Flashback to Montana, July 2011

The other day I was over at Kari's blog and she made a comment about our trip to Montana during July 2011.  You can read about it   HERE1  or  HERE2   or  HERE3

but of course you could go to Bluekat's blog and read   THIS1  or  THIS2  

    Our Home away from Home,  Cabin near Hungry Horse, Montana             July 2011

the difference being is that all of my photos are GONE.  My memories have been reduced to bland letters while her's is vibrant and full of photos.   As we look back upon life and memories of what made us happy I have fond memories of this trip and our time together.    It was my pleasure to spend a few days with Kari, Ron and the Dom Family from Denver, CO (and Martha blogs too).   I had met Kari and Ron before in Bend, Oregon during our first iMBC2010, but it was my first meeting with Dom (aka: Charlie6)

We had one real washroom with running water for 7 adults and 2 teens and we had to make a schedule for washroom and shower times.   It was sort of like turning back the clock to simpler times as there was no radio, nor was there any TV or internet.  I remember that we were just one happy family.  There was one washing machine and we pooled our clothes together into one wash and thanks to Martha I had clean clothes to wear

    Our first glimpse of Dom  (aka: charlie6)                        see one of   Dom's post  here  

Bluekat (Kari) & Ron came from Corvallis, OR while I rode south from Vancouver BC.  We decided to meet in Ritzville, WA and then ride together to Montana

    Entering Idaho.    Kari & Ron

We took turns leading

    Kari with her Ninja

and we eventually made it into Montana

I think it was because I was leading on the last stretch where we got lost.  We didn't realize that Dom was waiting by the side of the road looking out of us and he was just going to go back to the cabin so we were lucky to come along at the right time before he left

The last section of the road turned to hard packed gravel with a steep incline.  You can see our cabin in the distance.

With our bikes parked we could finally relax and settle in for the next few days.    The Going to the Sun highway was not scheduled to open for a day or so due to the heavy snows and the road was not cleared so the next day we decided to go for a day ride.  It was one of the lastest opens for the road over Logan Pass

Kari made mention that she enjoyed looking at photos from this trip so here are a few that you may not have seen before.   She has had some challenges this year and I thought I could put a smile on her face and bring back some happy times.   I hope that one day soon we can do it again

    Lake Koocanusa,  MT

    Lake Koocanusa, MT                 Kari & Ron

    Kari & Ron          Glacier National Park,     July, 2011

Here's a video I recorded on  July 13th, 2011.   This was the latest opening of the Going to the Sun Highway



It was gravel nearly the whole way with lots of road construction and single lane traffic