Lincoln, Montana

Started out in Yellowstone Nat'l Park this morning. Spent about a 1/2-day there seeing Old Faithful and other geisers, nature, and by mid-afternoon... WAY too many people. Would love to come back someday and spend several days here with the family.

I worked my way out thru the West, into West Yellowstone Montana, and then continued a short ways further West to clip Idaho.

As I was heading North on US20 out of Idaho and back into Montana, up ahead I could see a massive storm system coming up and over the mountains from the West. To the east was another storm that had stalled going over the mountains. They were about to smack into each other with me in the middle. So I tried to "Shoot the gap", twisted the throttle, and aimed for the small portion of sky in front of me the was still blue. I thought I was gonna make it, but before I was in the clear, Mother Nature thru me a curve ball and I was pounded by pea-size hail. Man, that sucked. I'm getting used to it though. Mother Nature has enjoyed messing with me every day that I've been on the road.

Soon after, I made the decision to head straight to Edson AB rather that Banff Nat'l Park. So there I was zipping along Hwy 200 today in Montana, which is one spectacular canyon carving road. Then I hit reserve. Since I'm not on a major Interstate, I asked my GPS where the closest gas station is. 70 MILES AHEAD. Oh crap. I'm not gonna make it. Even with my extra gallon packed in my saddlebags, I have doubts if I can go much further than 60 miles. I drop my speed down to a painful 50mph to conserve fuel. 30 miles later, I come across the little town of Lincoln. It has about a dozen little casinos, and one gas station. That's good enough for me. Shew. That's where I ended up calling it quits for the day. Got a nice little room at one of the local motels. Road down to the local grocery store, bought a couple microwave burritos and a beer, and breakfast for tomorrow.

Tomorrow's plan is to head across the border (178 miles) then continue you on into Edson AB (about 670 miles total) for an oil change and a much needed pitstop. I'm skipping Banff Nat'l Park, but might hit that on the way back thru. Just depends on how things are going.

Sent from my BlackBerry.