Four Corners - Day 3

Start Location: White Sulphur Springs, MT
Ending Location: Bowman, ND
Miles Today: 404
Trip Miles: 1205
States Visited: 4
Low Temp: 48 degrees
High Temp: 59 degrees
Min Elevation: 2379'
Max Elevation: 5784'

Route Map:

That's right, you read it correctly. When we left the motel this morning the temperature was 53 degrees and then it started to drop. It got to 48 degrees before it started to 'warm up'. Unfortunately the highest it ever got was 59 degrees and that was for only a few moments. When we left, we were worried about the heat going across Montana. The temperature today was 25 degrees below the normal temperature for this time of the year. On top of that it rained for a great deal of the day. Cold on a motorcycle is not fun. Rain on a motorcycle is not fun. Together can be a challenge. But we have good rain gear, we put it on early, and it worked very well.

We were on SR 12 all day and the view really didn't change much, except when it looked like this. In about 360 miles (the rest was on I94), we passed 3 cars and one farm vehicle and were passed by 3 vehicles. One would think that makes for a great riding. Unfortunately, when there is not much traffic, there is not a great need for gas stations. You guessed it. We came way too close to running out of gas. We saw a sign for Ingomar and were hoping there would be gas. When we got to the intersection, our hopes sank. It was a gravel road that looked like it went nowhere, but I spotted a sign (that looked like Lewis and Clark could have erected it) indicating gas, a restaurant and store. The town, which was a quarter mile down the gravel road, consisted of about 4 buildings, but sure enough they had gas. They even had restrooms. Actually, they were his and her outhouses, which were included in the count of 4 buildings. The men's outhouse even had a sheet metal trough on the outside angled down into a pipe in the ground to be used as a urinal. We could have been at Seahawks stadium. I shouldn't complain as the women's even had 2 ply toilet tissue. Can't believe we didn't get a picture of them, but we didn't want to draw any more attention to ourselves than we already had. We were quite a site all bundled up and dripping wet. The stop definitely added some needed humor to a dismal day.

For those of you who have never been on a motorcycle trip, you need to realize one thing. The whole trip is about the journey, not the destination. However, today it was ALL about the destination!

We scored another motel with high speed wireless Internet. I'm sure someday they'll all have it. Unfortunately I forgot my wireless card. Most places have cards to loan you so I already have 3 or 4 different drivers on my laptop since they all have something different. I may have to stop and pick up another one to carry along. What I really want is satellite Internet so that I can stop anywhere on the side of the road and check maps, motel avaiability, etc.

As an aside, several years ago Jason bought me a pair of Hot Grips heated motorcycle grips. I installed them and checked to make sure they worked but never had a chance to need them - and I certainly never expected to need them on this trip. I needed them, I used them, and I am a big fan. Thanks, Jason.

This is Linda writing now. I would like to add that they worked so well he announced that his hands were getting too warm and he needed to turn them down. I was ready to bean him over the head but my hands were so cold I couldn't move them to hit him!

Just in case anyone wonders or notices changes in styles, we are actually both writing this - sometimes adding comments in the same paragraph or sentence.

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