Quo Vadis? (images to http://adrenalinc.com/trip-reports.html)

Every once in a while, it’s not you why chooses the path of travel, but the weather gods above you.

Starting with a hearty 90 minute delay, Fargo was left behind the rear wheel, the front wheel pointed at Bismarck, ND. For the majority, it was an uneventful ride. What else to expect? After all, the landscape was provided by North Dakota. Flatlands as far as the eye can see, we just don’t believe in putting a lot of hills, mountains or trees in place, in order not to obstruct your view.

Getting to Bismarck was the easy proposition, the usual gas stops, candy bar and rehydration breaks, a quick dinner at Subway, which once again established the standards of non existing customer service. It was off to Dickinson, ND from where we wanted to take a swift left (a.k.a turn South) to head towards Rapid City. That was the plan, that was the roadmap, that was the impression that even Garmin was under.

The plan didn’t quite work out as intended. Shortly before Dickinson we hit the first showers. Not quite yet the torrential downpour style, but enough to gather your attention towards the massive black clouds on our 10-11 o’clock and 1-3 o’clock (yes, military speak here). Did we head straight into the arrowhead of a massive storm system that merges just ahead of us?

Finally, the turn off to the left, to go south on I85 towards Rapid City. Meanwhile, the rain has become a steady companion, but not heavy enough to deter us from pushing on. After all, the route was planned for another 250 miles from that point.

Getting on I85 was the essential crossroads going south to Rapid City. Little did we expect that our visibility would soon go under 15 yards. I’ve ridden showers, I’ve seen the rain, yes, I even gave the sky’s lightshow a respecting nod. Unfortunately, when you reach the point where only the existing lightning and it’s incredible intensity is illuminating the road ahead of you just enough to keep going, when the rain comes down so hard that you practically cannot see more than 15 yards ahead of you and when you factor a stiff wind coming from the west, that makes you lean against the wind in an uncomfortable angle, you feel compelled to turn around and seek shelter at the next gas station that provides a roof.

How can you tell that it’s too wet to ride?

Dismounting at the gas station showed the extent of the shower we just took. Gear is soaked, down to the point where water ran into my boots, giving me that squishy sound that every kid would have fell over laughing at when I walked by. We checked in at the gas station, checked the weather channel, just to find out that the way ahead, going south isn’t going to light up anytime soon. Quite on the contrary, looking at what the Denver area and Rocky Mountains would have in store for us, prompted us to change our route and head towards Montana. Thanks to my buddy Van (yes, the brother from another mother type guy), we received a quick phone update to the weather situation. It didn’t look good and Montana is our only option at this point.

Onwards we go. Rest is overrated! Getting to Beach, ND the weather turned a little more friendly, no more rain but the temperatures plummeted to uncomfortable lows. Especially with soaked riding gear.

From Beach, ND, we headed across the border into Montana and made it to Glendive. I actually had to call it off at that point, even though Brienna wanted to keep going, she has a rain suit, I was just too soaked and froze my rear tire off. Time to break.

How can you tell that American capitalism is alive and well?

Finding several hotels just off the highway, we checked into the first one. A “Comfort Inn” should have provided just what I was looking for. Comfort. Unfortunately, I made that calculation without the American capitalism. Seeing 2 motorcyclists walk through the door, one in rain gear, the other soaked to the bones, jacked the rates up to $107 for one night, or better yet said, 6 hrs. Should we truly believe that they just instated their summer rates?

Thanks to my Blackberry and the handy “Poynt” application I called the other hotels in the area. If you’re a Blackberry owner and you don’t have “Poynt” yet, don’t delay. It’s free, it’s awesome, it was a money saver more than once, especially last night.

Interestingly enough, Glendive, MT seems to be frequented by a lot of oil field roughnecks and almost all hotels were booked solid. The only vacancy, at $75 was at the Days Inn. Giving the second part of the name of the city its full validation, the room we’ve gotten was indeed a dive. “You get what you pay for, son” couldn’t have rang any more true in my ears at that point.

A smelly room, but at the very least a bed, a shower and an opportunity to get out of the soaked gear. Plugging all components in to recharge, we should have full intercom, GPS and Blackberry availability for the majority of today, we retreated and got some shut eye.

Onwards to Salt Lake City for part 2. Stay tuned… and follow on the “Live Tracker”

MJ