Ballentine Montana
We wake to a steady rain and 40 some degree weather, grab the rain gear, suit up and away we go. Our first stop, Pompeys pillar national monument. We ride the 8 mile there, take a picture and head towards Billings. Our plan is to ride I 94 to Billings, where we will pick up I 90 south into Wyoming. On I 94 the rain starts coming down hard and the traffic is heavy and running along at about 75 to 80 mph. I look in the mirror, Steve is there, a few miles down the road I check my mirror,,,no Steve. I ride into Billings, call and leave a message on his voicemail. " Steve, I lost site of you in that mess, if you get this call and let me know where you are and we will hook up on down the road,,,remember I 90 south. I will stop and check my messages once an hour until we hook up. I top off before getting underway. About 60 miles later I stop at the Crow Indian reservation, check my voicemail,,"hey Tom, I lost site of you in that mess too,, I am at Hardin, stop if you get this." I check the time, he called about a half hour ago and is behind me. I start to call him back when I hear his bike going down the highway. I grab my helmet, fire up the VTX , and I am in hot pursuit . I get the bike up to 80 mph when I come into construction, one lane for 18 miles or so,,and I am behind a guy who is driving 35 in a 50 mph zone. I come out of the construction and it's back up to speed. I ride about 10 miles when I see a bike alongside the road at an exit. I slow down, yup,,it's Steve. I pull in behind him, we laugh about the incident and make plans to get on some back roads for awhile.
In Wyoming we are riding along route 16 when we see Big Horn Mountain. Its beautiful, snow capped, and we are going to ride up it. We ride into buffalo WY. ,,get directions and head for Big Horn. It is a nice diversion after the morning we had. After Big Horn, we ride route 196 to Kaycee Wy. The town is undergoing major road construction, that's an understatement,,the road has been stripped down to dirt and gravel. We top off again and head out on an old two lane that turns into gravel then into a dirt road. Hmm, It lead us to the triple T ranch and now we are surrounded by sheep. Ok, now what. We decide to take interstate 25 down to Casper where we will call it a day.
