One last final kiss goodbye to the Rocky Mountains before I head back home across the plains. Originally I was going to go west up over Bear Tooth Pass and then back via Chief Joseph Pass, which did not pan out. I made a reservation back here in Billings so I wouldn't have that to worry about, wherever I ended up going. Billings is pretty confusing so I need the Google Maps app to get in and out. Overpasses, underpasses, frontage roads, yikes.
I filled with gas before going and 45 minutes later i was rolling through Red Lodge. Jeff and I tried to go through Bear Tooth a few weeks back but we were shut out because of snow. I saw plenty of snow today, but not as much as I expected. Must have been pretty warm that last few weeks.
Thankfully the weather forecast was for only 90 degrees here in Billings today as apposed to 100 yesterday. Temperature over the pass was a very pleasant 60-70 degrees.
There was actually very little traffic today, both west and then east. This is sort of a hidden entrance to Yellowstone, but it certainly was not as busy as I expected.
So perfect weather (oh yeah, sunny all day too), no traffic, oh and new pavement. There was one short stretch up on top where the road had been removed and it was single lane gravel with a traffic light.
I putted along 40-50 all day, stopping dozens of times to take pictures. Chatted with a woman from LA, who took my picture and she felt like she just discovered the big secret of Yellowstone, by driving in to the park from this entrance. I never did actually enter the park, that was further west.
I rode to Cook City, which is almost the last town to fill up (no chances) and had a long talk with a guy from North Dakota who told me the best route across North Dakota. He had a Harley trike which he converted when he hit 65 (only three years for me..)
He was the one who talked me out of Chief Joseph Pass. He said compared to Bear Tooth, it is not so great, and when you go the other way, you see a completely different road and sites.
Going back I did not stop as much (I did find one or two new shots, but I shot most of them on the first pass (pun intended). And still no traffic. A few cows in the middle of the road I had to stop for, but no wildlife other than that.
When I got back to Red Lodge, I stopped at one of those coffee kiosk things for some pretty good coffee, and checked the map to see if there was a different way back.
Did a little diversion back out in no mans land to the south, which gave me a warm up for the flat days ahead.
I rode to a motorcycle shop back in Billings to buy a cruise control thingie a guy showed me a few days back, but the shop closed 10 mins before I got there. The other shop in town did not have the thingie but the nice lady there said the pain from holding the trottle open would keep me awake. I have a plastic "throttle rocker" thing which works pretty well so I don't have any issues with pain on long days.
So back to the motel and 10 degrees cooler than yesterday.
Odometer = 27,474
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