Today was the last ride of the tour. The route from Choteau to Great Falls is generally downhill and not too far so this would be a nice final day to end the tour.
Sean and I left the nice hotel in Choteau about 7:30 am and went due south on Hwy 89. As we left town we could see buttes in the distance off to the right. The weather today was perfect to view the scenery.
Leaving Chouteau at around 7:30
As we passed some large buttes we could see three cross on the top of one of them. Traffic was fairly light early in the morning on 89. Sean and I didn't ride too fast as we planned to meet some other riders at the snack stop so that we could follow them into Great Falls.
Three crosses on a butte south of Chouteau on Hwy 89
About 20 miles into the ride we came to the Freezout Wildlife Management area. There were a lot of birds flying around but I did notice the water level was low compared to 2 years ago.
Freezeout Wildlife Area
Farther down the road we passed through Fairfield, the barley capital of the world. There were large silos for the barley right in town. In this area we saw Nancy, Chris and Vicki who caught up to us.
Silos in Fairfield
Continuing south we came upon Hwy 200. In this area the traffic picked up. Sean saw a sign going north that said Missoula was about 150 miles away. As we were riding on the shoulder we saw a green Excursion just like our support vehicle. At first I thought it was Blaine and Thea. It was pulled over with a flat tire. Then I saw that it had Montana plates and an unfamiliar woman behind the wheel.
In Vaughn near Interstate 15 we had our snack stopped. Sean and I decided to follow Recumbent Ken and Railroad John as Ken had a GPS with the route on it into GF. From here it was about 15 miles to the Ursuline Center, our final home.
Snack stop in Vaughn
We got to the center about 1 and waited to check in. Each rider was able to have his or her own room. Once showered, Sean, Tom and I walked to a store to get a
cold drink and a newspaper.
A chicken dinner was provided in the evening. I tried to blog but the only wi-fi available was in one lounge of the center. There was no A/C so we got pretty hot in this room.
The next morning, I called Avis and was told that a car was ready for us. Sean and I went to the airport and picked it up. We then drove about 1800 miles back to Norther Calif.
Both of us enjoyed the tour and will check other member blogs for progress to Minneapolis.
Riding the final miles with John and Ken
Railroad John
Sean crossing the Missouri River in Great Falls
No comments:
Post a Comment