beautiful. As we climbed up to the pass there were road works and several one lane traffic sections where the roads are being upgraded, which whilst it slowed us down, allowed time to absorb the wonders of the area. We have attached a couple of photos which endeavour to show this.
Once over the top of the pass we didn’t stop but decided to go on and find somewhere to eat. Good decision as most of the traffic turned off and allowed us to enjoy about 30 mile of sweeping corners which took us to a roadhouse at St Mary where we had an enormous brunch at about 10.30 am.Did I mention Vic had a pancake (see the picture....Diet soon)
Soon after this the road straightened out as we came onto the High Plains, we both thought of the TV programme of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ as we passed houses off in the distance.
The roads became straight and the speeds rose, we were cruising at 80 mph for hours on end. We passed several Indian reservations and villages of the Blackfeet and Kiowa tribes which are indigenous to the area.
The temperature climbed to about 95 Fahrenheit when we stopped at a roadhouse which was also a Western shop catering for cowboys and gals, never seen so many cowboy boots.
We arrived in Billing at 5.00pm which was pretty good allowing us time to have a shower and dress for dinner – people eat early here. Because Vic had mentioned he hadn’t seen a T-Bone steak on any menu Alan took us to a Texan Steakhouse. Made Vic order an 18oz steak, this was after starters which were a meal in themselves.Remember the Sonora dinner well it was something like that food food food well and truly stuffed.
A bit of trivia is that Billings is the Hill Climb capital of the World (?).
We are seeing more and more motorcycles and Harley Davidsons heading for Sturgis, the Harley riders are normally in uniform of no helmets, T-shirts and vest, some with safety bandannas on and required abrasion resistant tattoos.
Tomorrow Deadwood.
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