Day 6 – June 19, 2013
Went through
Belle Fourche (pronounced bell foosh) on my way to Montana. What’s the significance of this? Well, it seems that old Belle is the
geographic center of the United States, with the marker 20 miles north of the
tiny town. How is this the center of the
US? Well, it is NOT the geographic
center of the CONTINENTAL US, but, when you consider the location of Alaska and
Hawaii, you have the geographic center of the US (you just have to know what
questions to ask). And there folks, is today’s geography
lesson.
I made a quick, short run into Montana, just so I
could add it to my “states ridden through” list. My turn point was some little burg by the
name of Alzada and I wasn’t expecting what happened. Instead of a boring ride through more farm
fields that just smelled of manure, I got what turned out to be the best day of
my vacation so far.
To start off with, I was blessed with a warm (hit
90 at Devil’s Tower), sunny day and azure blue skies with a few fluffy white
clouds. Clear as a bell with no haze at
all and of course, there is no such thing as polluted air up here. I had an absolutely perfect ride through
America’s high plains, starting the day by riding through endless, rolling
fields of prairie grass that were dotted with clumps of evergreens and herds of
cattle. This is where the premium beef
comes from … the kind that you get in a great steakhouse, not the grain fed
stuff we buy at Wegmans. There were some
bison and herds of elk grazing here also.
(Patti, I definitely won this round of “My Cows”). All of this was truly a beautiful sight.
Now, there are rumors that Montana doesn’t have
any speed limits but that has changed and they do in fact have speed limits,
but very generous ones. I am proud to
say that I never exceeded those limits by being more than 50 mph over the limit
… come on I’m only human. Flat, well-paved
back roads, straight as an arrow and empty as far as the eye can see. I just couldn’t resist (by the way, I think
that Montana only has 3 or 4 State Troopers, as opposed to one every 10 miles
in New York.)
From Alzada, MT, I headed south and dropped down
into the town of Hulett, WY where I am spending the night. The ride here was stunning, through pine
forest covered hills and valleys with beautiful red rock outcroppings. This route is definitely the road less
travelled and was exactly what I had in mind when I planned this motorcycle
tour of the west … my bike and me on lonely back roads that wound through some
of the most beautiful country in America.
What a day!
Along the way, on a particularly lonely stretch
of road, I came across this:
It was easily visible from the road, so I snapped
a few shots. The large vehicle at the top with the missile on it’s back sure does look like a mobile ICBM missile
launcher to me and the picture on the bottom looks like perhaps an anti-missile
battery. Very strange that these should
be in plain view.
Once into Wyoming, I visited Devil’s Tower. There is nothing else out here … literally;
this thing is in the middle of nowhere.
However, ever since I saw “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, I’ve
wanted to come here. Perhaps the ET’s invited
here, just like the movie. If I
disappear, never to be heard from again, you’ll know that I’m on the mother
ship!
Devil’s Tower was our first National Monument and
is an amazing sight. You can’t really
get a perspective of how big it is until you look at the climber I
photographed.
I also spent some time riding over to Sundance,
WY (the Sundance Kid supposedly got his name while being incarcerated
here.) The trip over was on a road that
had a lot of “fun places” (curves) and I wasn’t stuck behind a bunch of travel
trailers like I was yesterday in the Black Hills. The front desk clerk at my hotel said that
Mt. Rushmore gets about 4 million visitors a year. Devil’s Tower only gets about a half
million. The roads I took today maybe
get 10 or 12 visitors per year … The
previous days of this vacation were good … today was GREAT! Much less "touristy".
This trip means I’ve ended the northern leg of
the journey and have just commenced the western leg. Over 1,800 miles in the saddle and still
cruising strong. Love it!
By the way, this vacation is truly
invigorating. Not only do I feel 45
years younger … I also LOOK 45 years younger.
And, I’ve lost a TON of weight.
This is truly amazing! You be the
judge.
