Ben's Blog

We crossed the border into Canada! For a whole 2 minutes. The next town was
pretty far out and didn’t seem to have a nice little food joint judging by
the rather rude customs agent’s saying. I’ve always been told that it’s
easier crossing the border to Canada but the US customs guy was a lot
nicer. On the way back we ate at the 2 sisters cafe and that burger was
mighty good. The riding day was pretty crappy starting with rain and the
terrain became progressively moutainous. Some cattle also roams around
(roads included). We saw the same mix of nice and less nice little towns
with the same meth signs trying to keep youth away from it. We have
officialy started our descent.

My rear end is hurting so much and after day 3 I still haven’t broken into
my saddle. I’m now doubting this will even happen. I guess an XR650L isn’t
exactly the type of bike that you take on day long trips. Brandon’s quote
of the day is “How do you like having a motorcycle shoved up your ass for
hours?” and there is simply no better way to put it.

I find it amusing that we have to be careful keeping food around us because
of bears but yet we’re pretty much walking around with a pound of bug meat
on our jeans, jackets and helmets.

We took it easy today and just rode for a couple of hours, we’re spending
the night in this awesome cabin maintained by the US forest services. This
is a nice break to recuperate before we aim for Canada. I can’t believe
that it’s only day 3. Montana is enormous and has very long and wide roads,
coupled with no wind makes for the best riding. It’s farm after farm here.
And sometimes, a small town, some cute, some not so cute with obvious meth
problems. Abandoned houses and railroads would be great photographic
oportunities but it’s hard to stop and unwrap everytime. Cell phone
coverage is getting very sparse. Tonight we will be sleeping in a bed and
with 4 walls & a roof.

The camping we stayed at yesterday has had bear activity recently, the
night was creepy quiet. It always amazes me the buzz we get in our ears
when there is nothing to be heard. Except maybe for Brandon snoring, which
given the right conditions sounds exactly like a bear passing by your tent.
I don’t know if it’s the gun or the exhaustion but I still slept like a log.

I’m not a fan of this place. It is truly amazing but way too many people
and infrastructure to fell the deepness of it all. road work, massive
gatherings in notable places, giant campers all over. It took some
determination to go through all that shit. And you have to pay the $20 7
day pass even if you just wanna go across the park. We did ride very close
to a bison minding his own business on the side of the road, that was cool,
but still fuck this place.