Our hotel for the night was quite unusual in that it incorporated what we would normally expect to be outside, inside - complete with 5-6 spa pools and a heated swimming pool - the sun umbrellas may have been a bit optimistic though. The carp were absolutely massive - pretty quick to devour any treats biffed their way.
Most of the crew went to one or other of the 2 steakhouses close by, with morning reviews varying in the extreme from “no good at all” to “really good” which I guess is probably par for the course with close to 25 people, Tina and Wayne having arrived belated via very circuitous flights from Taupo. In deference to what was planned on being a short day, the late risers were treated to a 9:30 departure - those of us waiting in the car park pre departure were by standers to a bit of a “criminal reality show”. For reasons unknown adjacent to our bikes, one car blocked another in (subsequently identified as a detective). A few minutes later a police cruiser arrived and the driver of the blocked in car was soon in handcuffs and being carted off, no doubt with a bit of explaning to do for what ever he’d done. A heck of a way to start the day. Nev led us out of Bozeman, with a quick trip to the authentic western town of Virginia City our first stop, authentic right down to the cowboys and horse poo in the Main Street. You don’t need too much imagination to appreciate just how tough life would have been in those days, especially for the women folk - isolation, extremes of weather, lack of any support or resources. The road from Ennius to Virginia City then back again was a highlight, raising quickly from the flatlands into the mountains, passing a bunch of newly built and rather innocuous “McMansions” along the way. Back to the early part of the day - about 20 minutes I found myself in a very “happy place” of almost Harley Zen. I often think the day is good, very good or even great, but rarely is it perfect, even for just a few minutes. As Chris Rea played loudly over the speakers, from a high point the snow capped mountains were magnificent far in the distance, and in every other direction the undulating pasture went for as far as the eye could see and it was then that the world was at rights, at least for me, and for the few minutes before a too active mind caused reality to seep back in. This is a place of hard men (and women), men who are used to extremes in every thing including luck in what is very unforgiving country, often one harvest away from failure. Whilst scale seems to be very important, we blew past many hard scrabble places that looked like they were at the bad end of a losing streak, old gear, run down properties and little hope of any redemption on the horizon - hence my crashing back to reality. We stopped in Ennis for lunch - just about as far away in every sense as you could get from the bullshit of Los Angeles or New York. Other than sharing the love of the flag, there is nothing in common between these hardworking, God fearing and conservative people and the liberal Lovies found on either coast. That said, I doubt many of the aforementioned lovies have a patriotic streak in them, and I know where I’d sooner be. The last leg through to Yellowstone brought with it some excitement- whilst at the Earthquake Centre, the wind came up and the sky darkened, with heavy rain seemingly imminent- Weatherman Jim suggested a run for it (with the local knowledge of the Parks Service man on hand confirming the forecast), we quickly suited up with wet weather gear and were off at pace, yahoo. Fortunately the weather gods only toyed with us - other than a few bits and pieces, we dodged what our hosts at tonight’s accommodation said could have been a big storm. Comments are closed.
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Don MalcolmA perfect day involves being on my Harley with a long ride ahead.
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