Travel day! Time to move on – short drive, relatively – only 135 miles or so. Still took over three hours, because of … wait for it … ROAD CONSTRUCTION! It’s everywhere up here!

Got settled in at the KoA, and snagged a pretty nice site – actually, they are ALL pretty nice! And the scenery? Wow!

Yeah, that’s the little mountain off to our side – here’s the BIG one behind us:

Yeah, just a bit bigger! Ok, after that, we went in to Whitefish MT, to check out the bike shops. First one was Glacier Cyclery:

Folks there were kind of aloof, though not unfriendly, but we did get maps and directions to several local trails. I was kinda creeped out by their jersey:

Who the hell has a Chupacabra for a mascot? Weird! Next up? BEER! Went to Great Northern Brewing Company, and tried their Highlander, since they didn’t have any REAL beer (Porters or Stouts):

It was actually pretty good! The further North we go, the better the beer gets! After that, we hit Wheaton’s bike shop, and they were a bit friendlier, and actually had someone (Hans, the store manager) who actually rides the trails, and he was able and very willing to give us some great info on the local trails, and also on their upcoming 24-hour race. 24-hour race? We know someone who would want to know about that! Grady Pace, owner of TrailLED, makers of some VERY fine lights. We found out that other manufacturers had bailed on the race as sponsors, so I called Grady to see what he could do. He’s gonna come through, great guy that he is! We’re gonna help, so that will be cool – end of month.

After that, a quick visit to:

Just to get some maps and find out what’s up, we’ll have to come back when we have more time … IF we have more time.

Travel day indeed! Got a fairly early start to the day. Short drive, but the earlier we leave, the more time we have in Missoula!

We thought we’d buy breakfast at the KoA where we’re staying. This is an interesting KoA. The sites are small, and serious bushes on both sides of each site. Great for privacy, but that’s about it. Also, there’s so little other space, that someone is ALWAYS in your way, whether you are coming in or going out. We NEVER came in or left that someone was not parked somewhat in our way, either on the driveway, or some of the sites, or somewhere, and it was an effort not to hit something or someone, constantly. Felt VERY crowded. AND – everything is hidden by bushes. Took us two tries and finally going to the office to ask where the breakfast was being served. When we found it, the sign was hidden … behind a bush! On BOTH sides! I don’t get it. And a teenybopper was running it, didn’t give clear directions on how to order, or where, or anything, AND she was slower than Christmas, so we just gave up on breakfast, finished packing up, and left. Good riddance. We may return to Great Falls (probably only for the beer at Bowser Brewing Company), but will NOT be staying at the KoA.

The drive itself? Well, to start with, on the way out I got a photo of something I saw on the way in – Dan, this one’s for you:

Besides that, we saw a lot of stunning scenery:

Montana really is a beautiful State. Ok, in town, look for breweries, or brew pubs. Seems almost nobody here makes Porters or Stouts. Bummer! BUT – we did find one place – Tamarack Brewing Company. It’s a pub, pretty much. And we show up at 14:00 (2:00 PM) … and there must be half a dozen families with kids here. Not teens, but toddlers! WTF? SCREAMING toddlers. Lovely.

Lunch itself was good, as was the Vanilla Bourbon Stout we had. Not quite a strong as the last one we had, but VERY good. Probably a bit better than the last one, as it was a mite TOO strong flavored (and 11% alcohol, this one is only 6%). Here’s lunch:

That’s what’s left. it was a HUGE lunch. No dinner for me!

After that, the only thing left was to look for tomorrow’s ride, and then make sure we get some ice cream at the KoA – it’s a thing they do every evening, and it’s pretty good. While eating my ice cream, I look through a newspaper, and while perusing the educational section, I see this:

Very fitting, since we’re back in bear country!

Tomorrow, we ride!

Ok, early rise today – not a super-long drive, but we’d like to get in early, so we can go hit a bike shop.

The drive was pretty weary, and the scenery was fantastic – here are some shots of it:

And this is a two-parter – The first is the view down the hill:

See the green part almost smack in the middle? Not the bigger one, but the smaller below and to its left? At that spot, I looked to the right, and saw this:

Yes, it would have looked much better had it been sunny, but it is what it is.

Got into town, found the campground, and got set up – easy stuff by now. Then, off to the bike shop – Knicker Biker. Yeah, weird name, but they’ll be able to tell us where to ride tomorrow! Or not. The guy who knows the trails is out, helping the TV crews set up their cameras. For what? Why, for the Enduro they’re having tomorrow, exactly where we WOULD be riding, if the trails weren’t closed! REALLY?

Ok, we can’t ride, but dammit – we can drink! In our traverses through time, I saw a brewery, so we’re gonna go hit it. And hit it we do. Took these before even entering:

And here’s a closeup of the benches:

Amen!

