Morning in Hardin, Montana was a great deal nicer than the evening before! The sky was clear, the air had just a touch of the scent of autumn making me feel very much alive and content. The adventures of the day before now seemed lessened in the stillness of the new day. Looking back to the near frightening miss during yesterday's maelstrom I recall Neil Peart saying in his motorcycle book "Roadshow: Landscapes & Drums" "Adventures suck while you're having them." How true a statement is that!
The B.C. gang in the same motel were gearing up for the day the same time I was and we chatted some more. One of the couples took off for an early morning date with the local Yamaha dealer for some brake pads while the Harley guy killed time cleaning and polishing his ride.
I'm out of there pretty quick and heading West. Today's plan is make it to Spokane about 930 kilometers away. For all of you readers who have ridden, driven, cycled or walked across Montana, you are more than aware it is a huge state and you will spend most if not all of your day traversing one end to the other. The upside is the scenery is wonderful with undulating plains, forested hills, cascading rivers and rocky mesas and buttes jutting out of the land. The landscape changes along the way like a slideshow as it cycles from one vista to another and back again. Montana is a long haul but I've always enjoyed every mile of it.
I fuel up in Billings and continue on. It is fairly cool so I wore my rainsuit for the extra windbreaking protection it offers. All-in-all I was quite toasty and enjoying the morning's ride! Billings was behind me. Livingston was next followed by Bozeman and then on to Butte and Missoula where I grabbed a tea and a bite to eat. The day was slipping away and I still had to enter Idaho, cross the Panhandle, make Coeur d'Alene and finally the last sixty kilometers to Spokane. The Idaho Panhandle offers up some wonderful scenery although the road was under "destruction" for the large percentage of the trip. Another reason I was humping it a bit today was I wanted to take advantage of the good weather and get through the mountainous part, including The Continental Divide while the sun was shining and the roads were dry. The last situation I wanted was a freak high-elevation mountain storm tossing down some early snow or disguising some treacherous black ice on the asphalt. Never fun at the best of times!
Idaho Panhandle
Rest stop in the Idaho Panhandle
Tomorrow is the homestretch and I'm getting eager to get home.
Wednesday, September 21/11
Up and at'em!
The hotel is providing a free breakfast service so I take full advantage of the large tables of offering and chow down for the day. Again the weather is sweet and sunny.
The route I plotted for today will take me from Spokane north-west along Highway 2 up to Grand Coulee another "local" destination I've never been to before. Norm Ingram and I have kicked around the idea of a ride to Grand Coulee several times, however; it has never come to pass so I figured today was my chance. The ride from Spokane through Davenport and on to Wilbur is a nice up and down cruise through rolling farmland with virtually no traffic except for the odd farm truck when you get close to one of the villages along the way.
Highway 2 in North-West of Spokane
It's not far now to Grand Coulee where I fill up at the top of the hill and begin the snaky descent down the valley to the dam and the Visitor Centre. The visitor centre is a good one. Very tactile with lots of hands on exhibits which are great for children. The centre features lots of photographs, film footage and audio clips from the construction years of 1933-1950. In it's day Grand Coulee Dam was the largest construction project of it's kind. Maybe not such a big deal by today's standards but you must consider the technology and construction methods available in the early 1930s compared with today's tools, methods and practices.
Grand Coulee Dam
The leg from the dam to the border crossing in Osoyoos is not far but the ride was one of the nicest in the last few days. Riding up to join Hwy 97 you pass through fairly dense pine forests where the road winds and twists with the contour of the land. The sun was warm and I could smell the fragrant scent of hot pine wafting in the air. This is one of my favourite outdoor aromas and I breath in as much as I can. Once on Highway 97 it's orchards all the way to the border and continuing on north through the length of the Okanagan Valley.
Similkimeen Valley on Hwy 3, heading West to Keremeos, B.C.
The border crossing is quick and uneventful and I'm in B.C. turning west for the last 350 kilometers home. I've always enjoyed Highway 3 and today was no exception. In no time I was through Hedley and fueling up in Princeton. After that it's an hour and a bit to Hope and then another 130 kilometers to Langley as I'm heading to Lori's house. The Trans Canada Highway was the same as I had left it nearly five weeks ago and by 4:30 I rolled into the Lori's garage where she's waiting with a big smile.
I get off the bike, we're laughing and I say, "I did it!"
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