Day 7 Curves, Characters and 125 Miles of Straight!

Route: Challis, ID to Ennis, MT
GPS Tracks for the trip are posted here:https://tworoads.shutterfly.com/pictures/40#40
Miles: 270
Total Time: 10:28
Total On Bikes: 4:37
Total Miles For Trip so far: 1976

Ever since our retreat from the weather on our third day out which caused us to divert from our original plan, we've been making up the routing each night. One of the most important resources for picking the routing has been Benchmark Atlases that are the only map products that I've found that show sufficient detail to have a good idea of the "curviness" of a route AND whether the route is completely paved. Thankfully Benchmark produces these Atlases for many western and northwestern states including Idaho but have NOT yet produced one for Montana. Not having such a detailed map for Montana made planning for today's trip especially challenging -- and we likely ended up on more straight roads than we might have otherwise. Of course, it is also possible that in the area we needed to travel to get to Yellowstone -- there aren't any good motorcycle roads.

The long and short of all of this rambling is that after another 125 miles on the most superb motorcycle road (Highway 93), we turned directly east and did 125 miles of just long, tiring straight roads. Thankfully towards the end of the day we were treated to some interesting towns (Virginia City) and vistas as we arrived in Ennis, Montana. Good luck was with us when the first motel we stopped at had a very affordable room with two bedrooms and a kitchenette.

It has seemed that at each stop of the trip we have met some interestingly colorful characters that have kept us entertained long after our chance and brief meetings. It seems the bikes draw the attention -- many do begin the conversation on that topic -- but also Vince and I are both quick to engage when we need information. A couple of fun examples include: an old guy coming out of bank with a complete old-western gunbelt -- complete with bullets and firearm -- like we were on some movie set; and, a couple of kids age 5 and 8 that gave us the full news rundown on the town (two men fought last night; one man had a stroke; the races were in town and their kinfolk were the winning drivers, etc). Each stop seems to have a story -- and we've been enjoying the stopping almost as much as the riding.

Another motorcycle issue has popped up. Vince had expected to be able to complete the trip on his existing tires -- but over the last day or so he had noticed significant wear in center of his rear tire with only around 6000 miles on it. So at one stop Vince called ahead to a Ducati dealer in Missoula, Montana (the closest dealer) to arrange a tire replacement when we pass through that area.