If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he fears, however measured or far away.

Missoula -> Hardin (390 Miles)

My stay in Missoula was short lived as I needed to fly back to San Francisco for a job interview. I was bummed that I had missed my cousin Pete in Missoula because he was on tour with his blue grass band The Lil Smokies. Even worse, he told me they were going to be performing in San Francisco, but I would already be headed back to Montana. On Sunday I was looking at my Facebook stream and saw a post from the Lil Smokies page that they were going to be playing at Amnesia in the Mission the night before I was set to leave.

I had never gotten the chance to see Pete perform live and was excited to finally get the chance. Their band had just won the Telluride Blue Grass Festival battle of the bands and for good reason. Their music rocks and so does their stage presence.

https://youtu.be/dxBIZ7y2nu4

I flew back early on Tuesday and was planning to leave for West Yellowstone as soon as I landed. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed four hours and I had to make a difficult decision. My goal was to make it to Sturgis before the rally was over, but I was going to have to skip Yellowstone. I figured the park would always be there and opted to wait until the next day to leave. I could still ride through Bear Tooth Pass.

The next day I got up before the sun had risen and set out. It was freezing, but I had just bought some cold riding gear including new gloves. I was about half way to Butte when my bike started acting up. Every so often it felt like the engine wasn’t getting gas and the speedometer needle would drop. I could still see the odometer, so I figured it wasn’t a battery issue. After a few miles the issue started to become more frequent and I knew I needed to stop.

For most of this trip, anytime something bad or unfortunate has happened to me I’be was able to take it in stride. However, I had just gotten my bike serviced at the Harley dealer in Missoula and  was pissed I was having issues less than 100 miles away. I took a look around my bike, checked for any loose connections, but nothing looked amiss.

I had two choices: continue on or turn around and head back to Missoula. Luckily, now that I was back in the states I was never farther than 50 miles from the nearest Harley Dealer. I decided to keep going, but I couldn’t follow the same route. I had been on an interstate all morning and knew I couldn’t risk my bike acting up on a busy road. I opted to taking back roads all the way to Butte. A trip that should’ve taken me an hour ended up taking three.

Luckily, Harley Davidson has an unspoken rule that they will prioritize a rider who is on the road over someone with an appointment. After a few hours of digging, they came and told me it was an issue with my battery connection. I couldn’t believe it. At Glacier National Park I had tightened the bolts with a socket wrench so there was no way they could’ve come loose. Turns out, the battery tender I had connected was causing a bad connection and we decided to toss it. I never used it anyway.

It was past noon by the time I got back on the road and I had to make another difficult decision. Do I try to ride Bear Tooth Pass and risk not making it to Sturgis. Again, I figured the ride will always be there and hit the interstate until I made it to Billings. I dunno why, but I had a hankering for a steak. I stopped by the Montana Chop House and had the best ribeye I’ve ever eaten. They must have tenderized the meat while the cow was still alive.

I had planned to stop for the night in Billings, but since I didn’t ride nearly as far as I expected, I decided to continue as far as I could so that my ride the next day wouldn’t be so long. I made it to Hardin before a blanket of black clouds caught up to me and set up my tent as fast as I could. As I was setting up a tent a bicyclist road into the campground who had been on the road for over a year. Our conversation didn’t last long because I received this emergency message on my phone:

The National Weather Service in Billings has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for: Southeastern Yellowstone County in south central Montana. Northwestern Big Horn County in south central Montana

That’s pretty much exactly where I was. Then I got this one:

At 6:55 PM MDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line extending from 9 miles northwest of Worden to 20 miles north of Fort Smith, moving northeast at 45 mph. Hazard, 65 mph wind gusts and Penny size hail. Source, radar indicated. These storms have a history of producing 60 to 70 mph winds. Impact: hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding and trees.

The winds were so strong that I though my tent was going to be lifted off the ground with me in it. After a few scares, I ran out side and pounded my tent stakes as far into the ground as I could and listened as hail bounced off my bike. Luckily, no damage came of me or my gear and I was able to get a good nights sleep.