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"IN MEMORY OF MARY LOGSDON" - IN NOTE SECTION OF CHECK

AUGUST 8, 2006 - AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH, AIN'T NO VALLEY LOW ENOUGH, AIN'T NO RIVER….

I was up at a very respectable hour, thank you very much. I even think I was on the road before 8:30, although I can't be sure. I haven't been able to find my damn watch….. grrrr. I remember my name and what I am doing though. Really, I do!

Call me Ishmael. I had planned on heading for the Glacier National Park on my way home, but had to change my plans when an oil change was called for in Butte, Montana. While waiting for the oil change to be done, I figured out that the mileage would be out of the way for getting home to see my family. So, Mel and Donna don't know this, but I'll probably be back there sooner than they expect….. don't tell them.

The drive up to Great Falls, Montana was not without some excitement, though.  When I left Ashton, Idaho, I passed a rather interesting park on the side of the road. See the photographs submitted in a different note. That choice of names had me wondering and laughing for most of the day. In my travels the last few days, I have crossed the Continental Divide a total of four times that I know of. The elevations all seemed to be 6,000 feet or higher. I noticed the elevation changes when Mel and Donna took me to Grand Teton National Park. Everything feels normal until you step out of the car and walk any distance. It is really easy to tell that the air is much thinner than what you are used to breathing. It was the same story in Yellowstone Park, and on the drive up to Great Falls Montana.

When I pulled the motorcycle out of the garage at Mel and Donna's house, one of them asked if I knew what I was doing, since it had been so long since I had ridden a motorcycle. I replied that I thought I remembered. The Harley must have been a bit miffed at being awakened after so many days being allowed to sleep, and let me know of its displeasure later in the day (I'll explain THAT later). Once again, the weather seemed to cooperate as I headed north toward Canada. I even got some decent photographs.

As I approached Butte, I noticed that the clouds were getting very black along the mountain ridges,  but I thought, what the heck we'll see what it looks like when I leave the Harley Dealer. As I watched folks come in, I asked them if they had come from the north. Some had, and offered that they only felt a few drops, nothing to be worried about. I HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.  Remember those words.

HEY I JUST FOUND MY WATCH, TOO!!!!

While I waited for the bike to be done, I called my cousin to get the information on Brian Joseph Logsdon, who lives in Great Falls. He's got more seniority than Brian Joseph Logsdon who lives in Royal Oak. I determined that I might be able to make it all the way to Great Falls from Butte, although Brian was somewhat skeptical about that. Once the bike was done, I hooked everything back up and on, and took off. I was headed north on I 15, and had just passed the large open pit copper mine on the north side of Butte, when I noticed that the sky looked very odd indeed. By the time it started to look intimidating, instead of just odd, I was well north of town, and not nearly near enough to an exit to help.

I pulled over and proceeded to get into the rain gear. I kept looking north and decided that I didn't like what I was seeing. I remembered the evening run in the rain through the Adirondacks with Kevin, and thought that perhaps that was just a training exercise for me. I got the rain gear on over the leather jacket, even though it was fairly warm. I moved deeper into the mountains.

The clouds looked like they were moving closer to the ground. Fortunately, the lightening strikes were hitting the local mountain tops and not on the slopes, or worse, on the road. It then started to rain. Then it started to blow across the highway at a speed equal to or greater than I was moving on the road.

Then the hail came. I want to tell you that the rain was cold and very hard. The hail, was, as you can imagine, even colder and harder. There were times that I pulled over on the side of the road because it actually hurt LESS than when I was moving. There were no exits or overpasses - this is Montana, remember? There was a lot of open spaces along the road though. I contemplated stopping to jump the right of way fence and sit under a tree, but thought that a moving target was better. I have some welts on my legs where the little ice balls hit particularly hard. They make an interesting sound when they hit the helmet and the glasses, too.

I make an interesting sound when the ice hits my face, arms, legs, fingers and torso. In fact, I make a whole bunch of interesting sounds - not one of which is; "oh darn" or "poop". When I finally got over that stretch of mountains, I was disappointed that the weather had forced me to put the camera away. What beautifully rugged landscape. I was in a western movie - an old black and whie one - and I had the cool horse and the fancy gun belt, and the bad guys wore black and I never had to reload my six shooter.  I was a deadly shot even at 80 miles an hour (I told you I had the cool horse).

Finally on the north side of the mountains, the rain let up; the hail disappeared and the wind didn't do anything worse than try to blow me east to South Dakota. I was not too far from Helena. I thought I would get some gas, take a break and get something to eat.  I got off at the exit and tried to find an Applebees, but was unsuccessful. When the Harley entered a car wash parking lot, the wind was blowing terrifically. I had made the turn carefully enough, but the Harley finally got its revenge for having to be awakened from its hibernation by yours truly. I had completed the u turn in the lot, the wind was coming at me from my left - and it was powerful - and I went to hit the brakes to keep from going in the street.

Harley Davidson Ultra needed a nap right there. Over it went, and off I came. I felt really "Harley Davidsonish", if you know what I mean, laying there on my back in this car wash parking lot. As I got up, two kids (kids, they were probably in their mid twenties) came running to see if I was ok. I told them that I was, but my ego seemed bruised. We picked the bike up, and I gave it some corporal punishment by making it listen to Karen Carpenter's "Close to you". Muhahahahahahahahahaha…… lets see if it ever does THAT again.

Dinner was at Perkins, and was very nice. I just didn't feel like another McDonalds stop. I couldn't do it. After dinner and a resumption of the ride north, the landscape changed again to being even more rugged than I had been driving in previously today. I was able to stop along side the road and remove my rain gear. I also got the camera out and was able to record some of what I was experiencing. I passed over the Missouri River over 10 times as it meandered through the mountains. I made it to Great Falls without any further mishaps or weather concerns. I did notice, however, that far to the west, someone was getting their ass kicked by some powerful storms. I just nodded, knowing that I had been there and done that. I'll buy the shirt later.