Heading for Montana

I enjoyed a nice couple of hours to finish Lolo off. A mix of rocky trails very high up and quite exposed, I was on top of the world. This had been a truely memorable couple of days.

I passed a group of 5 buggies – 4 wheelers, each with a driver and passenger. They were doing the whole motorway and having a ball. There seemed to be quite a mix of ages including an apparent grandmother, all with dust masks, but no safety gear. They’d individually signal the number of vehicles behind them by holding fingers up – very handy. Motorbikes were doing the same, something I’ll do in the future. I arrived at Powell Ranger Station and the Lochsa Lodge and felt a bit like I’d come out of the wilderness after a year, despite it being only 3 days. The junction was a bit off the road and was a campground with cabins, a store, fuel and a really nice lodge come restaurant. There was plenty of green lawn, trees and sprinklers and it was cool and soothing – a real oasis.  It was a bit embarrassing sitting down inside, covered in dust and smelling pretty strongly in my 3 day old riding t-shirt. They had really good food, bottomless coffee and ‘just’ enough guts in the WIFI to check mail and Facebook. Again, the blog will have to wait a bit longer!  A few decisions to make regarding the way forward though.

Ultimately, I decided to take the short bitumen run to Lolo – it was said to be one of the best bits of ‘pavement’ in the Idaho Panhandle. There was a dirt option, but it was only about 50 km. I’ve got plenty of that in front of me, so a bit of variety was going to be nice. I hooked along at 113 km per hour, the speed limit, and watched a few cops booking people. No latitude on Hwy 12 I’d been told, although in other places you could generally get away with 15 to 20 km per hour over the speed limit. From Lolo there was a major highway south to Darby. There was no avoiding this one – it ran down the centre of the Bitterroot Valley, famous for timber and apples. There were possibly a few dirt options, but they would have been local farm roads and not worth doing. So, I slabbed it down the 50 miles, enjoying the little towns and the activity all around me. It was nice not to have to concentrate quite as hard for a change. There was a really serious bushfire to the west and I couldn’t see the mountains for the smoke. The highway was pretty solid with it as well and fires were likely to be a problem further on. Another thing I saw were casinos every few hundred metres – literally. These were the saddest looking buildings I’ve ever come across. They are taking the country over and the locals think they are disgusting. Most only last a little while and then go broke – they just prey on people.

I booked into a little roadside motel – again, spotlessly clean, plenty of  hot water and $65 for the night. I was sitting on the verandah after having cleaned up and in came a couple of bikes. It was great to meet Arrin, Kiromara and Joseph from California. Arrin was on a KLR and the others 2 up on a V-Strom. Very, very impressive, albeit that Kiromara was flat out being 45 kg. The were doing the IDBDR (of course) and had been about a week getting to this point, talking it easy and enjoying all the sights and historical points along the way.

Arrin and I decided to check out the Bandit Brewing Company, a local craft brewery. Arrin (I called him Errin all night – sorry mate) certainly knew his beers and was a brewer himself. They offered samplers, had a huge variety and some, which I didn’t expect to be any good, were fantastic. The following photos are from the brewery’s Facebook page.

Montana (the IDBDR strays into that that state for a couple of hundred km) has very strict laws in relation to alcohol. The brewery is not a retail establishment and we were just ‘tasting’. It’s illegal to serve after 8.00 pm and the maximum you can taste is 48 ounces. They were very strict about this. The woman serving was lots of fun and very chatty. Arrin certainly was too! A few locals turned up, but it was Sunday, so was pretty quiet. We did get a bit of a beer buzz going though!

We went up to the ‘Little Blue Joint’ for dinner about 8.30. Got there just on closing and had their special – ribs and potato salad. Arrin, a rib expert, said they were just about as good as you could get. The meat fell off the bones and we ate with fingers and a fork – the only way to go. The price was less than half as much as what I paid in Banff and, you know what, they were probably better. Went back there for breakfast – just as well I didn’t order a ‘three’ egg omelette – 2 was more than enough! The coffee is starting to grow on me too.

We all had a yarn on the verandah of the motel that evening comparing notes and options for the route. Sounds like I’ve got some great county in front of me – more gravel I was disappointed to learn, but plenty of good tracks with great views in between. A bit of sand too which is always interesting.

Will hopefully catch up in California guys. I’ll be keen to hear how the rest of your trip went – ride well.