I thought I’d resurrect this blog to chronicle my motorcycle trip to the coast. I am heading out this morning (with Zippy!) and we’ll see how this adventure unfolds. I’m a little worried about the heat in some sections of my ride, but I’ve broken the ride into pretty manageable sections. I’m not one of those motorcycle riders who will be trying to ride 500 miles in a day. Most of my days are 200 miles plus or minus with the longest still around 250 miles.
I was hoping to head up to Glacier and ride Going-To-The-Sun road but I was unable to secure a reservation so I altered my route a little bit. Today my target destination is Missoula. That said, I am not heading down I-90 which I would normally do in a car. Today I’m heading up to Helena and then taking backroads through the little town of Ovando and then on to Missoula. It’s about 225 miles via this route.
I’d never heard of Ovando until I started planning this trip but it was unfortunately in the news yesterday when it was reported that a woman who was bicycling the Great Divide route was camping near Ovando and was attacked and killed by a grizzly bear. Truly tragic. I am hoping to stop in Ovando for lunch but don’t expect to have that kind of a wildlife encounter.
I am more concerned about thunderstorms but they generally don’t develop until later in the afternoon so I am hoping that I reach Missoula before any of that hits. I hate riding in the rain so if I am unfortunate enough to get caught in the rain, I will likely just hole up somewhere until it passes. We’ll see.
I will try to keep these up daily but no promises. See you down the road!
