2009 Summer Motorcycle Trip: Day 29, St Marys to Red Lodge (eastern access to Beartooth Pass) about 760 kms

Woke at 7:30, Just as Lawrie in the next campsite was leaving. Early to bed, early riser. His snoring last night when I was roaming around trying to get internet to work gave him away.
Had breakfast, shower and packed for 9:15 on the road. Set the GPS for Billings Montana and it showed a 4:20 arrival. It was accurate as it turned out... because I managed to make time surprisingly, considering 3 or 4 breaks and 2 spots of construction. They use very coarse gravel here and they lay it on thick. One stretch was 5 miles long and 35 mph was a dangerous speed.
The roads are straight and traffic thin, even on the hour section of Interstate riding I did. Shortly after St Mary’s I was following a 2 up BMW who was keeping a good pace. I was to see that bike 3 different times, though we took a different route. It had Alberta plates and I would have liked to chat with them, but our routes differed and he was always riding. I saw him the second time in Great Falls and followed him out of town and for about 45 minutes before he was reluctant to pass some cars which I did. The last time I saw him, I was stopped on the fringe of Billings and he rolled by and waved and I pointed at him. In Billings, I decided that Custer’s National Monument was not going to work, nearly 1 hour out of my way each way plus the visit time. I wanted to find a campground, food and unlimited internet.
The route to Billings took me down some roads that were wide open for winds, and I had several times when riding south vicious cross winds. There were warnings of gusts on signs and even wind socks in one location that were blowing straight out, a perfect crosswind. These where in an area of the largest wind mill area I have ever seen.... must have been a hundred of the them over a 2 mile section, on both sides of the road. Big operataion. I have seen a large one in Alberta once, near Crowsnest pass.
The same area had construction, that I was warned by way of a sign several miles before. Motorcycles were to consider and alternate route. Problem was, looking at the map, there was no alternate route – none without going a very long way out on the way. A part of it was like the worst of the Dempster Hwy... deep, soft gravel (they use larger and round gravel in Montana) The rest was hard pack dirt with lots of gravel filled potholes that you needed to avoid, because they were soft and really of indeterminate depth. It was a 5 mile stretch of construction, at least the traffic was slow and nobody was in a hurry to make a large amount of dust.

In Billings, I set the GPS for Red Lodge, on the way to Beartooth Pass and figured there would lots of camping in that area.. right and wrong. Rolling into Red Lodge and even before, I knew this was going to be a problem. Bikes everywhere, a biker rally for the weekend (Saturday today). Reminded me of Americade, the bikes lined the street parked and roared up and down the main drag. I felt totally out of place dressed in full gear, full face helmet (the only one in town being worn) and not a speck of chrome on my ride.. LOL – just Tupperware. There was a KOA before town which I passed, but appeared jammed. The hotels in town were full of bikes and No Vacancy and I stopped for gas to inquire. There was a RV park further up the road, try it.
When I gassed up, I found out my credit card didn’t work. A call to Visa and they said they had blocked it because my wife’s card with the same number had been reported lost. They unlocked it temporarily for the one purchase and then re-blocked it, transferred $300 to my checking account and told me to use my debit card. My only choice really. I do carry another credit card, but prefer not to use it. I found Perry’s RV camp, it was tight for camping too. But tent sites, find your spot among the other bikers on the front lawn for $10. But I couldn’t believe my luck when he said there was no WiFi... told me to go into town was his suggestion... to try getting on at a motel or cafe.
Set up camp, had a free beer and then headed for town. Found a cafe in the jammed section for parking and had dinner, they have WiFi, but the signal is too weak to use. Updated this journal.
No problems with the clutch leaking, and treated the bike to a spray wash when I was in Great Falls earlier. I wanted to clean out the oil and radiator coolers, the bike was running hot again. I think it was the heat of the day though, still ran hot, and the temps were in the 90’s I would guess.

The night-time at the campground when I arrived back was quiet... barely dark and nobody around or all in their tents – unusual I thought. There was one guy, Paul was his name standing outside his tent... I joined him in conversation. He was on a 3 day weekend up from Colorado for this rally and leaving early in the morning. He gave me a beer and a shot of amber Bacardi he was finishing off and we chatted for about 45 minutes. He was ready to turn in and so was I. Time was about 11 PM. I fell asleep quickly, but was woke at 1:45 by a rude ruckus at the next campsite. They had just returned from town and weren’t ready to settle down for the night. There was about 15 people gathered around the picnic table and music playing, laughter, cussing and shrill screams intermittently. I heard at least twice they were told to keep it down, but they didn’t care. I tried plugging my ears and that didn’t get me back to sleep until they quit, about 2:30 am. I laid there in the tent plotting what revenge would be fitting, since they were sure to be sleeping late and hung-over. It all came to no avail, when I got up, there was lots of engines running and people milling about, and some grumbling in the washroom. To be fair, I was warned when I checked in it would be noisy, I just expected bikes, not partying, and for sure not at 2 am.

a sign worth heeding. I just wished there was an alternate route