Day One of "The Trip"

I finally hit the road today with the plans of traversing half the continent to reach the Pacific Ocean on my motorcycle.  I finally got on the road this morning at exactly 8am which, as usual, was 2 hours later than I wanted.  Upon departure the temp. was aobut 80 degrees and very humid.  Once I got passed St. Cloud the temp. dropped to about 68 and the humidity went away but the wind really kicked up.  The plan today was to ride to Montana and find a hotel for the night.  I actually made some really good time at the beginning of the trip as I was filling up at the gas station in Fargo at 11:30am.   

North Dakota is a long state with not much for scenery except the last 100 miles or so of the state.  Had lunch in Bismark at the golden arches.  While there the local fire dept. showed up on a fire truck and I watched them all admire the bike as they came in.  They also were watching as I was gearing up to leave.  She is a pretty bike.

Only had one close call today.  I am not going to stereotype...ok yes I am... but lets just say it was a Town Car with Florida plates and they probably hit the early bird special.  I was trailing a straight box truck at a safe distance in the left lane.  The Truck had passed the town car and I was passing him and was at about at his back quater.  He deceides that he wants to goto the rest stop. (maybe his depends needed changing..I know mine almost did afterwards..) Unfortunatly it was a left exit as it was in between the east/west lanes.  Neat idea...one rest stop for both directions of traffic. but almost deadly for me today. The guy never looked in his mirror nor over his shoulder to see if anyone was there and whipped over without signaling.  Thank god for the anti-lock brakes........He just missed my front tire by inches.  The horn on my BMW scares the crap out of me if I hit it by mistake but this gentleman got an earfull of it along witha  bunch of WTF arm waves.  

 First place I stopped was some huge metal sculpture along the interstate.  Didn't spend enough time to read about it but I wanted a picture.





I also stopped in at Theodore Roseveldt national park and got a few shots of the painted valley.









Unfortunalty I didn't get a chance to see any buffalo but there was evidence......




Here is a pic entering Montana.  I didn't get a shot of the Nodak sign because there wasn't any place to pull over safely.  




I am spending my first night in Glendive MT.  It's the first town of any size once you get into Montana.  I found a high class joint which burned a hole in my pocket for $31.  Heck I am paying that at the KOA for camping at Glacier national park tomorrow night.  For that $31 I got a fridge, microwave, actiual closet (albeit without a door), desk, swivel chair and a queen bed.  For added bonus the air-condidtioning somewhat works!



For dinner I asked if there was any place good to eat and the front desk sent me a couple blocks away to the "Gasthaus."   I thought great, I have been really enjoying German food lately.  I was looking forward to some spatzle...I love spatzle.  I walked in and it had one of the oddest things I have ever seen in....next to some dinning tables it had a gas firepit.  Was way out of place and blocked the aisle for walking....weird.  




I got my menu, looked at the front and there wasn't one german style dish, only pizza and burgers.  I flipped it over and the word BRAT caught my eye....Finally something German.  Then I read the item name again and it read "Swiss brat"....Hugh?  What the hell is a swiss brat....  Well a 'Swiss Brat' is a POLISH Sausage with SWISS cheese.  I deceided I didn't want a polish sausage so I order a patty melt thinking the pumpernickle bread would at least give me a little german food.  Well it arrived on white wonder bread.  This was the most american, german named restaurant I have ever seen.  Hell, it even had a mexican dish on the menu but not a single german dish.....

I just want to thank "tracy" for leaving her wireless access point open and unsecured so I can update you all on my travels.   All the coffee shops in town with wireless internet closed at 5:30pm(?)....tracy you've been a life saver.... whomever you are......


Talke to you all tomorrow!