Day 6 – Thursday, June 28 – Whitefish MT to Choteau MT
We began the day by packing the
bikes up once again and heading out to find some breakfast. The night before, a suggestion to try Swift Creek Café in the downtown area was
offered by the motel clerk. So, we rode
on up there and walked on in. Each couple
split a breakfast burrito, which was hand prepared with lots of good stuff in
them. The service was ok, but there were
quite a few people in there for a one-person wait staff. The breakfast burrito is highly suggested!
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| Lake McDonald Lodge |
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| Lake McDonald |
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| Lake McDonald |
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| Marmot |
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| Logans Pass Area |
We migrated downward and stopped at
Saint Mary Lake next. It was there
where we met Jim Kinny from Columbia Missouri.
He was driving a Goldwing, so Jim and Ronnie hit it off. Jim didn’t seem to know a stranger
either. He talked to us for quite a
while, snapped our photo with my camera as I did the same for him with his
camera. Once we parted, we decided to at
least go check out Canada while we were near.
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| Going to the Sun Road - Glacier National Park |
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| St Mary Lake - Glacier National Park |
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| Rob Kathy Theresa Ronnie at St Mary Lake |
We left Glacier and headed north to the Canadian border. I was leading the two-bike group and ended up going past the point of no return in to Canada, but only to do a U-turn. Turns out, U-turns are not allowed in Canada, or at least not at the border entrance… oops. The RCMP quickly came out and asked us to check in the border entrance or leave the country immediately. It was harsh, but we quickly chose USA and proceeded back in to the states. We couldn’t just skate through either, since we had to be repatriated by having our passports scanned and questioned by the US Customs agent. We got back in, thankfully, and headed down the road for a lunch stop.
Two Sisters Café was the choice for lunch, which was housed in a light
purple building that matched nicely with Ronnie’s ‘illusion blue’
Goldwing. We met a couple of nice women
who were riding motorcycles from Pennsylvania to Alaska and back. They were on their way back home. Wow, and we only went from KC to Glacier and
back… Lunch was good here, but a little
pricey for what was served.
We traveled down the eastern
portion of Glacier National Park, through twisty roads and wonderful
views. It had been a while since we had
a stop, so upon hitting Bynum Montana, we located a watering hole named JD's
Wildlife Sanctuary. We were met in the gravel
parking lot by a mixed breed dog with a tennis ball – who obviously wanted to
play ball with us. Kathy picked up the
ball and threw it across the parking lot in to the street and the dog quickly
returned apparently ready to play again. However, the dog would not give up the
ball this time. What a hoot!
We entered the establishment and
ordered a frosty cold one from the owner/bartender and sat and chatted
some. We were the only ones in the bar
at the time, but soon enough, there were a couple ladies that entered and then
a young man. The ladies had been
drinking for a while, we think. Heck,
they even brought in their own red solo cups to get filled. The gentleman that walked in spoke of his 2,000-acre
farm that was just zeroed out by the insurance company due to hail damage the
week prior. Sounds like we timed the
trip just right. Sorry for that young
man’s loss. 27 years old and farming a
2,000-acre farm… Wow. Impressive!
I took it upon myself to locate
some hotel options via phone. The next
town, Choteau Montana, was only 13 miles away and that worked just
perfect. It wasn’t late at all, but we
needed to do laundry again, since it had been a few days and we were all
running out of clean clothes. I called a
few places but didn’t reserve any until we did a drive by to judge the places
by the upkeep. Turns out, you can judge
a book by its cover when applying that theory to motels. We landed at the Gunther Motel for the night, where we unpacked, gathered the dirty
clothes, and headed to town to get them started in the washing machine. Don’t let the reviews fool you, it was a
decent place to stay, and they gave us rags to wash our motorcycles with.
Another bonus! As the clothing was being
laundered, we walked across the street to John Henry's family
restaurant for dinner. It was
wonderful, but they close at 9:00 PM, so get there at normal dinnertime.
Other highlights:
·
National/State Parks: Glacier
National Park
·
Miles: ~ 230
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