Going inside, we look to see what to order:

Hope you can read it. Anyway, The Bear found an appropriate one – Without a Paddle Porter! It’s funny, because of the T-shirt she bought the other day – for Bitch Creek Ale, and she posted a joke about being “Up Bitch Creek without a Pedal”, a play on “Up Shit Creek Without a Paddle”. So it was funny to see this porter. And it was VERY good.

I found something spectacular – Jalapeño Hefeweizen! I tried it, and it is FANTASTIC. Smells of jalapeño, and tastes of it also, just as it should, and it has a bit of a zing! But also VERY refreshing. These guys do magical things with beer! After those, we sampled the Black Bison Coffee Stout – another excellent Stout. And I sampled the Vanilla Bourbon Stout. WOW! We have GOT to come back for more of these tomorrow. Here are the first two:

Home made Chinese food for dinner, and the day is done.

Travel day! Today we move to CGSP for the better part of a week. There are a few trails we want to hit again around here. Weather’s perfect and it’s cheap, so …

Actually, we thought we were going to have to stay in a Forest Service campground, thinking this place would be packed full, but we thought we’d come  have a look, just in case. Woohoo! Maybe a couple of open spots, but we did find a pretty nice one, so we snagged it. At $11 bucks a night, it’s a bargain.

Here it is:

The door faces South, so we get shade on our door – nice! Not a GRESAT site, but beats the one at the FS campground we looked at! Plus, a lot closer to civilization.

Drove around, went into Laramie to get groceries, a GSD day.

Fairly early start, no issues, and luckily the drive is fairly flat, so I can minimize brake usage. I want the brake job to just be pads, no rotors involved – we’ll see.

The flat route actually goes North into Laramie, WY, so we’ll get to spend a couple of hours in WY – we like it there, but never got to Laramie, we’ll see how that goes.

Well, the drive was pretty uneventful, used mostly trailer brakes when I needed brakes, tried not to scratch up that rotor too much. We’ll have to take it in tomorrow to get it fixed.

Moving day! Hate leaving because we love the riding, but can’t wait to go up higher and get away from the heat.

At almost the half way point, we HAD to stop for lunch in Rifle, CO, because that is the home of Shooters Grill, where firearms are welcome, and the waitresses are strapped! No, really:

Never been a violent incident there, near as we could tell. Guess not! And nobody seems to complain about the food for some reason, or the service …

I had to brunch it, as they had Corned Beef Hash (one of my favorite foods!):

Eggs over medium, and a side of grits, of course. No snotty comments about the English Muffin, ok? They hold more butter than regular toast, and I wasn’t in the mood for pancakes.

After an uneventful lunch … Ok, ok, I’ll answer THE question – I did NOT open carry in there, even though it’s welcome. I just don’t open carry, unless I have to (as in Oregon if we end up there – no out-of-State CC allowed, though open carry is fine – go figure.). After an uneventful lunch, we had no issues the rest of the trip, and got in early afternoon to set up.

Since we got done early, we went into town to visit the bike shops and get some trails info, as well as eateries and breweries, or THE BIG THREE, as we like to think of it. After visiting the second bike shop, I was backing out of my slot, but got honked at by a car behind me (parking slot was in a curve, hard to see other traffic, but speed limit was 15 – yes, 15 – so no danger of a bang-up) I saw he stopped, so I kept backing up, he thought I was going to go forward, so HE claims that _I_ almost hit _him_. Yeah, well, there may have ensued an argument but for one tiny little detail. Before we had this discussion, he turned these on:

Yes, I damned near bought myself a cop car. No ticket, just a warning, so life is good. I need a drink!

We found the Mahogany Ridge Brewery not too far away, and so stopped in for a snack, happened to be happy hour, so half-price brews and dollar Tapas. The Tapas were nothing to write home about, so no pics, but the brews – Oh! $2.00 pints! NO, Richard, they’re not “real” pints, they’re American pints, but two bucks is a DEAL! And the Porter we had was VERY good:

That’s their list of Tapas, if you can read it. Also tried their Blonde beer – another good one!

Anyway, that was enough damage for one day, so we headed home to get some needed sleep.

Ah, yes! Travel day today! Got a bit of a late start as we were awaiting arrival of a package. Well, in the end we could not wait any longer, so we asked that it be refused and headed out. Not a bad drive, around 200 miles, so we showed up a bit after three in the afternoon. This State Park we are in is beautiful! Big sites, with big, level concrete pads and asphalted drives in and out. Nicely landscaped, too! Plenty of room for the trailer, Richard’s tent, and the two trucks. Works perfectly!

Also nice was having a day to rest, as that Monarch Crest ride , and especially the ride yesterday, really took it out of us.

Tomorrow – 18 Road Trails!