Day Eight – Whitefish MT to Havre MT - Miles: 366
We were able to score the west to east pass back over the Going-To-The-Sun road the night before so we were in good spirits. We didn't mess around with breakfast in Whitefish this day, as we had identified a place near the entrance to the park that was supposed to open early enough for us. However when we arrived it was closed. We were just not having any luck with breakfast for two days in a row now. We decided to head into the visitor center area and look for the restaurant that looked to be open. It was but there was no seating inside. We each bought two way overpriced egg bites and ate at our bikes in what was a very cold morning. We went into the shop there and looked around before heading into the park. Once in the park and up at some altitude we could see the cloud cover well below our riding elevation. It was quite a spectacular view. We made several stops along the way but not as many as we did coming the other way. We knew we would be riding into Canada and so we didn't want to spend too much time in the park and beyond that it was really cold. We learned after we rode through that the next day the road was closed due to snow; it was August! We rode north on US89 toward the border on Chief Mountain Highway. We had ridden this portion back in 1998 but did not go into the town of Waterton Park. It was rather expensive to go into town and we didn't know if it would be worth it but we wanted to have lunch so we said what the heck. We rode around town some and thought it was a nice well kept place but nothing jumped out at us. We ended up eating at Trappers Mountain Grill. It was ok and the pizza we had was decent. We were on our way before too long and continued to soak in the scenery. We rode on Highway 5 heading east toward Cardston and once there headed south on Highway 591. The view of the mountains in the distance was very nice but mostly at our backs so we decided to make a quick stop, take some pics, and drink some water as it had gotten pretty hot. Our stop was essentially at the intersection of the highway and Range Road 244. We weren't too concerned about being in the way of traffic since we hadn't passed a car in many miles. As we were stopped only one car passed by. At Del Bonita we turned due south and crossed the border. The US border agent said it was a pretty boring job out there but he liked it that way. It was really in the middle of nowhere. Back in the USA we were riding across the eastern Montana plains traveling quite fast and watching the bugs piling up on our windshields. We made one last stop before hitting Havre. I saw this museum in Rudyard that looked interesting, and as it turned out we had time to stop as we rode east on US2. It's officially called the Rudyard Depot Museum. We parked at the front door and was met by a nice lady who offered to take us on a tour. We started in the Dinosaur area which we had no idea this was a hot spot for Dinosaur fossils. There is a nearby farm where college students go to find them in controlled digs and where the location is held very tightly to the vest. The museum had lots of tractors, my favorite, an old blacksmith shop and even an old homestead shack. We took a flyer on this by stopping but it really was worth it. Our tour guide couldn't been more kind and offered to stay as long as we had questions. Before we hit the motel we stopped to wash the bugs off, and for a pint at Triple Dog Brewing. We got to the motel checked in and walked to Murphy's Pub which was right next door. We sat out on the patio and had a good meal.
