June 27, 2009 The Adventure Continues....

From Calgary Alberta to Antelope Wells New Mexico via Motorcycle.

Greg Willson and I follow the Adventure Cycling Associations maps that are made for Mountain Biking... We follow back country gravel roads and forrestry roads for 4,000 km to the Mexico border and then return 4,000 km via secondary roads through rural USA back home...

Tounge Creek Road westbound Sat June 27 / 09

We scoot out about 8 am fuel up and head south to Longview then west to Hwy 940 and take the gravel road south to Crows Nest Pass. Greg and I both needed that road to refresh our gravel technique ... We were both a little rusty............

Highway 3 westbound (looking east in the rear view mirror) to Fernie....

How did we get that picture? Don't ask!

Hwy 3 westbound near Fernie...

The road is great and the vistas are wonderful... Lovin' it already

When we got to Fernie it was time to fuel up (our boddies) so we found a very small eatery in a snowboard shop. The chicken burritos were really good.

Greggy is showing off his brusied hand. He injured it during a football game a day or two before we took off.... His hand is so swollen here that for the first few days of the trip it was difficult for him to get his glove on.... He's a tough guy so ignored the pain.

Roosville border crossing

We cross the border and go visit Todd Tanner @ the Grave Creek Cabins in Eureka Montana. Todd got us the Adventure Cycling Association maps and we wanted to visit him to say thanks and to pay him for the maps.... By the way, the maps are amazing. This adventure would not have been possible without them.

Grave Creek Montana

We enter the realm of Forrestry Roads just south of Eurika Montana and navigate our way to Lincoln MT, with a supper stop in Seeley Lake Montana for a very good steak feast.

So here is an interesting story...

When we got to Lincoln Montana (end of the road for day 1) the road side motels seemed to be full. We looked and found a small motel with the vacancy sign still on (it's about 9:30 pm) so we stop and meet the owner. Bob (the owner) is a mature gentleman that looks just like Santa, real beard and everything. Speaking with Bob we found out that he is 76, extremely happy and has a picture of himself as Santa on the wall.... Bob tells us that he has sold his motel and that tonight is his last night working as the Owner of his motel. Bob was retiring and going to his log cabin the very next day... He insisted that we park our Motorcycles in his garage for the evening, and wished us a good evening.

Bob is an individual that was content, not complacent. Happy, not resigned.... kind, not bitter......

This seemed to be a comon theme in Lincoln. Our server for breakfast was similar, a mature gal that really loved where she lived and what she did. She was content as well.... Hmmmmm, kinda seemed like a theme that was to be repeated in many (not all) of the small towns and stops that we were to make over the next 8 days. I started to wonder what there was to learn from these folks........... More to follow.......