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Holy Cow! I am here in Montana! There were a few riders already at the motel including Beerme (Brad Warwick) on his super hot FJR. Tell me, what does a State Patrolman like Brad do with an FJR? I suspect anything he wants to. Other riders included Jason Arnold, Don Braziel, Don Kime, and Don Wesenberg. Dan Huber, WMRRR honcho, was the last one to show up at Lolo. He had made a 1,000 mile ride from his home and had to find a new battery along the way. The fact that he arrived bright-eyed and happy tells you something about him. We talked briefly about the schedule and turned in for a well deserved rest.

Six rough and tuff guys are ready for adventure.

The next morning before we headed out, Dan talked again about the schedule and the roads ahead. We planned to go west on US 12, stop at the National Park Visitor’s Center, and then get off of the paved road onto the Lolo Motorway. The Lolo Motorway is a narrow dirt road that roughly follows both an old Indian trail and the path of Lewis and Clark. The park service somewhat maintains the road and has place a number of story boards along the way that cover the history (both Indian and Lewis & Clark) of the route. As we talked, the 110 miles of dirt road didn't seem too far. Here are some of the WMRR_photos I took along the way.

       

The ride was great but very long. I won't say who whined the most but it wasn't me. One funny thing and one highlight. Dan told us before the ride that the Lolo Motorway was so good that you could ride it in a Honda Civic. After a few miles, nobody believed him. Then, around 3:00 PM, darned if we didn't see a guy on the road in a Honda Civic. I still think Dan staged that with a buddy. The highlight was near the end of the ride. I was at the back of the pack when Jason Arnold waved me forward. Expecting to have to solve a map problem, I was surprised when I got near Don Kime and saw that he was herding a Moose down the road. Turns out that the Moose jumped out in front of Don and stayed on the road for what seemed like 5 minutes. The Moose was really big and I was glad that it didn't turn around. At the next stop, I expressed my appreciation for being waved forward to see the Moose. Jason and Don quickly told me that they were worried that the Moose might get mad and turn around and wanted me up front for that.

The heat and the dust made going slower than normal and it was late afternoon before we got back to the paved road. From there it was still 60 miles to our hotel at Elk City, ID. The ride from US 12 to Elk City turned out to be very enjoyable. It was nearly all on deserted 2 lane roads next to the South Fork of the Clearwater River. Miles and miles of twisties where the scenery was just too beautiful to go fast. I didn't take any WMRR_photos that night but I took a few on the way out the next morning:

First look at our hotel set me to wondering:

I was surprised to learn that the hotel had a resident hooker;

Turns out that the rooms were fine, even if they didn't have air conditioning. We ate at the town bar and grill, which was crowded with students from the local training school for forest fire fighters. Those guys and gals looked to be in excellent condition and we didn't start any trouble. As we waited on our supper, we discussed our ride for the next day. Several of us, including me, had had enough dirt and decided to return to Lolo by paved roads the next day.

The two real adventure riders in our group, Jason Arnold and Dan Huber, were going to continue with the plan. The plan was to travel from Elk City back to Lolo via the Magruder Corridor, a 120 mile dirt road through absolute wilderness. I can't say much about Dan and Jason’s ride except they made it. I have seen Dan's pictures and it looks like the road was very similar to what we had ridden the day before. I didn't go because I had decided to go home a day early and I still had one more big thing to do before leaving. The big thing was to ride US-12 and get this WMRR_photo:

US-12 turned out to be everything I had heard about. Don Kime, Don Braziel, and I had a great ride back to Lolo, which included a lunch at the best restaurant within 100 miles (and the only one. When we got to the host motel, many other riders were there and we quickly planned a group meal for the evening. The steaks were good and well-served and I said my goodbyes after we returned to the motel.

It was raining as I came into Atlanta on I-75 but it only lasted 5 minutes. That was the only rain I saw on my trip. My new tires and chain aren't new anymore. My wife was shopping so nobody was at home when I got to Trenton. The dog growled at me and didn't want to be petted. The garbage can was full and I needed to make a run to the dump. Welcome back to the real world.

Big thanks to Dan Huber and the MTF for doing the WMR/WMRRR. It was a special experience for me.

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