This trip is going to start in Great Falls, Mt on Friday May 28^th, 2004. On the first day I'll be traveling about 810 miles to Grand Forks, ND. were I'll be staying my first night. The second day of the trip I'll travel from Grand Forks, ND to Fond Du Lac, WI., which is about 650 miles. I'll be staying in Fond Du Lac for Saturday and Sunday nights. On Monday the 31^st I'll be leaving Fond Du Lac, WI and riding to Bismarck, ND, about 720 miles. After staying Monday night in Bismarck, ND., I'll be heading back home to Great Falls, MT on Tuesday the 1^st of June, a ride of about 545 miles.

The trip started out on Friday May 28th as planned, I got up at 4:00 am and it was raining out. I took my shower wondering if I really need to, but was relieved when the rain had stopped while I was in the shower. I looked at the weather report and found that there was light rain around Lewistown, MT which was my first planned stop for gas. I hit the road at around 5:30 am with 694.0 miles on the odometer. The ride to Lewistown was okay with a lot of water on the ground but none falling from the sky, on this segment of the trip I saw a few deer and antelope along the road. In Lewistown I gassed up at 7:30 am and headed toward Jordan, MT. If you have ever taken this trip you know how desolate and boring this stretch of road is. I saw a few more deer and antelope, and ran into some light rain on this leg of the trip. I left Jordan, MT at 9:20 am and headed towards Glendive, MT without any more rain, but still wet roads. I got into Glendive at 11:00 am, gassed up and headed down Interstate 94 into North Dakota. My next stop was in Glen Ullin, ND at 1:50 pm. I was now 500 miles into my 809.6 mile trip and almost halfway across North Dakota. I road from Glen Ullin to Sterling, ND and stopped again for gas and to stretch my legs at 3:00 pm. My stops where getting closer together the longer the day went on. My next two stops where only a hour apart each, stopping in Jamestown at 4:00 pm and then Tower City at 5:00 pm. From Tower City I pushed on into Grand Forks, ND arriving at around 7:30 pm. After being on the bike for 809.6 miles and 14 hours, I was beat. That night I had a really nice dinner with my daughter and one of her friends and the literally passed out on my daughters couch.

The plan was to ride my motorcycle to Fund Du Lac, WI. following my daughter in her car. When we woke up and listened to the weather reports we decided it was mush wiser to leave the bike in Grand Forks, ND. I ended up putting the bike in my daughters storage shed and talked to one of her friends that was willing to pick me up at the train station at 5:00 am and take me to my bike when I got back. The weather report called for severe weather along most of our trip and we decided this would be better than riding in it. As it turned out, we hit a little bit of rain about an hour out of Oshkosh, WI. and that was it. I figure that if I would have been stubborn and ridden my bike, it would have been pouring all day.

I got into the Grand Forks ND train station at around 5:00 am and was picked up by my daughters friend. I took him to breakfast for picking me up and he dropped me off at the storage facility so I could get my motorcycle. I gassed up and hit the road at 6:45 am in pouring rain. I road down to Casselton, ND and again topped off my tank and got out of the rain for a brief moment around 8:00 am. From there I headed back west along Interstate 94 towards Jamestown, ND. In Jamestown I stopped for a few minutes to gas up at 9:30 am, it was still pouring rain. I did have on a two piece rain suit, and it was keeping my upper half dry. The problem is I am 6'4" and the paints ride up a few inches when I sit down on the motorcycle. That is where the problem arises, if it isn't raining too bad this set up works ok. The problem here was that I had been riding in pouring rain now for almost 3 hours. The bottom of my jeans were saturated, which transferred the water to my socks, which it turn with the help of gravity sent the water to the bottom of my boots, did I mention that these are waterproof boots? You guessed it, my feet got to ride most of the trip in a puddle. The only saving grace was that the trip today was a short one since I was staying the night in Bismark, ND, only another hour and a half away. I got into Bismark at around 11:00 am and was thankful for a hot meal, then a hot shower, and then a warm sleeping bag. I just stayed in the sleeping bag the rest of the day and read a book, and let the rain fall outside all it wanted to.

This was the last part of my trip, and the sky towards the west wasn't looking very friendly. I left Bismark, ND at 6:10 am and headed west on Interstate 94 once again. I made it to Dickerson at 7:35 am with a little bit of rain, but nothing like the day before. I hit a little bit more rain between Dickerson, ND and Glendive, MT. I got into Glendive at 9:20 am and was glad to see that the sky was opening up, gone were the dark clouds replaced by big white billowy ones, what a sight for sore eyes. From Glendive I started back across the plains to Jordan at 11:25 am, then into Lewistown, MT at 1:45 pm. I stopped at Eddies corner for lunch at 2:05 pm before getting back on the bike for the final push to home. I got home at about 4:00 pm and was glad that this little trip was over with.

Back