No Plan... No reservations...No Problem

I really do not intend to paint the picture that this trip was totally without a plan, as I poured over maps for months and researched each of the riding areas on the various sites such as "Adventure Rider" etc. for the best roads to ride. Plus I was able to pick a lot of brains at the Rally, by people that ride these roads all the time. That said however, I did not have any set schedule other than the appointment for my seat to be made and the rally. Initially after riding through the Bitterroot mountains and Lolo Pass, I intended to drop down into Yellowstone then across the Big Horn mountains to the Black Hills of South Dakota. I ran into several people that were telling horror stories of large traffic jams in Yellowstone due to road construction and heavy traffic. One chap said he had spent 6 hours just transiting the park. Since I am going back to Yellowstone in September with the Phat Pac, well after all the kids are back in school and family vacations are just memories, and I was just in the Black Hills last summer, I decided to alter my route to ride some of the "Big Sky" state of Montana. I never tire of the vast open spaces and rolling hills of Montana. All one needs to do is look in any direction and you can see how this state got the description of "Big Sky" country. I guess I just conjure up images of wagons crossing this vast expanse of territory and the common Indian attacks I saw on TV as a kid. I bailed on the original plan and headed for Helena the capital of the state and then took Rte 12 over to Rte 3 then jumped on Interstate 90 for a short while until I got to the Little Big Horn Battlefield and then followed Rte 212 down to Rapid City. Some of this route is the same route Bill and I took last year on the way back from Alaska. It was just as much fun this time as it was last year. I never tire of this scenery.