Glacier National Park & Dillon MT.

Glacier National was beautiful and rugged. We stayed on the east side in St. Mary’s MT.  There’s not much there which was a little unnerving. Especially the drive approaching St. Mary’s — a 2 lane road which was extremely curvy and mountainous. It was also a free-range area for cattle. So imagine driving a 43 foot RV thru the mountains, on extremely curvy roads, while dodging cattle. Good times…..

Although it was rugged – it is very scenic and beautiful!

We stayed at the St. Mary’s KOA and it was one of the better RV parks with a lot of amenities and wonderful mountain views.

We rode thru the park on the Going-to-the-Sun Road which is very mountainous and curvy however it was very difficult on the motorcycle due to the volume of traffic (very slow and stop-n-go). At one point, my left hand (for the clutch) had cramped up and I had to move off the road for a break. This was one of the most challenging and tiring rides for me.  I usually recover pretty fast, but I was just not feeling well after the rides. My body is just not recovering as quickly as it used to. This will lead to a major change in our adventure….

Dillon MT.

Our stop after Glacier was Dillon MT. No special reason to stop there, just a nice way-point for a couple of weeks. We needed a break from the last few weeks in the National Parks.

It was a quaint, small western town with a lot of history, especially with the train system running thru the town. The train depot has been converted into a museum with artifacts from the area. It was very cool.

Additionally there were other places of interest around Dillon. This area was part of the “wild west” and mining was a big factor when creating these towns back in the late 1800s. Virginia City and Bannock are good examples of those type of towns. Both areas are “living museums” with original or restored buildings from that area. It was really interesting to see how they were built and how people lived in those days. What was really striking was the temperature inside the buildings. While it was a hot day when we visited both places, it was a good 20 degree difference in the buildings.

Nice hotel! Also served as a courthouse at one time.
Original bar!
How some of the homes were built.

Overall very interesting area and it was nice to relax and catch our breath after visiting state and (very crowded) national parks.

Major Announcement!

As I stated earlier in the post, it has been hard for me to ride the motorcycle. I have arthritis in my neck (Jr. High wrestling injury).  My neck and shoulders are often in pain. The motorcycle trips have been getting shorter and shorter (or not at all) because of the pain. As most people know, we load the bike on a hydraulic lift on the back of the RV. It is getting harder and harder to load the bike and strap it down. In addition, once the bike is lifted we then have to install the tow bar underneath the lift. The tow bar is 50 lbs. which is difficult to maneuver under the lift. 

As I look back over the last 5 years in riding the bike, we have done some extraordinary cross-country rides:

  • Estes Park/Rocky Mountains – 4 times
  • Colorado Springs – Pikes Peak (14,000 feet elevation)
  • Mount Rushmore – twice
  • Yellowstone – twice
  • Grand Tetons
  • Smokey Mountains – twice
  • The Dragon – twice
  • Poconos
  • Fort Lauderdale – brought the bike with us on a cruise.
    • San Juan
    • St. Maarten
    • US Virgin Islands
    • British Virgin Islands
  • Chicago area
  • Lake Geneva, WI
  • Galena, IL
  • Not to mention many local day trips!

With all of this said, we decided to sell the bike. For me, it wasn’t a hard decision although Patti will miss the ride. With the list above, it was becoming challenging to figure out places to ride that would be unique. In other words, when you ride mountains several times they stop becoming “new experiences”.

So while we were in Dillon, I was able to work with a company on the web to sell the bike and they could pick it up. It was very convenient and worked very well!

As of this writing it has been 6 weeks without the bike. I don’t miss it and am happy that we sold it. I really appreciate Patti’s understanding and obviously she loves me and was very supportive!

Next stop: Heber City, UT

 

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