This day was another one of those travel from point A to point B to get ready for the next day rides. Not terribly exciting and not that picturesque as we headed south on a nice two lane road choice (83) towards Garrison, where we'd pick up I90 and head to Laurel. Initially we thought we'd head to Laurel, but looking at the map, a better, closer choice would be Columbus. That allowed us to pick up 78 south in the morning to head to Red Lodge and Beartooth Pass/Highway. We knew there was excitement waiting for us if we could just get there. It was cold that morning and trying to rain. I started out in summer gear, but switched to winter gloves and fleece liner when we stopped at Swan Lake, MT for my brother to capture this shot for our mom, who loves swans.
It think she would have preferred to not have the Motorcycle in the picture, but Kevin thought otherwise. I was the 'bad son' and did not get a picture at all. Sorry mom.It must not have been too exciting as we traveled from Kalispell because I've checked my pics and I did not take a single picture on this day. Fortunately I was traveling with my brother and he did.
We left the Motel 6 in Kalispell and said goodbye to our neighbors. This little guy was securely fastened to the wall not far from our door and I felt compelled to take his picture. Fortunately I didn't disturb him and he was not too thirsty that morning.
As we headed over to pick up 83 my brother snapped these parting shots as we rode out of Kalispell.
Further on down the road he snapped a couple more pics when the weather started to behave a little better, but it was still cool.
As you can see the roads had a sweeping elegance to them that provided a lot more fun than we had anticipated when we left out that morning. Definitely recommend 83 as a preferred route to Kalispell should you find yourself motoring that direction.We jumped on the interstate at Garrison and started slabbing it down the highway to Columbus, through Butte, Belgrade, Bozeman and must have been a couple of other 'B' cities before we got to the 'C's.
About an hour outside of Columbus, while we were slaving over the super slab my brother and I traded bikes. Let me tell you, he looked really good on the Valk, but I was questionable on the V-Strom. It's like a Valk kinda, just add a 3 foot lift kit, remove the handlebars and slice 4 cylinders of the engine as well as take away the nice comfy seat and replace it with a 4x4 piece of wood. That's how to turn a Valkyrie into a V-strom. Okay, okay, it wasn't that bad, but after being on the Valk for 2500 miles straight, anything else just felt wierd. I could have used some training wheels though... that thing was really tall compared to the Valkyrie.
So we change bikes and head back out on the interstate and wouldn't you know it... the first sign on the highway cautioned about 'gusty winds'. Great here I am on this super tall bike with me acting like the sail and we head into the gusty wind area. Well, I could certainly feel the wind whipping me around. It was one of those times when you lean just to ride straight, which is always a strange feeling. He and I had been there before in the Southfork area of Colorado, but this time I got to see how he felt when battling fierce crosswinds. Let me just say I was glad to trade back with him after that. Nothing better to fight gusty winds with than a low-slung cruiser with over 1500 CCs in the palm of your hand.
Columbus proved to be pretty small but did have two Hotels... a Super 8 by the highway and another further in town. We hit up the Super 8 first. Kevin strolled in to check the rates and room availability. Seems the had one, but they quoted a rate of around $88. Kevin just flatly stated, "That's too high". Caught of balance by his response the two girls behind the counter started naming possible discounts should he belong to triple A, AARP, and various others to which Kevin kept replying no. Exasperated they asked him why it was that they should be giving him a discount. In perfect straight face Kevin replied, "because I'm cute". At this point I wish I could have captured the girls reaction, but they were so doubled over with laughter that I couldn't have taken a good shot. I was pretty cracked up as well. I'd expect that from my other brother, but never Kevin. It was a bit before the laughter subsided. They admitted that was the first request like that they had ever received.
With just a bit more work, Kevin whittled about $20 off the stated rate and soon we were unloading our gear into the room. I'm beginning to think he should negotiate the rates from now on, he did much better that I had so far. Here's a pic of our parking area out back the next morning.
Checking with the front desk and asking about recommended eating establishments, they only came up with two. A bar and grill down the street and a steak house just past the railroad tracks. I don't know as either of us were up for steak that night, but with a name like, Whitlock's Steak House, it was a place we just couldn't pass up.
We cruised on down and had a couple of, as it turned out, very large steaks. I don't think we'd eaten that much since we started on the trip. We talked briefly with the owner, who was not named Whitlock, and found that she just liked the sound of the name and decided to use it. That's not so funny, we like the sound it if also.With that we headed back to the Hotel and caught up on our notes and phone calls and hit the sack fairly early as I recall. Tomorrow would be a day full of riding challenges as we headed toward Buffalo, WY with only a small 11,000 ft pass between us.
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