Day Three - Sundance, Wyoming to Choteau, Montana (586.3 miles)
Finally, a day without the prospect of rain (at least for now)! We started out on U.S. 14 that led us to St. Rt. 24. This road took us right past Devil's Tower. The roads leading to the tower were in decent condition, and provided nice scenery. One can actually see the tower on a clear day about 10 miles away. After the 10 minute stop for photos we felt we could proceed. What else is there to see? It's a big rock! We turned north and headed up St. Rt. 112 that would take us into Montana. For the approximately 25 miles we rode on 112 we literally did not see another human until we reached U.S. 212 in Montana. The scenery, especially along the Little Missouri River, and the emptiness was wonderful. The road was not that great, it recently been repaired, but the repair job left a little to be desired. Once we reached Alzada and turned right on U.S. 212 we found ourselves in the middle of some major construction. The road was completely torn up, and we had to ride several miles on the gravel. By the time we reached Broadus for gas the road construction looked to complete. The landscape had changed dramatically in the last one hundred miles. We were now in what looked to be the prairie once again. When 212 ended at I-90 we jumped on the Interstate to Billings. There, we headed due north on U.S. 87. Although Rand McNally does not mark this road as scenic it truly was. The road was fairly twisty and in great shape. It had been so long since we were in any curves the bikes did not know how to act. Our next gas stop at Lavina was absolutely in the middle of nowhere. We were now headed west on U.S. 12, this was to take us to U.S. 89 and on towards Great Falls. However, as we got closer to U.S. 89 we saw huge rain showers in the distance. We quickly searched our maps for an alternate route. There it was; if we could head north on U.S. 191 we might make it. In Harlowton we put our suits on and headed north on U.S. 191. We were flying along trying to stay ahead of the storm. Just when we thought we had it licked we were low on gas. We met back up with U.S. 87, turned left and headed west again. We stopped at Stanford for gas. As we were filling up the rain began, I did not even get off of my bike. Steve went in and paid for both of us and off we went. Just as we got through Great Falls we got drenched again, fortunately we were on I-15 so it was not too bad. We got into Choteau wet and tired. The Big Sky Motel was an excellent find, nice room, two beds, $30.00.
