Well, wouldn't you know it, that autumn storm cell made a hard south and nailed Lethbridge overnight as Badger and I slumbered in our respective hotel bed and U-Haul cargo hold. Only about 5 cm of snow this time around, but the temperatures were several degrees below freezing and a short walk confirmed that the local roads, like the hotel parking lot, were glazed with ice. Even at 10:00 am, after a patient breakfast drawn over the first few hours of morning sun, it wasn't melting quickly enough. Okay, glad I didn't unload Badger last night, because this fiasco was about to go international.
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Sorted, I embarked south and east on AB-4 towards the U.S. border crossing at Sweetgrass. While exploring Montana Department of Transportation highway webcams over breakfast, I had assessed that Helena, MT -- a further 440 km south -- would be the correct objective in order to get fully clear of the slushy roads and sub-zero temperatures, and finally positioned to point the needle west. From afar, my brother concurred, so into the Garmin it was loaded. During the first hour's drive to the border, it was fun to imagine how the conversation with U.S. Border Patrol might go -- weird vehicle arrangement, lone guy in a U-Haul, no stateside travel reservations -- but it was actually dead simple. The agent walked around the truck before approaching me at the driver's window, where he simply asked for my passport and said he would need the padlock key to open the roll-up door at the back of the truck. After a chuckle at my background story, he took no issue with me climbing out of the truck and opening up the back myself, under my pretense of wanting to check that the lonely motorcycle inside was still standing. (Of course it was; didn't you notice that tie-down strap is orange?)
Into Montana, I continued south on now Interstate 15. Soon enough, I saw another motorbike for the first time of this leg -- a fellow 1190R heading northbound, right into it! In a perfect world, we would have flagged each other down, rolled Badger out and his KTM in, handed over the U-Haul keys, and I'd be riding and he'd be driving the truck back to origin in Calgary (or maybe, having an extended sleepover at the border, depending how the Canadian side assessed the situation). Hope you made it, buddy!
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Country radio on the FM dial carried me through the countryside, punctuated perfectly by an upbeat twanger with the chorus lyric, “Oooooooh, I’m drivin’ my life away, Lookin’ for a sunny day…”, which Shazam'd as the 1975 Grammy-nominated trucker anthem "Drivin' My Life Away" by Eddie Rabbit, and which would have been certified gold for a second time again if all of my behind-the-wheel hollerin' counted.
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Late afternoon, I arrived in Helena, scouted out the U-Haul centre, then -- after flexing my brain cells through the required order of operations -- found the nearest gas, refueled the truck, and parked on a quiet side street half a block away for The Changeover. For whatever reason that made sense in the moment, I wanted to offload my bike out of the truck out of direct sight of the U-Haul people. It took a few minutes to sort my goods, change costumes from driver to rider (using the pitch black closed-door cargo hold as my superhero phone booth), ride Badger down the ramp and up to the U-Haul parking lot, walk back to the truck, jump in, and finally drive it into the Returns lane like a normal customer. That over with, I then rode back to the gas station, where I now filled Badger, and took a few more minutes to lube my chain and give him a proper pre-ride checkover.
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Back in the saddle, I hammered US-12 west (which overlaps I-90 for a stretch) for two hours, delving west directly into a nice pink sunset, arriving in Missoula at dusk. As a late-arrival single walk-in, I made best efforts bargaining for 3-star accommodations at 2-star prices, then walked across the street to a family restaurant called the MacKenzie River Pizza Co.
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Day totals: 439 km, 5h20m by U-Haul;
197 km, 2h00m by bike. Trip totals: 2,030 km by bike; 749 km by U-Haul. |
Start: Lethbridge, AB. End: Missoula, MT.
Soundtrack: Keep it here, this is Wide Open Country, K96 FM. |