Up at 5:45 and I’m hopeful we get an earlier start.  Not to be! When I got out to the bikes, I met a cook at the restaurant named Elbert.  He was very fascinated by my rat bike.  I told him about a few things that he was asking about on different parts of the bike.  When I told him that people give me stuff from everywhere, he said he would be right back.  He came back with a couple more people who work there, and he gave me his name tag, which was in the shape of Montana with Elbert on it.  I pinned it on the coyote hide that was on the right front of my bike.  I then took Elbert’s picture by his tag.  He was very happy to give me something for the bike.

 He asked if we were going to come in for breakfast.  We told him that we like to ride for an hour or so, and then stop for breakfast.  We were almost ready to go, with me sitting on my running bike, and Joni getting her helmet on.  I saw Elbert coming out of the side door with 2 coffees and a bag with cream & sugar and 4 granola bars.  Wow, what a treat!  I turned off my bike and told Joni that we aren’t leaving yet.  We drank the coffee and had the bars.  Elbert was pretty cool to do that for us!  We talked to Donny,  another cook for a while as Elbert had to get back to work.

We finally hit the road at 7:45 with no raingear on.  There was actually some blue skies toward the west!  We rode for about an hour and stopped for fuel.  When we stopped I looked real close at my new rear tire.  It seemed to be rubbing something every time I hit the slightest bump.  I did not see a rub groove anywhere on the tire.  I figure that it was rubbing on the flat part of the fender where there were no bolt heads around.  My new tire was a bit taller than what the bike is used to.  I tried to think about how to make the rear of my bike have less weight.  I couldn’t shift any of my bags to Joni’s ‘cause I didn’t want to put any more weight on her bike.  Then I tried putting all my weight on the foot boards and pulling back on the handle bars to get my butt off of the seat.  I did that every time I saw Joni’s bike jump from a bump in the road.  That transferred all of my weight to a more forward position on the bike and took my weight off the seat.  It seemed to lessen the drag on some of the bumps.  Every time we hit a transition of concrete to asphalt, or visa-versa, there was another “ERRCH-ERRCH” as the bike slowed down a bit more.  Now it’s like the old home made scooters that we used to make as kids.  Our brake, if we had one, was a board to step on and use friction to try to stop, as it rubs on the wheel.  That doesn’t help my mileage any at all!  Now I’m getting 25 mpg at the most.  I can’t wait to get home and put an Avon Venom X on, and have no rub, NO more.

We rode for about another hour or so and saw the sky turn black just ahead of us.  Joni asked me if I wanted to stop and put on the rain gear.  I said no, that we would probably miss it.  Wrong, we got drenched in the last 2 miles just before the Livingston exit.  We pulled into a hometown family style restaurant, Clarks Crossing, and started with the coffee right away.  It was not only wet, but was pretty cold out as well.  Carol did a great job of taking care of us.  We waited till it looked like the rain had slowed a bit, and got our raingear out and brought it inside to get ready for the rest of the day ahead. 

We finally hit the road again, and we were real glad that we put on our warm stuff under the rain gear too.  It was wet and cold as we stopped for fuel again at Three Forks.  It was there that Oscar came over and took some pictures and told me it was going to be in the Gazette paper.  At least I think it was at that gas stop. We talked for a while and took off again.

We were just south of Butte, when Joni rode past a plumbing delivery flatbed truck.  I was just about even with the back of the truck when a big box fell off the right side of the truck.  It was about 2 ½ feet square and about 4 feet long.  It made a very loud CLANK as it hit the freeway at about 65 mph.  I think it could have been a water heater or something made of very heavy metal.  It slid over toward me and I had nowhere to go.  I was already over to the left side of the lane and then there was gravel.  As I passed the sliding box, it came within inches of my foot board!  Joni thought that I was hit for sure it WAS that close!  I made a gesture at the truck driver and Joni noticed that he didn’t even stop! 

Back in the old days, my bike had a 12” over girder front end on it.  As I was riding at freeway speed, a pickup truck in front of me had a big cardboard box lift up in the air and fly right toward me.  I moved over 3-4 lanes to try to miss it.  It was like I was a magnet and it smacked me head on.  I wobbled a bit, but didn’t go down.  I replayed that scene in my mind as the full box was coming toward me today.  It’s amazing how many things go through one’s mind just before stuff’s going happen.  My heart was racing for at least 10 minutes or so afterward.  What an absolutely wild thing to happen, and to have such a good outcome!

Our next stop for fuel was Drummond, and it ain’t any warmer yet!  We are still in the high altitude of the Rockies.  We did not stop in Missoula, as I told Joni to stop at a motel when she was ready.  Another fuel stop.  I told you that the tire rubbing was doing wonders for my mpg and we were going up a rainy hill again.  Just as I was thinking that it was almost getting cold enough to snow, we came upon a sign that said, “Chain up area ahead".  We don’t need that!  It was only cold rain up and over the summit.  At one point the wind seemed to grab our bikes and shove them over to the left.  We both just slid over a couple of feet.  Boy, did that seem weird, especially on a very wet road!  We were almost to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, when it slowed down on the rain a bit.

Joni pulled into a Best Western, that only had 5 or 6 rooms left.  They did not allow motorcycle parking under the eve in front.  I said that Michael Waltrip would hear about this!  The front desk guy said that it had to do with oil being left on the ground, and maybe someone slipping.  How did he know that I leave a bit, or a bit more, oil whenever I park?  He never even saw my rat bike!  Joni & I had dinner here at the motel and back to the room.  We are finally on our west coast time zone again.  Yeah!  We can maybe sleep in a bit tomorrow….. Probably 2 days till home……..