Day Six – Great Falls MT to Whitefish MT - Miles: 233
Another short riding day but today will include the Going-To-The-Sun Road so we will have many stops and much to see. We intended to eat at Brian's Top Notch Cafe but it was closed with no reason but a man passing by told us about The Celtic Cowboy. This turned out to be a great recommendation and the food was very good along with good service. We sat across from a couple of bikers and struck up a conversation with them. It made the breakfast that much more enjoyable and we've kept in touch with Peter and Dedalo and maybe we'll get some riding together in the future. We stayed on US89 riding through Choteau where we spent a night in 1998. If we thought the Western Motel in Ranchester lost its luster in the 16 years that passed since our last stay, the Big Sky Motel in Choteau really took a beating in the 26 years since our last stay. As we rode US89 north of Choteau and past Dupuyer the wind began to pick up and was blowing very hard when we passed by a warning sign for gusty crosswinds when flashing, but it wasn't flashing! It wasn't long after that where we had to greatly reduce our speed and ride with a significant lean into the wind just to keep a straight line. I truly believe this was as bad as we have ever ridden in including the tornado we rode through 2009 on the IL-IN border. However unlike 2009 the wind was not swirling but I think the straight line wind was as strong as 2009. We finally made it to the GTTS Road and because we were traveling to the west we did not need a pass. Even in the mountains where the wind would logically be more restricted it was still blowing hard. We stopped at Saint Mary Lake and felt a little uneasy about leaving our bikes for fear they would blow over. We finally put them on the center stands just to be safe. We kept our full gear on to walk around and take pics. We continued on and made several stops. It was late August but there were still plenty of people there and every stop or pull off was crowded. I had forgotten how beautiful this road and its scenery was. Once you get up into the higher elevation it is impossible to ride fast but it doesn't matter much. The only time we got frustrated was with a guy who must have been going about 10mph, had a long line behind him and would not pull over. It didn't take us long to say enough of that and found a way around him hoping not to piss every one off. Even after we got to the lower elevations and ran along Lake McDonald we were still making stops. We hit Whitefish right around 5:00 so we walked to Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Co. a for pint and walked down the street to find a place to eat. Everything was crowded and required a wait but we found Craggy Range Sports Bar and ate there. This place was very average if not a little below. We knew it was bar food but it wasn't that great. The Hampton Inn in Whitefish is an upgraded one and very nice. We hit the lobby after walking back from downtown.
