Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Today is border-crossing day, so that means a late-ish start, getting up at 8am and heading across the road for breakfast. When I returned to the room, Jim was in the bathroom hurling his guts up – seems the Salmon he had for dinner last night has disagreed with him in a big way – so much so, that he'll be travelling in the van with Jeff, as he's too weak to even pack his bags. Hope he feels better soon...

The day itself started with rain and continued that way almost all day. We left the hotel in groups, leaving around 10.30am and riding the soggy 20 miles or so to the border in our usual formation. At the border, Al, this week's Prat Hat winner, duly fulfilled his punishment by donning the prat-hat at the border crossing (having first made sure he wouldn't get arrested). Pity he didn't warn any of us sat on our bikes waiting to cross, as no-one had a camera ready...

Once across the border the group fragmented, as those through first set off into the rain. Before long, though, I'd caught them up, and with Nick tucking in behind me we picked them off one-by one, as they seemed content to stick at a steady 60mph admiring the scenery, which was all-but invisible behind a wall of rain. At the entrance to Glacier National Park I was able to use my park-pass that I bought when in the US with Tracy last year, saving the $12 which Kevin assures me he'll return in beer tokens... The park itself looked beautiful, at least the bits we could see, it being a real pity that the rain was pouring down... I managed to get a couple of photos in gaps in the rain, but then it become torrential, so there was nothing to do but put the camera away and ride...











Deep into the park as we climbed over the top of the mountain, we were met with a lot of standing traffic, caused by the roadworks that ran almost down the entire length of the mountain. With several sections restricted to one-way traffic, we were forced to join the queue and make our way very slowly round the edge of the mountain, getting ever more drenched. Unlike the UK, motorcycles are not permitted to “filter” (or lane-split as the Americans call it), so we couldn't even pick off the queues and get down any quicker. Several sections of the road were very rough, muddy and coated in gravel, a great combination when pouring with rain, but we didn't have any real problems and eventually emerged into the forested valley below, where we pulled off the road to get a coffee and use the facilities. The road over the mountain is called the “Going to the Sun Road”, which I thought rather ironic, so bought a sticker for my bike to remind me...

After the coffee and a quick chat to Nick's wife (hello!) we rode back into the downpour and made our way to the motel in Bigfork. Almost as soon as we arrived, the rain eased and then stopped. Typical...

Showered and ready for the evening's “welcome to the USA” drinks, I was quietly updating the blog and looking at the maps when Richard asked if I wanted to join the early scouting party going in search of beer. Naturally, I thought about this long and hard, and so a few seconds later we were walking down the road and across the bridge into Bigfork. After walking round town and soaking up the sunshine (yes, it was now sunny...), we found a likely-looking bar and went inside, then outside in the back-yard, where we ordered several pitchers of beer and set to work. The rest of the group arrived soon after, and more pitchers were ordered and a toast to our arrival in the US made. Just as we were settling down to a few quiet drinks, the peace was interrupted by a group of 30 or so women, all dressed up in pink with pink lips stuck of and making a lot of noise.. At first, we thought it was a hen party, but it turns out it was an annual celebration of summer, coinciding with one of the lady's birthdays. Every year they hire a bus and driver and set off round the lake, drinking a lot, and then hit various bars in and around Bigfork and the surrounding towns. It should come as no surprise that they picked on Nick (or was it the other way round?), and dressed him up like them...





But the best bit was the spoons. Yes, this group of nutters also had in their midst a genuine spoon-playing genius. She got on the tables and started playing, then bashed the spoons against anything and anyone, all the time making “music” (all things are relative...). She even had a go at teaching Nick how to play...





Then there was a call from one of them, and in a flash they were all gone, back to the bus and on to another hostelry...

After a few more beers Richard, Karen, Max, Christine, Chris, Andrew and I headed off to a restaurant Christine had found that looked good, determined to avoid another night of burgers. And what a restaurant it turned out to be. Called “Showthyme” it was excellent, the food was simply the best we've had on the trip so far. I had shrimp, lobster and scallop quesadillas followed by Patagonian toothfish served with a crispy topping and Thai red curry sauce, then a chocolate cheesecake for dessert... Have I said it was delicious? It's making me salivate just thinking about it...





Contented, and with our bellies full, we waddled back out of town and up the hill (much steeper on the way back than we remembered) to the hotel, and our beds.