25Aug08 Arlington, TX - Calgary, AB - Cut Bank, MT

"Cleanly out of the gate" is an expression more suited to giant slalom or horse racing than motorcycle touring. At least in my case. Before I leave on my 4000 mile + trip (which I've planned for over a month) I need to help get the kids out to the first day of school, RSVP-ing to my niece's wedding, getting to an ATM, finding my GPS; all have to be accomplished before my 0830 departure to the airport (and, yes, all were known about and coulda shoulda been accomplished well before this day). And don't forget the airport parking pass.... I'll need to shampoo the walkway I put in the carpet going in/out getting ready to leave. Again, by allowing time these little hitches are irritating, but not panic inducing. The plan (and from past experience we know how that can go) is: Monday - DFW to YYC, get bike, close storage, ride to border, pick up stashed treasure, head as far towards Great Falls MT as possible. Tuesday - move towards Mt Rushmore. Wednesday - head towards Colorado. Thursday - Colorado to Wichita KS. Friday - Wichita to Red Rock Canyon Hinton OK. Saturday - Hinton OK to Arlington TX (home). Reality for day one went pretty close to plan. Got to the airport in plenty of time for the flight to Calgary, cabbed to Sentenal Storage and closed account there. The owners, Cheryl and her husband, are both bikers and had just gotten back from a 2 week trip thru the NW US. Their stand-in was effective enough as a seat filler - albeit squarefaced and humorless. She had the personality and charm of a brick with fingers.


The wind was the big story of the day. I was watching a cloudbank to the west over the Rockies and the rainfall and descent down the mountains accellerated the 'breeze' well into the 30+mph range and C O L D. I was in RideCon1 (liner and FroggToggs) and still shivering! Really hope to make the turn east at Glacier US before the rain comes! Passed "Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump" and the town of Nantona, which boasted an AirMuseum (don't know the connection) showing two pilot Popsicles (plane on a stick) of Voodoo and Sabre and a Lancaster! Wonder what the 'hole cards' were? Made the border cold by dry, and raised the immigration agent's eyebrow when I passed my, ah, passport complete with 100$ emergency cash included. He just looked at me and passed it back. Next evolution was to find the buried treasure I'd left by the roadside a month ago. There are things that a protective father wants to have when traveling with his 16 year old daughter in the back roads and back country which the Canadian authorities do not allow into their country, licensed though it may be. While it may seem less than secure to simply bury it at the foot of a tree 125yds off the roadway and cover with rocks, I can assure you, there are treasures buried much less covertly which have never been found! Ask any true treasure hunter! Anyway, I new my marks (Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is a great read...) and found it straight away.

Got into Cut Bank MT at dusk, put the check in the block of nourishment at the McDonalds there, and then the rain finally caught up with me. Fortunately there was an 'in town' RV ground right across the street, and when I pulled up Mike, the operator, directed me to a rocky looking site that would both allow me to dodge the wind and stake down properly. It was rather like a rock hand with the fingers pointing up and the site in it's palm. Way cool. I slept to the patter of rain and sounds (but not effects) of wind.