I leave the motel at 9:30 AM. The weather is cloudy and gray but much, much better than yesterday. I ride the short distance from the motel to a place called Smiths which is a combined grocery/drugstore/general merchandise place similar to the Fred Meyer stores we have in the Seattle area. I load up on supplies and as I'm checking out a headline in the local paper catches my eye: "Sun Road Crews Resume Battle For Logan Pass". I add the paper to my pile of items and check out. I read the article while I'm munching on my breakfast.

The newspaper story tells me about the late season storms and the snow plow that got knocked into a ravine by an avalanche. It goes on to say that if everything goes right, Going To The Sun Road might be open in a week. It is time for a new plan.

I'd known there would be a chance that Going To The Sun Road wouldn't be open and the alternative is to stay on Hwy 2. Hwy 2 stays at a lower elevation and doesn't have any time restrictions on it. I finish my breakfast, load up the bike and head out.

While Hwy 2 might not be quite as spectacular as Going To The Sun Hwy, it's still very beautiful. The day is mostly cloudy with a few very light showers.

The Montana Mountains 71.25 KB

Near Essex I stop at Goat Lick, a natural salt outcropping by the river where the mountain goats congregate. There is a goat there and I snap a picture. I did bring a camera on this trip but it's a tiny little thing and it lacks a telephoto lens. In the picture below the tiny white dot near the center of the image is actually a goat.

Goat Lick 149.73 KB

At 3:40 PM I cross the Continental Divide at Marias Pass (elevation 5216 feet). This is actually an easier than some of the passes I'd crossed back in the Cascades but coming over the Continental Divide is a great psychological boost. In addition to the terrain tipping downward, I now have a tremendous tailwind and the weather has improved. I roll on for a while and then I pause to look behind me. The contrast of the road behind and the road ahead is extremely striking and I have to stop and take two photographs. Those pictures are below and the amazing thing is that they are taken from the same spot on the road at the same time. The first picture I take facing west and it shows the terrain I'd come over and the weather I've ridden through. The second photograph shows the rolling road ahead. The two scenes really don't look like they are the same day or the same part of the world. I roll on.

The Road Behind 93.54 KB

The Road Ahead 82.82 KB

At 5:30 PM I'm still enjoying the terrific tailwind when my rear tire flats just outside of Browning. It only takes me a few minutes to change the flat and I verify that the tubes I'd bought in back in Libby do indeed fit inside my tires.

At 5:30 PM I stop in Browning, buy supplies and call Christine. I tell her about Going To The Sun Road being closed and let her now that I'm already over the divide. Looking at my map, I tell her my revised plan will now have me spending the night in Cutbank.

The tailwind continues and I'm in Cutbank by 8:00 PM. I follow the signs to the Riverview RV Park and pay the $6 for a tent site. I'm the only person at the park and the wind is still really blowing strong. It doesn't look like it's going to rain, but I string up the lean-to to give me some shelter from the wind. I write a letter to my friend Jon and settle in for the night.

Forward to June 20, 2002 -- Cutbank MT to Dodson MT

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