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Westward Distraction: Day Three

By Thom | January 15, 2008

Brodus, MT to Ashland, MT
We got an excellent early start to the day and stopped in a couple of cafes along the way and had some good food, my father had bison while I had a (gasp) a veggie burger. We cruised all the way until we hit the southern tip of Lewis and Clark National Forrest and then enjoyed the landscape as we passed through. Absolulty beautiful, there were some points that I almost cried it was just so nice. The weater was cool, a wonderful relief from cruising through 100 degree heat in Rapid City. Montana really is big sky country, if you have never been there, you can’t fathom the distances between cities. We saw a lot of ghost towns as we went through. I am always amazed to see that people have no problem just letting their houses and buildings sit like that. I don’t know if I could just pack up, leaving half my stuff and go.

I think the difference between Montana and Wyoming is that Wyoming has cities every 50 miles, and Montana HAD cities every 50 miles, now it is one city, one ghost town.. There is a 30 cent difference in gas between the two states of Wyoming and Montana, so even though I was on a bike and getting around 48 mpg, I felt the difference! The roads were amazingly kept up very well for how much work was needed, the best road in MN is the worst in MT. We stopped in Ashland as it was getting dark and then enjoyed a hot dip in the natural hot springs. It was a little spendy ($4 a person) for a swim, but at least we got clean. Before we made it to the hot spring, there was an excellent “campground” on the edge of a reservoir that we could have hit up, but opted for a small campground in town.

I almost peed my pants when I got off the bike at the hot spring to notice that my final gear drive was leaking oil (as I killed one coming back from the BMW MOA in Wisconsin earlier in the summer). We decided that it was just venting and that the “beautifully” paved parking lot was to blame, so the bike got a good wash and rub so we could monitor it. NO MORE LEAKS!!
Totals:

Miles: 330

Avg Speed:56.4

Time: 5:38

Alt:4991 ft

NEXT STOP, DAY FOUR

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Topics: Westward Distraction '07 | 1 Comment »

One Response to “Westward Distraction: Day Three”

1. Westward Distraction: Day Two | Train With Thom Says:
   June 29th, 2009 at 10:21 am

   [...] Westward Distraction: Day One | Home | Westward Distraction: Day Three [...]

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