Friday, July 5, 2013

Road Trip 2013 - Day Nine

AIS was 8, so a slower start today, the miles are low. You never can tell how long it will be though. We might find a stop that looks interesting, or road construction slows us down. Lots of road construction this time of year in these parts. With the severe winter weather, they need to get it all done in the summer. It really slows travel and the gravel & dirt roads are no fun.

Today we left Billings and stopped for the night in Great Falls, MT. The weather is still good, but it was hot. Especially sitting on the road waiting for the pilot car, and then stopping at every light while riding through Great Falls. I cannot imagine traveling across the country in a covered wagon.

Lodging in this area is limited. We're planning on traveling through Glacier National Park and riding the Road to the Sun. That road is only open a few months a year, when they can get in to clear the snow. Accommodations are limited and we missed out on three rooms two weeks ago because we dawdled. Now we got as close as we could on the East side, Great Falls. We have booked rooms as close to the Park on the West side, in Kalispell.

While driving through town, we passed the Harley dealer where we discovered it's the Montana Bike Rally while we're here. They had the Bison cheerleaders (Great Falls High School) washing bikes. Not sure how I'm feeling about that. My daughter's cheerleading squad washed cars to raise funds. This is for a Motorcycle Rally. It just seemed creepy and exploitative.

We checked in to the hotel and that's when we saw the poster. The Rumble is scheduled for tonight. What's that? An annual Fight Force (MMA style event......street fighting). Well, that's a first for us. Interesting demographic.

Unloaded the bike, got in the room, laid down to test the bed....woke up an hour later. Dave told me if  I wanted to go to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center I need to get up, I rolled over & slept another hour! I didn't even think I was tired. I was planning on doing laundry....good thing we still have clean clothes! I must be finally relaxing....or perhaps it is the heat.

For cocktail hour (I keep calling it that but there are no cocktails, only wine & water) we ended up poolside. It's a lovely  New Orleans style with wrought iron and plenty of trees and plants. Really lovely.

We ate dinner at the hotel and it was amazingly tasty. Our entrees were duck (yes, in Montana and it was fabulous), roasted chicken, chicken hunter, florentine salad with chicken. For dessert, I ordered the featured chocolate caramel pie for all to share. It was the least I could do since I've been tasting theirs all week! Great service and tasty, LOVE!

Tomorrow I should be able to find spectacular postcards for the boys!

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