Yesterday, was a Road Trip top 10 if there ever was one!
Things got off on the right foot yesterday just as I was loading-up. A large basketball playing Chinaman named Yujun Xin, from Beijing, was admiring Harvey the Harley, big time, and his friend was totally gaga over all the chrome, and black, and size of the bike. Oooo Ahhhh, said the Chinaman! I knew he was thinking Bad Assed Motherfucker all the way! I loved Yujun, he had plenty of happiness in his eyes, and we kinda hit it off. I had to ask him if he were in West yellowstone to buy the town given that the Chinese now own all of our dollars… he laughed! Hell, it won’t be too bad at all if they take over, apparently they have a sense of humor!
Thanks to my brother Dave, who gave me a wonderful tips about the route to Dillon, beautiful vistas hit me as soon as I turned onto route 287W heading to Virginia City, the once Capitol of this great state.
A short way into route 287 a sign said, Earthquake Area, and sure enough, an earthquake, a serious one in 1959, caused the sides of two mountains to collapse into a gorge shutting off the Madison river thus creating a rising lake that threatened to flood the valley. Amazingly enough, it was the Corps of Engineers, that solved the problem and saved the day for the river, the new lake, shown at left, and the people of the valley.
The Madison Valley is beautifully scenic, has world class fishing, and shows you why so many people are in love with Montana. You can now add me to that list.
After riding up and over the Madison Range you descend into the Ruby Valley, and the town of Virginia City. It’s achingly cute, and a complete blast from the Old West past.
Sheridan, was the next town, and what a sweet, livable, place it is. While there, I stopped at an auto supply store to buy super glue to fix a small piece of rubber on the bike. While in the store, a woman customer asked me why I was limping. I told her that I had aggravated an old injury taking Yoga. “God can fix that”, she emphatically said, “You want me to pray on it”? I said “Sure”! The next thing I knew she walked right over; grabbed my right arm and began to pray long and hard for God to fix my injury, bless my trip, and to make sure that the super glue would fix what needed to be fixed. When she finally said, “Amen”, I responded, “Amen and Amen”! My bursitis has been lots better ever since! Not joking ! My faith healers name is Sue Funk. Coming from New Orleans, I believe in the power of Funk, Sue believes in the power of God, so the math worked perfectly to make me feel a hell of a lot better.
Another gorgeous area followed…the Jefferson Valley, with still more stunning views. All three of these lush and fertile valleys have enormous grazing lands for cattle and sheep, and lots of big ranches, the kind movie stars buy. The also have world class fishing streams, the kind you dream about. The Madison, and Ruby Valleys also have big game, while Jefferson is noted for pheasant. A small town in the Jefferson Valley called Twin Bridges was most attractive, and it had a fly fishing supply store called, Four Rivers Fishing Company. For the hell of it, I went in and found not only world class fly fishing tackle, but people so laid back they dropped my blood pressure 20 points! One of them asked me where I was going, I told him Glacier National Park, but that after that, I really didn’t know. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a quarter, gave it to me, and said, “Heads, turn right, Tails, turn left, it’s always worked for me”.
Rolling into Dillon, I fueled up, and took a ride through town before checking in. I saw a couple of interesting looking bikes, and pulled over for a closer look. Their owners, Dick and Diane, soon made an appearance and we had a great old chat about bikes and their love of life in Montana…something every resident I met echoed. These people are straight up, down to earth folks, the Americans John Mellencamp sings about in his songs.
I had a rather interesting supper yesterday evening at the S & S restaurant in Dillon. It advertised casual fine dining. While eating two world class lamb chops, the proprietor, Seth Benjamin Burris, regaled me with non-stop stories about animal attacks on human beings, and river drowning’s from fishing accidents while reclining a few feet away in an easy chair.
Just another day on the road.
In Dillon, Montana, Thursday evening.
Today it was cold and rainy and my only ambition was to get into my rain gear, and get to Missoula, as quickly as possible, and in one piece…and so I did.
Tomorrow, it’s off to Whitefish, Montana, the back way through the mountains. There I shall prepare for my trip through Glacier National Park.
XO
Middie
