Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Nearing Three Forks and Wheat Montana

Nearing Three Forks now and that means a quick stop for gas and of course a visit to Wheat Montana Farms Bakery and Deli for one of their delicious rolls and a good hot cup of coffee. If you're traveling through this area you just have to make this stop before you cross those steel Cattle Guard pipes in the on ramp, and zip into the Right Lane of I-94.

Three Forks is where the Missouri River gets it's start. The Jefferson, Gallatin and Madison rivers come together and the Big Muddy begins it's long twisting route to St. Louis. It's always sort of a thrill to cross that first bridge over the Jefferson and think about Lewis and Clark making that first trip through these parts so long ago. Great view of the mountains to the south. A little misty over that way. Hope it doesn't rain.

A slight head wind makes the side car pull me a little to the right. Other sidecarists will understand that. The sidecar sort of drags on the motorcycle so you get a little pull to the right. One expert says there are only two things you can do about it.
1. Install a steering damper, or
2. Do a lot of push ups so you can wrestle it back to a straight line.

A wind blowing across the highway can exacerbate that little problem, but it's not a biggy. The point is not to get from point A to point B. It's THE RIDE! The ride is the thing. It's not like getting on one of those behemoth Gold Wings, Kawai's or Harley's equipped with Navigation screen, GPS, Stereo, Bluetooth and every other electronic marvel known to man. This little Honda is barebones. Doesn't even have a Tach. You actually have to listen to the engine sound to know when to shift.

It's called riding a motorcycle.

 It's a barebones way to travel, but fits just right for an old guy. It's like riding in the Good Ol' Days. (They were good, weren't they?)

No comments:

Post a Comment