22nd June
I’m up early and on the road at 0800 heading for Glacier National Park. First, I ensure that I’m easily identified if seen by another ADVRider…
I drive up Highway 2 and then 95, heading east and north. I stop in the Kootenai National Forest…
…where I discover that…
…arty farty pictures just don’t work with a car…
At Hungry Horse, I stop and have a look at the dam…
…which is a large piece of concrete holding back billions of gallons of water, but is of no particular merit otherwise. As I leave the dam, a tremendous thunderstorm breaks, reducing visibility to a few metres and easily overcoming the drains. For about 5 minutes, the road is awash, when, quite suddenly, the rain and lightning stops and the sun comes out. Half an hour later you wouldn't know anything had happened...
Eventually I arrive at Glacier and drive the Going to the Sun Road, which I rode part of (the part which was open), when I was last here in April. I’m soon in unexplored territory…
…and starting to climb up through Logan Pass…
…which has a lot of work being done on the road, leading to extensive delays (I’m guessing the winters here really exact a toll on the asphalt) – still, the views whilst you wait aren’t bad…
…I pass the Weeping Wall, where you can get a free car wash…
At the top of the Pass, in the Visitor Centre car park, one of the locals is having a drink – his winter coat has seen better days…
I start the descent down towards St Mary Lake…
…which is looking calm and cool…
So, leaving the mountains behind for a while…
…I drive off down the 89 towards Great Falls, where I stayed back in April. I (again) get stuck in a traffic hold-up during resurfacing work – I wait for 15 minutes for the escort car, chatting with the flag man. He prefers to be a flag man – driving the ‘pilot car’ is too much stress and responsibility – more money, but not worth the hassle…
The 89 is clearly a dangerous road. All over the USA I’ve seen little crosses and flowers marking the site of fatal accidents. On the 89 from Browning to the Valier turn off, I lost count of the number I saw…
I arrive at Great Falls at about 2130 (I’m now in Mountain Time – 1 hr later than Pacific, so I’ve been on the road just over 12 hrs). I ring Jorge and find that the final drive I need is unavailable in the USA (I have a non-ABS bike – all USA ones are ABS it seems). I decide to ring BMW GB in the morning and ask if there is some way of air-freighting the parts to here this week. Bloody hope so
…
I’m up early and on the road at 0800 heading for Glacier National Park. First, I ensure that I’m easily identified if seen by another ADVRider…
I drive up Highway 2 and then 95, heading east and north. I stop in the Kootenai National Forest…
…where I discover that…
…arty farty pictures just don’t work with a car…
At Hungry Horse, I stop and have a look at the dam…
…which is a large piece of concrete holding back billions of gallons of water, but is of no particular merit otherwise. As I leave the dam, a tremendous thunderstorm breaks, reducing visibility to a few metres and easily overcoming the drains. For about 5 minutes, the road is awash, when, quite suddenly, the rain and lightning stops and the sun comes out. Half an hour later you wouldn't know anything had happened...
Eventually I arrive at Glacier and drive the Going to the Sun Road, which I rode part of (the part which was open), when I was last here in April. I’m soon in unexplored territory…
…and starting to climb up through Logan Pass…
…which has a lot of work being done on the road, leading to extensive delays (I’m guessing the winters here really exact a toll on the asphalt) – still, the views whilst you wait aren’t bad…
…I pass the Weeping Wall, where you can get a free car wash…
At the top of the Pass, in the Visitor Centre car park, one of the locals is having a drink – his winter coat has seen better days…
I start the descent down towards St Mary Lake…
…which is looking calm and cool…
So, leaving the mountains behind for a while…
…I drive off down the 89 towards Great Falls, where I stayed back in April. I (again) get stuck in a traffic hold-up during resurfacing work – I wait for 15 minutes for the escort car, chatting with the flag man. He prefers to be a flag man – driving the ‘pilot car’ is too much stress and responsibility – more money, but not worth the hassle…
The 89 is clearly a dangerous road. All over the USA I’ve seen little crosses and flowers marking the site of fatal accidents. On the 89 from Browning to the Valier turn off, I lost count of the number I saw…
I arrive at Great Falls at about 2130 (I’m now in Mountain Time – 1 hr later than Pacific, so I’ve been on the road just over 12 hrs). I ring Jorge and find that the final drive I need is unavailable in the USA (I have a non-ABS bike – all USA ones are ABS it seems). I decide to ring BMW GB in the morning and ask if there is some way of air-freighting the parts to here this week. Bloody hope so
…
