I am jolted awake at 0507 when my neighbor turns on his shower and a water hammer reverberates through the building. I take advantage of the awakening to check on the remaining items on the drying rack, my shoes and gloves are completely dry, just need to work a little more on my riding pants, drying the front pockets.

I arrange my jacket the best I can in the air flow, although I know there is no hope in really accelerating the process. It is still damp, but not bad. Once, outside of Cincinnati I was caught in a Thunderstorm of Biblical proportions and my jacket was all swollen and puffy with water for days after that. 30 lbs of cow hide dries on its own time.

I go back to sleep until 0720, the time Bill has somehow programmed me to awaken, in preparation for a 0800 departure. Loading the bike I see it is quite chilly out, Bill says it is 8 degrees. The pavement is dried though, although it is still overcast. I have checked the weather today in the various points we are driving through, and in all cases it is in the high 20's.

Bill is, wisely, wearing his rainsuit, primarily for warmth, and also every other piece of clothing he has with him. I am confident it will warm soon so I just put on my normal riding gear.

We both commiserate on what a dump this particular mo'tel is. To Bill's credit he never judges me on my lodging choices, even though he could obviously afford to stay at much better establishments. I have said it before, staying at fleabags somehow adds to the mystic of the bike trip. I have stayed at some real s***holes over the years, but I draw the line at bugs, none of which, fortunately, we have seen on this trip.

We head out and the first thing I notice is that the road is no longer as twisty, we have cleared the mountain range, well, mostly. I turned on the handlebar heaters as soon as I started the bike, they make a huge difference. Next I am going to need to sort out an electric vest or seat heater.

We drive about 30 minutes when I am starting to shiver again. My damp jacket is providing some unwelcome cooling, so I pull over into a gas station. I have a coffee, called Screaming Eagle, but my inexperience as a coffee drinker has led me to choose a super strong roast that no quantity of cream can make palatable to me.

I put on my long sleeved shirt and finally.....finally after how many times, I take Bill's advice and put on my rain suit upper, as kind of a wind breaker. I put on my dickie too. When we leave I note I am toasty warm, what a difference that makes!

An hour later we are in Missuola and while my navigation is more based on luck, and some rare input from Bill, we find our way to route 200, eastbound across Central Montana. We choose a slightly longer route to ensure we are travelling in lower elevations rather than crossing additional ranges.

About 30 minutes outside of Missuola the road runs between some low hills, descends and runs arrow straight for miles. We are finally in the sun for real, not just a small patch, there is not a cloud in the sky! It has heated up to the low twenties, and climbing. We make excellent time as we head towards Great Falls, MT.

We stop at a gas station just before Interstate 15 Northbound. Usually we avoid Interstates wherever possible, but in this case it is the only road northbound. Also interstates in Montana are lightly traffic'ed so it is not nearly as scary as being on one, say, leaving St. Louis!

We stop just before the I15 interchange to remove additional layers, get gas and also purchase sunflower seeds. In 'merica they have a few brands of seeds that are not available in Canada, and I like to stock up. Unfortunately this store only has one package of the type I like. One year I brought back 19 bags of David's Jumbo's.

We hop on I15 and, adhering to Montana's most reasonable speed limit of 80 MPH, put the hammer down and head towards the border. Takes us about 2 hours to get there and we stop at Duty Free first for some fragrances for BuBu, and a big bottle of Stoli! Never a good idea to come home empty handed after being away for 3 weeks!

We cross the border without incident and within 90 minutes pull into Ft. MacLeod, chosen as our final destination due to highways 2 & 3 splitting up just outside of town, the same thing Bill and I will do tomorrow. We spent 9 hours in the saddle today so we pass on DustBusters and meet for dinner an hour later in the ubiquituous for small towns; Chinese Restaurant.

After dinner, in the mo'tel parking lot, we have a very manly exchange. Despite all that we have shared, over the past 3 weeks and the past 4 years of travel together, our good bye is short and sweet. There is some talk of getting old, of not being able to hold up the bikes anymore, to health concerns etc. If everything goes to plan we will be heading to Memphis next year, and flying our wives in to join us.

History has taught us much can happen in the course of a year, so we will see what 2019 brings us. Thank you Bill, you are one helluva wingman!

Day Nineteen

Darby, MT to Ft. MacLeod, AB

530 kms